The Red Leaf Divine Tree

The gate of the Fang Mansion creaked open and then slowly closed again.

The three people walked out unscathed, seemingly without a single injury.

It wasn't dark outside yet; judging by the time, it should be around 4 PM the next day.

"Actually, your home isn't as scary as you say," Medusa said with a smile as she walked back the way she came. "It's probably because of the shadows from your childhood that your memories automatically demonize your entire home."

Yan Li stood beside her without speaking, and Yu Xing casually hummed in agreement, a strange smile playing on her lips, "Perhaps so. This family is indeed much weaker than I imagined..."

Are you really not taking that wood carving with you?

"No, I won't bring it. I'll be back in less than a day anyway, and I'll have plenty of time to play with carving later."

They chatted casually as they walked away. With Yu Xing leading the way, this time they didn't get lost in a maze. They successfully crossed the boundary line separating the snow-covered landscape, and a cold wind suddenly rose.

However, none of the three showed any discomfort from the cold. They walked along the road and did not see a single evil spirit town dweller along the way. They wondered where all the wandering townspeople had gone.

It wasn't until they had been walking for more than thirty minutes that the feeling of being watched from behind quietly disappeared.

"..." The three of them stopped in their tracks at the same time.

"No one is watching us now," Yan Li Liping said calmly, his tone confident.

"This is really troublesome. That snake has been watching me intently for a long time. Even if I sit there without moving, it keeps its eyes on me." Medusa narrowed her beautiful eyes, quite impatient. "I can only play along and do something every now and then to attract its attention, so that Yan Li can be distracted to investigate the Fang Mansion."

Yu Xing knew these words were directed at him, because Medusa and Yan Li had always stayed together, and only the two of them needed to exchange information.

"Tell me, Yu Xing, how much did you discover?" Yan Li glanced at him. "To be able to walk out so calmly... could it be that you already know the secret of the Fang Mansion and have a way to deal with it?"

They had previously agreed that whatever they discovered during their trip to the Fang Mansion, as long as it was related to the plot, they would share it.

Although Yu Xing led them in, it was only natural for them to share information, but Yu Xing also took the initiative to agree to the proposal at the time, which can be regarded as a sign of sincerity in cooperation.

This place is a decent spot for conversation. There's a factory right next door, and after using their senses to investigate, they can confirm that there are no townspeople or evil spirits inside the factory buildings.

Yu Xing glanced at the horizon, then opened an unlocked window in the factory. "Let's go inside and talk."

Next, he spent some time telling the story of the Fang Mansion Nanshui Town, including the concepts of the book and the movie, only omitting the role of the system in it and downplaying his importance as the Fang family.

Even though they were both seasoned, top-notch strategists, they both took a moment to process this extremely complex story, which also involved family ethics.

"In other words, this town is fake; the actual controller is a snake. However, the town is now out of control and will be destroyed in seven days. Therefore, our Main Quest is to survive for seven days before the town is destroyed and escape the instance ahead of time."

Medusa muttered to herself. As clever as she was, she naturally sensed something amiss. For instance, the snake, having discovered the town was out of control while controlling Fang Xiao, wanted to find Fang family son to continue being a puppet. And then Yu Xing happened to arrive. Wasn't that a bit too much of a coincidence?

However, since the matter involved the system, she felt a slight chill and tacitly swallowed the question, not asking any further questions. Instead, she suddenly thought of something:

"Nanshui Town is a 'movie' setting. As characters in the movie, wouldn't our every word and action be noticed by the snake?"

It wasn't panic, but rather confusion.

If that were the case, they wouldn't have stood here talking for so long, and the fact that Yu Xing is the Fang family wouldn't have required him to go to the Fang Mansion to be discovered.

"That's a concern, but you two could feel how obvious the Snake Woman's gaze was just now." Yu Xing had also considered this matter. "If it could truly perceive every scene at any time, it wouldn't have needed to personally give us that stare at the Fang Mansion."

