Jiang Yan stood in the center of the shrine, looking at the players and NPCs with different expressions, his own face calm. He seemed so composed, as if what he just said wasn't "kill me," but "I forgot to have dinner tonight."
This caused even the players who had been shouting to kill him, like Fang Rui, to freeze in place, unable to process what was happening.
What... is this guy doing?
It wasn’t just the players standing in front of Jiang Yan that were confused, even his personal system, 663, didn’t understand his actions.
663: “Jiang Yan! What are you doing?!”
“Of course I’m role-playing,” Jiang Yan answered.
“This is how you role-play? Did I not tell you that players can legally execute NPCs by reporting or passing judgment?” 663 was starting to lose it.
“My ancestor! You’re like a block of wood when you should be acting, but now when you should be acting like a block of wood, you’re jumping around! I’m exhausted!” 663 grumbled.
Earlier, Jiang Yan wouldn’t even take a step when in bed, acting as if it would kill him. Now, when he was supposed to be pretending to be weak in his husband’s arms, why was he suddenly adding drama?
663 was ready to file a complaint! He needed the system to open a channel for complaints about the host! The system’s life was precious, too.
“To earn more points,” Jiang Yan answered calmly.
Then he fulfilled his inner desire... to deliberately harm his ex-husband.
Upon hearing this, 663 was on the verge of tears. “You can earn points, but you need to stay alive to spend them! Although seeking death can give you higher points, my dear host, seeking death doesn’t mean suicide!”
Jiang Yan ignored him and instead looked over at Yu Jia, who was lighting a cigarette in the corner. He raised an eyebrow and then said something that didn’t make any sense: “I really dislike people who smoke in public places.”
663: “Huh?”
Jiang Yan continued, still ignoring him, and spoke to the others: “So, what do you think? Do you need to try judging me?”
As he said this, he looked at the painting of the "Mountain God" in the center of the shrine, his tone lazy and indifferent, though it seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm: “Just right, in front of the god.”
The flickering candlelight cast shadows across the walls, and the black ancestral tablets surrounding the shrine, along with the silent, imposing Mountain God’s presence, seemed to watch everything unfold.
"You..." Fang Rui, who had been raving madly earlier, stood frozen in place and took a step back.
At this moment, his mind was flooded with overwhelming hatred toward Jiang Yan, a hatred so deep it felt like it was carved into his bones!
Jiang Yan must die!
He had to die in this dungeon! There was no way he could leave this dungeon alive!
Although he didn’t fully understand where this hatred for Jiang Yan came from, all other emotional responses and thoughts seemed to have vanished from his mind, and he no longer had the capacity to question why he felt this way.
But...
The anger, jealousy, and resentment couldn't outweigh the fear.
To voluntarily accept judgment and ask to be executed? Was that something a normal person would do?
In Fang Rui’s bloodshot eyes, a hint of fear began to rise.
He... was afraid of him.
He looked at the man standing before him, whose delicate, indifferent face and lazy, beautiful blue eyes seemed to remind him of an unpleasant memory from the past. A chill ran down his spine, and he instinctively took another step back.
As soon as he moved, Jiang Yan swiftly caught the faintly reflective, transparent thread that extended from the back of his head.
So it’s true?
Jiang Yan smiled faintly, his gaze turning dark as he looked toward Yu Jia.
Is this the "puppet thread" that amplifies other people's emotions?
He didn’t know when it was planted on this poor player, nor did he know if the once-ghostly Ling Kang had also turned into a puppet controlled by laziness.
But...
Jiang Yan thought for a moment. If the emotions were just amplified, then those emotions had to exist in the first place, right?
Why did Fang Rui hate him?
Had they met before?
Jiang Yan hadn’t been in the game for long. In the earlier dungeons, because his level was low, he had simply coasted through, barely remembering what the main quests were, let alone the players he had encountered.
Jiang Yan thought for a moment, confirming that the name "Fang Rui" didn’t exist in his memory, so he couldn’t be bothered to think any more about it.
He wasn’t the only one who was confused. Yu Jia leaned against the corner of the wall, silently puffing out smoke rings.
The orange ember glowed faintly. This was already his third cigarette of the night, and he looked at the behavior of the real-life NPC before him, clearly puzzled.
In the game, real-life NPCs were less dangerous than players, but their freedom was also more limited. As a result, real-life NPCs were usually in a passive role in dungeons.
Under normal circumstances, real-life NPCs wouldn’t directly get involved in the dungeon’s battles. They would choose to stay safe, hide within their designated personas, and wait for the right moment to take advantage of the players’ hard work.
