“Ling… Ling Kang?”
Everyone stared, their eyes wide in disbelief.
Ling Kang was drenched in blood, gasping for breath. They didn’t know when he had entered or when he had gotten behind Jiang Yan with a knife. Not a single person had noticed!
“What do you want? Calm down!” Cao Youfeng quickly urged, realizing the situation was dire.
“It’s you…” Ling Kang gasped, tears running down his blood-soaked face, turning red. His hand holding the knife trembled uncontrollably.
“It’s you who killed Xiao Rui!!”
With that, he swung the knife, attempting to slash Jiang Yan’s throat directly.
“Ling Kang! Calm down!!”
“Jiang Yan!!”
“Sister-in-law!”
In that instant, an unknown force suddenly knocked the knife from Ling Kang’s hand!
“Clink!”
The knife hit the ground with a crisp sound, and the hall fell silent for a moment.
A sudden sound like chopsticks breaking echoed through the air, and everyone watched in shock as the hand holding the knife twisted into a painful, contorted shape.
The next second, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the moonless night sky of Qingshi Town.
Ling Kang, in excruciating pain, screamed while twisting and rolling on the ground. His skin, burned from [paper curse], rubbed against the ground, sparking with embers.
“Xiao Rui, Xiao Rui… it hurts…”
He subconsciously called out his friend’s name, but no one answered him.
[Deserved it! What does this have to do with Jiang Yan?!]
[What’s going on? How did Fang Rui die? Why is Ling Kang suddenly here?]
[Wasn’t he controlled by Yu Jia's item? Why is he still so extreme, trying to kill Jiang Yan?]
[Fang Rui died outside, Jiang Yan is in the hall. What does Fang Rui’s death have to do with Jiang Yan?]
[Don’t bring it up! I shouldn’t have watched his and Fang Rui’s perspective, I’m so mad I could die!]
“This… what the hell is going on?” Jian Hou looked at Ling Kang, who was writhing in pain on the floor, his body contorted.
He then raised his gaze to Jiang Yan, who, surprisingly, showed a hint of confusion.
He really didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t even know why Fang Rui had died.
According to his plan, as long as Fang Rui and Ling Kang didn’t keep causing him trouble, he could safely leave the game. How had he suddenly been corrupted?
What had happened outside? Could it be that they had run into those low-level ghosts Tao Shi sent out?
Yu Jia took a drag on his cigarette, clicking his tongue twice: "What a shame! You were almost going to complete the task for me."
Everyone’s gaze instantly fell on him. Yu Jia innocently shrugged: "Don't look at me, I don’t know anything."
Ling Kang was still on the ground, screaming in agony, his voice heart-wrenching and eerie.
"What happened to him? Just now… what twisted his arm off?" Tao Hou asked, trembling.
"It was me!"
At that moment, a tall shadow appeared at the entrance of the hall. Jiang Yan paused for a moment—Yu Xiu?
Though this "Yu Xiu" was the living one, his overly delicate face and his deep green eyes gave off an inexplicably sinister vibe.
Especially those mesmerizing eyes, even though he was smiling, anyone who looked at him couldn’t shake the eerie feeling.
"What are you doing here?" Jiang Yan asked, slightly displeased.
The death of Fang Rui and the sudden appearance of Yu Xiu had thrown off his plans a little. Although it didn’t affect his subsequent plans, he hated when his plans were disrupted.
"If I don’t come, sister-in-law will be bullied to death," Yu Xiu said.
With that, he gently curled his finger. A small red paper doll crawled out from the sleeve of Ling Kang’s arm, which had been twisted into a spiral. It flew to Yu Xiu’s fingertips, rubbing against him affectionately before transforming into a shimmering green flame.
Everyone's expressions darkened in unison. They almost forgot that the town mayor’s sons, Jiang Yan’s husband, and brother-in-law had a special identity—a gift from the mountain god.
Also, the town mayor had previously mentioned that "Yu Xiu" could control paper dolls.
The players stared at the fleeting, beautiful green flame. Although Ling Kang wasn’t particularly strong in this instance, he was still an A-level.
To easily disable an A-level’s hand... this NPC’s level was definitely not lower than Cang Rou’s Red Ghost Lady!
"Ding!"
[Item: Number Concealment Card]
While Cao Youfeng wrapped a medical bandage around the screaming Ling Kang to heal him, he secretly used the [Number Concealment Card] to scan the NPC’s data in front of him.
The blue data bar rolled across Cao Youfeng’s personal interface, and the next second, he froze in disbelief.
After a moment, he incredulously said: "Boss… It’s unreadable again!"
That’s right, again!
In the last instance, Jiang Yan’s "divine husband" also had unreadable data! How had they encountered this again?!
And these NPCs were all the closest to Jiang Yan!
[What’s going on? The Number Concealment Card can’t read the data?!]
[No way? Again?]
[What do you mean again?]
[This situation has only happened twice in the history of the game, once with Jiang Yan’s last instance, where the NPC was his husband; and once here, where this NPC… seems to also be his husband?]
[Just now I was shocked, but as I see, it seems like everything related to Jiang Yan can be explained by "Jiang Yan" in the game’s oddities and bugs.]
Tao Shi furrowed his brows. Although he didn’t understand why the Number Concealment Card couldn’t detect the data, since it was related to Jiang Yan, this NPC should pose no threat to them.
