Most interstellar netizens might not have recognized the name “Afurong”, but when Si Yao coldly uttered “opium poppies”, many were instantly shocked.
[Opium poppies!? Isn’t that the raw material for controlled substances? I think I get it now! No wonder that old bastard started with a pharmacy business and then switched to selling flowers and incense. That’s just a front, he’s actually dealing in opium!]
Once the terrifying clues were pieced together, the extravagant mansion that stood out from the surrounding village and the Liu family’s secrecy regarding the backyard finally made sense.
[And I remember, ancient interstellar history once mentioned the horrific past of this plant. This old man making a fortune off this stuff is practically the embodiment of evil! Hurry up and let Si Yao clear the dungeon, ahhh!]
Many interstellar readers knowledgeable about the subject began seriously discussing the dark history of this plant and the disasters it had caused.
[I always found the ancient Blue Star elements in Teacher Fish Noodle’ novels to be beautiful and dreamy. But with this new book, I see another side, one that is shocking and tragic! My heart aches so much, wuuuu.]
[+1, I never expected to be stabbed by historical facts. I really want to say that traffickers like Master Liu are really guilty beyond redemption!]
And with the discovery of the poppy field, Si Yao and 114 quickly found more clues in the backyard, as well as a strange, eerie little house.
Si Yao looked at the house, momentarily dazed.
Because when he had accompanied the girl in his dream, he had seen this house before.
“…Be careful.”
The next second, 114 reached out and held his hand. Only then did Si Yao realize that this flower field seemed to have some kind of effect on a person’s mind.
For the first time, Si Yao did not shake off 114’s hand but instead walked toward the little house with him.
[Important scene discovered: Mysterious Small House]
The door was tightly locked with a rusted old padlock. Even so, as soon as they approached, a foul stench of decay was already detectable. Si Yao subconsciously started to guess what might be inside.
Peering through a gap in the wooden door, he saw thin and frail bones scattered across the floor. Amidst them, there were even traces of rotting red silk.
Si Yao fell into silence, and 114 also looked at him without saying a word.
After discovering both the poppy field and this decayed little house, Si Yao finally understood why the Liu family kept taking new brides and where those brides had all gone.
Si Yao could even imagine that if those girls hadn’t remained as calm as he did to complete his mission, if they had screamed and resisted, would they have been force-fed opium?
“Teeth.”
As if he had guessed Si Yao’s thoughts, 114 reached into the dirt, brushed it aside, and retrieved a tooth.
The blackened stain on it was clearly the result of consuming opium.
A heavy wave of mental pressure and corruption came over Si Yao, so much so that he had to close his eyes and try to fight against the negative emotions of rage and resentment in his heart.
If he hadn’t encountered 114 in this world, reminding him that he was merely an outsider completing a mission, Si Yao felt that the longer he stayed in this deep, oppressive courtyard, the greater his chances of being assimilated.
In the end, Si Yao carefully wrapped the tooth in fabric.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to give the girls in this house a proper burial, he simply feared that if he moved too much right now, he would leave traces of someone intruding here.
He would definitely return.
Si Yao bowed his head in silent mourning before the house for several seconds. Whether it was just his imagination or not, the isolated house no longer seemed as cold and ominous as before.
But as he and 114 left, the ever-present matchmaker appeared once more. She looked at Si Yao with an eerie expression and tried to ask him where he had been.
Her sinister tone made it clear that if Si Yao failed to give a sufficiently reasonable answer, he would be killed on the spot once again.
However, 114, in his role as Young Master Liu, silently met the matchmaker’s gaze and ordered her to leave.
The matchmaker never expected that this time, the “bride” had not only successfully seen Young Master Liu’s ghost but was also unusually close to him.
Watching Si Yao and 114’s departing figures, the matchmaker fell into uneasy contemplation.
Si Yao also realized that these accomplices like the matchmaker, who aided and abetted evil, would eventually become a threat.
After returning to the room, Si Yao placed the fabric-wrapped tooth alongside the cloth doll.
