Chapter 66 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 66

Huang Wenli spoke too fast; the others had no time to stop her.

Wu Letong stood frozen in place, dumbfounded. When he came back to his senses, he slapped his forehead, full of regret that he hadn’t taped her mouth shut. She really spoke without thinking, blurting everything out.

Seeing this, Lu Zhizhen also pressed her lips together irritably, not knowing what to say.

She had long heard that Miss Huang, the eldest daughter of the Huang family, was impulsive and naive. But at such a life-or-death moment, after they had clearly analyzed Wang Qiuyue’s situation and interests for her, and she had even promised not to act rashly, how could she still charge forward so single-mindedly to show goodwill?

Just as the other newcomers sensed that something was off in the atmosphere and felt a little lost, Wang Qiuyue looked up at them.

Wu Letong and Lu Zhizhen both took a step back at the same time.

Huang Wenli froze, then belatedly remembered what Lu Zhizhen had said earlier. She showed a bewildered expression. “I…”

Wang Qiuyue interrupted her and forced a smile. “Guest, thank you for your reminder and comfort. I will talk to Ji Xiu about it.”

Huh?

Wu Letong and Lu Zhizhen were both stunned. Nothing happened?

Could it be that the villagers’ collective violence against Wang Qiuyue wasn’t one of the killing triggers?

If Wang Qiuyue were a ghost who had been bullied to death by the villagers, then she should be filled with resentment toward them. Hearing their names should have triggered her killing intent, causing her to lash out and kill people.

But just now, she had responded to Huang Wenli’s words. That meant she understood what Huang Wenli was trying to say, yet she didn’t blacken on the spot. Instead, she softly thanked Huang Wenli.

Had they gotten it wrong? Was Wang Qiuyue not a ghost?

Wu Letong felt a headache coming on. He knocked his head lightly, growing increasingly confused by this strange world.

It could only be said that Ji Xiu’s appearance had thrown all the plotlines and settings into chaos.

Forget Wu Letong, even if the male and female leads appeared, they might not be able to sort things out.

Wang Qiuyue glanced at everyone, grabbed Ji Xiu’s hand, and was about to head back to the kitchen.

Ji Xiu followed her movement, looking a little confused. “What did you mean just now? Could you… tell me?”

Wang Qiuyue froze. Those autumn-moon-bright, beautiful eyes showed a trace of daze. After a long moment, she lowered her head and said nothing.

She had already taken revenge herself and hadn’t wanted Ji Xiu to get involved in these matters. Who would have thought these outsiders would be so warm-hearted and say it outright in front of him?

She recalled the suffering she had endured back then. Her emotions surged, and she nearly couldn’t suppress her rage, almost revealing her ghost form. Only remembering that Ji Xiu was still beside her did she barely calm down and force herself to keep acting.

But to really make her personally tell Ji Xiu about the hardships she had suffered these past few years, she didn’t dare.

She was afraid Ji Xiu would blame himself. Afraid Ji Xiu would be in pain.

It was never his fault. He had left home to earn money for her sake. If anyone was to blame, it could only be herself for being too weak, only realizing after death that endurance was useless.

If she had been stronger and fought back while she was alive, none of this would have happened.

“Qiuyue?” Ji Xiu held her hand.

Wang Qiuyue came back to herself, avoided his gaze, turned around, and hid in the kitchen. “Let Chunsheng tell you.”

Ji Xiu frowned, watching her leave, then turned to look at Ji Chunsheng.

At this look, his heart sank.

Ji Chunsheng hadn’t noticed their conversation, or rather, from the moment Huang Wenli spoke that sentence, Ji Chunsheng’s eyes could no longer see anyone else.

On the small boy’s face, black patterns surfaced one after another. Faint black energy lingered on each line. His eyes turned blood-red, filled with a strange, chilling gloom that made one’s heart tremble. He stared fixedly at the courtyard gate, as if seeing through the walls and looking at all the villagers outside.

It was just that earlier, everyone’s attention had been on Wang Qiuyue, so no one had noticed.

Now that their focus shifted to Ji Chunsheng, they finally saw his change.

