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Chapter 23

After Xiao Tangqiu had finished sharing his thoughts, he immediately broke out in cold sweat.

Tang Mianmian shook with fear, “So.....so...... we have to deal with two ghosts?” Fang Lan alone was difficult enough, but with one more Zhou Hai, they were definitely down the path of annihilation.

Xiao Tangqiu shook his head and reminded, “Have you forgotten what Luo Mansu said? This is only a D-level mission, so we probably wouldn’t all die just like that. Although his words may not be credible, he has no reason to lie about this..... In theory, we should still be under the newbie protection period. It would be impossible for the game to keep expanding if all newbies died at once.”

“Why would a horror game care about “sustainable” development? The goal is obviously to kill us all!” Tang Mianmian cursed and sweared, but ultimately still believed in Xiao Tangqiu’s conjectures, “What do you think then?”

Xiao Tangqiu raised his eyebrow, “I think Zhou Hai may be our way out.”

Tang Mianmian seemed to understand what he was implying, “Is that why you took this thing? But what does it have to do with the way out? “

“I don’t know either, but since this clue was given by Zhou Hai, I just wanted to take a look.” Xiao Tangqiu’s gaze deepened, “Let’s look for Luo Mansu and get his opinion first. After all, he’s an old player. Maybe he knows something.”

Xiao Tangqiu had just finished speaking when Tang Mianmian pointed in front and shouted, “I see them! They’re right up ahead!”

Sure enough, Luo Mansu, who had separated from them earlier, wasn’t far off. He was accompanied by Ding Tiantian – who still appeared not quite right – and the silent trio.

Luo Mansu had also caught sight of the both of them and quickly asked, “Where’s that damn ghost? Did she catch up to you guys?”

“We just had a fierce showdown with her but we managed to get rid of her. It’s only temporary though,” Xiao Tangqiu said vaguely. “By the way, we found something just now.....”

Xiao Tangqiu briefly explained the matter of the bamboo pole, then asked Luo Mansu, “Older Brother Luo, you’re an old player. Can you guess the purpose of this bamboo pole?”

Luo Mansu looked at the bamboo pole in Tang Mianmian’s hands, a glint reflecting in his eyes. However, he hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, “......I’m not really sure, but according to what you said, it should be an important quest item. Let me have a closer look.”

Tang Mianmian was about to hand over the bamboo pole to Luo Mansu when Xiao Tangqiu stopped him: “Wait a minute, someone’s coming!”

Luo Mansu was about to grab the bamboo pole but Tang Mianmian had started to yell, “Is it that damn ghost?!”

“Yes, it’s me! What’s wrong? Surprised to see that I’m still alive?!” Lu Dadong spat, “Laozi is still alive and kicking! No one messes with me!”

Xiao Tangqiu looked at Lu Dadong suspiciously. He couldn’t believe that this idiot actually survived the danger-ridden Yun Manor. Yet, Luo Mansu suddenly burst out, “One more person means more strength! It’s a good thing! Let’s find a way out together!”

“Yes,” said the woman leading the trio. “The most important thing now is to find a way out!”

Luo Mansu looked at her and snickered, “You guys entered the Yun Manor a day earlier than we did. Didn’t you find anything?”

“Of course we did!” The woman’s female teammate angrily shouted.

“Jingjing!” Her other teammate nervously cried out.

“It’s ok,” the woman said calmly. “This D-level mission seems to be much more difficult than we expected. If we don’t cooperate, we might not be able to get out.”

Her two teammates’ facial expressions changed as they wavered.

“Are you an old player too?” The woman looked at Luo Mansu.

Luo Mansu nodded, and the trio introduced themselves again. It was only then that they learned their real names. Their leader was Yan Yiyan; her two teammates, Xia Jingjing and Xia Chenxuan were siblings. Aside from that, they gave no other information about themselves since they were only temporarily cooperating. Obviously, there was little trust between the two groups.

“We found Fang Lan’s room in the Yun Manor.”