"I'm more inclined to believe that its control lies more in its role as a townsman. It lets the townsmen do things for it without paying any attention to them, and it only goes to them to solve their problems when they call on it."

Even if it wants to actively observe a certain object, such as me, it needs townspeople or other created characters present to observe through their eyes.

This is where movies fall short of books.

While the control over the townspeople is strong, the townspeople tend to assimilate and lack their own unique behavioral logic, thus making it impossible for them to create stories that can develop on their own.

While the snake's move solved the short-term problem, it missed the point and ruined the future of "Nanshui Town Small World".

"That's good." Medusa pursed her red lips. "Now I can curse that dead snake without worry. I haven't settled the score with it for scratching me yet!"

Yu Xing chuckled, "The one at the Fang Mansion is much stronger than the one you saw before. You probably won't be able to settle accounts with it alone."

Medusa squinted, her nails, painted with henna, lightly brushing against the wound on her waist. "Hmph, so what? I can pluck out its tongue, and I can cut off its tail as well."

Yan Li didn't know what they were talking about, but could guess from the few words they mentioned how Medusa got the injury on her waist.

He glanced at Yu Xing out of the corner of his eye.

What he didn't know, Yu Xing knew so clearly. It was obvious that these things must have been contained in the memories that Medusa had transmitted to Yu Xing.

Whenever he thinks about transferring memories, he recalls the scene he was forced to "fantasize" about before.

Immediately, the veins on his forehead began to throb.

Let's change the subject.

"You wanted to destroy the filming equipment and end the instance early, so you pretended to want to seize power from Fang Xiao, temporarily appeasing the Snake Woman and even inviting Fang Xiao to tomorrow's Snow Festival..." Yan Li leaned against the wall, raising his eyes to say, "But what will you do after that?"

He also sensed that the focus of the mission was too much on Yu Xing, but his expression remained unchanged, and he readily discussed Yu Xing's plans.

"If things go smoothly for me, Fang Xiao won't be coming tomorrow," Yu Xing said with a smirk. "Most likely, I'll also disappear halfway through."

"... If it were you, not doing the main quest wouldn't be a problem. The rules that punish you aren't set by the system, and Nanshui Town. As long as that snake gives you a backdoor, you can make any mistake." Yan Li nodded first, then said, "We also discovered something, but it shouldn't be important to you."

On the surface, he Medusa either slept in the guest room or spent all their time with the old gardener.

The old gardener used the guise of teaching woodcarving to monitor them, but they were not restrained by it. The only problem was that a very dangerous gaze would occasionally sweep over Medusa from the shadows.

Medusa recognized the aura behind that gaze and knew it was the Snake Woman she had fought who was paying extra attention to her out of hatred. So every now and then, she would release a small snake phantom and drive it to explore all directions of the Fang Mansion. The aura would always be attracted to the small snake and kill it before it could swim very far.

While Medusa distracted him, Yan Li continued his carving work while simultaneously diverting his attention to thoroughly investigate the courtyards and rooms that were most easily overlooked, even checking the cabinets in each room.

--His recent focus on formations doesn't mean his other abilities have suffered; otherwise, how could he be an all-around predictor?

The empty courtyards looked deserted for a long time, as if no one had lived there for a long time. However, the rooms were not empty, as if the people who lived there had disappeared overnight, and the rooms had been abandoned.

"I found several diaries in those rooms, as well as records of the Fang family lobbying the town government to try and prevent the Fang Mansion from being demolished." Just in case, Yan Li didn't bring those things out, but instead memorized their contents.

"Based on the story you heard, I can confirm that those events occurred before Fang Deming obtained the book. Therefore, the Fang family originally lived in those rooms were likely later eliminated by Fang Deming due to differences in their beliefs."

Or perhaps he was dealt with by the Snake Woman.

"Also, I took a stroll around Xu Wan's room," Yan Li said.

Yu Xing was somewhat surprised. "When?"

