【What the heck?! He made a move!!】
【Is he really a traitor?!】
【Oh my god Jian Hou is absolutely ruthless!】
The townspeople looked at Jiang Yan, who stood in the center, and began whispering to each other:
“Yeah! Why hasn’t he been cursed yet?”
“According to the rules, if the Red Witch comes to stir trouble, shouldn’t she have gone after the family first?”
“If you ask me, he’s probably been dragged into this! He’s been fine for so long, but after he got married, the Red Witch showed up. It must be his fault! It must be…”
The murmurs grew louder, and the looks in the townspeople’s eyes became more malicious.
At that moment, the woman dressed in a qipao, who had been kneeling and crying by her mother’s side, suddenly went wild and lunged toward Jiang Yan! The elderly woman, who had been holding onto Jiang Yan with all her strength, was easily pushed aside by the woman who lunged at Jiang Yan.
The woman who charged at Jiang Yan had red spots on her face, a symbol of being cursed. She was stronger than the elderly woman and screamed at Jiang Yan, “You killed my family! It’s you!!”
“What does it have to do with me?” Jiang Yan said, expressionless.
“San Feng! Calm down!” Jiang Yan’s mother tried to pull her back with all her strength, but it was in vain.
The woman before them was shockingly strong, her grip on Jiang Yan’s shoulder tight, shaking him violently. Her back, hidden beneath the qipao, was as strong as an ox. Jiang Yan looked fragile, pale, and thin in comparison, as though he would break with the slightest touch.
“Slap!”
The woman’s hand on Jiang Yan’s shoulder was suddenly knocked away.
Jiang Yan felt his shoulder relax and his waist tighten, as his mother’s delicate and graceful chin appeared at his shoulder.
“Did your mother never teach you not to touch other people’s wives when she was alive?”
San Feng collapsed to the ground, her palm leaving two bloody handprints on the ground—those were her mother’s blood.
She struggled and got up, shouting at Jiang Yan with her booming voice, “Who else could it be but you?! Isn’t it your fault a woman can’t even have a child?!”
At the words, Jiang Yan gently patted his mother’s hand, signaling her to let go. He then walked up to San Feng, stepped on her dirty, cheap qipao, and looked down at her from above.
“Can you give birth?”
San Feng froze.
The townspeople, who had been gossiping, fell silent in an instant.
Jiang Yan stood up, scanned the crowd, and pointed to the women in qipaos around them. Slowly, he said, “Can any of you give birth?”
The crowd gasped in shock, staring at the “bride” as though he were a monster.
Jiang Yan’s mother tugged at his sleeve, flustered.
“Yan Yan... stop talking!”
Jiang Yan ignored her, his blue eyes filled with coldness and a mocking smile.
“Gentlemen! Just because you wear long hair, a qipao, and high heels doesn’t mean you can grow a uterus!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the crowd exploded!
“What are you saying?! You’ve lost your mind!!” San Feng screamed.
Not only the townspeople, but even the players at the scene and the viewers in the game forum were left in disbelief.
"What is he doing? Has he given up on himself after being betrayed by his best friend?" Yu Jia took a drag from his cigarette, looking puzzled at Jiang Yan in the crowd.
Jian Hou's face didn't show much expression: "Who knows?"
Yu Jia sneered, "So this is the struggle before his death? Trying to leave a moment of glory for himself? How ridiculous! There are even people saying he’ll become the second Best Actor? Just based on his mental strength and basic qualities? Does he even deserve it?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Rui’s face showed a pure, happy laugh: "Has he collapsed? The taste of being betrayed by his best friend!"
He was also shocked by Jian Hou’s betrayal of Jiang Yan! Jian Hou, from the moment he entered the game, had been inseparable from Jiang Yan. No one had expected him to stab Jiang Yan in the back at this critical moment!
"Haha! This is really satisfying!" Thinking this, he couldn't help but hold the hand of Ling Kang beside him.
In this game, which represented death and destruction, having a trustworthy friend to rely on was such a rare thing! And Jiang Yan… he didn’t deserve it! Someone like Jiang Yan, who was indifferent to everything and saw people like ants, would only be crushed in the face of high-level players and dungeons!
"Has he gone crazy?!" Cao Youfeng's eyes were wide open, staring at the calm Jiang Yan in disbelief.
In a folk dungeon, the most taboo thing was to break the customs. Isn’t this the same as breaking the rules in a regular dungeon and deliberately seeking death? Watching the townspeople around him starting to turn their attention to him, why was he doing something like this? Did he want to die faster?!
Tao Shi, who had been silent, suddenly regained his senses from Jian Hou’s betrayal and was once again stunned by Jiang Yan’s actions. He was so mentally exhausted; he was tired of Jiang Yan.
Did their guild really need this NPC so badly?
663 also began screaming frantically in Jiang Yan's mind: "What the hell?! What’s going on with your childhood friend?! What is he doing?! What are you doing?!"
