Ch 189
The painful shrill screams resounded through the sky, even the thick and heavy darkness weighting everywhere seemed to ripple because of it.
Ge Xiu rubbed his aching ears from the noise and calmly withdrew his gaze, as if the other party’s miserable roar and venomous gaze did not exist.
He stretched his muscles and bones and turned his head casually to look around.
Ge Xiu took a glance and then fell silent: “…”
Like a hurricane, all the buildings within the visible range of the naked eye were completely destroyed. The ominous, silent and uninhibited filthy village was completely flattened to the ground at this moment, not resembling its previous appearance at all, only fragmented bricks and rubble remained, everything was in a mess.
“…” Ge Xiu took a deep breath and poked the man beside him with his elbow: “Hey.”
The pale and gloomy man turned his head, and the chill accumulated in his eyes instantly disappeared when he looked at Ge Xiu. His voice was cold and deep, but his tone had an imperceptibly delicateness and gentleness: “Huh?”
Ge Xiu raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling his head aching again:
“…you did all of this?”
The man’s eyelashes were lowered, his dark and deep eyes stared fixedly at the young man in front of him, as he nodded calmly.
Ge Xiu slowly inhaled, exhaled, took a full deep breath, and then said slowly:
“This is a timed instance, even if the dungeon boss disappears, we have to stay here for at least three days before leaving!!!”
He pointed to the village in the darkness that had only crumbled walls and almost no standing buildings left and asked through gritted teeth.
“Where do you want us to live now?!”
The man: “…”
He really didn’t think of this.
Ge Xiu lowered his eyes and scanned the old woman curled up at her feet.
The old woman lying on the ground had turned into a distorted mass of shadows, unable to even condense into a complete entity. The wrinkled old face was sometimes blurred and sometimes clear, it was difficult for the whole body to maintain a stable state, but she was the boss of the entire instance after all. As long as this dungeon still existed, she couldn’t die or dissipate.
Ge Xiu’s gaze swept over the opponent’s body casually, as if passing over a stone or a plant.
He asked,
“Have you played enough?”
The old woman trembled all over and subconsciously curled her half-translucent body tighter, trying to shrink her sense of existence.
The man lowered his eyes gloomily, and glanced at the dark lump of shadows on the ground. There was a faint ferocity in the depths of his dark eyes.
His pale thin lips raised slightly, but there was still no warmth in his eyes:
“It’s still early.”
“Stop playing.” Ge Xiu said mercilessly: “It’s a waste of time.”
The man’s cold hostile eyes turned away from the elderly woman as he sighed regretfully:
“It’s a pity.”
Ge Xiu glanced coolly at the man standing beside him and said,
“You should pity the room where I was supposed to sleep tonight.”
“…” The man knew he was wrong and obediently fell into silence.
Ge Xiu sighed, and said:
“…forget it, let’s go, I have to go back and see how my teammates are doing this time.”
This instance, they didn’t even meet any ghosts, but halfway through their sleep the house collapsed from the wind.
It must have been an unforgettable experience in one’s life.
In the courtyard that was completely destroyed by the strong wind, several dishevelled players stood awkwardly in the middle of the only open space where they could stay, looking at each other in blank dismay.
“You… have you encountered such a thing in other dungeons before?” One of the dusty players finally couldn’t hold back the urge to say something and turned to look at the other few experienced players standing beside him with complicated expressions.
Everyone shook their heads slowly.
The hurricane that suddenly swept through in the middle of the night completely destroyed the houses where the players rested. Because this was their first night in this instance, the players were very vigilant. In addition, the houses in the village all had loose clay structure, with the roof made of straw and tiles, so everyone crawled out of the collapsed building’s ruins with no damage, except for some scratches.
Then, strangely, the gust of wind that was howling and destroying just now suddenly stopped, and after a few seconds of silence, a shrill scream came from a distance.
In the middle of the dark and lifeless ruins, the ear-piercing screams seemed even more terrifying.
That voice was so penetrating that it tore through the dark night sky at once, striking sharply, causing everyone’s hearts to tremble— what happened to make someone emit such terrifying wails?
But since it was still night, nobody dared to leave the courtyard to explore without any scruples, so they could only stand there in fear, sweating and waiting silently for the fate to come.
After the screams finally disappeared, the players couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
However, everything around was too quiet.
No wind, no screams, nothing.
It was as if they were standing on a piece of abandoned land, surrounded by rubble and debris, only boundless silence spread around them.
