Suspected Obsession

Li Daochang acted as though he hadn’t understood what Zhu Yan had said.

“What do you mean, how do I give it to you? Just transfer the money.”

“As for whether I’m giving it to my son…”

Li Daochang spat on the floor. “What’s it to you?”

Zhu Yan was speechless.

He really was impossible to deal with. He wouldn’t say a single honest word.

Upstairs, Fog swirled in front of Li Laidi, waiting for her to say more trigger words.

Unfortunately, Fog couldn’t condense itself into another body or grow another mouth. It had no way to ask Li Laidi questions on its own.

All Zhu Yan could do was wait passively and see whether the other woman would reveal anything else.

Li Laidi was trembling violently.

Suddenly, her entire body began to convulse. Her eyes stared blankly ahead, as though she had fallen into some kind of hallucination.

Zhu Yan kept her distance and carefully observed Li Laidi’s expression. She couldn’t help feeling puzzled.

Even though Li Laidi was lost in a hallucination, she didn’t seem afraid.

Her face held only despair—a profound, helpless despair.

“Me? Who else could I marry?”

“You’re keeping me here just so you can marry me off?”

She muttered the questions, then suddenly began shrieking hysterically.

Her screams broke through the wooden door and the fragile floorboards. Even Zhu Yan’s body downstairs could hear them faintly.

“Enough! Enough! You’re selling me for a bride price, but have you even looked around? There’s no one here I can marry!”

“Let me out! Let me out! I’m sick of you turning this place into a complete mess! Aren’t you a woman too? Let me out!”

“Let Li Panlong take me out!”

Damn!

Zhu Yan was stunned.

What had she just said? Li Panlong?

Fog excitedly circled the ceiling twice.

These words were different from what Li Laidi had said before. They contained far more information.

“Keeping me here,” “selling me for a bride price,” and “there’s no one here I can marry.”

Much of the information the Human Alliance had found was missing. At the time, Jin Rongxu’s explanation had been that they had simply lost contact with these people.

But now, it seemed that the entire village had been isolated and contaminated. Along the way, Zhu Yan had barely seen any houses that still had people living in them.

Who knew how many people had died here?

So, could the first phrase—“keeping me here”—mean that after something happened to the village, “Mother” had chosen to spare only Li Laidi’s life?

That would fit with “there’s no one here I can marry” and “aren’t you a woman too? Let me out.” After all, Fenghe Village truly was sparsely populated now.

And then there was “Let Li Panlong take me out”…

Did that mean Li Panlong was here too?

If Li Panlong could take her out, did that mean he was also one of the means by which the players could leave the instance—or one of the channels through which “Mother” spread her contamination?

If everything Li Laidi had said revolved around Li Panlong, then Zhu Yan needed to look at the situation from another angle.

She knew the [Hunter]’s mission.

But what exactly was the players’ mission in this instance?

…

Downstairs.

Zhu Yan deliberately looked up at the ceiling with a nervous expression and asked, feigning ignorance, “What was that sound? Li Daochang, what exactly are you hiding?”

She might as well try to pry some more information out of Li Daochang.

Although the details had become clearer, the mystery had only deepened.

For example, why did “Mother” insist on keeping Li Laidi alive?

If “Mother” had already become a supernatural creature, then devouring Li Laidi’s soul and turning her into another Walking Corpse wouldn’t affect her ability to sell her daughter in exchange for a bride price.

The players’ mission still hadn’t been revealed, and Zhu Yan had no idea how they were supposed to proceed.

Under these circumstances, who would dare refuse when Li Daochang forced them to pay the bride price?

Zhu Yan studied Li Daochang distractedly and noticed that an expression of confidence and anticipation had appeared on its face—as though letting Zhu Yan hear Li Laidi’s voice had been part of its plan all along.

Zhu Yan couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Li Daochang slowly turned its head back. Then, word by word, it said, “That’s my daughter. She’s young and unmarried.”

What a perfect opportunity. A chance to pry for information!

Zhu Yan nodded and immediately played along. “Then your daughter must be rather picky. She’s the older sister, right? If the older sister doesn’t get married, what will happen to the younger brother?”

Fortunately, the thing inside Li Daochang didn’t mind talking about its son.

“My son? My son is much less trouble than she is.”

The moment it mentioned “son,” a strange, delighted expression appeared on the bizarre creature’s face.

To put it in the simplest terms Zhu Yan could think of, it looked like the expression of an overbearing auntie.

Seeing a man wear such a maternally radiant expression was incredibly damn weird.

Zhu Yan looked at Li Daochang helplessly.

All right, sis.

The moment someone mentioned her son, she didn’t even bother pretending anymore.

“My son got married a long time ago. He has a wife who waits on him every day, and the two of them have moved to a big city.”

Another perfect opportunity!

Zhu Yan struck while the iron was hot and started spouting nonsense. “Marriage costs quite a bit of money these days, doesn’t it? Where we come from, the bride price from the older sister’s marriage is used to pay for the younger brother’s wedding.”

“You don’t do things that way here? How enlightened.”

Li Daochang’s face twisted viciously.

It glared at Zhu Yan with a pair of lifeless eyes. Only after a moment did it say, “That’s not how it is.”

Then, a smile abruptly spread across its face.

“When you people first entered the village, I knew that none of you were poor. Not one of you.”

“My family has a decent amount of money too. More importantly, I can make sure you leave the instance safely.”

Zhu Yan had a bad feeling about this.

He remained silent, and just as expected, Li Daochang began making outrageous claims.

“The second deal I mentioned is that you can enter into a marriage contract with my daughter.”

The room had no lights on, and the curtains blocked out much of the natural light.

Li Daochang looked utterly lifeless. Even the smile on its face seemed to have been arranged in advance by an undertaker.

It suddenly stood up and thrust its face toward Zhu Yan.

Although Zhu Yan was already accustomed to such things, that sudden movement still startled him. Just then, Li Daochang had looked exactly like a corpse that had been dead for years suddenly coming to life.

“As long as you agree to the marriage and pay a sufficient bride price…”

Li Daochang’s voice was somewhat shrill.

“You can leave this village. You can take my daughter and leave this village!”

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Zhu Yan looked at Li Daochang. After a long while, he finally spoke slowly.

“If I only pay the bride price without getting married, can I leave the village?”

Isn’t it just money?

Isn’t it just paying Li Panlong?

That wouldn’t be a problem. He could pretend to pay first.

But marriage… Well.

Li Daochang’s face was less than two inches from Zhu Yan’s.

The smile remained frozen on its face as Li Daochang looked at Zhu Yan and gave its answer without hesitation.

“No.” Its voice was hoarse. “How dare you look down on my daughter?”