He had revealed his ghost form.

The players, led by Wu Letong, followed Ji Xiu’s gaze, and their hearts all skipped a beat.

This was solid proof. Ji Chunsheng was a ghost.

There was no way to whitewash this. With Ji Chunsheng like this, if he weren’t a ghost, Wu Letong would let someone twist his head off.

Wu Letong and the others’ expressions changed drastically. They retreated quickly, putting distance between themselves and Ji Chunsheng, staring at the child as if he were a lit powder keg, afraid that with the slightest carelessness, it would explode and turn murderous.

Ji Xiu remained where he was.

He also knew his son was a ghost, but he was different from Wu Letong and the others.

He was Ji Chunsheng’s father.

No father would despise his son. Even if his son became a ghost, he shouldn’t be afraid.

Ji Xiu’s expression was calm, as if there were nothing unusual at all. He looked at Ji Chunsheng, waiting for his answer.

Seeing that Ji Chunsheng ignored him, he frowned slightly and gently nudged him. “Chunsheng, what are you looking at? Dad’s talking to you.”

Wu Letong was stunned. Boss, are you a ghost or not? If you’re not a ghost, how can you see Ji Chunsheng like this and still be so calm?

Ji Chunsheng, having been pushed, slowly turned his head to look at Ji Xiu.

In those blood-red eyes, malice surged, as if he were about to kill the person in front of him the very next second.

Wu Letong and the others held their breath.

Ji Xiu frowned, looking puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

Ji Chunsheng’s gaze fell on Ji Xiu’s face. The patterns on his skin faded bit by bit, and the blood-red in his eyes slowly cleared. It was as if he had suddenly awakened. In front of everyone, he suddenly burst into tears, lunged forward, and hugged Ji Xiu tightly.

“Dad, why didn’t you come back earlier?”

Ji Xiu froze. Guilt surged through his heart like a tide.

Of course he knew what Huang Wenli had meant. After all, he had the worldline plot of this world.

It was just that according to the normal plot progression, his identity shouldn’t know these things, so he had deliberately pretended not to understand, talking to Wang Qiuyue and then to Ji Chunsheng.

He thought that after Wang Qiuyue took revenge herself, she should be able to let go and wouldn’t need him to step in. He thought she could face this topic calmly.

But Wang Qiuyue had pushed him toward Ji Chunsheng and avoided the subject, while Ji Chunsheng, upon hearing it, became so agitated that he revealed his ghost form.

Ji Xiu suddenly realized.

He had experienced much, so his heart was strong and he could see things clearly.

He had judged others by himself and thought too optimistically, but he had overlooked Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng’s identities.

Even if this mother and son were now figures who ruled over a world, when they were alive, they had only been an ordinary mother and son struggling to survive amid the village’s exclusion and violence.

Their immense power came from the abuse and stimulation they had suffered in life.

The greater the power, the more it meant they cared about their past.

How ridiculous that he thought Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng, having taken revenge, could simply let it go.

Judging others by himself was wrong.

Not everyone could think the same way he did. He shouldn’t have so easily put this matter aside and assumed it was fine.

Ji Xiu caught Ji Chunsheng and patted his back, his tone full of guilt. “It’s Dad’s fault…”

“I missed you so much. You have no idea how much Mom and I suffered at home. Everyone in the village bullied us…” The young boy, who had just been immersed in malice and was on the verge of a killing spree, snapped back to clarity upon seeing Ji Xiu. His emotions instantly collapsed. In Ji Xiu’s arms, he cried like a hiccuping chick, sobbing uncontrollably, barely able to catch his breath.

If only Ji Xiu could have come back earlier. Just a little earlier…

Ji Xiu’s heart ached unbearably. He held the boy and comforted him, making promise after promise that he would definitely help him take revenge.

The boy poured out everything he had experienced over the years in his father’s arms. As past memories surfaced, the hostility and anger in his heart dissipated completely, leaving only an unconscious vulnerability before someone he trusted. He cried for a full ten minutes, crying until he was nearly faint.

