The moment the talisman paper was cut down by the life-bound sword, the straw on the scarecrow's body exploded instantly! Countless crows surged forward one after another toward the "scarecrow." According to the usual pattern… at this point, the one whose seal was broken should have already left, leaving behind only a pile of straw and five cross-shaped tombstones for the players.
But Mu Anqi's team specialized in breaking the usual patterns.
Thus, the "Crow Taoist," dressed like a priest with crow feathers as robes and a crow's head, looked at this team of players in utter shock—then dropped to the ground and started doing one-handed push-ups.
Of course, that was because Mu Anqi hadn't activated the action list; after all, it wouldn't be good if the boss they had worked so hard to release immediately went to flirt with the male players upon appearing.
"Sword formation!" Grasping the talisman paper attached to the flying sword, Xia Yun immediately activated her sword formation skill, while Wu Sansheng aimed at the Crow Taoist and began firing.
"May your blessings be as vast as the Eastern Sea and your life as long as the Southern Mountain!" Mu Anqi quickly shouted two blessing phrases, flipped her wrist to summon her rifle, slammed in a clip of anti-ghost bullets, and unleashed a fierce burst of fire!
"N-no… damn it!" The Crow Taoist couldn't make sense of it at all. How had the planned script turned into this mess? He had clearly tried to escape the moment the battle began, so why… The dense barrage of anti-ghost bullets riddled his body, and under the crisscrossing sword light, his movements grew sluggish—his push-ups became harder and harder. His body no longer obeyed him; after the push-ups, he even supported himself on one hand in a handstand, followed by several consecutive backflips—an increasingly difficult series of poses.
His crow head was nearly blasted to pieces, and his crow-feathered Taoist robe was full of bullet holes. Mu Anqi emptied three entire clips in one go—this was a satisfaction a pistol could never provide! Of course, the point consumption was also alarmingly fast.
"I… I'm not willing to… ah…"
Along with those words filled with resentment and unwillingness, the Crow Taoist struggled to flee but collapsed straight to the ground. In the next instant, his crow-feathered robe fell off, and he turned into a large crow about forty centimeters long. Within just three seconds, the crow's body gradually shriveled up, then decayed, turned into bones, then ashes, and finally dissipated into the air.
Unable to use his abilities while under control, and forced to withstand bullets with only his physical body, the BOSS's death… could only be said to have been the result of his utmost effort.
[Ding! Congratulations, player…]
The system notification sounded crisp and pleasant, but it cut off abruptly after starting. It was as if the system had momentarily questioned its own existence before reorganizing its words and starting over.
[Ding! Congratulations to the players for defeating Boss: Crow Taoist! Please keep up the good work and clear the game soon!]
The other players still fighting through the apartment's anomalies, scrambling for items, or collecting clues: ???
What just happened?
The Crow Taoist's robe remained on the ground. Mu Anqi stepped forward, picked it up, and shook out more than a dozen pieces of yellow paper. These papers had strange patterns on them, looking very much like burned joss paper.
[Crow Taoist Robe]: The robe of the Crow Taoist. Impervious to blades and bullets! Allows use of the "Crow Feather" skill, launching dozens of crow feathers in all directions! Cooldown: 24 hours. (Limited item, cannot be taken out of the game)
[Joss Paper]: Sacrificial mission item. (Cannot be taken out of the game)
Mu Anqi already had the golden silk soft armor, so she held up the Taoist robe and looked at her teammates. "A defensive item—impervious to blades and bullets. I already have armor, so which one of you wants to keep this? The joss paper is a sacrificial item, I'll just store it in my storage ring, okay?"
"I already have armor. Give it to Sansheng," Zhao Gu pulled open her jacket, revealing a layer of white feathered clothing underneath.
Wu Sansheng then looked toward Xia Yun and Si Suying. "You two will need defense too."
"I can protect myself. If there's another kind of item later, I'll take a look then. I don't need this one," Xia Yun shook her head. She didn't like that crow robe at all—she was a sword cultivator!
"I don't need it either. You hold onto it for now," Si Suying also shook her head, then glanced at the cross-shaped graves on the ground. "Now should we… dig them up? Or check for other items first?"
Mu Anqi drew her demon blade. "Come on! Dig! Xia Yun, with me!"
Xia Yun was momentarily speechless. She looked at the clearly expensive demon blade in Mu Anqi's hand and didn't even know what to say. …Forget it. Her own life-bound sword wasn't doing much better—if it had to serve as a grave-digging tool, so be it.
The demon blade pierced into the ground, and Mu Anqi pried hard. She saw what looked like gray yin energy being absorbed by the demon blade, and after thinking about its "growth" attribute as a ghost-slaying weapon, she wasn't particularly surprised. She earnestly continued digging with effort.
"A silver bell?" Mu Anqi first poked the exposed bell with her blade tip. After confirming nothing was strange, she hooked it up with the tip of her sword and caught it in her hand. "It rings when a ghost approaches—it's a kind of warning item."
The five cross-shaped graves were soon completely dug up. Perhaps because the Crow Taoist was dead, the process went very smoothly; there were no surprise attacks this time. Even the flock of crows that had been watching them from the dark forest vanished without a trace.
They found:
A silver bell that rings when ghosts approach.
A "Detox Pearl" that can purify nearby toxins for two hours. According to the description, it provides two hours of detoxification and requires twenty hours to recharge.
