46

The bright moon hung high, and people at the banquet were drinking to the point of intoxication. Jiang Yan was surrounded by his two "husbands," one in front and one behind, enveloping him in a red garment. One was hugging his waist, teasing him with the buttons on his chest, while the other grabbed his wrists, cutting off his means of resistance.

The interplay of the ashen skin tone and the fair complexion created a slightly eerie beauty against the backdrop of the red wedding attire.

“Let go…” Jiang Yan winced from the pulling, reprimanding them. His voice was soft and hoarse, sounding more like a coquetry, and such a rebuke only invited a more intimate entanglement. The cold touch of a corpse contrasted sharply with the warm body of the man in front of him, sending a shiver through Jiang Yan.

“You both…” He was about to curse again when suddenly, a faint voice came from outside the bridal chamber, accompanied by the sound of a cracked door. A bloodshot eye peeked in through the crack.

“Creak!” The door inadvertently made a noise as it was brushed against.

“Come in!” Yu Xiu was pulling his sister-in-law's hand, gently nibbling on his wrist. The moment he heard the noise, his expression turned cold.

“You go take a look.” Jiang Yan kicked him in the chest.

At that moment, he was holding his deceased husband in his arms, half of the wedding attire on, the red fabric accentuating his exposed skin, which looked like it was made of cream. The long, ashen hand that belonged to his deceased husband was holding his waist, gently caressing him, and the cold sensation made Jiang Yan tremble slightly.

“Wait for me, sister-in-law.” Yu Xiu gently kissed the trembling face of his closed-eyed companion.

At this moment, the voice of the mayor's wife rang out from outside the door: “Little Xiu, it’s mom, you…”

“What’s the matter?” Yu Xiu’s voice was cold, sounding very composed.

Jiang Yan gently patted the Yu Xiu, who was softly nibbling at his face, and perked up his ears. The sounds of guests drinking in the backyard hadn’t died down; as the host, the mayor’s wife should be entertaining the guests there.

The mayor’s wife hesitated: “You know the rules of our town; you must have a son and a daughter after marriage, you…”

At this point, she paused, then seemed to take a deep breath and made a resolution, saying, “Your sister-in-law must be pregnant by the end of the year! Otherwise, our family is finished! The red ghost woman… won’t let us off.”

Yu Xiu, who was holding his bride, sat up displeased, but in the next second, he was pressed down by his younger brother.

The price of being a corpse for a month was that the muscle tissue and bone activity was not as flexible as that of the living.

Thus, he could only watch as his “younger brother” provocatively looked at him while replying, “Don’t worry, mother! I will help brother get sister-in-law pregnant.”

Trapped in the middle, Jiang Yan expressionlessly kicked him hard in the chest!

Yu Xiu took the opportunity to grasp his delicate ankle and lightly kissed the red mole on his ankle, making Jiang Yan instinctively withdraw his foot.

Hearing this, the mayor’s wife outside sighed deeply: “I’m sorry for your big brother…”

In the dim old house, the woman’s sorrowful sobs gradually faded away.

She didn’t notice that just where she had left, a red embroidered shoe had appeared, and looking up from the shoe, a small paper face made of white paper peeked out from the wall—a red paper doll the height of a person was tilting its head and hiding behind the wall.

Once the mayor’s wife left, Yu Xiu excitedly hugged his half-dressed sister-in-law, saying, “Sister-in-law, did you hear? You belong to me now!”

Then he fiercely glared at the corpse, which was still holding onto Jiang Yan

Just a pretty specimen, does it deserve to compete with him?

He better be careful; tomorrow he might just drag it out for cremation!

However, the “pretty specimen” was not intimidated by his threat and provocatively licked Jiang Yan’s smooth, fair neck.

He was Jiang Yan’s husband! Even in the underworld, Jiang Yan would still be his bride!

For his Jiang Yan… he crawled back from hell; no one could take Jiang Yan away from him.

Jiang Yan found it hard to breathe as he was entangled by the two of them, the sweet and cloying scent in the tent making his head spin.

“Stop… don’t!”

Jiang Yan hoarsely ordered.

