Before dawn, dark clouds seemed to envelop the sky, and even the stars and moon that were visible moments ago had vanished.
Everything felt as though it had been placed inside a completely sealed jar.
On the way back to the village, they faintly heard the distant rumble of thunder.
Nakano Asaka panicked and said, “What should we do? It’s going to rain.”
In a place close to the sea, where the ocean was very dangerous, rain was certainly not a delightful thing.
Gu Zhan frowned, thinking about how far they were from the village chief’s house, and said, “Let’s find shelter in the nearby house first.”
“But…” Nakano Asaka wanted to argue; most of the houses here were dilapidated, and only the village chief's house could provide shelter from the wind and rain. If they didn’t hurry back, what would happen if the rain poured down heavily and the outside got flooded?
However, when he turned to look, Miyamoto Satoshi didn’t seem to have any objections either.
These two were definitely smarter than him, so he said nothing and followed them into the nearby house.
Coincidentally, just as they entered, a torrential downpour came crashing down. The rain arrived strangely, starting off strong and then intensifying without any gradual buildup, as if it were “smashing” down upon them.
Nakano Asaka stood at the door, looking at the heavy rain with lingering fear.
Thankfully, when Gu Zhan suggested finding shelter, he didn’t say anything else.
If they had slowed down even a bit, they would have been drenched.
“Ah!”
Nakano Asaka stood at the door for a while when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his calf. His character was that of a carefree university student, wearing shorts while climbing a mountain. Now, as the rainwater hit the ground, it splashed back up, hitting his calf perfectly.
Before Nakano Asaka could react, his legs gave way, and he started to fall into the curtain of rain.
Fortunately, Gu Zhan was quick to grab him.
“What’s wrong with you?” Gu Zhan asked.
“I... I don’t know... Ow!” The pain quickly spread from the point of contact, feeling fiery and instantly draining Nakano Asaka of his strength.
Gu Zhan, fearing he would get drenched again, forcibly dragged him two meters inside.
Once they reached a dry area, he let him go.
“There’s something wrong with this rain!” Nakano Asaka finally reacted and hurriedly shouted to Miyamoto Satoshi at the door, “Get in!”
They closed the door behind them, completely blocking the rainwater outside.
Nakano Asaka, still shaken, said, “Thank goodness we moved fast. If that had poured down on us, we would have melted on the spot!”
His words reminded Gu Zhan, who had figured out what was happening.
“This rain is most likely caused by that evil god; it doesn’t want us to leave here or meet the client.” Gu Zhan frowned, “The rainwater might be part of its power.”
Nakano Asaka was dumbfounded. He thought that as long as they stayed away from the sea, the evil god wouldn’t be able to do anything to them.
But if even getting caught in the rain was dangerous, what could they do? If the rain continued, wouldn’t they be trapped here!
Gu Zhan looked around and said, “If this is true… let’s search the room. I feel like…”
He was unsure, and the sentence was left unfinished.
Gu Zhan walked into the room by himself, while Takagawa Ayaka stayed by Nakano Asaka’s side.
Miyamoto Satoshi glanced at Nakano Asaka, who understood he wanted to go inside to check, so he said, “I’m fine now, you go ahead.”
Only then did Miyamoto Satoshi leave.
He quickly joined Gu Zhan and found him staring at the beam of the room.
“The structure of this house is quite unreasonable,” Gu Zhan said slowly. “Most of it is made of wooden beams, which can easily get damp, and…”
He felt that there was something off about this house.
The village chief's house was large and had many rooms, with bedrooms and kitchens included.
But in this small house… there was hardly any furniture.
The important thing was that he didn’t find a bedroom.
Yet in the nearby cupboard, there were many daily necessities.
It felt very disjointed.
Miyamoto Satoshi said, “Maybe they don’t live here, just come by occasionally.”
But Gu Zhan felt that was impossible; this village wasn’t large, and the houses weren’t far apart. There was no need for one house for meals and another for sleeping.
Moreover, upon thinking carefully, it seemed like there was no place for the village chief to sleep either… The house had several bedrooms, but they were all guest rooms.