Next was an ancient bronze sword—somewhat heavy, with a "sharpness" attribute.
Then, a cursed journal, its specific use unknown. The strange scribbles on it were unreadable, and there was no detailed description—only its name and the note that it couldn't be taken out of the game, not even marked as a "sacrificial mission item."
Finally, a piece of black ceremonial cloth, a sacrificial mission item.
Wu Sansheng took the Crow Taoist robe, Si Suying took the bronze sword, Zhao Gu took the silver bell, and Xia Yun took the Detox Pearl. Mu Anqi stored the cursed journal, the ritual cloth, and the sealing talisman that had been used on the Crow Taoist together in her storage ring.
"The Detox Pearl should be usable at the pond." Because of the previous game where she'd fought a pharmacist, and from how such things were usually depicted in games and anime, Mu Anqi figured the green mist over the pond was poison gas. After all… this game probably wouldn't hand out a useless item, right?
After packing up their things and looking back, the gray mist over the desolate forest had already vanished without a trace. Mu Anqi and the others glanced at the sky, which was almost completely dark, and quickly headed back to the Ancient Tomb Apartment.
That thing that had crawled out of the coffin was definitely another boss—if they stayed outside overnight, that would really be… well, two bosses killed in one day sounded kind of satisfying, actually. Still, everyone needed to rest, so returning to recover was the smarter move.
To avoid drawing attention, Wu Sansheng didn't put on the Crow Taoist robe but stuffed it into her backpack for now. Mu Anqi had already braced herself for being surrounded and questioned by other players the moment they returned to the apartment—but when they stepped inside… there was no one on the first floor?
Could there really be such luck?! The other players weren't still fighting on the sixth floor, were they? Surely the fight would've ended by now! Unless they'd mistaken the coffin's occupant for the Crow Taoist?
Keep it low-key. Play it safe.
Mu Anqi's group didn't go upstairs to watch the chaos—after all, they could clearly hear the sounds of fighting and angry shouts even from the first floor. The Ancient Tomb Apartment's structure was surprisingly sturdy—so many players brawling up there, and it hadn't collapsed yet. Mu Anqi and the others quickly returned to their room, locked the door, cleaned up their belongings, took turns bathing, stood watch in shifts, and rested.
"…So that's it? I just die like that? I'm a BOSS—how can I die the moment I show up?! The other players haven't even seen me! What kind of game has a BOSS like me?!" The Crow Taoist, furious and humiliated, turned into human form and grabbed the Planner Ghost by the neck, shaking him violently until the hanging ghost's tongue was stretched out two meters long.
"T-that's… that's not my fault… The Corpse Ghost… he also had a weakened debuff, but he ran fast, you know…"
"Run?! I wanted to run too! Who the hell can escape when they're controlled like that?!"
"T-then that's not… a planning issue!" The Planner Ghost rolled his eyes, tongue lolling out as he mumbled, "It's… just that you're too weak…"
Crow Taoist: "?"
"But actually, you've reminded me of something."
The Crow Taoist loosened his grip, and the Planner Ghost staggered back to a safe distance, stuffing his tongue back into his mouth. Then he said seriously, "I should give the remaining bosses a temporary immunity and invincibility buff, so they don't get wrecked like you did."
After all, the game still had to continue. These players needed to keep finding clues, then battle and steal each other's sacrificial offerings, finally completing the ritual to calm the wrath of the monsters and ghosts.
If the bosses kept getting killed the moment they appeared, how could the story progress? How would they gather the emotional energy? They couldn't have the whole game filled with only positive emotions, could they?
Crow Taoist: "So what, I was just here to help you test for bugs?"
"You died on the first day, and I still paid you your full wages—that's already me being generous," the Planner Ghost rolled his eyes. "Those Ghost Kings are watching the game from the VIP room. Why don't you go bother them? The demon kings and ghost kings controlling that player team should all be around—go after them!"
"Go after them? Am I suicidal? I can beat you, sure—but you think I can take on a Ghost King?!" The Crow Taoist grabbed the Planner Ghost by the collar again, furious. "I'm not stupid! Even a persimmon knows to pick the soft one to squeeze!"
Planner Ghost: "…Fine. Full pay, plus mental damage compensation."
"Oh, you're too kind! Look at you, your collar's wrinkled, let me fix that for you!" The Crow Taoist's face instantly changed; he smiled so hard wrinkles creased his cheeks. He gently straightened the Planner Ghost's collar and clothes, then hooked an arm around his shoulders. "Next time the game starts, call me again, yeah? I'm going on vacation now~ Bye!"
Planner Ghost: "…Bye."
After sending the Crow Taoist away, the Planner Ghost ran a hand through what little hair he had left and began adding items to the remaining sealed bosses. "Sigh… how did that cash-cow player end up in my game instance… Oh well, at least now I know what I was lacking before. Control-type skills… what a headache. That Poison Toad boss seems to have an ability that can temporarily mute people, right? Things shouldn't go off-script again after this…"
He definitely didn't want to end up like that unlucky ghost from the [Spirit Ghost Voyage] instance—spending money mid-game to call for reinforcements, only for the summoned help to be weak as hell, and then getting dragged into a Black Mirror Vortex, losing everything in the process.
He shifted the camera to the sixth floor, where players were
still engaged in chaotic combat, and smiled with satisfaction: Now these are qualified players (emotion suppliers)!