Chapter 92: Werewolf Community 29

Chapter 92: Werewolf Community 29

Qin Fei descended the stairs at a leisurely pace.

He and Butterfly had left Room 404 almost simultaneously; logically, they should have crossed paths in front of Building 12.

However, when Qin Fei reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw only the swift silhouette of the black-robed man dashing off into the distance. A few remaining puppets followed closely behind, their movements hurried and somewhat disheveled.

Qin Fei's eyebrows rose in surprise. What was going on?

In the next second, a familiar figure appeared, resolving Qin Fei's confusion.

It was a hunched figure pedaling a tricycle, with a head of silver-gray hair coiled up at the back, indicating advanced age. The tricycle itself was dilapidated, piled high with plastic bottles and cardboard boxes.

None other than the long-missing Aunt Yu!

Aunt Yu propelled her tricycle forward with all her might, bellowing in a voice that defied her diminutive appearance, filled with an unexpectedly powerful rage:

"Butterfly Thief, there's nowhere for you to run this time!"

Qin Fei: "..."

Looking at the butterfly's retreating figure, he could almost see a string of question marks hovering above its head.

The butterfly would probably scratch its head in confusion, wondering how it got entangled in such an unfortunate incident that had nothing to do with it.

Feeling a bit guilty, the prince quietly retreated, hiding in the shadows behind the wall.

Only after everyone had vanished from sight did he leisurely emerge.

The commotion caused by Yu Ah Po chasing after the butterfly had attracted all the monsters lurking near the central square, which turned out to be advantageous for Qin Fei.

Instead of being a beacon for the monsters, Qin Fei strolled almost brazenly towards the southeast corner of the community.

...

At the southeast corner, there was a garbage station that even Tao Zheng had never ventured to. As the time was running out, Lin Ye and his group hurried over, only to bump into Qin Fei, who had just arrived and was attempting to locate their objective.

"Brother Fei!" Lin Ye's eyes lit up.

He had even changed his usual way of addressing Qin Fei to maintain the facade of Princess Feifei in front of Mi Yang.

Upon recognizing the person, Qin Fei turned and approached them.

Next, they saw Ghost Fire spread his arms wide, shielding the other four behind him like an eagle protecting its chicks. His round eyes were filled with caution as he looked at Qin Fei. "Hold on, hold on, who knows if this one is real or fake?"

Qin Fei: "?"

Qin Fei blinked in confusion.

San To could no longer endure it and delivered a thunderous blow to Ghost Fire's head. "Undead, undead, only the dead turn into undead."

With Xiao Qin's hyper-vigilant nature, he would probably remain unscathed even if everyone else here perished.

Ghost Fire retreated, clutching his head pitifully.

Through their explanations, Qin Fei finally understood what had transpired.

"For us, this isn't necessarily a bad thing," Qin Fei mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

The night was long, and players wouldn't abandon all safe zones simply because of the appearance of a spy undead.

They would merely become more vigilant toward one another.

The likelihood of strangers banding together for safety was virtually nil; players would no longer trust anyone who had left their sight.

Many disputes would arise tonight as they fought for control over the safe zones.

As a result, fewer people would be paying attention to their movements across the community.

This allowed them more freedom to undertake hidden missions.

Granny Yu's pursuit of the butterfly seemed strategic, perhaps deliberately heading in the opposite direction from the dumpster. As yet, she was still nowhere to be seen.

The night deepened.

An eerie, cold scent permeated the air, and the unlit lawns lay hidden in the darkness, resembling life-devouring deadlands.

Players fixed their gazes on every corner. As nine o'clock passed, their vision flickered abruptly.

A small, low house materialized beside them.

"It's here!" Phantom Fire whispered excitedly.

Having learned from their previous experience, they no longer worried about how to open the door. One by one, they hunched over, pretending to be obsequious as they escorted Qin Fei forward.

As it turned out, Aunt Yu's lock wasn't of very good quality at all.

Qin Fei repeated his previous trick, using the copper wire he had found at the South Gate garbage station to twist and turn in the lock. After a moment, a satisfying "click" echoed as the lock snapped open.

The audience in the live streaming room was delighted to see their streamer's versatility and multitude of talents.

