Worship the Lady (16)

"The Lady's Temple?"

"Yes! Back at the Lady's Temple!" Bo Yu excitedly took a step forward, only to recoil at the aura emanating from the hair and hastily retreat. Her voice remained excited, though. "Do you remember how yesterday at noon, my appetite took over my mind and I wasn't really thinking clearly?"

Bo Yi thought back for a few seconds, following her words, then immediately understood what she meant. "You mean..."

"Exactly!" Bo Yu nodded. "This hair gives me the same feeling I had when I saw the Maiden Statue at the Lady's Temple!"

Thinking of it that way, could the real reason behind what she had taken to be the Lady's Temple suppressing her appetite have been-fear clearing her head?

"If that's the case..." Bo Yi nodded thoughtfully, then turned to look at the players skulking around them. "Why don't we try it and find out?"

"Try it?" Bo Yu asked, puzzled.

A few minutes later, several players, all bound with ropes, lay piled in the middle of the courtyard.

Bo Yu looked at the player in front of her, who was frantically kicking his legs against the ground in an attempt to back away. She looked hesitant. "Isn't this... a little wrong?"

"What's wrong with it?"

Head lowered, Bo Yi was tying a separated lock of black hair around Song Yunyi's wrist. Pinned to the ground by Bo Yi, Song Yunyi struggled wildly. Unable to break free, he periodically let out screams like a pig being slaughtered. It was utterly harrowing... and Bo Yu looked increasingly unable to bear it.

"We're helping them." Bo Yi finished the knot, leaving the black hair hanging around Song Yunyi's wrist like a bracelet, then looked up at Bo Yu. "Or do you intend to let them keep going to the village chief's house for fish ball soup at noon, then enjoy a raw-fish buffet at night?"

Bo Yu fell silent for a second, then quietly crouched down to help.

Satisfied, Bo Yi withdrew his gaze and looked back at Song Yunyi. He took out his little notebook again and began counting the seconds in his head.

After roughly a hundred seconds, Song Yunyi's incessant struggles gradually weakened, and his unfocused eyes slowly began to clear.

The moment he noticed the change in Song Yunyi's expression, Bo Yi released his grip, recoiling as though Song Yunyi were some kind of virus.

Fortunately, Song Yunyi didn't notice. He was still absorbed in the memories that had suddenly surfaced in his mind. "I..."

He pressed a hand to his forehead, his brows furrowing in pain. "What happened? What's wrong with me?"

Bo Yi recorded the data in his notebook, motioned for Bo Yu to come over and explain, then coldheartedly moved on to the next player.

Before long, his hands-on demonstration showed Song Yunyi exactly what had happened to him.

Song Yunyi watched Bo Yi's movements in shock. "This..."

He looked at the "black cord" in Bo Yi's hands, then at the black "bracelet" around his own wrist that made him so uncomfortable. His eyes slowly widened behind his glasses. "What on earth is this thing?!"

Bo Yi leisurely finished tying the knot. Before starting his silent count, he spared a moment to glance back and offered a rare act of kindness. "I'd advise you not to find out..."

Remembering how wet that thing had been earlier, Bo Yu nodded in wholehearted agreement.

Soon, Bo Yi had dealt with all the players. Along the way, he had even thoughtfully gone next door to carry over Jiang Xiaofeng, whose arms he had dislocated, and reunite him with everyone. After tying on the cord, he provided the full service by putting Jiang Xiaofeng's arms back into place.

Leaving Bo Yu to explain what had happened, he stepped aside to process the data he had collected.

He looked thoroughly pleased with himself.

Before long, Bo Yu had recounted everything from yesterday at noon to just now, and the sounds of players frantically making themselves vomit rose throughout the courtyard.

No one doubted Bo Yu's words, because the lingering tastes of fish and blood in their mouths were the best proof. When Chu Youyi caught her own "glorious visage" reflected in the window of the house, she even let out a piercing scream almost as high-pitched as last night's.

In no time, the courtyard became a hive of activity, with some washing their faces, others inducing vomiting, and still others checking their wounds.

Bo Yu walked over to Bo Yi. "What are you planning to do today?"

Bo Yi put away his notebook. "I'm going to take a look at the graveyard on the Back Mountain."

"The graveyard on the Back Mountain..." She didn't waste her breath saying things like "The Back Mountain is too dangerous" or "Didn't the NPCs forbid us from going there?" Instead, she asked succinctly, "Then how will you deal with the NPCs?"

After all, not long ago, they had seen the grisly deaths of the three players who had tried to reach the graveyard.

"Besides, there are always NPCs guarding the Back Mountain. How are you planning to get in?"

"We just need an excuse to lure them away."

"Sounds like you've already found a way to do that."

"Of course..." Bo Yi slowly turned his gaze toward the middle of the courtyard.

"The 'method' has actually been right in front of us all along."

"That's the plan..."

"We tested it before. As soon as someone tampers with the well in the courtyard, the villagers can sense it."

"When you open the well, keep an eye on what's happening nearby. Run as soon as the NPCs return. Don't hesitate. The NPCs will deal with the well first, so you'll be safe as long as you get away."

Bo Yi looked at the three players who would remain in the village:

Bo Yu stayed because her injuries from last night made running around inadvisable. Jiang Xiaofeng stayed purely out of cowardice: faced with a choice between "going to the Back Mountain and encountering unknown dangers" and "staying behind to remove the well's covering and being chased by villagers," he reluctantly chose the latter. Xu Xiaoyang, meanwhile, stayed because he was a smooth talker. If something really went wrong, they were counting on him to stall the NPCs.

Since Bo Yi had brought everyone back to their senses when nearly all the players went mad this time, they simply deferred to his judgment. Hearing that he planned to go to the Back Mountain, they decided to accompany him and help.

Only three would remain behind to stir up trouble in the village and lure all the villagers on the Back Mountain back.

"Got it. It's just guerrilla warfare, right?"

Xu Xiaoyang smiled easily. "This isn't my first time doing something like this. Don't worry..."

"If all else fails, we can always set a fire..." He even cracked a playful joke, trying to lighten the mood.

Bo Yi nodded and led the others toward the Back Mountain.

Not long after setting out, they encountered several villagers hurrying back. Bo Yi led the group around them, and they soon reached the Back Mountain.

There were already far fewer people patrolling the Back Mountain than before. He patiently waited in the nearby woods for a while. When only the last one or two villagers remained, he finally waved his hand.

The players behind him immediately rushed forward. Before the remaining villagers could cry out in surprise, they knocked them unconscious, bound them with ropes, gagged them, and hid them in the woods.

"Let's go."

But the moment they stepped onto the Back Mountain, everyone froze in shock.

"H-how are we supposed to find it?!"

Small mounds of earth covered the entire Back Mountain, with no gravestones or altars... At a glance, every mound looked exactly the same!

They all turned to Bo Yi in unison. "What do we do now?!"

"It's simple."

Bo Yi chuckled. "Just find..."

"The one with the freshest soil."