Ding Wanyu looked at the handsome boy in front of him in surprise. The boy’s sky-blue eyes drooped slightly, giving off an impression of a lack of motivation.
Not just Ding Wanyu; the players in the game forum were also surprised:
[Huh? Did he actually say that? I'm shocked!]
[I’m shocked too! It’s not that this idea is rare, but that he actually thought of it?!]
[The previous comments were a bit biased. Think about it—Jiang Yan has completed two instances independently. He can't be a total waste.]
[That’s true, there are more players pretending to be weak than actual strong ones in this game.]
[Ahhh!! Serious Yan Yan is so beautiful!]
[Is Yan Yan starting to be ambitious? Is he beginning to think? Wuwuwu…]
[The previous comments are exaggerating. You don’t need to be smart to come up with this idea; just a little common sense can lead you there!]
At that moment, Jiang Yan was unaware of the heated discussions about him on the game forum. He only wanted to figure out what the card in his pocket was.
“663!” Jiang Yan called to the system, “What’s in my pocket?”
“A card,” 663 replied. “To be precise, it’s a photo.”
Jiang Yan frowned. “A photo of a rose?”
“No, a photo of clouds,” 663 said. “Clouds filled with colorful light.”
Jiang Yan couldn’t make sense of it. This outfit was given to him by the “Hunter” that morning, and the Hunter had even taken it off once. At that time, there was no photo.
This photo must have appeared in his pocket during the few hours he was asleep. Since 663 hadn’t informed him that he received an in-game item, this wasn’t an item at all.
Since a rose isn’t necessarily a rose, why would a thief definitely know they were a thief?
Jiang Yan felt a bit anxious. Because a rose isn’t necessarily a rose. he couldn’t be sure whether the photo in his pocket represented “Rose”
If this was “rose,” then what did a photo of clouds have to do with “rose”?
If it wasn’t, what did it mean for a non-game item photo to suddenly end up in the pocket of an NPC like him?
Or perhaps, this was just the main system accidentally pulling a side item from another instance into his pocket?
At that moment, 663’s announcement broke Jiang Yan’s train of thought:
【Instance: "The Sheep's Forest," Progress: 55%, Side Quest Progress: 40%】
【NPC: Jiang Yan, New Identity Acquired: Thief】
【Mission Hint: You have acquired the identity of “the thief who steals roses.” Please be careful not to be recognized by the “police” at dusk.】
Jiang Yan: “...Why me?”
663 gleefully responded, “The main system is giving you more drama. Your performance points in this round will likely double. This is probably compensation for deducting a hundred points from you yesterday! Other NPCs would kill for this!”
Jiang Yan said coldly, “Thank it for me, and wish it and its family good health.”
“It’s just a system, it doesn’t have a family,” 663 replied.
“Then wish your main god and its family good health,” Jiang Yan said.
663: “…”
—
Xue Dun was dead, killed by a bear.
With “rose” still unlocated, the death of one player undoubtedly added significant pressure on the remaining four players.
After the main system reported Xue Dun’s death, the four players returned to the first floor of the wooden cabin one after another.
“Why did Xue Dun encounter something different in the forest from the other players?” Lei Li asked tremulously.
“Because this is a forest belonging to the gods,” Ding Wanyu replied.
【Instance: "The Sheep's Forest," Keywords: Forest of the Gods】
The four players gathered around the fireplace, momentarily stunned, before realizing this was key information provided by the “corpse driver.”
But what exactly was a “forest of the gods”?
They had all just wandered around the forest, but the fierce wind and snow outside were too overwhelming. They couldn’t stand the cold, and Xue Dun’s unique death report forced them to return to the cabin.
A forest of the gods? Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow, thinking that stirring the waters further would only make things more interesting.
Thus, Jiang Yan abruptly interjected, “Two-thirds!”
Everyone: “???”
Ding Wanyu: “!!!!!!”
“Huh? What do you mean? The forest of the gods, two-thirds? Does that mean two-thirds of this forest belongs to the gods?” Wang Yu adjusted his glasses nervously and asked.
Jiang Yan shrugged and remained silent.
What did two-thirds mean? How would he know? The only key clue he had received was that one number.
Ding Wanyu stared in shock at Jiang Yan, wondering if this person had actually provided a correct “key clue” last night.
But why?
Why did he share his “key clue” with him?
If he truly didn’t care about points, that reasoning seemed absurd. Anyone who could enter this game, whether player or NPC, must have a reason strong enough to risk their life.
And points were the only means to achieve that reason.
No one would be indifferent to points.
Ding Wanyu began to scrutinize Jiang Yan with a bit more scrutiny. What could this person’s reason for entering the game be?
【Instance: "The Lamb's Dense Forest," Progress: 67%】
【NPC: Ding Wanyu, Thinking of Unhealthy Thoughts, Server-Wide Warning.】
The main system’s announcement rang out abruptly.
Instantly, the players gathered around the fireplace shot Ding Wanyu looks that were hard to describe.
[Wow! Unhealthy thoughts, I didn’t expect you to be such a “corpse driver.”]
[Hahaha! Did the main system just go haywire again?]
