Zhang San turned his head, only to see the butcher shop owner laughing heartily and boldly, waving at him with great enthusiasm: "Come, come, why eat buns? Want something to drink?"
Zhang San swallowed and couldn't help but look at those buns, but this was inside a game! He didn't know whether this NPC was good or evil, and they knew far too little about the game. "Uncle, I… I didn't bring any money." This was also true—he didn't have a single cent on him and really had no money to buy buns.
Right after, he saw the previously enthusiastic shop owner instantly pull back his smile and wave him away: "Go, go, go, don't think you can come here every day for free food. If you want to eat, go get money from your dad and buy it!"
Zhang San: …
This NPC was a bit too realistic, wasn't he? According to the plot, shouldn't he have said "It's fine, take it, have a bun"!?
Completely unreasonable. Zhang San walked away dejectedly, thinking he hadn't even intended to buy buns—wasn't it the guy who asked first!? How did it turn into him wanting free food?
The more he thought, the more depressed he felt, and another wave of emotion points was gained.
As soon as Zhang San left, the bun shop owner sighed regretfully, but still remembered his character setting and seriously went back to making ordinary pork buns. In the horror tale, he naturally didn't make normal buns, but for the sake of the game, changes could be made.
The few horror tale spirits were all scattered throughout; even the public restroom was disguised as a village latrine so no flaw could be seen.
On the first in-game day, the players toured the entire village. Whether it was neighbors or shop owners, whether it was ordinary NPCs created by theatrics or the "advanced" NPCs played by horror tales, ghosts, or players, the players had more or less met nearly all of them. As for the information about the magical artifact they wanted—there wasn't a single clue.
For one reason only: they were deliberately made anxious.
People will always fear the unknown. What exactly was an illusion-reality realm? What did the artifact look like? What punishment would there be if they couldn't obtain it—would someone die? Could they even survive until the day of the ritual? There were far, far too many unknowns.
And because of the initial friendly reminders, players didn't dare OOC, nor did they dare lay hands on NPCs.
Although, the fifth reminder was something Mu Anqi added on purpose. After all, it never said what would actually happen if they went OOC—at most the NPC would think they were crazy. There were no real punishments or curses. But clearly, the players didn't think so.
Mu Anqi planned to reveal this in the end-of-game evaluation. She guessed it would make the players half-angry to death.
Because of the reminders, this batch of players was especially cautious and polite. Forget not daring to speak freely with their own household NPCs—toward the many NPCs in the neighborhood, they were also extremely respectful. If they asked something and the NPC just stared at them without immediately answering, the players would instantly apologize, bow, and flee, terrified of offending the NPC or revealing something.
Mu Anqi thought these players were still too cautious. Maybe next time she could reduce the number of reminders? But better to observe their behavior first. As they continued to get no real information while the ritual date drew nearer and nearer, the players would only become more anxious and uneasy.
On the first day, Mu Anqi gave the players plenty of time to adapt. None of the horror-tale cameo characters revealed their true faces. Even if players went to the public restroom, that horror tale wouldn't be triggered.
But even so, the players grew increasingly unsettled.
"This game is really so confusing. Since it's about a ritual, I thought any NPC would know something if I casually asked. But no matter which NPC I asked, they suddenly went expressionless and stared straight at me, and asked back, 'This is something you should know. Why are you asking me?' … You don't know that look, it was absolutely creepy." Tiezhu ranted. Sometimes, he even felt these NPCs were just ghosts wearing human skin, or puppets. It was like they had no souls; when asked something they shouldn't be asked, their reaction was exactly like puppets in a horror movie.
"…No, I feel the same way." After a moment of silence, the other players couldn't help agreeing. After all, they all wanted enough information to deal with the coming plot.
"I feel like some NPCs here are different. Those blue-named NPCs might have something special about them? Right, have you guys been to the bun shop? That boss… even though he's not a blue-named NPC, for some reason, just seeing him makes my back go cold." Nangong Meili said seriously. "My intuition is accurate—that should be a dangerous NPC."
"But based on what he said, I seem to go to his place often to buy buns. Though he refused to let me freeload." Zhang San hesitated. "He does give me a terrifying feeling, but afterward he didn't do anything to me at all. He wouldn't even give me a bun for free, so… well, although he looks fierce, suddenly it feels reasonable."
"Maybe these NPCs have some story behind them?" Nangong Meili guessed curiously. The moment she thought of the feeling the bun shop owner gave her—and the way he chopped the meat filling—she couldn't help suspecting that the boss either used to be a butcher or was a murderer who fled back to the village.
