Chapter 64 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 64

Early the next morning, Ji Xiu kept his promise and took Ji Chunsheng up the mountain to hunt.

When he wasn’t away working odd jobs, he was the village’s only hunter. In his hands were the bow and arrows and the homemade shotgun passed down through generations, and even Da Huang had been raised specifically to be trained as a hunting dog.

Unfortunately, Da Huang was rather unlucky. Just as it had grown big enough to go up the mountain, the once-isolated village finally came into contact with the outside world.

Staff from the township departments came to the village to promote awareness about animal protection, forbidding Ji Xiu from hunting in the mountains anymore.

With no other choice, Ji Xiu put down his weapons and went out to work.

And so Da Huang, unlucky as it was, never once went to the back mountain.

This time, when Ji Xiu took Ji Chunsheng hunting, he still had to abide by the law. He wouldn’t hunt any protected animals, just a few rabbits or pheasants to add to the family’s meals, and to give Da Huang some nourishment as well.

For a dog, Da Huang was truly far too skinny; its ribs stood out clearly on both sides.

Wang Qiuyue also felt sorry for Da Huang, but the family barely had enough food for themselves. They simply couldn’t afford to feed the dog properly, so it had to endure the hardship.

Now that Ji Xiu had picked up his weapon and gone out, his spirit seemed to return to what it had been years ago, and she couldn’t help but feel full of anticipation as well.

After seeing Ji Xiu off, Wang Qiuyue prepared a simple meal, then tidied up the things Ji Xiu had brought back in the courtyard.

Because he’d been in a hurry to return, Ji Xiu hadn’t had time to gather anything decent; he'd just grabbed whatever was within reach. As a result, the baskets were a chaotic mix of all sorts of items.

She rummaged through and found a small box. Opening it, she saw a pair of pearl earrings inside.

The round pearls emitted a soft, lustrous glow.

A trace of astonishment flashed through Wang Qiuyue’s eyes, followed immediately by a sweet smile.

This was the gift Ji Xiu had promised her. She hadn’t expected that after coming back, he would still remember such a thing…

The volcanic hostility that had long been suppressed deep in her heart seemed to cool slightly under this gentle, spring-rain-like warmth.

At the same time, it felt as though the gloom hanging over Ji Family Village had dispersed quite a bit.

…

Three hours later, Wu Letong and the others got up and went downstairs.

The moment they woke up, they sensed that the world had undergone a noticeable change like the land after a rainstorm. Everything within sight felt cleaner, fresher, brighter, and somehow more endearing.

Unlike yesterday, when Ji Family Village, despite appearing picturesque on the surface, always gave off a stifling, oppressive feeling.

Wu Letong was completely baffled.

This world was far too strange, utterly beyond his past experience. All sorts of odd things kept happening, sometimes it suddenly improved, sometimes it suddenly worsened, entirely unrelated to his exploration progress. He couldn’t extract the slightest bit of useful information.

Even though he didn’t understand why, one thing was certain: there was something off about this world.

By rights, this was only a D-rank world. It shouldn’t be like this. Could the mission world be upgrading itself automatically?

Wu Letong felt troubled and uneasy, but no matter what, the mission still had to go on.

He wandered around looking for Ji Xiu, but couldn’t find him. Then he remembered Ji Xiu had said yesterday that he’d be going up the mountain to hunt today. He froze, then beat his chest in regret.

If only I’d gotten up earlier.

He had originally planned to coax that woman into causing trouble for Ji Chunsheng, to test whether the killing intent he’d deduced yesterday was correct. Who would’ve thought the person involved would go straight out and not be home at all.

If he wanted to test it in person, he’d have to wait until they came back in the evening.

Fine then. Let that woman live a few more hours. He’d stick to the original plan, go to Goddess Maiden Peak first, look for clues, and try to uncover the final killing trigger before anything else.

Wu Letong led his companions to finish breakfast and hurried out toward Goddess Maiden Peak.

