Chapter 68: Werewolf Community 05

Chapter 68: Werewolf Community 05

Lin Ye fixated on the head bobbing in the oil pot, his pupils constricting abruptly.

San Tu and Ghost Fire exchanged a solemn glance, their expressions heavy.

The players who had arrived later stood there with ashen faces.

Moments later, the owner of Chenchen's Breakfast Shop shot them an annoyed look. "Are you buying or not?"

If not, stop blocking the way.

Only then did the players realize what was happening, hurriedly flipping open their attribute panels.

Sure enough, a new line had appeared beneath their faction information.

"Red Faction: White Faction = 0:1"

The White Faction had earned a point.

But the one who obtained the score...

The players in the boiling oil had died in such gruesome ways that most people didn't want to spare a second glance.

Next to the breakfast stall, two players were trembling as they slumped to the ground. They were young girls, seemingly around Cui Ran's age, one with long, straight black hair, and the other with a short, ear-length bob.

Both of their eyes were reddened, and when some players tried to approach them to ask questions, they leaned against the wall, unable to stand up for quite some time.

The other players stood silently around them.

The visual impact of the deep-fried human head was too intense. Those who arrived later were still struggling to calm their emotions; just the sight of the aftermath was enough to make their stomachs churn.

Not to mention the two unfortunate souls who probably witnessed the entire scene.

After several minutes, a hint of color returned to the ashen faces of the two players.

The one with short hair finally managed to stammer, "That person just... identified the shop owner as the ghost."

Indeed!

"And then?"

The question came from the refined middle-aged man who had conversed with Qin Fei earlier. Noticing the two girls still appeared shaken, he introduced himself proactively:

"I'm Xue Qijī. If you don't want to explore the instance alone later, you can join our group."

He then pointed behind him, where two men and a woman were standing not far away, craning their necks to look at them.

The short-haired girl rubbed her face vigorously and spoke in a hoarse voice, "And then... I'm not sure anymore..."

Her expression was somewhat dazed.

"At first, we intended to follow that NPC into the fried liver shop, but the proprietress stopped us outside."

Uncertain of what was crucial, she began recounting the events from the beginning.

"After that, I suggested exploring elsewhere, but Ren Ping disagreed. He said that several NPCs on this street seemed odd to him, and there must be something wrong with other places besides the fried liver shop."

Ren Ping was the male player who had died.

The three of them formed a temporary team, coincidentally meeting at an intersection after leaving the activity center. None of them wanted to act alone, so they decided to stick together.

They then followed Qin Fei all the way to the commercial street.

"The queue in front of this shop was the longest when we reached the end of the street, so we joined in on the excitement."

Fear gradually crept into the tone of the short-haired girl.

"Ren Ping started acting strangely from that moment."

Initially, they were only standing by the breakfast stall watching the dough being fried, but something caught Ren Ping's attention. His face flushed red, and he muttered to himself.

"He's a ghost! He's a ghost!" He kept whispering these words as if possessed.

Both girls were startled, but they couldn't spot anything unusual about the breakfast stall.

When they asked Ren Ping, he wouldn't say a word.

"He's a ghost! He's a ghost!" He relentlessly repeated the phrase.

Then, he suddenly raised his hand.

"He's a ghost!!!" Ren Ping pointed straight at the boss's nose with an outstretched arm.

The short-haired girl sensed something amiss and tried to pull him away, but it was already too late.

The boss lifted his head and gave Ren Ping a glance.

In the next second, his head detached from his body mid-air.

The round human head tumbled onto the counter like a ball, then bounced off the wooden boards and landed in the oil pot with a sizzling sound.

A pungent smell of burning flesh filled the air, causing the female players to scream in horror and scramble backward.

"Where's his body?" Xue Jingyi's brows knitted together in concern.

"It was... dragged inside the shop by the madam..." a long-haired female player whispered, her voice trembling.

Despite the horrifying event, the queue of residents showed no reaction whatsoever, not even sparing them a glance.

In that moment, the proprietress's frail figure erupted with astonishing strength.

With the efficiency of one handling a lifeless hog, she dragged Ren Ping's corpse into the shop and then fetched a basin of water to wash away the bloodstains on the floor.

Only then did the surrounding players realize that the pale pink sludge beneath their feet was actually Ren Ping's blood.

Instantly, a few people cursed under their breath and jumped aside.

"Are you absolutely certain that Ren Ping's head suddenly rolled off right after he identified the boss as a ghost?" Xue Ming asked in disbelief, seeking confirmation.

The two female players exchanged glances and nodded together.

The short-haired one said, "Yes, there was no sign at all."

The long-haired one added, "I'm absolutely sure that the boss was standing behind the pancake stall, at least half a meter away from Ren Ping. The boss didn't come closer, nor was there any weapon in hand."