Yet, at this moment, who could stop?

If anyone stopped, it meant they lost!

The movements of the two didn’t cease; instead, they grew even more excessive, and the sweet fragrance in the red tent made beads of sweat form on their skin.

[I, I, I, I, I… Damn!]

[Isn’t it time to turn off the lights?! Isn’t it time to turn off the lights?!]

[What the hell! Main system, you pervert!!]

[Is there anyone underage? Cao Youfeng doesn’t seem to be of age yet! Main system! How can a minor join such an adult scenario? Let me go!!]

[Jiang Yan!! Let him go!! Or let me join you!!]

[I take back what I said about Jiang Yan being dull! Jiang Yan is absolutely stunning!]

[For the first time, I want to be a system NPC! Mmm, what the heck…]

[Could it be… that this is for real? It can’t be, right? The lives of real NPCs matter too!]

Jiang Yan began to struggle; regardless of whether he could beat Yu Xiu, he couldn’t possibly break free from the bonds of the two.

The more he struggled, the more excited the two who were having their way with him became.

Yu Xiu stubbornly started to half-unravel the wedding attire wrapped around Jiang Yan, tearing it as he provocatively said, “Do you have the ability to make him pregnant? A specimen cannot reproduce.”

He had just torn halfway when Jiang Yan, unable to bear it any longer, kicked him off the bed.

“Pregnant my ass!”

Before Yu Xiu could react, his “brother” was also thrown down.

That’s right, thrown down.

Looking back, they saw their beautiful bride slightly panting, sitting on the luxurious quilt, looking down at them expressionlessly.

He raised an eyebrow, and his indifferent gaze held an undisguised disdain.

No matter where it is, whether dead or alive, why does this scoundrel always act like a dog?

The red quilt was wrapped around him, his long black hair cascading over his smooth shoulders, a few strands sticking to his rosy cheeks with thin sweat, and his blue eyes sparkling innocently, looking both obedient and flirtatious.

At this moment, something unknown was writhing in his abdomen, barely concealed by the remaining fabric of the wedding attire.

[What is this thing?!]

[Is he pregnant? Isn’t that a bit fast?]

[It can’t be his prop, right?]

[No way, his prop is supposed to be a rose, right?]

As everyone was guessing, the next second, two black tentacles reached out from the wedding attire—the shadow of a huge tentacle was cast on the wall by the candlelight, its densely packed eyes replacing the suction cups, all fixed on the two men beneath the bed.

[This… this isn’t the tentacle monster from the last scenario, is it?!]

[Isn’t this Jiang Yan’s husband from the last scenario?!]

[Oh my god! Why is it here?]

[Did Jiang Yan sneak it away?]

[Please! This is a system NPC, not a system prop! How could it be snuck away?]

[Oh! You’re mistaken! This is Jiang Yan!]

[Exactly, this is Jiang Yan! Nothing is impossible for him.]

Jiang Yan looked at the black tentacles in front of him, took a deep breath, and said with relief, “You’re finally useful.”

The one person and one corpse on the ground were not fazed by the sudden appearance of the monster but instead exchanged knowing smiles.

In the next second, before Jiang Yan could react, the tentacles he had just praised seized his wrists...

Jiang Yan: “???”

---

Copy: "Qingshi Town"- Progress: 15%

Game Rules: Participate in the wedding and leave the village alive.

Total Players: 6, Current Living: 61

Real NPC Count: 3, Uncontaminated Count: 3

The bright moon hung high in the sky as the wedding banquet began to wind down. People, slightly tipsy, started to leave the mayor's home in succession, while the mayor and his wife stood at the door to see off Jiang Yan's parents.

In the blink of an eye, the once lively residence fell silent.

A gust of wind blew through, causing the red silks and white cloths on the beams to flutter, while the red paper figures under the dining table swayed as if trembling. The entire house was engulfed in an eerie atmosphere.

After the guests had departed, the mayor's wife led the players to their assigned rooms. The corridor was quiet, no one spoke, only the sound of footsteps echoed.

