Chapter 25: Night Stroll in Yin Village 23

Chapter 25: Night Stroll in Yin Village 23

The candle flame in Sun Shouyi's hand flickered. At the end of the corridor, the white ghostly figure laughed sinisterly and attacked again.

Qin Fei took the candle from Sun Shouyi and waved it behind them, his movements as effortless as fending off mosquitoes with a mosquito coil.

The ghostly shadow, pressured by the flame, reluctantly retreated a short distance.

Xiao Xiao, on the side, cautiously pushed open the door.

Inside the room was just as pitch black as the corridor. The group huddled together, advancing cautiously with the faint light of the candle.

Directly opposite the room's entrance was another altar.

They had already seen such an interior structure once yesterday in one of the NPC villagers' homes, so they all lowered their heads cautiously as they entered.

Only Xu Yangshu stood there, clueless. Qin Fei suddenly slapped the back of his head, almost causing him to fall face-first onto the ground.

Xu Yangshu: "?"

"Don't look," Qin Fei warned in a low voice.

Xu Yangshu didn't dare to ask why anymore; he nodded repeatedly, wishing he could close his eyes entirely.

In the end, he had taken that slap for nothing.

On the altar, there was no shrine or painting displayed; only a few traces of incense ashes were left on the empty table.

On either side of the altar, a few wooden boxes were stacked, each locked with a padlock, concealing their contents.

Next to them stood two bookshelves, just as barren.

Xiao Xiao whispered, "Something's off about this place."

The layout of the entire room was too symmetrical, even the clutter was arranged in pairs, creating an oppressive and artificial atmosphere that made one feel uneasy.

Qin Fei took a few more steps inward, and the candlelight finally illuminated one of the walls.

It was ——

Qin Fei fixated on that direction, his pupils constricting slightly.

In the far left corner of the room, a low wooden plank emerged before their eyes, barely qualifying as a bed.

In truth, calling it a "bed" might be an exaggeration. It was essentially just a thin board resting on a few stacks of bricks, which barely served as makeshift legs.

Yet, there was indeed something human-shaped lying on top of it, wearing a hat with wide sleeves hanging down the edge of the bed.

The dim lighting made it impossible for the players to discern its appearance clearly.

Qin Fei swiftly turned his head to the opposite side of the room, where Ling Na, at the back of the group and closest to the right, had already whispered in a hoarse, tense voice, "There's one there too."

Qin Fei narrowed his eyes, wondering what exactly they were dealing with.

Was it a corpse?

Or... a ghost?

Qin Fei held his breath and continued forward.

In the gradually brightening light, a figure dressed in a long robe lay motionless on the wooden bed, its form eerily still.

Its face was withered and wrinkled, resembling an empty fruit pit gnawed clean of its flesh. Under the dim yellow glow, that grotesque visage seemed to be coated with a thin layer of grease, making it unpleasant to behold.

"Looks like the one we saw at the village entrance a few days ago…" Lin Ye whispered almost inaudibly, as if afraid of waking some unseen presence.

He referred to the zombie that had scattered the players in panic at the entrance of Shadow Village.

Lin Ye's words plunged the room into an instant hush.

Yes.

Zombie.

This was Shadow Village, a settlement in western Hunan that relied on reanimating corpses for a living.

Wasn't it only natural for a place like this to have one or two zombies around?

The players' scalps tingled instantly.

Yet, they couldn't run away just yet.

The only clue that could potentially lead them to escape this instance was likely hidden right here. They had no other choice but to press forward.

Xu Yangshu was dragged along by Sun Shouyi like a lifeless dog, his legs weakly scraping against the floor.

Xiao Xiao was actually terrified, but considering his attire as a Taoist priest, he was the most suitable person in this situation to deal with "zombies." Thus, he took the candle from Qin Fei's hand, pinched his own philtrum, and forced himself to walk at the forefront.

Closer! Closer still!

Xiao Xiao's breaths became rapid, and his footsteps turned into tiny tiptoes.

Qin Fei: "…."

If it weren't for the consideration of his teammate's dignity, he would have kicked him aside.

"Speed up," Qin Fei prodded Xiao Xiao's back with his hand.

The young man smiled warmly, gently urging, "Don't dawdle."

