A lost rose tied the players and NPCs together.
Jiang Yan couldn’t understand why, as an NPC, he still had to complete tasks. He had originally planned to finish breakfast and go back to bed to play Gobang on 663’s AI brain.
However, 663 explained, "The hunter lost something. Besides himself and the dogs that can’t fully obey him, along with the butcher who wasn’t in the house last night, everyone else is a suspect."
“So why add this side quest?” Jiang Yan couldn’t figure it out.
“Probably because the main system saw that the dungeon wasn’t progressing and wanted to give the players another chance,” 663 said with a straight face, making things up.
Jiang Yan: “...”
Assigning a group of rookies to a B-level dungeon was already too hard. Now there’s an A-level side quest?
Jiang Yan almost suspected that this group of foreign players owed the main god a lot of money. Otherwise, how could they be treated this way?
After announcing the rules of the game, the "hunter" disappeared.
The game rules were simple: From now on, everyone is a "detective," but anyone could also be a "thief." Before dusk today, find the rose that the "hunter" lost. This counts as clearing the game for the "detectives" among the players and NPCs.
As for the person who truly stole the hunter's rose, they need to hide the rose and must not be found or identified as the thief before the judgment at dusk.
Of course, if the players manage to escape the forest before dusk, it’s still considered their victory.
After the "hunter" finished explaining the rules, he vanished. The dusk judgment wouldn’t be done by the "hunter" but was handed over to the "butcher," who held the authority to decide.
At the long kitchen table, the butcher sat holding a long knife, staring at the players and NPCs seated at the table like a herd of pigs.
The blade of the knife was full of nicks and dents, traces left from chopping bones.
"Last night, we were all in the basement. The only ones who could move around the house were you two," Zhou Hao immediately pointed the finger at the two real NPCs.
NPCs must always maintain their character settings; otherwise, they would be erased by the boss.
However, for Jiang Yan, this wasn’t too difficult. After all, he had a cat at home and was quite skilled at understanding a cat's personality.
So, Jiang Yan said with a blank expression, “Oh, then my master must be an idiot. He doesn’t know.”
“You!” Zhou Hao was speechless for a moment and could only glare angrily at Jiang Yan, who had disrupted his accusation.
Ding Wanyu looked at Zhou Hao helplessly and then spoke in a faintly mocking tone:
"Some of you little sheep still have dangerous items on you. It’s only because the master is merciful that they weren’t confiscated."
Indeed, the players had items!
The "hunter" wasn’t stupid. If only two NPCs had been active in the house last night, he wouldn’t have needed to make such a big fuss.
"I think this cat NPC is right," Zhong Yun, who had been mostly silent, finally spoke.
This long-haired girl was young but appeared to be the calmest and most composed among everyone except Zhou Hao.
Zhou Hao still carried a bit of youthful boldness, unafraid of tigers despite being inexperienced.
In contrast to Xue Dun and Wang Yu, two older men sat trembling at the table, their souls seemingly having left their bodies. Surprisingly, they weren’t as composed as Zhong Yun, the young girl.
Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "We’re the same kind. I’m a sheep, and so are you."
Zhong Yun shrugged. "Apologies, but you just look the part especially your eyes."
[Hahaha! I think so too!]
[+1 to that!]
[This girl is impressive! Teasing an NPC at a time like this?]
[She seems suspicious. Just last night, wasn’t she crying her eyes out with the girl next to her?]
[By the way, did anyone spot anything from the livestream last night?]
[Nope. All I saw was the little cat sneaking downstairs to chat with the corpse carrier for a while.]
"Honestly, who’d steal a rose for no reason?" Xue Dun said, his voice still trembling. "If we’d managed to get out of the basement, we’d have made a run for it! Who would’ve bothered stealing some rose?"
This comment drew unanimous agreement from the players.
"Let’s search for it!" Jiang Yan stretched lazily. "The master said that finding the rose and returning it to him before dusk is fine. If we don’t catch the thief, it doesn’t matter."
Ding Wanyu nodded silently. When the "hunter" announced the game rules, he said the thief must hide the rose. If that’s the case, the rose doesn’t necessarily have to be on someone’s person.
He glanced at everyone around the table. As long as they confirmed that no one had the rose on them, the rose had to be hidden somewhere in the house.
However, the players had items, and even a search couldn’t guarantee the rose wasn’t hidden among their belongings.
"Is there anyone who wants to admit to stealing the rose?" Jiang Yan asked. "If you confess, I can plead with the master to give you three more days of life."
"Are you stupid?" Zhou Hao retorted without holding back.
