Chapter 419: Snow Mountain (19) The First Batch of Sacrifices

【Name: Insomnia Syndrome Pathogen】

【Type: ##】

【Effect: Causes people to contract “insomnia syndrome,” which can be spread to anyone through contact in the “real world” and lies dormant in the body, with the holder determining the onset time and intensity.】

North America, a team of young people marched in the streets, holding banners high and spouting clichés about “freedom and equality”; two young Black men took the opportunity to rush into a roadside shop, grabbing gold jewelry from a glass counter and running off.

Since the Balance Church officially declared war on the Federation, with the fall of numerous cities, the balance of power between the two sides has become increasingly ambiguous. Some took advantage of the chaos to fish in troubled waters, while others stayed indoors, preparing to welcome the impending change of dynasty.

The expansion of the Balance Church was unlike any previous rebellion by resistance forces. What was once thought to be a small-time terrorist organization had transformed into a mature political power. Wherever they went, Ghosts ran rampant, turning human territory into Eerie forbidden zones.

The Federation’s thermal weapons and regular army were useless. The Eerie Investigation Bureau stepped forward in a timely manner, and while it briefly controlled the deterioration of the situation, it also suffered continuous defeats in subsequent battles.

The marching procession caused disputes and riots along the way, with screams and curses echoing endlessly. More people chose to watch with cold eyes, maintaining a self-preserving silence, silently praying in their hearts for the war to settle and the chaos to end soon.

In a flash, everyone’s movements froze, including the marchers, robbers, and passersby, as if under a witch’s spell.

Immediately after, their skin surface developed abnormally high heat, and dense yellow patterns spread visibly, with pus-yellow butterflies flying out from the crevices.

Such scenes occurred everywhere. Homeless people lying on the streets, students sitting in classrooms, white-collar workers in offices, politicians giving speeches… More and more people collapsed, and without exception, yellow flowers bloomed on their bodies.

This was a curse closely linked to death, spreading silently like a plague, taking away lives that were vibrant just a second ago, and making people more equal than ever before.

Panic, despair, fright, anxiety… various rumors flew across major Forums. Some suspected a lab pathogen leak was at fault, but what kind of pathogen could cause a person to go from infection to death so quickly?

Those who believed in religion began to confess their sins to God, while those who believed in science tried to calmly analyze the cause of death.

After initial bewilderment, the Director of the Eerie Investigation Bureau’s North American branch quickly made a judgment: “Those people died from an Eerie called 【Insomnia Syndrome Pathogen】 in the Eerie Game.”

An Investigator beside him quickly pulled up relevant information: “This Eerie is unique to the Red Maple Boarding School instance, and that instance was permanently closed after Qi Si, Shuomeng, and Chang Xu completed it. Did an Eerie leak from the Red Maple County Native Victims Memorial Hall area?”

“It’s not a natural disaster, it’s a man-made one,” the Director said coldly. “If it were an Eerie leak, the first to die would be those closest to the origin, not like now, with people dying simultaneously across the entire county.”

“Director, are you saying—someone is controlling these Eerie?” The Investigator’s expression grew serious. “Who could it be? Is it Qi Si? Why would he do this?”

“For a Ritual,” the Director’s voice was calm, his eyes empty. “He wants to offer sacrifices to the Ancestral God, and we are all sacrifices.”

“Di… Director, how do you know all this?” The Investigator instinctively felt something was wrong and pressed, “And… isn’t Qi Si in the Final Dungeon? How could he affect reality?”

He thought of something and muttered, “Strange, all the players selected for the Final Dungeon have disappeared. Before, only their souls were pulled into the instance; there was never a situation where the physical body also vanished.

“Also, today is May 7th. Since the Final Dungeon opened on May 5th, all of us seem unable to enter the Eerie Game…”

The Director grinned, a strange smile often seen on the faces of frozen corpses: “How could that be? We are all in the Eerie Game, all in the Final Dungeon…”

As if to confirm his words, the sound of ice cracking echoed in the air, starting as a faint buzz like mosquitoes, then growing louder within a few seconds.

The Investigator instinctively looked up slightly, towards the source of the sound. A pair of silver-white eyes quietly opened in the previously clear sky, calmly and indifferently looking down at the world below.

Pure white feathers scattered like snowflakes, and a chill rose from his feet, piercing through his bones. The Investigator lowered his head and saw that the ground beneath his feet had, at some point, turned into a translucent layer of ice, with human faces looking up at him from beneath the ice, clearly rows of fallen corpses.

