After she stuffed her liver back into her abdomen, she casually stood up and continued dancing with Jiang Yan, holding his hand. When she noticed the maggots from her hand falling onto Jiang Yan's, she felt quite embarrassed and apologized to him.
At that moment, she lacked the extreme brutality from earlier and showed no hint of bloodthirst or madness. Ignoring her decaying body, she seemed like an ordinary, well-mannered person.
They met at a university social event; it was Christmas, and she was wearing a red coat.
Jiang Yan was startled by the sudden appearance of nonexistent memories in his mind.
He seemed to see “Bear” alive, with the face now covered in wax and corroded by decomposition, which had once been so clean and handsome.
Not just Jiang Yan, as their clumsy steps in the snow unfolded, this memory appeared in everyone's minds.
“What’s... going on?” Wang Yu asked Ding Wanyu timidly.
“It's the side plot of the dungeon,” Ding Wanyu replied calmly.
He now understood why the BOSS had wanted Jiang Yan to dance with “Bear.” Jiang Yan was now the game's “Judge,” and he needed to drive the main plot of the dungeon forward.
The main system hadn’t provided them with new character scripts for real NPCs, so the key clues to win the “Hunter” game should be hidden in the side plot of the dungeon.
Some answers still awaited them, and they would come to light along with the side plot.
However, Ding Wanyu felt there was something he had overlooked. What was it?
He watched Jiang Yan, dressed like a medieval prince by the “Hunter,” slowly dancing with the decaying “Bear” in the snow, without music or lights, with yellow-brown fluid seeping from the gaping wounds in “Bear's” broken body.
No one spoke; everything felt like a ridiculous silent play.
Memories that didn’t belong to them continued to flood everyone’s minds. Ding Wanyu cast a quick glance at Wang Yu, who was completely out of it, then at the calm Zhou Yun, and finally at Lei Li, who seemed to have lost her sanity but hadn’t yet been deemed “dead” or “polluted” by the system.
Eventually, he kindly reminded the unfortunate new players, “You’d better pay close attention; perhaps the Master will provide you with key clues to win the game in this waltz.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Yu and Zhou Yun immediately became serious.
But the memories were too mundane, so dull they occurred all the time.
It was just a memory of “Bear” meeting her simple-hearted lover in college and then beginning their sweet dates.
She originally didn’t like him, but his persistent pursuit and trivial care eventually moved her.
After graduating, a few years later, they naturally got married.
It was warm, too warm to the point of boredom.
[I feel like Jiang Yan is about to fall asleep.]
[To be honest, I’m almost asleep too.]
[Me too. What kind of love story is this in a horror game? It’s too lame.]
[Do we really have to watch how many cups of water “Bear” drank while alive? What does that have to do with the key clues?]
[The key is that this “Bear” feels so out of place! It seems like she was forcefully inserted into this dungeon.]
[No way! Didn’t you see when “Bear” killed Xue Dun? Her child called Xue Dun “Dad.”]
[Oh, I was watching Jiang Yan sleep at the time. But aren’t those creepy ghost kids always calling the nearest man “Dad” and the nearest woman “Mom”?]
Once Jiang Yan confirmed that the woman before him harbored no murderous intent, he relaxed.
Although the broken figure before him was disgusting, for Jiang Yan, who had a realistic specimen room at home, it became less disturbing over time.
The scenes in his mind were boring to an excessive degree, and yet he had to keep turning in circles, which made Jiang Yan feel drowsy.
Seeing this, the “Hunter,” playing with the golden scythe belonging to the “Judge,” said with a hint of concern, “If you’re tired, we can take a break and continue dancing later.”
As soon as the “Hunter” finished speaking, the forest echoed with the main system's announcement:
[Dungeon: Sheep's Forest, Dungeon Progress: 80%]
[Player: Xue Dun, Escape Progress: 50%]
[System NPC: “Hunter,” dialogue error due to system bug, has been promptly fixed.]
When the main system's announcement ended, the “Hunter” discreetly shot a glare at the horizon.
[Another bug? Why are there bugs every day?]
[Has the main god gone on vacation these past few days? Why isn’t anyone maintaining the system with all these bugs?]
[This dungeon has been plagued with bugs nonstop, while other dungeons have none!]
[It’s probably because the difficulty of this dungeon is too high, causing some anomalies in the main system’s judgments.]
[Don’t you think that an excessively high dungeon difficulty is the biggest bug?]
Hearing that the “Hunter” had a bug, Jiang Yan silently lowered his gaze. Suddenly, everything strange about the “Hunter” seemed to make sense.
He had intended to ask 663 why the BOSS in this dungeon acted so freely, as if it wasn’t under the system's control.
Just then, a familiar face flashed in Jiang Yan's mind—Xue Dun.
