The Fortune Lady was a fake?
Li Qing's fingers paused over his notes. "What do you mean?"
"This is a secret known only to each generation's village chief and a select few. If your permissions weren't so high, I wouldn't be able to tell you..."
Zhao Wu lowered his voice as he spoke, as though afraid someone might overhear.
"Several hundred years ago, the village chief here took a fancy to the village girls and struck a deal with the bandits in the surrounding mountains to abduct them in secret... Later, as more girls disappeared, the chief grew afraid someone would report it to the authorities, so he invented the legend of the Fortune Lady. He brought in women from elsewhere and hypnotized them into believing they were 'possessed by the Fortune Lady'..."
Over time, the people here built the Fortune Lady Temple and even made the Fortune Lady's bride selection a tradition.
"That doesn't make sense," Li Qing said. "The chief wasn't the only person who knew the truth. Has it never been exposed in all these centuries?"
Zhao Wu laughed. "Sir, who would let this slip? That would be smashing their own rice bowl, wouldn't it? Only women would care. And even if their wives found out, what would they dare do?"
Li Qing thought about it for a long time, but still failed to understand.
Zhao Wu said, "Sir, this is Fortune Star Village. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. The chief's word carries far more weight than any official's. Who would dare defy him?"
"The conditions under which the weaker side survives when only one side holds power and authority..." Li Qing finally understood. "I didn't expect to see this phenomenon in a world with such small differences in race, class, status, and strength."
Zhao Wu chuckled. "I'm glad you understand. The Divine Warrior Star Lord came along later, but that only made our operations easier."
Li Qing offered no comment. He finished his notes and stood.
Zhao Wu said, "Sir, are you going to..."
"Go outside and take a look."
"Then I-"
"Your data is flagged as abnormal. To prevent further errors, I recommend that you stay here and do nothing."
Zhao Wu murmured, "Oh," and sat back down.
Only after the white-clad figure had left the little cell did he scratch his head and mutter in bewilderment, "Why have I run into several players who can threaten NPCs lately... Have player permissions generally been raised this high now?"
With both hands tucked into his trench coat pockets, Li Qing walked slowly down the long, narrow corridor.
The Underground Corridor was also very dim and reeked of rot and mold.
Locked iron doors lined both sides. Li Qing checked them one by one, but found no one inside.
Perhaps that was because, in this round of the Dungeon Instance, he was still the only "bride" eliminated by the "Fortune Lady."
In some rooms, however, he saw piles of bones in the corners. From their appearance, they were all women's remains.
Li Qing tried to read their information, but perhaps because they had been dead for too long, there was no data left to extract.
The situation Zhao Wu described is indeed an anomaly the system has never recorded. But they still have to follow the rules: they can target no more than one bride, and only after nightfall. Assuming the chief takes one bride each day over these three days, and every bride is eliminated the moment she is taken...
Li Qing silently ran the calculations in his head.
Based on the ratio of NPCs to players in this Dungeon Instance, and allowing for the projected mortality from other events, even with an unforeseen factor like the "Divine Warrior Star Lord," the Dungeon Instance should have had a survival rate of 50%.
That fell within the normal difficulty range for a C-rank Dungeon Instance.
But the detected survival rate for this Dungeon Instance is only 14.28%... How did all those additional people die?
He finally reached the end of the long, narrow passage. Ahead stood a ladder leading to a door overhead.
A lock secured the door from the other side, but that could not stop Li Qing.
He touched it with a finger. White motes of light instantly rose from the point of contact with the lock, then dissipated in the air.
With a click, the brass lock opened on its own.
Li Qing pushed open the rather heavy cellar door.
Everything before him was... bright red, as though a layer of red cloth hung in front of him.
While Li Qing was still puzzling over it, his head struck something with a thunk, producing a dull sound that was neither loud nor soft.
Li Qing: "..."
Somewhat disgruntled, he covered the spot that hurt and realized he must now be beneath the statue in the Fortune Lady Temple.
Once he had climbed all the way out, he closed the heavy door again.
Just then, a sudden noise came from outside.
Li Qing whipped his gaze toward its source, only for light to flood his vision-
With a swish, someone lifted the red tablecloth beneath the statue.
Under the less-than-bright light, Li Qing's pale eyes became almost transparent. It took a moment for his vision to recover.
Then he found himself looking into a face with almost flawless contours.
Gong Yao knelt outside on one knee, his body still held in a guarded posture. His loose hair fell to one side under its own weight, revealing his golden left eye, which glinted with a feline sharpness.
Surprise crossed his face before finally settling into delighted relief.
"Qing? What are you doing here? We all thought something terrible had happened to you!"
He held out a hand to Li Qing.
The earlier exertion had indeed left the delicate administrator somewhat dizzy and dazed, so he accepted without hesitation and took Gong Yao's hand.
Gong Yao wore black fingerless gloves. His warm fingertips rested against the back of Li Qing's hand as he steadily pulled him out.
Li Qing steadied his breathing and looked up at where he had emerged-
It was indeed beneath the statue.
Why had Gong Yao come here?
He turned again and saw a figure in bridal robes.
-It was Wu Nianfang!
Gong Yao spread his hands. "We came last in the compatibility test during the day, so as soon as night fell, they bundled us up and sent us in here."
The three sat on the floor, and Gong Yao asked, "What about you, Qing? Looks like you had an adventure of your own while you were missing."
Li Qing said, "I was abducted when I opened the door for the 'Fortune Lady.'"
Gong Yao: "..."
Both Gong Yao and Wu Nianfang looked at him with indescribable expressions, but Li Qing himself did not find anything odd about the phrase "opened the door for the Fortune Lady."
He recounted what had happened after his abduction, including the truth about the chief disguising himself as the "Fortune Lady" and the "Divine Warrior Star Lord" to abduct girls. He omitted only the fact that he had used his administrator permissions to make an NPC confess, saying instead that he had used other methods to coax out the information and escaped when the opportunity arose.
Gong Yao showed no curiosity whatsoever about how he had coaxed out the information.
After hearing that "truth," his brows knitted tightly.
This was the first time Li Qing had seen Gong Yao display such obvious anger.
His right hand clenched. After a long moment, he slowly relaxed it and let out a breath. "...I see."
Li Qing tilted his head to look at him. "You're very angry. Angry enough to want to draw that blade of yours."
Gong Yao gave a quiet assent, his voice still calm.
"But they're your own kind, too. According to my observations, the ones you protect include the 'humans' in Dungeon Instances." Li Qing was a little puzzled. Gong Yao's reaction just now had clearly suggested that he wanted to go down there and cut Zhao Wu down.
"They're not my kind," Gong Yao said, his voice slightly cold. "They're animals."
"Animals. People commonly use that word to describe those they detest," Li Qing immediately replied. It was a flat, emotionless statement, as though he were explaining something to himself.
"..."
Gong Yao stared at him, speechless for a long while, then shook his head.
When he spoke again, his tone had become a little lighter. "So there aren't any ghosts in this Dungeon Instance-let's leave out things with physical bodies, like Water Monkeys, for now. The Fortune Lady is just 'humans' playing tricks?"
"...No."
Li Qing slowly shook his head.
"The Fortune Lady really exists. She..."
He lifted his eyes, his gaze passing over Gong Yao's shoulder-
"-She's right behind you."
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