He saw the Director’s face, his own face, and the faces of many of his Investigation Bureau colleagues. They gazed at him, their mouths opening and closing, saying, “We are destined to die, we are all sacrifices…”

He felt his body enveloped by ice-cold, thick frost rapidly climbing along his skin, forming a seamless hard shell, encasing him in an ice sculpture.

His vision spun. He didn’t know when he had fallen beneath the ice. The giant eyes above him, like a rotating wheel symbolizing doomsday and apocalypse, turned slowly and mercilessly. Someone whispered in his ear: “Reincarnation… End… New life…”

…【Name: Puppet Threads】

【Type: Skill】

【Effect: After parasitizing another player’s little finger, one can control their life and manipulate their actions (evolved to complete state)】

Long County’s Demon Capital, Old Wai rode a tricycle, carrying his granddaughter, mingling with the crowd as they rushed out of the city. The world was in chaos, with Ghosts rampant in the metropolis. He planned to return to his hometown, a remote place where at least they wouldn’t be too affected.

Taxis were no longer available, and public transport was overcrowded, but Old Wai was undoubtedly lucky; at least he had his own tricycle for transportation, avoiding being stuck anxiously in the city.

His little granddaughter sat cross-legged, licking a lollipop, curiously looking left and right at the bustling traffic and the hurried crowds. She asked, “Grandpa, where are we going?”

“We’re going back to our old home. Grandpa will take you to dig bamboo shoots and catch butterflies,” Old Wai said with a chuckle. “Good girl, take a nap, and we’ll be there when you wake up.”

“Okay! Then I’ll go to sleep!” the little granddaughter said crisply, dramatically leaning back and curling up in the back compartment, closing her eyes.

Old Wai chuckled, his chest gradually filling with a warmth called “happiness.” This small tricycle had become a “home,” holding the most precious things he had accumulated in his life.

He still remembered a year ago, his son died at the construction site, and his daughter-in-law ran off with the compensation, leaving him and his granddaughter to depend on each other. He had intended to end his life with a bottle of pesticide but, by a strange twist of fate, entered the Eerie Game.

After walking through the gates of hell, he no longer sought death but began to think about how to survive. He painstakingly understood various information in the Forum and started learning the survival rules of this new field from scratch.

Relying on the quick wit he had accumulated in his youth, he successfully connected with a guild called Sera, and after offering a large amount of points, he gained membership.

Old Wai spent more than half a year to establish himself in the Eerie Game, but he didn’t expect the Final Dungeon to appear so soon after he finally found some comfort. Changes in this world were always so rapid; he had to re-learn and re-understand.

Fortunately, as a player of the Eerie Game, he knew more information than ordinary people and prepared supplies and shelter in advance, so he wouldn’t be caught unprepared.

As for taking advantage of the situation to speculate, fish in troubled waters, and seek profit, he had no such thoughts. He was just an ordinary person, only wanting to quietly farm a piece of land, raise his granddaughter, and enjoy his old age… Suddenly, the whistling of a strong wind sounded in his ears, a sharp sound like a bone whistle blown by a cold wind, like an ancient shaman performing a Ritual to summon lost souls, making people inexplicably terrified.

Old Wai blinked twice, looking around. He wondered if his old eyes were playing tricks on him, but the sky above him appeared cracked, covered with dense, cobweb-like patterns.

An eight-legged spider with a round abdomen slowly climbed on the cobweb covering the sky, its sharp mouthparts opening and closing like scissors, aimed at Old Wai. “Crack—” Something was cut.

Old Wai instantly lost all connection with this world, his consciousness sinking into a daze, his soul floating lightly towards the high sky. In his last glimpse, he only saw his unsupported corpse rolling off the tricycle frame, like a pile of tattered garbage.

The corpse was crushed by the wheels, spilling dazzling blood. The crowd screamed, and someone whispered, “Someone died.”

The little granddaughter was startled awake by the sound. Dazed, she climbed out of the tricycle and saw Old Wai’s white-haired corpse lying on the ground. She reached out to push her grandpa’s shoulder: “Grandpa, why are you sleeping? The ground is cold, sleeping on the ground will give you a tummy ache! Grandpa, wake up…”

The corpse gradually grew cold as time passed. After a long while, the girl finally realized that her grandpa would never wake up, and a confusion that shouldn’t belong to her age appeared in her eyes.

Amidst the throngs of people, no one stopped, and the heartbreaking cries of the little granddaughter echoed between heaven and earth… In the Gulan Autonomous Region, towering artillery fire exploded on the scorched earth, raising pale ashes. Flesh and blood were pushed skyward by the shockwave, then rained down like blood over the battlefield.