This dungeon tasked him with finding traces of his missing sister, and now, based on all the clues he had gathered, he could almost confirm that the original owner’s sister was already dead. And it was highly likely that her corpse was inside that wooden house.]]
Ever since the plot developed to the point where Si Yao uncovered the secrets in the dilapidated house, countless interstellar readers, who had once screamed in fear at the female ghost, now felt a different kind of unease.
[Help, why do I feel like I’ve been stabbed again QAQ? Thinking back now, the red-clothed ghost that initially chased Si Yao reacted so violently to the wedding dress…was it because she was one of them!?]
[Is it too late for me to go back and delete my previous comments? I’m already on my knees, I swear. The guilt is going to keep me up at night, and I’ll wake up in the middle of the night just to punch myself.]
[Wuuu, poor sister… How could this happen? I am praying that Si Yao can help them get their revenge…Teacher Fish Soup Noodles! How did you write such a chilling and brutal story!?]
Who could have imagined that these girls had suffered such a tragic fate!?
And that night, Si Yao encountered the girl once more in his dream.
This time, the girl unexpectedly hesitated and, looking uneasy, allowed herself to be pulled into Si Yao’s arms.
For the first time since birth, she felt warmth and care. All from Si Yao, a player who didn’t even belong to this world.
And the girl finally revealed one last secret to Si Yao: she was the only bride who had ever witnessed Old Master Liu’s transaction. That was the reason she was burned to death…
So with the girl’s ghost as his guide, Si Yao began investigating the secret behind Old Master Liu’s monthly disappearances.
After countless perilous encounters during his search, Si Yao finally uncovered an even more horrifying truth.
Old Master Liu’s opium business was deeply entangled with many powerful officials. And on the night of the full moon, a mysterious visitor from the capital arrived, making everything even more sinister and complex.
The visitor wore a pitch-black hood that concealed their entire figure. In a twisted tone, they asked Old Master Liu how the opium paste sales were going.
Old Master Liu nodded and bowed eagerly, saying business was excellent. At the same time, he grumbled about the growing unrest in his mansion. Those dead girls were growing increasingly resentful, frequently haunting people, and even causing deaths.
The visitor merely sneered at this, then handed Old Master Liu a piece of Purgatory Stone, instructing him to bury it in the soil beneath the small house in the backyard.
They also urged Old Master Liu to deliver the heart’s blood of the next bride before she died. Only then could the next batch of poppy crops be successfully traded.
Receiving the stone, Old Master Liu was overjoyed, but upon hearing the demand, his face fell.
He complained to the visitor that he had been taking brides under the pretense of a ghost marriage for his son, but with so many brides already dead, all the eligible young women in the county and nearby villages had either fled or were no longer available. Even if he wanted to buy one, he couldn’t find any.
If this continues, the age will only get younger and younger…
The visitor, however, was indifferent and simply warned Old Master Liu that once the transaction began, it could not stop. Otherwise, all his wealth would be forcibly taken back, doubled.
His dead son’s soul would also completely dissipate, and the manifestation of the immortal would immediately vanish.
Faced with this, OldvMaster Liu no longer dared to say anything. He could only bow repeatedly, burning incense and praying for protection.
With his eyes closed, silently reciting his prayers, Old Master Liu was completely unaware that the newly purchased “bride” had witnessed everything!
At this moment, Si Yao was lightly shielding the young girl’s ghost, who was crouched beside him, within his embrace.
Because just one glance at that Purgatory Stone had already made her feel the burning pain on her face, causing her to tremble and shed silent tears.]]
When the serialization of the new dungeon reached this point, readers were filled with sorrow for the girls’ tragic fates, as well as absolute outrage toward Old Master Liu and the others.
[The key issue is that he still dares to burn incense and pray?! If gods truly exist, shouldn’t this bastard be the first to get struck by lightning?!]
[Why do I feel like this one living Old Master Liu is scarier than all our ghostly sisters combined? I swear, I’m about to die from sheer rage! Wuuu….]
[And that phrase “newly purchased bride”, doesn’t that mean Si Yao, his sister, and many other girls were all sold to traffickers by their own parents?! If that’s the case, then the ones still alive are truly the most terrifying perpetrators!]
