Chapter 69: Offering (12)

Chapter 69: Offering (12)

◎True and False◎

Afterwards, Shi Yuqing didn’t dwell on the details.

The final outcome was very similar to the events in the ancient town.

After being secretly sacrificed and sunk to the bottom of the water, he didn’t actually drown.

A pair of human-like hands pulled him deep into the ground.

Then, his consciousness became murky and chaotic, with many memories disordered. He only clearly remembered the alien monster that grew stronger as it gnawed on him. Later, out of fear yet unable to escape, he too started to feed on the creature… They began a mutual slaughter and fusion.

More accurately, it was a one-sided devouring.

He ate the monster… His body completely died, and he turned into an even more terrifying monster.

At that time, Shi Yuqing wasn’t aware of the changes in his body. Trapped between the mountain and the reservoir, he wandered daily, searching for his mother, longing to go home.

Until later, when his mother was gone too.

The three who had harmed him and Shi Wen ended up as mere sludge. Before their deaths, they were nearly scared out of their wits. Their fear peaked, almost bulging their eyeballs out. They begged loudly and wept bitterly, pleading to a boy they had once easily deceived and thrown into the water alive.

Treating them like mere ants, Shi Yuqing felt no anger, merely crushing them slowly to death as they struggled to escape, just when they thought they might find hope.

During that time, suspecting the influence of ghosts, countless masters came to the village; some were frauds, others had genuine abilities. The former would make a show and leave, while the latter would never return after one visit, leaving with an odd expression and advising the residents to move away as soon as possible.

A year later, Shi Youqing encountered the man with white pupils by the water.

“I’ll take you to a better place,” the man said with a smile.

Having been deceived once, Shi Youqing didn't trust anyone and instinctively began to avoid him.

Yet, the man persisted in tracking him day after day.

From then on, Shi Youqing lived a life of hiding and fleeing, but soon he was caught.

Memories after that were blank, but Shi Youqing roughly surmised what happened next.

He entered the world of the game and later left it to return to reality.

But he couldn't understand why Bo Huai, who had only interacted with him briefly in childhood, would also become like that?

Back then... Bo Huai had safely left the mountain.

Feeling an itch on his hand, Shi Youqing suddenly became alert. The memories of the past vanished in an instant, and he lowered his eyes to the black mass continuing to shed its scales.

As the last scale attached to his skin was peeled away by the black tentacle, the black creature began to carefully massage his palm – the cause of the recent itch.

Shi Youqing lifted the cloth that covered it to see, the scales were all gone, but on the back of his hand, there was now a “tattoo” of an eye.

"The creature, noticing his gaze fixed there, seemed to think he was uncomfortable. Its tentacles gently caressed the 'tattoo' area, then wrapped around his entire hand, completely obstructing Shi Youqing’s view."

"Shi Youqing sat upright, silently rewrapping his hand with the cloth."

"Looking around, besides him, there were only two others awake in the cave—Guo Yalan and An Dong."

"As traveling companions, they did not enter the dream state and were observing the others’ sleeping conditions."

Zong Zhouyuan wore a barely perceptible smile, while Hao Tianshuo furrowed his brows tightly. Qiao Mingcheng hummed softly, and Xia Yue shook his head from time to time.

Shi Youqing picked up his thermos, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

At that moment, Zong Zhouyuan across from them suddenly sat up, opening his eyes while muttering a curse under his breath.

An Dong breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, as it meant coming out of the dream. He then tried to wake Qiao Ming Cheng and the others, but no matter how loudly he called, there was no response.

Zong Zhu Yuan shook his head, noticed that Shi Yuqing was already awake, and his gaze shifted slightly before he looked away, cursing under his breath for no apparent reason.

Curious, An Dong asked him what happened in the dream.

Zong Zhu Yuan paused, then sneered, “Didn’t Shi Yuqing mention it earlier?”

An Dong was taken aback, then listened as Guo Yalan explained, “The dream corresponds to desires. Last night’s rice was fine, but if it were something else today, waking up would have been much harder.”

An Dong grew uneasy, “Then, if deceased relatives appear in the dream, wouldn’t that be…”

Guo Yalan nodded, “That's why we must wake them up.”

With that, she and An Dong started slapping the others, noticeably harder this time, leaving Qiao Ming Cheng's arm swollen.

Still, there was no response from them.

Zong Zhu Yuan was completely indifferent to the situation, looking outside the door for a while before turning to Shi Yuqing, “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Shi Yuqing, observing the black creature wrapped around him, noticed it had tightened its grip since Zong Zhu Yuan woke up, twitching around like bristling fur.

