Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Every eye was fixed on her, and everyone likely shared the exact same sentiment at that moment.

The young man scrambled back a few steps, his facial muscles twitching. “Don’t-don’t do this. Men and women should keep a respectful distance. Nothing happened between us last night!”

The girl pouted as she stood up from the floor. “But we slept in the same bed. Don’t you have any feelings for me in your heart?”

“Young… lady… I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. Last night… last night was only a matter of necessity. There weren’t enough rooms, so we had no choice.”

The young man was clearly terrified to the extreme. His voice trembled as he spoke; no one knew what kind of horror was playing out in his mind.

He was afraid-afraid of being haunted by a Monster.

A Monster currently draped in the fresh, warm human skin it had personally peeled off just the night before.

Expressionless, Chu Yue turned his head away. Ignoring the surge of nausea, he quickly stuffed a mouthful of steamed bun into his mouth to force the feeling down.

He had to admit, this was getting a bit intense.

Shen Yubi and Guan Doujin also withdrew their gazes. After finishing their white porridge, Shen Yubi was the first to stand up.

Ignoring the commotion behind him, he stepped his long legs over the bench and headed straight for the Inn’s entrance.

Chu Yue and Guan Doujin followed closely behind.

Let them make a scene; it wasn’t their problem anyway. The priority was to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible.

The Market outside had already begun to take shape. The street that had been desolate yesterday had regained its vitality overnight, with most vendors already having set up their stalls.

“Is this really an Instance with only a thirty percent Mortality Rate?”

Once they were a good distance away from the Inn, Chu Yue couldn’t help but ask. He glanced back to see more Players emerging from the building.

When he saw the corpse this morning, Chu Yue hadn’t felt much.

But when that woman appeared, he had nearly vomited.

Li Ergou’s Instance might have been unique because it was forcibly raised from Level Zero to a hundred percent Mortality Rate; aside from the story surrounding Li Ergou himself, there wasn’t much else that was supernatural about it.

Even the Players’ deaths were carried out by Li Ergou wielding a large cleaver-a simple and crude method. If one’s Combat Power was high enough, they might not even have to fear him.

But this Instance was different.

They hadn’t even seen what the murderous Monster looked like, yet in broad daylight, that creature had immediately appeared before everyone wearing its trophy.

What exactly did it want?

What was its goal?

Chu Yue couldn’t figure it out.

“Since the game said so at the start, there shouldn’t be much discrepancy. Unless a specific condition is triggered that causes the NPCs to go berserk, at most five people will die in this game.”

Chu Yue was left speechless.

The three of them wandered the streets. Just like yesterday, the stalls were mostly selling paper-cutting art.

Animals, plants, people-they had everything. The vendors shouting nearby all seemed to be made of flesh and blood; it was hard to imagine they were just game NPCs, just strings of manufactured data.

After making a circuit of the street, the three of them stopped in front of a stall selling paper cuttings.

Chu Yue picked up a bright red “Double Happiness” character and asked the stall owner, “Excuse me, sister, do you have any paper cuttings larger than this one?”

The woman behind the stall looked quite kind. Though her skin was somewhat dark, her hands were very well-maintained.

She looked at Chu Yue with a beaming smile. “Is the young master’s family preparing for a wedding? Is it for the groom’s side or the bride’s? I can give you a better recommendation that way.”
Guan Doujin stepped forward with a grin and pointed at himself. “It’s not for someone else, it’s for me. My family is preparing for a wedding. Are there really specific rules for these?”

The woman smiled, sizing him up. “In other places, there’s naturally no distinction, but in our town, every style of paper-cutting is categorized. You look like you’ve already reached the age of majority, sir?”

“Yes, I’m twenty-two,” Guan Doujin replied.

Hearing this, the woman bent down to rummage through the space beneath her stall. When she stood back up, she held several more paper-cut designs in her hands.

“Whether it’s for the groom’s side or the bride’s, the age, whether it’s a first marriage or a remarriage-in our town, everything has its own specific requirements.” She smiled as she displayed the paper-cuts. “Competition is too fierce these days. If we don’t come up with some unique gimmicks, we can hardly make a living.”

The three of them took the paper-cuts to examine them one by one. They were all clearly the character for ‘Double Happiness,’ yet they truly could see the differences.

The patterns in the hollowed-out sections varied wildly.

Some expressed wishes for success in the imperial examinations, others for the early arrival of a son, and some for family harmony. In short, there were plenty of styles.

However, none of these were what they were looking for.

Chu Yue set the items down, shaking his head with a feigned sigh of disappointment.

Seeing their reactions, the woman frowned, her tone growing slightly anxious. “Are none of these to your liking? Does the young master have any specific requirements? I can see if I have anything that fits, or we could even do a custom order if necessary.”

Guan Doujin followed up with another sigh, chiming in at just the right moment. “It’s not that these aren’t good; they look as exquisite as can be. But to tell you the truth, I once saw a massive, three-meter-wide paper-cut at a friend’s wedding. At first glance, it didn’t seem like anything special, but a closer look revealed craftsmanship that was practically divine. I asked him about it then, and he told me he bought it right here in your town.”

The woman breathed a sigh of relief, her expression softening. “Well, that makes sense. The paper-cutting in our town is definitely the best there is. I wonder, what did the paper-cut you saw look like?”

Guan Doujin made a show of recollecting before saying, “That paper-cut… at first glance, it was just an ordinary ‘Double Happiness’ character. But an immense amount of effort had been poured into the surrounding patterns. There were countless tiny figures cut into it. The people were sitting, jumping, happy, or sad-each one was incredibly nimble. Especially the eyes; they looked so lifelike. I don’t suppose you have anything in that style here, ma’am?”

The moment he finished speaking, the woman’s face instantly changed.

A neighboring stall owner, who had been eavesdropping, couldn’t help but speak up. “Young master, is that friend of yours still alive? Was he perhaps swindled by someone?”

Shen Yubi and Chu Yue exchanged a look, knowing they had finally struck a lead.

“What do you mean by that?” Guan Doujin feigned anger. “How rude of you! Why would you start cursing someone to death the moment you open your mouth? It’s just a paper-cut; how could he have been swindled?”

The man asked another question: “Was it really used during a wedding?”

“Of course it was. Do you think I’m just making things up? What good would that do me?”

Seeing Guan Doujin’s anger, the man realized his words had been a bit blunt, but he still explained patiently.

“I’m not cursing him. It’s just that that particular paper-cut pattern really shouldn’t appear at a wedding. There aren’t many people left in our town who even know how to make that pattern anymore. How many years ago was this?”

As he spoke, he looked toward the woman.

The woman shook her head. “I can’t remember.”

“Hah! Well, let me tell you then,” the man said, glancing left and right. “But you absolutely must not tell anyone else about this.”