绝代双骄 林志颖

The surrounding were devoid of life and desolate.

Among the dirty earth, stones and weeds, there were only several small and crooked earthen houses, with thin and dilapidated door panels and dark windows, seeming like lifeless eyes.

Ge Xiu slowed down.

The other players had been long left behind by him and disappeared without a trace, and the shadows that had flashed in front of the road before had disappeared without a trace, and the surroundings were desolate and dark.

He looked around, then walked slowly towards the end of the road.

Not far away, a similarly crooked courtyard attracted Ge Xiu’s attention.

It looked the same as other buildings in this village, except for being a little bigger and the courtyard door being locked. From the low courtyard wall, a barren corner of the courtyard could be seen. There was a dilapidated plaque covered with a layer of dust hanging on the courtyard door. Two words were written on it:

ancestral hall.

Ge Xiu walked out towards the gate.

But before he could take more steps, a rough and hoarse voice came from behind him at that moment:

“Young man, where are you going?”

Ge Xiu turned his head and looked behind him.

He saw a hunched old lady standing behind him. She had an almost scarily aged face, dark and wrinkled, covered with deep grooves, the corners of her mouth were hanging down. All the teeth in her mouth had fallen out, leaving only an empty black hole. Her pair of ugly eyes was covered with gray-white film, always giviving people a sinister and malicious feeling when meeting her sight.

“Are you also a guest at the wedding?”

She took a few steps forward tremblingly: “Guest, you have come to the wrong place, have you lost your way?”

Smiling kindly, she leaned on a cane in one hand and stretched out the other shrunken dark chicken claw-shaped hand towards Ge Xiu’s wrist: “Come come, boy, I will take you…”

The moment her fingertips touched the skin of Ge Xiu’s wrist, she quickly retracted it them if she had been scalded by something.

The elderly woman’s aged face quivered and a trace of fear and resentment flashed in her triangular eyes covered with shadows.

“What’s wrong?” Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly.

The deep wrinkles on the old woman’s face twitched, showing a false smile: “This is the first time this old woman had seen such a handsome young man, let’s go, guest, come with me and I will take you to meet other people.”

Ge Xiu glanced at the ancestral hall casually and shrugged:

“Okay.”

This time, the old woman did not try to reach out to touch Ge Xiu, but followed him guardedly, as if afraid that he would run away, but still keeping a distance of two steps from him throughout the whole process.

Through the winding path, she led Ge Xiu to a house that looked more decent and spacious.

“Go quickly.” The old woman stopped her pace, her long nails were like curved eagle claws, her dark and wrinkled fingers were holding a cane, and she had a kind smile on her face.

Ge Xiu glanced at her, then walked towards the house.

The lobby was very dark, the greasy tables and chairs and the plaque decorations on the walls all look dusty and old-fashioned.

Several other players were there.

They were sitting on the seats, the eyes of the clearly newcomers were still red and they were restless, curled up in the chairs timidly, as if they could rely on this to avoid being hurt.

Clearly, they’ve all learned and accepted their situation by now.

Hearing footsteps, everyone looked towards the door.

When they saw Ge Xiu, the other players couldn’t help being stunned.

They had long been curious about this player who rushed into the instance before the game even started, but what they didn’t expect was that this player who was so daring to be a bit tough actually looked so…

good.

Ge Xiu ignored everyone’s different looks and sat down on the last chair.

Sitting at the head was a man who obviously from the instance. His face was dull and ordinary. He seemed to be no different from ordinary people on the surface, but when he stared at the others with a pair of dark eyes, it made one hair stand on its end, as if a chilly air was slowly penetrating down to the bone marrow.

He said:

“It seems that our last guest had finally found his way. I’m the head of this village. You can call me Lao Liu.”

The village head Liu looked away and continued:

“Everyone is welcome to take time from your busy schedules and come to attend my little daughter’s wedding.”

He raised the corners of his lips, showing a half-stiff and half-fake smile:

“Just treat this place as your home these few days. You can ask me anytime if you need anything.”

Players: “…”

Who would want to regard this ghostly place as their home.

The village head coughed twice and continued: “It’s getting late now, I’ll take you to rest later…”

Ge Xiu suddenly spoke up, interrupting the village head, “When will the wedding start?”

The other players were taken aback.

They didn’t expect that there would be such a player interrupting the middle of a npc introduction, subconsciously feeling astounded.

The village head’s face froze slightly, he slowly turned his head and looked at Ge Xiu who was sitting at the end with the two black eyes that had no light inside, alike to two lifeless glass beads. He seemed to be a little stuck and after two or three seconds of silence, he opened his mouth and answered slowly:

“… the day after tomorrow.”

For other players, the short two or three seconds seemed like a century.