The last time he saw this face, it had been turned into a basket for holding items; its eyes could stretch like a snail's. At the time, Jiang Yan had been startled, and looking back now, it seemed quite comical.
Setting aside the fact that it was a real head, the craftsmanship and style were something someone would definitely appreciate.
Due to how shocking that image had been, Jiang Yan almost forgot what Xue Dun normally looked like. So when the real appearance appeared in his mind, he paused for a second or two, feeling quite familiar.
At this point, Bear was already pregnant, and Xue Dun appeared in his mind as her husband, along with a woman who looked strikingly similar to Xue Dun—her mother.
She was pregnant, and because her husband was busy with work, he brought his mother from their hometown to take care of her.
Her mother was very kind to her, considering her struggles during pregnancy, cooking for her every day and researching pregnancy recipes online, telling her that eating too much meat wasn’t good for the baby and she needed to eat more vegetables.
She said she wanted to go home; she missed her mother, but both he and his mother opposed it.
The reason was that she had married into their family, and if she cried and made a fuss to go home, others would think they treated her poorly and would gossip.
Moreover, who goes running back to their family after marrying into another family?
Such remarks felt like they belonged to the last century. The teachings and principles she learned in school told her that it was pure nonsense, but she didn’t argue back.
She didn’t know why she didn’t speak up. She thought... since he and his mother said so, perhaps it must be true?
Jiang Yan looked at Xue Dun's increasingly plump body and the gold watch on her thick wrist, covered by kiss marks that were now faint.
She was sick.
Though she was pregnant, her body gradually began to “decay.”
The doctor asked her about any physical contact, and she answered, “My husband.”
The doctor fell silent for a moment and then said to her with slight sympathy, “There’s no way to use medication now. When is your due date? You must deliver the child first before we can use any medication. Given your current condition, you will need a C-section; a natural birth may endanger the baby.”
She really wanted to ask, “Doctor, did my husband cheat on me?”
But the words caught in her throat as the baby inside her gave her no courage to speak up.
Finally, it was her due date, and she gave birth to a daughter, weighing six pounds and two ounces.
“Do you want to take a break?” Jiang Yan asked kindly of the “Bear” before him.
She looked up at Jiang Yan with a bit of confusion; the originally pupil-less eyes now showed bright green irises, with red blood vessels covering the entire sclera. Blood flowed from the corners of her eyes into the rotting holes in her face.
“Me? No, thank you,” she politely replied.
Her liver fell to the ground again, but this time she didn’t bend down to pick it up; instead, she stomped on it.
Seeing this, Jiang Yan could only grit his teeth and continue dancing; he felt exhausted.
His body was tired, and his heart was heavy.
He witnessed how Xue Dun didn’t like the daughter she had given birth to, taunting her coldly, and how she became pregnant again shortly after giving birth, despite not fully recovering from her illness.
He saw her give birth to two more daughters and then lose the pregnancy. Xue Dun insisted she go to the hospital to check the baby’s gender and ultimately demanded she abort the daughter she was carrying.
He saw her crying while holding her mother, and her mother could only argue with Xue Dun’s mother.
The family was in an uproar, with several little girls huddling together, trembling and silently crying in the corner.
Though Jiang Yan’s previous marriage had ended unexpectedly, he had been happy during it.
In his eyes, marriage had always been just between two people. Today he finally understood that marriage involved so many others.
He and that person also had no children. He couldn’t have them, and neither could that person. Jiang Yan's parents once asked them if they wanted to adopt two kids to liven up the house a bit.
Later, one day, Jiang Yan's father came to their house and fainted after being frightened by the wax figure of a head dripping with plasma hanging in the living room. He never mentioned it again.
After all, facing a blood-dripping head every day would not be good for a child's worldview.
But after looking for so long, Jiang Yan still didn’t find anything related to the copy game.
The traces of “rabbit” and “magpie” in the bland life of “bear” existed only in the storybooks she read to the children.
That book also provided a scene where a little rabbit in the forest couldn’t find its way home, but in reality, it had always been on the way; it was just distracted by the carrots and cabbages along the path, not persevering to keep going forward.
Thus, it didn’t know that the end of the road was home.
While telling this story, her little daughter innocently asked, “Mom, is it because Dad is also lost that he hasn’t come home for so long?”
Lost?
Jiang Yan distractedly glanced at Lei li, who was kneeling on the velvet cloak, staring at her own corpse not far away.
At present, there was only one road before them, submerged by “Lei li’s” corpse.
In fact, it wasn’t just Lei li’s; upon closer inspection, there were two or three corpses of Wang Yu, Zhou Yun, and even Ding Wanyu mixed underneath Leili's body.
Jiang Yan also keenly noticed a few blood-stained green velvet cloaks trapped beneath the mountain of corpses. That should belong to him, right?
