Wily Ideas

The military doctor’s inner thoughts matched his spoken words, but Jin Rongxu instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

That old man had made it very clear that the object of the transaction was human flesh, bought for consumption.

His inner thoughts had confirmed this perfectly.

And yet, the goods that had been delivered were ashes.

Even stranger was the fact that after Jin Rongxu woke up, none of the people before him mentioned the goods at all.

That was obviously abnormal, wasn’t it?

Before he fell asleep, the military doctor had still been engaged in a long-winded discussion with him on the [Player Forum].

Jin Rongxu looked at the several lively teammates before him, and his heart sank little by little.

Was there something wrong with his [Mind Reading], or was the horror creature’s disguise simply too convincing?

What exactly was wrong?

Jin Rongxu smiled at the military doctor. “That’s good, then.”

He gripped the military saber in his hand tightly, lowered his eyes without revealing anything, and stared at the player mark in the palm of his left hand.

The [Player Forum] soon occupied most of his field of vision.

Maintaining the somewhat unnatural polite smile on his face, Jin Rongxu quickly opened the private messages.

Aside from Director Jin, Guan En, and the Seer, whose chats were pinned, only [Zhu Zeyu]’s avatar was brightly lit.

He had sent Jin Rongxu a message a few minutes ago, and the unread notification beside the chat window was flashing on and off.

Jin Rongxu’s gaze trembled as it shifted downward.

Beneath [Zhu Zeyu]’s chat window were three consecutive black labels reading [User Account Deleted].

The latest message from the topmost [User Account Deleted] had been sent seven hours ago.

“Captain, I—*&%%@!!”

…

Li Daochang’s house was empty, and Li Laidi was nowhere to be seen either.

In the form of [Mist], Zhu Yan drifted high above the ground, far beyond Li Daochang’s reach, and slowly floated toward the only place below with its lights on.

He had still left a strand of himself hanging outside Jin Rongxu’s window.

Just now, the way this guy had logged into the Player Forum had been especially obvious. The fake smile on his face had practically frozen in place.

What a laugh.

It seemed this guy wasn’t as stupid as Zhu Yan had thought.

Of course, once a person became the horror creature [Walking Corpse], they would die, and their forum account would be deleted along with them.

If Jin Rongxu could really use that to verify the situation, then that was a good thing too.

While keeping an eye on his private messages on the [Player Forum], Zhu Yan peered downward through the gaps between the red words and cautiously descended.

The place with its lights on was a rather grand villa with a courtyard. Its style and workmanship were completely different from those of the other self-built farmhouses in the village. It was a Western-style mansion specially designed and constructed by a professional architect.

This “Mother” certainly knew how to choose her residence.

Zhu Yan silently complained.

Finding someone to build a place like this in such a remote location had clearly required considerable manpower and resources. The owner must have been one of the wealthiest people in the area.

The icy aura belonging to Mother was especially dense here.

Zhu Yan controlled his altitude, then slowly rose a little higher, making sure that the [Walking Corpses] below would not be able to smell him.

His [Acting] level was not yet high enough. In the eyes of certain high-level creatures, his form was not [Mist] at all, but scraps of flesh and blood radiating the scent of a player.

Until he finished spying on the place, it was best to keep a safe distance from those things.

At that moment, a group of strange creatures were moving in and out of the mansion.

With no outsiders present, they no longer bothered to pretend. Though they moved swiftly, their steps were stiff, and they carried brown meat paste, heads, clay jars, and other things back and forth.

In the middle of the courtyard sat a rocking chair.

A short, stocky man had hiked up his undershirt, exposing his round belly, and was leisurely rocking back and forth.

Zhu Yan leaned closer with interest, taking care to control the distance between them.

This thing was obviously a living human, and his features bore a striking resemblance to Li Daochang’s.

It was probably Li Panlong, then.

Zhu Yan watched as Li Panlong reached out toward a plate of neatly cut watermelon.

Beside the plate was a square piece of wood that looked very much like a menu. Zhu Yan shifted his angle and saw clearly that it was actually a dark-red memorial tablet.

Unlike the one Zhu Yan had seen at Old Man Huang’s place, this tablet seemed to have flesh moving across its surface.

Li Panlong’s mouth opened and closed as he chattered at the tablet in a thick local accent.

Zhu Yan gathered his concentration and could just barely make out the words.

“…With my mother around, life is so comfortable.”

“Ma, why can Li Laidi get married, but I can’t?”

Idiot.

Zhu Yan cursed inwardly.

There are only men here. Who are you going to marry? Are you, this family’s precious heir, planning to marry someone else’s precious heir?

“[Everyone Has Their Own Fate] reminder: Please stay away from the human below. Detection indicates that he has an extremely deep connection with the instance.”

Zhu Yan lowered himself a little farther.

Ever since [Everyone Has Their Own Fate] had somehow evolved from text into a voice, it had become increasingly annoying.

“It has always had a dual mode, player,” [Everyone Has Their Own Fate] immediately said.

A moment later, vivid red words appeared before Zhu Yan’s eyes.

“Warning: Please maintain your distance. The human below has an important relationship with a high-level horror creature. Player, stay away from this cause and effect!”

Zhu Yan gently shut off the ability.

He had examined Mother’s ashes earlier. They possessed a physical form and power, but clearly had no senses.

If that thing could detect Zhu Yan’s presence, Li Daochang would have discovered that something was wrong long ago. He would not have been toyed with so thoroughly by Zhu Yan.

Now, Li Panlong was speaking to Mother.

Zhu Yan was even more curious about how Mother would respond to him.

Was the tablet on the table some special object capable of hearing?

His question was answered very quickly.

A young woman dressed in expensive clothes ran out of the house. She wore high heels, and her knees bent awkwardly as she walked, as though it were the first time in her life she had ever worn such shoes.

“My son, I’m coming, I’m coming!”

The woman’s accent was completely at odds with her appearance. A smile was forcibly squeezed onto that stiff face, making Zhu Yan feel as though he was about to suffer from uncanny valley syndrome.

Li Panlong looked somewhat impatient. “Ma, why do you keep using this woman’s body? Have you forgotten what kind of person she was when she was alive?”

The [Walking Corpse] actually stopped awkwardly, her purplish fingers twisting together.

“I’ve disliked this woman for ages. She wore these awful shoes every day and dressed herself up like some old demoness.”

“Now that she’s finally dead, of course I’m going to enjoy showing off a little!”

As she spoke, however, the woman’s hands stroked the expensive fabric of the dress as tenderly as if it were a priceless treasure.

“Your mother wants to find you a new wife, too. The previous one was useless. I knew from the start that she wouldn’t do.”

The [Walking Corpse]’s face twisted for an instant.

“Your wife has to be beautiful, with soft, tender skin. She needs to be rich and capable—someone we can kidnap and give to my son.”

“And her flesh has to keep growing and growing, so I’ll always have something to eat!”

Zhu Yan thought the old woman was dreaming.

If he persuaded the [Vine Cage Girl] to come burn her son someday, she would no longer be so impressive.

But Zhu Yan quickly dismissed the thought.

He suddenly remembered that he had an item from the Devil Department Store in his ring—an item also called [Walking Corpse].

This thing could drain a person of all their life force through a transaction or a gift.

It was perfectly suited for Li Panlong and Zhu Yan in his current state.

Using [Impersonation] directly would certainly be detected by “Mother.”

But what if he first [Impersonated] [Mist], then slipped into the dead Li Panlong while in [Mist] form and manipulated Li Panlong as a puppet? Wouldn’t that be clever?