S419M: [Lord Host, I’m still a bit confused.]
Escape System: [Me too.]
S419M: [This is the desolate Gentle Village, and across from it is a prosperous Gentle Village. The two are mirror images, gender gene transformations… Ahhh, my head hurts. This can’t be real, right? Maybe that bride’s scar just happened to match the cut on Sister Song’s husband? How can someone put their whimsical notebook ideas into action? How much resentment must one have to achieve that?]
Bai Lixin: [Yeah, how much resentment would it take?]
He packed up the things on the ground one by one into his backpack. The wolf cub in his arms had already fallen asleep, lying obediently in the young man’s arms, occasionally kicking its small legs.
He glanced at the time displayed on the system and then at the sky above.
According to the time shown on the system, it should be past four in the morning now. Usually, at this time, the sky would already be getting light. But right now, the sky above them remained pitch black, with no moon or stars. It was as if this place was shrouded in darkness.
Bai Lixin thought for a moment and took out a light arrow from his backpack.
He pulled the bowstring taut and shot it into the sky with force. The light arrow “whooshed” into the air and was completely swallowed by the darkness, disappearing without even lighting up the sky.
This light arrow was not an ordinary one; it was a divine prop, but now it couldn’t even light up the sky.
Bai Lixin frowned slightly, stowed the light arrow back into his backpack, and continued walking outside.
He returned to the burned school building once again, but the female ghost was nowhere to be found.
After walking around inside for a while, Bai Lixin found an abandoned well in a corner.
The school building was in the exact location as the one in mirror Gentle Village, and the well was also in the same location.
He turned on his flashlight and when he saw what was inside, S419M immediately let out a scream: [Ahh! Retreat, retreat! What is this?!]
Inside the well, there was a pile of tattered clothes and corpses.
The well opening was small, and the corpses were twisted and piled up in a grotesque manner, as if someone had forcibly stuffed them inside.
Bai Lixin looked at these corpses for a while, then returned to the scattered seats in the square.
[Do you remember what the woman said about the red-clothed ghost?] he asked. [She said the red-clothed ghost went crazy and killed many people. Pan Pan also mentioned that when she was playing hide-and-seek with her Auntie back then, she innocently said that everyone was really good at playing hide-and-seek because she never found those people. They probably weren’t lying about these things.]
[People were indeed killed, and hide-and-seek was really played]
S419M: [So, that means this is actually one event The red-clothed ghost wanted to kill people but didn’t want Pan Pan to know. So, she told Pan Pan that the whole village was playing hide-and-seek, and then when Pan Pan hid, the red-clothed ghost killed everyone in the village and threw them into the dry well?]
[How ruthless.]
[But back then, she was probably just a normal woman. Did she have the ability to kill everyone in the village?]
Escape System: [She could have drugged everyone in advance. Isn’t it easier to kill people who are asleep than those who are awake?]
[Maybe there was some kind of celebration in the village that day, and everyone came for a feast. The red-clothed ghost tampered with the food during the feast, drugging everyone.]
[This place is so close to the school. She could easily drag them over and throw them into the well, and Pan Pan would naturally not be able to find anyone.]
[Yes!] S419M exclaimed, [that makes sense. Sister System, you’re really smart.]
Escape System: [Hehe, I learned a little by hearing and seeing.]
Bai Lixin controlled the flashlight to fall inside the courtyard, lowered his head, and carefully searched for something.
The Escape System asked: [Master Bai Lixin, what are you looking for?]
Bai Lixin: [That ghost was looking for a hairpin earlier. Can you two scan for it?]
Escape System: [I’m sorry, Master Bai Lixin, but many of my functions have become unavailable since we arrived here.]
S419M: [I can’t scan it either.]
Bai Lixin didn’t seem particularly disappointed, he had guessed that it wouldn’t be easy to find.
The previous fire must have been severe, the roofs on the walls of the courtyard had already burned into collapsed charcoal.
Roof beams lay on the ground, and the entire row of houses had turned into ashes.
Bai Lixin carefully searched the courtyard but didn’t find the hairpin.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt a chilling coldness behind him.
He instinctively moved aside, and in the moment he left his original spot, a red, viscous tongue was thrust into the ground where he had been.
The tongue was covered in barbs, and when it missed its target, it quickly retracted.
Bai Lixin followed the direction in which the tongue had retracted and saw that the red-clothed ghost, who had already left, had returned here somehow.
This time, he faced the scalded ghost face. It’s features were grotesque and distorted, its four lips flapping in mid-air as it slowly approached Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin tried to speak, “Hello, I’m from the neighboring village.”
The ghost remained unfazed, continuing to roar as it closed in on Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin tried again, “Pan Pan, do you know Pan Pan?”
The lips which had been wriggling in the air suddenly stopped. The red-clothed woman’s body froze in place, and her head began to twist at a strange angle.