At that moment, Jiang Yan realized that there were two people missing from this pile of corpses—Zhou Hao and Xue Dun.
If Xue Dun had already died under the “bear’s” claws when they found this road, then why was Zhou Hao missing?
There was no Zhou Hao, but there were countless dead “Leili.”
Weren’t they companions?
663 said that Leili entered the game because of Zhou Hao, but they had no blood relation, and Leili didn’t have a crush on Zhou Hao. So, what was the reason for Leili entering the game?
Was Leili the rabbit lost on the little road?
The “rabbit” forgot that she was a “rabbit,” and Leili forgot that she was Leili?
That was obviously not the case.
The “magpie” always remembered that she was a “magpie,” but didn’t each of them always remember that they were themselves?
So what was forgotten? What was remembered?
At that moment, the scene in Jiang Yan’s mind changed again—Xue Dun brought back a woman with a protruding belly.
He looked at her, arrogantly pointing at the unfamiliar woman’s belly, saying, “It’s a son.”
She said she couldn’t get a divorce; her children needed her.
He replied, “Then take them all; it’s of no use leaving a bunch of burdens here.”
She shook her head. After so many years of constant pregnancy and childbirth, she had lost the ability to work. Even if she went out to find a job now, she couldn’t support so many children.
“No way! I won’t marry you as long as she’s here!” The woman’s voice was high-pitched and sharp, sounding very jarring. “Didn’t you say you had no wife? Didn’t you say you were already divorced?”
The woman who had been brought back clearly didn’t expect the current situation, and she hysterically lashed out at Xue Dun.
She numbly protected her children behind her and looked at the girl with the belly with some sympathy.
Xue Dun’s plan had evidently gone awry; after that woman returned home, she didn’t hesitate to abort the child in her belly and sever ties with Xue Dun.
That night, Xue Dun came home drunk, and at that time, she was hugging her children on the bed, telling bedtime stories.
The story was about a lost little rabbit.
Xue Dun drunkenly barged into the room, grabbing her hair and pulling her down from the bed amidst the children’s screams.
“Mom——!”
She heard her daughters crying. She struggled to break free from the man’s grip, trying to comfort her children, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid! Baby, don’t be scared! Good... just go outside, don’t look!”
“Don’t bully my mom!” The older girl hugged her father’s legs, only to be kicked against the wall the next second.
She watched her daughter’s head thud against the wall, then fall to the ground, motionless, like a broken doll.
Seeing this, she didn’t know where she got the strength to break free from the man’s grasp, rushing towards her daughter lying on the ground, unresponsive.
Panicking, she carefully picked her daughter up, feeling her hands covered in bright red blood.
“Hospital!” She picked her daughter up and was about to head out, saying, “Don’t be afraid; Mommy will take you to the hospital!”
Just as she reached the door, a heavy blow to the back of her head made her instantly collapse.
Immediately after, the man grabbed her hair and swung an axe, hitting the back of her head again and again.
Bright red blood and white brain matter gushed out of her head, her eyes wide open, despairingly looking towards her unconscious daughter.
Her children watched the cruel scene before them, screaming and crying.
They called out “Daddy” again and again, terrified by their frenzied father and broken mother.
Her second daughter, who had already started first grade, sobbed and ran outside. She was a very clever girl.
Crying, she ran out of the house and knocked on a neighbor’s door. An amiable old lady opened it, and she cried to the old lady, “Grandma, save my mommy… save my mommy…”
The neighbors all knew about their family’s situation; it wasn’t that no one had called the police. But what could the police do when they came?
The children needed someone to care for them, and she didn’t have a job. Time and again, she called the police, time and again, sought reconciliation and forgiveness.
Gradually, the neighbors also became numb, and their gazes toward her gradually turned sarcastic.
The old lady compassionately hugged her daughter into the house, gently comforting her, “Oh, it’s okay, good child, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”
The daughter cried so hard she could hardly catch her breath. She tugged at the old lady, wanting to take her to her own home: “Grandma… please save my mommy…”
The old lady thought it was just like every other time before, so she only comforted the child not to cry.
It wasn't until the little girl said, "Daddy chopped off Mommy's head!" that the old lady realized the seriousness of the situation and hurriedly called the police.
When the police arrived, the ground was covered in blood and the little girl's dismembered arms.
Her head had been chopped off and hidden inside the pumpkin she had bought to make soup.
In the pumpkin, she lay quietly watching,
Watching as the man was handcuffed and taken away in a police car, watching her second daughter escape while crying helplessly, hugging her mother's body, watching the police as they picked up the pieces of her daughters' corpses with sighs of regret.
"Why didn't she run? We mediated with that family countless times, yet she wouldn't leave him! Alas... that poor child who managed to escape."
Indeed, why didn't she run?
