Chapter 46: “Mountain God”

Chapter 46: The "Mountain God"

"Were those two people named... Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie?" Su Bai vaguely recalled Lan Xingchen mentioning their dislike for newcomers. Later, Sister Yao had described them as students: one an impeccably kind soul, the other a sharp-tongued young woman with a touch of a princess complex, who would even torture ears with her violin playing...

It was truly difficult for Su Bai not to connect the dots.

The very next second, Su Bai observed Sister Yao and Lan Xingchen, seated nearby, exhibit a stark change in expression upon hearing the names "Ning Yan" and "Fang Xiujie." Lan Xingchen, in particular, who had been ashen-faced with eyes like stagnant water, began to tremble uncontrollably at the mention of those two names.

Even the Butcher Ghost's relentless attacks and violent throws hadn't caused Lan Xingchen's body to shake. Yet, now, just two names were enough to make him shiver uncontrollably, his head bowed so low he resembled a hanged ghost with a noose around its neck.

"And you still claim to be a newcomer," Lan Xingchen muttered, his head still slumped. "How could a newcomer possibly know those two names?"

"Is that so?" Su Bai mused for a moment, choosing not to explain how he knew the names. Instead, he simply shrugged with a complex expression and stated, "But I genuinely am just a newcomer who just finished the novice game. Very, very new."

The reason Su Bai was even 'newer' than a typical newcomer was that after completing his beginner-exclusive game, he hadn't lingered in the real world. Instead, he had immediately returned to the Nightmare World for his second game.

In any case, based on publicly available information, Su Bai wasn't lying.

Moreover, even he found it odd that he had suddenly uttered Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie's names. It was as if some intuition told him that the plot of this game shouldn't be unfolding in this particular manner.

But if Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie were truly connected to Lan Xingchen, it sent a shiver down Su Bai's spine—as if a pair of eyes were deliberately orchestrating the game's narrative, solely to witness an indescribably twisted spectacle.

It was truly a sick sense of humor.

"Whatever," Sister Yao shook her head, unconcerned. After all, she hadn't witnessed Su Bai's "newcomer disguise" phase; she had only just regained consciousness to see him dispatch the Butcher Ghost with his umbrella. "But it is strange. Lan Xingchen has always been a recluse, constantly hiding in some corner of the Nightmare World, avoiding people. Since you know Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie, you must be a player who entered the Nightmare World around the same time as us, yet I don't recall ever seeing you."

Was this Sister Yao a contemporary player of Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie?

Three years ago?

As a seasoned observer, Su Bai, while possessing certain informational advantages, could extract even more details from Sister Yao and Lan Xingchen's conversation.

"I've said it—I'm just a newcomer. This is only my second game, excluding the novice tutorial," Su Bai insisted with an innocent expression. "Before entering the Nightmare World, I was just an ordinary student who hadn't even graduated from high school."

"Never mind..." Sister Yao shook her head, dismissing the thought. "I'm too lazy to ponder how you know so much. Since you claim to know these two names, do you know what Lan Xingchen did?"

Su Bai shook his head. That was precisely what he wanted to know.

"That lady over there seems curious too. Do you know Lan Xingchen? A friend from the real world? Regardless, after hearing his story, please try to convince him not to continue down this path." Sister Yao surveyed their surroundings, pausing briefly at the digital clock on the wall. After confirming the lobby of Building One was temporarily safe, she began to recount what she knew.

It was, in fact, a very simple story, yet Lan Xingchen truly should have perished within it.

Approximately three years ago, Lan Xingchen was merely a newcomer to the Nightmare World, not much more capable than the Qiu sisters or Su Bai. In one particular game, he and other newcomers were sent to a certain mountain alongside veterans like Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie.

The survival condition for that game was straightforward: find the correct path down the winding mountain road.

Although Ning Yan appeared to be a sharp-tongued young woman, she had the calm, good-natured Fang Xiujie by her side. Ning Yan always claimed to dislike and despise newcomers, yet she would still unconsciously look out for others. Consequently, the initial descent was very smooth. Fang Xiujie, a student from a prestigious school, would even analyze the newcomers' and other teammates' traits and potential future directions.

According to Sister Yao, this account was based on the testimonies of other survivors from that game.

However, the other survivors later learned that Lan Xingchen had been tempted by a malevolent spirit in the mountain right at the start of the game. The spirit whispered in his ear that it was the Mountain God, and since there were no longer any residents on the mountain, no believers left to worship it, it wished to select followers from the descending group. According to the spirit, it would share the mountain's divine power with its followers, and this power would not diminish even if they left the mountain.

At the time, Lan Xingchen initially believed he was the chosen follower, but he soon discovered that the ones the "Mountain God" favored were not him, but Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie. According to the "Mountain God," even though Lan Xingchen was the only one in the group who could hear its voice, it still preferred Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie to become its followers.

However, the "Mountain God" stated that if Lan Xingchen was willing to assist it by luring the two to the cave where the "Mountain God" was enshrined, and then offered incense before the "Mountain God," it would make an exception to acknowledge Lan Xingchen as a follower and share its power with him.

Perhaps there was an ineffable power in the malevolent spirit's temptation, or perhaps it was simply due to Lan Xingchen's personality three years prior, but he accepted the "Mountain God's" proposal.

Perhaps, as Qiu Man had suggested earlier, the Lan Xingchen of three years ago was a selfish individual who would stop at nothing to climb the corporate ladder in the real world. Even at a younger age three years prior, he had already achieved a relatively high position in the real world.

This Lan Xingchen, having just entered the Nightmare World, struggled to accept his transformation from a capable workplace elite to a powerless weakling who could be arbitrarily slaughtered by the supernatural. Coupled with his refusal to admit defeat and his willingness to use any means to achieve his goals, he harbored intense jealousy towards Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie, who had been chosen by the "Mountain God" from the outset.

In Lan Xingchen's view at the time, he undoubtedly possessed potential and ability—after all, he was the only one in the entire group who could hear the "Mountain God's" voice. To Lan Xingchen, the reason the Mountain God favored Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie more was simply that they were "lucky" enough to have entered the Nightmare World earlier than him and become veteran players sooner.

Thus, Lan Xingchen believed that as long as he possessed the "Mountain God's" power, and given enough time, he could surpass Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie and become the kind of legendary veteran player that these two veterans spoke of.

Perhaps Lan Xingchen's lingering rationality had once detected something amiss with the "Mountain God," but the malevolent spirit's tempting power, coupled with his own jealousy and selfish ambition, rendered him deaf to rationality's cries for help. He followed the "Mountain God's" plan, becoming completely enslaved by the malevolent spirit.

The malevolent spirit, falsely claiming to be the "Mountain God," must have also discerned Lan Xingchen's character flaws during their descent. Everything Lan Xingchen thought and felt was within its expectations.