“Crack.”
“Crack.”
“Crack.”
Her neck slowly rotated in front of Bai Lixin, first thirty degrees, then forty, sixty, eighty… one hundred twenty, and finally one hundred eighty degrees. In front of him, the female ghost’s neck had twisted a full one hundred eighty degrees, turning her charred face toward him.
Charred Ghost Face raised her hands, flailing in the air frantically.
She flailed for nearly a minute, then suddenly, her hands turned and grabbed her own face. With a slight exertion, her head twisted once more, another one hundred eighty degrees, and Scalded Ghost Face was back in front.
———————————-
In the live broadcast room
[Even though I’ve seen this ghost several times, every time feels like a new experience. Are all supernatural things this bizarre?]
[Family, I can’t even scream anymore. My body’s gone numb from the fear.]
[I don’t even want to scream, I feel like singing ‘Goose, Goose, Goose, Bending its neck, Singing to the sky’ instead.]
[…Even though it’s all neck-related, have you ever thought that the goose might feel offended?]
[This is supposed to be a welfare copy, this is what the system calls a welfare copy? Isn’t this reward somewhat fake?]
——————————
Just as the scalded ghost’s face completed its rotation, Bai Lixin spoke with a very familiar tone, “So, the one behind you can hear my voice. I thought she lost her hearing, vision, and sense of smell.”
“She can’t hear,” the female ghost opened her four lips, and a voice as hoarse as a dead branch came from her throat, “but our thoughts can connect. If I hear it, she can understand it.”
The female ghost showed no intention of attacking Bai Lixin any further. “You said you know Pan Pan. Are you from the village across the mountain? Are you a villager from that village?”
“I’m not,” Bai Lixin continued only when he was certain that the female ghost could communicate, “I’m just a visitor, and I’ll be leaving in a few days.”
The female ghost’s head rapidly shook from side to side, and then she continued to speak, “Is Pan Pan doing well over there?”
Bai Lixin stared at the female ghost and cautiously replied, “She’s doing well. Her mother cares for her deeply.”
This seemingly harmless statement seemed to have triggered a landmine. The female ghost’s head suddenly swayed dramatically left and right, and her whole body twisted along with it.
There was a tearing sensation in her body, as if her legs wanted to run outside, but another force was pulling her back.
Two souls in one body were locked in a struggle.
“But she’s not actually Pan Pan’s mother, is she?” Bai Lixin continued, his gaze never leaving the female ghost.
However, the female ghost no longer paid attention to him. She struggled with herself for a moment, then suddenly let out a scream and dropped all four limbs to the ground, crawling like a giant spider.
Bai Lixin instantly became alert. He stood still, but the muscles in his body secretly tensed.
S419M was getting anxious: [Lord Host, why aren’t you leaving?]
Bai Lixin: [The curse on the wolf cub hasn’t been lifted yet, and the curse on the village across from here is most likely connected to these two ghosts. I need to figure out how to lift the curse. It’s not every day I can come across my lover having beast ears, and I don’t want to let this opportunity slip away.]
S419M: […]
‘The way you say it feels like there are some dirty thoughts?’
The female ghost was now on all fours. She crawled rapidly on the ground, muttering something incessantly.
“Hairpin.”
“Pan Pan.”
“Hairpin.”
“Find the hairpin, find Pan Pan.”
“Pan Pan.”
She didn’t attack Bai Lixin, the whole ghost seemed to be immersed in her own world, frantically searching on the ground for a nonexistent hairpin.
[Ding!]
Suddenly, a system notification sound echoed in Bai Lixin’s mind.
[Congratulations, player, for unlocking the third task.]
[Please find the “hairpin” mentioned by the red-clothed demon and return it to her. Upon completing the task, the player will receive a mysterious reward.]
[Since this is a welfare copy, there will be no punishment for failing the task.]
[Accept/Decline.]
The moment Bai Lixin pressed “Accept,” the third task appeared in his task bar.
[Task 1: Survive for ten days and nights.]
[Task 2: Find the cause of Pan Pan’s distress and help her solve it.]
[Task 3: Find the “hairpin” mentioned by the red-clothed demon and return it to her.]
All three tasks were now displayed.
Bai Lixin looked at the ghost crawling on the ground. The system had referred to her as the “Red-Clothed Demon.”
The Red-Clothed Demon, as Dijia had once mentioned, was not a ghost or a human but a magical being superior to both.
Where could the hairpin be?
[Friendly reminder: The Red-Clothed Demon has searched every nook and cranny of this village and found no trace of the hairpin. Player, please think hard about where it might be.]
The system’s voice trembled slightly before disappearing.
Bai Lixin: [Sister System, the system just said that the Red-Clothed Demon has searched every corner of this village and found no sign of the hairpin. Does that mean the hairpin might not be in this village?]