Ji Xiu kept whispering apologies and promises into his ear. After a long while, the boy finally calmed down little by little.

After calming down, he wiped his nose. His tone was still that of a weak child, but the meaning of his words was terrifying.

He said, “Okay, Dad. Since you promised me, you have to do it. I want those people to live their whole lives in fear and regret.”

Ji Xiu’s gaze was gentle, his hoarse voice carrying cruelty. “Alright.”

As you wish, everyone in this world who ever targeted you will regret it.

…

More than ten minutes later, Ji Xiu sent Ji Chunsheng into the house to rest.

Wu Letong had witnessed everything, standing there dumbstruck, unable to recover for a long time. He realized that all his experience from previous worlds was completely useless here.

The twists and reversals were simply too dizzying.

Most crucially, they had actually survived in front of a ghost just now. That was absurdly lucky.

At that moment, Ji Xiu came out of the house again, holding a firewood cleaver. He looked up at the players and said, “I scared everyone just now, didn’t I? Could you refrain from spreading this around?”

Wu Letong and the others glanced at the blade in his hand, their hearts jumping, and nodded rapidly.

Ji Xiu let out a sigh of relief and showed an embarrassed expression. “That’s good. Chunsheng is only ten. He’s thin-skinned. Crying for so long in front of everyone… if outsiders find out, he’ll definitely be embarrassed.”

Wu Letong and the others: ???

Boss, what kind of filter are you wearing? That was a kid? That was a ghost!

Ji Xiu smiled noncommittally and gestured casually. “I’ll head out for a bit.”

Wu Letong’s interest was piqued. The boss had just learned that his wife and son had been bullied by the villagers. What was he going out to do?

He knew Ji Xiu was skilled. If they followed as a group, they’d definitely be discovered. After thinking for less than three seconds, he decisively abandoned the others and followed Ji Xiu alone.

The newcomers panicked and grabbed him, refusing to let go. “There’s still a ghost inside the house!”

If Wu Letong left, what would they do?

Wu Letong’s physical fitness was on a completely different level from the newcomers. He easily broke free and said calmly, “Don’t go near him. You probably won’t die. What the boss is doing now is more important. If you’re scared, you can follow me.”

The newcomers awkwardly gave up.

Ji Chunsheng was terrifying, but Ji Xiu, who acted as if he saw nothing strange at all, also felt terrifying.

Caught between two dilemmas, they thought it over and chose to stay in the courtyard.

They wouldn’t follow Ji Xiu, and they wouldn’t approach Ji Chunsheng inside the house.

Wouldn’t that be perfect?

Wu Letong gave a defiant, dismissive look, said a few words to Lu Zhizhen, then turned and followed.

But he had been delayed by half a minute, and Ji Xiu’s figure was already far ahead.

After hearing the story just now, Wu Letong felt that Ji Xiu probably wasn’t a ghost. Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng were. But Ji Xiu’s speed was far too fast, so fast it didn’t seem human.

As he followed, his heart pounded uneasily.

Soon, Ji Xiu entered a roadside house, and his figure disappeared.

Wu Letong hesitated, stopped where he was, and only after Ji Xiu came out did he slip into the house to check.

His pupils shrank violently, his expression twisting uncontrollably.

Blood everywhere.

Villagers who had lost all signs of life.

Wu Letong had experienced three worlds and seen countless horrific scenes, yet his heart was still deeply shaken.

For players like them, these villagers were just NPCs in a game. When he played Minecraft, he never spared villagers either, and felt nothing about killing them.

But for Ji Xiu, these were fellow villagers he had known since childhood. How could he act so decisively?

Imagine seeing, in reality, one villager killing other villagers. How shocking would that be? Though… considering his wife and child had suffered… wait, thinking about it that way, it suddenly seemed acceptable again.

The enmity of a murdered wife and child was irreconcilable.

Now that Ji Xiu knew the truth, slaughtering the entire village wouldn’t be surprising.

Wu Letong’s values were probably skewed. In reality, he suppressed himself, but in games, he felt like a fish in water. In his world, there was no gray, only black and white. Right was right, wrong was wrong.

