Zhu Yan felt he had far too much on his plate.
All day long, he was either setting traps or running scams.
And now, on top of everything else, he had to figure out how to stay safe while getting a full ten hours of sleep—and find a way to swindle Jin Rongxu out of his money.
More importantly, Li Daochang would definitely come back to him.
He still had to keep acting, coordinating with Jin Rongxu on the other side so that neither character went out of character.
He composed himself, then tugged his hood into place again, making sure that even at close range, Li Daochang wouldn’t be able to see his face clearly.
At that level, its [Impersonation] ability was no longer effective. Zhu Yan had desperately imitated Jin Rongxu’s voice, movements, and mannerisms to avoid being exposed.
He let out a long breath and sat down at the table to wait, while using the puppet “Zhu Zeyu” to question Li Daochang at another location.
…
“We have a deal too.”
Zhu Zeyu’s voice was still trembling, as though the series of events earlier had drained all his strength and courage.
Facing Li Daochang, he paid no attention to Jin Rongxu’s increasingly ugly expression. His legs trembled beneath him.
“Um, excuse me… when are you going to bring over the items from our deal?”
There were very few clues. There ought to be some hidden clue among the trade items, right?
Zhu Zeyu deliberately repeated that thought in his mind so Jin Rongxu could hear it.
In reality, he was asking only to hurry things along.
…
Meanwhile.
Zhu Yan once again dispersed into dense fog and went upstairs, approaching the urn of ashes that was cold beyond reason.
He tried storing the baby formula and lime beside it in the [Silver Storage Ring], and there was no resistance at all.
But when he tried to put away the ashes, the urn remained completely motionless.
Just as he had thought.
Spreading Mother’s contamination was not going to be that easy.
If it was an ordinary object or an item, there was nothing the [Silver Storage Ring] couldn’t take in.
The urn of ashes, just as he had initially suspected, was very likely some kind of terrifying creature in an unusual form.
Zhu Yan frowned slightly and continued manipulating Zhu Zeyu to question Li Daochang.
According to Li Laidi, everyone who had traded for ashes had been contaminated.
Then was “trading for ashes” a prerequisite for becoming contaminated?
…
“Uncle, you didn’t take our money without giving us anything in return, did you?” the other Zhu Zeyu urged, furrowing his brows.
Would obtaining the ashes through a “transaction” cause a different kind of effect?
Would the people around Jin Rongxu also turn into beings like the [Walking Corpse]?
Li Daochang gave a sinister laugh and turned around, walking away one slow, halting step at a time.
“I’ll give them to you.”
He slowly tossed out that sentence. At the same time, the [Walking Corpse] lying on the floor gradually recovered its strength. Supporting itself against the stair railing, it slowly stood up.
“Don’t be in such a hurry, everyone.” Old Man Huang turned his head and smiled at everyone inside the house.
“I’ll go to Lao Li’s place and get the trade items right away.”
Old Man Huang’s gaze lingered on Jin Rongxu for a moment longer.
“The big day is only a couple of days away.”
“It’s our custom here that whenever someone gets married, everyone in the village attends.”
“There are other people?” The army medic interrupted it and continued asking, “How many households are left here in total?”
Zhu Zeyu glanced up at the army medic.
From what he had observed, the army medic didn’t seem stupid.
And anyone called “the army medic” probably had something special about their abilities.
Perhaps it was the lighting, but the army medic’s complexion seemed grayer than before. His skin looked as though it had been coated in lime slurry, without the slightest trace of luster.
Zhu Zeyu swallowed.
“How many are left?” Old Man Huang looked somewhat bewildered.
It clearly didn’t understand the implication of the army medic’s question. Furrowing its brows, it thought for a moment.
“Six households. That may not sound like many, but there are quite a lot of people in the other households. Why? Do you have a problem?”
The army medic looked toward Jin Rongxu, hesitating to speak.
He shook his head at Old Man Huang. “It’s nothing.”
Zhu Zeyu seized the opportunity and quickly exchanged a glance with the army medic and Jin Rongxu.
He didn’t know whether the other two had understood what he meant. In any case, he hadn’t understood them at all.
This was merely a necessary step before he made his next request in character.
They had stalled for long enough. It was probably time to sleep, wasn’t it?
Three hours were almost up. Judging by the time, that should be around when Zhu Yan finished dealing with Li Daochang.
After exchanging glances, Zhu Zeyu immediately spoke up.
“We don’t have any other questions. Uncle, where are we supposed to sleep tonight?”
The [Walking Corpse] raised one stiff arm and gestured for them to follow.
“Upstairs,” it said coldly. “There are two rooms. Divide them among yourselves.”
“Oh, and I should warn you.”
Jin Rongxu followed the [Walking Corpse] upstairs first, with Zhu Yan walking behind it.
“Don’t touch any locked rooms. And don’t leave my house, especially at night.”
“That isn’t something guests should do.”
Zhu Zeyu knew that the locked room was the one containing the memorial tablet for the [Walking Corpse]’s son, Huang Qiang, along with the urn of ashes mixed with those strange ingredients.
“Why can’t we go outside?” Jin Rongxu asked the question Zhu Zeyu was also curious about.
“It’s more dangerous out there.”
The [Walking Corpse] turned its face slightly, just enough for Zhu Zeyu to catch a glimpse of its nose and the black eyeball glancing back at them.
Those murky black eyes stared fixedly at Jin Rongxu. It was obvious the creature was plotting something malicious.
“Daytime is very short here, and the nights are very long.”
Old Man Huang smiled.
“Of course, we’ll be preparing the wedding banquet soon.”
“But if you run around, be careful!”
It led them upstairs and showed them two extremely shabby bedrooms covered in dust.
“Assign them yourselves. When you sleep tonight, it’s best not to lock the doors.”
As it spoke, it revealed that oily smile once again. Its greasy yellow teeth made people feel sick.
“All right, it’s afternoon already. I have to go prepare the wedding banquet.”
Muttering, it turned around.
Everyone was somewhat stunned.
They had been inside for less than three hours. They had clearly arrived early in the morning, so it should only have been late morning.
Yet the old man was claiming it was already afternoon.
Ma Dong looked solemnly out the window and said, “Captain.”
At some point, the sky outside had already turned dusky yellow.
It really did look like dusk!
The [Walking Corpse] turned around and slowly made its way downstairs.
At the same time, that ridiculously fake female voice arrived late, carrying a deliberately imitated note of delight.
“Congratulations, players!”
Zhu Zeyu fell silent.
This was something else.
So the voice had been too busy setting traps and running scams earlier to come out and pretend to make announcements?
“You have successfully activated the next stage of the dungeon. From this point on, all plot events will proceed normally.”
“Friendly reminder: the wedding banquet is a very important part of this dungeon.”
“In addition, players are advised not to approach the people preparing the wedding banquet at night. Do not go outside at night. Keep your doors firmly closed while sleeping, and do not let the terrifying creatures discover that you are awake.”
The announcement about the “doors” contradicted what Old Man Huang had said. There were also several other parts that made little sense.
“Night is approaching. Good night!”
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