Xue Qijie narrowed his eyes.

He observed the breakfast stall from a distance, then lowered his head to ponder for a moment. He summoned one of the three players following him and whispered something into their ear.

After that, the male player went to queue up at the breakfast stall.

Before long, he returned with a pancake in hand.

"Brother Qi, there is indeed a rule at the breakfast stall," the male player said with an odd expression.

"As you instructed, I examined the area from the door frame to the wall inside while queuing. There wasn't anything posted anywhere."

"But there was a loudspeaker on the wooden chair by the entrance, broadcasting every minute: 'No cutting the line! No cutting the line!'"

No cutting the line!

The short-haired female player's face turned ashen.

How had they missed this detail?

"It has to be this! It's because of this!" She became excited.

"Surely, it's because we bypassed the queue at the entrance and walked straight to the oil vat, which violated the rule. That's why we were mistakenly judged as trying to cut the line!"

Ren Ping was erased due to violating the rules!

Xue Qimai, however, found something amiss.

"If he was killed for cutting in line, then why are the two of you unharmed?"

The rules treated players equally without bias.

Besides, Ren Ping didn't die the moment he bypassed the residents queuing for breakfast.

If one were to nitpick, the last thing he did before his death was likely—

"He died because he pointed out the boss!"

The long-haired girl and the player who had fetched breakfast for Xue Qimai spoke in unison.

Xue Qimai agreed, "Yes, personally, I believe that identifying the ghost was the cause of his death."

Cutting in line wasn't an ironclad rule that guaranteed death; the consequence might merely be a loss of sanity.

Perhaps Ren Ping had a naturally low mental resistance.

Or maybe, at that time, his obsession with finding the ghost had led him into a blind alley, causing his emotions to be amplified by the mental pollution resulting from breaking the rules.

In any case, Ren Ping was the most severely affected.

Under the influence of the contamination, his reason was overwhelmed by impulse.

He must have seen something that convinced him the Boss was the ghost, which is why he pointed him out without hesitation.

Xue Qimai took the pancake from the male player and rummaged through the plastic bag. A strange gurgle emerged from his throat.

The next second, he held back his disgust and pinched out half a finger from between the egg and lettuce.

"Ugh..."

One of the players dry-heaved.

It was hard to say which was more visually disturbing: a deep-fried human head or a pancake wrapped around a finger.

Xue Qijing tossed the tissue back into the bag and took a deep breath.

Ren Ping hadn't been wrong; there was indeed something amiss with this breakfast stall.

He must have seen human remains hidden among the ingredients, which led him to firmly believe that the owner was a ghost. As a result, he was contaminated and lost his sanity.

"In short, everyone must remain vigilant when moving around the neighborhood. Even if you encounter suspicious NPCs, don't act too hastily."

Xue Qijing exhaled deeply.

The owner was undoubtedly a ghost, as Ren Ping had correctly pointed out. Bai Fang's faction points had confirmed this.

Yet Ren Ping still met his demise.

Why was that?

The R-rated contest was in full swing, and within just over an hour of the live broadcast, someone had already met their demise.

The manner of death was so gruesome, so strikingly captivating.

In the various tiered live-streaming halls, it was bustling with excitement. There were cheers, boos, complaints about dull perspectives, and all sorts of comments.

Despite the myriad perspectives available for viewers to watch the live broadcast, the vast majority of the traffic gravitated towards the top few channels.

Qin Fei's, the butterfly's, and Xue Qijing's.

"And this streamer's chosen identity is incredible! He's so well-received among the NPCs!"

A spectral entity exclaimed, watching Qin Fei chatting casually with the female owner of the tripe and liver stall.

But another viewer countered, "I don't think it has much to do with his identity. You haven't seen his previous streams; he's always had this style."

"Indeed, look at the other two players who drew resident identities. They're too scared to even leave their houses," someone else chimed in.

"How can there be such a huge disparity among D-rated Streamers?"

"Hmm, that Xue Qijing really did take those two E-rated female players with him! I just don't understand why, as a B-rated player, he's so fond of guiding newcomers."

Just now, in front of the breakfast stall, he analyzed the information without caring about the circle of players around him, whether they were allies or not, and openly shared it.

He seemed pretty smart when analyzing the instance, but why was his behavior so perplexing?

The spirit entity, who had just been mocked for not understanding Qin Fei's streaming tactics, suddenly laughed at the remark.

"You just don't get it, Xue Qijing's streaming style has always been like this!"

It said with a sarcastic tone.

On the screen ahead, the players in front of the breakfast stall had already dispersed, and Lin Ye's trio returned to the fried tripe shop.

Having gained a lot of information from their visit, all three wore contemplative expressions.

"What exactly is going on outside?" Qin Fei cast a curious glance at the trio who had come back inside.

