Once everyone had crossed the stone stele at the village entrance, with "Su Village" carved into it, a clear child's voice rang out in the air, singing a nursery rhyme:
[The harvest fails, the famine comes, no rice or flour to see us through the disaster]
[Outside the Ancestral Hall, beside the locust tree, set up a big pot and cook meat to eat]
Qi Si looked toward the sound and saw a gaunt little boy with a round belly sitting in a stark, leafless tree.
The boy's skeletal body supported a swollen-looking head. Blue veins and blood vessels stood out beneath his thin skin, and he was as black as if he'd rolled around in mud. Only his eyes were startlingly white.
As he recited the nursery rhyme, he swung his feet back and forth, the bells tied around his ankles chiming softly.
When he saw the players approaching, the boy jumped down from the tree and tilted his head, sizing them up with a giggle. "You're the guests Grandma told me about, right? I've been waiting for you for ages."
His twig-thin hands covered his stomach. His pupil-less eyes stared straight ahead as he muttered, "I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry. Does anyone have meat to give me?"
The boy's gaze roamed over the players, greedy and ravenous, as if he might pounce on them and start gnawing at any moment.
Qi Si had never liked children, and this one was obviously up to no good. He rubbed the custom wristband on his right wrist, his eyes clouding with restrained hostility.
Then he quickly realized that this state of mind was unusual, as if some mechanism had deliberately provoked his hostility.
The disheveled man beside him clearly hadn't thought it through. He strode forward and slapped the boy across the face.
Qi Si noticed a cross tied to the man's palm with a black cord. The moment it touched the boy, it burst into a dazzling white light.
It was probably an item he'd obtained in his first instance, one that could be used against ghosts. His sudden attack hadn't come out of nowhere.
"I'll beat you to death! I'll beat you to death!" the man shouted as he slapped the boy, cursing under his breath as if to bolster his own courage—or put on a show for the others.
The two newcomers watched with solemn admiration. The other veteran players made no move to stop him.
Attacking a ghost NPC rashly might be suicidal, or it might bring an opportunity to raise one's evaluation and unlock an achievement.
It was better to let someone bold enough take the risk. The players knew all too well that the best thing to do was set aside any urge to help and laugh at someone else's fate.
The boy didn't fight back or even react. With every slap, his head tilted farther to one side. When it had nearly reached a right angle, it dropped to the ground with a wet plop.
The man stumbled back in shock. The head rolled across the ground, then clamped its teeth onto his pant leg.
The boy's bony body stood upright nearby, a hollow voice rumbling from his torso. "Will you give me meat to eat?"
The system notification rang out at the perfect moment.
[Rules refreshed]
[1. The ghosts of Su Village cannot be killed by forces from outside the village. They hold grudges, but sometimes they forget. If you're willing to give them meat, they're willing to be your friends.]
The disheveled man was named Zhao Feng. The instant he saw the rules appear on the system interface, the ferocity vanished from his face, replaced by a frightened pallor.
The others whispered words like "unkillable" and "We're done for," looking at him as if he were already dead.
Qi Si narrowed his eyes at the newly revealed rule, one eyebrow lifting.
So this was another Rule Horror instance. But compared with the previous one, its rules were better hidden. They weren't handed directly to the players; instead, they had to tempt them into testing things the hard way.
If the ghosts couldn't be killed by forces from outside the village, did that mean they had to use something from inside it? What could that be?
"I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry. Give me meat..." Blood seeped into the eyes of the head as its mouth opened, revealing row upon row of tiny teeth.
Mucus and scraps of meat clung to the teeth, making the players' stomachs turn. Its ceaseless muttering grated on their nerves, stirring up inexplicable irritation. A few of them even felt an urge to follow Zhao Feng's example and stab the Ghost Child.
"Agree to it," Yang Yundong said suddenly, his voice low.
Zhao Feng kicked at the head, trying to shake it off, while shouting at the top of his lungs, "How am I supposed to agree? I don't have any meat to give him!"
Yang Yundong raised his voice. "If you don't want to die right now, agree to it!"
Zhao Feng was taken aback, his body going rigid.
As the head's face grew more and more ferocious, he had no choice but to stare and shout, "I agree! I'll give you meat!"
The head let go of his leg and lay faceup, its eyes fixed on Zhao Feng's.
Yang Yundong said, "Tell him you don't have any meat to give him right now, but you will in a few days."
Zhao Feng lowered his head and stared into the head's eyes. "I don't have any meat to give you right now, but I will in a few days."
