Npc 72

"No."

Ling Kang looked at Jiang Yan, whose expression had returned to normal and seemed unaffected, shaking his head.

[What the hell?! A twist?!]

[I knew it! He’s Jiang Yan!!]

[Impressive, Jiang Yan! But he just drank it, right?!]

[Wait... didn’t he just exchange a kiss with his husband?]

[Isn’t that his brother-in-law?]

[Upstairs, does it make a difference?]

Ling Kang looked as if he had seen a ghost, his face full of horror as he shook his head.

Something didn’t feel right...

No! Impossible!

He drank the medicine made from fake flowers—how could he possibly be okay?

It’s just that the curse hasn’t acted up yet!

Yes! It must be like this!

It’s just that the curse hasn’t acted up yet. He’ll still end up turning into a piece of human skin!

Yes, he had seen Xiao Rui’s form!

That horrifying sight of someone slowly expelling their organs, eventually reducing the bones to dust, turning into a soft human skin...

It’s just that Jiang Yan’s poison hasn’t taken effect yet!

It must be like this!

"Impressive, his acting keeps getting better," Jian Hou sat up, helplessly saying.

Ling Kang turned his head in horror, only to see Jian Hou leaning against the tube behind him, still with the same expression, unaffected, unlike the pain he had shown earlier from stomach cramps.

Ling Kang widened his eyes in disbelief. "What’s wrong with you...?"

"What’s wrong with me?" Jian Hou smiled.

Then, shaking his robe, he said, "Little brother, you were so focused on Jiang Yan that you didn’t notice we didn’t drink it?"

"What...?" Ling Kang took a step back.

He realized Tao Shi, Cao Youfeng, and Yu Jia were all smiling at him.

They didn’t drink? Impossible. How could they not have drunk it?!

"Why?" Ling Kang’s eyes were red, and the madness hadn’t faded from his gaze. He asked in disbelief, "Why didn’t you drink? Why? Did I reveal any flaw?"

Impossible!

The flowers were brought by him, and he mentioned Xiao Rui’s death—didn’t they believe him?

No way... Why didn’t they drink?

"It’s not that we didn’t believe it," Tao Shi said, "At first, I really believed it, until Teacher Jian and Jiang Yan played along."

Jiang Hou’s light laugh and the phrase when he asked, "How old are you?" made him instantly realize that these two were subtly mocking him for being easily fooled!

Jian Hou reached out and patted Tao Shi’s head: "Sometimes kids need more experience; otherwise, they easily get tricked by bad uncles."

Tao Shi helplessly responded: "Teacher Jian, I’m already an adult."

“Impossible…” Ling Kang shouted. “Even if he and Jiang Yan reminded you, how could Jiang Yan… how could he and Jiang Yan know?”

“Because your story has some logical problems,” Jiang Yan pointed out without hesitation.

“What’s the problem?!” Ling Kang thought about his own story.

What’s the problem?

Is it the god?

“I really saw it! I really saw the god! This is real!” Ling Kang said.

“This is indeed real,” Jiang Yan said.

Because if he had really seen Yu Xiu, the description would not have been so accurate. The tone of those words was definitely something that guy would say.

However, the problem with the logic is…

The problem is, no matter how Jiang Yan hears this story, it just doesn’t feel right!

Anyone who knows Yu Xiu would feel that something is off about this story.

Asking people for human skin? Yes, that’s something that guy would do.

But Ling Kang’s claim that Yu Xiu lured them in? That’s absolutely wrong!

That guy wouldn’t care about such trivial things. Would he actively lure players to look for clues? Not possible!

Jiang Yan reached out and patted Yu Xiu’s face. This guy, apart from passing the conversation to Cang Rou at the ancestral hall last time, had never actively done anything in the dungeon that would help the plot!

If Yu Xiu was supposed to lure Ling Kang and Wan Rui in, with the goal of having them eat the flower and then obtaining that human skin…

Jiang Yan could only say: That’s even less likely!

Anyone who knows that guy knows that Yu Xiu is a pervert, but he would never do anything illegal.