As soon as he heard that, Xiao Tangqiu eyes widened, “Fang Lan’s room?!” That’s right! They had only concentrated on searching Yun Jizhou’s room, but had unexpectedly forgotten to search Fang Lan’s! Actually, to be more exact, they had taken for granted that Fang Lan shared the same room as Yun Jizhou! After all, they were husband and wife..... They should’ve lived in the same room!

“But we didn’t find anything important,” Yan Yiyan said with a frown. “We only found her diary, but there was nothing important in it. Half of it was her recalling her first love and the other half was her complaining about how eerie the Yun Manor was..... This fishing village seems to be isolated from the outside world, so she knew very little. But her former lover seemed to have left this fishing village once. He only left for a while, and told her some things she didn’t know about the outside world.....”

Xiao Tangqiu suddenly thought of the watermelon that Yang Bing and Lu Xiaotao had gotten. No wonder they said that there were watermelons growing on a tree! Fang Lan had probably only heard of watermelons from Zhou Hai, but she had never seen a real one. Because many fruits grow on trees, she must’ve assumed that watermelons were the same!

That watermelon tree...... was it formed from Fang Lan’s resentment?

He instantly decided, “Why don’t we go back to the Yun Manor now?”

“No! I’m not going back!” Lu Dadong was the first to interject, “I’m not going back to that terrible place!”

The others also hesitated; as usual, Tang Mianmian was the only one who believed in Xiao Tangqiu, “I’ll go back with you!”

Luo Mansu scratched his head and was about to say something, but at this point Yan Yiyan’s expression turned ugly, “Fang Lan’s here!”

They turned to look, and sure enough, Fang Lan hadn’t given up yet and had come looking for them. She looked more hideous than ever; her face was thick with black blood. Without thinking, Xiao Tangqiu grabbed Tang Mianmian and ran back to the Yun Manor.

The others also started to run. Luo Mansu quickly pulled Ding Tiantian – who was still squatting on the ground playing with the rattle – and brought her to catch up with the others.

Under Fang Lan’s hot pursuit, Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian ran to the Yun Manor, but this time, the Yun Manor seemed to have lost its ability to keep Fang Lan out, so Fang Lan had chase them inside.

Amidst the panic, the rest of them split up again. When Xiao Tangqiu stopped to catch his breath, Tang Mianmian, Luo Mansu and Ding Tian Tian were still beside him, but Fang Lan had disappeared. He wasn’t sure if she had decided to chase after the others instead.

...... Did he finally erase the rage the BOSS had towards him?

Just as Xiao Tangqiu was secretly rejoicing, he suddenly widened his eyes because he discovered that the person next to Luo Mansu......

That person who was supposed to be Ding Tiantian, had suddenly turned into the broken corpse of Ding Mimi!

He hadn’t even had the chance to warn Luo Mansu before he realized that Luo Mansu was staring at him in horror. He suddenly froze in place. Did the person beside him also......

He stiffly turned around, only to find that Tang Mianmian was still alive and well.

Xiao Tangqiu immediately shouted at Luo Mansu, “Let go of her!”

Luo Mansu reacted instantly, pushing “Ding Tiantian” away. They were shocked to see “Ding Tiantian” fall to the ground and break into countless pieces.

Xiao Tangqiu had just breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something when a figure rushed up to him, “Why didn’t you wait for me?!”

He stared in disbelief; it turned out to be Tang Mianmian!

“Quickly, let go of him!” Luo Mansu shouted.

Xiao Tangqiu immediately thrust aside the other Tang Mianmian, but was also afraid to approach the newly arrived Tang Mianmian. Luo Mansu ran up to him, grabbed him and started to run.

Luo Mansu pulled Xiao Tangqiu along for quite a distance before Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t resist looking back. He found that both Tang Mianmian hadn’t chased after them. They merely looked at him impassively, their faces revealing a creepy smile.

~~~

P.S. I’ve read your comments and........ all will be revealed (more or less) in the next chapter plus I promise ML makes an appearance soon!