Chapter 39: Carnivore (11) Clues

Zhao Feng tore off a corner of his clothing and bandaged the wound on his arm.

Perhaps it was the effect of the instance mechanics; the moment he finished bandaging, the sharp pain rapidly subsided to the level of a skinned knee from a fall.

This could barely be considered good news. There were still four days left until the instance ended, and the thought of having to live with the pain of cutting flesh for that long was despair-inducing.

Zhao Feng went to the corner of the courtyard again and handed the fresh meat from his own body to A-Xi, who was gnawing on his own fingers.

A-Xi took the meat, stuffed it into his pocket, revealed shark-like dense teeth, and giggled, “Hee hee.”

The terrifying-looking boy tilted his head and said in a crisp, childish voice, “Thank you, big brother. Let me tell you a story.”

Zhao Feng’s eyes lit up, unable to hide his joy.

No wonder this damn ghost child couldn’t be killed; he was an NPC providing clues.

The prerequisite hint stated that the truth was contained within the villagers’ words; as long as one spoke the truth, they could resist the villagers’ harm.

In other words, verbal clues were like a talisman for saving one’s life at critical moments.

Trading a piece of flesh from one’s own body for a life-saving talisman wasn’t a profit, but it wasn’t a loss either.

Qi Si stood silently to the side, his lips curling into an arc.

Hmm, trading a piece of Zhao Feng’s meat for a clue was not only not a loss, but a huge profit.

A-Xi cleared his throat and recited in the tone of a nursery rhyme:

【Sister and brother go to Grandma’s house, children’s meat is tender and bones are brittle, Grandma drools with greed.】

【At night, the younger brother hears a crunching sound, asks Grandma what she is eating, Grandma says it’s dried broad beans.】

【The next day the sister is gone, the brother searches and searches and searches, broken bones are piled in the corner.】

After finishing, he giggled, skipped away, leaving Zhao Feng standing there in a daze.

Zhao Feng looked around and saw Qi Si standing to the side holding the Recorder with an inscrutable expression, and subconsciously asked, “Brother Chang, what does this story have to do with our instance?”

“I don’t know,” Qi Si shook his head lightly. “However, I suspect that perhaps A-Xi once had a sister who died during a famine and was eaten by Granny Su.”

The story A-Xi told was very ordinary; at first glance, it was just an extension of a horror story related to “eating.”

Qi Si had heard another version called “White-Clad Granny.”

It said there was a type of Ghost called “White-Clad Granny” that would pretend to be a grandmother, sleep with grandchildren, and secretly eat the children.

Qi Si didn’t have much of a terrifying impression of this story; now that he recalled it, the deepest impression he had was actually of the older female cousin who told him this story.

That girl, who was always dressed in flashy clothes, loved to poke his eyes with her bright red nails and curse him viciously: “Jinx, little debt collector, why haven’t you been dragged away by the White-Clad Granny yet?”

The wicked and foolish girl would fawn over the malice from the outside world while venting her resentment on her cousin who was living under her roof. After being bullied by classmates, she listened to folk taboo rumors and hanged herself in a red dress… What a crude and cliché tragedy.

The long-faded memory became vivid for a moment. Qi Si casually pressed the switch of the Recorder in his hand, and the smile on his lips took on a gentler tone.

“Sister and brother go to Grandma’s house…”

The sound of the nursery rhyme mixed with electromagnetic static echoed in the air. Perhaps due to the distortion of the recording, the voice lacked the crispness of a child, appearing low and hoarse, sounding eerie and chilling to the spine.

Zhao Feng twitched the corner of his eye and asked, “Brother Chang, where did this Recorder come from? What is it for?”

Qi Si answered truthfully, “I swiped it from the bus. I don’t know if it’s useful, but it’s better to have it than not.”

Zhao Feng suddenly understood a bit why Qi Si had so many items on him.

Should one say that he is worthy of being from the Sera Guild? He is simply “plucking feathers from a passing goose”…

In the center of the courtyard, the players had gathered their gear and assembled together.

Except for Yang Yundong, who carried a plain blade on his back, and Zhu Ling, who had a dagger tucked at her waist, no other obvious weapons could be seen on the other players.

It was unclear if they didn’t have any or if they were hidden in the dark.

Qi Si said indifferently, “Let’s go over there too. Let’s make a trip to the village chief’s house later. If we can solve the problem of the God Meat, that would be for the best.”

Zhao Feng nodded and stood next to Qi Si.

Deep down, he had quite a good impression of this unassuming young man, not only because the other party was a member of the Sera Guild, but also because he had extended an olive branch to him.

He was a combat-type player and hated thinking about puzzles in his daily life. However, rule-based horror instances left him no choice but to use his brain, which just made him irritable.

At this time, having someone willing to stand up and tell him what to do and when, and only needing to execute it meticulously to get good results, was simply too comfortable.

Furthermore, this person had similar values and would consider issues from his perspective… He was truly a kindred spirit he wished he had met sooner.

If those accomplices in reality were even half as good as “Chang Xu,” would he have needed to kill them off one by one?

Qi Si held back a smile, taking in Zhao Feng’s trust.

This guy was best at saying what people wanted to hear and what Ghosts wanted to hear, making everyone feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze.

…

By the woodshed, Granny Su had brought a wooden bucket from somewhere, carried it on a pole, and made a move to go out.

The wooden bucket emitted a strong smell of blood, and the lid on top was slightly ajar, making one inexplicably want to lift it to see the contents inside.

