The Red Ghost Lady crawled along the smooth gray stone street, her twisted body letting out a beast-like low growl. The townspeople, covered in red marks, acted like wild beasts in confusion.
For a moment, only Jiang Yan and a few players remained on the street, surrounded by the broken, dismembered bodies of three victims.
Originally, two groups of players, tense and ready to fight, now stood frozen in place, staring at each other and unsure of what to do.
[What’s going on?! Can real NPCs now control second-level BOSSes?!]
[It’s true! Jiang Yan must have gotten a 'BOSS Card' again!]
[But wait, even if he had a BOSS card, was there any precedent for players controlling NPC BOSSes?]
[Precedent? But this is Jiang Yan!]
[Yes! Anything that doesn’t have a precedent, if it happens with Jiang Yan, no one finds it strange anymore. This has almost become a new default rule of the game.]
Jiang Yan, with his usual calm expression, flashed a slight smile. He was already quite handsome, and when he smiled, his blue eyes shone even brighter. Compared to the players who were nervously staring at the Red Ghost Lady, he appeared far too relaxed.
A pair of slender, graceful hands wrapped around his waist. His deceased husband, Yu Xiu, rested his delicate chin on his shoulder and whispered, "When did you become friends with the Red Ghost Lady?"
Jiang Yan lazily glanced at him and didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to the players and said, "Gentlemen, the game has begun."
"What?" Cao Youfeng looked confused.
Ding!
[Item: Lost Rose]
With the item prompt sound, thick rose stems began to grow from the cracks in the stone ground, stretching up toward the white sky. The roses bloomed and petals fell, forming a giant rose cage that trapped the players, the Red Ghost Lady, and a few NPCs inside.
At this moment, the Red Ghost Lady had crawled up next to Jiang Yan. She twisted her body and stood up, her red clothing soaked, her long hair covering her face. She stood beside Jiang Yan.
"Let me introduce my friend... the Red Ghost," Jiang Yan said.
"Jiang Yan! What are you doing?!" Tao Shi exclaimed, bewildered.
"I’m restoring order to this wedding," Jiang Yan replied.
He reached up and gently patted Yu Xiu's head, as if petting a cat. "First of all, thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend my wedding."
The players: ??
[Why is he suddenly giving a wedding speech?]
[What’s happening here? I can’t understand any of this!]
"It’s just a pity that this wedding has caused trouble for everyone! Now, what we need to do is solve the issues with the wedding and send everyone home. This is my wish, and my friend’s wish," Jiang Yan said as he looked at the Red Ghost Lady beside him.
The Red Ghost Lady, her body emitting black smoke and her decayed, grayish skin showing through, nodded mechanically.
"So, to ensure the wedding proceeds smoothly and ends successfully, I hope everyone will act for the sake of the wedding from now on," Jiang Yan continued.
"Wait."
Ling Kang had just opened his mouth to say something when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm.
Looking down, he saw that the red marks, caused by the curse, had started to rot. Unlike normal decaying skin, the rotting around his red marks seemed to be burning, like sparks igniting the edges of his skin.
It wasn’t just Ling Kang; all the players around him noticed the same. The cursed red marks on their bodies started burning, turning like paper.
Ding!
[NPC Jiang Yan triggered Curse Boost: Paperification]
[Boost Effect: Medium and low-level cursed red marks cause skin to turn into paper.]
[Curse Limit: Two days—if the curse isn’t lifted in two days, the cursed will be reduced to ashes.]
The players stared at Jiang Yan in horror.
"What did you do?!" Ling Kang stared at Jiang Yan, panic rising in his voice.
Jiang Yan shrugged. "As you can see, I haven’t done anything. I just want to successfully finish my wedding and send everyone home."
He then turned to Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng: "Trust me, if you all follow my instructions, I’ll make sure you all get to go home."
Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng exchanged a glance. Jiang Yan had said this same thing during the previous dungeon.
"Does anyone have any objections?" Jiang Yan asked.
At this point, Yu Jia had weakened the control of the Puppet's and Fang Rui and Ling Kang’s desperate will to survive had taken precedence over their rationality. The two of them stared at Jiang Yan, gritting their teeth in hatred.
Jian Hou instinctively looked at Yu Jia, "What... should we do?"
Yu Jia didn’t respond. He glanced around at the thick, attacking rose branches and then looked at Jiang Yan, who was surrounded by several high-level NPCs. He silently curled his lips into a smile.
Interesting!
A C-rank human NPC could actually control high-level NPCs in the dungeon?
Jiang Yan... seems I underestimated him.
The two groups of players, originally tense and ready to clash, now exchanged looks in confusion.
"Very well." Jiang Yan surveyed the room, seeing that no one opposed. "Then let me announce what everyone needs to do."
"It’s actually quite simple. There are three things for you to do:
1. Please do your best to lift the curse. The method for lifting the curse, as I mentioned earlier in the shrine, is the flower from the Red Ghost Lady’s head and the water from the Fushou Well.
2. Help my friend find her child.
3. Find the Mountain God.
The players fell silent, as for a moment, the "bride" who had almost been thrown into the well as a "sacrifice" had now become the one in control of the entire situation.
[Is this the solution to the dungeon?]
[Jiang Yan is pulling the players back on track, even though they’ve gone off-course!]
[A C-rank NPC can actually control the pace of the dungeon?]
[Have you ever seen a C-rank human NPC controlling system NPCs?]
[Wait! Why is he able to control system NPCs? Even if the main system were to help him, this is too outrageous!]
"Mountain God? Who else could have the Mountain God card, if not you?" Fang Rui glared at Jiang Yan, his eyes filled with hatred.