Passing through the courtyard, they saw Wang Qiuyue standing there, bent over as she sorted through the two baskets of items Ji Xiu had brought back the day before. Her figure was slender and fragile, like a quiet, beautiful white gardenia, evoking instinctive pity and concern.

At the very least, the other players all felt a surge of sympathy.

Only Wu Letong and Lu Zhizhen exchanged a glance, alertness rising sharply in their hearts.

After yesterday’s events, Lu Zhizhen had gone back and explained everything to Wu Letong in detail.

When he learned that Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli had been bold enough to go to the bathroom, he was furious. But this was the goddess he liked. What could he do? All he could do was forgive her with tears in his eyes.

Wu Letong analyzed that she must have triggered a killing mechanism, which was why she’d been hunted by a ghost.

Yesterday, both she and Huang Wenli had been in the bathroom, yet the ghost only targeted her and showed no interest in Huang Wenli. That meant the trigger lay with her.

Lu Zhizhen had thought it over for a long time but still couldn’t figure out what she’d done to trigger it, completely confused.

Wu Letong asked if she’d ever felt a chill down her spine.

She suddenly remembered that while she was in the courtyard, standing close to the boss and the boss’s wife, she’d felt that sensation. But later, when she encountered the ghost in the bathroom and the boss appeared, the ghost had vanished for reasons unknown.

After she told him this, Wu Letong’s expression darkened. He warned her to be careful in the future and to avoid Wang Qiuyue as much as possible.

Because a chill down the spine usually meant a ghost was peering into your life.

At present, Ji Xiu didn’t seem to harbor any ill will toward her. That ghost was very likely Wang Qiuyue.

After hearing this, Lu Zhizhen’s wariness toward Wang Qiuyue reached an unprecedented level.

Only Huang Wenli, whether due to her simple nature or some kind of sixth sense, paid no attention to their warnings, muttering that both the boss and his wife were good people and couldn’t possibly be ghosts.

Lu Zhizhen had no way to deal with her and could only try her best to protect her.

After all, Huang Wenli had saved her twice from ghosts before she was her lifesaver.

What Lu Zhizhen feared most was something like the programmer’s deranged muttering: that Wang Qiuyue was a ghost, the boss was also a ghost, and even the boss’s son was a ghost that the entire family of three was…

If that were the case, they’d be in far too passive a position.

At the moment, Wang Qiuyue was standing right in the middle of the courtyard. No matter where they wanted to go, they’d have to pass through it.

Standing in the very center meant she could quickly approach anyone at any time.

Wu Letong had said before that such positioning usually only appeared in villains planning to surround and attack everyone.

Wu Letong and Lu Zhizhen felt uneasy, their expressions grave.

Unexpectedly, when she saw them pass by, Wang Qiuyue merely revealed a faint smile. She didn’t say a word, just smiled lightly and lowered her head to continue tidying things.

Wu Letong and Lu Zhizhen exchanged a look, letting out a breath of relief, though they were also a bit bewildered.

Nothing happened at all?

They’d even thought Wang Qiuyue would tear off the mask today and that someone would die in broad daylight.

No matter what, it was good that nothing happened.

Wu Letong led everyone away from the Ji household in a hurry.

After walking about a hundred meters, Wu Letong turned back and glanced at Wang Qiuyue’s figure in the courtyard. The middle-aged man’s killing trigger could be tested using that woman but how was Lu Zhizhen’s trigger supposed to be tested?

Wu Letong had tried hard to guess, but he was a simple-minded, straight teenage boy who hadn’t had his awakening yet. The idea of jealousy never even crossed his mind. He’d proposed many hypotheses, none of which felt reasonable, and had discarded them all.

Now it seemed his guesses really had all been nonsense, none of them hit the mark.

Oh well. If he couldn’t figure it out, he’d set it aside for now. Better to deal with the first killing trigger first.

…

Wu Letong and the others hurried to Goddess Maiden Peak and once again began searching for opportunities and clues.

