Npc 77

The moment the Red Ghost Lady’s figure disappeared from everyone’s sight, the hunting laughs and wails of the ghosts, the sounds of skin being cut open and bones breaking, all faded. The Qingshi Town, filled with the chaos of the battle, instantly fell silent.

The ghosts, too, inexplicably stopped their attack. They stood in the blood-soaked ground, quietly watching the endless, silent green mountains in the distance.

Seeing this, Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng also ceased their attacks.

For a moment, the entire scene was dominated by the sound of the black slime-like "Mountain God" under the giant tree, "gurgling" as it consumed the blood.

The next second, the red marks on the ghosts' faces faded, and they returned to their ordinary townsfolk appearance.

"It's over."

Ding Wanyu, standing next to the "Mother," said regretfully.

At this moment, the town mayor stepped forward. He glanced at the chaotic black "Mountain God" trapped under the giant tree, then looked at the two sons standing on the tree, his expression complex. He said:

"Xiao Xiu, you almost destroyed the town."

Yu Xiu looked toward the direction in which his wife was taken. The two of them turned and smiled together.

In those two pairs of ghostly green eyes, there was no trace of worry for the "wife" taken by the female ghost. Instead, there was an eerie warmth and excitement.

"It’s not my fault. Jiang Yan's way of forcing us was just too skillful!"

"He’s gone mad," the mayor's gaze darkened as he spoke.

The town once again fell into complete silence.

"No—!!"

Suddenly, Jiang Yan's mother let out a heartbreaking scream that pierced the sky of Qing Shi Town.

She broke free from her son’s embrace and rushed in front of the crowd, crying out with a hoarse voice:

"Yan Yan, he was driven mad! He was driven mad by this!"

"He didn’t grow up in this town! Why show him so many tragic things? If he and Xiao Xiu had left the town after their marriage, none of this would have happened... why?!"

The mayor coldly stared at his daughter-in-law, who was crying out in desperation, and said, "The Mountain God is now missing, and the town cannot survive without it. This tree is the root of the town! He wanted to destroy the town."

Tree?

Jian Hou looked at the black locust tree, which was lying on the ground and pressing down on the "Mountain God," its bark stained black with blood.

He remembered what Yu Jia had said before—that these trees were imprisoning something...

"The town never needed the Mountain God!"

Ding Wanyu, who had remained silent by his mother’s side, now stood up and supported her as she cried uncontrollably.

[Is it finally Ding Wanyu's solo moment?]

[Although Ding Wanyu often gets criticized for his icy expression, he really brings the right emotions when it's his turn in the scene.]

[Can someone please care about Jiang Yan?! He was taken by the Red Ghost Lady!!]

Looking at the mayor before him, Jian Hou said, "The former Mountain God told us that the outside world has already been turned upside down. We should leave. But you killed him and forced that child to become the Mountain God."

"He never wanted to become the Mountain God. The town never needed a Mountain God."

"You were the ones who imprisoned this Mountain God, imprisoned them, imprisoned everyone in this town."

"Is he really the Mountain God? He was just an ornament, a tool you used to control the town!"

"Jiang Yan didn’t go mad. He was trying to save..."

"Shut up!"

The mayor’s eyes turned crimson as he shouted.

"How long are we going to let this go on?!"

At that moment, Jian Hou spoke up.

The crowd fell silent, looking at him with shock and confusion.

[Wait, what? Does Jian Hou still have a scene?]

[Wake up! Jian Hou is a player!]

[Why is the player stealing the spotlight from the real NPCs? Is this how competitive the dungeon is now?]

"Jian Hou?" Tao Shi looked at Jian Hou, standing next to Yu Jia, and asked in shock.

Yu Jia snapped back to reality and reached out to pull Jian Hou back, saying, "Hey! What are you doing? Players don’t get screen time here."

Jian Hou gently pulled his hands away from Yu Jia's grasp and continued, looking at the mayor: "These four locust trees and the entire town form a prison."

"At first, I thought the townspeople in the mirror were the ones being imprisoned. But I’ve realized this town is trapping the Red Ghost Lady, the infant tower, and that god you killed and then revere as a sacrifice."

"Wow—!"

As soon as Jian Hou finished speaking, a sharp baby’s cry rang out.

"Wow—wow—!"

One, two, three...

Soon, it seemed as though countless infants had started crying out in unison!

Under the blood-soaked ground, something seemed to be moving.