"Before you went to Xu Wan's room," Yan Li paused, "She wasn't in her room the whole time. I sensed she went out to the Fang Mansion's warehouse."

"I didn't intend to be so reckless at the time, but the warehouse was a bit far from her room, and as long as I was careful, the Snake Woman's senses wouldn't work on me, so I didn't give up the opportunity and went straight in to search."

"I looked the whole room but didn't see the paint box you mentioned, so she must have gone to the storeroom to get a gift for you."

He took the opportunity to slip inside.

Because he was a consciousness, he moved very quietly when rummaging through things, and he would restore everything to its original state after he finished searching. Therefore, Xu Wan didn't notice that the whole room had been disturbed when she returned.

The rewards from Xu Wan's room were greater than those from the other, less important, cannon fodder Fang family' rooms.

He found a photo album in Xu Wan's dressing table drawer, which contained photos of Xu Wan when she was a star, showing her true appearance.

Some of the photos have yellowed, but that doesn't diminish the radiance and cheerfulness of the women in them.

"She still dreams of becoming a star," Yan Li said. "Her cabinet is full of her own movie merchandise. Decades ago, movie merchandise was scarce, so she went to great lengths to pay merchants outside Nanshui Town to make them and even asked them to distribute them outside the town."

It seems she was unwilling to give up despite her back injury.

She loved acting, and even after marrying Fang Deming, she still wanted to create the illusion that she was famous all over the country, deceiving herself that she was still popular.

"So, she was probably involved in changing the film's setting in Nanshui Town." Medusa was most sensitive to women's thoughts. She smiled. "What a pathetic woman. All her past glory became 'someone else's' after the body swap. Now, she has even less than before."

That dazzling movie star was Xu Wan.

Now, in the eyes of the townspeople, this woman is someone even Fang Deming wouldn't call by name in public. She gained youth and beauty, but lost her title as an actress, which is hard for her to accept.

"She probably made some kind of deal with the Snake Woman. Otherwise, since Xu Wan doesn't have the Fang family bloodline, the Snake Woman wouldn't have made Xu Wan a consultant just to decide to change the movie, and wouldn't have given her such a high position."

Otherwise, the book could be adapted into a stage play, Yugi, a comic book, etc., why does it have to be a movie?

"Even her body was remade by the Snake Woman herself, taking several years in total. How many innocent women died for this body?" Medusa sneered. "Now I know why that disgusting old woman wanted me to be a movie star when we were in the townspeople's homes."

"Because if I'm assimilated and 'voluntarily' stay in town, I'll become a real movie character just like them. Who knows... Xu Wan might try to reshape her body again, and this time it won't be so complicated; she can just use my body directly."

Medusa's words sounded quite arrogant at first glance.

But no one could refute her, after all, just by standing there, she was already more eye-catching than the appearance that Xu Wan had painstakingly pieced together.

In terms of appearance, how lucky must a woman be to grow up to look like this, inheriting the perfect genes from her parents and not losing her looks as she grows up?

Normally, Medusa rarely mentions her appearance, because her current strength is enough to cover everything that her appearance brings her. It is only because Xu Wan is such a special ghost that this comparison is made.

And speaking of this, all three of them thought of something.

"Subconsciously, she still wants to be a star. If she had your body..." Yu Xing pondered, "Xu Wan isn't of the Fang family bloodline. Although she experienced the cognitive distortion caused by the Snake Woman in the Fang Mansion, the unique restrictions of the Fang family bloodline don't apply to her. Therefore, she can actually leave Nanshui Town."

Her consciousness was imprisoned, but her body was free.

"Could it be that she actually plans to return to being a star outside of Nanshui Town?" Yan Li's eyes turned cold. "Such a special person, since the Snake Woman kept her around, she must have something to use. If the Snake Woman is just using Xu Wan as a shell to store up her resources, waiting for Nanshui Town to stabilize so she can return to her star status and use the screen to remotely erode people's perceptions, then the seeds of destruction will be sown throughout the world."

