Chapter 58 (Update 1)
As the sun moved westward, the black exhaust and yellow smoke from the car blended together as it drove towards Zhongsu Town.
"Come on, say it again."
"My name is Wang Da. I originally lived in Wufang Town, District 7. My family was attacked by a ghoul, and our house was destroyed. I had no money to repair it, so I wandered here to make a living. Now I work as a handyman at Hong Jie's Hair Salon and live inside the salon."
"What else?"
"I am an ordinary person. I cannot use... my abilities unless I have no other choice. If I do, I will no longer be an ordinary person, but a Chosen One."
I remember it all, but it sounds weird, especially the word "function" which stands for "skill."
From a data perspective, ghouls and NPCs are no different. "Skills" is a sensitive word that cannot be captured or understood.
After a long time of effort, Paopao finally compromised and replaced skills with "divine powers." After all, in the eyes of NPCs, many player skills have surpassed the realm of martial arts and are often referred to as "divine powers."
But An Rou objected. It was fine for Wang Da to call his skills "divine powers" while he was pretending to be an NPC. But if he pretended to be a player, calling them "divine powers" would arouse suspicion. She came up with an idea: using a phonetic approximation, changing the word "skill" to "function," and it worked.
If you speak faster, it won't sound too awkward.
Paopao's imagination was running wild, and he started to expand from this word, changing "light screen" to "wide screen", "life value" to "life mole", and "system" to "washing bucket"...
"Wang Da, string those words together and say them again as I taught you."
Wang Da frowned and thought for a while, then said, "I turned on the wide screen, and the bucket was notified that I was under attack, and my life mole dropped by 100 points."
Paopao felt like crying and laughing at the same time: "Boss, it sounds like a strong dialect. Is it okay? As far as I know, no matter what country the player enters the game, the language will be automatically translated into Chinese, but there has never been anyone with a dialect accent."
An Rou didn't care at all and asked him, "So what if it's a dialect accent?"
Paopao tilted his head and thought: The development and maintenance of the Soul-Guiding Song, like the game save files, are both black boxes that cannot be cracked. Even if the dialect version is updated, it seems that other than sounding a little strange, it really won't cause any problems.
As he was thinking, the car suddenly stopped and braked.
There were dense crowds of people ahead. But the map showed that this place was still nearly a kilometer away from the town entrance.
A familiar face appeared outside the driver's window and knocked on the glass: "Boss An."
Dawn darkness.
Paopao immediately took a deep breath and no longer cared about his fear of the ghoul. He held Wang Da's hand tightly, fearing that it would jump out of the car in an impulse.
After all, there are more than twenty players’ souls in front of us!
An Rou also glanced at Wang Da, rolled down the window, and said with a sweet smile, "Captain Li, you and Gang Leader Tang showed up so much support this afternoon, and An Rou hasn't thanked you yet."
Having said that, a light screen popped up in front of Captain Li, and An Rou's favorability dropped by 5%. In just half a day, it returned to the state of rejection.
Captain Li smiled dumbly and said, "Boss An, don't be nervous. Two of my men got into an accident here, and I'm just here to investigate. Boss An... have you seen the ghoul?"
As soon as the word came out, Wang Da's body tensed up. Paopao held his hand even tighter, not daring to let go.
An Rou's eyes widened, her fake smile vanished, and she looked terrified: "Ghoul? There's a ghoul here? Captain Li, don't scare me!"
Her expression changed so naturally that Captain Li squinted his eyes and looked at her for a moment, but found no flaws, so he turned to look at the back seat of the car.
He had seen Paopao once. He naturally looked down on players who were so obsessed with data and beauty that they completely forgot that this was a monster-killing game, and a trace of contempt flashed across his eyes.
Move your gaze to another person.
Judging from his clothes, he was an NPC, and judging by his physique, he was a tall man. However, he was currently being held down by Paopao's head and hit hard on the back.
"Vomit it, just vomit it!" Paopao was so anxious that he was getting angry and sweat was oozing from his forehead.
Captain Li stared at him for a few seconds, but still couldn't see Wang Da's appearance. He looked back at An Rou and said, "Boss An, what is this?"
An Rou, who was immersed in fear, came to her senses and finally remembered the person behind her. She hurriedly said, "It's my farm buddy. He has a fish bone stuck in his throat! Captain Li, I'm leaving first!"
An Rou released the brake and stepped on the accelerator. A figure flashed outside the window, and Captain Li appeared in front of her. He pressed the hood of the car with one hand, making it impossible for the entire car to move forward even half an inch.
The tires rubbed against each other at high speed on the dirt road, smoke and dust filled the air, and the smell of burning tires could be smelled.
An Rou frowned and released the accelerator.
Captain Li dodged again and approached the back door of the car. He smiled but said in an unquestionable tone, "Boss An, how are you going to remove the fish bones? Let me see."
Without waiting for An Rou to answer, he grabbed the door handle and with a little force, he broke the door lock and opened the car door.
Paopao was already sweating profusely, and the hands pressing on Wang Da's back became stronger and stronger. Wang Da couldn't hold on any longer, and his upper body leaned out of the car.
"vomit--"
Indescribable vomit suddenly sprayed onto Captain Li's shoes. The intense, sour odor, like a biological weapon, surged through the air. In the blink of an eye, the Oli players a few meters away could smell it and covered their mouths.
Even Chinese players can't tell that this tastes like sauerkraut water.
Not to mention these foreign players.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Paopao kept saying this, not giving Wang Da a chance to look up, he dragged it back into the car and closed the door.
