The clay sculpture was about half a person tall, made of clay, crooked, and severely out of proportion.
Its eyes, like copper bells, bulged outward—one large and one small—looking as if they were about to pop out.
Its nose was a collapsed lump, and its mouth gaped wide, revealing two crooked fangs. It looked both menacing and ridiculously ugly.
Most interestingly, piled at the feet of the clay sculpture was a heap of round, calabash-shaped “creatures” that were small at the top and large at the bottom.
They looked like potatoes, each with two sesame-sized black dots poked in for eyes.
A temple built inside an ancestral hall, and enshrined within that temple was not some deity, but rather a comically ugly clay sculpture.
The entire situation was bizarre.
...
...
“Is this... the Clay Sculpture Ghost?” Ouyang Qiu was a bit dazed. “It's kind of abstract.”
She had thought it would be something terrifying and had been on edge for a long time.
Who would have thought it would be so unexpectedly ugly?
Zhou Hui also hadn't expected this. “It looks like something a child put together for fun.”
Lin Hao stared at the ugly clay sculpture without speaking.
Just then, the clay sculpture's mouth moved.
A long string of pale black, ink-like characters drifted out of its wide-open mouth, floating in midair:
【Special Event Triggered: “Clay Sculpture Ghost Shop”, Point System activated.】
【Current Player Level: Lin Hao: Level 2, Zhou Hui: Level 1, Ouyang Qiu: Level 2】
【Opening Hours: Nightly (the Xu to Yin hours), closed during the day.】
【Today's Exchangeable Goods:
Fine Gold Ingot: 1 Point each, weighing one liang, exchangeable for equivalent currency in the real world.
Thousand-Mile Hunger-Free Pill: 5 Points per bottle, three pills per bottle. Keeps hunger away for three days after consumption and slightly restores physical strength.
Evil-Expelling Lime Powder: 5 Points per bag. Highly effective at repelling animal-type spirits and ghosts.】
【Shop Rules:
Open only at night; exchanges cannot be made during the day.
Higher-grade goods require a higher Player Level to unlock.
Points can be earned from Instance clearance, daily survival, quest rewards, and hidden exploration. Open the Personal Panel to view.】
...
...
The ink-like characters lingered in their vision for at least five minutes before slowly fading away.
All three of them were overjoyed.
A Point Shop?
There was actually a shop inside the Instance?
If they hadn't completed the shrouding quest, they would have definitely missed this vital piece of information.
“Points... Do we have points?” Zhou Hui asked in a low voice.
Lin Hao didn't speak. He silently muttered “Personal Panel” in his mind, and a translucent panel immediately popped up in front of his eyes:
【Player: Lin Hao】
【Class: None】
【Current Points: 70】
【Points Breakdown: 《Taiping Cemetery》 survival points: 40... Wenshan Village Instance Day 1 survival reward: 10 points, Day 2 survival reward: 10 points, Carrying the Corpse quest completion reward: 10 points...】
“You guys try it too. Just think 'Personal Panel' in your mind to check.”
Lin Hao craned his neck, trying to see the other two's information, but he couldn't see anything.
Ouyang Qiu let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Soon, after checking, both she and Zhou Hui had surprised looks on their faces.
“I have 20 points, the survival rewards for two days!” Zhou Hui stared at the gold ingots available for exchange, feeling tempted.
“Me too.” Ouyang Qiu hid the truth about her class.
“I don't recommend exchanging for gold ingots. If you're dead, what's the use of having gold ingots?”
Lin Hao was the first to buy a bottle of Thousand-Mile Hunger-Free Pills and a bag of Evil-Expelling Lime Powder.
Soon, the ink-like text churned, and the items he purchased appeared in the empty bowl at the feet of the Clay Sculpture Ghost.
Lin Hao picked them up, stuffed them into his pocket, and then proactively turned his back to them, his intention very clear.
Zhou Hui hesitated for a moment but ultimately chose to exchange for two gold ingots and a bag of Evil-Expelling Lime Powder.
—It would have been fine if she hadn't known before, but now that she knew there were human-headed rats in this village besides ghosts, her skin was crawling.
As for food, there was a continuous banquet in the village anyway.