In their family’s specimen room, there are many animal specimens, but none of them were hunted by Yu Xiu. He doesn’t even buy specimens.

Because he said, how many of those specimen studios can guarantee that their sources didn’t involve “humans”?

Even if you buy specimens, if you trace it layer by layer, it all ultimately leads back to a brutal hunting process.

Yu Xiu refuses to casually take the life of any living being.

So, most of the specimens in their family’s storage room, apart from those given by friends, are things Yu Xiu himself doesn’t even know where he got them from. Most of them are animals that died in the wild.

Of course, Yu Xiu had once tried to pick up a human body.

It was a car accident scene. The victim had ignored traffic lights and crossed the road, only to be crushed by a large truck. His head was flattened into eight pieces, exploding like a pumpkin.

The deceased’s family knelt by the roadside, crying inconsolably, and the scene was tragic beyond words. Even Jiang Yan, who usually had little emotional reaction, couldn’t help but frown.

However, at this moment, Yu Xiu unexpectedly grabbed him and walked forward, asking the victim's family:

“Hello, may I buy this corpse from you? I think your son would look very beautiful as a specimen in my storage room!”

Jiang Yan: "..."

If it weren't for the police at the accident scene, they probably would have been beaten by the victim's family on the spot!

Yu Xiu would pick up the body of someone who died crossing the road, but he would never try to lure others into crossing the road.

The Yu Xiu that Ling Kang spoke of was half true, half false.

So this story would also be half true, half false.

As for what parts were true… and what parts were false…

Jiang Yan looked at Ling Kang, who was now absent-minded and looked as if he had seen a ghost. He sneered: "Let me make it clear! Fang Rui… you killed him, didn’t you?"

[What?! No way?!]

[What?! Jiang Yan’s guess is bold!]

[Impossible! Ling Kang and Fang Rui have such a good relationship! Ling Kang has been relying on Fang Rui all this time—how could he kill Fang Rui?]

[What’s impossible? Jian Hou and Jiang Yan are childhood friends, right? Didn’t Jian Hou betray them?]

[Ah… Sorry, I just forgot that Jian Hou betrayed them. That makes sense now.]

“No! I didn’t kill Xiao Rui! How could I kill Xiao Rui?!” Ling Kang shook his head in terror.

Then, with a vicious glint in his eyes, he raised his head, his gaze once again filled with intense malice as he glared at Jiang Yan: "It’s you! You’re framing me! Your best friend betrayed you, and now you’re trying to destroy my relationship with Xiao Rui!”

“Xiao Rui is already dead! He’s already dead! And now you want to come between us!”

Ding!

[Item: Divine Staff.]

The Divine Staff appeared above Ling Kang's head in an instant, emitting a blinding light.

Ling Kang struggled to escape, but the light from the Divine Staff immediately bound him.

“What is this doing?” Jiang Yan asked, curious.

“Extracting memories,” Tao Shi answered.

[What? The Divine Staff can extract memories too? I thought it was only for purging evil spirits.]

[Of course, high-level items don’t have just one function! Think about Jiang Yan’s rose—doesn’t it have all sorts of strange abilities?]

[Does Jiang Yan’s rose, besides binding, have any other abilities?]

[Didn’t Teacher Jian say that Jiang Yan told him the rose could let you leave the game for five minutes?]

[Really? You believe that? Clearly, Jiang Yan was just joking! How could there be a five-minute escape from the game?]

[Exactly! If the main system really gave Jiang Yan such an item, he wouldn’t be the main system’s bastard child, he’d be the system’s father!]

Ding!

[Main system notification: Player Li Yun publicly insults the main system. Muted for one month and deducted 10 points from achievements.]

[Dammit... Brother, don’t push the jokes too far! The main system is really petty!]

[Upstairs, how dare you still say it’s petty?]

[What are you talking about! Our main system is the most generous system in the entire gaming world!]

The light from the Divine Staff grew stronger and stronger, illuminating the entire ancestral hall as brightly as daylight.

Upon hearing Tao Shi’s words, Jian Hou had a look of exasperation on his face, as if saying, “You poor kid.”

