Chapter 13: Night Stroll in Yin Village 11

Chapter 13: Night Stroll in Yin Village 11

"Do not enter the red door!"

"And do not disturb anything in the shrine!"

The tour guide and village chief's voices echoed in Qin Fei's ears.

Qin Fei felt a headache coming on; he had undoubtedly violated both taboos.

The young man remained in the position he had fallen in, sprawled on the ground with his back tense and a faint ache in his tailbone. He pushed himself up from the floor.

The darkness in the room receded like retreating tide, revealing a scene both unfamiliar and yet strangely recognizable to Qin Fei.

The shrine was still the same shrine, but it was also different. The altar nearby was now empty, the spirit tablets gone. The scattered plaques on the ground had vanished as well. Qin Fei frowned, cautiously surveying his surroundings.

The house seemed newer somehow. The paint on the door was undamaged, and when Qin Fei scraped his toe against the floor, he found that the layer of dust wasn't as thick as before. The tiles were spotless, their shine reflecting light.

Qin Fei slowly approached the door and reached out to try pushing it open.

He was actually pushed away.

Blinding sunlight poured in from outside the room, temporarily blinding Qin Fei. He instinctively squinted his eyes, taking a while to regain his senses.

In the two days he had been in this village, he had never seen such bright sunshine.

Another illusion?

Qin Fei blinked and stepped out of the shrine.

The corridor outside was empty, its ends bathed in a wash of white light, leading to an unknown destination.

After a moment's contemplation, Qin Fei decided to leap over the railing of the corridor and directly enter the courtyard behind it.

At first glance, the courtyard seemed identical to before, but as Qin Fei walked through it, he couldn't shake off a persistent sense of dissonance.

This feeling was like being in a dream, where even if the environment was identical to reality, there would still be a nagging feeling of being out of place as long as one remained within the dream.

This sense of dissonance enveloped Qin Fei until he reached the end of the courtyard and stepped onto another corridor, where it finally reached its peak.

At the end of that short, barely five-meter-long corridor, there was unexpectedly a screen wall.

Beyond that screen wall was the main entrance to the entire ancestral hall.

So that's how it is, Qin Fei thought, lowering his gaze.

The buildings and scenery here undoubtedly still resembled what one would expect in Shouyin Village's ancestral hall. However, the layout within the hall had undergone a complete transformation.

In the real Shouyin Village's ancestral hall, although it held an invisible array of teleportation points that could suddenly send people to different locations, the structure itself was at least visually coherent when seen with the naked eye.

It consisted of three main sections and three halls, connected by corridors. The houses were evenly arranged along one side of the corridors, with distinct separations between the main and ancillary halls.

But this place was different.

The entire structure was a mess, with the left side of the main hall connected to the right side of an annex. A corridor was even abruptly severed by a wall in its midpoint.

Qin Fei had taken a full ten minutes to navigate from the screen wall to the sacrificial hall without any additional obstacles before.

Yet, this time, it took him less than two minutes.

The entrance of the temple was just a short distance away, its reddish-brown wooden door identical to how it had been when he arrived. There was no lock on it; Qin Fei could simply reach out and push to leave.

Yet, Qin Fei did not proceed forward.

Since this temple was no longer the right one, how could he expect the village beyond the temple gate to still be the correct Soul Guard Village?

Qin Fei was now certain that what would happen after he opened the door would definitely not be what he wished to see.

In the F-rated live broadcast hall on the other side of the livestream screen, Qin Fei's reaction sparked an uproar among the viewers.

"Damn, why did he head in the opposite direction when he saw the gate?"

"So soon he realizes the issue? But he hasn't even approached it!"

"This area was a hotspot for fatalities during previous live streams. If the host can avoid this, he might actually make it through that door."

"It's too early to tell, there are still plenty of troubles waiting ahead."

"Can't you all just shut up? We'll know if he makes it or not by watching quietly!"

...

Given the altered layout of the shrine, Qin Fei's immediate concern was to re-explore the entire area to pinpoint the issue.

As Qin Fei turned around and took a few steps, faint rustling sounds emerged from not far away. Suddenly, an NPC dressed as a villager popped out from behind the overgrown weeds in the corridor.

There was still someone else in the courtyard?

The NPC had no attribute display or progress bar above its head. It was too late for Qin Fei to hide now. He didn't seem overly aggressive, so Qin Fei stood his ground, regulating his breathing, and waited silently for the NPC's reaction.

