“The village chief has already spoken, yet you still argue,” Ji Nanquan mocked. “Oh, a feminist warning, huh?”
“…Regardless, her revenge on the villagers is too extreme,” Liao Guan whispered. “Why should those villagers deserve to die? They are human lives after all.”
Seeing the players exchange their opinions, the driver sitting nearby also eagerly chimed in, “I think…”
Before he could finish, Lin Huai smacked him on the head.
“Shut up,” Lin Huai said coldly. “You’re just a nameless, emotionless prop NPC.”
The driver: Wuwuwu.
“I don’t care about what happened before her death,” Zhang Mingge finally said, pushing his glasses up coldly. “Since she has now become a Fierce Ghost that harms people, we have no choice but to find a way to eliminate her and prevent her from causing havoc in the world.”
“Last night, I also heard about the conflicts from the Wang family. Before Ren Chun dropped out of school, her mother had approached the Wang family for a loan. When the Wang family refused to lend the money, Ren Chun stole from them and fled to the city, harboring deep resentment against the Wang family. The Wang family, being the first to bear the brunt, has managed to survive until now solely due to the barrier left by Master Qingxu. However, the barrier is also about to break. The only way to survive is to enter the Qingxu Temple in five days and seek protection from Master Qingxu.” Zhang Mingge drew a plan on the table with his finger. “Therefore, our task is simple. Before the five days are up, we must protect at least seven villagers. After five days, we must escort the remaining villagers into the Qingxu Temple.”
His tone was cold and sharp. The village chief asked him, “You are…”
“Just an ordinary person with some skills,” Zhang Mingge said indifferently. “Although Ren Chun is a Fierce Ghost, she is not without fear. I went to check earlier, and if her corpse is in the grave, it must be suppressed by the peach wood spirit tablet on it. Therefore, besides protecting the villagers, we must also locate her actual burial site and suppress and purify her remains.”
His words were filled with endless certainty and confidence, and everyone couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
“Village Chief, I need your cooperation,” Zhang Mingge said. “I need a list of all the villagers with numbers above their heads and find a way to protect them. If there’s a fixed location, that would be best.”
The village chief nodded. Zhang Mingge’s aura seemed to have affected him, calming him down from the worry of the numbers appearing above his head. He couldn’t help but sigh, “In the past, there were always seven people, but now there are nine of you. Perhaps under Zhang’s leadership, you won’t repeat the same mistakes…”
After hearing the village chief’s hopeful words, Chu Tianshu looked up at the sky, while Lin Huai smiled and glanced at the fidgety driver.
The players immediately began to discuss in hushed tones. Ji Nanquan sat next to the village chief and, for once, asked in detail about the previous groups of players, listening intently.
Yan Chuchu sat nearby, her beautiful eyes narrowing as she listened to his words.
With the village chief’s assistance, all the named villagers were gathered in the small square of Jiang Village. The players who could see the numbers above the villagers’ heads were placed on one side, while the village chief delivered a speech to the villagers, calming them down with the help of the security team captain.
“One, two, three…” Cheng Xin counted beside them. “In total, there are eight victims.”
These eight unfortunate villagers each had numbers ranging from one to seven above their heads.
The woman with “01” above her head was the middle-aged woman they had seen at the crime scene earlier that morning. As the village chief tried to calm her, she tightly gripped the hem of her clothes, her eyes darting around nervously, her chattering teeth showing her extreme neuroticism.
Under “02” was a young thug-like man, thin and weak, his eyes rolling around, looking very cunning and deceitful.
The person with “03” above their head was an energetic old man, his lips pursed, the corners of his eyes raised, looking stubborn and difficult to deal with. Another young man, dressed fashionably, also had “03” above his head.
The person with “04” was a chubby man. Although the weather wasn’t hot, sweat still dripped from his forehead down to his chin.
The middle-aged man with droopy eyes had “05” above his head, looking very weak and incompetent.
Wang Zhanpeng had “06” above his head, while Wang Zhanyuan, standing next to him and dressed fashionably, had “07” above hers.
“No, look over there,” Chu Tianshu pointed into the distance. “There’s another one.”
Cheng Xin followed his gaze and saw a young girl standing in the direction he pointed. Because of her slender figure, she was hidden behind her mother. She had a short ponytail and looked around anxiously, her face pale.
Above her head was a large “05”.
“That makes eight victims…” Cheng Xin added her to the list for the fifth day. “From the sixth day onwards, the victims can enter the temple. As long as the numbers haven’t been reset, the Fierce Ghost won’t take action against them.”
