The white-robed woman is Li Siyu, the guide NPC for the novice trial.
As soon as she heard the commotion outside today, learning that a player was finally going to participate in the trial, she was extremely excited. She had been restless for a long time, adjusting her voice and appearance, aiming to scare the player half to death during their first encounter. At this moment, she had specifically created a ghastly special effect, and was speaking to Jiang Ye with a face that had half its flesh and skin missing.
Li Siyu originally expected the player to scream, or at least show a reaction of retreating repeatedly. That would have been showing her respect!
But what was going on now?
Why was this player in front of her not scared at all, and even seemed to be teasing her with interest.
Li Siyu pursed her lips, the bones at the corner of her mouth twitching.
Jiang Ye curiously circled the beautiful NPC sister from front to back, examining her.
From the bottom of her heart, she felt that the game's art aesthetic was truly excellent.
So far, Jiang Ye hadn't encountered any unattractive NPCs.
This sister in front of her, even with her flesh and blood separated, could be seen to have excellent bone structure.
“Sister, I’m here on behalf of our village chief to check on the situation in Li Family Village,” Jiang Ye said with a smile to Li Siyu.
Li Siyu looked at the player’s nonchalant face and really wanted to perform an ‘hungry tiger pouncing’ move, raising her hand to mimic the posture of her Nine Yin White Bone Claws to intimidate the other party. However, doing so would completely go against her character, so Li Siyu fell silent for a moment, suppressing her impulse.
“Sister, are you alright?” Jiang Ye, seeing the NPC not speaking, waved her hand in front of her.
Did she need to say a specific line to trigger the next part of the story?
While Jiang Ye was in this moment of suspicion, Li Siyu slowly began to speak.
“Thank you, brave traveler. May I know your name?”
“A Leaf Boat.”
“Our Li Family Village suffered a calamity a month ago. Disaster struck, and all the old and young in the village perished here. Only I escaped this fate because I was away.” Li Siyu wept, raising her hand to delicately touch the corner of her eye.
“Sister, stop wiping your eyes, there isn’t a single tear,” Jiang Ye, seeing her action, couldn't help but blurt out.
Li Siyu’s movement paused slightly, her beautiful eyes looking up, filled with resentment.
“There really aren’t any,” Jiang Ye said with certainty. “How about this, I’ll think of a way for you to shed some tears, and then you can continue talking?”
Li Siyu suppressed the annoyance in her heart, repeatedly reminding herself that she was a professional NPC. After a moment, through this method, she calmed her thoughts, continued the action of wiping her tears as prescribed by the system, and spoke with a pitiful tone.
“Although I wasn’t very close to the people of Li Family Village, many of the villagers were my family.” Li Siyu cried out in distress, covering her face with her hand. “All I seek now is the bones of my loved ones, and the truth!”
Jiang Ye chuckled.
Li Siyu’s performance froze.
“I’m sorry, Sister. Please continue,” Jiang Ye quickly apologized.
“What’s wrong with you, player?” Li Siyu raised her eyebrows, unable to contain her anger any longer.
“I didn’t do anything,” Jiang Ye said innocently. “Sister, why don’t we stop beating around the bush? Just give me the quest, and I’ll complete it, okay?”
This pre-quest immersion, Jiang Ye felt that neither she nor the NPC could get into it.
This NPC clearly had the soul of a wild and fierce warrior crammed into a delicate and fragile model.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t she even be able to fake cry?
Could it be another bug?
Jiang Ye silently prayed in her heart and looked at Li Siyu with an earnest gaze.
Li Siyu took a deep breath. She had wanted to fully immerse herself in her script again, but she just couldn’t muster the breath. Halfway through, as soon as she met the player’s gaze, the breath would slip away with a whoosh, and she would relax.
Forget it.
“Alright, you said it yourself,” Li Siyu emphasized. “Don’t you dare complain about me after you finish the trial.”
“Can you even complain about NPCs in this game?” Jiang Ye genuinely didn’t know.
“.......” Li Siyu felt she had said too much.
She simply stopped talking and directly issued the quest to the player.
[System: Li Siyu has issued you the trial quest “Bone-finding quest”. You have one hour and thirty minutes to complete it. If you exceed the time limit or die, the quest will be considered failed.]
[System: Quest started! Countdown has begun!]
“This quest has a time limit?” Jiang Ye muttered. She looked up from the system interface, wanting to say something to Li Siyu, but when she looked up, Li Siyu was already gone.
This woman was like a wisp of smoke, disappearing with the wind.
Jiang Ye, who hadn’t thought of this NPC as human in the first place, shrugged and observed her surroundings.
She was currently standing at the entrance of Li Family Village. The stone tablet by the roadside clearly read “Li Family Village,” but the characters had become somewhat blurry due to the erosion of wind and sand.
If she wanted to find the remains of the villagers of Li Family Village, she would definitely have to visit the crime scene.
Jiang Ye took a step forward and walked in.
The village was desolate. All the houses were dilapidated, giving off a post-war barrenness. Thick spiderwebs hung from the wooden window frames, swaying in the wind. The doors were askew, some even lying on the ground, crushed into pieces.
Even the vegetable garden was in disarray.