No, why did she have to give birth to them in the first place? If they hadn’t come out of her womb, they wouldn’t have been killed by their own father.
Why did she marry him? His attitude towards her had become increasingly impatient after they graduated, hadn’t it?
Why did they ever meet?
"You look so beautiful in red." At that time, she thought there was light in his eyes, but now she realized that the lights reflected the same way in everyone’s eyes.
So why, in a world filled with so many people, did she have to suffer so much?
Why?
A storybook appeared in the blood pool, now turning brown from the blood—Little Rabbit got lost on the way home.
The "bear" in front of her suddenly stopped. When Jiang Yan looked up at her again, he was stunned for a moment.
Before him stood a beautiful woman, completely devoid of the earlier terrifying demeanor.
"Thank you," she smiled at Jiang Yan, as if forgetting everything. "The day after tomorrow, our major has a social event. May I invite you to join?"
Jiang Yan was taken aback for a second, then nodded, "I'll save you a seat."
"Great!"
The woman turned and walked a few steps, her shoes still carrying the remnants of her own liver that she had just stepped on.
"By the way, which major are you in?" The woman turned back to smile at Jiang Yan, her face illuminated by the bright white snow and her sparkling eyes.
"Uh... I'm in the second year of tourism management, class three. Jiang Yan."
"I'm in the finance class next to yours! My name is Li Xue."
After saying this, she turned and disappeared into the dark woods, leaving a group of people astonished.
Li Xue?
Wang Yu immediately looked up, his eyes turning red as he stared at the clean, beautiful woman in front of him. He muttered, "Li Xue... Li Xue..."
Li Xue was Wang Yu's girlfriend, and she had been turned into a "hound" yesterday. Coincidentally, the "bear" was also named Li Xue.
Of course, "Li Xue" is indeed a common name.
Sweat dripped down Jiang Yan's forehead as the applause from the "hunter" drew everyone's attention.
"She didn't even eat Jiang Yan." The "hunter" said regretfully, "I was hoping to see her beg for mercy before tearing open Jiang Yan's belly!"
As he spoke, he lightly appeared behind Jiang Yan, lifting the exhausted little lamb from the snow.
"Why is Jiang Yan always so stubborn? He'd rather dance with that monster than kiss me," the "hunter" said.
Jiang Yan coldly stared at the goat head in front of him; the sharp horns on its head looked quite terrifying.
"You have a pretty deep misunderstanding of yourself, my master," Jiang Yan replied.
"Hunter": "..."
[Fuck! Such a bold one!]
[It's a miracle he didn't die!]
[I told you Jiang Yan wouldn't die! So excited! My wife and the vengeful spirit are still alive after dancing together!]
[I feel like Li Xue never really wanted to kill Jiang Yan, right? Jiang Yan is the judge, and she just killed Xue Dun, perhaps to prove her innocence to the judge.]
[Xue Dun deserved to die!]
[Agreed, he deserved it!]
"I spoiled Jiang Yan too much," the "hunter" said, then he gently kissed Jiang Yan's hair.
Jiang Yan obediently let him hold him. The previous events had left him a bit dazed.
He leaned against the "hunter's" shoulder, panting, as thoughts of Li Xue's suffocating marriage filled his mind. He couldn't understand why she didn't choose to divorce in the first place.
Jiang Yan's thoughts drifted a bit far. He wondered why Li Xue, who had such a difficult life, never chose to leave. What kind of reason made her choose to leave so resolutely?
At this moment, the "hunter" gently caressed Jiang Yan's soft cheek and asked, "What is Jiang Yan thinking about?"
What was he thinking? He was recalling the details before that person left.
They had fought as well, but Jiang Yan himself was not someone who liked to argue, so rather than saying they fought, it was more of a cold war.
Compared to Li Xue, their marriage seemed like child's play.
Jiang Yan looked into the "hunter's" bright green eyes, the scene of that person leaving floating in his mind: "Jiang Yan, if you don't apologize to me, I won't go home."
Did he apologize in the end? It seemed he hadn’t.
But what had they even fought about?
The "hunter" pinched Jiang Yan's face: "A distracted little kitten will be punished."
As he spoke, he childishly squeezed Jiang Yan's cheeks, making his entire face puff up.
[...Wow, what a terrifying punishment.]
[Yeah, that's really scary.]
[Jiang Yan is probably about to cry from fear.]
[I also want to pinch Jiang Yan's cheeks!]
[Let him go! Let me punish him!]
[Hey! Don't you want to kiss him? Now's your chance, Jiang Yan can't resist, can he?]
[...What's up with the comments? Is there a bug in my system? Why is no one discussing the plot, only the NPCs?]
After the "punishment," the "hunter" set Jiang Yan back down in the snow, handing him the golden sickle that symbolized the "judge."
