The village chief apparently didn’t expect that someone could ignore his eerie aura and open his mouth to talk about this.
The worst thing was that after Kou Dong finished this sentence, the little boy who just talked the most in the children’s pile tilted his face up and looked at him – look at that look, it went without saying that he thought this offer was very heartwarming.
Moreover, it looked like his own child.
The village chief opened his mouth, seeing that his grandson also followed the deviation, he got angry. He glared at his grandson, the child looked at the re-buried head silently, then said: “Foreigner, you are only invited to dance during the Nuo play, don’t care about anything else.”
Kou Dong stood up from the ground, regardless of the threat in his tone, with only a faint smile: “Village head, you are quite good.”
The old man abruptly lifted his eyelids and stared at him instead.
Kou Dong was also bold, he was looking at him calmly, even with hint of familiarity: “My father is only forty years old, he’s not even as strong as you.”
The old man looked a little more relaxed and finally replied, “Of course.”
Kou Dong: “Is it because of the god you worship in this temple? Can I pay my respects?”
The chief knitted his brow back up. He gave Kou Dong a warning glance, the corners of his mouth turned abruptly into a sneer, “Foreigner – gods are not free to worship.”
If it were anyone else, he might have been scared by his pretentious tone. But Kou Dong gasped and issued a soulful question: “But I see your offerings, there is nothing special ah.”
It was just a little worthless fruit?
He raised his eyebrows, “Or is …… it the dancing Nuo play that’s special?”
The old man’s smile couldn’t be maintained, he no longer talked to him, with a hand shake, the group of children on the ground dispersed. With a grim expression, he twisted around and walked towards the alley.
Kou Dong muttered, “This reaction, it seems really special.”
He brushed the cub off his shoulder, resting it in his hand, deep in thought: “Quite odd.”
Ye Yanzhi: “His gaze is lax, but his footsteps are solid, and his soul body and body don’t quite match.”
Kou Dong was a little surprised: “Cub, you can see this too?”
Ye Yanzhi didn’t answer. The Ye clan itself was good at soul arts, they knew the secret feng shui method, and were also considered the most important family in the feng shui world. As the heir, he naturally studied since childhood and never relaxed for a day.
As for what Kou Dong said earlier about the fruits, the moon platform …… he never learned, but instead, he knew the East and West ghosts and folklore like the back of his hand.
Kou Dong looked around the village, there wasn’t too much gain. The village looked small but no one could go out. When they reached the end of the road, it would link back to the village.
inexhaustible.
There weren’t many people in the village, just a dozen. In addition, there was only one mysterious temple built to worship an unknown god.
Many villagers came and went, but no one talked to him. Kou Dong tried several times to no avail, but a thin female voice behind him said, “Don’t ask, they all look like bored gourds, they don’t talk at all.”
Kou Dong turned his head and saw that it was the “land”.
“Land” Nuo mask had kind eyebrows, sounding not too old, her voice was a little childish.
Kou Dong paused, then replied: “Indeed.”
“What is this Nuo face of yours?” The land asked him, thin white fingers outlining across the air, tracing the eyebrows on his mask, “It looks really nice.”
Kou Dong smiled, “Yours looks better.”
This was true, the land was a good god, but Zhong Kui was a fierce god, born with an angry face and crossed eyebrows, naturally it was difficult to be called good-looking.
As if realizing something, the land also laughed.
“Yah …… sorry,” she said, “someone in my ancestry can do this too, they just never painted this god. Did it scare you?”
“No,” Kou Dong said, “it’s fine.”
His hand fondled the little man without a trace.
Ye Yanzhi hung on his clothes and smoothly touched his fingertips back.
The land proposed, “Go together?”
Kou Dong’s eyes gazed at eyes beneath the Nuo Mask.
“-Yeah.”
They strolled around the village together briefly, and by six o’clock, seeing that it was getting dark, they said goodbye to each other and went back to rest.
Kou Dong went back to the room where he started and laid down on the bed. He actually couldn’t sleep, and he believed the others were the same.
His hand rested on his mask as he talked to Ye Yanzhi.
“Cub, what do you think of this game, how is it going to be played?”
Ye Yanzhi sat on his chest and frowned at him. The Nuo mask made him feel weird – it blocked the youth’s face.
Kou Dong’s body rose and fell slightly with the rhythm of his breathing, and Ye Yanzhi followed suit. He said, “Are you talking about people, or ghosts?”
The two played very differently.
Kou Dong laughed, then he fiercely reached out to lift him up and rubbed his face, “smart.”
His two cheeks were rubbed red, like he was blushing. He frowned at Kou Dong’s hand, very dissatisfied, “Don’t always rub me.”
