Night Falls, Goodnight

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!”