Xiao Xiao's eyes began to well up with emotion. He felt like the proverbial duck being forced onto the shelf, reluctantly pushed into a situation beyond his control.

"Wait! Just a moment!" a hushed exclamation from Lin Ye echoed behind him.

"Wait, don't move any further," the young man whispered, his eyes trembling as they reflected the flickering candlelight. "I think I saw them move."

Xiao Xiao shuddered violently upon hearing this.

He steeled himself and said, "I don't think so."

However, Xiao Xiao soon closed his mouth.

This was because he had also seen the zombies move.

The subsequent scene sent everyone's adrenaline soaring.

Amidst the faint candlelight, blue-green spiritual flames suddenly ignited on both sides of the wooden bed. Then, the two zombies slowly straightened up, standing in an almost distorted, stiff manner!

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, they stretched out their hands, with long, purplish-blue tongues hanging down.

The eyes that were originally tightly shut opened wide, yet within the expanded eye sockets, there was no trace of color, only a pair of hollow whites, covered with a dense network of blood vessels resembling worms.

Xu Yangshu's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

My mind screamed to flee, but my body was rigid as if turned to stone, rendering me incapable of moving a single muscle.

It was rumored that zombies moved by tiptoeing and jumping...

Xu Yangshu's gaze couldn't help but drift downwards towards the ground.

Sure enough, the zombie's toes were taut, almost hovering above the bed as if it were performing a ballet.

Xu Yangshu nearly choked!

If he could, he really wished to simply close his eyes and faint. But Sun Shouyi still had his hand tightly around the back of his neck, causing immense pain. He couldn't even faint if he wanted to.

Compared to Xu Yangshu, the players reacted much quicker.

While Xu Yangshu stood there, dumbfounded, Sun Shouyi had already yanked him and thrown him into a corner. "Take cover!"

His head smashed hard against the wall, the intense pain finally snapping the NPC back to reality.

Xu Yangshu wasn't going to hide!

This room was so small, where could he even hide?

He crouched low and turned to run, reaching the door in just a few strides.

"Damn it!"

The wooden door had somehow closed again without his notice. Xu Yangshu cursed under his breath, firmly grasping the doorknob and pulling with all his might.

It wouldn't budge.

This time, there was absolutely no one who had locked it. Despite Xu Yangshu's desperate kicks with all his strength, the door remained steadfastly immobile.

Xu Yangshu then scrambled back to his previous corner, rolling and crawling.

Sun Shouyi turned around, giving him a cold glance but deeming it pointless to say anything further.

Xu Yangshu should be grateful that he's an NPC holding crucial clues; otherwise, with his personality, he would have died a thousand deaths if he were a player.

In the cramped room, the players found themselves sandwiched between two zombies.

The moment Xiao Xiao spotted the zombies, he drew a yellow talisman from his pocket, bit his fingertip, and swiftly sketched a pattern on it using his own blood.

Talismans aren't just effective when randomly thrown by anyone; their power depends significantly on the user's technique and the energy they possess.

Ideally, these talismans work best when used by Xiao Xiao himself.

However, with danger closing in from both sides, Xiao Xiao was stretched thin.

"Take them!"

The Taoist stuffed a few talismans into Qin Fei and Lin Ye's hands before dashing towards the zombie on the left. "Stick them on the zombie's forehead!"

Seeing this, Sun Shouyi hurried to lend a hand.

The once spacious room suddenly felt congested as the two zombies lunged forward with their long, sharp claws!

With no space to dodge, everyone inside the room could only grit their teeth and scatter in all directions.

"How can they run so fast?!" Lin Ye grumbled in distress. He held a talisman in his hand but couldn't even get close to the zombie; its movements were too agile, making him no match for it.

Compared to him, Qin Fei seemed to have more energy to spare. In just a few dozen seconds, he successfully stuck two yellow talismans on the zombie's face.

However...

"Why are these things not working at all?!" Qin Fei leaped onto the bed frame, avoiding an attack coming straight at him. He also pulled Xu Yangshu back from the brink of being torn apart by the zombie.

Xiao Xiao was locked in a stalemate with the zombie on his left and replied with a bitter smile, "The best weapons against zombies are glutinous rice and peach wood."