“What’s wrong with rubbing you?” Kou Dong couldn’t understand, “Why can’t I rub you? This is because Daddy loves you!”
Ye Yanzhi: “……”
Very well, he thought grimly, you better remember what you said clearly.
At that time, even if you are kneaded and cry in bed, you will have to suffer.
It was all out of fucking love.
At 7:30, Kou Dong went out the door and walked in the direction of the temple. The rules deliberately stressed eight o’clock, he didn’t feel good about coming late.
There weren’t many people who had the same idea. Kou Dong ran into several people with Nuo masks all the way, they nodded to each other, and nobody talked much.
There were twelve wooden chairs on the ground in front of the temple. They took their seats according to the order of arrival and were marked from left to right. Kou Dong was in the first group an sat in the third chair.
There was no light in the open space, only a dim and jumping candle fire appeared in the temple. The shadows of the people were drawn by candlelight, and the protruding eyebrows and eyes on the mask were more clearly reflected on the ground, which seemed to be a really live evil god.
It was silent, even the insects didn’t chirp. The atmosphere was oppressive and dreary, a few people quietly looked up at the sky.
The moon in the sky was full, but anyone could see at a glance that something was wrong. The moon was bigger than the usual, and it wasn’t white, more like red – as if there was a layer of blood fog that couldn’t be dispersed.
Such moonlight gave people a worse feeling.
Kou Dong’s eyes moved down and he saw a shadow from afar. Someone carrying a kerosene lamp, slowly came from the end of the path. He also wore a Nuo mask, but it was all white, no pattern on the head. He held the lamp up and said in a jarring voice: “All here?”
No one said anything. He looked and the twelve chairs were filled to the brim.
“Very good.” White Nuo Mask said, “We can start.”
He placed the kerosene lamp on the floor.
This seemed to be a signal, everyone stared with rapt attention. White Nuo mask bowed to the statue covered with red cloth, then stepped in and took out a wooden signbox from the side.
White Nuo Mask put their hands on them and the wooden sign box shook.
Boom——
Boom——
The sound was monotonous and repetitive, repeated in front of this idol. Finally, one of the sticks shook so much that it swayed right at the edge and looked like it was about to fall out.
With a snap, its head tilted, completely crashed on the ground.
White Nuo Mask picked the sign up.
His face was blocked by the odd mask, no one could see his expression, only his hand, slowly turned that one signature around.
“Please, ninth guest.” He hissed, his voice filled with a strange kind of laughter.
The players in the chairs suddenly realized something and turned their heads to look to their right. In the ninth chair sat the laughing monk, only this moment his hands and feet were trembling, obviously in fear.
“No,” he said, shivering, “no ……”
“Please, ninth guest.”
White Nuo mask repeated the phrase again, with the sign facing him – the wooden sign with a tiny nine drawn on the bottom.
The laughing monk’s white robe was shaking. He clearly didn’t want to stand up, but from nowhere, a force clamped down on his arm, forcing him to stand up.
Ghosts!
Ghosts!
He almost wanted to scream, but couldn’t scream – the grip on his hand suddenly loosened, he stumbled forward and fell at the feet of white Nuo mask.
White Nuo mask turned his face to him.
“Ninth guest,” White Nuo mask asked him, “which guest did you find out the identity of?”
“……”
The laughing monk shuddered warily and didn’t answer.
He raised his head, eyes desperately rolling over the eleven unreadable Nuo masks. This was only the first day, and he was extraordinarily afraid of these, and hardly ever went out during the day.
How could he check who were people or ghosts?
He didn’t answer for a long time. White Nuo mask looked down at him and repeated what he had just said.
“Please tell me – which guest did you find?”
Ye Yanzhi sat on Kou Dong’s shoulder and suddenly said, “He has to talk.”
Kou Dong: “Hmm?”
The words hadn’t yet fallen, he suddenly heard a scream – white Nuo mask’s hand had always been behind his back, but it held a sharp bone gouging knife. Under the gaze of the Nuo masks, he fiercely stabbed that knife into the arm of the laughing monk, barely cutting his hand off.
The fishy smell of blo-od fiercely spread in the air, Kou Dong vaguely felt a little nauseous.
The scene made him feel sick.
A small commotion also arose between the chairs.
White Nuo mask holding a sharp knife in his hand, slowly and methodically pulled out of his muscles. The knife was no longer snowy, the upper head downward dripped with beads of blood.
He lifted the knife and wiped it with the corner of his own coat.
The laughing monk gasped one at a time, like he was about to pass out from the pain, clutching hard at White Nou Mask’s feet.