There had been a minor fluctuation in the number of people in his live stream. Apparently, a small group of viewers had switched perspectives to go watch the excitement elsewhere.

It seemed that what had happened was rather thrilling.

Still reeling from the shock, Lin Ye held his mouth, on the verge of vomiting. "A player from Team White identified a ghost, but for some reason, he died right after."

His expression was grim as he added, "He was deep-fried."

Deep-fried???

Qin Fei finally understood why his viewers had left to seek entertainment elsewhere.

What a tragic fate for a player.

But to the audience on the other side of the camera, might it have been like watching a food live stream?

This thought crossed Qin Fei's mind involuntarily.

The ghost seemed quite entertained and vividly described the scene to Qin Fei.

With that, he posed a question, "Can you guess why Ren Ping died?"

Ghost Fire seemed to be enjoying himself, adopting an air of "let me test your intelligence."

"Are there any rules at the breakfast stall?"

Qin Fei's line of thinking aligned unexpectedly with Xue Jiqing's.

Ghost Fire found this rather intriguing.

Despite being unrelated, both of them had asked the same question upon learning of Ren Ping's demise.

"Heads up," he nodded, "The breakfast stall has a rule against cutting in line."

He chuckled mysteriously.

Xiao Qin would probably be misled too, believing that Ren Ping's death was due to his impulsive queue-jumping.

Ghost Fire rubbed his hands together, ready to share Xue Jiqing's speculation with Qin Fei. However, the young man in school uniform standing before him beat him to it and spoke first.

"Jumping the queue couldn't have been the cause of death," Qin Fei responded swiftly, almost without a second thought.

According to Phantom Flame, the three players had been operating as a team. If the deceased's cause of death was indeed queue-jumping, the other two wouldn't have escaped unscathed.

So his death wasn't due to queue-jumping.

At least not entirely.

Qin Fei blinked, his expression becoming more serious than before. "When you're doing faction missions in the community, don't randomly accuse NPCs of being ghosts."

"Even if you're certain that an NPC is a ghost, hold your tongue for the time being," he emphasized.

Whatever Sherlock Holmes could deduce, Qin Fei could too.

Phantom Flame's words were on the tip of his tongue but were pushed back, resulting in a quack-like sound. "Quack?"

Qin Fei gave him a look that was both a smile and not a smile.

Phantom Flame's attempt at being cool had failed, leaving him feeling a mix of discomfort and awkwardness.

Lin Ye, however, only felt fear creeping up on him belatedly.

During breakfast earlier, he and Phantom Flame had been impulsively on the verge of pointing fingers at the proprietress, fortunately held back by Brother Qin at the time.

Otherwise, they might have ended up like Ren Ping, their souls departing for the afterlife, turned into unidentifiable organ fragments in that congealed offal soup.

San Tu irritably scratched his head and smacked the back of Phantom Flame's skull. "Cut it out. You might as well use this time to ponder why Ren Ping actually died."

Didn't he identify the right one? !

If he did, then why did he still die?

And in such a terrible manner.

This damned broken scenario—surely it couldn't be that every player who identified a ghost was destined to die!

Lin Ye thought for a moment before turning to strike up a conversation with the proprietress behind the counter.

"Sister, do you know the two proprietors of the neighboring breakfast shop?"

Lin Ye had tagged along behind Qin Fei for two instances, learning a thing or two about his persuasive skills.

The proprietress lifted her eyelids and saw a young boy standing across from her who seemed even younger than the previous student. She initially didn't want to bother with him, but the boy's "big sister" greeting compelled her to respond.

"I don't really know them well," she said with a dismissive curl of her lips, clearly displeased with the breakfast stall owners.

"The couple are outsiders. After they opened their shop in our community, they bought a house and settled down. To be honest, their quality isn't that high, always competing with me for customers every day."

Once the complaints start, there's no stopping the flood of words.

Lin Ye struggled to suppress the twitch at the corner of his mouth. How was competing with you for business considered a lack of morals? The boss lady was truly domineering enough.

The proprietress seemed to realize her misstep. "I didn't mean it like that... Oh well, you'll understand when you inquire around. They're always quarreling with others in the neighborhood."

Lin Ye asked, "Where should I go to inquire?"

The proprietress waved her hand. "How would I know? Go ask the uncles and aunties sitting outside the community gate to cool off. They love gossiping about other people's affairs."

Lin Ye was about to ask more, but the proprietress had already lost her patience, urging them out, "You should be on your way. I'm closing up."

This shop only operated during breakfast hours.

"Let's talk as we walk," Qin Fei pushed aside the plastic curtain of the fried liver restaurant and stepped out into the sunlit street.

...

After leaving the restaurant, the trio walked through the neighborhood.