Unfortunately, they had neither of those items.

Upon hearing this, Qin Fei's heart stirred slightly.

He seemed to have thought of something.

Rip—

Clawed hands, reeking of blood, tore through Xiao Xiao's clothing. All of them were unarmed, so Sun Shouyi grabbed a bench from beside the altar and hurled it at the zombie, striking its forehead.

Though this didn't deal any significant damage to the zombie, it slowed its movements down. Xiao Xiao seized this hard-won opportunity and cast his final talisman.

"Supreme Star of the Highest Heaven, respond without pause; banish evil spirits and protect life!"

This was not a skill learned in the game but an exorcism technique he had mastered in the real world.

Though not exactly specialized in dealing with zombies, they did share some similarities with malevolent spirits. The zombie on the left moved at a snail's pace, as if its limbs were entangled by an invisible force, each movement slowed down tenfold.

The situation remained dire for Qin Fei.

The talismans in Qin Fei and Lin Ye's hands couldn't exert their full power, significantly weakening the already inadequate sealing effect. The zombie on the right remained frenzied, reaching out to grab Qin Fei's neck!

Qin Fei spun around to dodge, feeling his side wound threatening to reopen. Clenching his teeth, he stole a glance at the ghost infant perched on his shoulder amidst the chaos. "Can't you lend a hand?!"

It had been sitting on his shoulder for so long, surely it owed him something in return.

The ghost infant ignored Qin Fei, adjusting its position to comfortably watch the spectacle unfold.

Qin Fei couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

This little creature's favorability towards him was almost at 50%, yet it was still so relentless.

The room door remained securely locked.

The players were momentarily powerless against the zombies and could only remain in a deadlock with them. The efficacy of Xiao Xiao's yellow talisman seemed to be dwindling with each passing moment.

The zombie on the right was still agile, while the one on the left, after being trapped for a while, was showing signs of breaking free from its seal.

Lin Ye was almost on the verge of tears: "We're doomed!"

What on earth was happening in this dungeon?

He recalled Cheng Song's enigmatic gaze as they left the mortuary.

Could it be that they shouldn't have come here at all?

"If only this door could open," Xiao Xiao gritted his teeth. "The Xu family are corpse herders; there might really be glutinous rice and peach wood in their house."

Qin Fei abruptly halted his actions.

Xiao Xiao's words had thoroughly awakened him. In a flash of insight, he suddenly understood the meaning behind the phrase on the door.

"The most dangerous place is the safest place."

Pushing Lin Ye towards the pile of clutter in the center of the room, Qin Fei said, "Search there! Whatever can deal with the zombies is hidden there."

Though the room was dimly lit, the arrangement of objects was clear at a glance. There was only one place that could hide something.

Lin Ye was startled.

Everything had happened too quickly and unexpectedly. He was somewhat dazed, but his deep trust in Qin Fei prevented any hesitation.

Seeing this, Sun Shouyi and Ling Na hurried over to assist Lin Ye.

Behind the screen, the audience was buzzing with discussion.

"These players are quite different from the previous ones. They're so harmonious."

"Exactly, they all obey that person so blindly. Even at such a perilous moment, they still follow his every word without seeking any explanation."

A spirit entity stroked its chin thoughtfully, "I have a feeling that they might actually create an outcome different from the past…"

"I share the same sentiment."

"Really? Then I'll stay and observe a bit more. I almost left just now."

"Yes, yes, let's watch some more. It's quite intriguing!"

...

True to their word, the live stream didn't disappoint the audience.

"I found it!"

With a cry of surprise from Lin Ye, he indeed uncovered a small cloth pouch from the bottommost wooden box. The pouch was filled with aged glutinous rice.

Xiao Xiao's assumption proved correct. Craftsmen like the Xu family, who practiced raising the dead, would always keep items to deal with zombies for the safety of their descendants, even if they had moved their entire household.

Beside the small pouch of glutinous rice lay a scattering of miscellaneous items, including yellow talismans and cinnabar, but due to the passage of time, they had all deteriorated and were no longer usable.

With the glutinous rice, dealing with the zombies became more manageable. Xiao Xiao took the bag, mumbling some incomprehensible incantations as he drew a circle with the rice in front of the zombie on his left.

