Wan Yingjun stared at Yuan Sisi in disbelief.
This stupid woman, who had been making mistakes everywhere from the start and looked every bit like a rookie player, was actually an NPC!?
How could an NPC know so much about players? Or had she originally been a player, only to die at some point, like Zhou Qing...
...But his system had clearly told him Yuan Sisi was a player!
His insides burned, and his vision kept going black. He had no idea how long it took before his senses finally returned.
The villagers' congratulations rang out around him. "Congratulations! Another Fortune Lady!"
Even the village chief spoke up in person. "What wonderful luck you have, sir!"
Wan Yingjun seized the village chief by his collar. "What the hell are you playing at!"
Yuan Sisi kept smiling as she grabbed Wan Yingjun's hand and made him release the village chief.
For some reason, this small, slender girl had such a powerful grip that Wan Yingjun felt as though she was about to crush his bones.
Outside the Ancestral Hall, Xu Yuan watched him with a coquettish laugh. "Yingjun, even though we aren't husband and wife, I'm still so happy I'll get to see you in Fortune Star Village every day~"
Yuan Sisi leaned closer. "Darling, why do you look so unhappy? Don't you love having women fawn over you?"
"Does she count as a normal woman!?"
"Why wouldn't she?" Yuan Sisi whispered in his ear. "You've met her before, too. Six months ago, beneath the Fortune Lady Temple. Have you forgotten?"
Wan Yingjun froze on the spot.
"You... how do you know..."
"I saw it," Yuan Sisi said, laughing happily. "I was under the bed back then. Didn't you see me, too? Oh, do I look so different that you don't recognize me?"
The next instant, the girl's pretty face rapidly rotted. Blood vessels and muscle peeled away, exposing the bones beneath.
A deep strangulation mark appeared around her neck.
Her lipless mouth opened and closed, producing a lovely voice. "Oh my, I never thought you'd come back again. Did you miss us? How does that saying go... meeting each other halfway?"
Wan Yingjun finally let out an uncontrollable scream of terror, frantically calling out in his mind. System! System! Get me out of the game!
An emotionless voice sounded. "Exit procedure failed. You have insufficient permissions."
How can I have insufficient permissions!?
The system patiently explained, "The backdoor interface in this Dungeon Instance has been closed. You must obtain administrator privileges to execute the command to exit the Dungeon Instance."
Apply for them for me, now! My ID has a special flag. They'll definitely process it right away!
"Sorry, you have insufficient permissions..."
Wan Yingjun let out a desperate scream.
Not far away.
The words "Repair command applied" flashed across Li Qing's retina.
He raised his left hand and adjusted the uncomfortable standing collar of his wedding robes, his handsome face betraying no emotion.
Wearing an expression that said, You can do that?, Gong Yao watched Wan Yingjun surrounded by several women, then turned to Li Qing beside him. "Did you know Yuan Sisi's identity all along?"
Li Qing lowered his left hand and looked up at him. "The full score is 120."
Gong Yao froze, then gave a helpless smile.
"So I got the bonus question wrong."
Li Qing said, "By human intelligence standards, you were already above average. But human emotions affected your judgment."
"..."
"You subconsciously assumed Yuan Sisi was a novice player who had just arrived, so your desire to protect her outweighed your vigilance. That is the limitation of human thinking. Powerful individuals invariably develop arrogance."
Gong Yao fell silent for a moment, then shook his head with a rueful smile. "You're right."
Li Qing gave a bland "Mm" and said nothing more.
When Aunt Liu urged them along, the two entered the Ancestral Hall together.
Gong Yao cut open his palm without hesitation, then looked at Li Qing.
Only after Li Qing did the same did he smile again. "So your blood is red, too."
Li Qing gave him a puzzled look. "Generally speaking, human blood is red."
Gong Yao said nothing. He exchanged wine cups with him, and they drained the wine mixed with each other's blood.
A moment later, Aunt Liu said, "Congratulations to this newlywed couple, married under the Fortune Lady's blessing. May the Fortune Lady protect you through every lifetime and bind your hearts together forever!"
The village chief chuckled. "Unfortunately, you don't belong to Fortune Star Village. Though we thank you for your love and support of the Fortune Lady's culture, this is as far as our hospitality can go."
Everyone watched Li Qing and Gong Yao leave the Fortune Lady Temple. A bus bound for the outskirts of the village waited outside.
Li Qing looked back one last time-
Fang Miao still looked shy, Zhou Qing looked bored out of her mind, and Xu Yuan smiled at him with seductive charm, looking thoroughly satisfied.
