Chapter 76
Chapter 76
“This is an Item. I’d like you to make several lanterns for me.” Lian Ge’s voice was distinctive, cool yet steeped in the cloying sweetness of incense. Hearing it was almost addictive.
Lin Zhu lowered his head and picked up the little ball.
It was a recovery Item capable of restoring eighty percent of one person’s mental and physical energy.
Lin Zhu gaped. After passing through several instances, he knew how rare recovery Items were. They might not be quite as precious as healing Items, but the difference was small.
This young woman was offering him such an incredible Item just for a few lanterns?
Lin Zhu looked at Lian Ge uncertainly. The Item seemed far too valuable, and he did not want to take advantage of anyone just because he possessed a special skill.
Everyone in an instance was fighting desperately to survive. None of them had it easy. Of course, that did not mean he would let others take advantage of him either.
Lian Ge leaned forward slightly, her waist forming a perfect curve. She extended jade-like fingers and stroked the lantern Lin Zhu had made. “I’m not giving it to you for nothing. Lanterns are crucial in this instance. Whenever your team has lanterns, I want one too.”
In other words, she was buying an ongoing supply. Lian Ge knew Lin Zhu would make enough lanterns to last his four-person team through all three days. She wanted the same guarantee.
Who knew how long a lantern would last? One might fall apart after a single trip outside. Buying only one would be foolish.
Lin Zhu weighed the little ball in his palm, then tossed it to Qi Jiajia.
Qi Jiajia held it and studied Lian Ge’s alluring profile for a long moment, her gaze complicated. Then she nodded.
Lin Zhu swiftly pasted layer after layer of the material Qi Jiajia had cut onto the lantern frame, attached the tassel, and handed it to Lian Ge.
“It’s the same as ours. We made it in a rush, so I don’t know how long it’ll last. You should come back early.”
Lian Ge inclined her head in thanks. Holding the lantern lightly, she stepped through the gate with the grace of a dancer.
Qin Wen watched Lian Ge’s shapely figure disappear outside. His gaze remained dark for a long while, but he said nothing.
In truth, staying in this courtyard was far safer than searching for clues outside. Yet the more experienced a player was, the better they understood that even during a team mission, they could not entrust their fate to anyone else.
Qin Wen rubbed the distinctive ring on his index finger but ultimately did not take out an Item.
He would wait another day. He was no longer alone.
He had found his brother again, and Qin Wu was too weak. Qin Wen could not trade away an Item. He needed it to keep his brother alive.
Qin Wen rubbed his face, sat beside Qin Wu, and joined the weaving with somewhat clumsy hands.
After sitting for a while, Xiao Xu put down her lantern and asked awkwardly, “Brother Lin, may I ask something? Aren’t lanterns in horror instances always made from human skin and bone?”
Lin Zhu kept working and nodded. “That’s right. Why?”
Xiao Xu cried out, “Doesn’t that prove there’s something wrong with the lanterns? Couldn’t that be our way into solving the mystery?”
The other newcomers looked at Lin Zhu in equal confusion. They had wanted to ask the same thing for some time but had not dared.
Lin Zhu put down his lantern and answered in complete seriousness. “There may well be something wrong with the lanterns, and it’s reasonable to suspect their materials. But even if you know they’re made from human skin, how does that help us solve anything right now? Do you know the rules of this instance? Do you know how to avoid dying?”
The string of questions made Xiao Xu flush. Lin Zhu did not soften his lesson merely because she was a young woman. “Horror instances always contain strange things, but don’t fixate on them. Ask yourself what we need to do right now and how we can clear the instance.”
“Besides,” Lin Zhu added, picking up the lantern and resuming his weaving, “so far, the lanterns haven’t caused any problems.”
Although Xiao Xu’s face remained red, she knew Lin Zhu was sincerely teaching her how to survive an instance. She thanked him quietly and continued making her lantern.
Elsewhere in the village, Cheng Miao and Qin Musong moved swiftly through the alleys.
Cheng Miao wanted to find the Village Head’s home. Local chronicles and similar records were generally kept there, and she wanted to examine anything documenting the village’s customs.
After asking several villagers for directions, Cheng Miao and Qin Musong hurried that way.