"There’s something... touching me!" Cao Youfeng exclaimed in surprise.

He looked down, and saw a small, jelly-like red hand.

"No... this is bad!" the mayor shouted.

"Feng Shui! That little Jiang family boy ruined the town’s Feng Shui!" he said through gritted teeth.

Cao Youfeng was stunned. "So you all knew he was a guy?!"

The mayor and the townspeople remained silent, while Jiang Yan's mother's cries grew even more desperate.

"Yes..."

They knew Jiang Yan was a boy. How could they not know?

It was like how they knew the "women" standing among them, wearing qipaos and having broad builds, were actually men.

The town had no women left, but it needed women.

"Wow—!"

As the cries of the infants grew louder, one by one, blood-red children crawled out of the infant tower on the roadside, into the blood-soaked ground.

The sky was pale, the houses built of brick, and in the distance, the mountains appeared a dark green, like ink.

The cobbled streets of the town were immersed in blood, running through the town like a bloody umbilical cord.

They crawled along this "umbilical cord," their piercing, shrill cries symbolizing "birth," the first arrival into this world.

"This is bad! This is bad!!"

"What should we do?! These filthy things are being released!"

"The tree! Quickly, move the tree!!" The mayor screamed in panic.

The townsfolk quickly gathered around the giant tree that was crushing the Mountain God, trying to lift it and stand it back up.

But unexpectedly, the black chaotic "former Mountain God" trapped under the tree suddenly flipped over!

"Crack!"

The giant tree was split in two!

"Fck—!"

The mayor screamed in despair.

The black Mountain God, like a giant black blanket, blocked out the sky. It hovered for a moment, then flew toward the direction where Jiang Yan had been taken, disappearing into the endless green mountains.

"Give up. This Feng Shui formation can never be restored," Jian Hou said.

The mayor, whose body was collapsing in the blood-soaked ground, suddenly started laughing desperately.

"It’s just two trees gone! There are still two left standing!"

"As long as one tree is still standing, these filthy creatures can never rise again!"

"This has been the way for a hundred years! Always! That little Jiang Yan thought he could destroy the town by making two trees fall? He's dreaming!"

He continued to laugh maniacally.

"There are still two trees! And Jiang Yan should already be torn to pieces by the Red Ghost Lady and those foreign creatures in the mountains!"

"Yan Yan!"

The two "Yu Xiu" standing on the broken tree called out, then jumped down and disappeared into the deep mountains.

"No... that can't be true!"

Jiang Yan's mother cried out in agony, running toward the mountains.

Her "son," Ding Wanyu, followed closely behind.

"Has this scene finished?" Cao Youfeng asked.

"Quick, follow them! If Jiang Yan really is torn apart, we’re done for!" Tao Shi slapped Cao Youfeng on the back of the head.

"But why did we wait for the villain to finish speaking?" Cao Youfeng muttered.

The voices of Cao Youfeng and Tao Shi faded into the wind.

Yu Jia raised an eyebrow, patted Jian Hou on the shoulder, and said with satisfaction, "So this was your way of stalling for time? I didn't realize you were so devious, Jian Hou. You’ve truly impressed me!"

[Wait, so it was Jian Hou's plan all along?!]

[I knew it! Why would a player steal the spotlight from the NPCs!]

[This is Jian Hou's first dungeon? He’s doing pretty well!]

[But Jiang Yan was his childhood friend, and Jiang Yan always protected him...]

[Sigh... All we can say is, people have to look out for themselves. Otherwise, they’ll be destroyed by heaven and earth.]

[What do we do now? Is Jiang Yan really going to be in danger?]

[Let's just say the chances aren't looking good. When Puppet Workshop takes action, they never miss.]

[Sang Luan wants him dead, and he won't survive it]

[Don’t... please, no!!!]

The cobblestone streets, soaked with blood, were filled with the mayor and the townspeople, anxiously circling the completely shattered tree.

Yu Jia sighed regretfully as he watched the direction the others had gone: "It's such a waste, Jiang Yan! I really liked him."

This was the truth—on a personal level, he had no hostility toward Jiang Yan. In fact, he liked the guy quite a bit.

But... alas! What a shame!

Jian Hou reached up to adjust his slightly curled bangs and said, "Aren't you going to go take a look?"

"Look at what?"

"Jiang Yan told me his props can leave the dungeon for five minutes."

