It had rotted into bones, and its shape was not human; it looked more like a chicken.
That big rooster?
So, is this yet another scene, or is this the final fate of this village?
Su Deng continued wandering around, and then pushed open the door and went inside.
Red lanterns, red wedding candles, red tablecloths, red wine jugs and glasses, and even the bed curtains—everything was red.
However, it was probably because it had been abandoned for a long time, as it was completely covered in dust and covered with spider webs.
A red silk ribbon adorned with large red flowers lay scattered on the floor, and a red embroidered shoe sat atop the bright red wedding quilt on the bed.
"Mom..." Su Muyue felt this was a bit eerie and scary, so strange, and moved closer to Su Deng. "Did they practice ghost marriages in this village?"
He had previously read about ancient ghost marriages in Subic's database and thought those people were feudal and sick.
"Is that so?" Su Deng replied casually, her gaze lingering on the embroidered shoe for a moment before moving away.
She walked toward the pond with lotus flowers at the back of the village.
The pond had long since dried up, and the lotus flowers had withered and died, leaving behind a desolate and rotten scene. However, one could clearly see many white bones scattered haphazardly in the dry mud.
In the middle is a complete skeleton, with a magnificent gold and silver crown embedded in the mud above the head, and the skeleton is covered with a rotting red wedding dress.
Su Deng experienced this when she was the [Ghost Bride].
She calmly reflected on the 99 deaths she had experienced and deduced a truth.
This village must have actually existed, where ghost marriages were held, but this particular one was not as simple as a ghost marriage.
The village chief's son died young, but his soul possessed a rooster. He could not speak, but he had his own intelligence.
But if the rooster dies, he will also die.
It used a kind of evil magic to regain its body and become human again, but it had to stay inside the rooster's body and needed to be fed with offerings.
And the best offering is an unmarried woman.
As a result, ghost marriages continued to be held in this village.
Those girls were either from poor families in the surrounding villages who couldn't afford to eat, or they were sold because of the preference for sons over daughters, or they were abducted...
Each time the offering is eaten, the lump of flesh is replaced with the body of a rooster, the live rooster is hollowed out, leaving only the skin to be used as filling.
If things continue like this, then the moment he transforms back into a human, he can live forever.
However, this path to immortality requires consuming sacrificial offerings, at the cost of countless girls dying...
The villagers knew all along, but they all became accomplices.
The sacrifices he had eaten, namely the brides, were burned or nailed alive by the village in various ways after the ceremony, for fear that they would become ghosts and come back for revenge.
They were even buried alive.
The 99 times that Su Deng experienced were not all experienced by [Deng], but rather by every girl in this village who was married into a ghost marriage, 99 times in total…
99.
Each one dies in a different way.
That feeling of being buried alive, despair, and suffocation from drowning.
That towering, blood-red wall—the door was right there, yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't open it; I couldn't escape this hell.
That "lamp" might not even be a real "lamp".
After the [lamp] disintegrated, it became fragments scattered throughout various instances of this game world, and was already dead.
But one wisp of light fell into this place. The [lamp] possessed an indestructible divinity, absorbing the vengeful spirits of the girls who died here, absorbing their resentment, and condensing into the ghost bride [Su Deng].
She killed the entire village, nailed the rooster to a cross and burned it, and crucified the villagers in their graves, determined to condemn them to eternal damnation...
Within that [Su Deng]'s body reside the souls of all the girls who died here, forming the most evil thoughts.
But they themselves were all innocent victims who died tragically.
After killing the entire village, they thought they could be reincarnated and leave this place, but they found themselves still trapped here, repeating various deaths over and over again...
Therefore, after Su Deng became that bride, each cycle began in the bridal sedan chair, but the process of dying was different each time...
Until Su Deng arrived, allowing [Deng], who had long since merged with those girls, to find a substitute and break free from the cycle.
Having figured all this out, Su Deng felt that pain again, that desperate suffocation. Clutching her clothes at her chest, she staggered back a few steps, panting heavily.
"Mom!" Su Muye said, somewhat flustered, as he helped her up.
"I'm fine..." Su Deng leaned against the tree, her face pale.
These game instances were extracted from various world timelines when [Lamp] created the game world, so they are all kinds of things.
And the stories in each of these game's dungeon worlds are all based on real events...
In the game world, they can manifest as vengeful spirits to seek revenge.
In the real world? They rot in the mire, their resentment turning into bones...
Su Deng closed her eyes, afraid that those tears of blood would flow again.
She never wanted to experience that kind of story again.
Fortunately, after Yan Sizhan burned the world down, effectively destroying and shattering this instance, the cycle of nightmares ended.
Su Deng took a deep breath, quickly composed herself, and led Su Muye through the cemetery in the forest to leave.
The moment I left the forest, a door appeared in front of me, just like the door that appeared every time I cleared a dungeon in the game.
Su Deng walked over, pushed open the door, and behind the door was a vast expanse of white.
Without hesitation, Su Deng led Su Muye inside.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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