[Huh? We've already gotten to the timeline of this world's apocalypse?]

[Although what the elders said makes a lot of sense, if we could resolve this matter this time, there wouldn't be any more disasters later.]

[Can a snake really have such serious consequences after becoming a celebrity?]

Yu Xing believes so.

He pondered for a moment. The Snake Woman was trying to steal the system's power of creation. She wanted this power, but right now she only controlled a town with hardly any living people.

If it were just for such a small goal, the Snake Woman wouldn't need to go to such great lengths.

Unless she's after something much bigger, like using Nanshui Town as an experiment and Xu Wan as a medium to gradually control people all over the world until she has complete control over it.

Of course, this is extremely difficult to do. After all, the world is very large, and there are many that can be selected by the system as deduction instances. Xiao Qianjie may already be one of the highest-ranking ghosts, but there must be others who are more skilled in combat than her.

Whether or not it can be achieved, this is probably one of the Snake Woman's dreams.

"In short, things will change tomorrow. Let's go back to Baibao Street first, gather all your people, and discuss it together." Yan Li finally made the decision.

Here, Yu Xing has Zhang Yu, and Hua Su Hua Subai is also there Medusa has Lan Wu, but Yan Li is completely alone, a lone wolf.

The discussions he mentioned were merely to let the other confirmed allies know what they would face tomorrow, to reasonably allocate points, and to give them a heads-up so that any unexpected situations wouldn't hinder them.

Furthermore, I don't know how the "Fortune" campaign is progressing.

At this moment, no one could see them. After Yan Li finished exchanging intelligence, he began to prepare the formation for their return journey.

His teleportation array was slightly off when he came, so he won't make a mistake on the way back; he'll only be faster and more accurate.

A short while later, a faint light emanated from the factory, and the three people inside vanished without a trace.

Baibao Street.

Despite all the changes that have taken place in the town, this is the only street that has remained unchanged.

If we're talking about unique features, Baibao Street could rank third in Nanshui Town.

The top two are Fang Mansion and East District Port.

The shops on Baibao Street are all peculiar, and the shop owners are also quite different from the townspeople outside.

Especially after learning the truth about the worldview of Nanshui Town, looking back, one can discover even more clues.

The red-clad female owner of the clothing store slept from dawn till dusk, seemingly oblivious to the commotion on the street. She simply lay on the recliner behind the counter, ignoring even the occasional person or two who entered the store to look at clothes.

As the daylight gradually dimmed, the oil lamp on the counter suddenly lit up by itself, forming a faint glow in the dim light.

The female boss then reluctantly opened her eyes, slowly sat up from the recliner, and watched the people coming and going on the street.

She glanced around for a while, but wasn't very interested. The people walking on the street were all soulless shells, and only the occasional hurried travelers passing by her shop were somewhat interesting.

But there were so few people today; it wasn't nearly as lively as last night.

Will all of these people be killed without exception?

The female boss yawned, thinking listlessly.

According to her perception of time, it was already 7 p. m. Every time someone passed by her shop, they were carrying a lucky charm or a doll. The former were rushing to hang their charms on the sacred tree, while the latter were searching the streets for doll merchants, trying to secure their positions before the deadline for submitting the Yugi, so as to avoid any more trouble.

However, far too few of those who took the dolls returned.

The shop owner counted them and found that more people who chose to have their "Fu" (good fortune) amulets returned from elsewhere, and some even went in groups. But so far, the only one wandering the streets with a doll was that kid with the double swords—I think... his name was Meng Dao?

Oh, not entirely. Earlier, while it was still light, she sensed three dolls passing by in her sleep. She glanced at them casually and recognized them as the three most intimidating figures in the tour group. However, these three disappeared after returning with the dolls, and didn't seem to intend to spend any extra time interacting with the merchants.

The female boss almost forgot they had ever been back.