Surprisingly, however, the NPC encountered Qin Fei head-on but showed no intention of stopping.

He didn't even spare Qin Fei a glance, striding quickly and drawing closer and closer until, eventually—

He passed straight through Qin Fei's body.

Qin Fei spun around abruptly, watching the NPC's receding figure with raised eyebrows, utterly astonished.

He could see the NPC, but the NPC couldn't see him.

A ghost? A specter?

Or perhaps some sort of cutscene?

If it was a cutscene, then it must be accompanied by a significant amount of plot information.

It could very well aid the players in unraveling the secrets of the dungeon.

Just as Qin Fei was contemplating whether to follow and investigate, a chaotic uproar of voices, far louder than before, suddenly surged towards him.

Then, an endless stream of NPCs rushed out from a door behind.

Five, ten, twenty...

Nearly a hundred villagers emerged, each with terrified expressions. They screamed and wailed, scattering like a flock of panicked birds.

The villagers rushed towards the main gate, and Qin Fei stood right on their path. He watched as one person after another ran through his body, crying and wailing, leaving him with an indescribable strange expression.

...He had just been pierced through by a multitude of people.

Despite feeling nothing, he couldn't shake off the sense of being offended.

The young man retreated with a subtly awkward expression.

Behind the screen, the spirits watching the live broadcast were laughing uncontrollably.

"Ahahahaha, I'm dying! The host looks like he's been harassed, clutching his chest like that."

"He blushed? How can this person's face turn red and pale at will?!"

"I'll pay a fortune to see an NPC harass the host!"

"? Such suggestive words, I love it."

In the live stream, chaos had erupted in the temple.

Caught up in the flow of NPCs, Qin Fei looked in the direction they were coming from and instantly narrowed his eyes upon seeing what was behind them.

At the end of Qin Fei's field of vision stood an enormous humanoid figure, towering at least three stories tall. Its hair and beard were completely white, indicating great age. Dressed in an ornate, bright yellow Taoist robe, the figure waved a buddhist whisk in its hand.

His left eyelid drooped slightly, as if injured, yet also as if peering intently at something.

Although it didn't entirely match Hua Qiwei's description, Qin Fei quickly realized the truth.

This was undoubtedly the same deity statue that could be seen everywhere in Guarding Yin Village!

The deity before him was vastly different from its compassionate and serene appearance in stone carvings or paintings. Now, it was enormous, its robe stained with blood, resembling an irrational killing machine.

In its hand, the buddhist whisk served as a weapon, lifting every villager it encountered high into the air before brutally slamming them back down to earth.

Those lying on the ground had blood oozing from their noses and mouths, their limbs convulsing briefly before ceasing all movement. The towering monster approached, reached down to pick up a corpse, and stuffed it entirely into its mouth, like swallowing a whole piece of candy.

Qin Fei frowned.

Was this thing really a "deity statue"?

It was more like an evil ghost disguised in a yellow robe.

The yellow-robed ghost swiftly lifted another person, but this time, instead of throwing them to the ground, it immediately tightened the buddhist whisk.

The seemingly delicate white threads now demonstrated incredible resilience, wrapping the trapped NPC in a scream as their body disintegrated like shattered dolls, blood dripping down in a steady stream, resembling silk threads falling.

Then, it followed the same method and devoured this NPC too.

Qin Fei's face twisted into an expression of unbearable horror.

What a hauntingly gruesome scene.

Was this a sudden leap from Chinese horror to American horror?

Qin Fei couldn't determine which genre was more terrifying.

The courtyard of the ancestral hall had transformed into a hellish abyss amidst the chaotic cries. Amidst the disorder, Qin Fei discerned several voices screaming in despair,

"Run!"

"Run!"

"Lin Shouying's ghost is killing people!"

The peculiar name piqued Qin Fei's interest.

As Qin Fei clearly heard the name of the yellow-robed ghost, a description appeared above its head.

"Differentiated Lin Shouying Spirit Form: Affection - (Not Tameable)"

In the center of the screen, Qin Fei, upon catching a glimpse of Lin Shouying, smoothly redirected his gaze as if it were the most natural thing to do.

Qin Fei didn't forget that the guide had mentioned the village's deity would only appear in the form of a painting or statue. If they encountered any other representation, they were to act as if they hadn't seen it.

But it seemed too late now.

