Jiang Yan instantly turned around without any hesitation, not even giving a glance to the goat's head behind him.
The long green cloak trailed on the snow, and Jiang Yan lazily replied to the "Hunter," "I will try my best to complete the task you've given me."
Seeing his master's command rejected, the "Butcher" immediately changed his expression. He looked toward the "Hunter," waiting for the "Hunter" to issue the command to have the little sheep's head twisted off!
However, his master merely looked at the little sheep's retreating figure with indulgence and helplessness, saying, "Yan Yan can be quite willful at times, especially over insignificant matters."
The "Butcher" who had originally prepared for a bloodbath, had his muscles tremble and was forced to suppress his murderous intent. He stiffly nodded.
At this moment, the game forum became lively again:
[Why can the BOSS flirt with NPCs? Why can't we flirt with NPCs?!]
[The main system is glitching again!!]
[If I were Li Ze Bai, I'd be furious too]
[Is it because he said Jiang Yan is the Main's God wife? No way! Are we really going to ban speech on a horror game forum?]
[I guess it's the main system glitching again.]
[Honestly, I'm starting to suspect the rumor that Jiang Yan is the main god's illegitimate child is true]
Jiang Yan dragged his cloak and held his scythe as he walked to the players' side. The "Hunter" smiled lightly and waved at him, "Good luck, Yan Yan! I'll pick you up at dusk."
As he finished speaking, a strong wind blew, causing snow to swirl through the air. The "Hunter" and "Butcher" vanished from the players' sight along with the storm.
Once the "Hunter" and "Butcher" had left, the six players stood in the snow, staring at each other.
"Should we start looking for the rose?" Lei Li, the youngest among them, broke the silence.
Jiang Yan shook his head. "The forest is so vast. I'll look for rose for the master with the corpse driver. You can try to see if you can escape. If you can complete the master's game, the master will be very happy."
In other words, the "rose" couldn’t be found, so it was better to think about how to escape.
The players lowered their heads, thinking it through. It seemed like that made sense.
The forest was so vast, how could they possibly find a "rose" that might not even be a rose? What if that "rose" was just a rock or a branch? How could they possibly find it?
As for the thieves trying to steal the rose... Well, it wasn’t an impossible analysis, but since they couldn’t even find the "rose," everything else was just speculation. If they were wrong, it would all be over!
It was better to focus on how to escape the forest. After all, they didn’t know where the "rose" was, but the exit wouldn’t change.
On their first day inside, the main system had said that the wooden house and the surrounding open space were in the very center of the entire Blackwood Forest. As long as they walked in one direction, no matter which direction, that would lead to the exit.
However, there were ten players in total, and six of them had already died while trying to escape.
Five of them became "Hunting Dogs," and one was killed by the "Bear." No one knew exactly what dangers lay along this path.
Anyway, their only goal was to "escape," and there were no conflicting interests between them. This was a common goal for all of them.
So, rather than searching for a rose they had no idea of the location of, it would be better for everyone to find a way to escape together.
"Why should we trust you? You're just a lapdog for the 'Hunter.'" Zhou Hao said, looking at the golden scythe in Jiang Yan's hand, which symbolized the "Judge's" authority, with dissatisfaction.
"Zhou Hao..." Lei Li gently tugged at Zhou Hao's sleeve.
She and Zhou Hao were classmates, and in this terrifying game world, the only person she could trust was Zhou Hao.
But Zhou Hao’s personality was sometimes too impulsive, and now was definitely not the time to be in conflict with the NPC in front of them.
"I never asked you to trust me," Jiang Yan said calmly. "On the contrary, it’s I who need to avoid being misled by you."
He wasn’t interested in the provocation of this "spirited" young man in front of him. Right now, he had more important things to worry about.
"The 'Rabbit' and the 'Magpie,'" he thought. "The 'Rabbit' forgot it was a 'Rabbit,' but the 'Magpie' always remembered it was a 'Magpie.'"
Two-thirds.
What did this two-thirds really mean? Was it merely the numerical relationship between "Sheep" and "Elf"?