He bent down, looking at the clearly still out of it little lamb, and said, "There’s less than an hour until dusk. I'm waiting for your answer, my dear little judge."
With that, he and the "hounds" behind him disappeared into the woods with a gust of wind and snow.
—
Wang Yu set up his tent again, while two NPCs and three players discussed the contents of Li Xue's memories inside the tent.
Lei Li was forcibly brought back into the tent by Zhong Yun. Ding Wanyu suggested that she should stay outside the tent, but Zhong Yun replied that the system had not deemed her dead, so she should still be considered one of their companions.
“The lost rabbit has actually always been on the way home; it just hasn’t kept going,” Wang Yu muttered with his head down.
“So who is the rabbit?” Zhong Yun asked, puzzled.
Ding Wanyu glanced at Jiang Yan beside him; he was the judge.
“Lei li,” Jiang Yan replied.
“How can you be so sure?” Ding Wanyu questioned.
“I’m not sure, just speculating,” Jiang Yan said, his expression calm as he looked toward the corner where Lei li sat, dazed and seemingly devoid of any normal human traits.
“We’ve finished watching the current subplot. According to the game’s timeline, there shouldn’t be any extra side quests,” Jiang Yan slowly began, his lazy voice warming the hearts of those who listened.
“Li Xue entered the game as the NPC ‘Bear’ to take revenge on Xue Dun, and that’s indisputable; Xue Dun deserves to die.”
“And my personal system tells me that Lei li entered the game for Zhou Hao.”
“Unlike Li Xue, who became ‘Hound’ and is in a relationship with Wang Yu, Leili and Zhou Hao are not a couple. They have no romantic or familial ties; they’re just ordinary classmates. Why would she enter the game for Zhou Hao?”
“If it was just a simple desire to play, she wouldn’t have passed the game’s review.”
“Entering the game for someone else, if it’s not out of a ‘love’ that drives one to the brink, then it can only be a ‘grudge’ so deep that one is willing to sacrifice their life.”
“Are you saying that Lei li has a grudge against Zhou Hao?” Zhong Yun asked in surprise. “But in the basement, Lei li seemed quite concerned about Zhou Hao. She said they were classmates and should look out for each other.”
“What if Lei li has forgotten?” Jiang Yan suggested. “The ‘rabbit’ forgot it was a ‘rabbit.’ If Lei li forgot that she had a grudge against Zhou Hao, then everything makes sense.”
“And you didn’t notice?”
“Notice what?”
“In this game, You are not the only ‘corpse driver’ who’s a native of this forest. Considering the pile of Lei li’s corpses on that little path, those corpses can speak; they’re like ‘Bear.’”
Upon hearing this, everyone finally understood.
In this light, that pile of corpses was indeed like “Li Xue,” transformed into ghosts after death; they were Lei li’s corpses.
Ding Wanyu glanced at Jiang Yan in surprise; this person’s mind was sharper than he imagined, able to connect the dots like this.
[This Jiang Yan isn’t as foolish as he looks.]
[What do you mean he doesn’t look foolish? Yan Yan looks smart, okay?]
[Smart is a stretch; let’s just say he’s calm. In such a tense atmosphere, having just danced with a fierce ghost, it’s quite impressive that he can analyze things so calmly.]
[You’re just blowing smoke!]
[Ha! If you’re so amazing, why don’t you give it a shot? You’d probably be paralyzed with fear the moment ‘Bear’ reached out to you!]
[That’s true. Being able to dance with such a corpse and remain so calm shows a mental fortitude not everyone possesses.]
“Aren’t you quite clever? You should use your brain more often; otherwise, it’ll rust,” 663 reminded him.
“Why would someone create trouble for themselves?” Jiang Yan lazily replied.
He was exhausted after running around in the snow and dancing with “Bear”; the amount of exercise he got today could last him a year.
Jiang Yan leaned lazily against the tent’s support, pondering what kind of grudge Lei li could possibly have against Zhou Hao.
Unlike the deadly feud between Li Xue and Xue Dun, both of whom were still students, what kind of hatred would warrant a little girl sacrificing her life?
A few days ago, Zhou Hao seemed normal around Lei li, showing no signs of guilt. It was only after seeing that pile of Lei li’s corpses that he fled in a panic.
Could it be that he caused Lei li’s death?
That shouldn’t be the case; if it were true, he would have felt fear at first sight of Lei li, rather than fleeing in a panic after seeing her corpses.
If it wasn’t about death, then what was it? What kind of blood feud could exist between two high school students? It couldn’t possibly be about Zhou Hao owing Lei li money, right?
Jiang Yan yawned; in any case, he was about ninety percent sure that Lei li was the “rabbit.”
Now he needed to find the “Magpie.”
He turned his gaze to Wang Yu and Zhou Yun. One had a girlfriend whose name coincidentally matched “Bear.” Was it really just because that name was so common?