“When he finished speaking and you started extracting his memories, you didn’t check the truth of the story! Now you want to extract memories?”

If Jiang Yan hadn’t asked that unnecessary question earlier, this kid wouldn’t even have had the chance to drink that fake flower brew!

Now he’s at risk of losing his life!

As soon as he heard that his memories were about to be extracted, Ling Kang’s resistance grew even more intense!

"No… no! Don’t! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!!"

Seeing this, there was no need to extract any memories; everyone immediately understood.

“Ah! The memory is starting to appear!” Cao Youfeng said.

Everyone looked over, only to see the light of the Divine Staff still dazzling, but the images remained blurry.

It was clear that the Divine Staff didn’t actually have the ability to extract memories. Tao Shi was intentionally bluffing Ling Kang.

“It’s Fang Rui!!” Cao Youfeng spoke nonsense again with his eyes wide open.

However, at this moment, Ling Kang’s psychological defenses completely collapsed!

“I’m sorry—! I’m sorry, Xiao Rui… I’m sorry...”

He knelt on the ground, howling and crying: “It was me… it was me…”

It was him.

The deity had indeed been following them, watching over them, but the deity had never brought up the matter of the grave.

It was he who suggested they dig up the grave to take a look, which Xiao Rui refused.

On the way back, it was he who proposed that since the two of them would inevitably end up as test subjects for the flowers anyway, they might as well try them themselves.

Each of them would eat one type of flower. This way, at least one of them might survive, while the other could take the survivor’s body back.

Otherwise, if they handed all the flowers over to the group upon returning to the ancestral hall, they might only gain a fleeting chance at survival.

But it was obvious that Jiang Yan and Yu Jia didn’t get along. They had already been manipulated into working against Jiang Yan by Yu Jia. If the two of them continued to be exploited later, neither of them would make it out alive.

So Xiao Rui agreed to his suggestion.

The two of them agreed that each would eat one flower, but…

“But I was scared…” Ling Kang sobbed, tears streaming down his face.

He was scared! He was truly terrified!

He was so, so afraid of dying!

What would happen if he died?

So, he didn’t eat the flower.

He thought that if the flower Xiao Rui ate was the antidote, then by not eating, neither of them would die!

Xiao Rui had always been luckier than him, so surely the flower Xiao Rui chose would be the antidote!

But who could have known that the flower Xiao Rui ate was the poisonous divine flower…

Ling Kang suddenly thought of something. He wiped the tears off his face: “No… this isn’t my fault! Even if I had eaten it with him, I would still have survived, wouldn’t I?!

“Yes… that’s right! Xiao Rui’s flower was poisonous, and my flower wasn’t. Even if I had eaten it with him, Xiao Rui still would’ve died!

“This isn’t my fault! You can’t blame me… you really can’t blame me…”

“We’re not blaming you. None of us are blaming you. What does this have to do with us?” Jiang Yan said coldly.

Ling Kang froze.

That’s right… Xiao Rui’s death had nothing to do with them.

Xiao Rui’s death was only his own responsibility.

Without Xiao Rui, this group hadn’t consumed the poisonous flowers, meaning Ling Kang couldn’t earn the points he wanted.

Not only that, but he had completely alienated this group of people… without Xiao Rui, what would he do now?

Without Xiao Rui, how would he walk the path ahead?

Ling Kang knelt on the ground in despair, clutching his head and letting out suppressed sobs.

“So, it turns out the flower Fang Rui ate really was poisonous?” Tao Shi asked.

After speaking, he put away the Divine Staff.

Then he walked over to Ling Kang, squatted down, and said, “Alright, old man! At your age, how can you still cry like this? Hand over the real flower now, and we won’t make things difficult for you. We’ll let you leave the instance safely. How about that?”

“No… you’ll kill me… If I hand over the real flower, you’ll kill me…” Ling Kang cried in terror, tears and snot streaming down his face.

“Tch! Do you think that if you don’t hand it over now, we won’t kill you?” Yu Jia said, playing with the transparent thread in his hand.