Jiang Yan looked at the golden inlaid scythe in his hand and now just wanted to decapitate the "Hunter" with it.
Suddenly, Jiang Yan asked 663, "I remember you once said that some extreme players, when faced with problems, would choose to destroy the dungeon or directly kill the BOSS. What do you think the chances are that I could kill the 'Hunter' now?"
663 fell silent for a moment before responding, "Leaving aside the fact that one of the real NPCs' tasks is to maintain the normal operation of system NPCs and dungeons—if you harm a system NPC, the main system will directly erase you—let me give you some data. The 'Hunter' is 251 cm tall, and you’re 178 cm."
178 cm is definitely not short; with a pair of shoes, it would be 180 cm.
But when Jiang Yan thought of how easily the other person could pick him up, like holding a child, he silently abandoned the plan.
Unfortunately, Jiang Yan had been lazy his whole life. Just when he felt the urge to be a little passionate, it was crushed before it even began.
---
The group decided to head deeper into the Ebony Forest along one direction. The forest was full of paths, and the trees, resembling naked figures, seemed to leap out at them, making people's eyes dizzy.
Footprints were left on the snow, and the wind carried snowflakes that stung their faces painfully. Each step was a torment.
Jiang Yan took off his down feather cloak and gave it to the two girls. With such thin and torn clothes, they wouldn't have a chance to survive in this snowstorm.
The players walked ahead, and Jiang Yan, along with Ding Wanyu and the other two, followed behind.
Although the players had all decided to find a way out, Ding Wanyu hadn’t given up on searching for the "thief," as it was related to his points. He had just been deducted 100 points earlier that morning due to a system glitch.
In this game, no one ignored their points.
Ding Wanyu silently glanced at Jiang Yan, who was walking slowly beside him, and thought about what he had said last night—that he didn’t care about points. How could that be?
Ding Wanyu sneered, curling his lips in contempt.
At that moment, the "Hunting Dogs" howled in the distance, and the players tensed up, stopping in their tracks and holding their breath.
The howls of the "Hunting Dogs" were always accompanied by fierce wind and snow, and the heavy storm made it hard to stand firm.
"Everyone, huddle together!" Ding Wanyu shouted.
The six of them stumbled and huddled together. At this point, Wang Yu snapped his fingers, and a large tent appeared, covering everyone and blocking the snowstorm from outside.
Everyone froze for a second, then turned to look at Wang Yu.
Wang Yu awkwardly pushed up his glasses and said, "This is my item."
"A tent?" Jiang Yan asked.
"No, it's an unlimited item," Wang Yu replied casually.
[Wow! I’ve heard of this! It's an item that can change into any tool without any "special abilities." The bigger the changes the item can make, the stronger the user's mental power.]
[ I remember a big shot had a "tool" like this. In a "Jian" dungeon, everyone else lived like wild men, but he looked like he was on vacation.]
[Wasn’t that Xue Dun the one with the "tool" too?]
[Can two players and an NPC really have tools? In a ten-player dungeon, shouldn’t there be none?]
No wonder your friend was able to run so far in such weather, "Zhong Yun said.
Wang Yu lowered his head and didn’t speak any further.
So what if they ran far? In the end, they still couldn’t escape. And could they really escape?
"I’ve been thinking about something since yesterday," Wang Yu mumbled.
"When Xiaoxue escaped the basement, I also gave her this tent. This tent not only completely blocks wind and snow but can also hide from any beasts."
Wang Yu paused, "But why... was she still..."
His voice trailed off, and he lowered his head, fogging up his glasses.
"Because the Hunting Dogs aren't beasts, but people who’ve been corrupted," Ding Wanyu explained.
"This forest has a strong corrupting influence on humans, so you must always remember who you are."
Hearing this, Wang Yu silently clenched his fist.
Jiang Yan looked at the man in front of him, who was crying with his head lowered, and asked 663 in confusion, "I don’t really understand how couples and friends manage to enter the game together and how they can get the same dungeon."
"I remember this game requires a wish worth sacrificing your life for."
