Inside the game lobby, countless live broadcasting rooms stood lined up. These broadcasting rooms varied in size, creating a dazzling spectacle, and occasionally one would vanish or a new one would appear without anyone even noticing.
However, when the surrounding broadcasting rooms were filled with scenes of panic, weeping, or angry cursing, the single slightly quiet and peaceful broadcasting room stood out as exceptionally unique.
The newbie district’s streams were always watched and guarded by players; after all, not just anyone dared to casually critique high-level broadcasting rooms.
“New players have entered again, but it looks like this batch of newbies has pretty mediocre overall quality.”
“Not that great indeed, but just watching their struggles before death is still quite entertaining, haha!”
“It’s actually Mountain Village Burial. This instance can be said to be the simplest newbie instance, with no real viewing value.”
“True, this instance only requires you to play your role well and hunker down to clear it. Since it’s an E-rank instance, it’s not that hard either.”
“Mainly, newbies lack experience, and very few can keep calm! But this newbie has a pretty good mindset; being able to remain this calm already surpasses a lot of people.”
“He actually got an item right after entering the game, his luck is way too good!”
“This newbie is quite handsome too, but unfortunately in this game, appearance value has the least use.”
The game lobby was bustling and lively, with continuous clamor.
These onlookers watched the lobby’s broadcasting rooms with cold detachment, making critical remarks. They either laughed heartily, mocked and sarcastically ridiculed, or expressed pity, but ultimately maintained a detached attitude of not their concern.
They couldn’t remember, nor were they willing to recall, how others had looked through the broadcasting rooms at them when they entered instances. They stared intently at others, laughing out loud at the agony of people on the verge of death, as if only this way could they gain a moment of solace.
[Broadcasting Room S0112103, current viewer count: 119, likes: 18, favorites: 57, tips: 1, please continue to work hard, player.]
Chi Ling did not yet know that many newbie players in his same batch had already lost their lives, nor did he know that he was currently a relatively eye-catching figure in the newbie district. He simply didn’t have time to look at the stream panel yet.
Walking unassumingly to the back, he took this opportunity to observe the exterior of the ancestral hall. From the outside, the ancestral hall here didn’t look much different from the real world.
The only thing that felt a bit off was the door of the ancestral hall, or rather, the characters carved in relief onto the door.
The plaque above the lintel was engraved with Liu Family Ancestral Hall, the left side was carved with Same root and source, clan flesh and blood, and the right side read Like-minded, family in harmony.
The characters were carved into recesses and then brushed with red pigment, casting a faint candlelight from inside the ancestral hall that made them look as crimson and glaring as blood.
[Player Mental State -2]
Chi Ling merely stared at the plaque for a moment, and his mental state dropped by two points. Originally, he only felt that these characters were peculiar, but now he was even more certain of it.
Just as he intended to reach out and touch them to see what was actually strange about these characters, a voice came from inside the ancestral hall.
“Cousin, why aren’t you going in yet? We’re going to offer incense to the ancestors with Grandpa and the others in a moment.” His cousin’s narrow eyes flashed with an eerie gleam, his tone icy. He slowly walked over step by step, the aura around him steadily escalating.
Chi Ling’s heart tightened. He carefully poked his head out to look behind his cousin; the other elders hadn’t noticed that two people had fallen behind and were still gathered together chatting.
Growing less nervous, he decided to take the initiative.
Chi Ling grabbed his cousin’s sleeve, looked at him eagerly, and his gaze was sincere: “Little brother, you came just in time. This ancestral hall is built so nicely! How did they manage to build it so big and magnificent?”
Hearing the question thrown by Chi Ling, the cousin forgot what he originally wanted to say. His aura suddenly plummeted back to normal, and he answered honestly: “It was built by everyone in the village pooling money together on the foundation of the old ancestral hall.”
“Was the old ancestral hall completely demolished?”
This ancestral hall was too massive. For a small village of several hundred people, an ancestral hall built on the scale of a permanent resident population of thousands or tens of thousands was something Chi Ling found exceedingly strange, and he felt that the entire village could comfortably fit inside.
“The old ancestral hall wasn’t demolished; the new one was expanded on top of the old foundation. The old ancestral hall is now the inner hall of the new one, and none of the ancestors’ spirit tablets were moved.”