In contrast, other travelers, even after collecting all the key items for today's Yugi, still wandered around Baibao Street, striking up conversations with various merchants and asking around, "Is there anything I can help you with?" As long as a merchant offered something, the travelers would agree, whether they felt it was difficult or easy.

She also overheard two travelers muttering as they passed by, "5000 points is still too difficult, how are we going to get through tomorrow...?"

"Shh," one of them, with keen senses, noticed the female boss watching them and immediately told his companion to be quiet so she wouldn't hear them.

The female boss. "..." She'd already heard quite a bit.

Ha, do you really think she'd be curious? She's just a toy to die from anyway; if she looks at it a few more times, she'll only find it novel.

Besides, no one asked her if she needed help, probably because they thought she couldn't possibly have any more secrets to uncover after spending so much time in the clothing shop last night?

It's pointless.

The female boss lay back down, continuing her monotonous daily routine, but only a few minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

"Hey~" The man standing in front of the counter was also dressed in red. The wide sleeves of the Fenglong Uniform did not appear heavy or cumbersome on him, but rather made him look exceptionally light and graceful.

At first glance, the man and her clothing store seemed like a perfect match, he was like a human clothes hanger, promoting her clothes.

The female boss had a deep impression of this person.

It was this person who, under her watchful gaze, transformed from a rag doll into a healthy, living person, and then dealt with the traveler who had illegally entered the backyard.

He whispered to her last night that he would help her kill the person who broke the rules, on the condition that she could never mention the rule to the tour guide again.

This morning, the tall guy carrying scissors didn't show up as expected.

The female boss suppressed her annoyance at being disturbed and sat up from the recliner. "Why are you here again?"

Only then did she realize that although the person in front of her was dressed in the most formal ceremonial robes, his movements were extremely casual. He had one hand on the counter, and his smile naturally conveyed a sense of intimacy, as if he were a playboy who was still flirting with other women on his wedding day.

He suddenly had a large cloth bag on his back, which looked like it had appeared out of nowhere. It was bulging with contents, and anyone who didn't know better would think he had gone out to collect recyclables on foot.

Hua Subai said, "There's a favor I'd like to ask you, boss. I wonder if you'd be willing?"

The female boss looked at him in surprise. "Everyone else asks if they need any help, but you come up here and ask me for your help?"

"Others are others, but I am me." Hua Subai smiled and moved from the counter into the shop. "I've thought about it for a long time, and you're the shopkeeper I can trust most on this street, which is why I'm entrusting such an important matter to you."

Trust?

The female boss's lips twitched at the mention of that word. When did she become someone who could earn the trust of an outsider? Had this person lost their mind?

Regardless of whether he was mentally unstable or not, his abilities were undeniably formidable. The female boss didn't dare refuse too directly and could only ask, "What is it? If it's too troublesome, don't count on me."

"It shouldn't be too much trouble." Hua Subai put down the large cloth bag he had been carrying all the way; the bulging package looked as if it might burst at any moment.

"Here it is. It's inconvenient for me to carry it around, so I'd like to leave it with you, boss, and pick it up tomorrow." He clasped his hands together. "Please, boss?"

The female shop owner found it increasingly strange and coldly asked, "What's inside?"

Hua Subai paused for a moment, then, as if just remembering something, opened the drawstring of the bag in front of the female boss.

Splash...

Instantly, many items inside popped out uncontrollably. Some landed on the floor of the shop, some bounced onto the recliner, and one even skillfully hit the female owner in the face.

Hua Subai: "Oh ho."

Female boss. "..."

She picked up the thing that had slipped from her face onto her body, annoyed, and took a look.

It's a doll.

Black hair, deep blue eyes, dressed in an elegant little outfit... the Yugi target doll.

Looking down at the ground, the things that had spilled out of the cloth bag, lying or sprawling, were all dolls, identical dolls.

Judging by the number, even without the ninety in the bags, there must be at least eighty.