The other showed no change in expression when seeing corpses and rotting flesh. It was too coincidental if Zhou Yun also had a specimen room at home.
Jiang Yan then glanced at Ding Wanyu, who was also furrowing his brows, studying him.
Ding Wanyu was probably struggling with figuring out who the “Thief” was. Jiang Yan silently sighed as he touched the card in his pocket.
This was difficult to guess. He still couldn’t comprehend one thing—why did the “Hunter” choose him to be the judge?
The “judge” must be an “innocent person,” so whether it was “rabbit,” “magpie,” or “thief,” no one would suspect Jiang Yan since he was the “judge.”
However, Jiang Yan himself had already taken on the identity of a “thief.” If that was the case, the “Hunter” choosing him as the “judge” was merely making things difficult for this group of “police” catching the “thief.”
Searching for the “thief” among a bunch of “civilians,” only to find that the “thief” was the high and mighty “judge.”
This subplot was impossible to play!
Could it be that the system deducted a hundred points from him as compensation? Jiang Yan mused.
He glanced sympathetically at Ding Wanyu, but their situations were different; if Ding Wanyu couldn’t catch the “thief,” he would lose points, while Jiang Yan could lose his life if caught!
Moreover, his subplot task was to find the “rabbit” and the “magpie.” The “Hunter” had said that if he couldn’t complete the task, he would face punishment.
What kind of punishment would it be? Jiang Yan remembered the earlier scene where a BOSS had turned a colleague into a meat bun in front of him, and his drowsiness vanished instantly.
Outside the tent, the golden hue on the horizon grew more dazzling; time was running out.
“Do you currently have any clues about the thief?” Jiang Yan straightened up and asked.
Aside from the dazed Lei li, the other three shook their heads.
“Then you should go home,” Jiang Yan said. “The master said that if you can’t find the thief before dusk, but you can escape this forest before then, that would count as your victory in the game.”
“The rabbit got lost on its way home, but it’s actually always been on the road home.”
“That road should be that little path outside. Dusk is approaching; follow this road home.” As he spoke, Jiang Yan pushed Lei li into Zhong Yun’s arms. “Take her with you; she probably wants to go home too.”
Zhou Yun held Lei li a bit tighter. Since the system hadn’t judged her as dead, she was still alive, so she naturally couldn’t stay here like the two NPCs.
“But… did you find the ‘Magpie’?” Zhou Yun hesitated.
“The master said you can face punishment for not finding the correct answer,” Ding Wanyu said.
Now they were gathered in this tent, not only searching for the "thief" but also providing clues to help Jiang Yan find the "Magpie" and the "Rabbit."
According to Jiang Yan's own analysis, the "Rabbit" already had a likely candidate, but there were still no additional clues for the "Magpie."
Was Jiang Yan suggesting that the players leave now? Was he planning to make a wild guess on his own?
[Why does his intelligence fluctuate so much?]
[Isn’t Yan Yan just being kind? If he kept the players here and they couldn’t escape before the "Hunter's" time limit, wouldn’t that be game over?]
[Heh, kind? Talking about kindness in “Jian” is ridiculous.]
[Shouldn’t people be a little kinder? Since when did being kind become a flaw?]
[Kindness isn’t a flaw, but being so kind that you get yourself killed is just foolish.]
Wang Yu and Zhong Yun hesitated, looking at Jiang Yan.
At that moment, the main system's broadcast rang out in the air:
[Instance: Lamb Forest, Instance Progress: 90%]
[Player: Zhou Hao, Escape Progress: 90%]
"It looks like your friend has already found his way home," Jiang Yan said as he stood up from the tent. "It’s time for you to go home too."
"But you…" Zhong Yun hesitated, looking at the pale boy in front of her.
"What are you doing? Letting them go? They stayed behind to help you solve this, and now you’re letting them leave? I was just complimenting how smart you were!" 663 yelled at Jiang Yan, frustrated.
"Has the main system ever told you how noisy you are?" Jiang Yan replied coldly.
"You’re calling your me noisy!" 663 snapped, unable to hold back anymore. "I cares about you with all his heart, and this is how you treat him?"
Jiang Yan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He glanced at the other three people in the tent, thinking that their personal systems seemed a lot more normal.
While Zhong Yun and Wang Yu hesitated, feeling guilty, the main system broadcast again:
[Instance: Sheep Forest, Instance Progress: 95%]
[Player: Zhou Hao, killed by the Rabbit.]
Everyone froze and immediately looked at Lei li, who was nestled in Zhou Yun’s arms. But wasn’t Lei li here?
"Let’s check it out," Ding Wanyu said as he stood up and pushed aside the tent flap, heading outside.
The others followed him. Wang Yu’s tent was set up near the small path, so after just a few steps, they stopped in their tracks—
They saw several "Lei lis" crawling out from the path, frantically tearing into something on the ground.