"Ahahaha, my wife is awesome!"

"Host's skill in unlocking is truly remarkable."

"Phantom Burglar: Fleeing in Panic from NPCs; Real Burglar: Stealing Homes with Ease!"

The "fake thief" that the viewers were referring to was none other than Butterfly.

As Qin Fei and his team successfully infiltrated the garbage station, Butterfly was desperately running for his life within the neighborhood.

In the live-stream hall, the spectral spectators stood before the light screens, commenting animatedly:

"One has to admit, Xiao Qin's move to expose Butterfly's identity was cunning. It eliminated their biggest hidden enemy in the dungeon."

"Indeed, impressive. When he suddenly mentioned Butterfly's name, I was completely taken aback."

"That's right, he blurted it out without any hesitation."

Eventually, they concluded about Qin Fei, "He's full of tricks, don't provoke him!"

On the screen, Butterfly was still frantically escaping.

Being targeted by Grandma Yu was like being plagued by an annoying yet non-lethal leech. Butterfly was jumping around, unable to accomplish anything.

This situation couldn't persist.

The butterfly felt an unprecedented restlessness and halted, attempting to communicate with Grandma Yu.

—This NPC kept calling him "Butterfly Thief," clearly indicating that it knew him and had some misunderstanding about him.

The butterfly's imagination ran wild; he even suspected that this might be part of a hidden quest, waiting for him to establish contact with the NPC to receive a new mission.

In the live stream, the butterfly, who had been in the lead, wore a conflicted expression. His dark, lacquered eyes flickered with contemplation and doubt.

Eventually, he came to a stop.

Upon seeing this, fear shone in the puppets' eyes.

Behind them was an old lady who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, shouting threats and ready to attack, while a monstrous queue, stretching like a train, was also stirring.

Would Lord Butterfly be insane enough to confront them head-on?

Would they still have a chance to survive then?

The puppets approached hesitantly, filled with unease, but the Butterfly didn't seem to mind. His current priority was to communicate with the old woman in front of him – a task that could only be handled by himself, given its importance.

A rare gentleness flickered in the Butterfly's cold and dark eyes as he stepped forward politely, "Granny, how do you know my name? Is there something you need help with?"

In the logic of an ordinary person, one would chase after another because the latter keeps fleeing.

Now that the Butterfly had willingly stopped, Granny Yu should have at least paused to listen to him, if only out of courtesy.

But she did not.

Aunt Yu charged at the butterfly like a whirlwind, brandishing a knife that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Upon closer inspection, one would notice a striking resemblance between this blade and the cleaver the owner of the mutton noodle shop on the commercial street kept in his kitchen for butchering.

This was a blade so sharp that it had likely claimed countless lives!

Butterfly's brows knitted together instantly.

He took a half-step back, but it was already too late.

Aunt Yu's cheeks flushed with anger, her eyes bulging, resembling a goldfish whose neck had been squeezed by someone.

She didn't want to hear any excuses from the person before her and swung her blade at him.

Butterfly was not so easily killed, but Aunt Yu's offensive power was formidable.

The shimmering blade brushed past the long hair that fell around Butterfly's ears; a silky strand drifted gently to the ground like satin.

Butterfly was never one with a good temper. Upon being offended, her rage soared, making communication impossible. This meant there could be no further mission progress. With no more reservations, Butterfly gestured, directing a puppet towards Aunt Yu's position.

On this R-rated instance dungeon run, Butterfly had registered all its puppet players, but only three, who weren't particularly powerful, were ultimately chosen by the dungeon. One of them even perished at Wang Mingming's residence.

Currently, Yu Apor was facing the most offensively potent among the three official puppets. This puppet was a C-level player on the verge of ascending to B-level. He wielded a talent weapon, a dagger.

Though the puppet player was utterly terrified inside, his limbs and mind refused to comply with his commands.

With each move of Butterfly's hand, the last vestige of fear in the puppet's heart vanished.

At this moment, his mind was filled with only one thought: to live and die for Lord Butterfly, to give everything for Lord Butterfly.

But his sacrifice didn't go as planned; Old Aunt Yu couldn't be bothered to spare him a glance.

