"Sniff!"
The black tentacle coiled quickly back into Jiang Yan’s lower abdomen, making a sticky, muffled sound as it retracted.
Yu Xiu, who had been slapped didn’t get angry but instead glanced meaningfully at Jiang Yan’s lower abdomen. His expression was half-smiling, half-provocative, like a smirk with a hint of challenge.
At that moment, no one paid attention to his reaction. After all, he was just a side character NPC. His reaction didn’t matter.
Everyone else was staring wide-eyed at Jiang Yan’s abdomen.
"...What is that thing?"
Cao Youfeng tugged at Tao Shi’s sleeve. The bandaged boy, whose wraps were already in disarray, looked just as disheveled as his chaotic thoughts.
He muttered in shock, “Boss… isn’t that…?!”
Tao Shi was also puzzled. He turned to Yu Jia, who was smoking nearby, and asked, “Yu, what do you think?”
Yu Jia, holding his cigarette and resting his elbow on the table, exhaled a puff of smoke and looked at Jiang Yan, his face full of confusion.
If he wasn’t mistaken, that should be the tentacle of Jiang Yan’s “husband” from his last instance.
But why is it appearing on Jiang Yan?
System NPCs can’t be taken out of the main system. Could it have been dismantled into a system item?
Can that even happen? When did NPCs become something you can disassemble into items?
This feature was never heard of before...
Hiss… if it’s Jiang Yan, it almost makes sense?
The handsome silver-haired man took a drag of his cigarette, the orange-red ember glowing before dimming again.
Although he was just as confused, he maintained an indifferent expression and answered, “Probably... No idea.”
[It feels like the big guys’ CPUs are fried.]
[Strange! No matter how many times I look at it, I still think this tentacle looks so weird]
[Why is the system NPC from Jiang Yan’s last instance here?! Is the main system bugged?!]
[Trivia: When you see something illogical in an instance, you can always explain it with the words ‘Jiang Yan.’]
[Hahahaha! So, 'Jiang Yan' is just a walking rule anomaly!]
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the origin of the tentacle. No one noticed that not only should this thing not appear, but it especially shouldn’t be attached to Jiang Yan, who was the "bride."
No one realized that the moment Jiang Yan took out the item to bind the "disheartened ghost" Ling Kang... his "character" had already collapsed.
However, the main system didn’t react, nor did the system NPC.
Perhaps, since the "Lost Rose" was taken out by Jiang Yan, the scene in this instance had been frozen.
From the "disheartened ghost" in the cage, the wooden mirror-like couple, to the wind in the air and the paper dolls scattered by the wind in the yard, even the "Yu Xiu" sitting next to Jiang Yan, they all seemed to have been frozen in a poorly drawn, paper-like picture.
Jiang Yan casually ate his wontons while observing everything around him, looking at the timer on the main screen.
When he saw a dry leaf on the tree sway and start to fall, the timer on the screen showed:
[5:00 min]
"Exactly five minutes." Jiang Yan’s long lashes fluttered.
663 spoke up, "Hurry up! You’re about to be fed to a female ghost!"
Jiang Yan smiled, "I thought the item section was just randomly generated, didn’t expect this item to have such a special use!"
663, fuming, retorted, "Randomly generated?! Are you questioning the system’s precision?"
Jiang Yan couldn’t help but mock, "Precision? Try saying that again while looking at whatever’s crawling inside me for no reason."
663 was left speechless.
Jiang Yan glanced at his glowing item section. Five minutes.
This item didn’t just function as an attack tool; it also allowed him to temporarily escape his NPC role and move freely for five minutes.
He lowered his eyelids, his blue eyes darkening slightly. This item was something he found after picking up a photo that had been discarded in the study at home.
That photo was taken by Yu Xiu.
So... could this item be connected to him?
If it is related to Yu Xiu, Jiang Yan couldn’t imagine what kind of striking beauty Yu Xiu must be playing in the game.
Player? Real NPC? Neither seemed to fit.
Items for players and real NPCs are never transferable.
Could he have been taken by the main god to become part of the personal system?
But if it’s a "personal system," how would he come back as part of a “black tentacle”?
It can’t be that he’s really been taken for experimentation, right?
A gust of wind blew, and the dry leaf from the tree finally fluttered to the ground.
[Item: Lost Rose]
[Effect: Authorized by the gods for use by those with criminal intent.]
"Cao Da," Jiang Yan said, suddenly calling Cao Youfeng while eating his wontons.
Cao Youfeng, caught off guard by his name being called, looked confused, "Hmm? What’s up?"
Jiang Yan said, “Catch this.”
“What?”
With a snap of his fingers, the dry, thorny rose vines disappeared in an instant, and everything set up by the system in the instance came back to life!
“Roar—!”
Ling Kang, now free from his restraints, lunged at the group again.
Cao Youfeng instantly understood why Jiang Yan had called him. He cursed under his breath, and the white bandages on his body flew out, wrapping around Ling Kang like an Egyptian mummy.
“Xiao Ling!”
Fang Rui, seeing his friend suddenly turn into this state, broke into a cold sweat.
He silently clenched his fists. There’s still a chance... there’s still hope!
The main system hadn’t declared Xiao Ling’s death, nor had it said that Xiao Ling had been “polluted.” There would definitely be a chance for a turnaround!
Upon seeing this, the village chief looked at Cao Youfeng with some surprise. “Not bad, young man, nice acrobatics.”
