All the players were stunned. Right — so many had gone missing before, and there were no corpses; who could say they were definitely dead?
Players forcibly sent into Random Dungeons are required to stay three months. If the missing players were controlled by the Dungeon Boss, even if they somehow survived the seven-day limit they might not regain consciousness. That still left more than two months for them to remain inside the dungeon. Players aren’t ordinary people, who knew what they might be doing in there?
“No way.” The hooded-shirt player no longer sounded as adamant as before, hesitating as he said, “If the missing players are still alive, then where did the eyes in the wooden cabinet come from?”
“There aren’t many able-bodied young men left in the county,” Xu Huo said. “Not only players died inside the dungeon.”
Wei Xian swallowed, “So what we might have to face in the end isn’t just the Dungeon Boss, but also a significant number of missing players?”
“That makes a lot more sense.” Fang Penghui said, “Trying to make every player fail the dungeon in one go—based on the dungeon rules alone—seems a bit hard. After all, many players haven’t been here long enough, and auditory and visual hallucinations aren’t that severe for everyone.”
“That’s actually a good thing.” The Black-Shirted Player added, “If it’s only players we can deal with them; that’s much better than the dungeon suddenly changing.”
“But this dungeon revealed very few rules to begin with.” Tian Kunwen took over, “With such a high death rate, the dungeon shouldn’t look like it does now. I wouldn’t be surprised if worse things happen next.”
The worst outcome would be exactly what Xu Huo suggested: the corpses might actually be alive.
“After all this, people can’t be killed.” The hooded-shirt player shook his hand as if to ward something off, “I hope you guys won’t regret it when the time comes.”
One night passed like that. As dawn broke, the county residents awakened from their sleep. Unlike the lifelessness of the previous days, every household flung open their courtyard gates, began sweeping and repairing yards, and set out offerings and incense as if preparing for a grand ritual.
They didn’t pay much attention to the house burned the night before; they merely carried away the injured, and covered the charred, ugly remains with some cloth and left it at that.
“What are they doing?” Xu Huo asked the little girl who was rinsing rice, “Is there a festival today?”
“Yes!” The little girl beamed, “Today is the Eye Offering Festival!”
“Shared Eyes?” Xu Huo’s brow twitched.
“We offer eyes.” The little girl said matter-of-factly, without any trace of the fear she’d shown toward the locked room two days ago. “Tonight, the whole town will carry the religious statue out to parade, and everyone’s family will come back. It’ll be the liveliest night!”
“Your parents will come back too?” Xu Huo refilled her water casually.
“Of course.” The little girl looked wistful, “I haven’t seen my mom and dad for a long time.”
She ran back excitedly and fetched a photo, “Look, these are my parents!”
Judging from the photo’s date compared to the dungeon’s time, the picture was at least fifteen years old.
“They return every festival to see you?” Xu Huo handed the photo back.
“Of course.” The little girl smiled, “As long as you’re from Sifang Palace City, everyone comes back on the Eye Offering Festival day.”
She busied herself happily again. Xu Huo stepped out into the street. Streamers and lanterns were hung everywhere; children ran about in groups. He called after the child who had shown him the water pool the day before. The kid seemed to have forgotten what he’d said earlier and answered happily, “My mom and dad will definitely come back today. Uncle, do you know them?”
Xu Huo gave him some food and sent him on his way, then went alone to Xiao Yun’s house near the station.
Xiao Yun was also preparing items for the ritual. Her brother, however, still sat in the yard carving wood with an unreadable face. Seeing Xu Huo, he said flatly, “I took your money. Delivering on time is the least I should do.”
Xu Huo sat across from him, “There are two days left before the deadline you agreed to. No need to rush.”
Xiao Yun’s brother looked up, “It’ll be about done tonight.”
“You’ve seen half the city—seems like only you are a bit clearer-headed. Why not leave Sifang Palace City?” Xu Huo asked.
His brother carved with the knife, “Anyone who tries to leave dies. Even if they turn into corpses, they come back…”
“Brother!” Xiao Yun yelled, stopping him in anger. Her face flushed as she snapped, “What are you talking about! Today is the Eye Offering Festival. Saying this insults the gods!”
Her brother was unmoved by his sister’s fury and countered, “Gods? Do you even know which god you worship?”
For a moment Xiao Yun looked bewildered, then said, “A god is a god. Talking about gods is disrespectful.”
Her brother grew visibly agitated. He flung down the wooden mirror he’d been carving, rushed into the house, hauled out the wooden cabinet housing the religious statue, and lifted it as if to smash it on the ground!
“Brother!” Xiao Yun’s face twisted; she let out a terrible shriek and, in the same instant, stabbed at her brother with the kitchen knife she’d been holding!
Xu Huo grabbed her wrist and spoke to her brother, “Smashing the statue won’t help. Give it to her.”
The veins on the brother’s forehead throbbed; eventually he relented. Xiao Yun hugged the wooden cabinet joyfully as she carried it away, while he looked up in helpless despair.
“The missing able-bodied men from the county—were they like your case?” Xu Huo asked. “Where are their bodies? This place isn’t the original Sifang Palace City, is it?”
The brother resumed his woodcarving and replied, “No need to rush. You’ll know tonight.”
Xu Huo frowned and asked a few more questions, but the answers were all the same.
“You think I’m a dying man.”
“So what if you die? So what if you live? Even if you leave you won’t come back.” The brother sneered.
It seemed he—or the people of Sifang Palace City—had begged players for rescue. Whether they died is a side question; even if they were alive, players couldn’t change the dungeon’s present state.
Report to the game base? Forget it. Game systems themselves don’t have morals of good and evil; even if they did, it wouldn’t be used on a low-tier dungeon.
This dungeon has no fixed activation time, so the city constantly exists within dungeon time. Some people drifted in and out, and those who were clear and tried to escape couldn’t get out of Sifang Palace City. That turned it into a dead town.
“So you’ve seen the real Sifang Palace City—the one across from that water pool?” Xu Huo asked. “You can stay clear-headed and draw a map of the real Sifang Palace City, right?”
Only then did Xiao Yun’s brother look at him seriously, “No one can stay clear-headed inside Sifang Palace City.”
After saying that he fell silent.
Xu Huo couldn’t get more answers and left. Outside he ran into Yi Pei and the Black-Shirted Player; they had just been checking the surroundings and carried many grass wreaths and garlands given by children, along with fruit from adults.
Without understanding the reasons behind it, today Sifang Palace City really did look like a human paradise.
After a while, several parade floats reappeared on the streets. Locals offered flowers and fruit; after decorating the floats they hung cloth banners printed with Eye Patterns in the middle. The instant Xu Huo and the others saw those eyes, their expressions changed subtly, and they instinctively looked away.
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