Chi Ling wanted to ask a bit more, but a robust voice came from inside the ancestral hall, startling him into a slight shiver.
“Why aren’t you two coming in yet?” Father called from inside.
Suppressing his yet-to-be-formed thoughts, Chi Ling replied, “Coming right now!”
He had basically figured out that in this instance, as long as his actions didn’t heavily clash with his identity in the game, there shouldn’t be any danger.
However, danger and opportunity often coexisted; a lack of major danger also meant there wouldn’t be any major gains.
Chi Ling followed his cousin through the main hall of the ancestral hall. The main hall was very large, and Grandpa Liu’s mourning hall had been set up right in the absolute center. In the middle of the mourning hall was a large character for Mourning, flanked by funeral couplets and wreaths, though the coffin was not parked here.
Without looking too closely, Chi Ling continued up the steps to enter the inner hall together with his cousin. The inner hall was the original old ancestral hall and wasn’t very large. In the middle stood a large altar table with an incense burner placed upon it, and behind the table hung a curtain that blocked everything tightly from view.
Characters seemed to be carved on the left and right walls, but Chi Ling was not in a convenient position to look at them right now.
Father had already finished offering his incense. Standing on the right side of the altar table, he handed three newly lit sticks of incense to Chi Ling.
Taking the incense, Chi Ling mimicked the other elders by kneeling on the futon, holding the incense to bow three times, and then inserting it into the incense burner before standing up to return to Father’s side.
Father nodded, looking at Chi Ling with approval: “You’ve been very obedient today. Once you finish offering incense to Grandpa Liu shortly, you can go back and rest.”
Chi Ling nodded perfunctorily, but he didn’t want to go back just yet.
Scheming in his heart about how to find an excuse to stay behind, and seeing that his cousin had also finished offering incense, he pointed at his cousin and said, “Dad, I want to stay here with my cousin.”
His cousin looked at Chi Ling in bewilderment, while Father pondered for a moment before agreeing.
“Jiahao, your older brother wants to stay here. Take him along to play!”
Father patted his cousin on the shoulder, and the cousin nodded dumbly with a blank, lifeless look in his eyes.
Second Uncle couldn’t help laughing: “Alright, the two of you go offer a stick of incense to Grandpa Liu, and then head to the west side hall. There are a lot of kids there; whether you want to play or rest, it’s all fine.”
Chi Ling looked gratefully at Second Uncle, who couldn’t hold back a grin as he heavily patted his cousin’s back: “Jiahao, your brother is finally visiting, remember to take good care of him!”
Cousin: “…”
Bad luck, who on earth is the younger brother here?
Chi Ling and his cousin went to the main hall, knelt on the mourning hall’s futon in the same manner, and paid their respects by offering incense.
After finishing his respects and incense offering, Chi Ling headed with his cousin to the west side hall. There were quite a few rooms lined up next to each other there, and his cousin led Chi Ling into the first room on the left. This was the largest room in the west side hall, where a group of teenage youths wearing mourning cloth sat together playing cards amid laughter and chatter, making it very lively.
Chi Ling twitched the corner of his mouth; they certainly weren’t bound by taboos here, though understandably, most people in Huaxia were atheists anyway.
Since he had promised his father and uncle, the cousin still intended to take care of Chi Ling. This manifested specifically as, fearing that Chi Ling would be lonely, he stubbornly dragged him into playing cards. Chi Ling politely declined, stating that he wasn’t very good at it and would prefer to sit on the bed and spectate.
As for the others, they acted as if they couldn’t see Chi Ling at all.
Chi Ling also discovered that in this instance, as long as he didn’t violate his character setting, his presence in the eyes of everyone except his instance family members was remarkably low, and violating the character setting would be a different story.
Chi Ling was quite satisfied with his presence level in the current instance, given that he needed his own space too.
The mourning-clad young people inside the room weren’t affected in the slightest by the funeral and were still happily playing cards. Strangely, however, there wasn’t a single girl in this room. While the absence of girls might be normal, perhaps because they couldn’t get along with the boys, the fact that the only female Chi Ling had seen since entering this instance was Third Aunt made things abnormal.