Gu Zhan walked around the corner and searched twice before suddenly noticing a strange sound coming from a certain spot.
“Is this place… empty?”
He crouched down and knocked, confirming that it was indeed hollow and made of wood.
However, this wooden board was covered with a thick layer of straw, looking like it was used for cooking.
Unexpectedly, there were secrets hidden beneath it.
Miyamoto Satoshi also crouched down, “Let’s clear it away and take a look.”
They pushed aside the rotting straw that had stuck together, revealing what lay beneath the wooden board… no, beneath the wooden board, what was exposed was a stone slab.
Miyamoto Satoshi pulled away the wooden board and discovered a handle on the stone slab.
It was of good quality; even after years, it was still usable.
“Let’s see what’s inside.”
The two worked together to pull the handle open, revealing another space below.
A staircase led down into the dim underground.
A cool breeze wafted up from below, indicating that there was indeed a ventilation route down there.
Gu Zhan and Miyamoto Satoshi exchanged glances, both harboring the same doubt: should they go down?
Miyamoto Satoshi said, “Let’s go back and discuss it with Nakano.”
Gu Zhan nodded.
He too felt they shouldn’t recklessly go down.
The two returned to the door, where Nakano Asaka was chatting with Takagawa Ayaka. He didn’t know what amusing topic he had brought up, but Takagawa Ayaka smiled, and her mood improved significantly.
Miyamoto Satoshi sighed, “To be able to make someone laugh in a place like this, that’s a special talent.”
Nakano Asaka noticed they were back and looked up to ask, “Any new discoveries?”
Miyamoto Satoshi replied, “We found a tunnel. Are you okay? Can you walk with us?”
Nakano Asaka said, “I’m fine. After drying off the rainwater, it seems to hurt less.”
However, he still looked somewhat reluctant. When he tried to stand, he couldn’t get up on the first attempt.
Gu Zhan suggested, “Let’s rest for a bit.”
Nakano Asaka didn’t want to hold them back; they were already in the mid-to-late stage of the quest.
Any small mistake could mean they might never get out.
Miyamoto Satoshi added, “Let’s take a break; we’re stuck here anyway. A little delay won’t hurt.”
“Okay.” Seeing that neither of them was in a hurry, Nakano Asaka sat back down.
Just then, by coincidence, Chishima Kei’s phone rang.
Gu Zhan took out the phone; it was the client contacting them, asking where they were.
Gu Zhan replied, “It’s raining here. We’re at the village chief’s house.”
Miyamoto Tomomichi said, “Are you intentionally deceiving him?”
“Just testing,” Gu Zhan responded. “We don’t know how much this client knows about Haizhu Village, nor how much he knows about us.”
For example, in the last quest, the director could observe the space through walls, but the head nurse couldn’t.
They didn’t know what “permissions” this NPC had in this quest.
Understanding the opponent’s abilities would give them confidence in dealing with him.
Miyamoto Satoshi nodded, agreeing with Gu Zhan’s reasoning.
After the conversation, Gu Zhan put away the phone and said, “From what he said, it seems he’ll need some time to get here.”
After that, no one responded.
All the information that needed to be shared had been shared; everyone was stuck in this rain-soaked house like an isolated island.
Outside, the sound of rain was incessant, showing no signs of letting up.
As expected, things were going badly, just as Nakano Asaka feared; the rain continued to fall… and it got heavier. The not-so-sturdy house started leaking.
At first, it was just certain spots on the ceiling that could be avoided, but later, even the cracks in the door were seeping water.
They didn’t dare open the door and could only look outside through the window.
The rainwater outside had accumulated, turning the yard into a small pond, water steadily spreading to lower ground.
They couldn’t touch the water and had to retreat further inside.
However, just as their luck was running out, the rain began to invade the room, and those hidden things in the dark started to stir.
Gu Zhan stood by the window and took a look outside; creatures emerged from the darkness, taking advantage of the heavy rain. They should be the former villagers of Haizhu Village, now so mutated they were unrecognizable as humans. They crawled on all fours, covered in black, their flesh and blood gone, leaving only dry skin tightly clinging to their bodies.
It seemed they could smell the scent of the living.