The woman who was about to be sacrificed by Wu Letong knew nothing of her situation or future. She refused to do any work, plastering her face with flattery toward Wu Letong, still unwilling to give up on trying once more to get “□□,” to become his teammate and latch onto what was clearly a very reliable thigh to cling to.

Wu Letong looked at her behavior with bafflement, frowned, and said nothing—granting her the last shred of dignity before death.

The woman, however, mistook his silence as a sign that her flattery was working. Overjoyed, she became even more attentive, even starting to fantasize about a good life after latching onto him, and began treating Lu Zhizhen whom Wu Letong cared deeply about as an imaginary rival.

Suddenly, Lu Zhizhen walked toward Wu Letong.

The woman immediately became alert, stepped forward, and blocked her path. “What are you doing? Everyone’s properly looking for clues, don't keep thinking about slacking off.”

“???” What the hell exactly has been slacking off all this time?

Lu Zhizhen wore a baffled expression but patiently explained, “I need to talk to Letong about something.”

The word “Letong” instantly struck a nerve in the woman’s heart.

She’d spent two whole days trying to curry favor with Wu Letong and still hadn’t managed to get closer to him. Yet Lu Zhizhen doing nothing at all could enter the game and immediately call him so intimately by name.

A pretty face really was an all-purpose pass.

Thinking this, the woman couldn’t help but sneer sarcastically, “Letong, Letong so affectionate.”

“You” Lu Zhizhen was used to scheming and infighting in the entertainment industry. She hadn’t expected to encounter this kind of thing in a horror game. She was so angry she couldn’t speak for a moment.

The woman showed a disdainful expression.

Suddenly, Huang Wenli shoved Lu Zhizhen aside and rushed forward, slapping the woman hard across the face.

The woman froze. “…”

Huang Wenli was young and impulsive, her face full of a spoiled young lady’s willfulness and pride. She lifted her chin. “That’s for bullying Sister Lu.”

The woman clutched her face, her expression slowly turning ferocious. She suddenly lunged at Huang Wenli, claws bared. “I’ll beat you to death, you little !”

Huang Wenli was startled and quickly took a step back.

The woman charged at her relentlessly, not noticing her footing. She accidentally stepped on a short wooden stick, lost her balance, and with a loud “boom,” fell face-first onto the ground.

The other players, hearing the commotion, looked over in shock.

The woman lifted her head. Her face was covered in dust, two streams of blood flowing from beneath her nose. Her eyes burned with fury, her appearance both pathetic and ridiculous.

Huang Wenli couldn’t help but snort with laughter.

That was the final straw: the woman nearly went mad, wishing she could kill Huang Wenli on the spot.

Seeing that things were going wrong, Wu Letong stood up and shouted angrily, “Do you still want to survive this world or not? What are you doing? Fooling around here like this, what do you think you’re doing? Get back to finding clues, now!”

Huang Wenli stuck out her tongue, quickly grabbed Lu Zhizhen, and retreated. Seeing this, the others also lowered their heads and resumed searching for clues, afraid of being scolded by Wu Letong.

“Wait!” Lu Zhizhen stopped. “I really do need to talk to Letong.”

She stepped over the woman lying on the ground and stood in front of Wu Letong again, pointing toward the deep pool beneath Goddess Maiden Peak.

“Look Goddess Maiden Peak overlooks the deep pool directly. Could it be that the clue isn’t on the peak at all, but down there?”

Wu Letong froze, his mind replaying the scene from when he’d asked Wang Qiuyue about it earlier.

Ji Xiu had said that Goddess Maiden Peak had no special use, only that it was high and offered a wide view. So…

He suddenly understood. Perhaps Goddess Maiden Peak wasn’t the focus at all. The focus was what you could see from it.

“Everyone, come here!”

Having figured out the trick, Wu Letong hurriedly gathered everyone, telling them not to waste time on the peak itself, but to pay attention to what lay within the peak’s field of view.

After hearing his explanation, everyone had a sudden realization. No wonder they couldn’t find anything up here.

They quickly scattered, competing to observe the scenery in the distance.