It turned out that the real horror wasn’t the dead ghosts, but the living people!
“This is just too much!!!”
Even Ernis was so shaken that his eyes turned red. He had originally been hiding under layers of blankets in fear, but now, he couldn’t help but jump onto his bed and roar in anger.
The housekeeping auntie was startled, thinking something terrible had happened.
“He’s just reading a novel,” his younger brother, Douglas, stopped the auntie with one hand and calmly explained.
“Is the novel really that good?”
The auntie, not knowing the situation, sounded quite surprised.
“It is.”
Douglas absentmindedly rubbed the Z brain in his hands and, for once, admitted it.
Ernis had tried countless times to push Fish Soup Noodles’ novels onto his brother, practically forcing Douglas to download the Huanyu app and read through the originals.
But Douglas had always been stubborn, claiming he wasn’t interested, which infuriated Ernis every single time.
As a result, ever since Yu Mian announced a live story reading, and Douglas saw it trending, his curiosity got the better of him. Without telling his older brother, he secretly downloaded the Huanyu app.
And once he started reading, not only did he finish the first dungeon in one go, but he also caught up with the latest chapters of the second one.
For someone who never liked reading, Douglas had, for the first time, experienced the magic of storytelling. He was really moved by the fate of the characters.
He rejoiced for them, grieved for them, raged for them, and mourned for them…
[ Starship reward×10][Little Crab: Damn it! If only gods really existed! Let these monsters with blood on their hands suffer all the punishment they deserve! [Angry] [Angry]]
A lifelong atheist, Ernis found himself, for the first time, hoping that gods truly existed in this story.
And the comment he posted after sending his gift quickly racked up countless likes and support.
[Then I believe that this time, Si Yao, who entered the dungeon, will definitely become the god of all the girls who died unjustly. Si Yao can definitely end all of this!]
[That’s right! Just like in the “World of The Nest” dungeon, please, Si Yao, you must avenge those girls! Wuuuu!!]
In fact, due to the intense and gripping plot developments in “I Picked Up A Traveling Light Brain”, when Yu Mian officially started his live broadcast, the barrage was filled with excitement, urging him to continue the plot.
It felt just like a perfectly coordinated book club!
Yu Mian looked at everyone sitting in the live broadcast room in surprise, and also picked up the manuscript in his hand and read carefully.
Yu Mian’s voice had a natural ability to deeply immerse people in emotions. The already tense plot had everyone’s heartstrings even more tense after Yu Mian read it out.
They were desperate to hear what happened next!
“The first live broadcast’s data is already breaking records… My god, I never expected it to perform this well!”
The Starry Live backend staff were completely stunned by the real-time traffic.
No one had expected the first-ever audiobook-style live broadcast to far exceed expectations. And the number of viewers was still rapidly increasing.
Many passersby who stumbled upon the live broadcast room found themselves unable to leave after hearing just a few sentences. Instead, they stayed, fully engrossed in the story.
Their expressions changed with every twist in the plot, sometimes joyful, sometimes furious.
At particularly intense moments, they even smacked their legs, furiously sending bullet comments and demanding to know whether this was a true story in the universe.
[If this story the anchor is reading is real, then it’s infuriating beyond belief! Wuuu!]
[No, no, no, new viewer up there, this isn’t real! It’s a novel!! You can subscribe to it on the Huanyu Reading Platform!]
After the other fans in the live broadcast room explained that this was actually one of Fish Soup Noodles’ novels, more and more new viewers flocked to the Huanyu Reading Platform.
Meanwhile, many long-time Huanyu readers, after finishing the text updates, would enter the Starry Live app just to hear Yu Mian read the next part out loud.
The collaboration between the two platforms produced unexpectedly perfect results.
The daily active traffic of both Starry Live and Huanyu soared due to this joint event, which attracted the attention of other people in the industry..
Who could have predicted that the partnership between Huanyu, a novel platform, and Starry Live, a live broadcasting platform, would actually create a synergy where “one plus one” was “greater than two”, all thanks to this author, Fish Soup Noodles?
