Chapter 53: City of Foxes 03

Chapter 53: City of Foxes 03

Once the food was served, everyone began to eat. Despite the eerie names, the dishes looked delicious.

But noticing that Lu Zai Chuan and Pei Yi hadn’t started eating, everyone curiously turned their gaze to them.

Pei Yi swore he wasn’t trying to imitate Lu Zai Chuan.

With both of them not eating, the others hesitated to start.

Lu Zai Chuan said, "You go ahead."

Pei Yi replied, "You're the boss. You first."

"You say it."

"No, you first."

Finally, Red Nine interjected, "Enough, both of you say it together."

Pei Yi insisted, "Lu Da Lao should speak first."

Lu Zai Chuan stopped hesitating, "I think we should all discuss any points we find strange before eating."

Pei Yi pulled out his notebook, catching Lu Zai Chuan’s glance.

"Speak up, I'll jot down the key points."

Lu Zai Chuan suggested, "Any oddities, feel free to mention them. Although it’s only the first day, there’s an air of peculiarity everywhere. We need to find a breakthrough, or we’re heading towards a dead end from the start, which would be quite interesting."

Red Nine sat next to him, but he didn’t ask her first, instead pointing to Pei Yi, "Pei Yi, you start."

Pei Yi hesitated briefly, realizing Lu Zai Chuan had passed the ball back to him,

"Alright, I'll start. I have several doubts and confusions. First, is the guide Ali good or bad? This is crucial as it determines the safety of our current location in Fox City, and the reliability of our upcoming journey. Fraudulent schemes for money and harm are common.

The second point is the visible rules of the city. Are they trustworthy? Should we follow them or not? The third point concerns the recurring theme of colors, and the significance of our attire. These are all aspects to consider."

Lu Zai Chuan asked, "Do you have any answers?"

Pei Yi replied, "No, the clues are still too scant."

Lu Zai Chuan chuckled lightly, "Alright." He pointed to Red Nine, "Your turn."

Red Nine said, "I’ll speak for White Seven as well. Our view is, as of now, Fox Village seems nice, but we’re reserving judgment. About the rules… they’re generally good, right? We should trust them. That’s my experience speaking. Everyone can consider it."

She shook her cup, "This stuff is really good. I’ll be the guinea pig. If nothing happens to me after drinking, the rest can follow suit."

Pei Yi glanced at White Seven; they didn’t seem to have agreed on this beforehand. Red Nine seemed quite self-assured, making decisions on her own.

After speaking, Red Nine pointed her cup at Zhou You, sitting next to White Seven. Zhou You, slightly startled, said, "Uh... my opinion..." He looked apologetically at Pei Yi, "I don't have much of an idea. As for the colors, since everyone else is wearing them, it should be fine for us too, right? So, I agree with Red Nine. Next person."

Chen Mo: "I don't have any thoughts for now."

Ying Jun and his wife: "We support Pei Yi's view."

Xing Guang and Xing Yao: "We follow Lu Shen's lead."

Pei Yi & Lu Zai Chuan: "......"

Lu Zai Chuan: "Alright. To summarize, it seems we're evenly split. My opinion, as Pei Yi said, is that we still lack sufficient clues. Let's see what the system has in store for us tomorrow before making any decisions."

Pei Yi smiled without a word. Being noncommittal on the first day isn't great, right? Although clues are scarce, there are enough to ponder. However, he didn't know Lu Zai Chuan well enough to judge his character. The two had only raced together before.

Since Lu Zai Chuan said so, there must be some reasoning, right? Anyway, since he's 'Lu Shen', let him be.

After dinner, everyone prepared to leave. Pei Yi lingered behind with Ying Jun. Although they weren't close, Pei Yi curiously asked, "Ying Jun, why did you agree with me earlier?"

Ying Jun let his wife go ahead and whispered, "Pei Yi, did you feel anything off about the entrance?"

"Entrance? Do you mean the large locust tree? What about it?"

Ying Jun: "In my hometown, locust trees are also known as ghost trees. They're generally not planted near houses due to their heavy Yin energy, attracting spirits. There's also a belief that locust trees are bridges to other realms. The story of 'Nanke Dream' happened under a locust tree."

"You think this place is a ghost town?"

"That's what's odd. Despite the presence of the locust tree, the city is filled with lively human activity, unlike a realm of spirits."

Pei Yi: "If you're right, then this place might be more terrifying than a ghost town."

"Why do you say that?"

"Ever heard of ghost feeders? This is indeed a ghost town, but the people here are living. They are ghost feeders, worshipping the Fox Lord, the ghost of this place. And the offerings are..."

"Us?" Ying Jun uttered, shocked. "Then we just ate their food? Could that be dangerous?"

Pei Yi chuckled lightly, "These are just speculations. It's only the first day; no need to scare ourselves. If the food were truly harmful, the system wouldn't have let us eat it. In that case, there would be no point in playing the game; we might as well surrender right away."

As he pondered this, Pei Yi wondered if the system could be deliberately deceiving them. But if they didn't eat the food from this city, what else could they eat? Surely they couldn't starve for seven days?

