Chapter 36: The Gu Village 35

When Zhou Shan returned, he found the young girl sitting obediently on the edge of the bed, lost in thought. Zhou Zhou kept her head lowered, looking both pitiable and bewitching.

"Zhou Zhou, will you go to a place with me?"

Zhou Zhou froze, immediately thinking of the cave the players had mentioned. She nodded.

"Okay."

When she had overheard the players' discussion earlier, she had wanted to follow them, but refrained from rushing off for fear of drawing suspicion. After all, why would a fool accustomed to staying shut away suddenly choose to follow a group of strange tourists? It would inevitably raise doubts. She had considered sneaking after them, but the players all had heightened senses; it would have been impossible for them not to notice her tagging along, so she had given up.

Now, however, the instance BOSS was taking her there himself. If that place was truly what she suspected, she might be able to verify that chilling conjecture...

Zhou Zhou’s mind was in a chaotic whirl. She was poor at hiding her thoughts, and they showed on her face. Seeing her so lively, Zhou Shan assumed she was happy to finally be going out. He couldn't help but stroke her head. "We will be together forever very soon—"

These words caused Zhou Zhou’s spirit, which had just begun to rally, to wither instantly.

[022, Brother...] Her voice trembled. [It’s the seventh day...]

[Yes.] The system’s tone was as reassuring as ever. [Believe in me, you will be fine.]

But Zhou Zhou’s taut nerves did not relax. She felt like a cat with its neck held in the jaws of a python, never knowing when the fangs would pierce through. What exactly was Zhou Shan planning? Murder, or... summoning "Him"? She had a premonition that if "He," whom the players spoke of, were summoned, something irreversible might happen.

Yet, no matter how she looked at it, Zhou Zhou could not just give up on going to the cave out of fear and sit here doing nothing. Even if the outcome were irreversible, it was better than staying here and facing the instance BOSS.

Just thinking of Zhou Shan made Zhou Zhou shiver. He was far too capable. But she did not know that she was not the only one on Zhou Shan’s bed.

—

Despite the bright daylight, the sky over the Gu Village was tinged with an ominous blood-red hue. Only the distant horizon remained a hazy white. The entire village seemed enveloped by an invisible magnetic field, isolated from the outside world.

The players were completely bound and thrown onto a sacrificial altar at the cave entrance, their expressions a mix of resentment and terror. The summoning runes on the altar flickered with a dull, dark red light. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't light at all, but flowing fresh blood. It was their blood.

They had not expected the instance BOSS to be so powerful. They had been discovered by him the moment they followed him here. No matter how they resisted, it was all in vain. They had used their final life-saving items as if they were worthless, yet they were still captured.

The players had long known that the further one progressed into an instance, the stronger the BOSS would become, but they hadn't anticipated this level of strength. Combined, they were not worth a single finger of his; this had exceeded the bounds of the players' comprehension. They had completely lost confidence in clearing the instance. Though they hated to admit it, they were likely going to perish in this instance.

Just as despair took root in the players' hearts, the instance BOSS arrived, cradling the delicate girl. Even on the final day of the instance, the girl remained as beautiful and lovely as ever, her small face as white as fine snow, crystalline and translucent—she looked nothing like an NPC from a horror instance. The players watched the pair with complex expressions.

Zhou Zhou could feel several scorching gazes from the shadows fixated on her. These looks felt as though they were stripping her bare, making her feel incredibly uncomfortable. She ducked her head, attempting to shield herself.

Zhou Shan was no blind man; he noticed it immediately. He locked eyes with the most blatant, unmasked gaze—that of the silver-haired youth. The man stared back coldly. Liang Ye responded with a provocative smile, arched his brows, and winked at the girl in the man’s arms.

He mouthed the words, [Little fool.]

Liang Ye’s actions were too obvious and too arrogant; Zhou Shan’s face darkened. With death at his doorstep, this base man still dared to seduce his wife. He suppressed the violence in his heart, telling himself it wasn't the time to settle scores with this wretch; the number of blood sacrifices was not yet sufficient.