The elderly lady slammed her blade horizontally, the flat of the sword hitting the puppet player's waist with great force.

With a muffled thud and a scream, the puppet was sent flying, crashing into the grass nearby.

Butterfly's pupils constricted.

He reached out and made a grabbing motion in mid-air. As if on a string, the puppet lying on the ground, coughing up blood, flew behind him. Butterfly didn't say a word, but his actions spoke volumes.

Run!

That old lady was simply too strong to defeat!

The spectators laughed mercilessly.

"Priceless! Hahahaha, the mighty lord got a taste of humility."

"What was the butterfly trying to do by stopping and talking? Was it planning to accept a quest from Grandma Yu?"

"Grandma Yu is indeed a hidden NPC, but she has nothing to do with you."

"Haha, what a pipe dream. Apart from that player in the neighboring live stream, I've never seen any other player successfully gain favor from an instance NPC."

While Lord Butterfly's dignity was being utterly shattered, the progress of the "player from the neighboring live stream" mentioned by the audience seemed much smoother.

With Butterfly potentially causing trouble being trapped in the neighborhood, Grandma Yu was now solely focused on hunting down the butterfly, likely sparing the garbage dump from any disturbances.

Under the cover of night, several players sneaked into the garbage dump like stealthy rats, wading through mountains of trash.

This garbage dump appeared even more dilapidated than the one at the South Gate, with a wide variety of waste piled up.

In addition to recyclables, there was a corner filled with dozens of trash cans brimming with all sorts of kitchen waste.

The summer heat had caused the discarded fruit peels, leftover food, and vegetables to ferment, attracting swarms of buzzing flies. As they scanned their surroundings, roaches scurried about everywhere, their movements impossible to miss.

Lin Ye rushed over for a look and was overwhelmed by the stench: "This... Ugh! The neighborhood, their waste sorting... Ugh, they're doing a great job! Ugh, ugh, ugh—"

Players empathized, spontaneously deciding to start their search from the farthest corner away from the pile of food waste.

However, this time, luck didn't seem to be on their side. For a full twenty minutes, they scoured every possible spot in the garbage station, yet found nothing.

Tao Zheng rubbed his aching waist and stood up with a gloomy expression. "Could it be..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood his implication.

Could it possibly be hidden within that heap of food scraps?

The mere thought of having to dig through something more nauseating than vomit made the players' faces turn ashen.

But they had no choice but to proceed.

Ghost Fire let out a heavy sigh. "Sigh! Life is truly tough."

Resignedly, he started walking towards the direction of the trash bins.

The garbage station was shrouded in darkness, with the dim and feeble light from the overhead bulb casting an eerie glow. Not a hint of moonlight could be seen through the windows.

Phantom Fire, holding his breath, stumbled towards the trash can, not noticing what was under his feet. Suddenly, he stepped on something squishy.

"Screech!"

The object let out a shrill cry.

In the next instant, Phantom Fire let out a scream ten times more piercing: "Oh sh**! What the hell is this thing?!"

To avoid trouble, he kept his voice low.

Yet, even at that volume, it was evident how terrified he was, as if he were about to ascend to heaven on the spot.

Phantom Fire quickly lifted his foot, and something shot out from beneath, fiercely stepping on the top of his foot before leaping away.

The soft, warm sensation made all the goosebumps on Phantom Fire's body vanish in unison.

Phantom Fire was afraid of mice.

More so than ghosts.

In the darkness, the rat's single kick sent the ghost flame's three souls reeling and losing seven of its spirits.

Dizzy and disoriented, he stumbled aside, his footsteps crunching as he apparently crushed several more cockroaches beneath his feet.

Ghost Flame: ...

!!!

Why were they all targeting him alone?!

Ghost Flame's heart almost stopped beating.

His legs gave out, and he fell heavily to the ground.

Seeing this, the other players rushed forward to help him up.

Unaware of what had happened to Ghost Flame, several caring gazes landed on him.

Ghost Flame was too embarrassed to admit that he had been frightened into paralysis by rats and cockroaches.

That's utterly humiliating!

Ghoul Fire hung his head, at a loss for words.

As his gaze met the ground, something suddenly caught his eye.