Like snakes, hiding among the flowers, waiting for the prey to come near.
But here, Jiang Yan stood before everyone, his expression lazy and indifferent, with mysterious golden light flickering deep in his eyes, like a cat provocatively playing with its prey.
This kind of provocation toward players was usually reserved for high-level real-life NPCs trying to show off. While Jiang Yan’s rating had risen quickly due to his performance in the last dungeon and the boost from his S-level item, even then, he was still only a B-level NPC.
In a game, being this "alive" wasn’t exactly a wise choice.
So why?
What was Jiang Yan doing? Could it be true what he said to Jian Hou? Could his item really...?
That was impossible, Yu Jia thought, laughing bitterly. No matter how special Jiang Yan was, he couldn’t possibly possess an item that violated the game’s rules!
Besides, in this game, there was only one truly special real-life NPC...
He looked at Jiang Yan, and the image of a tall and slender figure appeared in his mind. His gaze darkened.
—
Here’s a closer to raw translation:
---
In the game space, at the "Puppet Workshop" base, the sound of a pair of polished men’s leather shoes tapping on the blue floor, which displayed rolling golden data, echoed. Further up, long legs appeared — a man wearing a cartoon shark headpiece and a suit, holding two cups of milk tea, casually walked toward the center of the “Puppet Workshop” base.
The guild members who saw him, upon noticing his shark headpiece, froze. After awkwardly greeting him, they pressed themselves against the walls and whispered to each other.
“Hey, what’s going on? Why’s Spades K here at our base?”
“Is he here to pick a fight with our boss?”
“Why would a player and an NPC fight?”
“Could it be because of that Jiang Yan?”
Zhuang Dan, the man wearing the shark headpiece, skillfully navigated through the winding corridors of the base and came to a mechanical door.
He waved at the camera outside the door and raised the milk tea slightly.
“Beep beep.”
With two beeps, the door automatically opened.
Zhuang Dan entered, and the door closed behind him with another "beep beep."
Once inside, he complained, “Did you guys design this base like a Bagua formation? It took me half an hour just to get here.”
Inside was a vast space, reminiscent of a church, with a high vaulted ceiling. On the ceiling was a carving of Lucifer’s fall, and a massive Venus sculpture stood beside the walls, holding up the dome.
But unlike other Venus statues, this one had arms, which were crossed over her chest, holding a fresh bouquet of red roses. The statue looked pure, but also a little passionate.
At that moment, a man with a rabbit-ear headpiece sat on a red velvet chair beneath the Venus statue, lazily watching the broadcast of the “Qingshi Town” dungeon on a giant screen that occupied an entire wall.
Without turning around, the man asked, “Three sugar?”
“Yes,” Zhuang Dan replied, a little helplessly. Who would’ve thought Spades K would end up running errands?
Three sugars were practically just ice water. What’s the point of a soulless milk tea? he thought, handing over a cup.
Zhuang Dan then sat down beside him.
“When your blood sugar drops, you won’t think so,” the man replied without looking at him, easily taking the milk tea from his hand.
Zhuang Dan leaned back on the velvet chair and looked at the screen.
In the dim underground shrine, the candlelight cast shadows on everyone’s faces. The shifting light reflected the emotions hidden within their hearts.
Jiang Yan stood in the center, his expression lazy and calm, gazing at everyone, “Do you want to kill me?”
“Wow,” Zhuang Dan thought to himself, “these young people really are bold!”
The man with the rabbit-ear headpiece asked, “Do you think he’s pretending, or does he really have this much confidence?”
“He’s just a B-level NPC. He’s probably pretending,” Zhuang Dan answered, taking off his headpiece and revealing his delicate face, sipping his full-sugar milk tea.
“Is that so?” The man with the rabbit-ear headpiece said with a meaningful tone, “But he’s not just any NPC. He’s Jiang Yan.”
Zhuang Dan was silent for a moment, and the room instantly became quiet.
The name Jiang Yan — these two words had been popping up everywhere in the game lately.
If players and NPCs didn’t mention his name, it was as if they had wandered into a different game, like a romance game from another server.
Zhuang Dan glanced at the man beside him, who was still quietly holding his milk tea.
After a moment, the man spoke slowly, “So, what is it? You came to find me just to share milk tea and watch the holographic screen?”
“Of course not.” Zhuang Dan took another sip of milk tea and put his headpiece back on. “Do you know that the main system is holding a system-wide conference in a couple of days?”
“A full system-wide conference?”
“Yeah.”