Yu Xiu seemed to have sensed the unease in the group. He cheerfully walked to Jiang Yan’s side, pulled out a thin blanket from somewhere, and wrapped Jiang Yan in it, pulling him into his arms.
His chin rested on Jiang Yan’s head as he rubbed the other’s soft hair and said, "The wind picked up at night, I was afraid you’d catch a cold, so I brought this."
Jiang Yan wanted to break free, but the warm blanket, carrying Yu Xiu’s unique fragrance, combined with the familiar embrace, made him feel drowsy as soon as he touched it. He unconsciously nestled into his arms.
He simply mumbled, "I’m not that precious."
Yu Xiu reached out and pinched his cheek, asking, "Who’s as precious as you?"
The scene before them was somewhat warm. Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng were still young, and Yu Jia and Jian Hou were two "old bachelors." Seeing this, aside from Jian Hou, who was already used to their intimacy, the others quickly shifted their gazes.
Strangely, when they saw Jiang Yan with the system NPC, even if there were some intimate moments, they didn’t think much of it. After all, in this game, violence, desire, and every ugly side of humanity were amplified to the extreme. They were no longer surprised by anything.
However, the current embrace made them feel a bit flustered, though they couldn’t quite explain why. Perhaps it was because the two of them now had an inexplicably intimate connection that no one could intrude upon, as if they had been lovers for many years.
This wasn’t entirely untrue, as everyone present had seen Jiang Yan’s data and knew that this system NPC was modeled after Jiang Yan’s ex-husband’s data.
"Where’s your brother?" Jiang Yan asked from Yu Xiu’s arms, unaware of the subtle shift in the atmosphere.
"He went off to handle something. I’m here to take care of you, Yan Yan." Yu Xiu’s voice carried a hint of pride that he couldn’t hide.
Jiang Yan was a little curious. Based on the personalities of these two, they definitely wouldn’t be humble about this.
He couldn’t understand why they had decided that the "older brother" would go handle the story while the "younger brother" stayed behind to watch over him.
At that moment, Ling Kang, who had been wrapped in a medical bandage like a mummy, groaned softly, drawing everyone's attention.
The white bandages unraveled, and Ling Kang shakily lifted his head, seemingly regaining consciousness. Seeing this, Yu Xiu tightened his hold on the person in his arms. The next moment, two tiny red paper dolls crawled out from Yu Xiu’s pocket, one on each side of Ling Kang, to prevent him from doing anything that might harm Jiang Yan.
[So jealous! Jiang Yan really has his own bodyguards!]
[Not just bodyguards, while everyone else is sitting on the messy floor, he’s got a human cushion; while everyone is being blown by the night wind, he’s got little ones.]
"You and Fang Rui were supposed to take a different route to find the Red Ghost Lady’s tomb, right? Why is it like this? What happened to Fang Rui?" Cao Youfeng asked with concern.
Ling Kang lowered his head, his voice filled with frustration: "We… found the Red Ghost Lady’s tomb."
"Found it?!"
Everyone’s eyes lit up, including Cang Rou, who had now become the Red Ghost Lady. Even she showed a flicker of surprise.
"What about the flower?" Jian Hou quickly asked. "With the flower, we can lift the curse!"
Ling Kang shook his head. "The flower… is gone."
Everyone was stunned, exchanging glances.
Jiang Yan, wrapped in the blanket, leaned against Yu Xiu’s chest. The warmth of the blanket and the familiar embrace made him feel drowsy. When he heard Ling Kang’s words, he straightened up.
"What exactly happened? Why did you say I killed Fang Rui?" Jiang Yan asked.
Upon hearing Jiang Yan’s voice, Ling Kang suddenly raised his head, eyes filled with an indescribable hatred.
"It’s you! If you hadn’t placed that curse, we wouldn’t have gone to the Red Ghost Lady’s tomb!"
"If we hadn’t gone to the tomb, we wouldn’t have met him!"
"If we hadn’t met him, Fang Rui wouldn’t have died!"
Ling Kang glared at Jiang Yan, angrily shouting.
As he moved, the two small paper dolls standing beside him also shifted a step.
He still remembered the excruciating pain from earlier. Seeing the two small paper dolls made his body tremble involuntarily. He didn’t dare to move further and could only continue glaring at Jiang Yan with venomous eyes.
"Let’s clarify something first. The original curse wasn’t placed by me. It was the ghost people who tried to assimilate you and placed a curse on you."
As he spoke, Jiang Yan yawned; he was genuinely a little sleepy.
"Secondly, who did you encounter? The town mayor?"
At the mention of this, Ling Kang’s body shrank back again. His eyes grew fearful as he muttered,
"We encountered... a god."
"What?!"
Everyone was horrified, not just Cao Youfeng and the other three players, but even all the NPCs present were shocked! Except for Yu Xiu, whose mind was preoccupied with "sister-in-law."
"Impossible!" Jiang Yan snapped awake from his drowsiness.
"The gods are dead! The current mountain god is something the townsfolk have re-created and researched!" Jiang Yan paused for a moment before continuing, "And he’s sitting right between us—how could you have seen a god?!"
As soon as Jiang Yan finished speaking, the four players exchanged wary glances.
A god is sitting right between them?
However, Ling Kang insisted that he and Fang Rui had encountered a god, his terrified eyes and trembling body impossible to fake. Even his voice carried a hint of fear he couldn’t hide:
"No… no! I really saw it! It was bigger than the sky… a god with ghostly light glowing all over its body!"
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