One of the players regained clarity, looked around at the few people standing beside him and said,
“Is everyone here?”
The players began to count the number of people.
Soon, they discovered that the only two people living in the same room had disappeared.
The player who asked this frowned: “Did you see where those two people went?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“It seems that I haven’t seen them since the building collapsed.” One of the players said.
“Yes, yes.”
“That’s right, me too.”
The rest of the players echoed.
“Could they have been buried underneath?” A player tentatively asked: “Should we go dig and see?”
“Tch.” The other player sneered: “What digging, if they haven’t climbed out until now, they were either crushed to death, or died before the wind came, why bother?”
While everyone was insisting on their opinion, suddenly, a calm voice came from behind:
“What are you talking about?”
The players were taken aback and stopped talking for a moment, turning back their heads to look in the direction of the voice.
They saw a slender young man slowly coming out of the darkness. He stretched his long legs and easily stepped over the bricks and tiles on the ground. His slightly oversized shirt and jeans were clean and not stained with any dust, a world’s difference from the dishevelled players.
With one hand in his pocket, his posture was natural and relaxed, with an innate powerful aura that made everyone silent in astonishment.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at him stepping through the courtyard gate, obviously unable to believe their own eyes—he…had he just come back from outside?
One player came to his senses first: “Where’s the newcomer who lived in the same room as you?”
“Died.” Ge Xiu said lightly.
Died? !
Everyone taken aback, they looked at each other in surprise.
One of them took a step forward and asked eagerly, “Died? When did she die?”
Ge Xiu replied calmly, “Before we entered the room.”
——What?
The players were taken aback: “You mean…?”
“Yes.” Ge Xiu nodded, “When you saw her tonight, she was no longer be alive.”
He said it very lightly, but players couldn’t hold back a shudder.
And, with that came more questions.
How did he know? When did he find out? What happened after he found out? Why did he come back from outside again? What exactly happened during that time? Was all this related to the strong wind and screams just now?
More importantly, was what he said true?
Just when everyone was full of doubts, the young man in front of him seemed to have seen through their thoughts at a glance, and said:
“I will take you to the ancestral hall at dawn, you will know after you see it.”
Player: “…”
Wait, what hall?
It stood to reason that they have only entered this instance less than six hours ago, right? When did the ancestral hall, a building that sounds strange at first sight, appear?
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, feeling a little sceptical about life for a while.
The same doubts slowly surfaced in everyone’s minds:
——Are we really playing the same game? !
Ge Xiu ignored them, but walked towards the courtyard with his backpack on his back.
He found a relatively solid corner of the broken wall and sat down, then leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to meditate.
Soon, the night faded and the sky brightened.
Although the sky was still cloudy, at least the surrounding scenery could be seen clearly.
This time the ancestral hall was much easier to find than at night.
——after all it was the only building still standing among the ruins.
Everyone cautiously stepped into the dark interior of the ancestral hall, the strong smell of blood and stale dust came to their faces immediately. The dark coffins were placed in the depths of the ancestral hall, sleeping quietly in the shadows.
On the ground, countless puppet pieces that seemed to have been torn apart violently were laying.
“There are no living people in this village anymore.” Ge Xiu said, “The wedding we are going to attend tomorrow is also a ghost marriage.”
He pointed to the coffins in the ancestral hall: “These are their coffins, from the villagers’ to the players. Yes, there are new ones and old ones.”
A player hesitated and asked, “Then… what about the boss of this dungeon?”
“It’s an old woman.” Ge Xiu said concisely: “She only makes the puppets in pairs, one man and one woman, I don’t know the specific reason, didn’t ask in detail.”
Then everyone suddenly realized that the number of male and female players entering the dungeon this time was exactly equal—they thought it was a coincidence, but it turned out to be deliberate.
“Wait, you didn’t ask?” One of the players suddenly caught the point.
“Yeah, after all, if you insist on marrying the people you’ve killed, only your personal preference can explain it.” Ge Xiu replied thoughtfully: “I respect others personal preference, so I didn’t ask much.”
Everyone : “…”
Was it what you’re supposed to focus on?
A player asked: “So? Where is the boss now?”
Ge Xiu smiled slightly: “Don’t worry, she doesn’t dare to come out.”
Under the heavy dark clouds, the youth’s dark eyes shone with a light inside the darkness, a faint smile loomed on his lips, giving him a mysterious and strange feeling.
Everyone stared at him in fear and shivered subconsciously.
——What kind of scary thing was this person saying with a flat face? ! ! !
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