Escape System: [That’s correct, Master Bai Lixin. We can try searching outside the village.]
S419M: [Outside this village, there’s a huge mountain and a strange gender-swapped village. We don’t even know what kind of hairpin it is. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.]
Bai Lixin: [She mentioned the hairpin while also mentioning Pan Pan. Could the hairpin be Pan Pan’s hairpin?]
He lowered his head and tried to communicate with the Red-clothed Demon, but she could no longer hear his voice. He could only helplessly give up on questioning her and turned to leave.
In total, it had been seven days since the start of the task, and finding a small hairpin in such a vast mountain was a task that required assistance.
It was time to go back.
…
It was a little past five in the morning, and logically, it should have been daylight by now. However, within the fog of the mountain, a figure was swiftly moving through the darkness.
Bai Lixin soon found the village entrance.
As soon as he left the village entrance, his field of vision was shrouded in thick fog, making it impossible to see anything.
His two feet had just stepped into the fog, and when he turned back, the village behind him was completely gone.
At this moment, he was in the midst of a boundless sea of white fog, with no sense of direction.
It was eerily quiet around him, with no sound except for his and the wolf cub’s heartbeats.
No wind, no water; if it weren’t for the sound of his own heartbeat, he might have thought he had entered a vacuum.
Following his memory of descending the mountain, he took a few steps forward. The sensation underfoot was uneven, like stepping on stones.
Just as he was about to take the next step, the wolf cub in his arms, which had been silent, suddenly let out two short and urgent howls.
The cries were brief and hurried, as if trying to convey something.
Bai Lixin instinctively halted his steps, and the wolf cub’s cries ceased as well.
Could it be that the wolf cub knew the way? Was it indicating the correct direction?
Had he taken a wrong turn earlier, which made the cub to remind him?
Bai Lixin adjusted his direction and took another step.
This time, the wolf cub howled again.
He withdrew his foot once more, and the wolf cub fell silent again.
After trying this four or five times, Bai Lixin finally found a direction in which the wolf cub didn’t howl.
Following this direction, he took several dozen steps and was preparing to continue when the wolf cub howled once more.
After several reminders, Bai Lixin had become quite skilled. Although the wolf cub couldn’t speak, he could roughly understand the correct direction from its howls.
Because of this, his efficiency improved considerably.
In this way, one person and one wolf continued to grope forward, with the wolf occasionally providing reminders. It was unknown how much time had passed, but the thick fog in front of Bai Lixin had finally dissipated quite a bit, and he could see a lush expanse of trees and grass.
————————————
In the live broadcast room:
[Finally found the exit! If we couldn’t get out, our big boss’s voice would have gone hoarse.]
[I’m willing to call Big Boss wolf cub the strongest part-timer. Has the part-time job industry already started to compete from the time one is in diapers??]
[Big boss: At this moment, I might need a sip of milk.]
[God Xin’s?]
[Cough, cough, cough, cough!]
—————————
Upon seeing the exit, Bai Lixin’s speed noticeably increased. The wolf cub, which had been howling the entire way, was now exhausted and lay limp in his arms, its four legs splayed out.
“Good job, I’m fortunate to have you. No matter how old you are, you always come to my aid whenever I’m in danger or at a crucial moment,” Bai Lixin looked at the tired little cub in his arms and kept throwing it rainbow farts.
Praise was a must, and he had to praise enthusiastically. He couldn’t let the little one’s heart feel cold.
Upon hearing the praise, the little wolf cub made an effort to lift its head.
But it was truly exhausted. Its fluffy head only made it halfway up before it flopped down heavily into Bai Lixin’s arms, falling into a deep sleep.
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Did you use all your energy to suck milk just now?’
Now that he had returned to the mountain, Bai Lixin felt much more relaxed.
He quickly reached the mountaintop and began descending toward the foot of the mountain.
However, just a few steps outside, his footsteps suddenly halted.
S419M: [What’s wrong, Lord Host?]
Bai Lixin: [It seems like I’ve taken the wrong path.]
S419M: [Huh?]
Bai Lixin: [Look at the ground. There are no traps, and the trees on the mountain have become much smaller. The village at the foot of the mountain doesn’t seem as large either.]
He stood at the mountaintop, and faintly, he could hear the sound of firecrackers going off at the foot of the mountain.
After saying this to the system, he continued to descend the mountain.
S419M: [If you know you’ve taken the wrong path, why continue down?]
Bai Lixin: [The village down there should also be Gentle Town. Let’s take a look since we’re already here.]
At this moment, there were no traps on the mountain, and there were no stone-paved mountain paths. There was only a small dirt path created by human footsteps.
After running along that dirt path for half an hour, Bai Lixin soon reached the foot of the mountain.