At that moment, Ding Wanyu stood up. He wore a robe similar to the master’s, and as his long sleeves waved, the entire room became cold and eerie.
Before Jiang Yan could react, someone dropped from the ceiling, hanging by their black hair. Their decayed, mottled face was only a centimeter away from Jiang Yan's own, and he could clearly smell the rot on the person before him.
"Ahh—!"
"Mom!! A ghost!"
"I'm going!!! Don't... don't eat me..."
The players began screaming. It wasn’t just Jiang Yan; each of them had someone hanging in front of them. Their bodies were stiff, their feet dangling from the ceiling, and their eyes wide open, fixed on the figure before them.
Jiang Yan was momentarily paralyzed with fear, his eyes turning red.
Ding Wanyu spoke slowly, "To ensure fairness, I need to make sure no one here has my master's rose, so I will search everyone."
As soon as he finished speaking, the corpses hanging in front of the players reached out their hands toward them.
"Don't, don't come closer!!"
"You're the only ones who need a search, you and that cat!" Zhou Hao shouted at Ding Wanyu, frozen as a corpse rested a hand on his shoulder.
Ding Wanyu glanced at Jiang Yan’s warm, finely-made sheep horn-buttoned coat. The white shirt beneath was thoughtfully tied with a bow, making him look like a gift.
Compared to Jiang Yan’s refined attire, Ding Wanyu’s robe, though simpler, was still intricate. It was far more sophisticated than the tattered clothes the players wore, making it likely that only he and Jiang Yan could hide things on their persons.
Ding Wanyu turned his attention to Jiang Yan, who was staring at the corpse before him with red eyes.
"Take this thing away! I’ll strip myself!" Jiang Yan said.
Ding Wanyu snapped his fingers, and the corpses hanging from the ceiling crawled back up, adopting strange spider-like postures. Their lifeless eyes remained fixed on the players at the long table, awaiting their master's command.
Jiang Yan took a deep breath, calming down.
"You seemed so calm when you entered the specimen room yesterday; I thought you weren’t afraid of ghosts," 663 said in surprise.
He had gone through two dungeons with Jiang Yan and found that Jiang Yan was always lazy about everything, even too lazy to show much emotion.
Someone like this would have definitely been eliminated by natural selection back when humans were still fighting for survival on the grasslands thousands of years ago!
And this game... isn’t it also full of the same wild "nature"?
Players, the system, and both real NPCs—everyone is both a predator and prey
As the players on the game forum correctly stated, Jiang Yan’s ability to survive in the game until now was truly remarkable.
"I’m afraid of ghosts, but I’m not afraid of dead people," Jiang Yan replied.
663 was confused. What kind of logic is that?
Jiang Yan took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart, which was racing a bit too fast from the shock. "That kind of specimen room, I have one at home. I even had one just like it at home the day before yesterday. There's a wax figure with only a human head displayed in my living room."
663 was even more baffled and shocked. "Isn’t murder illegal for humans?!"
"Of course, it’s not a real person," Jiang Yan said calmly. "It’s just a very realistic wax figure. It’s a form of art. Many museums and art exhibits have had his works."
"I finally understand why you divorced your husband," 663 said.
"Mm." Jiang Yan responded perfunctorily. He didn’t like to discuss his previous marriage much.
"Someone with an antisocial personality like that is better off divorced early," 663 added.
Jiang Yan didn’t want to argue with 663 about this, but when he heard that, he couldn’t help but retort, "He doesn’t have an antisocial personality. He’s a very gentle person."
Not wanting to continue the conversation on that topic with 663, Jiang Yan stood up and turned to Ding Wanyu, asking, "Should I undress myself?"
"To be honest, if the master’s rose were a flower, it definitely couldn’t be crushed and hidden on our bodies," Jiang Yan said as he began untying the bow tie at his neck.
Ding Wanyu coldly watched him. "I naturally understand that. I just want to check if anyone has anything related to the rose."
As he spoke, he also began to unbutton his robe. Halfway through, the "Hunter" entered the kitchen door, holding a basket of roasted chestnuts.
As soon as the door opened, the "Hunter" saw Jiang Yan and Ding Wanyu facing each other, undressing...
"...."
The room fell silent for a moment.
Even the spiders on the ceiling stopped moving, and their eyes, almost falling out of their sockets, all focused on their master.
Ding Wanyu felt a chill down his neck, as if his head was about to fall off.
He turned around stiffly, maintaining his character, and greeted the "Hunter": "Hello, my master."
The "Hunter" smiled with his green eyes, but his voice was terrifyingly cold: "What are you two doing?"