They gradually approached the house.
“Damn.” Nakano Asaka looked up at the scene, horrified, “We’re surrounded!”
“Not good.” Miyamoto Satoshi frowned and immediately scanned the surroundings, “They might come in; we need to think of a way.”
The doors and windows weren’t locked, and the fragile door could hardly hold up against the soaking rain for much longer.
“There are tables and stools here.” Gu Zhan quickly moved a table to block the door.
“Yes, yes, yes! We can use this to block them!” Nakano Asaka despite his aching leg, stood up to help.
They barricaded the door and windows with all the furniture in the room.
Outside, the “monsters” quickly approached the house. They first climbed onto the windows and door, and when they found they couldn’t get in, they started climbing the walls.
Their fingernails scraping against the walls made a “tapping” sound that, if listened to closely, almost sounded like “knocking.”
Takagawa Ayaka felt a chill: “The knocking sound from before…”
Miyamoto Satoshi quickly said, “The rain is enhancing their strength… we can’t hold out for long.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a black hand suddenly penetrated the wooden table, reaching in. The curved black nails grazed Miyamoto Satoshi's face, sharper than a knife, leaving a bloody mark in an instant.
The hand reached for him as if trying to twist his head off.
Fortunately, Miyamoto Satoshi reacted quickly and tilted his head to avoid the attack.
“What do we do?!” Takagawa Ayaka panicked. Seeing the monsters continuously reaching in with their claws, she grabbed a nearby discarded frying pan and started swinging it at them.
The scene was akin to playing whack-a-mole.
Gu Zhan: “…”
[Laughing my ass off, I didn’t expect this girl to be such a fighter.]
[How can a person who’s survived until now not have some skills?]
Takagawa Ayaka managed to single-handedly fend off the monsters’ intrusion.
However, this was merely a delaying tactic; the rain wouldn’t stop, and neither would the monsters.
They were already dead, tireless and pain-free, but their stamina was limited.
On the window side, Nakano Asaka was still fixated, but the cabinet blocking the window had been penetrated too many times by those monsters and was about to collapse.
“What should we do?” In this situation, even Miyamoto Tomomichi was getting anxious.
After a moment of silence, Gu Zhan said, “I’ll call the client.”
“Call the client?” Even Miyamoto Asaka couldn’t figure out what he meant by that.
Gu Zhan had already pulled out his phone and dialed the client’s number.
As expected, when the client was looking for players, they wouldn’t answer the phone.
Gu Zhan’s call didn’t go through, but he didn’t feel discouraged; he directly typed in the chat: “We’re surrounded by the villagers of Haizhu Village. When can you get here? If we die before you arrive, they will take our scales.”
As expected, once the topic of scales came up, the client became anxious.
The next second, the phone rang.
“I’m almost there. Where are you? Stay inside the house and don’t go out; they can’t get inside!”
Gu Zhan calmly replied, “It’s raining outside, and they’re trying to come in through the windows and doors... This house is too dilapidated; we can’t hold out for long.”
“It’s raining... It actually rained...” His voice carried a hint of disbelief. After a moment, he said, “Look for a passage leading underground inside the house. There should be waterproof rooms built down there; every house should have them... Let me think... at the village chief's house...”
Afterward, his voice became intermittent, likely due to a poor signal.
Gu Zhan exchanged glances with Miyamoto Satoshi. Indeed, the villagers here weren’t entirely unprepared for the evil god.
Knowing that the ocean and rain were manifestations of the evil god’s power, they had constructed a basement inside the house. No wonder it felt strange when they first entered.
“Let’s go; to the basement!” Miyamoto Satoshi instructed the other two.
“But...” Nakano Asaka hesitated, looking at the crumbling house. They were barely holding it up, and if they moved away, those monsters would swarm in. Could they really escape?
Miyamoto Satoshi wore a subtle smile. “As for whether we can successfully escape into the basement, that depends on everyone’s abilities. I’ll count to three, and on one, we all let go!”
Gu Zhan felt a long-lost thrill; with Miyamoto Satoshi's countdown, his heartbeat quickened.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One... Let go!”
“Run!”
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