It was as if Lin Shouying had a radar. Despite the temple being packed with NPCs, its gaze pierced through the surging crowd and locked onto Qin Fei with pinpoint accuracy.

It could see Qin Fei.

Not only could it see him, but it was also fixated.

Since becoming aware of Qin Fei's presence, it stopped its actions, never once diverting its gaze from Qin Fei, as if time stood still in their locked eyes.

Qin Fei: "..."

Who in their right mind would want an eternity's gaze with a ghost? !

He had just barely escaped death at the old villager's house, and now he was encountering another ghost in the ancestral hall.

Without hesitation, Qin Fei turned around and bolted!

...

Qin Fei's decision was prompt. The moment he turned to run, the yellow-robed ghost abandoned its massacre of the NPC villagers and, wielding its bloody whisk, made a beeline straight for Qin Fei.

The once-white Buddhist whisk was now dyed bright red, dripping blood as it swished through the air, occasionally shedding bits of flesh and bone along the way.

It wasn't hard for Qin Fei to imagine what would happen if that thing wrapped around his neck.

He took a deep breath and dashed out of the transformed ancestral hall as if his feet were on fire.

In his youth, Qin Fei had been quite athletic, but due to his recent illnesses and lack of exercise, his physical condition had significantly declined. After only a few strides, he was already gasping for air.

The young man, startled, fled in a panic, resembling a wild rabbit being pursued by a hunter through a dense forest. Fine beads of sweat trickled down his pale forehead, while his lips bore an unnatural flush of crimson due to his labored breathing.

After the ancestral hall transformed, it turned eerily cold, as if winter had descended. Qin Fei's breaths exhaled into the frigid air, condensing into white mist. His long, delicate lashes, heavy with condensation, drooped down, casting fan-shaped shadows upon his face.

The live broadcast camera zoomed in on that exquisite face, causing the entire F-Rank hall to erupt into pandemonium.

The audience's discussions swiftly diverted from the contents of the instance dungeon to an array of bizarre and eccentric topics.

"Wow! How intriguingly evocative is the way the anchor is fleeing for his life!"

"Old man in the yellow robe, chase him! Chase him with all your might!"

"The blush on our life-saving host's cheeks looks incredibly charming, hehehe, hehehe."

"The host is %……&%——so enchanting&……#"

"???? What lewd words did you just utter, neighbor? I had no idea live streaming rooms could mute sound??"

Someone immediately paid to capture Qin Fei's image and shared it with their friends, while another sharp-eyed individual saw an opportunity, printing screenshots of the live stream onto small fans, setting up a small stall in front of the 0039 Live Stream Billboard.

To Qin Fei's great surprise, he discovered that while he was being pursued by ghosts and desperately trying to survive, the number of viewers in his live stream was skyrocketing as if it had been shot up by a rocket.

【Congratulations to Player Qin Fei for achieving "Thousand-Eyed Focus." The system awards 200 points.】

"46 viewers have given you likes, and 398 have followed your live stream account."

"Traffic recommendation is ongoing. Please keep up the good work, Player Qin Fei!"

As the influx of viewers into the live stream surged, the notification sounds for system rewards chimed nonstop, as if they were free of charge.

Qin Fei, whose imagination was somewhat lacking in this aspect, was completely unaware that the audience had already come to view him as a dyed-in-the-wool erotic streamer.

He had assumed that the spectators were drawn, much like last night with Hua Qiwei, by the players' desperation and panic before their deaths.

Well, the tastes of the audience in the live stream channel are indeed unusually eccentric, Qin Fei mused.

This source of pleasure is not dissimilar to the enthusiasm the ancient Romans had for their gladiatorial arenas.

The Live-Streaming System and its audience were like lofty nobles, while the players were merely beasts in an arena, their blood and tears used as seasoning for the spectators' entertainment.

Behind him, the Yellow Robe Ghost relentlessly pursued.

The shrine now resembled a castle made of playdough, reshaped into a pancake after being crumpled and flattened. The once-familiar layout had transformed entirely, leaving Qin Fei utterly disoriented about where he might end up next.

Dashing through the corridors, Qin Fei's surroundings blurred past him at breakneck speed. Chilly gusts brushed against his cheeks like the caress of an evil spirit.

The Yellow Robe Ghost maintained its speed, even showing signs of accelerating. Every muscle in Qin Fei's body was pushed to its limit, burning with the intensity required to narrowly evade the ghost's pursuit.