He brought over two pale, gaunt, and handsome men, tossing them onto the altar. Ning Cheng and Ning Yan were bound on the altar, their faces devoid of emotion. They had anticipated this long ago; the man with the twisted possessiveness and love for the girl would never let them go.

Zhou Shan glanced at them, his tone gloomy. "Where is that old man?"

The villagers stated the facts in rough, hoarse voices: "Ning Jidong" had disappeared when they went to the prison cave. A flicker of surprise crossed Zhou Shan’s eyes. That man was just an ordinary person; he had used methods to torture them until they were unrecognizable, and he hadn't expected him to escape. But even if "Ning Jidong" managed to flee, he wouldn't live long; the Gu inside his body would torture an ordinary person until they wished for death.

Surrounded by countless corpses and insect remains, the entire space reeked of nauseating blood and stench.

"Brother Zhou Shan..."

Zhou Zhou’s face was pale, her body trembling as if she were about to vomit. Her psychological endurance had reached its limit; as a novice player, she had never witnessed such a cruel and bloody scene.

Zhou Shan comforted her. "Don't be afraid, Zhou Zhou... those are just disobedient people. Brother is only helping them punish themselves."

Zhou Zhou hated herself for not fainting. Seeing her so afraid, Zhou Shan seemed to feel a pang of pain. He pressed the girl into his arms, pulling her against his solid body to block her view.

He took out a knife and cut his fingertips. Countless Gu insects swarmed onto the altar, their bodies stained by thick, fresh blood, their mandibles emitting sharp, ear-piercing hisses. The summoning runes erupted with blood-red light, and a thread of insect-shaped black mist slowly coiled around them, devouring the flesh and blood of the insects. Once it had finished consuming them, it began to coil around the bodies of the players.

"Ah—!"

A player let out a scream. He crawled, trying to escape the black mist, but his bound body lacked its usual agility, and he struggled for several centimeters with immense difficulty. The black mist devoured him far faster than he could move; within seconds, he was swallowed whole, leaving not even a bone behind.

The players' faces turned ghastly pale. No one could avoid feeling fear at such a death, where not even a corpse remained. But upon seeing the black mist, the Gu Village villagers grew excited. "It’s the King Gu...!"

"The deity is appearing!"

They seemed completely unafraid of the black mist. All the villagers ran toward the altar, their stiff, cold faces twisted into eerie smiles. The black mist slowly wrapped around the villagers' wrists, and wisps of black energy crawled into their eyes, filling them with an insatiable desire for slaughter.

The villagers instantly lost their sanity.

Kill... kill them... kill everyone...!

The Gu villagers crawled on the ground like monsters, seemingly preparing to pounce on the surrounding players.

"Oh no," a player said, his face solemn. "Their minds have been corrupted!"

The remaining players' expressions changed as well. Corrupted villagers entered a berserk state, their combat power increasing by more than just a level. The villagers, their darkest desires stirred by the black mist, were driven by an extreme urge to kill and thirst for blood. Their cold, oversized pupils were pitch black, with very little white showing—eerie and hungry, they stared straight at the human flesh.

The next second, they tore into them like beastly monsters.

"Ahhh—! It hurts!!"

"No...!!"

"Ahhhhh!!! Save... save me...!"

The chorus of screams turned the altar into a hell on earth. A player with a buzzcut caught sight of a small rock next to his bound right hand. He said in a low voice to the man bound in front of him, "Brother, lend me a hand."

"The rock over there, kick it with your foot."

The terrified man, hearing a player speak from behind, was momentarily stunned. Once he understood the request and saw the rock at his feet, a flash of wild joy crossed his heart.

"Okay, okay!"

"Thanks, brother."

The buzzcut player’s hands were nimble, and he quickly sliced through the ropes. He stood up, his body freed, and used the same method to cut the ropes of the other players.

The unbound players soon engaged in a fierce struggle with the villagers. What they didn't know was that the runes beneath their feet were becoming increasingly eerie and crimson as a result. These blood-soaked runes looked like thick, fresh red wine, carrying a cold, chilling aura.