He held his breath and waited for a reply.
After an unknown length of time, the boy bent down, picked up his head, and deftly set it back on his bare neck.
"It's a deal. Tomorrow—I want meat tomorrow."
As he spoke, he twisted his head. Then, as if nothing had happened, he smiled at the players. "You're the guests Grandma told me about, right? My name's A-Xi. Come with me to my house. We love guests!"
The boy called A-Xi turned away from the players and bounced ahead to lead the way.
Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like they'd muddled through the first death point.
With Yang Yundong still in the lead, the players followed along one after another.
Zhao Feng cursed bitterly a few times, then sidled up to Yang Yundong. "Brother Yang, what am I supposed to do tomorrow? Where am I going to find meat for him?"
Without looking back, Yang Yundong said, "Figure it out yourself. You brought this on yourself by provoking those things."
Zhao Feng got nowhere with him. His facial muscles twitched, and he looked deeply indignant. "If it weren't for these damn rules, I'd have sent that thing's soul flying in an instant! Now I'm screwed. I can't kill it, and it's got me under its thumb..."
Zhu Ling hurried to reassure him. "Don't be afraid. There are ways to deal with all kinds of ghosts. And even if nothing else works, you can find meat in a day."
Zhao Feng glanced at her twice and said no more.
The roads in Su Village were narrow and uneven. Dilapidated houses crowded in on either side, making the streets feel cramped and oppressive.
The couplets on the doors had long since faded and crumbled, clawing across the wood like rotting scars. Their words were too blurred to make out.
Moss and ferns grew wild along the eaves, dangling beneath them and swaying gently in the breeze.
Every window they passed was pitch-black inside. Not a single person could be seen.
Where had everyone gone? Even if this village wasn't lined with tourist shops, a place that attracted visitors shouldn't be this deserted...
Qi Si waited a long while, but none of the other players asked anything. So he casually asked, "A-Xi, why are there so few people in your village? Did they all move away?"
"No," the boy leading the way replied with a smile. "Everyone comes out at night."
Qi Si raised an eyebrow, acting curious. "Why don't they come out during the day? Your tourism business seems to be doing pretty well. Setting up some stalls during the day would obviously make more money, wouldn't it?"
He was lying through his teeth. Su Village looked so run-down that it was impossible to believe its tourism business was thriving.
But a lie could often provoke someone to contradict it, giving him a chance to learn more.
The boy took the bait and tossed his head. "You're lying! Grandma said no one's come to our village for ages, not since that thing happened."
Qi Si pressed him. "What thing?"
The boy shook his head repeatedly. "Go ask Grandma. She won't let me talk about it."
"All right. But if no one comes here to visit, why are you still living here?" Qi Si pretended not to believe him. "It doesn't look like any of you farm, either. You won't earn much by staying in the village. You'd be better off going to the city to find work."
The boy spoke with exaggerated seriousness. "Grandma told me someone has to stay in the village. Otherwise no one will look after the Ancestral Hall, and something terrible will happen!"
Qi Si was about to ask what would happen, but the boy pointed toward a courtyard ahead. "Look, that's my house!"
The courtyard had a traditional design, with upturned eaves. Two faded red lanterns hung beneath the roof, and it looked no different from an ordinary farmhouse.
Two good-luck characters were pasted on the door, with a couplet on either side. The right-hand line read, "Burn incense year after year to dispel karmic hindrances." The left read, "Practice vegetarianism year after year to erase sin."
The couplet had faded, but its words were still legible, suggesting it hadn't been put up too long ago—less than a year, at least.
Qi Si's gaze lingered on the words "practice vegetarianism." If he remembered correctly, this instance was called Carnivore...
In the silence, a long, creaking sound suddenly rang out. The door opened from the inside, and an old woman in a floral jacket of red and yellow stepped outside.
Her hair was completely white, coiled at the back of her head. Her wrinkled face looked like a crumpled tissue, and was as black as if she'd been smeared with charcoal. Her tiny feet, shod in black cloth shoes, trembled beneath her. She looked as if a gust of wind might knock her over.
Compared with the boy, whose strangeness was obvious, she seemed kind and warm. Her face and figure showed no unusual features; she looked just like a living person.
At the sight of the old woman, the boy ran over excitedly and hugged her leg, then turned his head to look back at the players.
Leaning against the doorframe, the old woman grinned with her toothless mouth. "The guests are here! Come, choose your rooms. Once you've picked your rooms, you can have your meat..."
Before you continue