Jiang Ye squatted on the ground and touched the soil. The soil was damp, which felt strange. She picked some up and brought it to her nose, smelling a strong fishy odor. There was a smell of decay.
Jiang Ye frowned slightly, picked up a useless wooden stick nearby, and dug into the soil with force. Before she could dig two scoops, with a 'pat', the sky began to rain.
Raindrops fell.
Rustle—
The wind around Jiang Ye’s ears seemed to stop for a moment. The falling raindrops also suspended in mid-air, no longer continuing to fall.
When the wind started moving again, all the sounds in the wind moved together, and the raindrops splashed onto the ground.
The sound of something breaking through the soil came from all directions at this moment.
Jiang Ye looked around, but there was nothing.
However, when she retracted her gaze, she felt a dragging sensation from under her feet. Something was pulling at her ankle.
Jiang Ye looked down. It was a hand.
Without a word, Jiang Ye suddenly lifted her other foot and unhesitatingly stepped on the person’s wrist.
Crack.
A crisp bone-cracking sound indicated that Jiang Ye had escaped the predicament.
Jiang Ye kicked the broken section of the hand on the ground. But after being kicked away, the severed limb, as if alive, rolled a few times on the ground before lunging towards Jiang Ye again.
It was persistent and extremely annoying.
And at this moment, it wasn't the only annoying thing attacking Jiang Ye.
Just now, Jiang Ye had indeed heard correctly. Sometime ago, the soil in the village had spawned countless arms, all attacking Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye could only use all four limbs to fend off these bothersome hands.
Once caught by these hands, Jiang Ye would develop handprints, enter a poison status, and start losing HP.
Most crucially, these hands were immune to attacks and could not be killed, only discarded.
Overall, from Jiang Ye’s perspective as a former game designer, the design of these mobs could only be described as outrageous.
Purely designed to be disgusting.
Since there was no way to fight them directly, there was only one option: the thirty-sixth stratagem, flight is the best.
Jiang Ye bolted and ran towards the deeper part of the village.
As she moved, behind her, hand after hand formed an imposing long line, relentlessly pursuing her.
After running for a while, these hands seemed to have become smarter, starting to stack like building blocks, evolving.
Originally just crawling on the ground and making clicking sounds, the hands had now merged, piling up to form a giant hand. And within the palm, there seemed to be an eye, staring at Jiang Ye, locking onto her, pursuing her.
“Holy crap.” Jiang Ye glanced back, her footwork quickening. “Are you kidding me!”
The giant hand formed by the stacked, dense hands descended upon Jiang Ye with the force of the Buddha’s Five Finger Mountain, attempting to trap her.
How could Jiang Ye surrender so easily?
Without a word, she summoned the Monk Seal, carrying her in a Q-like floating form.
The Monk Seal possessed a speed buff and high damage.
Jiang Ye’s speed suddenly increased. Just as she was about to be crushed by the giant hand and unable to escape, she slipped away with her feet and darted forward.
A strange wooden hut appeared in front of Jiang Ye.
This wooden hut was completely different from the surrounding dilapidated houses. It looked vibrant. Around the hut, the trees were green, and the flowers were blooming, swaying in the wind like a sweet dream.
Knowing that something like this appearing here was strange, Jiang Ye had no other choice, nor time to think. She could only brace herself and rush towards the wooden hut.
She rammed the door open with her body and locked it from the inside.
Jiang Ye leaned against the door, catching her breath, and waited.
One second.
Ten seconds.
Half a minute passed, and Jiang Ye still heard no sound of anything smashing against the door.
Hu—
Jiang Ye finally let out a sigh of relief.
She had finally escaped the group of monsters.
With her heart at ease, Jiang Ye had time to look around her surroundings.
The inside of the wooden hut was dark, and she couldn't see anything. After walking a few steps, she bumped into something.
Jiang Ye helplessly summoned the Egg Yolk Jellyfish.
The Egg Yolk Jellyfish could be used on both land and sea, providing illumination.
As the warm yellow light appeared, Jiang Ye could see everything in the room clearly.
It looked like a girl's boudoir, sweet and warm, with cute little decorations everywhere.
Jiang Ye cautiously walked inside, wanting to explore the situation. However, every two steps, the floating Monk Seal, due to its plump body, accidentally knocked over a vase.
Crash!
The vase shattered on the floor.
Jiang Ye was startled and looked back, only to realize it was an accident.
Just as she was about to say something to the Monk Seal, the Monk Seal’s expression changed. Jiang Ye turned around alertly, feeling a gust of wind fiercely brushing past her face, like countless small knives, densely packed.
She lost HP.
But there were no visible monsters around.
Jiang Ye realized that this house might be the key to ending the novice trial.
She tightly gripped the boning knife in her hand, her eyes sharp, staring ahead.
Ten seconds.
Ten seconds passed, and the enemy still hadn’t appeared.
The entire house was calm, like a warm dream.
With a glance from Jiang Ye, the Egg Yolk Jellyfish extinguished its light, and the Monk Seal slapped its tail.
Pat.
With a sound, Jiang Ye felt another gust of wind.
Jiang Ye’s eyes lit up.
She knew!