As they went, Cheng Miao kept thinking about the villagers’ expressions when they looked at the lantern in their hands. Was that mockery she had seen?
Why?
The lantern definitely worked. Otherwise, they would have encountered trouble long before now.
Cheng Miao and Qin Musong stopped not far from the Village Head’s home. Villagers kept coming and going through the gate, though there was no telling what they were doing.
The players were supposed to be making lanterns right now. Barging in so openly would be unwise. It seemed they would have to return another time.
“Miaomiao, we need to go back.” Qin Musong interrupted Cheng Miao’s thoughts. Following his gaze, she saw a corner of the paper on the lantern in his hand peeling away.
Lantern paper needed to dry in the shade after it was pasted on. They had not had time for that, and the candle’s heat was making the poorly adhered silk material blister in one spot after another.
Cheng Miao’s brow tightened. “Let’s go.”
Qin Musong had an excellent sense of direction. He did not retrace the route they had taken on the way there.
He led Cheng Miao through a series of alleys. Just as she marveled that this route really would get them back much faster, Qin Musong stopped.
“What…” Cheng Miao stepped forward to ask, only for her voice to die abruptly.
They stood at a T-intersection, only two turns away from the lantern-making courtyard.
To their right was a dead-end alley. Someone stood inside it. Zhou Ke.
Zhou Ke stood rigid as a post in the sinister alley, his back to them. They could not see his face, but Cheng Miao was certain he had met a terrible fate.
Zhou Ke had entered the instance wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Now the exposed skin of his arms resembled cured meat left beneath the sun for days until every drop of moisture had vanished. Shriveled skin clung to the bones in a horrifying sight.
Cheng Miao and Qin Musong approached carefully. Not a single house in the alley was occupied. Every building was dilapidated.
Zhou Ke stood in the middle of the alley as though his entire body had been baked dry. His features had blurred, leaving only desiccated eye sockets and a gaping mouth. The sight of that black cavity made Cheng Miao physically ill.
After repeatedly confirming there were no further clues, Cheng Miao and Qin Musong hurried back to the lantern-making courtyard. Not long after they stepped inside, two corners of the silk covering the frame sagged and fell away. Only one edge remained attached.
“That was close.” Cheng Miao exhaled. She was now certain that roaming around without a lantern was one of the causes of Zhou Ke’s death.
Had they remained in a busy alley, the lanterns hanging outside every home might have protected them. Instead, they had wandered into an uninhabited, abandoned lane.
As soon as Cheng Miao returned, Lin Zhu eagerly showed her the Item Lian Ge had given him and explained their deal.
Cheng Miao made no objection. She simply told Lin Zhu to keep the Item himself.
“Sister Miaomiao, you don’t want to hold on to it?” The corners of Lin Zhu’s mouth drooped. His first lantern had not been made well and had not lasted long. He had seen it fall apart the instant they entered the courtyard.
Cheng Miao curled a finger and flicked Lin Zhu’s forehead. “What are you thinking? You did an excellent job. Since this was a deal between you and Lian Ge, of course you should keep the Item.”
Cheng Miao swept her gaze across the courtyard. They had been gone for two hours, during which Lin Zhu had finished seven lanterns. Each member of their four-person team had stored one in their Space Backpack. One belonged to Lian Ge. Cheng Miao intended to hand in the remaining two in case the Village Head returned to inspect their work.
Xiao Xu was still pasting gauze onto her lantern. She worked with such painstaking concentration that her face had turned red.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Lele was very good with her hands. Her lantern had already taken shape.
Qin Wen and Qin Wu had made one lantern between them. It would have to suffice. Qin Wen had no intention of letting his younger brother leave his side anyway.
Yezi and Song Yu, however, were so hopeless at crafts that even their frames were crooked messes. Both were throwing tantrums.
After hearing Lin Zhu recount everything that had happened, Cheng Miao could not be bothered with those two. She did not keep her discovery to herself, however, and told everyone that they had found Zhou Ke’s corpse.
“Another… another person died!” Xiao Xu covered her mouth, eyes stretched wide. Her red-rimmed eyes held no tears now, only a frightening web of blood vessels.