The Pig

The more Zhou You thought about it, the more he felt it could work. It would solve three problems at once.

First, as mentioned earlier, whoever took the thing home would have it latch on and refuse to leave. That meant if he took it in, it wouldn't go and bother anyone else.

Second, he could do Li Sanli a favor. At least when food ran out in the future, he'd have somewhere to freeload a meal.

Third, there wasn't anything particularly valuable in his place, but he'd been going in and out of the game so often lately that he was worried about burglars. Especially that Black Book. Having this thing around would be better than any security measure.

Having reached his conclusion with a flawless three-part syllogism, Zhou You first waved the dagger, forcing the sobbing ghost clutching its head back into the table. Then he walked over to Li Sanli and gently patted his face.

No response.

Zhou You applied a little more force.

Still no response, as if he were dead.

In the end, Zhou You had no choice but to swing his hand and give him two hard slaps.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!"

With a scream, Li Sanli finally woke from his coma.

The moment he saw Zhou You, he ignored the pain in his cheeks and hurriedly grabbed him by the collar.

"Where's the ghost?!"

"What ghost?"

Zhou You looked completely innocent.

"I mean that ghost—where is it? No, Old Zhou, do you even understand? We're trapped here! It's over! My wonderful life is about to end here..." Li Sanli collapsed to the floor and began to sob. "Xuanxuan, even though you caused this, I really don't blame you. I just can't keep the promise I made you. We were supposed to get married this year... Wuuuu..."

Seeing how devastated he was, Zhou You couldn't help patting him on the shoulder.

"Um... I already dealt with that ghost."

"...What?"

"I said I already dealt with that ghost." Zhou You cleared his throat, looking serious. "Sorry to interrupt your last words, but you really don't need to worry about being killed by a ghost. It's just that I need to take the table back and finish dealing with it. I'm not sure if you're willing to part with it..."

"...What?!"

Li Sanli's eyes instantly bulged wider than marbles.

There wasn't much more to say. Li Sanli tearfully thanked Zhou You, thumped his chest, and promised that Zhou You could come to him for anything from then on. He'd treat him like his own father. Then he quickly called for a truck, paid all the expenses himself, and had the table delivered straight to Zhou You's home.

Unfortunately, whatever was inside seemed to have developed a psychological trauma over someone, and refused to come out of the table no matter what. Zhou You, who had hoped to figure out how modern-day ghosts worked, was deeply disappointed. He had no choice but to put it in a corner and use it as a dining table.

A little over ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Before he knew it, it was time to start the game again.

The temple was the same, and so were the incense and candles. But the problem was...

This time, the page had changed again.

Unlike the previous two times, this page looked much older. At first glance, it seemed almost like an antique.

Script: Tai Sui.

Type: Strange Tales.

Erosion Level: Medium-Low.

Available Revivals: 6.

Background: In the twelfth year of Zhengyuan, Cangzhou suffered a severe drought. The land lay parched for a thousand miles, and refugees filled the roads. Instead of providing disaster relief, the court imposed even heavier taxes. In just one year, countless people in the province starved to death, and rebellions and insurgencies broke out everywhere.

However, what was a year of disaster for humankind was a bountiful year for demons and monsters.

You were a lone traveler who accidentally fell into the hands of a demon. You thought you were certain to die, but there was a way out after all. Just as you closed your eyes and awaited death, a soul from another world suddenly descended upon you.

Mission Objective: Find a way to escape. The farther away, the better.

Reward One: 500 Soul Stones and a piece of equipment capable of fighting demons and monsters.

Reward Two: An additional month and a half of life, and one Ningxing Pill that can alleviate the symptoms of illness.

Please note: You have left the beginner's phase and officially entered the game. The system's prompts will be greatly reduced accordingly, and you will face a more realistic and complete world.

Please note: You may obtain special powers in this world, but any decision you make may also affect the story that follows. Choose carefully.

You have assumed the identity of the character in the script and will gain some of that identity's abilities and knowledge, but you will also suffer from that identity's hunger.

Would you like to enter?

Enter.

—In a daze, a sudden, searing pain struck him.

It felt as if a hole had been punched through his palm. His nerves sent wave after wave of agony through him as flesh and a foreign object ground against each other, the pain nearly driving him mad.

His eyes felt as heavy as lead, yet the pain made his mind grow clearer and clearer. It was as if someone were stirring his brain with an iron nail. The contrast was so unbearable that even breathing became torture.

This went on for who knew how long.

At last, Zhou You opened his eyes.

—The first thing he saw was a head with its eyes wide open in death.

The person seemed to have suffered terribly before dying. Despair still lingered in his pupils, and his unclosed eyes stared at Zhou You as if he had countless things to say, but his mouth could no longer form a single word.

It looked terrifying, but Zhou You wasn't afraid at all. He even realized his own predicament from the reflection in those pupils.

—He was hanging in midair from a hook.

The black iron hook had pierced his palm, suspending him completely in the air. The blood on his hand was still fresh, so it seemed he hadn't been hanging there long.

Around him were several corpses.

The head belonged to one of them, and was the most intact.

One of the others had a hand chopped off. Another had his abdomen cut open. One was missing both legs, and another had been severed at the waist.

They had all died in different ways, but in Zhou You's eyes, every corpse wore the same expression.

The same despair.

—They had been "processed" like this while still alive.

At that moment, all the corpses were hanging in midair from curved hooks. It was hard to describe the sight. It was like...

A place where meat was hung in a cafeteria?

Zhou You frowned, but before he could think it through, he heard the heavy sound of footsteps.

He hurriedly held his breath, endured the pain in his palm, and tried to breathe as lightly as possible. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked ahead.

A few seconds later, a hulking figure squeezed into the room.

The thing stood over two meters tall, with a massive, obese body. It wore a coarse hemp robe covered in bloodstains and grease. It looked like the clothes of an ancient butcher mixed with those of a cook, but the head on its shoulders wasn't human. It was a...

Pig's head.

Yes, a fat, plump head belonging to some sort of even-toed ungulate.