An Rou put one hand on the steering wheel and couldn't help but cover her nose with the other hand, looking at Captain Li in the rearview mirror.
He was probably the only person in the audience who did not cover his nose. He stared blankly at his Huangwu leather boots, his eyes dark and his expression... as ugly as it could be.
"I'm sorry, Captain Li, I'm in a hurry and have to leave now!"
I'll treat you to some pickled fish when you have time.
If An Rou was a second late, she would have been worried about bursting out laughing, so she quickly stepped on the accelerator and left. The Ouli players all made way, but no one tried to stop her.
"What on earth did that NPC eat to vomit out this smell?"
A player muttered as he walked up to Captain Li and called out twice. Seeing that his boss didn't respond, he quickly took out a handful of gold coins and scattered them on his leather boots and the ground.
On the pop-up screen, he directly selected [Purify]. The acidic water on the ground instantly disappeared, Captain Li's shoes were also clean, and the pungent odor gradually dissipated.
"Minister?" the player called out again.
Captain Li slowly exhaled the foul breath that had been trapped in his lungs and said in a deep voice, "Continue investigating!"
It couldn't be such a coincidence that two guild members followed An Rou here and were attacked by ghouls.
-
The car drove into the town and gradually slowed down. An Rou looked at Paopao through the rearview mirror and smiled: "Smart."
"I was so scared that I broke out in a cold sweat." Paopao said, looking at Wang Da with disgust. "What on earth did you eat? It stinks!"
Wang Daming had a stern face, but he looked very innocent.
An Rou laughed and said, "After being soaked in the pickle jar for so many years, what do you think it ate?"
"Oh oh..." Paopao also laughed, but the smile quickly faded. "Boss, what if they find the farm along the way?"
An Rou said nonchalantly, "What are you afraid of? The players' bodies are gone, and the pickle shed has been cleaned up. Can they possibly scoop up a bowl of poisonous water and taste it? With Fu Fu around, Zhang Da has to hide himself. They can even find clues, which is quite impressive."
At this moment, among the densely packed pickle vats in the pickle shed, Zhang Da's entire body was buried in the soil, with only his head sticking out. But all he could see was darkness—a large vat with its bottom removed, completely covering him.
Ghouls have excellent hearing. It suddenly turned its head and heard the sound of dense footsteps.
"Search, remember not to destroy anything, put everything back to its original place." A voice gradually approached.
Its eyes widened suddenly, as it smelled the rich fragrance of a soul. Its body, buried in the earth, twisted restlessly on instinct, but soon stiffened again.
Big eyes as big as a rich man's fist appeared in front of its face, and the eyeballs slid to the edge, looking at it coldly.
-
"Sister Hong, this is Wang Da, a temporary worker at the hair salon."
"...temporary worker?" Sister Hong repeated, looking at the tall, dull-looking man.
Her eyesight was so sharp that even with Wang Da's messy short hair and unshaven beard, she could tell at a glance that he was a remarkable person. It could even be said that he was as good as any other Destined One.
With An Rou's warning, Wang Da didn't dare to covet Sister Hong's soul. Besides, it was just the soul of an ordinary person. Compared with the one with destiny, he knew it was tasteless without even tasting it.
He lowered his head: "My name is Wang Da, from..."
An Rou patted his arm and interrupted, "It's just a temporary worker, doing odd jobs in the hair salon. Sister Hong, there's no need to ask too many questions."
"Okay, okay." The situation could change at any time, so how could Sister Hong dare not disobey An Rou's words.
After An Rou left, she swept the floor while stealing glances at Wang Er, who was standing in the corner. He was like a wooden stake, motionless. It was rare to find someone of his age, with this appearance, and such an honest character.
In the past, Sister Hong would have looked down on him, even despised him. He was young and strong, but he didn't want to make progress, and he ended up doing odd jobs. He deserved his shabby appearance.
But today...
Sister Hong looked at her hands, which were wrinkled from washing customers' hair.
She was over thirty years old and had fallen into this situation. If she had an honest and obedient man to live with, it would be a little comfort. Besides, Wang Da was handsome and looked quite impressive.
You can tell at a glance that he's quite strong.
A few days later, Sister Hong blushed for the second time.
She cried out in pain and held onto her slender waist: "Wang Da, Wang Da, come and help me, I've sprained my waist."
Paopao, who had sneaked into the small room in the corner, opened the door a crack when he heard the sound and was stunned.
-
An Rou is not the type of person who would pass by her home without visiting. The bun shop was just across the street. After leaving the hair salon, she went back home.
An Younian was busy in the kitchen, smiling happily. He took off his apron and was about to go to the restaurant with An Rou to help, but An Rou pushed him down.
"Dad, what did you promise me?"
An Younian was stunned. "Apart from teaching cooking, I never go to the restaurant unless it's necessary. And I can't tell outsiders that I'm the restaurant owner's father."
These words might sound hurtful to ordinary people, but An Younian is an NPC. He witnessed his daughter's success with his own eyes and promised in person that he would trust An Rou unconditionally from now on. He just thought that she had her reasons for doing so.
His eyebrows drooped, and he said worriedly, "But Rourou, I heard today that the guests mentioned our restaurant and they were very prejudiced. Can that pickled fish really change our restaurant's reputation? Three or five hundred gold per portion, isn't that a bit too expensive?"
An Rou soothed him, "Just wait and see, Dad. Within three days, I'm going to have people lining up outside the restaurant!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
