Chapter 3
The memory ended amid the remnants of a dream.
The entity had scared me into foaming at the mouth and passing out. That had been yesterday.
By the time I woke, it had put its eyeball back in. Its irises were deep as ink, clear as a frigid pool.
It had returned to the flawless appearance of an elegant young gentleman.
Beside my pillow, objects had been laid out in neat rows.
A pellet drum, a cloth tiger, a little spinning top, a bronze bell…
All of them were children’s toys from ancient times.
I stared at them in a daze and asked without thinking, “What are these?”
The entity tilted its head.
“Wife. Awake.”
It extended a pale, slender finger and tapped the pellet drum. The drumhead gave two soft thumps.
“Wife. Play.”
Was it… trying to cheer me up?
Meanwhile, at the other end of the instance—
three Gui’an members lay on the floor of a half-collapsed ancestral hall.
Li Jingchi stood in the middle, the collar of one of them still clenched in his right hand.
His face was dark with fury.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Where is Gu Lin?”
The member he held was covered in blood, his voice trembling.
“B-Boss Li, we’ve looked everywhere, but those rules are too dangerous. Break one and you die. The guys have already done everything they can…”
Li Jingchi flung him to the floor. “Useless.”
Beside him, Shen Zhiyi shouted in agitation.
“That’s enough, Li! What good does turning on each other do now? You’re the one who took her away and then abandoned her. Gu Lin was so weak that an entity has probably eaten her down to the last bone by now! Can you calm down? Let’s deal with these goddamn rules first! Sacrifice the ghost bride, my ass… Where are we supposed to find a ghost bride?”
Li Jingchi ignored her.
His lips pressed into a hard line, his chest heaving.
No. Gu Lin would never wander off on her own.
She was a coward, a heartless little thing whose only talent was sweet-talking people.
He had only meant to frighten her. He had abandoned her plenty of times before, and every time, she had obediently stayed where she was and waited for him to come back.
But yesterday, when he calmed down and teleported back, Gu Lin had disappeared.
…What if she was dead?
What would he do if she was dead?
At that moment, the virtual panel in his mind flashed.
Every player inside the instance received the same system notification.
[Ding! World rules updating…]
[Rule One: Love My Wife]
[Rule Two: See Her Every Day]
Li Jingchi stared at the words.
His pupils contracted.