"What's this?"

He pointed to a spot not far away.

When he had stumbled earlier, he had knocked over several trash cans, each equipped with wheels at the bottom.

As a result, the row of trash cans had been pushed aside, revealing the ground that was previously concealed.

On the ground lay an apparent hole.

It was a hole chiseled directly into the clean concrete, its edges jagged and unpolished.

The size of the opening was neither too big nor too small; it seemed roughly comparable to the jar they had discovered previously.

Players' hearts palpitated with anticipation.

Impatient, the ghostly flame hurried over and reached into the cave to explore.

But Qin Fei stopped it.

The cave appeared rather peculiar; peering inside from the entrance revealed nothing but darkness.

What if danger lurked within, and they acted rashly?

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Fei plucked the lazy ghost infant off his back and, gripping the skin at the nape of its neck, stuffed it into the hole.

With the cave's inky blackness obscuring the view, it was best to have someone experienced, like the ghost infant, scout ahead.

The ghost infant, summoned by Qin Fei, didn't resist. It obediently wriggled into the cave, propelled by the force behind it.

Moments later, muffled thuds echoed from within, suggesting that the ghost infant had collided with something.

It then emerged from the cave, crawling back onto Qin Fei's body, and affectionately rubbed against his arm.

The ghost infant didn't appear. To the other players, Qin Fei had simply slapped away the ghost fire and then stared intently into the hole.

As he stared, sounds emerged from within.

Ghost Fire: "Damn!"

Impressive! What kind of telekinetic skill was this?

San Tui, on the other hand, recalled Qin Fei's "summoned monster" in the Holy Infant Orphanage dungeon, wearing a contemplative expression.

From the ghost infant's reaction and the overall atmosphere, it seemed there was no danger inside the hole.

Qin Fei reached his hand into the darkness.

The space inside the hole was larger than the entrance suggested, seemingly intentionally carved with layers resembling storage shelves.

Like the exterior, the interior was roughly hewn.

In the process of exploring, Qin Fei's palm accidentally brushed against a protruding sharp stone, causing him to involuntarily hiss in pain.

"What's wrong, treasure?" Mi Yang had been fixated on Qin Fei's face and, noticing the slight crease in his brow, blurted out anxiously.

Mid-sentence, he regretted his words and covered his mouth with his hand.

Qin Fei was entirely accustomed to Mi Yang's peculiar behavior and simply shook his head nonchalantly. "It's nothing."

His palm burned with a fiery sting, likely from a scrape, but Qin Fei seemed oblivious as he meticulously searched the cave inch by inch.

Before long, his fingers brushed against a smooth, icy-cold curved object.

A glint flashed in Qin Fei's eyes, and with a firm grip, he quickly retrieved the item from the crevice.

"Congratulations, player has successfully found the mission item: Altar (2/6)"

(PS. Destroy the altar!)

Found it!

After all their efforts, the players collectively sighed in relief.

Smashing the altar was easy, but they couldn't do it here; otherwise, new ghosts would be summoned, and they'd have to flee again.

"Shall we leave?" San Tu inquired.

The garbage collection point was only open for half an hour, and time was almost up; they should indeed depart.

Yet Qin Fei remained kneeling on the spot.

The young man gazed down at the object on the ground. In this lightless environment, his usually clear eyes appeared especially profound.

For some reason, Qin Fei sensed a familiar aura emanating from the altar.

...No, to be precise, there was an aura he was familiar with, concealed beneath another unfamiliar one.

He began to scrutinize the jar that he hadn't examined too closely before.

It was a dusty earthenware pot, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. When shaken gently, no sound could be heard within.

It was empty, a fact they had confirmed when they smashed one of the jars earlier.

But why did he sense from this jar –

the aura of a contamination source?

This was a polluted world of rules. It was quite normal to sense the aura of a contamination source on an item from a hidden quest.

However, there were several inexplicable oddities.

Firstly, the other players around him weren't showing any unusual reactions.

A contaminant that could be directly sensed by a player usually indicated a high level of pollution.

Players would typically experience a rapid decrease in their 'Sanity' when in close proximity to such objects. Yet, judging from the relaxed expressions of the others, they didn't seem to be in the same contaminated space at all.