The zombie on the left completely ceased its activities, its rolled-up eyes closing shut.

Xiao Xiao switched sides and repeated the process with the zombie on the right.

But something went awry at this stage.

There was too little glutinous rice in the bag; after surrounding the zombie on the left, there was barely enough left for the other.

The zombie on the right, which hadn't been effectively restrained by the yellow talisman, found itself hemmed in by only half a circle of rice. It leaped about, consistently charging towards the gap.

Struggling to hold it back with a hand gesture, Xiao Xiao barely managed to control it. However, the zombie on the right seemed to have a much stronger will than the one on the left, refusing to submit as it collided back and forth, trying to break free.

It was on the verge of breaking out of the encirclement.

"Any more yellow talismans?" Xiao Xiao asked, growing anxious. "Another one should do the trick!"

He was reaching his limits.

Yet, Lin Ye could only shake his head. "I've used them all up!"

The incomplete circle of defense was on the verge of being breached by the zombie on the right.

With all its might, the zombie surged forward in a desperate attempt!

The situation was dire, hanging by a thread!

In the midst of this urgent crisis, Qin Fei's peripheral vision caught sight of the ghost infant perched on his shoulder once more.

The ghost infant continued to watch the spectacle with its carefree gaze, nodding its large head up and down.

The talisman that had once been stuck to its head had lost its effectiveness after Qin Fei removed it once. The ghost infant had retrieved it from the burial ground and playfully stuck it back on, crumpling it in the process, and now the back was smeared with its saliva.

As Qin Fei gazed at the fluttering talisman, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of interest—Xiao Xiao had mentioned that it was a charm for sealing ghosts.

Although it was ineffective against the ghost infant, what if the target of the seal were the zombie on the right instead?

Something is better than nothing, right?

The ghost infant, sensing Qin Fei's thoughts, lifted the charm and waved its tiny arms.

With a snap, it stuck the charm onto the back of Qin Fei's hand.

Other players couldn't see the ghost infant. From their perspective, Qin Fei seemed to be reaching out into thin air, and suddenly, a charm appeared on the back of his hand.

Where did this charm come from?

They assumed Qin Fei had pulled out a hidden item. Only Xiao Xiao, staring at the pattern on the paper, recognized its significance with a glimmer in his eye: "Nice, this could work!"

Lin Ye was both surprised and delighted: "Quick, put it on its head!"

Before it breaks free!

But Qin Fei, surprisingly, felt a moment of awkwardness.

The charm that the ghost infant had stuck to the back of his hand wouldn't come off!

Was this little fellow actually helping or causing more trouble?

Qin Fei's eye twitched slightly.

However, such a predicament couldn't stop Qin Fei.

It was just that he couldn't peel it off.

There were still many ways to deal with zombies.

The young man remained calm, elegantly raising his hand to deliver a hard slap to the zombie on his right!

With a loud "smack," the entire face of the zombie on the right was sent flying!

The moment his palm made contact with the zombie's cheek, its frenzied movements suddenly ceased. It seemed to have suffered a fatal blow, its eyes bulging as it slowed down its actions in a daze.

Players: ????

Xu Yangshu's mouth gaped open like an 'O.'

Unexpectedly, an absurd thought popped into his mind: Who would have thought that hitting a zombie's face would produce such a crisp sound...

"Smack!"

A slap.

"Smack!"

Another slap.

The zombie on the right had its face bouncing back and forth under Qin Fei's palm like a piece of malleable cotton, subjected to his every whim.

The tall and slender young man didn't have a fierce expression. Instead, there was a hint of sympathy in his bright amber eyes for the unfortunate zombie before him, as if he were silently sighing: See, I told you to behave, but you wouldn't listen. Now you know better, don't you?

The yellow talisman sealing the ghost infant was stuck to the back of Qin Fei's hand, causing his skin to burn with heat.

So this talisman sealing the ghost infant was that powerful?

Indeed.

He recalled that fateful night in the mass graveyard when the Ghost Infant appeared.

It could create illusions and even shake half a mountain with its power.

Qin Fei turned his head to glance at the small creature still nibbling on his foot, finding it hard to associate it with terms like "Great Ghost" or "Fierce Ghost."

