"Isn’t the Mountain God Jiang Yan?!" Cao Youfeng stared incredulously at Jiang Yan, who was still standing at the altar in his wedding, next to his groom at the end of the red carpet.
Yu Jia immediately snapped out of his daze and glanced over at Tao Shi, who stood out among the crowd of white-dressed women with her striking blue hair. With a mocking tone, he said, "Nice job, Tao Da! You hid it really well!"
The air was thick with the scent of blood and decay.
"Huh?" Tao Shi turned around, looking puzzled.
"Because of Jiang Yan's unique circumstances, when all the players denied being the Mountain God, everyone’s attention naturally shifted to Jiang Yan, and we ignored you!" Yu Jia said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I was wondering how Jiang Yan could escape from Cang Rou who was furious and holding the Puppet Strings despite having the Mountain God Card. According to the dungeon’s setting, where the Mountain God dies and gets trapped, he shouldn't have been able to escape with the contamination level nearing 100%!" Yu Jia said.
He looked at the blue-haired boy in front of him with narrowed eyes, his tone thoughtful. "With Jiang Yan’s current abilities, there’s no way he could escape. But if the one holding the [Mountain God Card] had been you, Tao Da, it would have been a completely different story."
Tao Shi laughed. "I would have loved to be the one holding it! Even though I couldn't get Jiang Yan to side with me, at least I earned some extra points."
"Not you?" Yu Jia raised an eyebrow.
"Not me, really!" Tao Shi shrugged helplessly.
"Then who could it be?" Yu Jia asked, looking at the two other NPCs still caught up in the wedding celebration. He pondered for a moment, tapping his chin.
Cang Rou had already been confirmed as "Red Ghost Lady," so it couldn’t have been her.
What about Ding Wanyu?
He was Yan Yan’s older brother, with very little presence in the events up to this point. If it were the Mountain God, it would make sense.
Or...
At that moment, Yu Jia suddenly had a realization. He turned to look at his side. Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng also turned to look.
The three of them’s eyes locked onto Jian Hou, sitting in the middle, holding a champagne glass with an innocent look on his face, the only one who hadn’t raised his hand.
Jian Hou took a sip of his drink, then awkwardly raised his glass with a smile. "Ah, I didn’t raise my hand for Yan Yan because he’s not the Mountain God."
"Teacher Jian??!" The three of them stared at him, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Player: Jian Hou has completed the side quest and assumed the role of the "Mountain God."]
[What?! Teacher Jian]
[What the hell?! What’s going on?!]
[So he was playing both sides and used the Mountain God card?!]
Yu Jia took a sip of his champagne, eyeing Jian Hou with renewed interest.
[From the start, everyone had been focused on Jiang Yan. Jian Hou being a newcomer, seemed completely clueless when he first entered the game. Later, to save himself, he joined the Puppet Workshop remaining mostly on the sidelines as an "affiliated" figure. His identity had always been that of "Jiang Yan’s betrayed childhood friend." But now, it turned out that he was the Mountain God?!]
Every time they speculated that the Mountain God was most likely Yan Yan, Jian Hou had never once shown a hint of suspicion.
Jian Hou... now that’s interesting!
The celebration continued amidst the bloody rose petals and confetti.
The cries from the "red carpet" mingled with laughter and cheers, creating an eerie yet festive atmosphere.
Not far off, the three real NPCs pushed their way through the cheering crowd and approached.
"Hey, look, here comes our bride!" Tao Shi raised his glass to Jiang Yan.
At this point, Jiang Yan had regained his usual composure. When facing Tao Shi’s teasing, his expression remained neutral. His blue eyes cold and distant as he stared at the group.
"We’re leaving," Jian Yan said softly, casually pulling off the "bride" corsage on his chest.
Jian Hou drank the champagne in his cup in one gulp and said, "I didn’t expect this game to have such good wine. I remember the wine at your wedding was this brand."
Jiang Yan did not respond.
Jian Hou stood up and wrapped his arm around Jiang Yan’s shoulder, asking curiously, "How do we go back? I’ve never played this game before."
"Is the wedding over already, and the bride is leaving?" Yu Jia laughed, his gaze cold.
"You've put on such a big show for us, aren’t you going to debrief? Earning performance points as a real NPC isn’t easy," Yu Jia asked.
Jiang Yan stopped but did not turn around. "I’m not interested in points," he said.
He nudged Jian Hou with his elbow and continued, "The reason everyone has been paying attention to me, and why Jian Hou went undercover by Yu Jia’s side, is because this guy got a ‘Mountain God Card.’"
"What do you mean?" Cao Youfeng asked, confused.
Jian Hou, still holding Jiang Yan’s shoulder, smiled and replied, "It means that to help me complete the first dungeon and obtain the side quest, Yan Yan deliberately kept everyone’s attention on him."
"The reason I went undercover by Yu Jia’s side wasn’t just to provide Jiang Yan with information about Yu Jia trying to deal with him. More importantly, Yu Jia’s ultimate goal is him. Staying next to him not only made it easier to influence his actions, but also made me an easier target for Yu Jia. So, I figured it would be better for me to join Yu Jia’s guild," Jian Hou explained.
At first, when Yan Yan proposed the plan, he refused. He was afraid that Jiang Yan might really trick him, after all, Jiang Yan’s player stats were much higher than theirs.
He thought, "If I die, I’ll die with Jiang Yan."