Unfortunately, Qin Fei had never been the chosen one when it came to "fate points." At best, he could be considered an ordinary person.

Despite his efforts to avoid it, Qin Fei was soon cornered at the end of a corridor. Throughout his journey, he had tried to stay out of rooms, given the shrine's chaotic state and the relentless pursuit of the Yellow Robe Ghost. Entering a room only to be trapped would truly leave him with nowhere to turn for help.

Yet, it seemed there were no more options left for him now.

There was no path ahead.

Nowhere to run.

The footsteps behind him grew closer and closer. Qin Fei stared at the wall in front of him and then at the room beside him. Clenching his teeth, he steeled himself and pushed open the door.

Turning back now would definitely result in a confrontation with the Yellow Robed Ghost.

Qin Fei had no choice but to bet on his slim chance of luck and see if there was any other way out of the room.

However, the moment he opened the door, Qin Fei's face darkened instantly.

It seemed that when someone was down on their luck, it could truly be that terrible.

Behind the door was a small chamber, a scene Qin Fei was all too familiar with. He had just seen it not long ago – it was the village chief's office.

The tiny room, less than twenty square meters, was visible in one glance. Apart from the door behind him, there was no other exit.

Forget about a back door or windows, not even a dog hole existed.

Sipping cold water could lead to a chipped tooth, and a deep breath could choke oneself to death – this probably described Qin Fei's current situation.

The howling wind from the approaching Yellow Robed Ghost was already at his ears.

Qin Fei's face was devoid of any blood, the exertion of his sprint causing a metallic taste to rise in his throat. His eyelashes trembled involuntarily, fluttering like butterfly wings, casting a faint shadow across his pale cheeks.

His eyes swiftly scanned the interior of the room.

There was absolutely nowhere to hide.

Was he destined to meet his end here today?

Behind him, the Yellow Robed Ghost had already reached the spot at top speed.

The massive creature didn't need any extravagant movements; with a mere rise and fall of its hands, Qin Fei's hiding place, the office, was shattered into pieces.

The ceiling had been sent flying... It was truly outrageous!

Yet, even in such a situation, Qin Fei couldn't muster any fear. Every neuron in his brain remained eerily calm. He lifted his head, locking gazes with the Yellow Robed Ghost.

His right hand was subtly placed behind his back, clutching a thin and sturdy wooden splinter.

It was something Qin Fei had picked up on the run, likely a fragment from some structure that Lin Shouying had accidentally destroyed while chasing after the villagers.

At this point, there was no way they could confront their opponent head-on.

From the beginning, this Boss hadn't given players the option to fight it directly.

The swirling Buddhist whisk soared through the air, lifting Qin Fei high, and he made no resistance, gripping the broken wooden fragment tightly. Veins on the back of his fair hand turned a faint bluish-purple.

However, what happened next caught both Qin Fei and Lin Shouying off guard.

The anticipated pain never came. The enormous, bloodied face was so close that Qin Fei could count the number of whiskers on Lin Shouying's chin. For some reason, as Lin Shouying stared at Qin Fei, he seemed to see something utterly inconceivable.

Using the Buddhist whisk, he bound Qin Fei securely, then leaned in for a sniff.

After that, an odd expression appeared on his face.

He opened his mouth and, with great caution, drew Qin Fei toward his lips.

In the next second, just as Qin Fei touched him, the yellow-robed ghost stiffened as if it had ingested a deadly poison.

Then, it began to convulse violently, dry-heaving.

"Ugh!"

"Ughhh!!"

"Ugh———"

Before Qin Fei was completely swallowed by the yellow-robed ghost, the world around him spun violently. The buddhist dust on his body loosened, and he fell two meters straight down, landing hard on his back.

If not for his youth, such a fall would surely have cracked a couple of ribs.

Enduring the pain throughout his body, Qin Fei forcefully pushed himself up with a jackknife maneuver, leaping half a meter away. Without hesitation, he turned and ran!

Behind him, the yellow-robed ghost continued to retch dryly. With each "ugh," countless villagers, now NPCs, spewed out of its mouth. Some were already lifeless, while others still had consciousness, struggling and flailing their limbs in an attempt to crawl back up from the ground.

The scene was utter chaos.

Despite Qin Fei's usual composure, even he couldn't help but be momentarily stunned.

Qin Fei: "..."

Is there poison on him?

Or did he even give the ghost gastritis???