[What? Another server-wide announcement? This is hilarious!]
[Seriously, doesn’t the main system ever get fixed? Is the main god there? Please fix the system!]
[Unhealthy thoughts? What could that be? I feel like I know.]
[His gaze was directed at Yan Yan, wasn’t it? Could it be related to Yan Yan?]
Receiving those meaningful glances from everyone, Ding Wanyu desperately wanted to argue back!
He wasn’t! He didn’t!!
What was he thinking?! He wasn’t thinking about anything! Where’s the unhealthy part?!
What he was just thinking about was… Jiang Yan?
Was thinking about Jiang Yan considered unhealthy? Ding Wanyu found it perplexing, feeling that the main system had gone a bit too crazy recently.
He couldn’t help but glance at the young man beside him again, and his instinct told him that Jiang Yan was a bit off.
After being warned, Ding Wanyu pulled his thoughts back.
Currently, there were no clues for “rose” or “thief,” but at least he and Jiang Yan had revealed their “key clues” to the players. Even if they couldn’t complete the side quest, they could still successfully finish the main quest.
However, these players really had too little initiative.
At that moment, the four players were each contemplating their own thoughts, awkwardly considering what to say next.
Outside the kitchen, the butcher stood with his broken knife, glaring at the six people huddled around the fireplace. Everything seemed to have reached a deadlock.
With the players lacking initiative, Ding Wanyu had just been inexplicably warned by the main system, leaving Jiang Yan with no choice but to take the lead himself.
He turned to the butcher standing at the kitchen door and flashed a naive and sweet smile. “Excuse me, do you know what the two-thirds of this forest represents?”
The moment these words were spoken, everyone in the room was shocked!
This statement could be deemed inappropriate for the occasion and disregarded any established character. An NPC saying something like this was akin to committing suicide.
[What did he do?? No! What is he doing now??]
[You can’t stop someone who wants to die. He survived last time purely by luck! This time, with such a mindless comment, can he still not die?!]
[If he doesn't die this time, there’s only one possibility—he's the illegitimate child of the main god.]
Everyone was waiting for the butcher’s knife to sever Jiang Yan's beautiful neck.
However, an even more unbelievable scene unfolded.
The butcher, with a fierce gaze, stared at Jiang Yan for a long moment, then slowly lowered the cleaver in his hand, asking in a hoarse voice, “Do you want a cup of hot chocolate? Little cat.”
Everyone: “…”
“Please don't make it too hot, thank you!” Jiang Yan replied very naturally.
Then, to everyone’s astonishment, the butcher prepared a cup of hot chocolate for Jiang Yan, standing before the crowd with his massive, imposing figure resembling a small mountain.
The butcher scanned the others and then said to Jiang Yan, “I won’t tell anyone else, but I can tell you.”
“Why?” Perhaps fueled by teenage rebellion, Zhou Hao challenged the butcher with an audacious spirit.
After asking, he felt a little apprehensive, but the butcher did not seem angered; instead, he answered seriously, “Because he is the master’s little cat”
Ding Wanyu glanced at Jiang Yan and realized that Jiang Yan's status in “The Hunter” was far more significant than he had initially perceived.
However, when he looked at the script for the instance before, the screenplay did not imply such a clear distinction.
Watching Jiang Yan take small sips of his hot cocoa, along with the butcher standing beside him like a well-behaved “sheep,” Ding Wanyu felt something was off, yet he couldn’t pinpoint what that sense of incongruity stemmed from.
“Can you tell me?” Jiang Yan asked the butcher.
“Of course,” the butcher replied respectfully. “This is a forest of deities, home to one-third ‘spirits’ and two-thirds ‘sheeps.’”
“The ‘spirits’ reside in the north, while the ‘sheeps’ are in the south. The ‘hounds’ are the guardians of the forest. They are responsible for protecting the ‘spirits’ from the invasions of the ‘sheeps’ Every day, they patrol across the entire forest, capturing any ‘lamb’ that dares to offend the ‘spirits.’”
“So, what about the ‘bears’?” Wang Yu asked tremblingly.
The butcher cast him a cold glance and said, “There are three types of ‘spirits’—the ‘bear,’ the ‘rabbit,’ and the ‘magpie.’”
As he spoke, he added, “The pregnant ‘bear’ has many children in her belly, so she often hunts in the forest. The ‘rabbit’ has forgotten it is a ‘rabbit,’ while the ‘magpie’ is very aware of its identity as a magpie.”
After saying that, he disregarded the others and returned to his kitchen, taking his broken cleaver back to his post.
Jiang Yan, holding the cup, looked at the others and said, “Did you understand? I didn’t catch a single word.”
At that moment, ghostly howls from the “hounds” echoed from outside; they had just finished patrolling the “spirits” and were heading toward the area where the “lambs” resided.
“Can you not understand?” Zhou Yun, who had been quiet, finally spoke. “It means there might be a traitor among us, and not just one.”
“How do you figure that?” Zhou Hao asked.
“The ‘bear’ is pregnant and hunts prey in the forest, while the ‘rabbit’ has forgotten it’s a ‘rabbit.’ Our role in this instance is that of the ‘lambs.’” Zhou Yun's voice was cool and clear, presenting her thoughts like a teacher giving a lecture.
