Pig

The more Zhou You thought about it, the more he felt it was feasible; this could solve three problems at once.

First, as mentioned before, whoever receives this thing into their home will be plagued by it, which means that as long as he takes it, it won't go out to harm others.

Second, he could do a favor for Li Sanli, ensuring that if he ever ran out of food in the future, he'd at least have a place to go for a free meal.

Third, although there wasn't anything particularly valuable in his room, he had been frequently entering the game and leaving his home empty, making him quite worried about thieves. Especially with that black book, having something like this would definitely be better than any anti-theft measure.

Having reached a conclusion through a perfect syllogism, Zhou You first shook his dagger, forcing the ghost that was holding its head and crying back into the table, then walked up to Li Sanli and gently patted his face.

...No reaction.

Zhou You applied a little more force.

...Still no reaction, as if he were a dead man.

In the end, having no other choice, Zhou You swung his hand and gave the other man two loud slaps.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!"

Accompanied by a scream, Li Sanli finally jolted awake from his unconscious state.

The moment he saw Zhou You, he didn't even care about the pain in his cheeks, hurriedly grabbing the other man's collar and asking.

"Where's the ghost!!?"

"What ghost?"

Zhou You looked innocent.

"I'm talking about where that ghost is—no, wait, Old Zhou, do you have any idea? We're trapped now!! It's over, my beautiful life is going to end right here..." Li Sanli slumped to the ground and began to wail. "Xuanxuan, although you were the one who caused this, I really don't hate you. It's just that I won't be able to fulfill my promise to marry you this year, wuwuwuwu..."

Seeing the other man crying so bitterly, Zhou You couldn't help but pat his shoulder.

"That... that ghost has already been taken care of by me."

"...What?"

"I said, that ghost has already been taken care of by me." Zhou You cleared his throat, looking very serious. "Although I feel bad about interrupting your last words, you really don't need to worry about being killed by a ghost—it's just that I need to take the table back for final processing, I just don't know if you're willing to part with it..."

"...What???"

Li Sanli's eyes instantly widened until they were rounder than glass marbles.

There was no need to say anything more about the rest; Li Sanli thanked Zhou You with tears and snot, patting his chest to promise that he would come to him for anything in the future, swearing he would treat Zhou You like his own father. He then quickly called a truck, paid for all the expenses out of his own pocket, and had the table transported directly back to Zhou You's house.

Unfortunately, the thing inside seemed to have developed a psychological trauma toward someone and refused to come out of the table no matter what. This left Zhou You, who had wanted to figure out the principles behind modern ghosts, deeply disappointed, and he could only place it in the corner of the room to use as a dining table.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

In a flash, it was time to start the game again.

The temple was the same temple, the incense was the same incense, but the problem was...

This time, the page of the book had changed its appearance.

Unlike the previous two times, this page was even older; at first glance, it was almost approaching the status of an antique.

"Script: Tai Sui."

"Genre: Strange Tales."

"Corruption Level: Low-Medium."

"Revival Count: 6."

"Background: The twelfth year of Zhengyuan, a great drought in Cangzhou. The land was scorched for a thousand miles, and the cries of the starving filled the air. Not only did the imperial court fail to provide disaster relief, but they also increased harsh taxes and levies. In just one year, countless people in the province starved to death, leading to the rise of rebels and insurgents."

"However, what is a year of disaster for humans is a year of abundance for demons and ghosts."

"You were originally a lone traveler who accidentally fell into the hands of demons. You thought death was inevitable, but who would have thought that heaven would leave a way out? Just as you closed your eyes to await death, a soul from the outside world suddenly descended upon you."

"Mission Objective: Find a way to escape, and get as far away as possible."

"Reward One: 500 Soul Stones, one piece of equipment capable of countering demons and ghosts."

"Reward Two: Extend your lifespan by one and a half months, and receive one Ningxing Pill to alleviate disease symptoms."

"Please note: You have left the novice period and officially entered the game. System prompts will be significantly reduced, and you will face a more realistic and complete world."

"Please note: In this world, you may gain some special powers, but any decision you make may affect the subsequent plot. Please choose carefully."

"You have assumed the identity within the script and will gain certain abilities and knowledge of that identity, but you will also suffer from the hunger associated with it."

"Do you wish to enter?"

"Enter."

--In a daze, a sharp pain suddenly struck.

It felt as if a hole had been punched through his palm. Intense pain continuously surged through his nerves, and the friction between flesh and foreign objects brought a sensation that was enough to drive one mad.

His eyes felt as heavy as lead, yet his consciousness became increasingly clear amidst the pain, as if someone were stirring his brains with iron nails. Under such a contrast, even breathing became a form of torture.

Thus, an unknown amount of time passed.

Zhou You finally opened his eyes.

--The first thing to enter his field of vision was a severed head with eyes wide open in death.

The victim seemed to have suffered immensely before dying; the look of despair was still visible in those pupils. The eyes, not yet dried, stared fixedly at Zhou You as if there were countless words left to say, yet not a single syllable could escape those lips.

It looked terrifying, but Zhou You felt no fear at all; he even managed to discern his own situation reflected in the other's pupils.

--He was being suspended in mid-air by a hook.

The pitch-black iron implement had pierced straight through his palm, hanging him completely in the air. The blood on his palm was still fresh, suggesting he had not been hanging there for very long.

Surrounding him were several other corpses.

That head was one of them, and also the most intact one.

The others had either had a hand severed, their abdomens sliced open, their legs missing, or had been cut in half at the waist.

The methods of death were varied, yet in Zhou You's eyes, the expression on every corpse was exactly the same.

It was a uniform, identical despair.

--They had been "processed" into this state while still alive.

At this very moment, all the corpses were also suspended in mid-air by curved hooks—this scene was hard to describe; it was as if...

As if it were the meat-hanging area of a cafeteria?

Zhou You furrowed his brows, but before he could ponder it further, a heavy sound of footsteps suddenly approached.

He hurriedly held his breath, enduring the pain radiating from his palm, and did his best to slow his breathing before squinting his eyes to look ahead.

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

The thing stood over two meters tall, with a bulky and obese physique. It was draped in a coarse hemp robe covered in bloodstains and grease, looking like a hybrid between an ancient butcher's and a chef's attire, but what sat atop its neck was not a human head, but rather...

A pig's head.

Yes, a plump, fatty head that belonged entirely to some sort of artiodactyl mammal.