The black-haired boy smiled brightly. “Thanks, Uncle!”
The village chief sighed deeply. “You all finish your meal and head back to your rooms to rest, or you can take a walk around the village. Just remember not to break any of the village’s taboos.”
Fang Rui’s eyes were red, and he pleaded with the village chief, “Is there really no way to break the curse?”
The village chief’s silence seemed to indicate the answer.
Fang Rui was almost in despair. He had grown up with Ling Kang, and they were as close as family. After entering the game, they had supported each other all the way to this point.
His fists clenched tightly, his whole body trembling. Fearful tears and nervous sweat dripped down his face. He couldn’t lose Xiao Ling.
They were each other’s only support in this strange and absurd world. They couldn’t lose each other.
If Xiao Ling really couldn’t come back... then he...
Just then, Jiang Yan suddenly spoke up.
“I remember there’s a way.”
Fang Rui froze, staring blankly at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan looked at the man in front of him, whose face was wet with tears over losing his companion. His tone softened slightly as he said, “Pick the flowers off the corpse of the Grass Demoness, boil them with the water from the Fushou Well, and drink it to break the chasing curse.”
Ding! 【Real NPC Jiang Yan: Key clue - The flowers from the Grass Demoness's corpse, when boiled with the water from the Fushou Well and consumed, can break the chasing curse.】
Fang Rui’s eyes instantly lit up!
At this moment, the village chief sighed again. “But no one has ever found the Grass Demoness’s grave.”
“We’ll find it!” Fang Rui said firmly.
“Ah...” The village chief sighed. “The wedding ceremony isn’t over yet, and there’s still some time. You all go back and rest for now.”
With that, he and the village chief’s wife left the dining hall where they had been eating breakfast.
Once the two system NPCs left, everyone in the room fell silent once again.
Because they knew, according to the village’s definition of the wedding, this would be a wedding that would never end.
Everyone’s gaze returned to Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan put down his spoon and calmly asked, “Are you done eating? If you’re done, come with me to the village for a stroll.”
The boy behind him, who had been complaining about the bland porridge, now reached over to grab some wontons from Jiang Yan’s bowl.
Hearing this, the boy stopped and replied, “Oh, okay.”
Yu Xiu, sitting next to Jiang Yan, leaned in towards him and said coquettishly, “I want to go with you and him”
Without hesitation, Jiang Yan pushed him away, coldly rejecting, “You’re not worthy.”
---
After finishing their meal, Jiang Yan grabbed Jian Hou and they left.
As they walked ahead, a group of people quietly followed behind them.
The town in the early morning was shrouded in a thin mist, and Jiang Yan and Jian Hou walked along the stone-paved street, the sound of their footsteps echoing with a "tap tap" sound.
The red silk and white cloth hung from the wedding yesterday were still up, and the main street was covered with paper offerings. It was unclear which household’s donkey was still braying loudly in the distance.
At this moment, Jian Hou had countless questions he wanted to ask Jiang Yan.
But looking at his friend beside him, with a red-and-white paper flower tucked behind his ear, and his long hair, grown due to the instance, hastily tied at the back, with a few stray strands hanging by his cheek, he looked like a delicate young widow.
Suddenly, he recalled that when Jiang Yan was eight years old, his mother had taken him to a fortune-teller, who said that Jiang Yan’s face would be unlucky for both his wife and husband, which had infuriated Jiang Yan’s mother to the point that she almost overturned the fortune-teller’s stall.
The two of them walked to a secluded alley at the end of the street, and Jiang Yan said, “It’s here.”
“Wh-what…”
Ding!
【Item: Lost Rose】
With that, the rose vines shot up from the ground, forming a huge rose cage that enclosed the two of them. Dry rose petals fell from the air, filling the space with fragrance.
Jian Hou stood in the rose cage, dumbfounded, clearly still processing what was happening.
Jiang Yan spoke as quickly as he could, “We only have five minutes, so from now on, we must speak at three times our normal speed.”
Jian Hou immediately complied, “OK!”
[Hmm? What are they saying inside? Why can’t we hear them?]
[System bug? Why can’t we see inside the item?]
[There’s an issue with the broadcast, right?]
[Forget it! It’s the same as with Tao Shi and the others.]
At this moment, three men were crouching at the entrance of the alley: one with blue hair, one with silver hair, and one wrapped in bandages from head to toe. They looked like typical troublemakers for this town.
They were peering into the alley, which made them look even more suspicious.
“I didn’t expect that we’d come this far, and we’re still doing things like eavesdropping,” Yu Jia sighed.
Cao Youfeng, irritated, said, “Stop talking so much and get closer!”
“If we get any closer, we’ll be discovered,” Yu Jia replied.
“So what if we’re discovered? It’s only natural for us three players to track real NPCs in the instance.”
“Do you think there’s a high chance he’s the mountain god?”
“80%! Since the last instance, our guild has adopted the principle of unconditionally suspecting anyone associated with Jiang Yan.”
“...”
The three of them stayed silent for a while, not hearing anything from inside.
“Ugh... What’s that? It feels so cold,” Cao Youfeng said, feeling something brush against the back of his neck.
He instinctively reached for it, and a cold, stiff sensation ran through him. The thing had coiled around his neck.
A sense of ominous dread surged through him, and he looked down to find a grayish-blue, corpse-colored vine twisting and coiling around his neck, resembling a snake or some kind of boneless, soft creature.
"...."
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