Did the women in this village never go out? Combined with the rows of tightly shut doors, Chi Ling felt an unsettling vibe.
This village, including this funeral, was shrouded in layer upon layer of mystery. Chi Ling figured there should still be some time before nightfall, meaning he needed to go out and explore to earn some points. After all, unlocking side missions and supplementing the instance’s completion rate all granted points. And in this game, points meant life.
As for danger, if he couldn’t overcome the present dangers, things would only grow more perilous in the future.
Closing his eyes to check the panel, Chi Ling found that the store had been unlocked, and his account currently held a little over fifty points, all converted from the live viewer count and audience tips moments ago.
Utilizing these few remaining points, he purchased a small item that concealed one’s aura.
Although the time limit was only one minute, having the item gave Chi Ling a bit more confidence inside.
He still decided to head out, taking advantage of the daylight to investigate the village.
Stepping out the door and looking back, he saw that the people inside the room were still gathered playing cards, and no one noticed he had left. However, a figure walking straight toward him changed his mind, and he sat back down on the bed.
“Jiahao, come out. There’s something I need you to handle.”
Third Aunt waved her hand toward the room, her voice not particularly soft, leaving the cousin with no way to pretend he didn’t notice. He put down his cards and reluctantly walked out.
“Aunt, what is it? I haven’t finished my game of cards yet,” the cousin complained.
But Aunt wouldn’t care about such things. Using fingers painted with bright red nail polish, she pinched a chunk of the cousin’s flesh. The cousin wailed repeatedly, clutching his arm and backing away as he signaled that he was willing to do whatever was needed.
“Go to Granny Wang’s house at the end of the village and bring back the burial clothes she finished making,” Aunt commanded flatly, glancing sideways at her nephew with a gloomy aura all over. “If they aren’t done, watch out, I’ll flay you alive.”
After speaking, Aunt smiled and left, though Chi Ling didn’t for a second think she was joking.
Aunt departed, leaving behind a distressed-looking cousin standing at the doorway.
Chi Ling had been keeping his ears pricked to listen to their conversation. Seeing that his cousin was miserable and clearly unwilling, he took the initiative to step forward, pat his shoulder, and flash a warm smile.
“Little brother, I’m completely free right now. How about this: I’ll ask you a question, and if you answer it well, I’ll go fetch those burial clothes for you. How does that sound?”
Chi Ling smiled harmlessly and gently, but the cousin shivered inexplicably, feeling as though he was being targeted.
The cousin was clearly tempted, but thinking of Aunt, a struggle surfaced in his eyes, and he still refused.
“If Aunt finds out I let you go get the burial clothes, she’ll definitely beat me up.”
“What’s there to worry about? If you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, who would know? Besides, Aunt just wants you to get the burial clothes. As long as they are brought back, she won’t care who fetched them.”
“What if I retrieve them and give them to you, and then you hand them over to Aunt?”
Chi Ling’s tone was soft, his fingers resting lightly on his cousin’s shoulder.
“Damn, this newbie is really good-looking. If he talked to me like that, I’d definitely agree!”
“Why is he going to get burial clothes though? It seems no one has walked this route yet.”
“The newbie is still too reckless. He should stay in the room and go nowhere; at least that way he wouldn’t make mistakes.”
“Still, just for that face, I’m willing to watch a bit longer.”
Chi Ling’s hand was still resting on his cousin as he waited for a response, but he inexplicably felt a wisp of chilling wind brush past, prompting him to quickly withdraw his hand to make the feeling subside a bit.
At that exact split second, his stud earring grew slightly warm. Chi Ling unconsciously touched the earring.
“Alright then! What do you want to ask?” Reluctant to do manual labor after all, the cousin agreed within seconds.
“The question I want to ask is definitely very easy to answer, don’t worry.”
“Then go ahead and ask!” The cousin lowered his head, twisting his fingers together with a weak tone.
“Why are you so afraid of Aunt?”
He had plenty of things he wanted to ask, but since his cousin might not know all of them, he had no choice but to start with what his cousin was most familiar with.
The cousin immediately raised his head, a hint of reproach in his eyes: “I’m not scared of her, I respect her.”
“Aunt is one of the only three college graduates in our village. Usually, whenever our two families have any issues, she helps out. We ought to be grateful to Aunt.”