“Please,” he begged brokenly, “please ……”
However, the other didn’t pay attention. The knife light flickered slightly and moved toward his right arm again.
“Ninth guest,” said White Nuo Mask asked in an odd voice, “did you not notice because you were useless?”
In this instant, fear violently took over the laughing monk’s heart. He said in a loud voice, “No! I found it …… I found it!”
White Nuo Face still hadn’t put down that sharp knife, and his eyes looked at him through the thick mask.
“Then, please say it.”
“I found ……” the laughing monk’s voice was tinged with tears, “Number two, I found number two ……”
In the second position, Qin Tong, the most normal Nuo mask in today’s performance, had appeal in this group. His reaction was calm, like the normal reaction of all the veterans, he reminded everyone to arrive on time.
Kou Dong already guessed what the laughing monk was going to say. As expected, the laughing monk shook, “He …… he is human ……”
White Nuo Mask raised the kerosene lamp back up and illuminated the Qin Tong.
“Then,” he said, ” second guest, please come forward.”
Qin Tong’s slanted eyes and crooked mouth were reflected more and more prominently in this light, and the white oil paint looked like it could drip off the mask. He stood up from his chair and walked forward.
When the laughing monk saw him, it was almost as if he had seen the light of day and struggled to reach his hand out to him.
“Save me,” he tried hard to reach out to touch Qin Tong, “save me ……”
The Qin Tong looked down at him.
“Please verify this guest in person,” White Nuo Mask said, pointing at the Laughing Monk, “Are you sure that this guest in front of you is a human being?”
The laughing monk nodded his head against the pain.
Of course it was a human being!
The tone of this Qin Tong’s voice was clearly a living, breathing human-
“Then please take off his Nuo mask.”
White Nuo Mask said so.
The laughing monk was stunned.
Remove the …… mask?
“After removing it, you will learn the answer.”
“Whether it is right …… or wrong …… you will know immediately.”
The laughing monk’s throat knot moved as if he swallowed a mouthful of saliva with great effort. With some effort, he slowly stood up from the ground, still dangling with an almost ruined arm.
Qin Tong standing across from him, just a step away, his red hat striking in this dim light.
White Nuo mask carried the lamp and urged, “Please hurry up, two guests.”
The laughing monk gritted his teeth and completely extended his hand. The fingers of that hand are still trembling, barely clasping the edge of Qin Tong’s mask.
It must be a person, it must be a person ……
He repeatedly chanted in his heart, telling himself again and again.
There would be no mistake.
The Qin Tong’s hand patted his shoulder soothingly.
This action gave the laughing monk some courage, and he completely grasped the mask and finally pushed hard–
The one wooden mask was completely lifted over and fell in front of his eyes.
— he saw a gentle man’s face, thin eyebrows and flat eyes, a very unusual look.
The laughing monk slumped down, as if relieved. He laughed out loud, waving the remaining arm, and said in a loud voice, “It’s a man! It’s a human being!!!”
He was alive!
He bet on it!!!
Kou Dong also inevitably felt a sense of relief. It was a good thing in the end that it was a human being under the mask. He could feel the atmosphere of the people around him also relaxed, Qin Tong’s lips also showed a smile, stretching out his hand to pull the laughing monk.
Ye Yanzhi was always looking at Qin Tong, but at this time lying in Kou Dong’s ear, he whispered: “Something is not right.”
Kou Dong was startled and lifted his head just in time to see Qin Boy pulling the man up from the ground.
Laughing monk thought he was fine, and reached out to hug him, “Brother ……”
He didn’t manage to finish the sentence.
Someone around suddenly let out a suppressed scream.
Kou Dong knew what they were screaming about, Qin Tong, the “man” they thought he was, was now shedding skin all over his body, piece by piece. He took off the bloody skin, the inside revealed the black and blue, as if burnt by the fire.
His mouth let out a ho-ho sound of laughter. He licked his mouth and turned to the laughing monk, and bit down violently on his throat, snapping it completely in one fell swoop – Kou Dong had never known that such a crunching sound could actually come from a human body.
“Congratulations ……” the ghost slowly lifted his face from that and smiled, “- you guessed wrong.”
“……”
A dead silence fell over the field. This sudden scene stunned the chairs of the Nuo-masks.
Only the white Nuo mask applauded and said to the ghost who was having a full meal, “Congratulations to this guest.”
“……”
Kou Dong frowned, and the discomfort became heavier.
No one wanted to congratulate him, the sound of crunching and chewing was incessant. White Nuo mask, however, looked like he didn’t even see it, and waited until the ghost on the ground dragged the laughing monk by the feet and pulled him outside, before White Nuo mask turned around.