"No!" Tao Shi interrupted. "If he were the Mountain God, he wouldn’t say it like this."
"If he’s not the Mountain God, then how can he control system NPCs?" Fang Rui countered.
Yes!
If Jiang Yan wasn’t the Mountain God, then how could he control the Red Ghost Lady?
Because they were friends?
That’s ridiculous! System NPCs are just strings of system data—how could they be friends with real human NPCs?
If it was a dungeon-specific bonus, then the Red Ghost Lady died hundreds of years ago, and "Bride Jiang Yan" left the town right after birth. The two characters shouldn’t have any connection in the dungeon, so how could they be friends?
This logic doesn’t hold!
Although, it’s become popular in the dungeon to just use "Jiang Yan" as an explanation when the logic doesn’t make sense.
But if that’s the case, then the main system’s favoritism towards Jiang Yan is just too excessive!
Not only that, but according to the story told by Cang Rou in the shrine, the Red Ghost Lady's daughter had already been found. So why is she still searching for her daughter?
This is something Jiang Yan was also very curious about.
He was standing in front of the stiff, twisted red-dressed female ghost.
Why was she still searching for her daughter?
Hadn't her daughter been found years ago? Wasn't she said to have drowned in the Fushou Well?
Indeed, there were still many things about this dungeon that didn’t make sense, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to finish the game and go home to rest.
With that thought, he gently nuzzled against Yu Xiu, letting out a silent sigh. He still had to deal with this troublesome character.
As for the Mountain God...
The tendrils around Jiang Yan’s waist moved slightly. He lowered his gaze, hoping his guess would be correct.
However, if it was really as he guessed... it seemed... even more troublesome!
Afterward, he raised his eyes to look at the players and said, "If no one has any objections, then it’s settled!"
With that, he snapped his fingers.
"Snap!"
The thick rose branches returned underground, revealing the pale sun at the horizon, leaving behind withered rose petals scattered across the bluestone streets.
Jiang Yan sighed softly. He was really tired.
Seeing this, Yu Xiu reached out, swept Jiang Yan off his feet, and held him in his arms. Jiang Yan didn’t resist, allowing himself to be held, and whispered in his ear, "I’m going back to take a nap."
His tone was affectionate, as if the two were married.
The players could only watch as Jiang Yan was carried away by his husband, and only after they had walked far did they snap back to reality.
"Wait... isn't he going to help us look for it?" Cao Youfeng asked.
"It’s obvious he’s not planning to," Tao Shi replied.
With that, Tao Shi turned and looked at the Red Ghost Lady, who was still standing there. "Miss Zhang, if you don’t mind, could you tell me where your grave is?"
"...."
—
The moment Jiang Yan lay back on the soft bed, he felt like he had been reborn.
"You’ve really made it! Truly!" 663 praised him incessantly in his mind. "You don't even look like a real NPC anymore, you resemble a dungeon boss rushing players through the game!"
"So, who took the Mountain God card? Were you trying to trick the god into revealing himself?"
Jiang Yan: "No, I was trying to see if I could find out where the Mountain God card was."
"Isn’t there a difference?" 663 asked, confused.
"Not much of a difference." Jiang Yan replied lazily.
"To be honest, if the person who has the Mountain God card is still hiding, they’re really patient!"
"Someone will eventually lead me to the Mountain God." Jiang Yan answered.
"Ah? Your husband? Speaking of, your husband was given to the town chief's family by the Mountain God, so they're kind of close to the Mountain God." 663 said.
"I don’t know." Jiang Yan murmured. "I’m going to sleep for a while, there’s probably more chaos to deal with later."
The townspeople who left wouldn’t let him off so easily, and then there was the relationship between the Mountain God and Yu Xiu. Whether it was in the system or in reality, it was enough to give him a headache!
Right now, Jiang Yan desperately needed to rest so that he would have the strength to deal with everything, but 663 wouldn’t stop nagging in his mind!
"But your performance earlier was brilliant! You’re definitely going to get a high score for that!"
Jiang Yan was driven to the edge of his patience: "Shut up! Let me sleep for a while."
After tossing and turning all night and through the morning, he had reached his limit. Now, he just wanted to get a good rest.
He couldn’t help but snuggle against the body of his husband, but Yu Xiu’s corpse had decayed nearly beyond recognition. Instead of the warm, solid chest he expected, Jiang Yan was met with cold, brittle bones.
"Get off me." Jiang Yan pushed him away in disgust, rolling into another embrace on the other side of the bed.
The familiar warmth and body heat made Jiang Yan's eyelids heavy. He really needed to sleep.
Seeing this, Yu Xiu couldn’t help but teasingly smile. "As expected, you prefer me, sister-in-law."
"Yan Yan!" The dead man protested.
He reached out to pull his wife away from his younger brother, and for a moment, the three of them tumbled in bed in a tangled mess.
These two troublemakers continued to push Jiang Yan into compromising positions, starting to undress him. At this point, Jiang Yan was only wearing loose pajamas and Yu Xiu's dark embroidered robe. With a small tug, his smooth skin was exposed.
"Stop... stop messing around!" Jiang Yan struggled helplessly. "Can’t you let me get some sleep?"
But these two wouldn't leave him alone. They surrounded him again, one in front and one behind.
"Let go!"
Jiang Yan struggled, his robe now half-open, and grayish-blue hands began roaming over his body.
"Stop!"
Black tendrils extended from Jiang Yan’s abdomen, ensnaring the hands that were causing trouble on his body.
The two Yu Xius’ eyes narrowed simultaneously.
"Now’s not the time to cause trouble, or... do you want to join in?"
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