The players were still processing the information that had just been fed to them by the system: they were players, Jiang Yan was a real NPC, and the one named Yu Xiu was not the real Yu Xiu, but a system-generated NPC created from Yu Xiu’s genetic data. He was not a real person.

Their mission as players was to complete the main system's task and survive, while Jiang Yan's mission was to live and play his role well. As long as they completed the game's tasks, Jiang Yan's role-playing would also be fulfilled.

The main system's task was to participate in the wedding and leave the village alive. Now that the wedding was over, did that mean they could leave the village tomorrow?

With this thought in mind, he looked up at the mayor's wife, whose face bore a rigid, formal smile. After hesitating for a moment, he mustered the courage to say, "Um… the wedding is over, so we won’t impose any longer tomorrow."

At this, the other players turned to him, shock etched on their faces.

He was baffled; wasn't it agreed that if they survived the wedding, it would count as completing the game? Now that the wedding was over, why weren’t they hurrying to escape?

Suddenly, the mayor’s wife’s expression shifted. The stiff smile that had just been there was replaced by a mask of sorrow.

In the dim candlelight, her heavily powdered face showed a rigid expression akin to a fake mask. "In our town, the wedding… doesn't end just because the feast is over."

His heart sank. "Then what does it mean to complete the wedding?"

The mayor's wife sighed deeply and gestured to the white flower pinned to their chests. "The wedding is only considered complete when the bride is pregnant."

"What?!" The collective shock was palpable as their eyes shifted from him to the mayor’s wife.

"Pregnant?! How can Jiang Yan get pregnant?!"

"Shh!" The mayor's wife's eyes sharpened, "You can’t let her hear."

He immediately fell silent.

Cao Youfeng asked, "Who are you referring to?"

"The Red Ghost Lady." The mayor's wife's voice turned heavy as the wind swirled, scattering the ashes of the dead.

"The Red Ghost Lady has placed a curse on our town. From now on, no one in the town can marry outsiders. Each family must have one son and one daughter—no more, no less."

"If someone accidentally gives birth to twins, they must have another pair of corresponding twins. If the living men and women in the town are not balanced… then the family will be cursed!"

"It’s been like this for hundreds or even thousands of years. Our ancestors have endured it."

"We can know the gender of the fetus through medical imaging now, but how could we guarantee that it would be a boy or a girl in the past?" Cao Youfeng asked curiously.

The mayor's wife chuckled bitterly. "How could we guarantee anything?"

She shook her head and continued to lead them forward. "How could we guarantee? Boys and girls, who knows?"

At this point, the players couldn't help but remember the group of men at the banquet dressed in qipaos, claiming to be "women."

But strangely, there were also women who dressed as men.

They couldn’t help but recall the dead baby they encountered on the road and the stone towers at every household's door, and a chill ran through them.

Everyone fell silent, continuing to follow her as she chattered on, "When the time comes, you can replace the white flowers on your chests with red flowers, and then you can leave the village."

Jiang Yan could no longer contain himself, asking, "But… what if we can’t have children? What then?"

The mayor’s wife stopped once more, slowly turning around to force a strange smile. The heavy white powder on her face looked particularly sinister in the candlelight.

"Then… that family will collectively suffer the curse of the Red Ghost Lady."

—

That night, He tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.

What kind of situation was this?!

Participating in the wedding and leaving the village alive was supposed to complete the task.

But the requirement for completing the wedding was that the bride must get pregnant?! How could a man get pregnant?!

In the end, he couldn’t hold it in any longer! He left his room and stealthily approached the door of the bridal chamber, gently tapping on the intricately carved red wooden door.

"Jiang Yan!" he whispered, "Let’s run now! They say you must get pregnant to survive!"

"Jiang Yan! Did you hear me? Jiang Yan?"

"You better respond if you hear me!"

[You’re too late! They’re already working on that now.]

[You should’ve come earlier; who knows how far along they are now.]

[It’s hard to decide whether to sympathize with Jiang Yan or to feel envious of him.]

Suddenly, a red paper doll was blown down from the eaves, its head tilting awkwardly as it got stuck on the steps before falling to the ground.

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