“Very well,” he said, “next–”
He picked up the signet again.
“We will draw one more guest.”
The blood on the floor hadn’t been wiped clean, coalescing into a puddle there. The preceding lesson was so tragic that the crowd was left with palpitations, staring intently at the hand of White Nuo mask who had restarted shaking the signet box.
That sound now sounded like a fatal bell.
Bang.
Bang.
White Nuo mask shook the barrel of the clattering, from his movements, Kou Dong could clearly detect that he was more excited than the last time.
This excitement made Kou Dong uneasy.
If the other party was only excited because he saw the blood, it was still good.
If he was excited for something else ……
A new sign fell out, and white Nuo mask picked it up and flipped it over the face for everyone to see.
“It is the third guest,” his voice line slightly shaky, barely suppressing this bizarre excitement in his chest, “please the third guest ……”
Kou Dong: “……”
Sure enough, the sad premonition is never wrong.
He said it, this group of NPCs were rarely happy ……
Unless they were about to pit him.
Kou Dong got up from the chair, Ye Yanzhi still sitting on his shoulder, said, “You want to refer to the land? She is not necessarily a person.”
Today the most contact with Kou Dong’s Nuo Mask was the land, in addition to her, Kou Dong didn’t know enough.
Kou Dong whispered in reply to his cub, “Don’t point.”
There was no problem with the land, but she was too active to approach him.
Others didn’t know, but he was very clear about what buffs he had on his body – that was NPC’s good feeling.
In this case, the NPC who especially wanted to get close to him was either the NPC who wanted to swallow him into his stomach, or the player who had no malice but would lead to serious consequences
The scene during the last copy, where he was chased by the whole research institute was still vivid, Kou Dong never wanted to experience it.
Ye Yanzhi’s expression was also solemn: “Then identify who?”
This was only the first day, they had too little information.
Kou Dong and the other players situation wasn’t the same, if he was wrong, he’d be dragged down by the leg – once into the hands of the NPC, he couldn’t get out for a lifetime.
He tugged on a strand of Kou Dong’s hair and grew more and more depressed: “They did it on purpose.”
This could never be drawn, he represented luck, so he offset Kou Dong’s E luck attribute.
Kou Dong muttered: “I know. I just entered the copy, how could they hold back from pitting me?”
It was just like a plate of cheesecake in front of you, who could resist not moving a spoon to taste it?
He was very clear about his position, that was, this plate of cheese cake favored by NPCs was the coveted meat. What hadn’t been eaten wasn’t that they didn’t want to eat, but that they didn’t have a chance – as long as they had a chance, he would be eaten without residue.
Alas, being a scum was cool for a while.
Kou Dong really wanted to alert the scum men in the world. Don’t play with people’s hearts, even the hearts of the game characters. Who knew when they would jump from the sweet love game to the horror game?
He walked up slowly, white Nuo mask’s gaze was more focused than before. That gaze was mixed with creepy joy, the eyes behind the mask didn’t blink as it stared at Kou Dong.
Kou Dong really didn’t know what these NPCs thought. It was OK to look like a fool when he was good-looking. Now he had such a ferocious mask on his face. How could it keep its eyes on him?
As if it could see through him.
White Nuo mask asked: “The third guest, have you found out a guest’s identity?”
With this question he asked, the chairs of the Nuo masks also turned their heads. The Nuo masks were facing Kou Dong. He didn’t know whether they had worried or excited expressions.
Kou Dong wasn’t in a hurry. He slowly put his hands behind his back and looked at the reactions of the Nuo masks one by one.
Among them, the land was the most obvious, two hands propped on the handle, her body leaned forward with a worried expression.
Kou Dong looked at them all, then turned and asked the white Nuo mask a bullheaded question, “Are you the owner of this temple?”
White Nuo mask froze.
The kerosene lamp in his hand shifted slightly, he hesitated for a few seconds before answering, “Naturally not.”
“Oh,” Kou Dong said, “quite good.”
White Nuo mask: “……??”
Good?
What the hell is so good?
He was full of questions, and vaguely had a not-so-good feeling. Not waiting for it to urge again, Kou Dong replied: “Then I’ll choose.”
White Nuo mask showed a hint of panic: “Or think about it again.”
You chose too fast! I’m not ready yet!
Kou Dong: “No, I don’t want to.”
The crowd: “……”
This scene, wasn’t quite right?
Kou Dong looked at the white Nuo mask sincerely and politely said: “I don’t want to pick, just you.”
White Nuo Mask looked at him gloomily, not understanding what the phrase “just you” means.
Kou Dong: “Here’s the thing, I can see through your identity. I think, you are a ghost.”