Chapter 92
Chapter 92
“Are you here to look for clues, or to soak in the hot spring?” Mengsi from Red Team asked them. She and her roommate, Xiaoxiao, the last remaining member of Purple Team, were sitting by the hot spring pool with their feet in the water.
Xu You stared at the water beneath their feet and said, “Obviously, we’re looking for clues. And I suggest you two stop soaking here too.”
Mengsi smiled. “Don’t worry. We asked Meiya. This hot spring is natural and rich in minerals. The iron content is probably high, so it smells strongly of rust. It’s not the smell of blood you were talking about.”
Chen Lin walked closer, curious. “You’re not going to look for clues?”
Mengsi laughed. “Look for what? A way to die, more like. The Clearance Condition is perfectly clear: survive until seven days later. If you don’t court death, you won’t die.”
“But if you find the conditions for Perfect Clearance, won’t you earn more Merit Points?”
“Please. Do you think Perfect Clearance is that easy? I know my own strength. I might as well enjoy a seven-day vacation. Anyway, clearing an S-Rank instance will definitely pay out way more than an A-Rank, B-Rank, or C-Rank one.”
Xiaoxiao nodded. “Mm. Xiaomeng and I think the same. As long as we clear it safely, that’s enough.”
Xu You folded her arms across her chest, her gaze still fixed on the water. For a moment, she felt dazed, as if someone at the bottom of the pool was waving at her, inviting her to come down and have fun with them.
Xu You abruptly realized something was wrong. She hurriedly formed a hand seal and turned away. Only then did that hazy feeling fade by quite a bit.
There were far too many unclean things in this hot spring pool. If these two refused to listen and insisted on soaking here, it was no different from courting death!
“I’m warning you, stay away from the hot spring pool,” Xu You reminded them again with her back turned.
Mengsi looked completely fearless. “As long as we follow the rules, we’ll be fine. No matter how scary it looks, it’s just a trick to frighten people. See? The Hot Spring Pool Rules are over there. You can go look for yourselves.”
As she spoke, Mengsi pointed at a stone stele by the edge of the hot spring pool.
Xu You shook her head inwardly. She had no intention of forcefully interfering with someone else’s karma.
“Thanks.” Chen Lin nodded, then headed toward the stele with Wei Sen and Xu You.
Just as Mengsi had said, words were indeed carved into the stone stele not far from the hot spring pool.
[Hot Spring Pool Rules:
1. The hot spring pool is open from 7:00 to 20:00. Guests are requested not to use the hot spring outside these hours without permission. Otherwise, this establishment accepts no responsibility for guest safety.
2. The hot spring water comes from underground and is rich in minerals. When the iron in the water comes into contact with air and oxidizes, it may turn the water red. This is a normal phenomenon.
3. Due to the cold weather, the hot spring pool produces heavy mist, which can easily cause visual errors in dim lighting. If any guest sees a strange figure in the mist, please stop soaking immediately and move away from the hot spring pool.
4. The water in the hot spring pool cannot turn transparent. If you see the pool water become clear enough to see the bottom, do not enter the water, and notify the front desk staff.
5. Do not stare at the reflection on the surface of the hot spring pool for an extended period, to avoid discomfort such as blurred vision or dizziness.
6. The hot spring water is not suitable for drinking. Please be sure to take note. If you accidentally drink the hot spring water, promptly seek help from the village doctor.]
When Xu You saw the fifth rule, it matched exactly with the abnormal sensation she had experienced earlier.
So it was because she had stared at the hot spring pool for too long and violated that rule that she had suffered Mental Pollution…
But she could also sense that there was definitely something filthy in the water!
In this world, aside from the unspeakable power of the rules, there was also the power of ghosts. These two forces seemed to check and balance each other, creating some kind of eerie equilibrium…
“Daoist, can you tell whether that smell is minerals or blood?” Wei Sen asked Xu You after reading the rules.
Xu You snapped back to herself. She closed her eyes and carefully distinguished it for a while before saying, “Although the smell of blood is mainly due to iron too, it’s still different from the scent of natural minerals. I can say with one hundred percent certainty that the smell permeating the air is human blood.”
Chen Lin held her breath. “Sister Sen, do you think all those disappeared corpses could be buried under the hot spring?”
Wei Sen looked around the hot spring. The bottom of the pool was paved with stone, which would make it difficult to hide bodies there. By contrast, the surrounding area was all soft snow.
“The corpses are very likely nearby.”
Xu You took out her compass and investigated for a while, then frowned. “The yin energy here is too heavy. Let’s hurry and see if there are any other clues, then leave.”
“Mm.”
The three of them began searching everywhere.
On the other side of the hot spring pool, Chen Lin discovered a completion stele. “Sister Sen, Sister You, come look!”