Zhu Ling stepped forward and asked, “Granny Su, where are you going?”

Granny Su didn’t hide it: “This old woman is going to the ancestral hall to pay respects. When someone dies, one must pay respects at the ancestral hall to ward off disaster.”

So you know someone died, huh?

Zhu Ling coughed twice and tentatively said, “You’ve worked hard hosting us. If there are no taboos, let me help you.”

Granny Su’s face changed, and she shook her head repeatedly: “Forget it, you broke one of my dinner plates yesterday; I dare not let you help again!”

Dinner plate? What is this situation now?

Zhu Ling’s eye twitched slightly, and she apologized with a smile: “I will be careful. I won’t do anything you don’t allow. I just want to go with you and help you carry some things.”

Granny Su’s voice was colder: “No, outsiders are not allowed in our ancestral hall.”

The players looked at each other, seeing the calculations in each other’s eyes.

The map clearly marked “ancestral hall” as a location that needed to be explored, but Granny Su openly forbade the players from going there.

It seems this ancestral hall must be visited, but they would have to avoid the NPC.

After Granny Su left, Yang Yundong let out a sigh and said, “Let’s go to the village chief’s house first to solve the God Meat issue, then go to the Village History Museum to see if we can find the background story of this instance. We’ll go to the ancestral hall last to avoid running into Granny Su.”

He looked around at everyone: “No one has any objections, right?”

The second rule required players to “plan their own travel route,” and Yang Yundong was exactly following this step.

The players knew this point and expressed their agreement one after another.

“No objections!”

“We’ll listen to Brother Yang!”

Without a doubt, Yang Yundong had now become the backbone of this nine-person team.

Being able to take a newcomer like Allen out for the whole night last night and still come back alive was enough to prove his ability; added to that, he was always the first to step forward when encountering anything, so everyone was happy to let him lead, scout the path, and clear the mines.

Zhao Feng stood next to Yang Yundong and spoke at the appropriate time: “By the way, I just solved the matter with that little ghost. ‘Flesh with a soul’ refers to fresh meat cut from a living person. He only wants flesh from a living person. Tell me, what should we do about this?”

“Flesh from a living person?” Yang Yundong knit his brows tight, his gaze landing on Zhao Feng’s left arm.

Bright red colors seeped through the layers of white cloth wrapped around it, and a faint smell of blood permeated the air, like the precursor to an ancient sacrificial Ritual for slaughtering human sacrifices.

A thousand thoughts twisted into a chaotic mess. It was annoying. Yang Yundong felt his pocket, but didn’t find any cigarettes.

Seeing him silent, Zhao Feng sneered: “Do you and that kid also need meat? Are you planning to cut your own or someone else’s?”

The players exchanged glances, seeing the calculations in each other’s eyes.

The delusional expectation of safety was shattered, and most people subconsciously followed the path of “cutting someone else’s meat” in their deductions.

After all, the injuries caused by cutting one’s own flesh would lead to a decrease in mobility, and in the Eerie Game, decreased mobility often meant death.

Putting oneself in another’s shoes, and then from others back to oneself, trust between people was inherently fragile.

Qi Si said casually, “It’s only the first day, and including Brother Yang, three people have already received the task of finding meat for the Ghosts. There are still four days left; who knows how much more meat will be needed…”

He lowered his eyes, revealing just the right amount of hesitation: “If everyone cuts their own flesh, by then, everyone’s mobility will decrease, which will definitely not be worth the loss. We all have to rely on Brother Yang, so in any case, we cannot let him consume his state in such a place. The best plan is probably…”

He didn’t continue.

The players here had been immersed in a society ruled by law for decades, and conventional universal values were deeply ingrained in their bones; they wouldn’t be completely extinguished in an instant.

Their concepts were curled up in the comfort zone defined by morality, unable to glimpse the choices in the shadows of the blind spot that were not advocated but were feasible.

And it only required a catalyst, and they would gain a new perspective, a brand-new way of looking at problems.

The players thought of the best plan Qi Si mentioned in unison.

Selecting a few people as sacrifices, while the others maintained their best state to break the game, was undoubtedly the most economical choice.

However, who would be willing to sacrifice themselves?

Yang Yundong looked deeply at Qi Si, his tired eyes slowly sweeping over the other players: “There are always some things that cannot be done. One must know that while humans act, the heavens watch.”

【Year of famine, year of scarcity, no rice or flour to survive the disaster.】

【Outside the ancestral hall, by the locust tree, set up a big pot to cook meat and taste.】

A-Xi’s cheerful voice rang out in a corner of the courtyard, reciting the nursery rhyme he had recited on the first day again.

The players looked over in unison, seeing the skinny boy grabbing a piece of bloody meat, circling the dry well in the courtyard.

He ran and jumped around the dry well while dancing, blood droplets splattering, his clothes flapping. The thin morning light covered him in a glaze, looking like the dance of a tribal shaman in the ancient, wild era.

“It’s the Wax Sacrifice dance,” Zhu Ling said. “In ancient times, to thank for a good harvest, people would hold a Wax Sacrifice at the end of the year, also praying for good weather and plenty of food and clothing for the coming year.”

Everyone saw A-Xi throw the meat in his hand into the dry well, and brilliant golden light steamed up from the well, enveloping him.

His complexion became rosy, with a bit more human quality, and even his withered body became plump.

He laughed happily, clapped his hands, turned, and ran out of the courtyard.

Zhou Yilin watched his back and muttered, “Wasn’t that well sealed off yesterday? How did it suddenly open?”