Ouyang Qiu bought a bottle of Thousand-Mile Hunger-Free Pills and three bags of lime powder.
If the village was crawling with human-headed rats, then the lime powder was an absolute necessity.
What if the items sold in the shop appeared randomly?
It was better to buy more just in case.
...
Holding the items in their hands, the three of them finally felt much more at ease.
“Can we buy anything else?” Ouyang Qiu asked tentatively. “Is there any medicine that can turn someone back from a rat?”
“Our level is too low. It's locked.”
Lin Hao had already thought of this. He touched the scarf around his neck, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes.
Perhaps after leveling up, he would be able to find a way to get rid of this damned umbilical cord.
The moment this thought arose, waves of sharp pain shot through his neck, as if it were protesting.
Leveling up meant they had to do more quests and explore more.
“Should we do more quests then?”
Zhou Hui said hesitantly, “We can get clues and earn points to level up. Maybe the others have points too.”
“Those idiots only know how to hide. They don't do quests, and they don't look for clues. Why should we share such vital information with them?”
Lin Hao sneered. “Even if we do tell them, it will depend on the situation... Don't worry about them.”
Neither Zhou Hui nor Ouyang Qiu had any objections.
Perhaps because they had stayed in the ancestral hall for too long, the human-headed rats inside the memorial tablet holes suddenly grew restless, letting out bursts of soft squeaks.
They seemed to have been disturbed.
“Don't touch anything else.” Lin Hao left the two behind and bolted. “Take your things and let's go.”
—If they stayed any longer, it would be trouble if they drew all these human-headed rats out.
The three of them quickly lightened their footsteps and retraced their steps.
Fortunately, the human-headed rats in the memorial tablet holes merely kept staring at them and did not give chase.
Only after crawling out of the main hall did the three of them breathe a long sigh of relief.
...
...
“That was terrifying...” Ouyang Qiu was still shaken. “Behind those memorial tablets... they're completely filled with human-headed rats.”
Just thinking of those densely packed holes and the human faces inside them made goosebumps break out all over her body.
Zhou Hui's face was also pale. “No wonder the village chief didn't want us entering the ancestral hall... It turns out such a massive secret was hidden here. This is a village of rats.”
“The missing people turned into human-headed rats and are locked inside the ancestral hall.”
Lin Hao tried to analyze. “Could the villagers be rat spirits? That would explain why they're so afraid of cats.”
—Did those villagers who walked around during the day turn into human-headed rats at night and crawl back into the memorial tablet holes?
That would explain why they were nowhere to be seen during the day and only came out at night.
What about Huang Facai?
What about the deceased Old Lady Huang?
Could it be that none of them were human?
Just thinking about it made their scalps tingle.
“Then what... do we do next?” Zhou Hui asked.
“Go back,” Ouyang Qiu suggested. “I think we'd better pretend we don't know anything. Otherwise, if the villagers find out we entered the ancestral hall, it might anger these rats.”
Zhou Hui and Lin Hao both agreed.
Retracing their steps, the three of them quietly slipped back into the western side room. The other teammates, having eaten and drunk their fill, had long since fallen asleep.
The distant sound of suonas grew clearer, accompanied by the faint sound of wailing.
It felt as though a funeral procession was wandering through the village.
Cat meows also rose and fell, each one more shrill than the last.
Each harboring their own thoughts, the three of them fell into a deep sleep.
...
...
Outside the Instance, Song Mo was equally astonished.
“The First Mirrored Instance, which I had the highest hopes for, is actually the slowest in quest progress. They haven't even dug up the crucial shop clue, which means Su Ya and the others still don't know about the Point System.”
“In the Third Mirrored Instance, Wang Lei turned a disaster into a blessing and actually got the first kill... This guy's luck stat isn't low.”
“As for the Second Mirrored Instance, Ouyang Qiu and her group are making decent progress. Although their puzzle-solving progress isn't high, they might just survive until the end.”
Song Mo glanced at the Instance, then her gaze fell on the news on her phone.
On Weibo's trending searches, the news of the “mass disappearance in An Province” had exploded after fermenting for several days.
Meanwhile, the official team led by Chen Xi had also escaped the Instance.
Out of ten people, six made it out.
Rate on N.U.