[Daliang Mountain Aurora Village Completion Record
In 2029, Ether Group provided aid to build Aurora Village in Daliang Mountain, constructing roads and developing hot spring inns. The villagers invested land and labor as shares, operating the business together and sharing the profits. From then on, tourists from beyond the mountains came in droves, and the fertile soil of their hometown became a path to prosperity. Rural revitalization made the future bright.
-Jointly established by Ether Group and all villagers of Aurora Village]
“Daliang Mountain?!” Xu You’s jaw nearly hit the ground. “Did they write that wrong?!”
Chen Lin ran her fingers over the characters carved into the stone stele. “There are no signs of human alteration.”
“No, that’s not what I mean! Daliang Mountain is practically next door to my home. Is this Daliang Mountain really the Daliang Mountain next door to me?!”
Wei Sen rested her chin on her hand and studied the stone stele. Compared with the matter of Daliang Mountain, what she cared about more was that “Ether Group” had appeared yet again!
It seemed every Instance had some connection to Ether Group, more or less.
Xu You scratched her head and looked at the two of them. “Don’t tell me neither of you knows Daliang Mountain? It’s on the border between Sichuan and Yunnan. Even if the sky fell, there’s no way something like the Aurora could show up there, right?”
“Maybe this Daliang Mountain isn’t the one from our world. Maybe it just happens to have the same name?” Chen Lin looked at Wei Sen as she spoke. “Sister Sen, what do you think?”
Wei Sen snapped back to herself.
Daliang Mountain… If it was the one in Sichuan, then it truly was impossible for the Aurora to appear there.
“It’s hard to say. Do you remember Infinite Flight? In our world, the same thing happened. The same flight, the same destination. Other than finding absolutely nothing related to Ether Group, everything else matched,” Wei Sen said.
Chen Lin thought for a moment. “If events in the Eerie World overlap with events in our world, then we should be able to find records of what happened at Zhihui Primary School too!”
Wei Sen said, “I searched online for Zhihui Primary School before. There was no such school. But… there were reports of a tragedy extremely similar to what happened at Zhihui Primary School. A lot of details lined up, but the school’s name and the students’ ages were different.”
Chen Lin caught the key point. “Why is Ether Group the only thing with no information at all? It’s like… it doesn’t belong to our world, or someone deliberately erased every trace of it!”
Xu You questioned, “But this is the internet age. There should always be something left online or offline, right? Even if someone deleted all the information on the internet, with such a huge group, are you telling me not a single older person has ever heard of it?”
Wei Sen pondered for a moment, then said, “Once this Instance is over, we’ll investigate Ether Group properly!”
Chen Lin nodded solemnly. “Mm!”
Xu You said with certainty, “In that case, the Eerie World and the Real World must be connected! So this Daliang Mountain definitely has some kind of connection to the Daliang Mountain in the Real World too.”
Wei Sen said, “Daliang Mountain is roughly in the twenties north latitude, while the Aurora mainly appears in high-latitude regions near Earth’s magnetic poles. Daliang Mountain’s latitude is far below the range where the Aurora can appear. Even during the strongest geomagnetic storms, it would be very difficult for the Aurora to extend to such a low latitude.”
“So can we really see the Aurora here?” Chen Lin picked up the thread and asked in confusion.
Xu You said, “If we really do see the Aurora, that would be absurd beyond belief!”
“Aurora Village, Ether Group…” Wei Sen murmured for a moment. “The inscription says all the villagers stayed behind. They should know. Let’s go to the village.”
“Okay!”
The three of them left the inn. Snowflakes drifted down in flurries, and the forest remained deathly silent.
“At this hour, Xia Susu and the others should still be in the village, right?” Chen Lin glanced at her watch. It was 9:02 a.m.
Xu You said, “Forget about them. Not a single one of them is reliable. We’re better off looking for clues ourselves. Even if they find something, they might not share it with us.”
“Mm, all right.”
The three of them walked beneath the trees, leaving footprints of varying depths in the accumulated snow.
A faint sound came from the once-silent forest.
“Shh.” Wei Sen signaled for everyone to stop.
They held their breath and listened to the sound in the woods. It drew closer and closer, until they could clearly make out a girl with a thin, shrill voice walking while singing a mountain song.
As the distance narrowed, they could just about hear the lyrics:
“The Mountain God scatters the Aurora, oh, lighting the grave mounds ghostly green;
The dead crawl out to beg for wine, oh, and the mountain’s wolves and jackals revel in delight.
Who is laughing in the woods, oh, the Faceless Woman lifts her lantern bright;
Ask for whom her wedding dress is red, oh, she smiles softly toward the mountain height.
Do not count the gold and silver piled like hills, oh, do not watch the rice jar fill itself;
Night after night the Aurora burns along the sky, oh, the Mountain God is counting living names.
Run, run, into the forest deep, the lantern shines again!”