Fortune-Blessed Village

After the darkness receded, Yin Chao woke in a dilapidated meeting room.

A pitted blackboard hung in the center of the meeting room wall, with a dated banner above it: "Create a happy countryside, build a beautiful home."

[Ding. Story quest triggered: discover the cause of Cheng Liangzi's death. Remember, you must not defy the monsters' will.]

Listening to the system, Yin Chao picked out a key name-Cheng Liangzi.

So we need to find out how this person died?

His first thought was that Cheng Liangzi had been murdered, and the system wanted the players to find the killer.

But something felt off in a way he couldn't quite explain. Just as he was drawing a blank, someone pushed the door open and walked in.

"It's you?"

The newcomer spoke first.

Yin Chao looked closely. They were indeed familiar faces: Fang Tang and Xu Zhou, whom he had met in The Wedding instance, members of the Ares Guild with the code names Keeper and Mad Dog.

"Yin Chao?" Fang Tang asked uncertainly.

It wasn't that she had forgotten what he looked like. He simply felt very different now from when she had first met him.

If he had been a swaying daisy at their first meeting, he was now a highly poisonous oleander.

Peach-like flowers, bamboo-like stems-beautiful, and all too easy to let your guard down around.

One accidental taste could cost you your life.

A dangerous man, Fang Tang thought.

Before Yin Chao, sitting upright in the meeting room, could answer her, more people arrived.

These were familiar faces too: An Nian and Long Zang.

"Hello! You entered this instance too!" An Nian was rather excited, a stark contrast to the wary Long Zang behind her.

Yin Chao smiled and nodded at her, only to feel Long Zang's gaze growing increasingly hostile.

A few seconds later, Luo Lingyue walked in through the door.

For some reason, she was dressed in women's clothes now.

Long, straight black hair with blunt bangs, and a pale blue pleated skirt.

She looked like a girl of seventeen or eighteen.

She passed Fang Tang and Xu Zhou at the doorway and walked straight over to sit beside Yin Chao.

An Nian blinked and held out her hand to Luo Lingyue. "Hello, may I ask your name?"

"Luo Lingyue."

She spoke.

Everyone showed varying degrees of surprise at the name. After all, they had come to Fog Mountain Sanatorium to find a girl named Luo Lingyue.

"You're Luo Lingyue?" An Nian exclaimed. "Then why couldn't we find you in the sanatorium?"

Luo Lingyue disliked talking to strangers and gave a perfunctory reply. "No idea. Maybe you weren't trying hard enough."

An Nian scratched her head, unable to come up with a retort.

The Miracle Guild's tracking couldn't possibly have been wrong. Had they really not tried hard enough?

Beside them, Fang Tang recalled how much effort she and Xu Zhou had put into finding this girl and felt that it was easy for her to talk when she hadn't done any of the work.

Xu Zhou couldn't hold back. "You deliberately kept us from finding you, didn't you? Using an item you got in an S-rank instance?"

Luo Lingyue raised her eyes, her pitch-black pupils shifting slightly. "I'm under no obligation to make sure you find me, nor am I obliged to tell you about my items."

Her voice was icy, and she exuded the chill of wind and snow.

Xu Zhou, who was used to being feared, grew irritated. He clenched his back teeth, looking ready to fight Luo Lingyue to the death.

Fang Tang quickly grabbed Xu Zhou and gave everyone an apologetic smile. "Sorry. He was being too impulsive."

Suddenly, a male voice came from outside the meeting room. "Harmony brings prosperity. That's the key to clearing an instance, isn't it?"

Mo Nan approached the doorway, removed his top hat, and bowed to everyone like a gentleman.

He looked around, his gaze finally settling on Fang Tang. "Beautiful Miss Keeper, we meet again."

Fang Tang smiled without answering and pulled Xu Zhou over to sit in the chairs opposite Yin Chao.

Mo Nan is just like he was when we first met, so obsequious you'd think he was some scheming little villain, Yin Chao thought.

In reality, he was the exact opposite: a lunatic who preferred violence to trickery.

After everyone had taken their seats, another ten minutes or so passed, but no one else arrived.

"Only seven people in this instance?" An Nian couldn't help murmuring in confusion. "And all of us were in the sanatorium?"

Mo Nan replied, "We were indeed all in the sanatorium. It seems we were dragged in as extras to make up the numbers."

No sooner had he finished than the system's voice sounded again.

[B-rank instance, Fortune-Blessed Village, now open. Please discover the cause of Cheng Liangzi's death. Remember, you must not defy the monsters' will.]

"Why did it announce that again?" An Nian muttered.

Yin Chao looked thoughtfully at the meeting room's red-painted wooden door. "Perhaps the instance is only starting now? We just happened to enter it early."

He paused, then continued, "In other words, the game world created by God made a mistake."

Everyone looked at him. No one had ever questioned whether the instance world could make mistakes. No one had ever questioned God.

Those were the very words Fang Tang had said to him at the beginning-this was a game world created by God.

Yin Chao had always remembered the delight in her voice when she said it, along with the trace of superiority hidden in her eyes.

Fang Tang was the first to object. "I don't believe God can make mistakes. God is God, the Creator..."

Before she could finish, two men and a woman appeared at the door.

One was a bespectacled man in his early twenties, another a tall, thin man with narrow eyes whose age was hard to tell, and the third a short-haired girl.

"Hello! So you're all here! You scared me to death. I thought there were only the three of us in this instance!"

The bespectacled man was outgoing and strode casually into the meeting room.

Seeing this, An Nian immediately asked, "Did you just enter the instance, or have you already been here for over ten minutes?"

With An Nian's sweet appearance and soft voice, the bespectacled man blushed shyly. "We just got here. Less than three minutes ago."

His words confirmed Yin Chao's conclusion. The game world had indeed made a mistake.

Fang Tang's expression soured briefly, but she immediately suppressed it. She stood and shook hands with each of the three newcomers.

"Hello, I'm Fang Tang. I'm something of a veteran in the game world. If you have any questions, you can come to me."

The bespectacled man looked at Fang Tang, his flushed face reddening further. "Hello, I'm Zhong Mingnan. This is my third time entering an instance."

The tall, thin man gave Fang Tang's hand a loose shake. "I'm Wang Buhui."

The short-haired girl seemed a little overwhelmed by the attention. "Hello, I'm Lin Xue. This is my second instance. It's nice to meet you."

Seeing the introductions across from her, An Nian stood too. "I'm An Nian."

Knowing Long Zang disliked speaking, she pointed at him as well. "His name is Long Zang."

Mo Nan stood too. "Hello, everyone. I'm Mo Nan. I hope we all have an unforgettable experience in Fortune-Blessed Village."

Only Luo Lingyue, Yin Chao, and Xu Zhou remained.

"I'm Xu Zhou."

He was tall and imposing, and his tone sounded rather unfriendly, leaving all three newcomers wary of him.

Seeing this, Fang Tang hurried to put in a good word. "Xu Zhou has been like this since he was little, but he's not a bad person. Deep down, he's actually very gentle and loves making friends."

Xu Zhou didn't concern himself with what Fang Tang was saying and simply nodded along.

Another change of persona. Yin Chao snorted with laughter.