"Are you suddenly crazy?! Do you even know what you're doing?!"
"I know," Jiang Yan calmly replied.
What he was doing was stirring up this muddy water that everyone had been pretending was clear.
The red marks, symbolizing vengeful ghosts, crawled across the faces of every townsman. They wore faces marked with red-and-white blotches, and their gazes toward Jiang Yan grew more and more hostile, more and more vicious, and their voices grew louder: "Crazy! The Jiang family’s daughter is crazy!"
"A madwoman! What’s the use of a madwoman who can’t even lay an egg?"
"I say, why not burn her alive and see if that will calm the ghost’s rage, maybe it’ll lift the curse on us!"
"Burn? There’s no one in town to chop firewood, it’s a waste of oil! Does your family have oil?"
Jiang Yan’s mother desperately shielded him from behind: "It’s not like this! It’s not like this! Yan Yan is just a child, he doesn’t understand, the curse has nothing to do with him!"
"Nothing to do with him?" Yu Jia calmly added, "Auntie, we’ve all been cursed, and Jiang Yan is the only one unaffected. How can the curse have nothing to do with him?"
Jiang Yan turned his head, looking at Yu Jia in confusion. He still didn’t understand the reason behind Yu Jia’s hostility toward him.
Yu Jia stretched out his hand and made a beheading gesture, wearing a determined smile.
Jiang Yan’s face showed no expression. For the first time, he felt like he was so disliked by others.
Upon hearing Yu Jia’s words, the discussion among the crowd became even more heated, and everyone grew restless:
"Yeah! Last time, there was no fuss at the Wu family's wedding! Why is there a ruckus this time for her wedding?"
"Exactly! It must be because her belly hasn’t shown any movement yet! The red ghost lady came to find me, and since she hasn’t had a child, she’s dragging her down with her!"
"As a woman, if you can’t even have a child, whose fault is it if not hers?"
"I say, there's no need to burn her! Just throw her into the Fushou Well! If the red ghost lady wants her, she can have her! If not, at least we’ve gotten rid of her! She won’t be a burden on us anymore!"
As they spoke, the townspeople’s emotions grew even more intense. The narrow, cobblestone street, covered by a large red cloth, was crowded with people. The bodies of three maidservants still lay in the middle of the road, but no one cared. The townspeople loudly discussed how to deal with Jiang Yan, this “madwoman.”
They needed to cover up the lies that had been exposed, and the way to do that was, of course, to execute this disobedient "woman" under the excuse of her being a "madwoman."
"Throw her into the Fushou Well!"
"Throw her down there!"
"Liu Er! You and Li San go and tie her up!"
The townspeople gradually closed in, and Jiang Yan’s mother desperately shielded him, crying out in hopeless desperation to the indifferent mayor and his wife standing far off: "No! You can't do this! Mayor! Mayor! Yan Yan is your daughter-in-law!"
The rioting townspeople immediately stopped, waiting for the mayor's response.
They needed the most authoritative person in the town to make a statement about their actions.
The noisy street immediately fell silent. The mayor’s face, like a withered tree, showed no expression. His murky eyes coldly looked at Jiang Yan and slowly announced the nature of this judgment: "Yan Yan has gone mad."
"No..." Jiang Yan’s mother shook her head in despair.
"The Yu family doesn’t need a mad daughter-in-law, and the town doesn’t need another madwoman."
The townspeople immediately erupted again! Their actions now had the support of the law!
Seeing Jiang Yan’s mother blocking him, the mayor spoke: "Liu Er, pull her away."
Liu Er hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and forcibly dragging Jiang Yan’s mother away, advising, "It’s already at this point! Even if you don’t want this, there’s nothing you can do! It’s not like this hasn’t happened before; any family could end up like this."
"Exactly! Didn’t our family go through this too? Why shouldn’t it be your turn?"
"Just because your daughter studied in the city for a few days, does that make her golden? Throw her into the well!"
"Mom..." Jiang Yan looked at the woman who was desperately trying to protect him and calmly reassured her, "It’s fine, you don’t need to worry about me."
Jiang Yan’s mother screamed in agony, desperately clutching her son’s sleeve, trying to stop the rioting townspeople.
As the situation got completely out of control, Jiang Yan, standing among the crowd, felt like a helpless lamb waiting for slaughter.
In the crowd, Cao Youfeng turned to Tao Shi and asked, "Boss, what should we do?"
Tao Shi twirled his finger, regretting bringing cigarettes.
What could they do? What could they possibly do?
His mind was a mess right now!
He couldn’t understand why Yu Jia wanted to kill Jiang Yan, and he couldn’t comprehend the sudden betrayal by Teacher Jian! Hadn’t he and Jiang Yan grown up together? Weren’t they childhood friends? Why?
But now, things had already escalated to this point!
There was only one way left, the same way they had always used to break through difficult situations—brutally dismantling the instance.