Along the way, they encountered several groups of players. Their gazes met with tense expressions, forcing friendly smiles while stealing glances at Qin Fei.

Qin Fei remained silent in their presence, adopting an aloof NPC-like demeanor.

It wasn't until they reached an empty alley that he spoke up:

"The specific cause of Ren Ping's death, I believe, can be approached from two directions."

Ren Ping had died after identifying the ghost, so the reasoning behind his demise naturally needed to stem from that point.

"The first possibility is that although he identified it correctly, it was actually an accident."

According to the ghost fire, Ren Ping might have suspected the owner was a ghost after spotting human remains among the ingredients for breakfast.

This line of reasoning had its flaws.

Does eating humans necessarily mean one is a ghost?

Not necessarily.

Besides, the owner didn't consume those breakfast dishes himself, and it's even possible that the person wasn't killed by the owner.

It could just be a psychopath who, after committing murder and dismembering the body, deliberately hid the body parts among the breakfast ingredients for some twisted amusement.

In reality, players had only one effective method to confirm that an NPC was a ghost:

They must first determine that the person was already dead.

Taking the breakfast stall as an example, if Ren Ping could confirm that the finger he saw in the jianbing was the owner's, but the owner had all ten fingers intact, then...

Only then could he confidently say, "The boss is a ghost."

"Ren Ping identified correctly, so the White team gained a point. However, it was a lucky guess, so the system punished him."

Lin Ye understood Qin Fei's interpretation.

Qin Fei nodded in agreement.

The system had informed players that they wouldn't be penalized for wrong accusations but would suffer unfavorable consequences.

Judging from the hidden implications in the message, 'unfavorable consequences' probably didn't mean instant death.

Therefore, the design of 'being killed even after a correct guess with a random accusation' might be to prevent players from exploiting bugs.

Otherwise, if a player were to do something absurd like naming 48 NPCs and accusing all of them as ghosts, the system would struggle to handle such situations.

San Tu seemed to ponder something. "What about the other possibility?"

Qin Fei replied, "The Red team's mission mentioned that identifying a ghost earns one point, while killing a ghost earns two points. Another possibility is that after Ren Ping accused the boss of being a ghost, he might have immediately started the process of 'killing the boss.'"

If "identifying the ghost" and "killing the ghost" were two closely interconnected steps, with the former being the key to initiate the second phase.

Then perhaps, immediately after Ren Ping declared, "The boss is a ghost," he might have entered another mission space.

Since he was the only one who made the identification, the other players present would naturally be oblivious to what had transpired.

In the instance world, there existed various anomalous dimensions and branch maps with differing time flows compared to the main instance. Thus, to those two female players, Ren Ping's death appeared instantaneous. In reality, he might have already engaged in a 300-round battle with the boss in another dimension.

It was clear that Ren Ping had failed.

Regardless of which possibility, they both conveyed the same message:

The instance was cautioning players not to act recklessly.

"The instance doesn't wish to see players mindlessly slaughtering each other during the competition," Qin Fei's usually gentle voice turned slightly cold.

"It wants us to explore the instance to the fullest, uncovering the secrets hidden behind the community and revealing them to the audience."

Beside Qin Fei, the other three fell silent.

They discovered that as their understanding of the instances deepened, the difficulty of this contest appeared to be steadily ascending.

"Right," Phantom Flame raised its hand hesitantly, "I have one more question. What should we do if we run out of money?"

Unlike Qin Fei, the others, like Phantom Flame, received Traveler identities.

Upon entering the instance, the system had broadcast a traveler's guideline, informing the players that they would be spending the next 15 days within the Werewolf Community. Accommodation was provided but not meals, and each player had a travel allowance of 50 yuan.

However, during their visit to the fried liver stall and breakfast stand earlier, Phantom Flame had noticed that the cost of living here wasn't cheap. Fifty yuan simply wouldn't be enough to sustain them for 15 days.

Qin Fei suggested, "Let's continue exploring the neighborhood. Perhaps you might find a job."

Since he could volunteer at the fried liver stall, other shops might also require temporary help.

Failing that, they could check if there were any families in the neighborhood looking for tutors or nannies.

Evidently, this was another method the system employed to push players deeper into the storyline.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, Qin Fei waved goodbye to Lin Ye and the other two.

Wang Ming should be heading home for lunch now.

"Right," Sanchu suddenly remembered something, addressing Qin Fei and Lin Ye, "There's someone in this instance dungeon that you'd better watch out for."

Intrigued, Lin Ye asked, "Who?"

It couldn't be Butterfly; if it was, they would have been cautious without Sanchu's reminder.

Sanchu's expression was a bit odd as she spoke. She opened her mouth, then closed it, hesitating as if holding back some fear.

Eventually, she pursed her lips and spoke with some reservation:

"It's that old man who caused a scene at the property management office that morning."