From their angle, they could see a motionless leg. Judging by the tattered pants, it was clear that the person being devoured was Zhou Hao, who had been trying to escape.
"You’ve lost something! It’s yours!"
"You’ve lost something! It’s yours!"
"You’ve lost something! It’s yours!!!"
The "Lei lis" screamed as they pounced on the body, tearing off chunks of flesh.
Jiang Yan saw one of the "Lei lis" immediately grab a piece of bloody meat as soon as it joined the frenzy. It was impossible to tell which part of the body it came from.
The "Lei li" held the blood-soaked meat, greedily gnawing on it. Noticing Jiang Yan watching her, she even turned and gave him a shy smile...
"Ugh…"
The snow on the ground was stained red, and the stench of blood filled the air. Wang Yu couldn’t handle the scene, turning away to vomit.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yun stood emotionlessly beside them, still holding Lei li in her arms. Jiang Yan could even see a look of satisfaction on her face.
"You know Lei li, don’t you?" Jiang Yan asked Zhou Yun.
Zhou Yun tightened her hold on Lei li and hesitated before answering, "We... are friends."
"Do you know Zhou Hao?"
"He’s Lei li’s classmate."
"May I ask you another question?" Jiang Yan inquired.
"Go ahead," Zhou Yun replied.
"Are you a doctor?" Jiang Yan asked.
Zhou Yun was stunned for a moment but quickly understood why Jiang Yan would ask that. After all, her reaction to the dismembered corpse had been unusually calm.
She shook her head and answered, "No, I’m an embalmer"
She continued, "The reason I know Lei li is that one day, Zhou Hao brought her to my studio when she was on the brink of death, asking me to do her makeup. She wasn’t dead yet, just hanging on by a thread."
"You entered together?" Ding Wanyu asked, surprised.
"Yes," Zhong Yun replied.
So, did the "Magpie" know all along that she was the "Magpie"? Was that what this was about?
[She’s probably the "Magpie," right?]
[Seems like it. Who would’ve thought that three connected new players would show up in the same instance?]
[Look at the fate of Zhou Hao and Xue Dun. The main system did this on purpose.]
[So the main system never intended to strike a deal with Zhou Hao and Xue Dun from the start? Was it always in cahoots with Li Xue and Lei li instead?]
[But why is Li Xue an NPC while Lei li is a player?]
[Duh! Lei li wasn’t dead yet, just barely hanging on!]
[Two high school students, for crying out loud. What on earth did Zhou Hao do to get Leili in such a state?]
[Age doesn’t determine whether someone’s a bad person.]
[Zhou Yun probably told Jiang Yan the truth because he let them go… Good people get rewarded, after all. Even the system is on the side of the good guys.]
[Don’t make it sound so noble. Zhou Yun is a new player, so of course she responded to Jiang Yan’s kindness.]
[Agreed. No one seriously thinks the main system is "good," right?]
[I’m wondering if Jiang Yan did this on purpose?]
"Did you do it on purpose?" 663 asked Jiang Yan, surprised.
"Yes, though I didn’t expect the three of them to know each other," Jiang Yan replied. "I just noticed that while we were being chased by the 'bear,' Zhong Yun kept holding onto Lei li as they ran. I gave her some cloaks, and she wrapped them all around Lei li."
“When Wang Yu saw Zhou Hao impulsively leave the team, he was also very worried about him,” Jiang Yan said.
“This shows that they’re not bad people. A good person wouldn’t watch someone who’s been good to them die because of their actions,” Jiang Yan continued.
“That trick only works with newbie players,” 663 replied.
Such moments of humanity only existed among the players who had just entered the “game.” Jiang Yan was probably just lucky.
“But I don’t know if I’m the ‘Magpie,’” Zhou Yun said. “Because my personal system said the main system didn’t assign me any related side quests.”
“I didn’t get any either,” Wang Yu said, his face pale.
Jiang Yan frowned slightly. Neither of them received anything?
His gaze shifted between Wang Yu and Zhou Yun.
Could the “Magpie” not be one of them?
Or… could Zhou Hao be the “Magpie”? Because he always knew he was the one who harmed Lei Li?
“Do you know what happened between Lei Li and Zhou Hao?” Jiang Yan asked Zhou Yun.
Zhou Yun hugged Lei Li tighter and nodded. “I think you can tell that Zhou Hao is a very self-centered and arrogant person.”
Jiang Yan nodded.
Zhou Yun slowly began to tell what she knew, although it wasn’t much.
She only knew that Zhou Hao had always been an arrogant boy with a bit of a hero complex. But other than being a little annoying when he spoke, he didn’t seem too bad.
After all, he was only seventeen. Surely, he would mature eventually.