Unbothered by Shi Yuqing’s lack of engagement, Zong Zhu Yuan continued, “How did you know those things were the scales of an evil god? Have you seen them?”

Shi Yuqing looked up, “I have.”

“Where?” Zong Zhu Yuan asked.

Shi Yuqing stood up, towering over him, and glanced down, “Cheng Gu Town.” He then walked over to the others.

Zong Zhu Yuan fell silent. According to the information he had acquired, the evil god’s most recent appearance was indeed in the Cheng Gu Town instance, which was also completely destroyed.

Some players thought this was a good thing, signifying the game world wasn’t indestructible. Others believed the evil god was just a top-tier monster in the instance, capable of destroying it and potentially annihilating all players at any moment. They reckoned it wouldn’t help them and were better off staying out of its way…

While Zong Zhu Yuan pondered this, he saw Shi Yuqing bend over, staring intently at the sleeping individuals, then suddenly raise his hand and fire a gun upwards.

Guo Yalan and An Dong were startled by the loud gunshot. Hao Tian Shuo and Xia Yue woke up in succession, with only Qiao Ming Cheng still gasping for breath.

Shi Yuqing placed the gun near Qiao Ming Cheng’s ear, his eyes cold, and fired again.

With a scream, Qiao Ming Cheng abruptly awoke.

On the other side, the awakened Hao Tian Shuo quickly grasped the situation. Wiping the sweat from his face, he said, "I had a series of dreams; in the first, my teammates died, and in the second, they came back to life... it was so damn eerie!"

Xia Yue seemed to have experienced something similar, covering his eyes and remaining silent.

"Black... chess..." Qiao Ming Cheng, still shaken, then looked gratefully at Shi Yuqing. "I was about to pick up the black chess piece... Thanks to you, the sound wasn’t loud in the dream, but I heard it! There were no guns in the dream, so I realized it was yours..."

Shi Yuqing sat back down, leaning against the wall. "This time was different from yesterday. After the first dream ends, one instinctively believes the second dream is reality."

"The ghost's powers are getting stronger," Zong Zhu Yuan suddenly said.

The group fell silent for a moment before Hao Tian Shuo asked, "Isn't this power increasing too quickly? The dreams from last night and tonight are completely different."

Yawning, Zong Zhu Yuan remarked, "Don’t worry, tomorrow night will be at another level."

“……”

Their faces paled at this statement.

However, Shi Yuqing added, "In dreams, it’s hard to stay as rational as in reality. This scenario offers plenty of rooms. Initially placing multiple people in one room can cause internal conflict, but also cooperation. Players can be woken from dreams with their teammates' help."

"Right," Guo Yalan agreed, "and as proven from last night to tonight, players can be awakened. In this challenge, if each room has one person who can wake up on their own, they can potentially wake everyone in the room!"

An Dong was startled but confused, "Then why couldn’t we wake them at first..."

"Last night’s dream involved rice, so the scent could awaken players. As for tonight..." Shi Yuqing put away his gun, "Each person’s dream is different. Maybe trying each sense could work... but I think this gun is quicker."

"Huh?" Hao Tian Shuo looked amazed, "This gun... it’s not really a divine item, is it?"

"It's a wicked item," Shi Yuqing replied indifferently, "but it's sufficient."

Scratching his head, Hao Tian Shuo and the others fell into contemplation. Then they heard Shi Yuqing whisper, "Rest up. We need to get up early tomorrow."

Saying this, the young man closed his eyes, his features showing a hint of fatigue yet softened in the faint light.

Hao Tian Shuo watched him for a long while, then draped his coat over him and squeezed in with Qiao Ming Cheng and the others.

The last bit of fire in the cave was extinguished.

Unable to sleep, Zong Zhu Yuan reflected on the dream featuring Shi Yuqing and began staring at the young man’s figure, feeling a repulsive sentimentality rising within him. He watched Shi Yuqing for a long time until finally closing his eyes in the late night.

……

As soon as it was light, Shi Yuqing woke up.

The black creature that had been entwined around his hand had disappeared. After pondering for a moment, he deduced that the creature, like the other monsters in this instance, likely had a rule of appearing only at night.

The others also woke up one after the other, and after making and eating a simple meal, Shi Youqing, with little appetite, finished his meal and took a walk nearby. Noticing nothing unusual, he decided to re-enter the peach blossom forest.

When he returned to the cave, the others had already finished eating. They still needed to go back to the wooden houses to check on the survival rate of the other players.