The players discussed for a while and felt that they still needed to interact with the NPCs. NPCs like the bun shop owner or others who seemed suspicious might have hidden quests or secrets that would help the plot. They needed to prioritize interacting with NPCs like that. Then there were the blue-named NPCs—they had to find a way to raise their favorability!
"The blue-named NPCs we've found so far are the village chief's twin daughters, the three siblings who run Fang's Restaurant. Then there's Mrs. Wu and Mrs. Xia from the private school."
"The restaurant siblings seem to have good tempers, pretty easy to talk to. I couldn't get into the private school, but those two lady teachers looked very imposing. As for the village chief's twin daughters…" At this point, Li Si's expression turned slightly odd. She glanced at the other players and couldn't help lowering her voice and asking, "Are twins usually… that close?"
"…It might be the game setting." Shangguan Cuihua answered.
After all, no matter where the players saw that pair of sisters—who didn't even look like twins—they were always together and extremely affectionate. Interlocking fingers was nothing to them! But none of the players had twin siblings, so they didn't know whether anything was wrong with that. They skipped the topic and began discussing how to raise the blue-named NPCs' favorability. Maybe with higher favorability, information would come?
In the control room, Mu Anqi watched the players' expressions and found them strange. She couldn't help switching over to see what Zhao Guogu and Si Suying were doing, only to find the two of them sitting hand-in-hand on the big tree at the village entrance, watching the sunset. Good grief, good grief—were they here to date in her game!?
[Mu Anqi]: Zhao Guogu, Si Suying, during work hours, please be mindful.
[Zhao Guogu]: Strange, I thought dating inside the game was a traditional player skill. Don't you do this all the time too?
[Mu Anqi]: …
Mu Anqi was speechless.
[Mu Anqi]: Fine then, bless you two, 99. [T/N: Slang for blessing couple lost lasting happiness]
After the meeting ended, the players went home for dinner. After helping with some chores, they gained another period of free time. Even though the in-game parents would loudly tell them not to run around, it didn't matter to the players.
They left the village.
It wasn't completely dark yet, and taking advantage of this time, they planned to explore the area around the village together. Exploring as a group meant that even if they encountered something wrong, they could escape in time.
They planned to go up the mountain. Not because they didn't want to go during the day, but because during the day the villagers kept watch.
"What's this?" Wang Sanma cried out in shock as he looked at the box beside the road at the foot of the mountain. When he walked over, he realized it was a small shrine. But compared to the ones in their homes, this one had no carved auspicious symbols or images of gods. There was no human-shaped statue either. The wood was a dark red, as if soaked in blood.
"There's one here too!"
"The whole road up the mountain is lined with these shrines."
The players looked at each other. That strange, eerie feeling surged into their hearts all at once. Their scalps tingled, but they still had to go up and take a look. They didn't rashly touch these shrines. If there had only been one, they might have opened it to see what was inside and perhaps taken it back to study. But there were simply too many—so many that it felt like someone had used them to set up a formation that would activate the moment anything went wrong.
They walked all the way to the mountainside, but couldn't go any further. When they passed the shrine on that large roadside stone for the third time, Zhang San was the first to stop: "We can't go up. Maybe it's because we haven't obtained the magical artifact, or maybe because the ritual time hasn't arrived. We can't reach the mountaintop."
"Is there really a mountain god up here?"
"Hard to say." Huangfu Tiezhu's expression was heavy as he looked at the shrines lining the path. He let out a sigh. "Let's go down."
But when they turned around and looked toward the village, they suddenly saw the entire village shrouded in a mass of black fog, as if lingering at the jaws of a monster. The black fog flickered faintly. When they stared at it, it seemed to stir, as though an invisible pair of eyes sensed their gaze—and looked back at them.
"!"
They instinctively shut their eyes and turned their heads. That instant of pressure and heart-tightening fear left their expressions pale. After exchanging glances, none of them knew what to say, and they silently headed down the mountain.
"…Wait, I—I think… I think someone is watching us from behind!?" Nangong Meili had already lowered her voice as much as possible, but it still trembled. Out of the corner of her eye, she had seen a dark figure beside one of the shrines watching them, but when she looked properly, the figure was gone.
That figure… had no visible features, yet why did it feel like it was smiling?
"Don't panic. Don't lose your cool. Down the mountain." Yuchi Goudan also sensed something was wrong—he wasn't blind—but in a situation like this, fear wouldn't help them at all.
The players' steps grew faster and even a bit chaotic. But no matter when they glanced at a shrine from the corner of their eyes, they would always see a dark figure quietly standing there, watching them. Yet when they looked straight at a shrine they hadn't reached yet, the figure wasn't there.
"He's following us!"