Gu Jiu looped back from the east end of the village.
The others, curious about the origin of the rag doll, decided to follow and take a look.
They had a hunch—since the doll wasn’t handmade by Granny Wang, maybe it was an important tool within this game instance. If passing the level was somehow related to this rag doll, wouldn’t they miss a crucial opportunity?
Lin Dandan felt a bit uneasy. Yesterday, seeing Gu Jiu idly playing with the village kids, she had thought of her as lazy and useless. Who would have thought that those kids would suddenly give Gu Jiu a doll of unknown use?
It would be fine if the doll were a weapon transformed by a ghost, but what if it wasn’t?
The sun was bright today, but the village seemed a bit desolate; there were no children running around as they had seen yesterday.
“That’s strange, why aren’t there any kids running around today?” Fatty asked, puzzled.
Yesterday, when they walked through the village, they had seen many kids running everywhere, painting a simple and rustic rural scene.
Gu Jiu went to ask a villager and found out that all the children had gone to the town’s market with their elders early in the morning.
It was too much of a coincidence. Besides, could all the children really be taken to the market? It seemed unusual.
“Looks like the game’s rules don’t allow you to question them,” Wang Peiping said with a hint of schadenfreude.
Gu Jiu glanced at him but ignored his remark.
Wang Peiping felt like he had punched a pillow; the dull pain from the wound on his neck made him even more irritated.
Although Gu Jiu was indeed a rare beauty, as a normal man, Wang Peiping had many typical male weaknesses and found it hard to resist the allure of a pretty face. However, given the situation—being in a dangerous game world where life was constantly at risk—who had the time to appreciate beauty?
So, his attitude toward Gu Jiu hadn’t improved despite her being stunning. Instead, he despised women he saw as cowardly and pretentious.
Having experienced two game instances, he understood how vulnerable women were in these games. Most of those who died quickly were women.
Since it was still early, the group dispersed to gather information.
Unlike the others, Gu Jiu didn’t wander around the village. She didn’t have the energy for it, so she found a spot to sit and rest.
Lu Ji sat next to her, and the two of them dazed off under the shade of a tree.
Looking at the village of Qingshan under the sunlight, Gu Jiu suddenly asked, “I wonder if this game world is a real one or just a fantasy realm created by the ‘Multiverse Game’?”
If it was a fantasy, it was an extravagant one; the NPCs’ lifestyle seemed extremely realistic.
“It should be a real world, just with certain restrictions for players,” Lu Ji replied.
Gu Jiu couldn’t help but glance at her. Lu Ji’s dark eyes met hers as if asking why she was staring.
“Strange, aren’t you going to search for information today?” Gu Jiu asked. If she hadn’t misunderstood, was Lu Ji deliberately following her?
Lu Ji’s face remained expressionless as she said, “My health isn’t good. I don’t have the energy to search for information like they do.”
Gu Jiu: “…”
If she remembered correctly, wasn’t this the same excuse she gave to Fatty and his brother yesterday?
Looking at the girl’s pale yet pretty face, she did indeed seem fragile, even more so than Gu Jiu herself, making her appear more pitiful and convincing.
In the evening, the players gathered again in the courtyard of Old Li’s house.
Apart from the information gathered from the barefoot doctor and Granny Wang, they hadn’t learned anything new today. This left Lin Dandan, Wang Peiping, and the chubby and skinny brother feeling a bit dejected.
Although the game doesn’t limit the time for clearing the level, the longer they stay in the game world, the more likely they are to be attacked by ghosts. It’s better to clear the level as soon as possible.
After having dinner at the village chief’s house and hearing the same words he repeated on the first day, they returned to rest.
By the time they got back to Old Li’s house, the sky was completely dark.
As they were about to go up the stairs, Gu Jiu suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?” Wu Yang asked sharply, looking over.
Gu Jiu stared at the room on the first floor and said, “Brother Wu, the door on the left is open.”
Everyone was startled and quickly turned to look, but unfortunately, it was too dark outside. There were no streetlights, and their vision wasn’t sharp enough to tell if the door was open.
Wu Yang took out his flashlight, and as its beam swept across, they saw that the door on the left was indeed slightly ajar.
In the few days they had stayed at Old Li’s house, they had noticed that the three rooms on the first floor remained tightly shut, as if no one lived there. But the village chief insisted that the residents were resting inside, proving that the owners were indeed present.
The strange thing was, they never saw anyone come out or have meals, which seemed very abnormal.
However, in the game world, many things that defied logic were considered normal. No one felt the need to investigate what Old Li’s family, spanning three generations, was doing inside or why they never came out for meals.
Now that one of the previously shut doors was slightly open, no one dared to push it further.
