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This time, Yan Yu and his teammates rested for 15 hours. Only after everyone recovered did they head towards the last floor in a heroic manner.
As they walked, they chatted, "The ninth floor should have several level 70 monsters, maybe called the Dark Devourer King. They'll definitely have summoning abilities. It'll be another huge fight then."
"Hahaha, the ARAM is great! I can kill monsters to my heart's content again!"
"Yes, we've only been here for less than three days, and we've already reached level 40 by killing monsters. That's faster than even taking a plane. Not only that, our four-dimensional attributes have increased by nearly 24 times what they were before we entered. What a terrifying number! In the past, we couldn't even imagine it."
"It feels like a dream. If I hadn't still remembered the real feeling of killing monsters and the data on my personal dashboard wasn't deceptive, I would have suspected that this was just a fantasy."
"Hehe, for me, getting rich overnight is the most worth celebrating. I really want to sleep with the 8,200 gold coins I earned every day. I want to enjoy the pleasure of sleeping on a pile of gold coins~"
"You're such a money-grubber!"
"Don't you love money? Then give me the 8,000 gold coins you earned. I saw you secretly taking out a lot of gold coins and counting them during your break."
"Uh, get lost! I worked so hard to earn these, don't even think about it!"
"Tsk, who cares? I'll definitely plunder a few thousand gold coins when I get to the ninth floor. Then I'll buy dozens of S-level pieces of equipment from Boss Yan Yu's shop. You'll be so jealous."
Amidst the casual chatter and bickering among the crowd, the group of ten quickly reached the top.
As soon as they stepped into the door of the ninth floor, they felt a sense of sudden enlightenment. The endless black fog that had been shrouding the surroundings completely disappeared, revealing the blue sky and white clouds, large areas of green grass, and a village with smoke rising from chimneys and villagers chatting in the distance.
There was a gentle breeze, and I could faintly smell the fragrance of unknown flowers mixed with the aroma of food.
Yao Dongxin: “???”
Not only him, but everyone else was equally confused. This didn't feel like being in the strange Nine Refining Tower at all. Instead, it felt a bit like being in the long-lost real world.
Yan Yu frowned. Despite using the advanced detection technique, she couldn't see the villagers' attribute panels. She quickly reacted and activated the first special effect of the A-level Xuancai headband—it was used to resist low, medium, and high-level illusions. But nothing changed before her eyes. Was this proof that the scene before her wasn't an illusion?
She and Song Fa looked at each other, and when they turned back, they suddenly found that the gate they came from had disappeared at some point, and they were trapped here!
Everyone tried to retreat to see if they could touch the disappearing gate, but even after retreating nearly a hundred meters, they still stayed on the lush grass.
Moreover, they didn’t know if it was their illusion, but after moving backwards, it seemed to them that they were closer to the village ahead.
Yao Dongxin also tried to attack the lawn and the sky with weapons, but nothing happened except a few criss-crossing deep pits on the grass.
"This place is too real..." He retracted his weapon and muttered in confusion.
Yan Yu half-knelt down and pulled up a handful of weeds. With a firm pinch, the thick leaves quickly ooze out a luscious green sap, staining her white knuckles. The sap was unusually thick, and felt more like animal or human blood than plant fluid.
She raised her head and decisively gave new instructions: "Let's divide into four teams and go in different directions to see if we can reach the border." After that, she stood up, shook off the grass leaves in her hands, and wiped her hands carefully with a handkerchief.
The copy space of the Nine Refining Tower is limited, and the regulations are far smaller than other copies. The space cannot extend infinitely. As long as you find the boundary and break it, you can definitely get out.
Song Fa had no objection: "This is the only way for now."
There was something fishy about the village opposite, so they needed to investigate the surroundings first before heading there.
Yan Yu was grouped together with another girl in the team. Her name was Liu Zhi. Although her name sounded gentle, she had won the women's fighting championship many times in a row. She had extremely strong attack power and was the top fighter in Song Fa's team except for Song Fa. Even Yao Dongxin didn't dare to provoke her easily.
The two of them together are a powerful combination, enough to violently push through the dungeon.
Unfortunately, the ninth floor of the Nine Refining Tower is very strange and cannot be pushed through violently.
The four groups faced each other and moved forward in four directions. After walking for nearly half a kilometer, they found that the other three groups were coming towards them from afar, and were getting closer and closer.
They were clearly moving in a straight line, so how could they have walked with their backs facing each other and yet run into each other head-on? Unless the space they were in was a sphere, or something had obscured their vision and perception.
The first one is obviously impossible, but if it is the second one, that would be really terrible.
The A-level black and white headband's special effect of detecting fakes, as well as Yan Yu's total spirit value of 6700 (his own spirit attribute + equipment spirit attribute bonus) were all unable to detect any abnormalities, which showed how serious the situation was.
Yan Yu didn't give up: "Let's change direction and continue walking again."
Everyone did as they were told, but within three minutes, they bumped into each other again.
At this moment, they suddenly realized that the village was obviously closer to them, and they could even see the villagers' clothes and appearances clearly...
They continued trying several times, still unable to find the boundary. They became anxious. What was even more frightening was that at this moment, all the villagers in the village had gathered at the entrance, staring at them straight, with no expression on their faces, as flat as puppets that had left the stage.
The distance between Yan Yu and his ten companions and the villagers was now less than five meters. They were so close that they could even count the holes in their clothes and the spots on their cheeks one by one.
Yao Dongxin turned around a few times like a trapped beast, then subconsciously moved closer to Yan Yu, waiting for her next instruction like everyone else.