"You still believe that?" Yu Jia laughed. "Fine. Let's go to the mountains and see. While we're at it, let's send Jiang Yan off."

"In the future, he'll probably stay as the bride of this town forever."

[Dungeon: "Qingshi Town", Dungeon Progress: 98%]

[Total Players: 4, Current Survivors: 4]

[Real NPCs: 3, Unpolluted NPCs: 3]

[Main Task: Attend the wedding ceremony and leave the town alive]

[Side Task: Find the Mountain God's well and remove the curse]

Soon, Yu Jia and Jian Hou caught up with Tao Shi and the others.

Tao Shi, Cao Youfeng, Ding Wanyu, and Jiang Yan’s mother were standing motionless on a small path in the mountains.

"What happened?" Yu Jia asked. "Did you find Jiang Yan’s body?"

As he walked forward, he remained silent as well.

Seeing this, Jian Hou hurriedly stepped forward. "What happened? Where's Jiang Yan?"

What lay before them made him lose his words instantly.

The path ahead was blocked by a tomb, and behind it was a dense collection of other tombs.

They were scattered along the mountain paths, nestled in bushes, and beneath old trees.

They were densely packed, one after another.

The common feature was that each tomb had a tombstone, but no offerings—just small, barren mounds of dirt.

"This is..."

Jian Hou's eyes widened. "When I came here last night, there was nothing like this!"

Jiang Yan’s mother sighed, "The town's Feng Shui has broken down. The spirits couldn’t stay. They’ve come back..."

"Back?! But where’s Jiang Yan?!" Jian Hou’s tone grew urgent.

Just as his words finished, a mournful cry from a scholar's voice echoed from the tomb.

The cries were suppressed and sorrowful, mixed with strange words.

"Alas! My mother! Wail... In accordance with the spiritual wheel, my broken liver... Croaking frogs mourn... like a child crying..."

Gradually, all the tombs began to emit strange words along with the cries.

"This is the wailing script used in rural mourning rituals!" Tao Shi said seriously.

"Mourning?! So... the people in the tombs are mourning themselves?" Jian Hou exclaimed in shock.

"Such a sin!" Jiang Yan’s mother’s eyes welled up with tears.

After a moment, the eerie cries started to blend with suppressed female growls.

After a while, the cries faded, and the low growls of women, filled with pain, reverberated through the mountains, sending chills down their spines.

Jian Hou was stunned. "This is..."

"Blood!" Cao Youfeng screamed.

Pools of blood began seeping out, following the deep, agonized breaths and the low growls!

Jian Hou suddenly recalled what Ling Kang had said—"That tomb is giving birth."

"So... they’re giving birth?!" Jian Hou said, astonished.

"It seems Ling Kang wasn’t entirely lying," Tao Shi said gravely.

Seeing this, Cao Youfeng stroked his chin and analyzed, "Ling Kang said they found the Red Ghost Lady’s tomb. That tomb gives birth, and after the blood recedes, flowers grow. However, the flowers he brought back, no matter what color, weren’t the antidote!"

"I found it strange at the time. The main system definitely wouldn’t lie about something this critical. But Ling Kang died, so I suspected the issue was with the water."

"Now, seeing this, if every tomb in the mountains can give birth..."

Tao Shi’s lips curled into a smile. "It means the tomb they found wasn’t the Red Ghost Lady’s tomb at all! It was an unknown tomb, a solitary grave of a poor woman who was just like the Red Ghost Lady."

"But where's Jiang Yan?!" Jian Hou shouted.

"I don't know!" Cao Youfeng tugged at the bandages on his body. "But the system hasn't reported any contamination from him, so he should be fine."

Just as he finished speaking, the main system’s voice suddenly echoed in the air:

[System: "Real NPC Jiang Yan Contamination Status: 10%... 20%..."]

"No way?!" Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng stared wide-eyed in panic.

Yu Jia sighed and said regretfully, "Such a pity!"

[It's over!! This time, it's real?!]

[What? Impossible!]

[No!! I won't accept it!!]

[Sigh... Yan Yan...]

[How tragic! I thought he might have competed with the Best Actor in the future!]

[What’s so tragic? Jiang Yan was just a low-level NPC. This is an S-rank dungeon, with Puppet Workshop hunting him down—it's perfectly normal that he can't make it.]

[30%... 35%...]

Listening to the system’s broadcasts, Jian Hou's breath caught, his throat tightened as he swallowed nervously.

This guy... could it be that he really played himself into this?

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