"Then there's the clothing, the colors, the rules..." Ying Jun strongly agreed with Pei Yi's analysis and felt he was spot on. He really didn't want to be killed by a ghost on the first day like last time.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Without wearing these clothes, we can't progress in the game. Let's just wait and see. My skepticism doesn’t necessarily mean there's a definite problem here." And directly opposing them like this would be blatantly confronting Lu Zai Chuan and the others, wouldn’t it?

Internal discord is the last thing players need.

By the time they descended the stairs, it was already 9 PM. With the attractions closed, they strolled twice around the main street and headed back to the inn around 10 PM.

At that moment, the system announced the completion of the dining task, awarding them 10 points. — This really was the simplest task yet.

The inn's lobby offered many entertainments like billiards and poker. There was also a long wooden table where they could sit and discuss. Except for Pei Yi, most of them stayed in the lobby, planning to play a bit before going to sleep.

Pei Yi wasn't planning to sleep either; he wanted to observe the inn first.

On the second floor, a straight corridor led to a window that could be opened. The walls of the corridor were adorned with fox-related paintings, similar in style to the restaurant. It seemed the décor throughout the city was quite uniform.

Oddly, Pei Yi noticed several electrical outlets above the baseboard. Why so many outlets in a hallway?

Crouching down, he inspected them one by one. The first was normal, so was the second, but the third... Pei Yi felt it and realized it was a fake. He pulled it open to find a switch inside and lightly pressed it, eliciting a 'click'.

Pei Yi noticed a brief flash of light in the corner.

A hidden camera!

If it weren't for that switch, Pei Yi would never have noticed the camera hidden there – it didn’t even have a red light!

Following this method, Pei Yi thoroughly checked all the equipment in his room: the power strip, picture frames, light fixtures, outlets… He discovered four or five hidden cameras in total! Just in this one room alone.

— They were actually under surveillance, with the inhabitants of Fox City monitoring them constantly!

But why? Was it to ensure they didn’t act disrespectfully towards the revered Fox Deity, or were they truly sacrificial offerings?

Pei Yi went to the bathroom and saw a huge mirror. Could it be a two-way mirror? He touched it, but thankfully, the mirror seemed normal. Looking at his own reflection, everything appeared usual.

However, his face… Pei Yi couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination, but it seemed somewhat fox-like, with pointed features and slowly curling lips.

While he was inspecting, Zhou You and Chen Mo entered.

Zhou You said, “Pei Ge, you missed out on so much fun downstairs! The townsfolk are really friendly, and I even met a beautiful girl.”

Pei Yi replied, “Be careful, you don’t know if they’re humans or foxes. Don’t let them kill you.” He didn’t take Chen Mo’s rebuttal at dinner to heart. That guy’s thinking was rather simplistic.

“Come on, Pei Ge! Don’t scare me. She’s seriously gorgeous! Even if I die for this romance, it'd be worth it.”

Pei Yi chuckled and took out the cameras he had found, tossing them in front of them, “Give these to Lu Zai Chuan. Have them check their rooms as well.”

Zhou You & Chen Mo: “Holy shit!!”

The ten of them worked until midnight to dismantle all the cameras in the inn, but even after finishing, they remained uneasy. It's one thing to be watched by ghosts, quite another to be surveilled by people. Thinking about it, being watched by humans felt even more terrifying.

Still unsettled and after a round of complaints, they prepared to turn off the lights and sleep. Pei Yi, however, couldn’t fall asleep. His mind was racing with everything that had happened. He thought about the differences between the rules at Snow Mountain and here, and again about that huge locust tree at the entrance…

Lost in thought, Pei Yi eventually dozed off, sleeping until midnight. He faintly smelled a fragrance—subtle, so he didn’t pay much attention to it, and soon fell back into a deep sleep due to exhaustion.

The next day, around eight o'clock, the system announced:

[Main quest updated: Visit Fox Cliff on the first day of the itinerary, Black Mother's Residence in the afternoon, and Fox Square for a grand play in the evening. Reward: 10 points.]

Pei Yi was the earliest to wake, feeling unusually tired after sleeping. The other two also woke up.

After washing up and going downstairs, they found that the other people were already there; they were the last to arrive. Soon, the guide Ah Li arrived.

“Today we will first visit Fox Cliff.”

“Where is Fox Cliff?” Red Nine asked.

“At the end of Fox City. We'll take a bus, and it's just about fifteen minutes away.”

On the bus, Pei Yi leaned back in his seat and fell asleep. Halfway through, he woke to see that it was light outside, but the light was dim, giving off a grayish feel. As they neared their destination,

Ah Li said, “What you're about to witness is an ancient ritual of Fox City—cliff jumping. The townspeople believe that jumping into the pool from the cliff helps them reincarnate more successfully. Thus, some elderly people choose to jump from the cliff rather than die naturally.”

At this, Pei Yi abruptly awoke. What? Jumping off a cliff helps with reincarnation? He had never heard of such a thing.

“We are very lucky today as a few elderly citizens, nearing their time, have decided to make the leap. Please remember the rules, watch with sincerity, and maintain silence.”

Saying so, they disembarked the bus. Fox Cliff was quite a distance from them, so they could only see its vague outline. Below the cliff was a deep, emerald pool, about a dozen or so stories high from the water.

Amidst the misty fog, they saw several people, one after another, actually jumping off the fox-shaped cliff, plunging into the deep pool and creating massive splashes. In total, there were about ten people!

What exactly is this bizarre place!!