They even felt as if something was crouching behind that door, spying on them, causing their hearts to race and their scalps to tingle.
“Let’s go,” Wu Yang decided immediately.
Since it was already completely dark, it wasn’t the right time to explore. It would be better to investigate during the daytime.
No one objected, and they quickly followed Wu Yang upstairs to get ready for washing up and resting.
There was only one bathroom on the second floor, so the seven of them had to take turns using it.
Wu Yang and the brothers were quite gentlemanly, letting the women go first. Wang Peiping, however, didn’t care at all. To him, the game world wasn’t the real world; survival was all that mattered, so nothing else was important.
As Gu Jiu was returning to her room, Fatty, who was waiting to use the bathroom, called out to her.
“Miss, how did you see that just now when it was so dark?” he asked, scrutinizing Gu Jiu with curiosity. He always found this newcomer to be very peculiar—sometimes overly reckless.
Gu Jiu adjusted her glasses. “My eyesight isn’t great, so my hearing is very sharp. I happened to hear a faint door-opening sound.”
Fatty’s expression cleared. The village’s old houses made creaky sounds when opening doors, no matter how quietly.
Back in her room, Gu Jiu, as usual, placed the rag doll from her trench coat pocket on the bedside table.
Lu Ji sat leaning against the bed, looking like a delicate beauty with a sickly charm. She glanced at Gu Jiu and said, “There was no sound earlier, was there?”
The door on the first floor had opened suddenly and silently, so Gu Jiu’s explanation didn’t add up.
Gu Jiu’s expression paused for a moment. She turned to look at Lu Ji, shrugged, and said, “You’re right, there was no sound. I just saw it.”
“Saw it?”
Lu Ji gazed at her eyes and noticed that Gu Jiu had already taken off her glasses and placed them on the bedside table within arm’s reach. Without the glasses obscuring her face, her delicate and graceful features were fully revealed, like an image of an ancient noblewoman—so beautiful it almost seemed unreal.
Gu Jiu responded with a soft hum, rubbing her tired eyes slightly.
Upon entering the game world, Gu Jiu discovered that with the aid of her glasses, not only did her vision become normal, but she could even see certain abnormal things. Earlier, she had indeed seen it—a crimson eye appeared behind the door crack, glaring brightly in the darkness like a beacon. It was impossible for her to pretend she hadn’t noticed it.
Later, she realized that Wu Yang and the others hadn’t seen it at all.
That eye was clearly there, quietly observing them through the crack, meeting her gaze from afar.
It was so distinct, so vivid.
Why was she the only one who could see it while Wu Yang and the others couldn’t? Could it be because she was born with poor eyesight? But that didn’t seem right either…
Gu Jiu thought that the “Multiverse Game” system might be able to clarify things for her, but only if she survived the first game.
Since she showed no intention of explaining further, Lu Ji didn’t press her. She lay down without changing her clothes.
The room quickly returned to silence.
Once again, the creaking sound echoed from the staircase, loud and disturbing, disrupting their sleep.
Gu Jiu did not sleep soundly. Half-awake, she sensed something off about the air flow in the room and abruptly opened her eyes.
Without her glasses, her vision was a blur of darkness. She vaguely saw a shadow crouched at the foot of her bed, alarmingly close.
Without a second thought, she grabbed a wooden stick by the bedside and swung it violently.
With a thud, the shadow crashed into the nightstand, knocking it over. The nightstand fell to the floor, and the shadow was pinned down, letting out a sharp screech before lunging at her with even greater speed.
Though Gu Jiu could see the shadow’s trajectory, her reaction was slower than her mind.
Just as the shadow was about to strike, a hand grabbed her, pulling her to the other side of the bed, dodging the attack.
It was Lu Ji.
Gu Jiu recognized this and didn’t resist. When the shadow attacked again, she swung the stick once more.
This time, when the stick hit the shadow, it didn’t knock it away; instead, the stick snapped in two.
Gu Jiu: “…”
Quickly, she pulled the blanket over the shadow. There was the sound of fabric tearing, and then a tremendous force knocked her off the bed. The impact was so fierce that she felt as though her internal organs had shifted. Having grown up as a pampered young lady, loved and protected by her family, she had never experienced such a violent impact. The pain darkened her vision.
Suddenly, an icy chill seeped into her bones, stopping her heart.
She was going to die!
The terror of impending death gripped her heart, squeezing it tightly, making her chest spasm with pain.
Her mind went blank for a moment, and Gu Jiu didn’t know what she did. By the time she regained her senses, the shadow that had attacked her let out a horrific scream and fled through the window, as if trying to escape.
Thump, thump, thump…
In the darkness, it felt as if all she could hear was her own heartbeat, her pulse pounding like thunder.