The man with the rabbit headpiece thought for a moment, then asked, "Doesn’t that mean all players have to stop playing and take a break? What about those still stuck in the dungeon?"
"Keep playing!" Zhuang Dan casually replied.
The man with the rabbit headpiece held his milk tea, thinking for a moment, then slowly said, "Has it really come to this point?"
Zhuang Dan’s voice grew serious, "Yeah."
He looked up at the vaulted ceiling, where a scene of Lucifer’s fall was carved — a high-ranking angel with gemstone-blue eyes glared toward God’s direction. His pure wings were stained with sin and impurity as he helplessly fell into hell.
The man with the rabbit headpiece gripped his milk tea harder, and the plastic cup began to deform under the pressure. "But we..."
"So!" Zhuang Dan immediately interrupted him, "The reason I came to find you is to ask you to let Jiang Yan go."
The man with the rabbit headpiece said nothing.
Zhuang Dan continued with a serious tone, "Why hold onto this? It’s come this far, and Jiang Yan is just a trivial NPC! Our Paris guild wants him because he’ll boost the guild’s numbers. Why do you have to go against him?"
"It’s not that I’m against him!" The man with the rabbit headpiece replied, his tone slightly agitated.
A petal from the rose in Venus’s hand fell to the ground.
He took a few deep breaths and lowered his voice, "It’s because he’s too special. In this game, there can only be one special NPC."
Zhuang Dan advised, "There’s no need to make it a big deal. If word gets out, people will think you’re petty."
The man with the rabbit headpiece laughed coldly, "Do you think I care what they say? A bunch of low-end fodder."
The two fell silent again. No one spoke. The only sound in the room was the faint flicker of candlelight in the broadcasted scene of the underground shrine.
After a while, Zhuang Dan sighed deeply, "It’s just a low-tier NPC. You don’t need to take it so seriously."
"I won’t allow any fake goods to appear in front of me." The man with the rabbit headpiece’s tone held a strange sense of grievance, "I won’t allow it!"
Zhuang Dan sighed again, spinning his shark headpiece.
This guy... he’s really stubborn. I wonder who taught him.
The rose in Venus’s hand withered, and the sound of the church seemed to quiet down.
The fluffy white rabbit headpiece tilted slightly, the two red plastic eyes reflecting the image on the holographic screen. The screen that covered the entire wall showed a young man with blue eyes, who lazily smiled at the players, "I’ll ask again — is no one going to kill me?"
—
In the dimly lit underground shrine, the smell of incense wax filled the air, and the sharp, terrifying laughter of the ghostly spirits echoed from above, sending chills down the spine. Jiang Yan felt a bit drowsy as he looked around at the various expressions of the players, yawning and saying, "Thank you all for your trust."
Then, he turned around in full view of everyone, preparing to return to the side of his deceased husband.
No one said a word to stop him, and the shrine fell silent except for the faint sounds of movement.
However! A sweet, sharp girl's voice suddenly echoed from the corner: "Mama!"
Everyone froze in shock!
"What is that?" Jiang Yan instinctively dove toward Yu Xiu's embrace.
Yu Xiu immediately pulled his wife close, whispering, "Yanyan, don't be afraid."
"Mama—! Mama—!"
The girl's voice was piercing, so sharp it made the ears hurt.
What's worse, it seemed like the ghostly spirits outside heard the girl's call. Their eerie laughter turned into mournful cries, calling out, "Niou—!"
"Mama—!"
"Niou—!"
The girl's voice resonated with the spirits, and the word "Niou" grew louder as the ghosts slowly moved toward the shrine.
"Not good!" The village chief shouted, "Quick! Get that thing out of here!"
"What... what are we looking for?" Jian Hou asked frantically.
Before he could finish, Cang Rou spoke up, "Found it!"
At her words, everyone's gaze turned toward her. In her hand was the red-papered doll they had seen earlier in the courtyard.
The doll had a pale face, red patches resembling blush, and two dark, lifeless eyes. It continued to cry "Mama" in a sharp, ear-piercing voice, painful to hear.
The village chief hurried over, snatching the doll from her hands, stomping it into the ground, and crushing it.
The doll's cry was abruptly cut off as it cracked, and the shrine fell into an eerie silence.
Before anyone could recover, the village chief, furious, barked, "Who! Who brought her here?!"
The village chief's wife clutched her chest in panic, trembling, "It's over. This time, it's really over! They’ll come... we’ve already brought them here!"
"Thud, thud, thud!"
A series of knocks echoed from the entrance to the basement.
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