It wasn’t until the other party answered the question and there were no signs of turning against them, that their hearts finally slowly returned to their stomachs.

After the conversation was over and the village chief left, the players who had been in a state of tension slowly relaxed.

After a round of self-introduction, the players all looked at Ge Xiu with unconcealable curiosity in their eyes. One of the senior players couldn’t bear it anymore and said firstly: “Ge, you were so awesome. How many dungeons have you cleared?”

Ge Xiu said honestly: “One.”

Not only the player who asked the question, but everyone was stunned for a moment, apparently not expecting such an answer from the other party.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” The player showed clear disbelief: “Are you saying that this is your second dungeon?”

“Yes, yes.” Another person echoed: “The difficulty of this dungeon is at least A. The senior players who were randomly assigned have experienced at least four or five dungeons and even the rookies experienced at least two, how could you have only experienced it ?”

Ge Xiu pondered for a while and replied: “It’s probably bad luck”

His expression was too calm, without the slightest sign of lying, and now, other players who were originally very sure were not so sure.

After all… It was true that some unlucky newcomers would be assigned to a dungeon of this difficulty in the first round.

Highly difficult dungeons would indeed reduce the number of newcomers, but there were often two or three left.

Although senior players would sympathize with these unlucky newcomers, most of them were still happy to see them appear—newcomers were the helpful tool for senior players to explore the way and attract monsters. This understanding had basically became an unspoken rule among experienced players. Although this method of randomly assigning newcomers to difficult dungeons was cruel, but it brought practical benefits for them.

However, this kind of semi-newcomer was actually assigned to a high-difficulty dungeon in the second game and it was their first time too.

——Especially this kind of semi-newcomer who is too bold.

Ge Xiu asked, “So, what are the rules of this game?”

The other player’s expression became gloomy, he sighed and replied, “Survive until after the wedding.”

Among all the rules of the game, the type of instances giving a “survive until” task were the most difficult to grasp.

Seemed like a simple task, but it gave the least useful hints on how to behave, making it more difficult to determine the actions that should be taken in the instance. Survival depended not only on the player’s experience and reaction ability, but also on luck.

However, this kind of copy also had its advantages, that was, the degree of freedom was relatively high and there were no clear prohibition rules.

But it also made it more difficult for players to grasp the dangerous boundaries.

Just then, a man in sackcloth walked in.

His face was also pale and stiff, his ordinary-looking face looked as it was a stiff mask, without any expression during the whole process.

He came to take the players to their respective rooms.

It was a rather large yard. There were several small rooms adjacent to each player happened to be assigned with a room.

Ge Xiu chose the one on the farthest edge.

The furnishings in the room were very simple, the crooked windows were facing the yard and the gloomy sky could be seen through the foggy glass.

Before leaving, the man who led the way suddenly turned his head and said to the players who had chosen the room:

“By the way, guests, try not to go out at night. There are no electric lights in many places in the village and the night is dark…”

He showed a strange eerie smile:

“…it’s easy to get hurt.”

The players couldn’t help but feel their spines go numb.

——Although there were no particularly clear rules for this kind of survival instance, going out at night, no matter which instance was it, was courting death.

Although the daytime here wasn’t very bright, but the darkness of the nightsky could be felt even more clearly.

The darkness spread rapidly, quickly encroaching on the scenery outside the window.

In just ten minutes, the night had completely fallen, fully engulfing the courtyard.

The door in a remote corner of the courtyard was slowly pushed open from the inside.

In the next second, Ge Xiu, a semi-newcomer-courting-death player, appeared at the door.

He turned his head and glanced at a row of closed doors and then stepped into the darkness without changing his expression.

Ge Xiu turned on the flashlight, followed the route he remembered and walked straight to the location of the ancestral hall during the day.

The village shrouded in darkness looked more and more eerie, the surrounding scenery was hazy and indistinct, strangely shaped dark shadows stretched their teeth and claws around Ge Xiu, but they all were left behind.

At this moment, right in front of the road, a woman in red clothes appeared.

She turned her back to Ge Xiu, with her head bowed, her long black hair hanging down to her waist, looking very ghostly under the light of the flashlight flickering slightly.

Low weeping sounds came from a distance, delicate and soft, fluctuating from low to high, like filaments, especially clear in the thick darkness.

The light of the flashlight flickered twice and went out.

Just at this moment, Ge Xiu heard a soft whisper from a woman behind his ear:

“…looking for me again?”

The voice came from extremely close proximity, ringing in his ears distinctively, bringing cold chills down one’s back.

In the darkness, Ge Xiu turned his head and his gaze fell precisely on the dark shadow lying on his shoulder. He smiled slightly:

“You think too much, dajie*.”

*big sister