Sure enough, once they changed their approach, they immediately discovered many clues.

Ji Family Village was extremely isolated, with little contact with the outside world. In this village, women held an extremely low status. With just a few casual glances outward, they saw three households where domestic violence was occurring. In every case, the ones being beaten were women too afraid to resist, shrinking into courtyards or houses to silently endure.

The newcomers felt a chill in their hearts, anger rising. “How can this be? This village is terrifying. Not a single person even tries to intervene. No, we have to stop this!”

Wu Letong hesitated. He was more concerned about the deep pool beneath Goddess Maiden Peak, and the great river connected to it that ran through the entire village. He had a strong feeling something important would happen there.

Over the past two days of observation, he’d realized that the deep pool and the river were extremely significant to Ji Family Village.

All the river’s water converged into the deep pool. Upstream was for washing and cooking; downstream, for fetching water and irrigating fields. People came and went every day, young and old alike depended on it for survival.

And from Goddess Maiden Peak, the most striking sight was precisely that deep pool.

Everything about it felt like a deliberate hint from the game.

But everyone wanted to stop domestic violence…

Though he was a veteran player who’d experienced many worlds, he couldn’t always rely on seniority to suppress others. If he did, resentment would build.

More importantly, it was possible that the killing trigger of this world lay within those domestic violence incidents.

No one could say for sure. Going to check wouldn’t hurt.

After thinking it through, Wu Letong nodded and agreed.

The newcomers had been angry; seeing him agree, they suddenly grew excited, feeling they might have found something related to the clues. Otherwise, someone as mission-first as Wu Letong wouldn’t have agreed.

They eagerly descended Goddess Maiden Peak and headed toward those households plagued by domestic violence.

No one paid attention to the woman lying on the ground. Seeing this, her expression twisted with hatred as she silently got up and followed behind the group, glaring resentfully at the backs of Wu Letong and Lu Zhizhen.

However, the newcomers’ passionate rescue effort suffered a devastating blow right from the start.

“What are you doing?! Who gives you the right to grab my husband?!”

The woman who had just been beaten to the brink of collapse and was cowering in a corner suddenly sprang up when she saw the players rush into the courtyard, restrain the man of the house, and tie him up. Emotionally overwrought, she lunged forward and started hitting the players.

“Where did you people come from? What are you doing in my house? You even tied up my husband, are you looking for death?! Someone help! People are breaking into my home!”

She shouted at the top of her lungs.

The players were completely unprepared. She scratched them until their faces were covered in bloody marks. As they resisted, they tried to explain, “We’re here to save you”

“Save? What save?” The woman froze for a moment, then remembered how years ago some organization called the Women’s Federation had sent people to the village to promote anti–domestic violence ideas, even wanting to take the village’s men away for ‘education.’ Realization dawned, and she flew into a rage. “Save what? You black-hearted things, trying to drive a wedge between husband and wife. We just closed the door and roughhouse a bit. What's it got to do with you?!”

The players stared at her in disbelief, finding her thinking utterly incomprehensible. “Are you crazy? Your husband was beating you, we came to save you.”

“Nonsense! Get out, get out, get out! Hurry up and get out! Who needs you to save us? Don’t you know about marital ‘fun’?!” The woman grabbed a large broom from the courtyard, her face covered in bruises and blood, and stood in front of her husband, driving the players out. With a bang, she slammed the courtyard gate shut.

The players looked at one another, completely at a loss.

At that moment, Wu Letong had already developed a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, they went on to visit the other households experiencing domestic violence. In every case, the men treated the abuse as natural, and the women shielded their husbands, driving the players away and insisting it was normal.

Huang Wenli couldn’t stand it anymore. When she encountered a mild-mannered woman, she asked whether it didn’t hurt.

The woman smiled. “Little girl, what are you saying? Isn’t life just like this? You fight at the head of the bed and make up at the foot. How many men in our village don’t beat their wives…”

She paused, a trace of envy appearing in her eyes. “Oh, right there is one. Wang Qiuyue is really lucky.”