Heavy rain pounded violently against the glass, and both the ocean and the sky surged with excitement.
Jiang Yan felt a sharp pain in his head from the whale songs echoing in his mind. He shook his head, but the sound of the rain mixed with the terrified yet excited screams of the crowd around him. Suddenly, he stumbled and fell backward.
“Jiang Yan!”
Seeing this, Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng quickly reached out to try to catch the wobbling Jiang Yan.
Unexpectedly, a huge, dark, wet tentacle suddenly stretched out from the pitch-black storm outside the window. It crashed through the glass, wrapping around Jiang Yan’s waist and pulling him out.
“Jiang Yan!”
Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng raised their hands to shield their faces, trying to block the splashing rain and shards of glass.
Seeing Jiang Yan being pulled outside by the tentacle, a white bandage on Cao Youfeng's body suddenly wrapped around Jiang Yan's leg—
【Item: Medical Bandage】
【Function: Binding and Anesthesia】
Cao Youfeng tightly wrapped the bandage around Jiang Yan's leg and began a struggle with the “thing” outside. It was too massive, looking to be more than ten times the size of Jiang Yan’s “husband.”
“Is that his husband?” As rain and wind poured in through the broken window, Tao Shi looked at the dark tentacle and the vacant-eyed Jiang Yan caught by it, confused.
“I don’t know!”
Just as Cao Youfeng spoke, another black tentacle crashed through the window, angrily swinging toward him.
With the size and force of that tentacle, if it hit Cao Youfeng, he would likely suffer multiple fractures.
In a split second, Tao Shi quickly drew a circle in the air in front of Cao Youfeng, and both of them fell into the circle, narrowly avoiding the tentacle's attack. The next moment, they appeared at the hospital room door—
【Item: Adam Ring】
【Function: Arbitrary Space Cutting】
Before they could stabilize themselves, they saw Jiang Yan being pulled into the dark night like a rag doll, crashing into a mass of soft, black substance.
The rain suddenly stopped, and Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng rushed to the window. They saw the sky thick with ink, unable to distinguish whether it was dense clouds or the monstrous creature resembling dark ink.
The crowd on the ground looked on in growing excitement as Jiang Yan seemed to be swallowed by the “deity”:
“It chose him!”
“It will bless us!”
“I... think I saw my son…”
Seeing this, Cao Youfeng swung his bandage and wrapped it around the lighthouse, seemingly wanting to directly rescue Jiang Yan, who was being held by the “monster.”
Just as he was about to leap, Tao Shi grabbed the collar of his shirt.
“Boss?” Cao Youfeng looked back at him in confusion.
“Did you forget? Jiang Yan is an NPC.”
Standing amidst the shattered glass, Tao Shi looked at the unusual scene in the sky and said, “While survival-type instances require both NPCs and players to complete the ‘survival level,’ the main task of an NPC is always to guide and direct players through the exploration of the ‘instance’ and its side stories. It should be us completing the exploration, not Jiang Yan.”
“Right now, Jiang Yan is following his own instance script.”
Thus, Jiang Yan's instance script was different from theirs. In Jiang Yan's script, his “husband” had died four years ago, but in this instance, it seemed as though his “husband” had never lived.
Moreover, the red-clothed female ghost's trial of Jiang Yan, as well as Jiang Yan's current “number 59” that seemed to run through the instance, actually proved that he was the “key” to the entire instance.
And they were lucky enough to have stumbled upon this “key,” which inadvertently led them into the side story.
“So… am I just going to ignore him?” Cao Youfeng hesitated.
At that moment, Jiang Yan seemed to have lost consciousness. He resembled a butterfly trapped in a spider’s web, at the mercy of others.
“He shouldn’t die,” Tao Shi said. “Jiang Yan mentioned he dreamt he was standing in the room he shared with his husband, watching a group of people surrounding the lighthouse in the graveyard outside, as if they were holding some sort of ceremony. Then came a terrifying massacre.”
“The group of people he saw must be the ones gathered under the lighthouse now. We are in 1942, and what has already happened cannot be changed. Just like we can’t stop that massacre or prevent those people from dying that day.” Tao Shi stood amidst the broken glass, which reflected a faint blue light.
He gazed at the absurd scene beneath the lighthouse and in the sky. The blue light illuminated his face, and he lowered his eyelids, seemingly lost in thought.
There were indeed some things he couldn’t comprehend.
For instance, every instance has its “key” NPC. Most of them are important roles that run through the instance's plot, like the girl abducted by cannibals in the instance “Wild Escape” or the skateboard boy in “Basement.”
They are the core characters of the instance’s script and are key for players to break through the instance.