Moreover, if this jar was indeed a contaminant, Qin Fei should have sensed it the moment he entered the junkyard.

But he hadn't.

In fact, even when Qin Fei closely examined the hole, he didn't sense the presence of the object inside.

Upon careful reflection, he noticed something unusual about the jar, it seemed to be...

It seemed to happen the instant his palm, cut by a sharp stone, pressed against the surface of the urn.

Qin Fei's brows knitted together. He lifted the altar, and the rounded belly of the terracotta jar was spotlessly clean, without a trace of dirt.

Where is his blood?

Qin Fei's eyelids twitched slightly.

A thin scab had formed over the wound on his palm, tingling with an itch that bordered on pain. Qin Fei gazed silently at his hand before reaching into his spatial compartment with his other hand to retrieve a marketplace dagger. Under the puzzled and bewildered gazes of those around him, he slashed it forcefully across his palm.

Instantly, blood gushed out in a torrent.

The amount of blood shed was far beyond what a mere scratch could produce. The moment the blood touched the air, Qin Fei felt an immense suction force emanating from the altar in front of him. His palm virtually had a mind of its own as it involuntarily covered the altar's surface.

Not a single drop of blood hit the ground.

The altar was spotless, and the ground was equally clean.

Lin Ye looked at Qin Fei in confusion as he performed a series of actions that were completely beyond his comprehension. He whispered, "…What about the blood?"

No one answered.

Qin Fei knelt before the altar with his slender neck slightly bowed, revealing the alluringly pale skin on the back of his neck.

He lowered his head, and his forehead was covered by loose strands of hair. His raven-like eyelashes concealed all emotions in his eyes.

Standing behind Qin Fei, Lin Ye had a fleeting moment where he thought he saw a fleeting black pattern on the back of Qin Fei's neck, like branches or vines.

Startled, Lin Ye glanced again, but found nothing there.

...

The instant Qin Fei's palm touched the altar, he felt as if he had been pulled into another dimension.

Endless darkness surged like a tidal wave, and he felt like a solitary boat drifting in the ocean, lifted by the waves and then sinking back down with them.

A cold and briny sea breeze brushed past his face.

Something was crawling across his body.

Cold, soft, and damp.

It was as if an invisible tentacle was ascending along his exposed skin.

Inch by inch, it brushed against his flesh.

From the depths of the ocean floor, an silent summons echoed.

Come here.

Come to my side.

There was no tangible voice or words, yet Qin Fei distinctly heard that call.

Qin Fei's breath caught in his throat.

All sensations swiftly vanished, the darkness receded, and tranquility returned.

Only a few seconds had passed when the players beside him stared at him in a daze.

"I'm fine," Qin Fei spoke up, realizing that his voice was a bit hoarse.

"Ahh, ah!" San Tu was the first to regain his composure. "If you're okay, let's go then."

It would be terrible if the garbage disposal site were to close before they left.

Qin Fei spoke again, "Let's wait a little longer."

He fixed his gaze on the hole.

Although he had meticulously searched the inside of the cave just now, Qin Fei felt that something had changed within.

In fact, there was no visible abnormality from the surface, but Qin Fei had an intuition:

There was something new in the cave that he hadn't retrieved.

Qin Fei reached into the cave once more.

This time, he didn't take long.

In truth, none of the others had expected Qin Fei to find anything, because after he had retrieved the altar, curiosity had driven them all to examine the cave themselves.

It was just an ordinary stone cavern with no hidden secrets. Having confirmed that there was nothing there, how could there possibly be any new discoveries?

But Qin Fei found something new anyway.

With Lin Ye and the others' eyes growing wider by the second, Qin Fei calmly pulled out another altar from the cave.

Placing it beside the original one, they were identical in height, width, and depth.

"Congratulations, player has successfully found the quest item: Altar (3/6)"

(PS. Destroy the altars!)

A new system notification sounded, accompanied by a chorus of "What the hell?" from the group.

But it wasn't over yet.

Qin Fei remained kneeling by the entrance.

He stretched his hand in once more.

And then again.

A row of altars, neatly aligned, emerged from the cave's depths.