But one day, he inexplicably fell in love with Lei Li, simply because she had cut her hair short, and he thought it looked great.
He started pursuing her, but Lei Li rejected him, saying that as high school students, they should focus on their studies.
Then Lei Li’s nightmare began.
Rumors spread, seemingly out of nowhere, that she had dated many boys and had been intimate with several men.
Lei Li’s short haircut suited her very well, highlighting her already delicate features, making her even more beautiful. As more boys began to like her, the rumors sounded even more believable.
Gradually, Lei Li was isolated. She began walking alone at school and on her way home.
Sometimes, she could hear her classmates whispering and pointing at her.
But she didn’t care. She had cut her hair short for convenience, thinking it wouldn’t affect her studies, especially with senior year approaching.
She didn’t mind not having friends. She was focused entirely on her studies and didn’t have much interest in socializing.
She had already set her goal and was working hard toward it—getting into a university in the capital.
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t hurt, but she kept telling herself it would all be over after the college entrance exams. Her current task was to study, not to make friends.
But she never expected that she wouldn’t even make it to the exams.
Before the exams, the school gave all the seniors three days off to relax. The class monitor suggested they use the class fund to have a farewell dinner together.
After dinner, it was already dark. Her classmates wanted to go sing karaoke, but Lei Li wanted to go home to review some more, so she declined.
She never imagined that on her way home, the route she had walked countless times, she would be attacked by someone she knew all too well—her classmate.
“Hey! Lei Li, you dropped something!”
That was what Zhou Hao said when he called out to her.
As they watched the “Lei Lis” tearing into Zhou Hao, leaving only scraps of flesh in the snow, even Wang Yu no longer found it so disgusting.
Lei Li, held tightly in Zhong Yun’s arms, stared blankly at the scene. When she saw the exposed leg among the carnage, she suddenly began to wail.
She remembered... she had almost died.
[Damn it! Why are there so many damned people in this instance?]
[B-level instance, A-level difficulty. I can understand that.]
[Could Zhou Hao be the “Magpie”? He always knew he was the one who killed Lei Li?]
[How can he have such a strong mentality? He didn’t even flinch when he saw Lei Li the other day.]
[It must be Zhou Hao. Zhou Yun seems like a stretch, and the main system didn’t assign her any side quests.]
Jiang Yan thought that maybe the main system hadn’t given the “Magpie” any side quests because the “Magpie” had always been the “Magpie.”
Unlike the “Rabbit,” who needed to remember their identity, the “Magpie” didn’t need to.
Since there was no need, the main system wouldn’t assign them any side quests.
Jiang Yan sighed. He walked forward, pulled out two roasted chestnuts from his pocket, and handed them to the sobbing little girl.
Lei Li sniffled and thanked Jiang Yan.
“Go home,” Jiang Yan smiled at her. “You missed this year’s college entrance exams, but you can do well next year.”
“Thank you.”
After saying goodbye to Jiang Yan, the remaining three players set off down the small road.
The “Lei Lis” automatically moved the corpses to the side, clearing the path for them.
As he watched the three leaving, Ding Wanyu asked Jiang Yan, “Do you have the right answer?”
“I have an answer, but I don’t know if it’s correct,” Jiang Yan replied.
He had a feeling… that he had overlooked something important.
The sky was stained red, like blood weeping from the heavens.
The “Hunter” arrived, accompanied by the howls of the “Hounds.”
“You sent your companions away? So, are you ready to give me the answer now, Yan Yan?” The “Hunter” bent down to meet his little lamb’s eyes.
“Who among you is playing the ‘Rabbit’?”
“Lei Li,” Jiang Yan answered.
[Dungeon: Lambs’ Forest, Progress: 100%]
[Player: Lei Li, Zhou Yun. Escape progress: 100%. Escape successful.]
“Yan Yan is so clever! And who is playing the ‘Magpie’?”
“Zhou Hao.”
[Dungeon: Lambs’ Forest, Progress: 100%]
[Player: Wang... Wang... Zzz—]
[Zzz—Zzz—]
[Are you serious? The main system bugged again?]
[How can there be a bug even after the instance is over? Enough already! If the main system doesn’t want the job, let me take over! I can do it!]
[You? You’d probably be devoured by the boss and torn to pieces!]
Jiang Yan frowned slightly. He could see amusement in the “Hunter’s” eyes. He had missed something important... but what?
[Dungeon: Sheep’ Forest, Progress: 100%]
[Player: Wang Yu, Escape failed: Corrupted.]
[Player: Li Xue, Escape progress: 100%. Escape successful.]
What?!!!
Jiang Yan’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The “Hunter” lifted Jiang Yan into his arms like a doll, leaning close to his ear, his laughter laced with danger: “Too bad, Yan Yan. You lost.”
“Are you ready to accept your punishment, my little sheep?”
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