Pausing for a moment, the cousin continued: “Besides, if she weren’t so fierce, she’s actually pretty nice to us.”
I see. Raising an entire big family alone, no wonder her resentment is so heavy.
Ah, pfft, what am I thinking? That’s not the point.
“One of the only three college graduates? Then who are the other two?”
The cousin looked at Chi Ling with a weird expression. “You wouldn’t be trying to get me to praise you, would you? The other one is you, and the last is Grandpa Liu’s daughter, though she married and left the village a long time ago.”
“Alright, alright, I’ve answered,” the cousin said, his eyes brightening up. “Cousin, it’s your turn to help me get the burial clothes. Granny Wang’s house is the one closest to the pond on the west side. Hurry there and back, and make sure you return by 10 PM to eat dinner with us.”
With someone else doing his chores, the cousin was evidently delighted, his steps turning a bit brisk.
Chi Ling secretly noted down the time and stopped his cousin, who wanted to head back inside to continue playing cards: “Wait, don’t leave just yet.”
“What is it?” The cousin was full of puzzlement, but still halted his steps.
“Repeat after me.” Chi Ling spoke calmly, taking his cousin’s hand and raising it up: “I, Liu Jiahao, voluntarily commission Chi Ling to go to Granny Wang’s house to retrieve the burial clothes for me.”
“I, Liu Jiahao, voluntarily commission Chi Ling to go to Granny Wang’s house to retrieve the burial clothes for me.”
“Is that good, cousin?”
[System Prompt: Liu Jiaba villager Liu Jiahao has issued a commissioned task, help Liu Jiahao retrieve the burial clothes from Granny Wang and hand them directly to Liu Jiahao. Commissioner: Chi Ling. Task completion reward: 100 points]
[Does player Chi Ling accept?]
[Yes]
“Good enough.” Chi Ling let go of his cousin’s hand, smiling from ear to ear.
The cousin was stunned for a moment, only snapping out of it when Chi Ling spoke.
“Go back and play your cards!” Chi Ling waved his hand, urging him to hurry off, fully embodying the mindset of discarding someone the moment their usefulness ended.
It seemed commissioned tasks could also be actively triggered.
“Damn, look at that! This newbie accepted a commissioned task.”
“I’ve gained some insight. So commissioned tasks can be accepted like this!”
“It’s actually Mountain Village Burial too. This instance is extremely difficult to branch out into different routes.”
[Broadcasting Room S0112103, current viewer count: 479, likes: 198, favorites: 243, tips: 76, please continue to work hard, player.]
As soon as Chi Ling stepped out of the ancestral hall, he spotted the western pond his cousin had mentioned, because a small village of several hundred people wasn’t very large.
Walking all the way toward the pond, he didn’t encounter a single villager along the path. While strange, it at least meant he hadn’t run into any danger yet.
Chi Ling quickly reached the edge of the pond. The pond water was murky, exuding a dim, greenish, ominous glow while emitting a strange odor that once again churned up a feeling of nausea in Chi Ling. A ring of railing surrounded the perimeter, likely to prevent young children from accidentally misstepping while playing around.
There was only a single house standing by the pond, which should be Granny Wang’s place.
Built from earth bricks, the house was low and dilapidated, its roof tiles dark and forbidding, and the chipped wooden door was full of the traces of time.
Chi Ling originally wanted to knock, but fearing that the small wooden door might fall apart from a single knock, he stood outside the door and spoke in a loud voice: “Granny Wang, are you home? I am Liu Jinghua’s son, Liu ChiLing, here to pick up the burial clothes for my third aunt, Liu Fang.”
Logically speaking, burial clothes were prepared in advance, and fetching them only after a person had already been placed in the coffin was very strange. However, this was a game instance and couldn’t be viewed through conventional logic. Besides, with so many bizarre occurrences in this village, this particular matter wasn’t even that odd anymore.
He made sure his volume was loud enough for the room to hear, though he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the old lady might be hard of hearing.
There was no response from inside the room for a long time. Chi Ling wondered whether he should push the door open directly, but fearing it might trigger rules, he held back. Doorway-kill tropes, he rejected them entirely.
Right at that moment, the door in front of him suddenly swung open.