Chapter 8: The Agonizing Screams
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Shen Si frowned in disagreement. “You can’t say that. No matter what, that old man died trying to save us.”
Yang Liqing crossed her arms. “It seems like he hadn’t even started saving us yet, right? And he died because he broke the rules himself. If you want to take his death on yourself, fine, but don’t drag me into it.”
Shen Si stammered, “You…”
Liang Dan quickly intervened, “We absolutely cannot turn on each other now. There are only three of us left. We need to figure out how to survive these seven days.”
At Liang Dan’s words, Shen Si immediately lost spirit. “It’s only the first day, and two people are already dead.”
Yang Liqing stood with her hands on her hips. “So what? Them dying is their problem. I’m not going to die.”
Liang Dan cautiously stood up as well. “When you turned into ducks, did you get any clues?”
Shen Si said, “Apparently, the day before we arrived, a few others came here too. They were turned into ducks and geese first, and now they’ve completely lost human thought and reason.”
“So that means they peck at anyone they see without distinguishing who they are?”
“Yes, they only spare those of us who are animals.”
Liang Dan’s eyes lit up. “Then we can turn into animals to get close to them and turn them into our allies.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Yang Liqing said. “We’ve already eaten their food, so we can’t transform into animals.”
Liang Dan asked, “There must be several conditions for turning into animals, right?”
“Yes,” Yang Liqing explained. “When we enter a household, firecrackers are laid outside every house. If you don’t eat their food, after a short time you turn into the animal sacrifice.”
Liang Dan recalled what the middle-aged woman had said and asked, “Before, the old man and I passed by that woman’s house. She said we were father and daughter and refused to let us stay.”
“It’s simple,” Yang Liqing said. “They want unattached women. A daughter is considered the property of her father, just as a wife is considered the property of her husband. So women in those two roles will be rejected.”
Shen Si asked, “How do you know so much?”
Yang Liqing’s tone turned sharp. “What’s it to you?”
Shen Si was stumped and said no more.
Liang Dan thought about the skill she received after finishing her own test. Did the other players who entered here also get skills after completing their tests? She and Zhang Wei both received information after their newbie tasks. Did the others have newbie tasks too? If so, what information did they get upon completion?
With these thoughts, Liang Dan asked, but she skipped mentioning what skill she had gained herself.
Upon hearing her two questions, Yang Liqing raised an eyebrow. “No comment.”
Shen Si said, “My newbie task was to find a household to stay with. The reward was information that every one of us was pulled into the game by other players.
“As for finishing the quiz, it only gave me a title, not a skill.”
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Liang Dan studied Shen Si, trying to judge whether she was telling the truth.
If what she said was true and she only received the title “Ordinary Good Person,” the system probably wouldn’t require her to be as truthful as it required Liang Dan.
So, it was impossible to tell if she was lying or not.
“Ahhhhh!” A series of broken human screams came from afar. Liang Dan’s heart tightened as she instinctively moved forward along the cornfield.
Yang Liqing and Shen Si followed cautiously behind, trying to minimize the sound of their bodies brushing against the corn leaves.
At the end of the cornfield, just a little distance from the village entrance, they hid inside, clearly seeing everything on the stage.
A man, a boy scantily clad in leaves, and several young people stood on the stage. Six people were forced to kneel on the stage.
The crowd below was still a dense sea of black, with no sign of thinning.
The man shouted, “Today we gather here to apologize to the river god!”
The crowd responded, “Apologize to the river god!”
The man’s tone was heavy. “On such a beautiful day, we have lost the river god’s sacrifice!”
The crowd knelt in unison. “Please forgive us, river god!”
“So,” the boy raised the kitchen knife in his hand and slashed the neck of a kneeling man on stage, “we offer ourselves as sacrifice to the river god. Please forgive us!”
The man’s blood flowed freely as he collapsed motionless.
This is bad!
Liang Dan’s heart tightened: she was witnessing a death and doing nothing again.
Sure enough, the next second, the crimson words appeared before her eyes once more:
“Peerless Good Person Liang Dan, you saw death and did not save, you are dead!”
*
Liang Dan opened her eyes. Yang Liqing and Shen Si stood beside her. Screams echoed from afar.
Liang Dan quickly said, “We shouldn’t go over there.”
Shen Si said, “We have to see what’s happening.”
Liang Dan said, “Because they lost the sacrifice—that is, us—they’re now beheading their own people—”
Before she could finish, the screen appeared again:
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“Peerless Good Person Liang Dan, knowing the villagers are in trouble but refusing to help and even stopping others from helping, you are dead!”
*
“Wow.”
Liang Dan was speechless. It was the first time she’d seen such a long system prompt. Apparently, this behavior really angered it.
Screams came again. Shen Si and Yang Liqing looked ahead and moved forward.
Liang Dan stayed at the rear, cautiously watching Yang Liqing’s back. Suddenly, she had a bold guess.
Previously, in that woman’s storeroom, she had used verbal concern and physical cooperation to exploit a system bug.
So maybe this time, she could try to glitch the system again?
Liang Dan smiled faintly: trying doesn’t cost anything, and it won’t hurt.
The three moved through the cornfield and soon reached the edge, from where they could clearly see everything on the stage.
Liang Dan stood behind Yang Liqing and tightly closed her eyes.
If she can’t see death and not save, what if she simply doesn’t “see” it?
She covered her ears with her hands, but the sounds still leaked in:
“We offer ourselves as sacrifice to the river god. Please forgive us!”
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