Ling Kang knew that this thread could easily slice his head off cleanly.

“Don’t… don’t kill me! Don’t kill me… I’ll hand it over. I’ll hand everything over…”

Tao Shi took the flower carefully and looked at Yu Xiu. "New groom, could you kindly fetch a bowl of water?"

"Of course!" Yu Xiu replied generously, snapping his fingers. Two paper dolls emerged from the candle flames, moving comically to fulfill the task.

That single phrase, "new groom," was music to his ears.

People always said his elder brother was truly Jiang Yan's husband. But Yu Xiu thought smugly, I married Jiang Yan too. I’m his husband just as much as that dead guy.

Watching the two paper dolls working hard in their amusing manner, Yu Xiu took the chance to plant a quick kiss on Jiang Yan’s face.

Jiang Yan, expressionless immediately wiped his face.

"Yan Yan, you were just kissing me earlier, and now you're acting all disgusted?" Yu Xiu teased, leaning close with a feigned pout.

Hmph… Earlier.

Jiang Yan recalled their earlier “kiss,” which was merely him transferring half a mouthful of soup to Yu Xiu.

He had reasoned, This guy is deeply connected to the Mountain God. Drinking poison might not affect him.

And if it did kill him? Well, there was still the other pervert—the dead one.

Besides, that dead one could still move. If this living one died, he might just end up the same way.

But this man really pushed his luck.

Didn’t he realize Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng were still practically kids? Leading them astray like this wasn’t exactly a good example.

Jiang Yan’s tongue faintly recalled the brief sensation of that earlier “kiss,” a necessary exchange to transfer the soup.

The game’s attention to detail was uncanny—even NPC interactions, down to their kisses, were disturbingly lifelike.

"Waah—!"

Another piercing cry of an infant echoed. The baby’s cries, combined with Ling Kang’s remorseful wails, made the night even eerier.

"Ah… Stop! Ahhh!"

At that moment, Ling Kang, who had been kneeling and sobbing, suddenly clutched his stomach and began writhing on the ground.

"It hurts… It hurts… Someone save me..." Ling Kang screamed desperately.

"What’s happening?" Tao Shi was startled.

Cao Youfeng quickly tried using a [Medical Bandage], but although it could treat external injuries, it was useless against internal issues. Ling Kang continued writhing in agony on the ground.

Rolling and thrashing, he suddenly stopped moving.

Instead, he began groaning heavily:

"Ahh… ahhh… let go… let go of me… please..."

Seeing this, Cao Youfeng quickly released him, no longer daring to restrain him.

Ling Kang, now lying flat on the ground, was motionless, his face pale, his forehead covered in sweat.

“What’s happening to you?” Tao Shi asked with concern.

“It… hurts…” Ling Kang weakly murmured. “My stomach hurts...”

Then came heavy, labored breaths:

“Huff… huff... huff…”

"Huff… huff… huff..."

The eerie sound of his breathing blended with the cries of the infant outside the shrine, as though foreshadowing something sinister.

Suddenly, Ling Kang let out a stifled groan. From his lower body, a pool of blood began spreading rapidly.

Everyone froze in shock as they witnessed a horrific scene they’d never forget.

Blood poured from Ling Kang’s lower half, forming a massive puddle around him.

Because his clothes were still tucked into his waistband, at first, they could only see bulges appearing in his abdomen. Something inside was dropping, stretching his clothing outward like an inflating balloon.

His face became gaunt, his entire body deflating like a leaking balloon, while his midsection swelled grotesquely—a grotesque bulge of his organs piling up inside him.

Finally, with one last gasp, Ling Kang collapsed completely, turning into a flattened, pliable human skin.

With his abdomen finally loose, his internal organs spilled out in a cascade, pooling atop the layer of skin.

Everyone was horrified, their faces pale and stricken.

Even Jian Hou, clutching a pillar for support, began retching uncontrollably.

“How… how could this happen? Wasn’t the flower he ate the antidote?!” Cao Youfeng asked, his voice trembling.

"Who knows?" Tao Shi muttered.