"You actually brought all the dolls?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Hua Subai silently picked up all the dolls, gently putting them back into the bag and tying the string, leaving only the one the female boss was holding.

He smiled, clearly genuinely happy, and raised an eyebrow. "This is my haul for the day. I asked the guide, and she said that any toys found in today's Yugi can be kept by the travelers themselves."

Taking the last one back from the female shopkeeper, Hua Subai poked the doll's face. "I'll use this one to get rid of it, and then I'll take it to the inn to sleep~"

Female boss. "... I didn't realize you had such a girlish heart, wanting a doll to sleep with you."

"Mainly because it's very interesting." Hua Subai poked the doll again. The doll didn't move, but the feeling of Yu Xing still made Hua Subai love it.

"Can we leave the remaining eighty-six with the boss?"

The female boss initially thought he had a bag of dangerous items—although she couldn't quite figure out what constituted dangerous items, but perhaps it was just her intuition, but she felt that this person in front of her was dangerous and wouldn't do anything conventional.

It turned out to be a bag of toys.

This thing... let her keep it for one night, or even for a year, and it won't violate her rules. In other words, helping her is perfectly fine.

But to just agree like that would make her seem too useless. In the past, all those outsiders and travelers were terrified of her.

But this person is even more bizarre. In terms of actual ability, she's probably the one who's going to die. Does she have the right to refuse?

The female boss hesitated, then hesitated again, finally giving in to Hua Subai's expectant gaze, and only said, "I have a condition."

"What did you say?" Hua Subai tilted his head.

"I have a few questions for you. If you tell me the truth, I'll help you. If you don't answer me, I'll pretend to agree and then throw all your toys out into the street in the middle of the night to get them dirty."

The threat was mild and harmless, a gesture of weakness from the female boss, but it seemed to have hit a nerve with Hua Subai. His expression changed drastically. "How can that be? The little doll can't stand hearing such things!"

The female boss. "..." Do you have to be mentally ill to survive in Nanshui Town?

Hua Subai cleared his throat. "Ask away, I will answer everything I know, I only ask that the boss treat my little dolls a little better."

For a moment, the female boss regretted asking him questions; was he really reliable?

Ultimately, curiosity overcame her hesitation, and she cautiously asked, "I'd like to know, why is your tour group so special?"

It seems that everyone has their own unique skills.

None of the previous outsiders were like this.

"Do you have other purposes besides tourism?"

How confident are you really?

There were only these three questions. After asking them, the female boss's face darkened, and she clearly became nervous.

"Ah, so that's the kind of question." Hua Subai's eyes widened slightly as he leaned closer to the female boss, scrutinizing her for a moment.

That gaze was as if they were studying some rare species.

The female boss remained unmoved by the handsome face approaching, only frowning slightly. "Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Hmm... I can answer, but do you really want to hear the answer?" Hua Subai stepped back a little, jokingly remarking, "The characters in the book are truly all unique, unlike now, where they're all the same, like walking corpses."

The female boss stared intently at him. "You know?"

"I'm not very talented, but I saw through the little trick yesterday. I only stayed because I found it interesting and there were acquaintances to watch." If Hua Subai had a fan in his hand, he would probably be waving it around and pretending to be elegant by now.

Unfortunately, he had no formal attire whatsoever, so his use of flowery language only added to the comedic effect.

However, the female boss's gaze towards him had changed, as shocked as the surge of comments in his live stream.

Wait, how does he know about the book and the movie?

[He didn't go to the Fang Mansion, so where did he get the information from?!]

[He said he saw through it yesterday... Really? How did he do that? Not only could he see the essence of Nanshui Town, but he even pinpointed it to the book and the movie?!]

[Huh? What books and movies? What is Boss Hua talking about? And what are you guys talking about?]

Those who were discussing earlier were people who had watched Yu Xing's, Yan Li's, or Medusa's live streams, while those who were confused later were people who had stayed in Hua Subai's live stream from beginning to end without making a move.