Hunter, carrying a medical kit, dragged wounded soldiers from the trenches back to the camp, laying them flat on stretchers.

People who had lived in peace for too long faced war for the first time, like roe deer stunned by thunder in the forest, unable to understand what they were experiencing or where they were going. They mechanically charged forward, mechanically retreated, and then instinctively struggled to survive.

Casualties accumulated. The initial ambition was quickly replaced by fear. Even the most boastful young people could no longer claim their love for war. Frivolity dissipated in the oppressive atmosphere, and the camp was filled with wails and cries.

“Save me… I want to live… I don’t want to die…” “My leg… it hurts so much…” “Mommy…” Groans rose and fell, some voices sounding for a while before falling silent forever.

Hunter was immersed in the shadow of death, trying to calmly treat the wounded. To this day, he still couldn’t understand how the war started; inexplicably, overnight, the world had turned into a chaotic mess.

Why fight a war? Hunter thought, although the Federation’s rule was bad, it wasn’t so terrible that it needed to be cleansed with blood. They were poor and dissatisfied, but hadn’t they still survived?

“Bad news! The People of Scarlet Truth have bypassed us from the rear… We’re overrun, the position is completely lost…” A dust-covered soldier rushed into the camp, his voice choked with tears.

One after another, people missing limbs rushed over, screaming in terror: “Ghosts! They have Ghosts!”

Scarlet Truth was a resistance force that had been entrenched in the Gulan Autonomous Region for many years, and recently formed a cooperation with the Balance Church, greatly increasing their power.

Hunter had friends working in the Bureau of Anomaly Affairs who had subtly revealed some information to him. He knew that the Balance Church had a cult belief and could mobilize the power of Ghosts. But hearing about it was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes, he still found it unbelievable.

One after another, broken corpses staggered into the position. Even with their heads blown off, their remaining limbs still twitched as they advanced towards the position.

Corpses in the trenches rose, biting the necks of comrades beside them. Wounded soldiers on stretchers lost their breath, then sat up stiffly, joining the army of mutilated corpses.

Silver threads clung between the mutilated corpses, the world wrapped in a translucent cocoon, and red-eyed white doves flapped their wings, carrying away rotten flesh.

A black hole-like ice pit appeared at their feet, countless skeletons gathering at the bottom, reaching out their arms to drag people outside the pit.

Hunter struggled frantically but was still dragged into the pit, joining the ranks of skeletons… Snow Mountain, dilapidated temple.

Colorful prayer flags and wind chimes obscured the temple gate. A faded spirit screen faced the white snow outside the gate. A young man in a casual Tang suit with an ordinary face was pinned to the wall by white feathers, blood trickling into a river at his feet.

Even though the young man was in an extremely sorry state, his mouth didn’t stop: “Beautiful lady, you’re not playing fair. I’m a theoretical player, not good at fighting, but you immediately used a big move… I mean, can’t we talk first?

“Even if you don’t want to talk, there’s no need to be so ruthless. Look at my thin arms and legs, what threat could I be to you? And my blood is dirtying the ground, which is an eyesore for you, and then you’ll have to clean it up, which is very troublesome, wouldn’t you agree…?”

A folded fan lay scattered in the muddy corner, inscribed with the four large characters “Defy Heaven and Change Fate.” This person’s identity was obvious: Yu Jinsheng, the Acting Guild Master of the Tingfeng Guild.

The woman standing before him had waist-length hair and a white trench coat fluttering in the wind. She was White Crow, the Vice Guild Master of the Balance Church.

“Guild Master Yu is well-known for his ‘three cunning burrows,’ so I don’t believe you have no trump cards at all, which naturally requires me to be cautious. And since we are enemies, what is there to say?” White Crow held a gentle smile, casually walked around the spirit screen, and stopped by the sacrificial pit.

The skeletal remains in the pit, which had only reached the mid-line, rapidly increased. Skeletons filled the pit to ground level within minutes. War is always the cruelest sacrificial Ritual.

Behind him, Yu Jinsheng continued to babble: “Actually, beautiful lady, I think we could temporarily have a truce agreement. You see, this instance is filled with wind and snow, constantly changing, and the situation is treacherous. I happen to know some acquaintances, so cooperation would be beneficial to both of us.”

“Is that so?” White Crow returned to the spirit screen, looking directly at Yu Jinsheng, the silver-white light in her eyes gentle and sacred. “Who do you think would be the first to save you if I pinned you to the altar?”