Chapter 78

Chapter 78

The System, of course, did not answer him.

[This is a small mountain village called Aotianli. There is a rumor here: every man must marry by the time he turns twenty, or he will be bedridden with a grave illness within seven days. Wives must also be careful during the seven days after the wedding, because a Ghost Bride lives in Aotianli.]

[You have an older sister who loves you dearly, but after she married into Aotianli, she died under mysterious circumstances. In order to investigate what your sister experienced in Aotianli and the truth behind her death, you deliberately married into the nearly isolated village of Aotianli in place of a bride who had been sold here by her parents.]

[Please Beware the Ghost Bride.]

[Your hidden identity: Innocent.]

Oh. So he hadn’t been sold by his own parents.

Also, Aotianli. What an awkward name to say.

Were Competition Scripts always named this casually?

Ning Shuo pulled off the bridal veil and patted down his sleeves. When he saw bloodstains, he realized there was a wound on his palm, as if it had been made by digging his nails in.

Competition Scripts had higher realism and fidelity than ordinary Scripts. Fortunately, injuries and the like were all superficial effects meant to fool NPCs, and the System would block out the pain.

But this wound looked like it had been pinched into his own skin. That was information related to this identity.

Had he done it himself?

Ning Shuo checked himself over and confirmed there were no other injuries.

In other words, he had made this wound himself.

Because he was afraid?

From the look of it, this identity’s character setting might lean toward the timid sort.

And then there was his own identity. This Script couldn’t have some custom of marrying male wives, could it?

Ning Shuo looked around. The doors and windows were tightly shut, and there were people guarding outside.

The room’s decorations were extremely simple as well. A few pieces of red cloth had been hung up, and if no one said it was a bridal chamber, you wouldn’t be able to tell.

It all looked arranged by NPCs, with no investigative value. There were NPCs talking outside, so Ning Shuo moved lightly to the door and listened for movement.

It sounded like two servants.

One of them said, “Why didn’t they tie this woman up? Aren’t they afraid she’ll run?”

Well. From the sound of it, they all thought he was a woman.

The System wouldn’t deliberately turn someone into a woman unless the plot required the NPCs to believe he was one.

Was he disguised as a woman?

The other servant said, “What’s there to be afraid of? This girl came knocking herself. Before this, there was a woman who wanted to take her and run away together, but this girl not only came back on her own, she even tattled.”

“That happened? Did they catch that woman too?”

“Nah. That woman seems to have fallen off the mountain and died… Young Master!”

Ning Shuo immediately went back and sat down, then pulled the veil over his head again.

The veil was made of poor material too. He could even see outside through it, matching the quality of the entire bridal chamber. One glance was enough to tell just how crude and rushed this marriage had been.

He couldn’t make out the sickly young master’s voice, but the NPC’s voice was much clearer. “Young Master, Madam is waiting for you inside.”

Ning Shuo watched as the door was opened, and then he locked eyes with Rao Lin.

Rao Lin’s foot, which had just stepped over the threshold, froze. Ning Shuo could even read a hint of wanting to turn around and flee in panic.

The meaning in his eyes was very obvious: It actually isn’t Teacher Song! Damn System!

But it was clearly a joke. Rao Lin straightened his posture, told them to leave and not disturb his wedding night, then asked, “Little bride?”
Ning Shuo yanked off the bridal veil and shot back, “Sickly weakling?”

“Right back at you.”

Ning Shuo asked Rao Lin if he had managed to gather any information. Rao Lin said, “I logged in at the exact same time as you. How much more information do you think I could have?”

“Noob.”

“Trash.”

Ning Shuo said, “Then do you know why they didn’t notice I was a man dressed as a woman?”

Rao Lin replied, “The people who brought you here yesterday didn’t notice you were male either. And this identity of mine happened to turn twenty today. They were pressed for time, and those people guaranteed you were clean, so they went straight through with the wedding.”

This identity was actually pretty impressive. It really knew how to hit the timing just right.

Ning Shuo asked, “What’s your mission?”

“Survive seven days.”

As expected. Ning Shuo told him his own mission as well. Rao Lin looked thoughtful. “On the way here, I didn’t hear about any recent deaths. Aside from the Ghost Bride in the mission background.”

Ning Shuo nodded, then told him the two lines he had overheard from those two people while Rao Lin had been away. “Their attitude toward women is terrible. It sounds like some kind of human trafficking.”

And judging by their tone, the person who had tried to help Ning Shuo escape had fallen to their death. But Rao Lin had said he hadn’t heard about any deaths.

It didn’t feel like a deliberate cover-up. It was more like someone dying had become so commonplace here that it was considered normal, not even worth mentioning.

The two of them were in the middle of talking when the candles suddenly went out. A chill wind surged through the cracks in the window, and a ghostly shadow flashed past outside.

They could even hear a woman crying.

The two men, both with families of their own, reacted extremely quickly. They immediately climbed onto the bed and pulled down the bed curtains, leaving enough empty space between them for another person to sleep there.

Rao Lin even started shaking the bed for the sake of the act. “If Teacher Song finds out about this, I might break my record for sleeping in the study.”

Ning Shuo was in poor health, and he was very self-aware. If Ning Wang found out about this, the one who would suffer would very likely be him. After all, he couldn’t beat Ning Wang. Though they hadn’t actually gotten into bed yet, if they really came to blows, it wasn’t as if he could curse the man with impotence. “Then we’ve reached a consensus. Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know. And don’t let Ningning know either.”

Rao Lin said, “Deal. Also, move out a little more. You’re a bit too close.”

“If I move any farther out, I’m going to fall off. If I die, I’ll definitely visit Ningning in a dream and tell him to kill you.”

When they discussed serious business, they kept their voices low. Whenever they raised their voices and let out the occasional misleading sound to confuse whatever was outside, they sounded disturbingly convincing too.

In that state, the two of them stayed alert to their surroundings. Then, all of a sudden, they heard a creak.

The door had opened.

Through the gap in the gauze curtains, Ning Shuo couldn’t make out what was outside, but he knew very clearly that something was there.

Ning Shuo said, “Go straight for it?”

Rao Lin replied, “Wouldn’t hurt.”

If they really had to catch a ghost, it wasn’t as if Ning Shuo couldn’t do it. He just wasn’t sure whether what he had learned would be enough to catch a boss.

The ones before this had basically been small fry.

To make sure they could win in one strike, they maintained their original positions.

The door was closed. In the darkness, footsteps could still be heard.

Ning Shuo clenched his fist, a playing card already pinched between his fingers.

The gauze curtain was lifted. Ning Shuo had only just raised his hand when someone seized his wrist.

“Ge, who exactly are you getting all lovey-dovey with?”