Judging from the latter's reaction, it's clear that Hua Subai didn't encounter any events or figures today that could help him analyze the world's lore!

At that moment, the chat started exchanging messages, trying to help the local viewers in Hua Subai's live stream understand the essence of this dungeon.

Just as the comments section was buzzing with excitement, Hua Subai chuckled and said, "It's precisely because I know what happened in Nanshui Town that I believe the boss is a trustworthy person."

"... Why?" the female boss couldn't help but ask.

"This is the fourth question~" Hua Subai joked first. No matter how serious the female boss looked, he always maintained this nonchalant and composed demeanor. "I guess Nanshui Town had two periods. The merchants on Baibao Street were created in the first period, right?"

[This! This refers to the period in the book, the world and its inhabitants created by Fang Deming!]

"Those townspeople are characters from the second period, having lost their sense of self, 'evolving' into tools of the controllers."

[This is from the movie era! All the characters have become empty puppets!]

"You are different from the townspeople; you are the only ones who retain independent logic and thinking, and you are few in number and hold a special position."

Hua Subai said, "Was it because when Nanshui Town was adapted from a book into a movie that all the characters from the book era were ruined? Because you weren't obedient enough?"

"Of all those people, only those who absorbed a certain amount of ghostly energy and transformed into ghosts during the world's transformation survived. The guy who controls all of this can't destroy you for the time being, nor can he bear to waste you, so he put you all into Baibao Street, making sure you can only live on this street and not allowing you to ruin his plans."

[Huh? Is that so?]

[This explains why female clothing store owners and other merchants have their own ideas!]

"Not only that, but the one who gradually understands your abilities has decided to make the most of you, such as creating deaths for the travelers this time, helping him take the lives of outsiders..."

[I see! It's like an elite monster!]

[This elite monster is absolutely amazing!]

"The reason I trust you is because you are a resident of the town from the book era. Your perception belongs only to yourself. Although your ghostly transformation is obvious, whatever thoughts you have are your own, and you won't suddenly turn against me because of a certain idea."

Hua Subai shrugged. "Admittedly, all the merchants on this street can do that, but only you give me a feeling, a feeling that you don't want to cooperate with the controller, so you're slacking off and sleeping."

The female boss was speechless after hearing this.

Because everything this person says is correct!

Could an outsider really gather so much intelligence in just two days... no, one day? Some of this intelligence is impossible to obtain; we can only guess.

"Your expression makes me even more certain." Hua Subai circled back to the point. "So the three questions you asked me were to confirm just how capable this traveler is, whether he can take you away from Nanshui Town, or directly end the strange phenomena in Nanshui Town, because you feel that if this time it doesn't work, there's no hope for the future."

The female boss remained silent for a long time.

Hua Subai seemed unaware of what he had just said, blinking innocently, "Now... do I still need to answer questions?"

"No need." Her voice was decisive yet hoarse. "I'll watch over this big bag of dolls for you, so you can go without worry."

"Won't we just leave them on the street in the middle of the night and make them dirty?"

Female boss. "... No."

That's wonderful.

Having handed over the Yu Xing merchandise he had painstakingly collected to the female boss for safekeeping, Hua Subai, having achieved his goal of being naive, turned and was about to slip away.

The female shop owner didn't call out to him, and just watched his figure disappear deeper into Baibao Street.

Then something came to mind.

So few tourists got their plush toys back; could it be that this guy took them all by himself?

With only a few scattered individuals escaping the net, finding the other tourists would be far more difficult than double.

He really doesn't care about other people's lives.

At the end of Baibao Street, there are no shops, only a narrow cobblestone path lined with flowers on both sides.

The pebble path was only about ten meters long, and the sea of flowers swayed at the bottom. The tree known as the sacred tree stood there quietly without any obstruction.