He circled the names of the first five victims.
“First, protect them, figure out the Fierce Ghost’s methods and patterns. The system wants us to protect four villagers, meaning we must at least protect the last four people.” Cheng Xin bit the tip of his pen. “As for the first five… we’ll help if we can, after all, they’re human lives too.”
Then, he drew a line under the name of the first day’s victim, Feng Ailing.
After the meeting, everyone followed the village chief to Feng Ailing’s house.
Feng Ailing lived in the southern part of the village, near Granny Sun’s house. When they found her, she was wielding a broom, fiercely beating a stray cat that had accidentally wandered into her yard.
“Get out! Beast, get out!” From a distance, they could hear her shrill voice and the cat’s screams. The yard was in chaos, with chickens and dogs running around. By the time they arrived, the cat had already been beaten to a bloody pulp, its golden eyes wide, arching its back in vain, hiding under a wooden frame and hissing.
“What are you doing!” Chu Tianshu shouted. Feng Ailing paused, and the cat took the opportunity to crawl out through the gaps in the wooden frame and disappeared.
“Stray cats, so many stray cats…” the woman continued to mutter neurotically. Only when the village chief frowned and shouted, “Feng Ailing, what are you doing? The guests are here!”
“Oh, guests, guests.” The woman’s wandering mind finally returned. She straightened up and looked at the group, her bulging eyes scanning them one by one. “Who are you…?”
After they explained their purpose, the woman let out a scream from the depths of her throat. “What are you joking about! This, this has nothing to do with me! It wasn’t me who killed her. If she wants revenge, she should go after the person who killed her! Why come after me!”
As she spoke, she swung the broom, driving everyone out of the yard. “Get out, all of you! Out of my yard! What Game, what countdown, a bunch of swindling charlatans!”
The broom, carrying a cloud of dust and moisture, kept all the clean-loving players at bay. The nearby villagers, hearing the commotion, came out of their yards and pointed at her house. “I told you it was her turn…”
Chu Tianshu literally got a face full of dust and stood dejectedly at the door. The village chief was also helpless. He looked at the villagers on both sides and said to the players, “…This is common, alas, who would believe they’re next to be killed?”
“This…” Ruan Tian was at a loss. She looked at Cheng Xin and pleaded, “Cheng Xin, think of something.”
Cheng Xin was also helpless. “If the NPC doesn’t cooperate, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s just stay outside her door tonight and see what happens. As long as she stays inside, she should be fine…”
“How do you know the Fierce Ghost won’t come in from somewhere else?” Ji Nanquan questioned. “And what if we run into the Fierce Ghost? Wouldn’t we be the ones killed then?”
“What do you mean?”
“I say we shouldn’t protect the first few people. This person has tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after. We can’t protect them all. We should wait outside the Qingxu Temple until the Master comes out, then take the last four people in…”
“Are the lives of the first few people not lives?”
“Are our lives not lives? If you want to play the saint, do it yourself. I’m not doing it!”
With that, Ji Nanquan turned and left the group. The remaining eight looked at each other for a long time before Cheng Xin finally said, “Ignore him, let’s do our thing.”
Yan Chuchu glanced at Ji Nanquan’s retreating figure, twirled her hair, and said softly, “I’ll go talk to him.”
With that, she gracefully left.
The remaining Cheng Xin continued to knock on the door, patiently persuading, “Auntie Feng, we’re not bad people. We really want to save your life. Believe us, we’ll keep you alive…”
The outsider’s voice continued to echo outside the door. Feng Ailing locked the door and sat in the inner room, covering her face.
“Don’t come for me, don’t come for me…” she murmured. “It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault… ah… ahhh—”
A black shadow flashed before her eyes, and she instinctively thought it was another stray cat, standing up in full alert.
After a while, she realized it was just the shadow of the table and chairs. She finally relaxed and decided to get a bowl of water.
However, as she lifted the lid of the bowl, she saw a note.
The moment she saw the elegant handwriting and the content of the note, her expression twisted.
—If you want to live, do as I say.
Cheng Xin knocked on the door for a long time until his voice was hoarse. Finally, the sound of the door opening came from Feng Ailing’s yard.
“Come in,” she said listlessly.
Everyone filed in. She arranged for everyone to sit in the room, and Cheng Xin eagerly said, “Auntie, don’t worry, we’ll protect you.”
Looking at the eager faces of the outsiders, she thought of the handwriting on the note and finally said with difficulty, “You… you must keep your word…”
Meanwhile, Ji Nanquan had already arrived at the village square.