"Yes," 663 replied. "I checked, and Li Xue’s wish was for her parents and younger sister, who are suffering from terminal illnesses, to get better. Wang Yu’s wish was to fulfill Li Xue’s wish."
Jiang Yan was a bit confused: "Her family... all have terminal illnesses at the same time?"
"That’s what it says, but coincidences often bring tragedy," 663 replied.
Jiang Yan felt strange: "The coincidence of life and death can sometimes leave people powerless, just like how all the people in a family disappear unexpectedly in a tragic accident."
As the howls of the "Hunting Dogs" drew nearer, the snowstorm grew fiercer.
Wang Yu packed up his gear, and the group continued on their journey.
Under the heavy sky, the group walked toward the vast forest ahead. In front of them were withered branches, and the ground was covered with thick snow, making each step a torment.
Jiang Yan's brows furrowed tighter. He thought that if he kept walking like this for another half hour, he wouldn’t need the "Hunter" to punish him. He would just hang himself with his belt on a dead tree.
At this moment, a bit of red appeared through the dark orange trees in the distance.
"What is that?" Zhou Hao, young and with sharp eyesight, saw that bit of red immediately.
At that moment, the red spot seemed to have noticed them and began to move swiftly toward them.
As the red got closer, the group gradually saw its outline more clearly.
It was a woman, wearing a red coat, crawling on all fours toward them, with her head completely hanging from her neck, connected only by a tiny piece of skin on her neck.
With each step she took, her head swung violently, and the small piece of neck skin seemed ready to tear off at any moment, causing her head to roll into the snow the next second.
"Ghost!! Run!!" Lei Li screamed.
Ding Wanyu quickly raised his hand, "Don’t panic."
He blocked the group with his long robe, his entire presence cold and eerie, and only then did everyone remember that this man was the "corpse driver."
Ding Wanyu took out his soul summoning banner and waved it through the wind and snow in the air, "Freeze!"
The wind and snow hit the woman crawling on all fours, and then nothing happened.
Ding Wanyu turned around with a blank expression, "Alright, now we can run."
"Run!" With Wang Yu’s scream, everyone quickly turned and began to run back.
Jiang Yan, not used to running, was sluggish. As he passed, Ding Wanyu grabbed the collar of his coat to prevent him from becoming the woman’s next meal and yanked him along as they ran.
They didn’t run for long before the woman’s figure disappeared from sight, and only then did they stop.
Jiang Yan leaned against the dead tree beside him and sat down on the ground, two drops of physiological tears squeezed out.
So tired! So tired!
The longest distance he had ever run in his life was the 1,000-meter school fitness test, but he had never run like this, this deadly frantic dash. At one point, Jiang Yan even thought, why not just let that woman eat him.
"Young people need to exercise more, look, you’ve run a little and you look better," 663 said smugly, "Don’t let her eat you, or you’ll regret being born a human."
"Why?"
"She only eats the living," 663 replied.
Jiang Yan instinctively blurted out: "Bear?"
"What?" Ding Wanyu looked at the boy lying on the ground, who had originally looked lifeless but suddenly spoke.
"Did you see that corpse in the forest before?" Jiang Yan asked Ding Wanyu.
Ding Wanyu shook his head.
"Could it be the bear that killed Xue Dun?" Jiang Yan said.
Ding Wanyu thought for a moment, then seriously nodded, "It’s indeed possible, but..."
"Did any of you drop something?" the little girl Lei Li gasped and asked.
"Hmm? What’s missing?"
The group followed the direction of her finger and looked. For some reason, a road had appeared in front of them, an awful stench coming from it, so bad that they instinctively closed their eyes.
Looking closely again, they realized that the road was filled with corpses—yes, their six corpses, but not just six. There were countless repeated versions of "them," piling up along the narrow path.
Each corpse had a different degree of decay, and the further they went, the more decayed they became, as if hinting that they had actually walked this road countless times, with the same ending every time.
At this moment, three highly decayed "Lei Lis" on the road sat up, struggling to move their faces covered in maggots and thick fluid, and asked, "Did any of you drop something?"