These people had done wrong. They couldn’t be spared just because there were many of them.

When an avalanche comes, not a single snowflake is innocent. So when the sun rises, not a single snowflake deserves to live.

Wu Letong sorted out his thoughts, then looked again at Ji Xiu’s distant figure, his feelings complicated.

He agreed with Ji Xiu’s actions, yet he was also afraid, because Ji Xiu’s behavior would cause uncontrollable changes.

If everyone died, there were still six days left, with ghosts roaming. What would happen to them, the players?

So far, he had only confirmed one killing trigger: the middle-aged man, ninety-nine percent likely because of the dog, Da Huang, killed by Ji Chunsheng.

As for the rest, he had some leads, but now everything was in chaos.

Wu Letong sighed, set those thoughts aside, and followed Ji Xiu for a bit longer. He discovered that Ji Xiu truly spared no one. Even the woman who had argued with Huang Wenli that morning fell under Ji Xiu’s cleaver.

Wu Letong frowned, glanced at Ji Xiu from afar, then turned and hurried back to the Ji household first.

If Ji Xiu finished everything, Wu Letong might not make it back before him. If Ji Xiu discovered he had been followed, that would be the end.

That cleaver definitely wasn’t for show.

…

“You’re back?” Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli greeted him. “How was it? What did the boss go out to do?”

Afraid of being left out, the others crowded around too.

Wu Letong snapped back to himself, glanced at everyone, and told them what he had seen.

A collective intake of breath followed.

Lu Zhizhen murmured, “How could the boss do this?”

“Why can’t he?” Huang Wenli also felt the boss was extremely ruthless, but upon hearing Lu Zhizhen’s words, she immediately snapped back. “They brought it on themselves.”

At this point, everyone knew who the ghosts in this world were and understood the consequences of the villagers’ violence.

One life, or more likely, two lives.

Lu Zhizhen shook her head, unable to accept it. “Even so, it shouldn’t be like this. It was just exclusion. It shouldn’t cost lives.”

Huang Wenli suddenly sneered. “Sister Lu, when you say that, why don’t you think about how it felt to be blacklisted?”

Lu Zhizhen stiffened and looked up at her. “…You know about me?”

“From the moment we entered the game, you took such good care of me. I’m not stupid. How could I not think more about it? Once I did, I remembered things related to you.” Huang Wenli turned her head away, her voice cold and cruel with insight. “That TV drama you wanted to star in was invested in by my uncle, right? Originally, you were the female lead. But recently, you offended your company and got blacklisted, so the role went to someone else in your company. You lost exposure, lost work, and no news about you reached the outside world. Everyone in the industry targeted you. Even the big production that was almost finalized slipped into someone else’s hands. You looked everywhere for help, trying to reclaim your role, but the company found out first, sued you for taking private jobs, and demanded liquidated damages…”

“Fifty million. For a top star, that’s nothing, but for you, it’s too much. You couldn’t afford it, so you wanted to kill yourself. By chance, you entered the game instead, discovered me, and clung to the hope that you might leave someday. That’s why you started getting close to me and taking care of me.”

A faint glimmer of hope lit up in Lu Zhizhen’s eyes.

Huang Wenli said, “So, Sister Lu, if you can go back, with me backing you, what kind of outcome do you want for your enemies?”

Lu Zhizhen froze. Confusion and fantasy flickered in her eyes. After a moment, she lowered her head. “I understand.”

It was easy to talk when it wasn’t your pain. If she were the one being excluded, bullied, and subjected to collective violence, she would only wish death on everyone who had hurt her.

She shouldn’t, just because Wang Qiuyue and her son had become ghosts and still existed in this world, act magnanimous on others’ behalf.

Since the boss chose to do this, he must have his own plan.

Huang Wenli nodded. “It’s good that you’ve thought it through.” Then she changed the subject. “But the boss really is too ruthless. It’s not worth sacrificing himself for trash like that. He should preserve his strength while taking revenge.”

As she spoke, she thought of something and turned to Wu Letong with pleading eyes. “Is the game world real? Are there police? Will the boss be arrested?”