Not far from Qin Fei, the zombie on his right had been thoroughly stunned by the slap.

The yellow talisman in the hands of the person opposite it was emitting energy like invisible ropes binding it tightly. Although the zombie seemed to be standing straight, it couldn't move an inch in reality.

- Otherwise, it would have fled long ago! Who would stand there and take a beating?

The companion behind him was rendered speechless.

In the meantime, the live stream viewers were buzzing with excitement over this unexpected turn of events.

"Whoa! Why is the weak streamer slapping a zombie so fiercely?"

"What's going on, what's going on? I didn't even catch it clearly. Where on earth did this streamer get such an amazing talisman?"

"You can tell you've just come from another stream. Quickly switch perspectives! Those two aren't interesting at all; you should watch this one instead!"

"Exactly, check out this streamer... Damn! The streamer just slapped him again!"

"Help, the way the streamer hits is so sadistic!"

"Stop hitting him! Hit me! I have a big face, hit me instead!!"

What a dramatic scene – even if all these streamers were to meet their downfall, watching this live broadcast would still be worth it!

After a few slaps, the number of viewers in Qin Fei's channel soared once more, and the familiar chiming sounds rang in his ears.

Qin Fei's expression remained unchanged.

He seemed to have figured out what kind of visuals his audience enjoyed...

The zombie on the right had quite sturdy bones. Though restrained by the ghost infant's talisman, it was clearly still rebellious. Strangely, Qin Fei could sense an eye-rolling vibe from its eyeless sockets.

Qin Fei raised an eyebrow. So unruly?

Qin Fei rubbed his wrist and, gathering his strength, abruptly raised his hand!

"You better stop staring or I'll pluck your eyes out." The young man smiled warmly yet said something incredibly rude.

Anyway, this creature was an unapproachable NPC; there was no harm in revealing his true nature to it.

This blow carried a different force than before. The zombie on the right took the hit forcefully, causing its head to detach from its neck, flying through the air in an arc before crashing to the ground, rolling over several times.

Everyone: "...."

Audience: "...."

The Right Zombie: "...."

The severed head of the Right Zombie blinked blankly and dryly on the ground.

Qin Fei: "Cough, cough."

He had missed his target.

The young man lifted his gaze innocently, pointing at Xu Yangshu's feet. "It rolled to your side. Can you help me pick it up?"

Xu Yangshu: "....&...%%%"

Do I look like someone who dares to touch this thing??

In the end, it was Xiao Xiao who retrieved the zombie's head on the right.

As he extended his hand to pass it over, Qin Fei and the zombie on the right both reached out at the same time.

Xiao Xiao froze. He felt that his facial muscles were now stiffer than the zombie's.

What the hell... whom should he give it to?

The Taoist priest was momentarily dazed.

In the end, Qin Fei, as a teammate, seized the opportunity, grasping the zombie's head in his hand. He felt an unceasing flow of power from the talisman paper up close.

The zombie on the right was almost in tears, staring with lifeless eyes, yearning desperately for its own body.

Qin Fei didn't make things difficult for it, instead lifting his hand to press its head back onto its neck.

The zombie hat on the right zombie's head had been slapped off by Qin Fei earlier. Now, Qin Fei's hand was pressing down on its crown, fingers straight and exerting a gentle force, as if warning the zombie on the right:

Disobey, and I'll remove your head once more.

In its over a hundred years of existence, the right zombie had never suffered such humiliation!

But its century-old, unstimulated brain was struggling to function, urging the zombie not to provoke this man before it.

A wise zombie adapts to the situation.

After a moment of deadlock, the right zombie ultimately chose to yield.

For some inexplicable reason, it reached out and plucked the head Qin Fei had just placed back onto its neck once more, then offered it to Qin Fei like a bouquet.

Qin Fei: ?

This zombie must have some kind of issue.

Qin Fei had no intention of taking its head; he didn't even show the slightest inclination to reach for it.

The zombie on the right, seeing that Qin Fei seemed uninterested in its head, assumed it was because it wasn't wearing its hat, making it appear less appealing.

It stood up and, under the tense gazes of the other players, shuffled to the corner, picked up its hat that had rolled away, brushed off the dust on it, and then carefully placed the Qing dynasty official's hat back on its head.