With himself and Xiao Feng, along with Jiang Yan, who had an S-level dungeon, they could easily dismantle this dungeon without a problem!
Tao Shi closed his eyes and, resigned, ran his hand through his hair, cursing under his breath.
"Damn it, Jiang Yan!"
Ding!
[Item: Divine Staff]
A golden light shone from Tao Shi's palm, and a magnificent golden staff appeared in his hand. He said, "Xiao Feng!"
"Coming!"
Ding!
[Item: Medical Bandage]
White bandages flew from Cao Youfeng’s body like flowers, forcing the townspeople near Jiang Yan to retreat half a step.
They lightly leapt and landed in front of Jiang Yan.
Tao Shi turned to Jiang Yan and said, "Have you ever tried violently breaking a dungeon?"
"No."
It was an unsurprising answer.
Holding the divine staff, Tao Shi said to Jiang Yan, who stood still:
"Well, today I’ll take you on a big ride!"
The wind ruffled his blue hair as the young man’s smile spread across his face, full of carefree confidence.
[Ah!!! Tao Shi!!]
[Ahhhh! Thank you Tao Da for helping Yan Yan!]
[Great! Jiang Yan can directly join Dawn Guild now!]
663 exclaimed excitedly "Great! So great! That scared me! Didn’t expect Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng to be so loyal!"
However, Jiang Yan’s reaction was still calm.
He even sighed softly.
"This thing really looks high-end."
663: "....? What did you say?"
Jiang Yan didn’t answer and instead looked toward Yu Jia, not far away, and said, "Do you think Yu Jia will just let me go so easily?"
As soon as his words fell, the sound of another item being activated echoed:
Ding!
[Item: Puppet Silk]
Yu Jia snapped his fingers, and three transparent silk threads emanating dark red light appeared behind Fang Rui, Ling Kang, and Teacher Jian.
Yu Jia smiled and said, "Those who break the rules and incur the wrath of the people must be punished."
Jiang Yan silently took a step back and sighed, "This thing really looks advanced."
Ding!
[Dungeon: "Qingshi Town" Dungeon Progress: 75%]
[Total Players: 6, Current Survivors: 6]
[Real NPCs: 3, Uncontaminated NPCs: 31]
[Main Task: Attend the wedding and leave the town alive]
[Side Task: Find the mountain god and break the curse]
The sky was crab-shell blue, and even though it was nearly noon, the sun still shone faintly.
The faces of the townspeople were almost completely covered by the red marks that symbolized the curse. They now resembled a group of real undead.
They needed to remove the "bride," eliminate the "bride" who was supposed to bring life to the town, to quell the resentment of the curse; eliminate this "madman" to protect the rights of most of the "women" in the town.
Now they had a legitimate, law-approved reason!
What they needed to do next was to hunt down this "madman"!
Jiang Yan was surrounded, with Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng standing in front of him, while his husband and his husband younger brother stood behind him.
Yu Xiu Zhong wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist and comforted her
"Yan Yan, don’t be afraid, I’m here."
Jiang Yan coldly replied "I am not afraid, it would be better if you weren’t here."
Yu Xiu was aggrieved
"How can you say that, Yan Yan? I’ll protect you."
Jiang Yan: "..."
"Thank you, but I don’t need it. Stay away from me."
663: "...."
"Pfft! How can you talk to your husband like that? At least he’s the closest person to the mountain god in this dungeon! He might be the key to breaking it!"
Jiang Yan ignored him and coldly warned his husband behind him
"If you don’t pull your hand out of my pants, I’ll die right here in front of you."
663: "..."
"Yan Yan is so fierce, so fierce!" Yu Xiu laughed and stepped back.
Jiang Yan cast a disgusted glance at the two people behind him. These two guys were really... even in a place like this, their minds were still filled with random, nonsensical thoughts!
He shot them a sharp glare and silently cursed them in his heart.
It must be their genetic data that’s so defective!
“Ahem...” 663 cleared his throat to ease the awkwardness.
"Now, all you need to do is follow Tao Shi’s rhythm. He can get you out of here."
"I don’t want to." Jiang Yan rejected.
"Then you want to go to the sky?"
"Forget going to the sky, I just want..." Jiang Yan paused, as if thinking. "I want them to throw me into the well. Where is it, exactly? They should carry me over there, right?"
663: “... Have you started losing your mind?”
"Probably not."
"You’re fine, but you want to be thrown into the well?!"
"Yes."
"No, you..." Jiang Yan! What are you even thinking?!"
Jiang Yan suddenly smiled.
He was already handsome by nature, and he usually kept a cold, indifferent expression, giving him a detached air. But when he smiled, his blue eyes sparkled, like gemstones illuminated by sunlight, making him look elegant and composed.
"I want... to try being a god again."
"Are you crazy?! You didn’t even draw the BOSS card, how can you be a god?!"
Jiang Yan lazily replied "Then I’ll just make the game harder."
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