Yuan Sisi waved enthusiastically at him, as though she were still the rookie player who liked following him around.
Wu Nianfang stood at the very back, meeting his gaze through the crowd as she raised the Wooden Token in her hand.
Li Qing extended his left hand and lightly tapped the air.
Nothing happened.
Wu Nianfang gazed deeply at him and smiled. Then her smile gradually widened, the corners of her mouth curving to an exaggerated degree.
Behind her, black mist slowly churned out of the Ancestral Hall where the Fortune Lady's statue stood...
"So what did you offer Wu Nianfang to get her to agree to the exchange?"
On the bus, Gong Yao sat beside Li Qing, pressing him curiously.
Li Qing watched the wooded mountains outside the window without speaking.
Gong Yao said, "Tell me. I've already turned off the livestream!"
Only then did Li Qing turn to look at him. "Nothing much. I merely removed some of their restrictions before this Dungeon Instance's data is completely wiped."
The Dungeon Instance was already riddled with serious bugs anyway. No one would punish him for "accidentally commenting out a few lines of code while fixing bugs."
It was a worthwhile trade.
Gong Yao looked at him in surprise, then asked teasingly, "Does this count as delivering justice?"
Li Qing responded with a bewildered look.
Gong Yao curved his lips into a smile and leaned back against his seat, watching the rugged mountain road ahead of the bus.
It was a narrow path, only wide enough for one vehicle, with loose stones making the ride bumpy. On foot, wearing embroidered shoes, someone wouldn't even make it halfway.
It was almost like... no, it really was a road to another world.
"Qing, do you know why I came to this C-rank Dungeon Instance alone?"
Li Qing tilted his head to look at him.
He truly couldn't understand it. Given Gong Yao's abilities, the rewards from a C-rank Dungeon Instance were far too meager.
"Actually, I once heard some players discussing this Dungeon Instance in private."
Gong Yao's voice was very soft. He seemed finally relaxed, yet also as though he were reminiscing.
"'A paradise for male players. Female players, stay out.'
"Around that time, a couple from my team entered this Dungeon Instance... neither of them came out."
Li Qing raised the tail of one eyebrow. "So that's why you came?"
Gong Yao sank fully against the bus seat, a rare trace of weariness in his voice.
"Yes. But even though I'm used to seeing the strong prey on the weak, this was the first time I'd seen players conspiring with Dungeon Instance NPCs to use other players as playthings."
Li Qing said calmly, "The gap between classes is greater than the difference between species. Humans amuse themselves with animals, and the strong amuse themselves with the weak. There's no difference."
"That's the second time you've said that."
"Because it is a conclusion drawn from observing all the player samples in Dungeon Instances."
Li Qing propped up his chin and looked out the window. "I don't recommend getting angry or upset over things like this. Do you know why I rarely observe people who think like you? Because they usually either become the most common kind of person found in Dungeon Instances, or die early."
Gong Yao froze, then laughed.
"Are you worrying about me? I thought you were the sort of boss who was utterly unfeeling... well, you are indeed unfeeling. It's fine. I'll let you observe a different outcome."
Unmoved, Li Qing merely gave a soft hum through his nose in acknowledgment.
Gong Yao smiled again. "In that case... which Dungeon Instance are you going to for your next work trip? Let me give you another chance to observe me. We worked pretty well together this time."
Li Qing said, "Did we? My assignment would have been more enjoyable without you bringing that Livestream System along to monitor me."
At the very least, he would definitely have been able to clock out sooner.
"Don't put it like that. Plenty of interesting things happened, didn't they? I thought you enjoyed yourself at times too, Qing, especially when you were eating..."
Li Qing gradually tuned out Gong Yao's rambling.
He opened his light screen and typed at the end of his field report:
[Anomalies in Dungeon Instance C9999 have been reported. Data wipe command pending approval. Remaining bug repairs transferred to the Technical Team of Death Instance Division One.] [All Maintenance Team tasks completed.] [Reported by: S-A9B08F013 Li Qing.]
After sending the report, he entered another command:
[Exit Dungeon Instance] [Dungeon Instance completed. Executing early exit command...]
"...See? Isn't experiencing 'human' life once in a while much more fun than your work? Besides, if you can save a lot of people on every assignment like you did this time-"
While Gong Yao was still chattering away, Li Qing vanished from his seat in an instant.
Gong Yao broke off and stared blankly for a long moment, then smiled and shook his head.
"It's fine... we'll meet again."
Before you continue