However, such “core” characters have always been system NPCs, and it is impossible to assign a real NPC to play them due to the numerous uncontrollable factors.
Real NPCs usually play “minor” roles, and because the risks and difficulty of real NPCs compared to players are lower, their safety index is higher than that of players, but their point acquisition is lower.
Characters like Jiang Yan, who are pivotal to the entire instance's main storyline, are different.
The other real NPCs are either doctors or nurses. Theoretically, their risks are significantly lower compared to the players. However, Jiang Yan is different; his risks and difficulties are nearly on par with those of the players.
There has never been a precedent for a real NPC to hold such an important role, making Jiang Yan the first and only one.
What a coincidence! Not long ago, he was also the “only real judge” and “the only one to survive after failing a personal mission.” With all these coincidences piling up, the conclusion seems to be that Jiang Yan is simply lucky.
Who would believe that? Anyone who does is a fool!
Tao Shi’s gaze darkened. So, what exactly is Jiang Yan’s background?
“Boss, what should we do now?” Cao Youfeng asked. “Wait for the plot to develop?”
“Of course not!” Tao Shi smacked the back of his head and retorted, “We’re going downstairs to jump with them!”
“Huh?” Cao Youfeng was stunned.
Tao Shi smirked. “Are there any rebels in Jiang Yan’s dreams? No! Can you ascend to the heavens? No! Since that’s the case, let’s go down and jump with them…”
“Right!”
As Cao Youfeng hesitated and was about to ask something, Tao Shi had already drawn a circle in the air and stepped into it. “Let’s go!”
Before Cao Youfeng could react, he was pulled into the circle by Tao Shi. The bandages that had been wrapped around the lighthouse were forced to loosen, winding back around their master in a spiral.
Once downstairs, Tao Shi dragged the still bewildered Cao Youfeng into a square dance, following the dean and others as they jumped around the lighthouse.
At that moment, a live broadcast of the side quest had just started on the player forum.
Countless players, eager to see “how the big shots would lead the underdogs,” entered the live stream. They immediately saw their “big shot,” Tao Shi, dragging Cao Youfeng, both of them dancing like retired old men on someone’s grave. Meanwhile, Jiang Yan was being ensnared in the sky by an unknown entity, entangled in its tentacles and being “swallowed” whole.
The scene left the players dumbfounded:
【What… is happening? How did we walk in and see Jiang Yan in the sky, while the two big shots are acting like lunatics?】
---
Jiang Yan was dreaming. He dreamt he was slowly walking along the coastline.
He was supposed to meet someone and felt anxious, but he didn’t want to run; it was too tiring. So, he chose to walk a little faster.
The sky was terrifyingly dark, making it hard to tell whether it was dusk or dawn. The sea beneath the grayish-blue sky appeared black and blue.
He continued walking along the shore, the salty sea breeze stinging his eyes.
Finally, he spotted the figure he had been longing for on a black reef by the sea.
“Yu Xiu.”
Jiang Yan’s voice was calm, as calm as the sea before him.
The person on the reef turned slightly. “You’re here.”
The other’s voice was equally calm, as if they were merely passing each other at an intersection to buy different things, only to reunite at a pre-arranged spot.
“Where have you been?” Jiang Yan asked.
“I’ve always been here,” Yu Xiu replied.
Yu Xiu’s voice trembled slightly, causing Jiang Yan to frown. He sensed something was off.
Before he could ask more, the figure in front of him fully turned around—this person had the exact same face as Yu Xiu, but instead of Yu Xiu’s glowing green eyes, there were empty, lifeless black ones.
Jiang Yan instinctively took a step back as a piercing, elongated whale song echoed in his ears.
“Who are you?” Jiang Yan struggled to maintain his composure, questioning the figure before him.
“I’m Yu Xiu, Yan Yan,” the figure replied, its lips not moving at all, yet speaking with a voice similar to Yu Xiu’s.
It was as if something was encasing the essence of Yu Xiu, speaking to him.
“You…”
“Yan Yan, come here. Today is our wedding…” The figure reached out its hand to Jiang Yan.
In that instant, numerous arms emerged from its chest, moving like tentacles, covered in human eyes.
Those eyes moved slightly, black and white, all staring intently at Jiang Yan.
In that moment, a thick, black tentacle quickly wrapped around Jiang Yan’s waist and dragged him into the sea.
Instantly, the warm sea water engulfed Jiang Yan, flooding into his body. Strangely, he didn’t feel suffocated; instead, a strange sense of tide welled up from his heart, immersing his entire brain, making it hard to think.
A sensation he couldn’t quite describe, along with the warm tide, enveloped him completely.
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