“Since ‘flowers’ may not necessarily be ‘flowers’ and ‘thieves’ may not necessarily have ‘stolen goods,’ why can’t the ‘rabbit’ be a ‘sheep’?”
“Ridiculous!” Zhou Hao interrupted without hesitation. “Including these two NPCs, we all received uniform identity tags from the main system!”
“Correction: we all received identity tags together.” Zhou Yun said. “As for whether those tags are truly identical, that’s still uncertain.”
“I support that,” Wang Yu weakly raised his hand. “Just now, the butcher said the ‘rabbit’ forgot it was a ‘rabbit,’ so even if it has a uniform identity tag, it’s entirely possible that tag is incorrect, and what it thinks is a ‘sheep' is actually a ‘rabbit.’”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan and Ding Wanyu exchanged appreciative glances at Zhou Yun. They hadn’t expected this girl, who had been silent before, to be so calm now.
With someone leading the conversation, they could finally continue playing through this instance.
Jiang Yan casually took another sip of his hot chocolate, needing to conceal his “thief” identity, hoping the discussion would drift further from the topic of “stealing roses.”
He was grateful to Zhou Yun for redirecting attention.
“Currently, you are faced with two choices.” Ding Wanyu tried to maintain his composure, his robe lending him an air of tranquility and solemnity, a scent of death surrounding him.
“One is to find a way to avoid the ‘hounds’ for the remaining hours, escape this forest, and leave my master.”
“The other is to use these hours to identify the ‘thief’ who stole the roses.”
“Why can’t we do both at the same time?” Jiang Yan questioned.
“I believe that multitasking might ultimately hinder our ability to meet the master’s requirements,” Ding Wanyu explained.
“I think it’s not impossible to juggle both,” Zhou Yun responded. “After all, one should never put all their eggs in one basket.”
“I agree with this ‘sheep’ sister’s viewpoint,” Jiang Yan said.
The corners of everyone’s mouths involuntarily twitched. What on earth was a “sheep sister”?
Just as Jiang Yan was about to say something, he noticed the expressions of those around him suddenly changed.
The players’ faces turned ashen as they quietly huddled in a corner, while Ding Wanyu looked a bit better but still not great.
They appeared as if they had seen Satan himself, and even when facing the “hunter,” they hadn’t looked this terrified.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Jiang Yan asked, puzzled.
As Jiang Yan spoke, he felt something wet on his cheek. He tilted his head slightly, only to bump it against another head.
To be precise, it was half a head—its skull had been opened, and Jiang Yan could see that the head was entirely hollow inside, leaving only a white skeleton, accompanied by a face that had been gnawed to shreds.
The tattered face was covered in blood; one eyeball had burst, while the other had fallen from its socket.
When Jiang Yan turned back, that head was quietly pressing against his face, with the fallen eye still rolling in mid-air.
Jiang Yan froze, unable to move for a moment.
Not just Jiang Yan; even Ding Wanyu, who had the ability to control low-level undead and corpses, felt paralyzed.
After all, this wasn’t a rotting corpse or an undead being; it was merely a head.
At this moment, Zhou Yun recognized the head: “Xue, Xue Dun…”
“He… he…” Zhou Hao wanted to say that he was dead, right?
But now, seeing the head suspended in the air next to Jiang Yan's face, no one could doubt Xue Dun’s death.
Jiang Yan could feel the sticky blood from the face adhering to his own, while the eye that had fallen from the socket stretched out like a snail’s eye, directly staring at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan was forced to meet the bloody gaze.
He didn’t scream or shout, but he began to tremble, every hair on his body standing on end, cold sweat trickling down his forehead to his chin, like a tear.
He tried to convince himself to stay calm. His family’s specimen room also contained many human limbs made into wax figures, many of which could easily deceive a medical friend at first glance.
But he had never been afraid before, and even previously, he had shared intimate moments with someone in that specimen room.
However, he couldn’t convince himself that the head pressed against him, with its eyes stretching like a snail, was just a wax figure from his home!
After all, wax figures are merely wax figures; they don’t move and aren’t composed of real human anatomical structures.
After a moment of stillness, the head suddenly moved!
Jiang Yan inhaled sharply, closed his eyes in fear of looking, and a drop of cold sweat slid from his forehead to his chin, resembling a tear.
The four players huddled together, with the timid and younger Lei Li nearly losing control of her scream.
Ding Wanyu immediately raised his sleeve, ready to test if his “tools” could control this bizarre and horrifying head before him.
However, that head turned around, and suddenly, the towering figure of the “hunter” appeared behind Jiang Yan.
He held that strange head in one hand while wrapping his other arm around Jiang Yan’s waist, placing the massive goat head on Jiang Yan’s shoulder, shaking the head in his hand with excitement as he said:
Suddenly, the head spun around, and then the tall figure of the "hunter" appeared behind Jiang Yan out of nowhere.
“Yanyan, look what I found in the forest! Isn’t it beautiful?!”
“Let’s use it as a basket for chestnuts! That way, you can carry it around and put chestnuts inside when we go out to play.”
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