Honestly, this village is definitely haunted! Oh my god, God knows he's most afraid of those dirty things! Get the evil spirits back!
Yan Yu noticed Yao Dongxin's expression of resistance, but there was no other way. If they didn't enter the village, they would find no clues to leave. They would never get out of here. Moreover, Yan Yu suspected that if they walked a few more times, the village would probably suck them in. Why waste their energy?
"Everyone enter the village, and be careful not to separate after entering the village."
After hearing Yan Yu's words, the first ones to react were not her teammates, but a group of villagers standing opposite. Their heads creaked twice like rusty machines, and then they all smiled in unison. The corners of their lips were extremely stiff, and the arc was exactly the same, but there was no smile in their eyes, which looked even more weird.
Yao Dongxin's heart trembled, and he hid behind Yan Yu, his fingers subconsciously wanting to pull her sleeve.
As a result, a big hand came across and stopped his behavior, and then a piece of the hilt of a long sword was handed to him.
“???”
Song Fa kept his eyes on the villagers' every move, but he said to Yao Dongxin: "If you are afraid, just grab the hilt of my sword and don't touch anything else."
Yao Dongxin felt a sudden heart attack: No, what do you mean he touched me indiscriminately? What did he touch? Even if he did touch me indiscriminately, what does it have to do with Song Fa?
Complaining in his heart, Yao Dongxin still honestly grasped the dark blue hilt in his hand, then followed the steps of Yan Yu and Song Fa, stepping into the village carefully.
The moment you enter the village, it feels like you've broken through a transparent membrane. It's a very strange feeling, as if you've entered the inside of a frog egg or something else, making you feel very uncomfortable.
Before they could react, those villagers who had looked extremely strange from the outside were no different from ordinary people here. Their faces were soft and three-dimensional, their expressions were natural, and their bodies and movements were very coordinated. There was nothing unusual about them.
However, this is the biggest difference.
An old man with a crutch who looked like the village chief stepped forward and said, "Dear guests from afar, welcome to Taoyuan Village. I am the village chief. Please stay here for the time being. I will send someone to prepare a bonfire party for you. I hope you enjoy your stay here."
Yan Yu thought about it, then took the initiative to step forward and asked, "Village Chief, can you arrange a collective accommodation for us?"
The village chief smiled kindly and nodded: "Of course."
After saying this, he turned to a burly middle-aged man standing behind him on the left and ordered, "Niu Sanzhu, take the guests to the backyard of the ancestral hall. Remember to bring them to the bonfire party in half an hour."
Middle-aged man: "I understand, Village Chief."
Seeing that the villagers had returned to normal, Yao Dongxin boldly poked his head out from behind Song Fa and said, "Village Chief, can we not attend that stupid party? We just want to have a good rest."
Upon hearing this, the village chief instantly transformed back into his previous sinister self, his dark eyes fixed intently on Yao Dongxin. Not only the village chief, but even the villagers began to show signs of transformation.
"You can try."
Yao Dongxin shuddered with fear and quickly retreated behind Song Fa. It was really scary, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob.
Song Fa stepped forward, firmly blocking the terrifying gazes that the village chief and the villagers were casting at Yao Dongxin: "Don't worry, we will be there on time."
After hearing the promise, the alienated people recovered and soon dispersed, each preparing to go their own way.
Yan Yu and the others first followed Niu Sanzhu to their accommodation. While he was cleaning, they went out in groups to explore the ancestral hall, the village chief's house and other places in the village, but they found nothing.
No matter how you look at it, this is an ordinary and ordinary village.
Not long after, it was time for the bonfire party. Everyone was forced to go to an open place in the village that looked like a threshing ground. They were pushed by the villagers to sit on the ten chairs closest to the bonfire. There was a rich feast on the table, and behind them was a crowd of people singing and dancing around them. It was creepy no matter how you looked at it.
During this time, they kept one hand tightly gripping their weapons, ready to draw their swords at any time to deal with any unexpected situation. They did not dare to touch the food on the table at all, for fear that they would be accidentally harmed.
Yan Yu and the others were constantly on edge, wary of the villagers, but even after the bonfire party ended, no one attacked them or forced them to eat. Afterward, the villagers didn't even glance at them, returning to their homes to sleep.
Yan Yu: ???
Only the village chief, who walked the slowest, warned meaningfully: "Don't run around at night, otherwise you will be eaten by the monster king." After that, he also turned around and went home, leaving Yan Yu and the others with only a hunched back.
Yao Dongxin seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Yan Yu: "Let's go. If you have anything to say, let's go back to the backyard of the ancestral hall." She was worried that there were eavesdroppers on the other side of the wall.
After returning to the accommodation, Yao Dongxin couldn't help but ask, "Boss, do you want to send someone to explore the village at night?"
Yan Yu: "On this first night, don't act rashly. Let's divide into groups to keep watch. Everyone should stay alert."
Since nothing happened at the bonfire party, something must happen at night. She wanted to see what was going on in the ninth level.
The result was still beyond Yan Yu's expectations. Apart from a lot of thick, inky black fog emerging outside at night, nothing unexpected happened.
None of the things they imagined, such as the villagers' siege, the monster tide, the ghost invasion, etc., happened. It was so peaceful that it seemed as if they were not in a dungeon.
Yan Yu frowned, becoming more and more uneasy about this strange ninth floor. Her heart was beating like a drum, and she couldn't calm down at all.
Suddenly, when she was checking herself, she discovered a shocking fact: after one night, her talent column disappeared out of thin air!
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