Then, it once again offered its neatly adorned head to Qin Fei.

Qin Fei: ...Very touching, but still, I kindly decline.

Qin Fei simply crossed his arms behind his back.

The zombie on the right felt deeply wronged as it hugged its head and retreated back into the corner.

Qin Fei's forehead twitched slightly. "I don't need your head."

Upon hearing this, the head in the right zombie's embrace rolled its white-eyed gaze upward in confusion.

He believed that the finest thing about him was his brain.

Look! There's even a hat on top of it, adorned with a red tassel—how elegant!

If he didn't value his brain, then he truly had nothing else worthy to offer.

Xiao Xiao: "Pfft."

This monster was too amusing! What was with that look of having one's intentions insulted?

Qin Fei cleared his throat, his previous ferocious expression vanishing. His gaze toward the zombie on his right was gentler than any kindergarten teacher's: "I don't need your head. You can keep it."

"However, could you do me a favor?"

The zombie on the right nodded blankly, then remembered that its head wasn't attached to its neck and began to clumsily cradle it with both hands.

Players: "...."

Well now, an external nod—this was a first in their lives.

Qin Fei suppressed the quiver at the corner of his lips. "There's a book in this room. Do you have any idea where it is?"

The zombie on the right remained unresponsive.

Xiao Xiao stepped forward to add to the explanation, gesturing wildly as he spoke. "A book, do you know what that is? It's a square thing, flat and rectangular..."

Upon Xiao Xiao's vivid description, the zombie on the right finally showed some reaction.

With its head held in its hands, the zombie shakily stood up. Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the room, it slowly walked over to the bed it had just been lying on.

It was a simple black wooden plank bed, covered haphazardly with straw and linen. The zombie replaced its head back onto its neck, and the wide hem of its robe swished, sweeping away all the clutter on the bed.

Only then did the players realize that this so-called "wooden plank bed" was actually just a door slab propped up on a few bricks, without even a door frame.

Xu Yangshu, hiding behind the group, couldn't help but frown at the zombie's foolish actions.

What on earth is it doing? Does it think it can open this door? This is just a detached door slab, without any frame. What's there to open?

However, reality soon proved Xu Yangshu wrong.

In the blink of an eye, his laughter vanished entirely.

With the zombie's arm pushing and pulling on the right side, the door actually creaked open.

There was no hinge, no frame - this door, propped up by four bricks, slowly swung inward, revealing a dark, unknown expanse behind it.

That was...

Qin Fei's eyes suddenly narrowed.

The half of the pitch-black wooden door that had been facing him was, on the other side, a deep crimson red.

...

A collective "What the f*ck?" echoed through the live broadcast hall.

"Didn't that high-level Spirit just say they definitely wouldn't find anything in the Xu family's ancestral home?"

"Hmm, why does it seem to me like they're about to succeed?"

"Has anyone else here seen Instance 0039 before? It feels like I know how the story progresses..."

"I, I, I have watched it three times," a spirit hurriedly replied. "But this plot is new to me too."

Most of the streamers who had previously visited Xu's residence were usually deterred by the ghosts on the first floor. Even if someone mustered up the courage to reach the second floor, they couldn't enter this room.

From the moment the door opened, the live stream on the screen displayed entirely new content that no player had ever explored before.

In general, for high-exploration instances like 0039, it was challenging to uncover fresh gameplay elements.

After all, every inch of land that a novice streamer set foot on had long been tread upon by others.

Yet Qin Fei was somehow able to continually showcase new dungeon settings to his audience. To the spirits in the live-streaming hall, it was like unearthing gold from a towering mountain of trash.

The same thought echoed in every viewer's mind.

Has this dungeon been updated?

It must have, right?

After all, it had been three years since its last appearance. It would only be reasonable for the content of the instance dungeon to have undergone modifications.

"A System, did Dungeon 0039 really get updated or not? I'm not well-educated, so don't lie to me!" A spirit body expressed its distrust of life as it asked again.

However, no matter how many times the spirits inquired, they received the same response from the System.

"Dungeon 0039 was not updated during its downtime. It is currently still at its initial version, 1.00. The adjustments made for this relaunch are based on the System's comprehensive assessment of new players' abilities over the past 30 days."