The "divine tree" is not large, at least not as majestic as a towering tree. It is only as tall as two adults. Its base is thick and sturdy, sloping into the soil like a skirt. Its roots are not completely buried in the ground, but can be seen to extend more than a meter away.

The trunk twisted, almost spiraling, but generally remained straight upwards. At the crown, it suddenly branched out into countless forks, like a swarm of snakes slithering in mid-air.

If the tree trunk and branches already felt eerie and unsettling, and even the sea of pink flowers covering the ground couldn't mask its aggressive nature, then the tree still covered in blood-red leaves in the dead of winter unabashedly proclaimed this eeriness to the extreme.

The color of each leaf was so rich and deep that it rustled in the wind, as if the "divine tree" was flowing with its own blood.

This tree is very ominous.

On the lowest part of the branches, besides the blood-red leaves, there were a few faded old Lucky Charm hanging sparsely. The tassels on the wooden plaques drooped low, and for some reason they were made so long, looking like gushing blood waterfalls flowing down from the tree.

"Captain, you've been staring at the sacred tree for a long time. Is there something seriously wrong with it?"

Excluding the area around the sacred tree and the sea of flowers, the closest place to the sacred tree is an open-air tea stall.

It was already dark, and the tea stall owner lit many oil lamps, making his stall as bright as day.

Several people who had already completed the Lucky Charm Yugi chose to sit at the tea stall, observing the sacred tree from afar, waiting for eight o'clock to arrive.

Yu Xing, who had been back in Baibao Street for a while, was also there, occupying a square table in the corner. Zhang Yu and Lan Wu were sitting at the same table, and there was an empty seat.

With Medusa absent, Lan Wu was once again entrusted to Yu Xing like a kindergarten child. The more she did it, the more skilled she became at relinquishing responsibility.

Yu Xing didn't mind. Whoever wants to be a hands-off manager is happy. Didn't he also let Zhang Yu follow Xue Shouyun twice? Now Xue Shouyun has received a Side Quest within Baibao Street and is working hard to earn points at the kite shop in town. Otherwise, this empty seat should be hers.

At first, Yu Xing couldn't believe that Medusa and Yan Li were in different teams, but now that they've cooperated once, she's certain that they'll be inseparable allies, at least in this instance. So, taking care of Lan Wu is essentially taking care of her own people.

At this moment, Lan Wu was lying on the table, lost in thought.

Seeing that his captain was not saying anything, but just resting his chin on his hand and staring at the sacred tree, Zhang Yu felt the pressure gradually building up, which is why he asked that question.

Yu Xing narrowed her eyes slightly, and it was unclear whether she heard him or not; in any case, she did not answer.

"Captain, Captain, please pay attention to me, or I'm starting to get scared," Zhang Yu muttered softly, and even dared to poke Yu Xing's arm.

Yu Xing finally turned to look at him, confirming that he had been so engrossed in staring at the tree that he hadn't heard a word Zhang Yu said, "What's wrong?"

Zhang Yu lowered his voice nervously. "I mean, Captain, you've been staring at the sacred tree for so long, do you think it's dangerous?"

Yu Xing: "Oh, no, that's not it."

Zhang Yu had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Yu Xing say, "It's not dangerous for me, but it's tough for you guys who have to hang up the signs."

"?"

These words startled Lan Wu awake. The white-haired youth rubbed his eyes and sat up straight. "What did Captain Yu Xing see?"

"A curse." Yu Xing didn't hide anything; a slight smile played on his lips. "Since you've put up the sign, you have to accept the backlash of your wishes; you'll be cursed."

"Huh? Is it serious? Is it life-threatening? Captain, can you remove this level?"

Ignoring Zhang Yu's rapid-fire questions, Yu Xing simply chuckled and said, "Interesting, it stole from more than one place."

Books are a source of power within a system.

The "divine tree" before them possessed both the power of curses and the appearance of a swarm of snakes, making it seem like a hybrid.

That Snake Woman from Nanshui Town must be able to learn how to grow hybrid rice.