At that moment, Yu Xiu let out a soft chuckle.

"Everyone in the village claims that the Red Ghost Lady’s flower and the water from the Fushou Well are the antidotes to the curse. But who has ever actually eaten it? And where are those people now?"

Yu Xiu’s emerald-green eyes gleamed mischievously as he watched the group’s pale faces. He stroked the silky black hair of the doll in his arms, his grin widening.

“What… what do you mean?” Cao Youfeng stammered.

“Meaning this isn’t the antidote to the curse. So… what is?”

All their clues were wrong?!

After everything they’d done, was it all for nothing?

Even Jiang Yan, always calm, was stunned. "It’s not the antidote? If this isn’t it, then what is?"

Jian Hou, still gagging tried to compose himself. "No… no way! It must be because he didn’t boil it with the water from the Well!”

“Is that so?” Yu Xiu asked with a playful smirk.

At that moment, the two paper dolls returned with a bowl of water.

“Well then, you’re welcome to brew your antidote and drink it now,” Yu Xiu said nonchalantly, his tone teasing.

But Ling Kang’s corpse lay right before them. His intestines, still faintly twitching, spilled out over the pristine, flattened skin.

The sight was enough to shake them all to their cores.

No one dared touch the so-called “antidote.”

“Clearly, no one wants to drink it,” Yu Xiu remarked. “In that case, let’s clean up and get some rest. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

“Go back to sleep?” Yu Jia exclaimed.

Yu Xiu chuckled lightly. "What else? If you’re not going back to sleep, are you planning to stay here and hold a vigil for your friend?"

The group fell silent.

With the lead on breaking the curse now completely gone, staying in the shrine seemed utterly pointless.

Besides, they were exhausted.

At least Jiang Yan had slept for a long while earlier. The others, however, had been on the move non-stop—rushing from the shrine to the deep mountains, only to race back again.

Now, with no clues and frayed nerves, there was nothing more to do but rest.

"Let’s get some sleep. We’ll reassess tomorrow," Yu Jia said wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"In that case, I wish you all sweet dreams!" Yu Xiu said with a grin, snapping his fingers.

“Snap!”

What followed was a scene none of them would ever forget.

A flat, intact human skin floated into the shrine through the doorway.

Rather than walking, it slid across the floor, as though gliding or scraping against it.

Although it had no skull or facial features left, the distorted and stretched face was still recognizable—it was Fang Rui’s.

Jian Hou screamed and hid behind Tao Shi.

The group watched in horror as Fang Rui’s moved to Ling Kang’s remains and bent down, beginning to consume his organs.

Because it was just a sheet of skin, it couldn’t lift the organs to eat. Instead, it pressed itself to the ground, seemingly shoving the organs into its mouth.

Without teeth, the term "eating" wasn’t quite accurate. It was more like cramming the organs into its head.

It seemed Fang Rui’s skin was trying to replace its missing insides with Ling Kang’s fresh organs.

However, even after devouring all the organs, its body remained flat and lifeless.

Realizing this, the skin appeared furious. Without hesitation, it began shoving Ling Kang’s skin into its mouth.

The horrifying sight of one complete, flat human skin stuffing another into itself was enough to make everyone’s stomach churn.

Ling Kang’s skin, as if not entirely devoid of consciousness, twitched slightly during the process. It even made a faint bubbling noise, "blub," as air escaped.

But in the end, Fang Rui’s skin successfully swallowed it whole.

“Ugh—!”

Not only Jian Hou, but even Cao Youfeng couldn’t hold back any longer. They both doubled over, vomiting on the spot.

Jiang Yan’s face was as pale as a sheet, his stomach flipping uncomfortably.

Meanwhile, Yu Xiu seemed utterly fascinated, as though witnessing some kind of amusing novelty. His smile widened, and his green eyes sparkled with delight.

"You’re getting more and more twisted," Jiang Yan muttered in disgust.

Yu Xiu replied with a teasing grin, "Which kind of twisted is Yan Yan referring to? The kind I reserve just for you, or the kind for everyone else?

"Would you like to find out?"

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