Upon reaching the wooden houses, most of the people were gathered around Luo Yanzhong, seemingly embroiled in a dispute, creating quite a noisy scene.

From a distance, Shi Youqing counted the remaining eight people; now there were only seven.

The missing one seemed to be a player from Zong Zhouyuan's wooden house, named Cui Jie.

"We must take action today!" exclaimed Jiang Wu, nursing an injured hand. "That dream last night... damn! It was almost impossible to get out. Tonight will be even more terrifying! Those ghosts must have a weakness... Right! Tonight we'll lock the doors early, prevent those performing the rituals from entering, and see what happens to them! If they're safe, does it mean we can... at night..."

"If they die, there will only be more evil spirits!" Luo Yanzhong countered. "Moreover, we're just staying in these five wooden houses. They can easily go to other local people's houses. After dawn, what do you think will happen to us?"

The group started arguing among themselves when Jiang Wu heard approaching footsteps. Turning around, he saw Shi Youqing leading a group of seven people.

He froze, his face filled with terror, as if he had seen a ghost.

The others also noticed Shi Youqing and his group. Some whispered in low voices, some were in shock, while Luo Yanzhong remained relatively calm.

"Weren't they driven out? How are they still alive?!"

"And not a single one is missing…"

"Damn, what kind of luck is this?"

“Talking about luck in a place like this? You’re welcome to test that luck outside tonight,” Luo Yanzhong said coldly, striding over, “Is everyone okay?”

Shi Youqing nodded slightly, but his response surprised Luo Yanzhong, “Do you have any tomatoes?”

Everyone: “…”

Upon hearing this, Hao Tianshuo immediately sprang into action, ready to go inside to look for them, but Luo Yanzhong pushed him away forcefully, sternly warning, “Don’t take the NPCs’ words lightly. If they said not to enter the houses, it’s best not to test it.”

Saying so, Luo Yanzhong went in himself, returning shortly with a basket of fruits and vegetables, “Take these for now, I’ll bring more before it gets dark.”

“Thanks, Uncle!” Hao Tianshuo grabbed the basket, eagerly picking out some good-looking tomatoes, rinsing them in a water tank, and happily handed them to Shi Youqing.

Shi Youqing lowered his eyelids, eating the tomatoes while listening to the others recount their experiences from the previous night.

It was all dreams within dreams.

Clearly, everyone realized the difficulty of the dreams was increasing significantly, growing anxious about the coming night.

Jiang Wu, seeing Shi Youqing and Zongtu Yuan alive, had already slipped away quietly.

After finishing the tomatoes, Shi Youqing went to the bathroom.

The weather was nice that day, and as he came out, he saw a few butterflies flutter by. Shi Youqing’s eyelashes flickered, his gaze following them momentarily before he resumed walking, feeling somewhat better, his pace relaxed.

When he was still some distance from the wooden house, Shi Youqing suddenly stopped.

In front of the house, a group was discussing strategies. Among them, Qiao Mingcheng was talking to a slender young man, while Hao Tianshuo, who had washed more tomatoes, handed one to the young man.

The young man, with an indifferent expression, took a bite, then sensing something, turned and frowned at Shi Youqing.

Shi Youqing stood still, his face stern.

At that moment, everyone looked over.

“……”

A chilling, eerie silence ensued.

Shi Youqing stared at the young man who looked exactly like him, even wrapping his hand with the same cloth from Zongtu Yuan's clothes, and drew his gun. At the same time, the person opposite also raised his gun and said, “This again?”

Two gunshots rang out simultaneously.

Shi Youqing stepped to the right to take cover behind a tree, avoiding the shot. The other young man also swiftly dodged but didn't expect that the shot would come from the direction he had moved towards…

Zongtu Yuan, closest to the young man, instinctively pushed him away, inadvertently taking the bullet himself.

Shi Youqing: “…”

The young man, having narrowly escaped, looked down at Zongtu Yuan’s bloodied hand.

Hao Tianshuo, stunned, looked back and forth between the young man and the indifferent figure of Shi Youqing, then suddenly paled and chased after him, “You…”

“In a situation where you can't distinguish people, I advise you not to trust anyone,” Shi Youqing said indifferently, leaving behind this remark amidst the distant exclamations and questions, and walked away without looking back.

[Author’s Note]

Thanks to the little angels for their nutrient solutions: Baoer with 40 bottles; perperper with 30 bottles; Ting Wo Miao Liang Ju with 5 bottles;

Thank you very much for everyone's support, I will continue to work hard!