Others had friendships with him, but he and Jiang Yan had known each other since they were babies. It was a friendship that ran deep. He couldn’t bear to let Jiang Yan die for him.
It wasn’t until Jiang Yan quickly explained the pros and cons to him that he accepted the plan.
As it turned out, no matter how difficult the situation, Jiang Yan was always able to "fly low," just like how he managed to get by in every test, no matter how difficult or simple. He always scored a "passable" grade.
It was the standard "passable" – a score where the teacher looks at the highest score of 30, then sees Jiang Yan’s 60 and wonders how it was possible. The teacher even checks the monitoring systems and starts investigating whether there was an answer leak.
After a whole investigation, they realized that this guy could really score 60 in such difficult situations. But whether the test was hard or easy, he always aimed for a "60."
What a strange guy.
That’s how everyone around Jiang Yan saw him.
Of course, Jian Hou thought so too.
"Jiang Yan told you the plan?" Yu Jia raised an eyebrow. "Impossible! If he told you the plan, that goes against his character."
Jian Hou shrugged helplessly. "I’ve told you more than once, Jiang Yan’s item can let him break his character for five minutes."
"What?!" Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng stared, wide-eyed.
Yu Jia froze. "That’s impossible!!"
Jiang Yan turned around, his expression calm as he explained, "It’s not impossible. I tried it. To be precise, it’s not that I can break my character for five minutes. It’s that within the coverage area of ‘Lost Rose,’ I can break my character for five minutes. The system’s explanation wasn’t clear enough."
Jian Hou looked at Jiang Yan beside him and said, "But I’m curious, how did you test out the scene with Cang Rou? I thought you really got yourself played."
"You think that’s how I figured out I couldn’t completely break free from the game?" Jiang Yan shot him a glance. "I figured it out by testing with Cang Rou."
Jiang Yan lowered his gaze, almost playing himself in the process.
"Trash system!" he muttered.
Upon hearing this, Cang Rou’s eyes darkened, and memories of the scene with Jiang Yan in the mountain appeared in her mind. Just when she thought she was about to strangle him…
That dark, sticky thing, larger than the sky, with those golden eyes...
She took a deep breath, deciding not to dwell on it as she hadn’t succeeded.
Jiang Yan glanced at the few players who were lost in thought, and asked, "Is there anything else? If not, we’ll leave."
He turned, pulling Jian Hou with him.
As soon as they turned, they saw Yu Xiu, wearing a tuxedo and a "groom" boutonniere on his chest, standing before them.
"Yan Yan," Yu Xiu smiled and looked at him. "Yan Yan, shall we go home?"
Jiang Yan froze for a moment.
He gently broke free from Jian Hou’s embrace, took two steps forward, hugged Yu Xiu, and whispered in his ear, "I’ll take you home, trust me."
With that, Jiang Yan released him. His usually calm blue eyes glowed with an indescribable light.
—
Very soon, Jiang Yan and Jian Hou successfully exited the game and entered the main system’s game lobby. After Jiang Yan led Jian Hou around to explain some game-related things, the two of them left the game lobby and returned to the real world.
Once you enter the game, time in the real world halts at the exact moment you entered.
When Jian Hou exited the game, he was sitting by the piano at Tao Shi’s house. Tao Shi wasn’t there—he was likely still in the game or wandering around the game lobby.
Jian Hou greeted Tao Shi’s housekeeper in passing before hurriedly leaving.
After leaving Tao Shi’s house, he headed straight to Jiang Yan’s apartment.
“Ding-dong—”
The doorbell rang just as Jiang Yan, fresh from the shower, walked out of the bathroom. Without needing to think, he already knew who it was.
“The password hasn’t changed!” Jiang Yan shouted toward the door.
Soon, the sound of someone pressing the password buttons came from outside.
Jiang Yan was dressed in a white T-shirt and deep-blue shorts, with slippers on his feet and a white towel draped over his head. He lazily slumped onto the sofa, his black hair still dripping water.
He watched as Jian Hou opened the door, looking completely winded.
“Where are you coming from?” Jiang Yan asked before Jian Hou could speak.
“Tao Shi’s place! Didn’t I tell you a while back that I found a job as a private tutor teaching piano to a little rich kid?” Jian Hou replied.
“Oh,” Jiang Yan answered flatly.
Jian Hou sat on the sofa. Though he had countless things he wanted to ask, he ultimately only managed one question: “What on earth is going on?”
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure either,” Jiang Yan replied.
“Then... what about Yu Xiu? What’s his deal? He’s been missing for so long, so how did he suddenly show up in the game? And why didn’t he come back with us?” Jian Hou pressed.
“He... I don’t really know either. But he did come back with us, only...” Jiang Yan trailed off.
“Only what?” Jian Hou urged.
“Only... the way he came back was a little different from ours.”
As he spoke, Jiang Yan lifted his shirt.
Jian Hou’s eyes widened in shock, his face full of disbelief.
“You... this...”
“That’s right. This is Yu Xiu.”
Jiang Yan calmly complained to his friend, “He’s still as much of a freak as ever.”
Jian Hou: “...He’s definitely gone full freak. You can’t even tell he’s human anymore!”
On Jiang Yan’s fair skin, a series of grotesque, sticky black organisms clung greedily to his body. Each of the black tendrils left behind trails of transparent green slime as they slithered across his skin...
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