Wu Letong froze. He couldn’t answer.

Every time, just surviving was hard enough. Who had time to think about questions as profound as where the universe came from?

Huang Wenli sighed. “Forget it. Let’s just watch.”

If everyone in Ji Family Village really disappeared, they would soon see what happened next.

…

While they were discussing, footsteps sounded outside.

They turned around to see Ji Xiu returning calmly, holding a freshly washed cleaver. He even greeted Wu Letong. “Why aren’t you going inside?. Dinner’s almost ready.”

Wu Letong felt an overwhelming murderous aura bearing down on him. He swallowed. “We’ll go in right away.”

Ji Xiu smiled gently. “Alright. I’ll go help Qiuyue set the table.”

Wu Letong nodded rapidly.

Ji Xiu seemed not to notice anything strange about his reaction. He turned around, placed the cleaver back in the corner of the courtyard, and walked toward the kitchen.

Wu Letong let out a breath, the pressure suddenly lifting.

He even had the leisure to look at the cleaver in the corner and mutter, “That blade has taken quite a few lives.”

Huang Wenli had also been suppressed by Ji Xiu’s presence and couldn’t speak. Once Ji Xiu left, she finally took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Is that what they call killing intent?”

Wu Letong shrugged. “Probably.”

He crouched in front of the cleaver, carefully reaching out to touch it, his expression complicated.

At the moment his hand touched the handle, his expression suddenly froze.

Huang Wenli sensed something was wrong and walked over. “What is it?”

Wu Letong didn’t speak. Shock, delight, and disbelief flooded his eyes.

Huang Wenli frowned, glanced at the cleaver, and reached out to grab it.

The next second, her expression also froze.

Because the moment her hand touched the handle, a voice appeared in her mind:

Weapon Name: Ji Xiu’s Firewood Cleaver Weapon Description: An ordinary firewood cleaver that gained mystical power because of its owner. Bathed in the blood of a hundred ghosts, capable of cutting down a thousand men. Weapon Grade: C Weapon Effect: Attack power increased by 100%, with significant damage to supernatural entities.

“What… does this mean?” Huang Wenli murmured in confusion.

Wu Letong was caught in a surge of excitement and shock. He snatched the cleaver back and hugged it tightly, took a deep breath, and finally calmed down. Distracted, he explained to Huang Wenli.

“Ever seen a weapon drop in a game?”

Huang Wenli frowned. “I’m a newcomer, of course I haven’t. But you’re an experienced player. Why are you so excited?”

Wu Letong coughed dryly. “Alright, I haven’t seen one either. I’ve only been through three worlds in total. You think I’m experienced, but compared to real veterans, I’m just a kid. I’d only heard people say weapons could drop in game worlds. This is my first time actually seeing one.”

Huang Wenli raised her brow. “Are weapons that rare?”

“Of course. Other things like talismans or medicine can sometimes be exchanged for points in the game, but weapons are unique. There’s no exchange. I only encountered my first weapon in my fourth world. Do you think that’s rare or not?”

Huang Wenli eyed the cleaver and said casually, “I see. That is rare…”

Wu Letong stroked the cleaver like he was touching his wife, eyes full of affection, completely unaware of Huang Wenli’s ill intentions.

He continued, “More importantly, most game worlds are supernatural. Most of the time, when facing ghosts, all we can do is run, hide, and avoid triggers. We have no way to fight back. With a C-grade weapon, it’s different. We finally have the ability to resist ghosts, and our chances of survival increase drastically.”

“And this is only a D-grade world, yet it dropped a C-grade weapon. That’s insanely lucky. I’ve never been this lucky in my life. Even D-grade weapons can harm supernatural beings. A C-grade weapon will be even stronger.”

The more Huang Wenli listened, the more her hands itched. But Wu Letong hugged the cleaver tightly, giving her no chance to snatch it. Frustrated, she poured cold water on him.

“Oh? Is that so? But what does this have to do with you?”

Wu Letong turned to look at her.

Huang Wenli smiled maliciously, showing her little tiger teeth. “This cleaver belongs to the boss. Are you planning to steal something from him?”