Chapter 1 Aftermath

After obtaining the quest item, Feng Bujue would hold up the small bell every three minutes, on average, to reconfirm the direction. He led Si Yu this way for nearly half an hour, still without finding any Hidden Bell Temple (Cangling Temple).

The mountain forest seemed endless, the terrain strangely complex. The temperature around them was constantly dropping, and based on their physical senses, it should already be below ten degrees Celsius. The cold resistance of Feng Bujue's clothing was quite good, but Si Yu's mountaineering pants were long, her upper body was only a sleeveless cotton vest. In this environment, she would naturally feel cold, and her stamina consumption would be greater than Feng Bujue's.

"It's a pity I can't take off my coat for you." Feng Bujue walked for a while, then stopped again to retrieve the bell. As he held up the item, he said, "Even the shirt and waistcoat I have on inside are warmer than your sleeveless outfit."

"Anyway, purple doesn't suit me," Si Yu replied calmly.

"I see..." Feng Bujue continued, "But I still suggest you change into a set of clothing suitable for spring and autumn. It can handle extremely low or high temperatures." He steadied his arm, holding the bell flat, and began to slowly rotate in a circle. "Xiao Tan's assassin outfit is good, but Bei Ling's is a bit too thick. I estimate that when the temperature approaches thirty degrees, she'll have to endure extra stamina consumption."

"Let's talk about it after this scenario ends," Si Yu said. "Before, I only considered whether the clothing would affect fighting movements, so I randomly picked a relatively front-ranking item when browsing the shop. Now it seems too hasty." She thought to herself, "If I buy again, I have to choose carefully. Adapting to various environmental temperatures is a must, and it's best to have a certain storage function and camouflage effect..." As she spoke, she noticed Feng Bujue staring at her with a strange expression.

"What's wrong?" Si Yu asked. She didn't avoid Feng Bujue's gaze, still responding to him with her usual cold eyes.

"I noticed something," Feng Bujue said, already putting the bell away and gesturing for Si Yu to follow him. He then continued forward, "Your words increase when it's just the two of us..."

"Do you think I'm being long-winded?" Si Yu asked as she walked.

"That's not it..." Feng Bujue said. "From a psychological point of view, there are many explanations for this situation. Maybe you're covering up some kind of unease, or maybe it's because you have less defensiveness towards me... Watch your step." He reminded her as he stepped over a crack in the rock. "For example, that passage you just said, if there was someone who wasn't very familiar with you present, perhaps you wouldn't have said it, but would have muttered it in your heart. Because there's a sense of trust between us, you share your thoughts with me as you think."

"We're not very familiar with each other, are we?" Si Yu replied. That was true; in terms of real-world time, they hadn't known each other for more than a week.

"I should say I'm not familiar with you," Feng Bujue said. "But you've read my books, so you feel like you have a certain degree of understanding of me..."

"That's true," Si Yu said. "But you're very different from the 'Bujue' I imagined."

"Ha?" Feng Bujue smiled. "In what way? Let me guess... the appearance gave you a huge psychological gap?"

"No, the appearance is higher than my expectations. I thought you would have an exceptionally尖酸刻薄 face," Si Yu replied.

"What kind of logic is that... the face is born from the heart?"

"Yes," Si Yu actually didn't deny it. "But after seeing you in person, I realized that my judgment of your personality was completely wrong."

"Oh? Then what kind of person should the detective novelist Bujue you imagined be?" Feng Bujue asked.

"First of all, the degree of narcissism is probably only one-tenth of yours."

"Well... that is a flaw, but unfortunately, I can't change it."

"Secondly, he should be a rational person to the point of being almost cold-blooded."

"Am I not that kind of person?"

"You can be very rational, and you also have a cold-blooded side," Si Yu hesitated for a moment, "but more often... it's hard to say."

"Oh... anything else that's extremely different from what you imagined?"

"Are you treating this as some kind of reader meet-and-greet?"

"Haha... do I look like the kind of person who would participate in that kind of activity?"

"I don't want to continue this conversation. If you have similar questions, I'll tell you when we're truly mature friends," Si Yu said.

"How long will that take?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I don't know, maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months," Si Yu replied. "Maybe we'll never become mature friends."

"Never become mature friends? Is that possible?" Feng Bujue asked, puzzled.

"Yes, after this period of contact, I've discovered more and more of your personality traits that I dislike. If this situation continues, when those traits accumulate to a certain amount, I think... separating from each other's social circles would be a good choice for both of us."

There weren't many people in this world who would seriously say these kinds of words directly to someone's face, and Si Yu was one of them. From this, one could see that her personality was definitely not normal... In fact, she had very serious problems with socializing in real life.

And in this world, ninety-nine percent of people who heard someone say these kinds of words directly to their face would feel unhappy, and would probably be angrily thinking in their hearts: Who do you think you are?

But Feng Bujue, living up to his name as a weirdo, actually responded with shining eyes and a happy expression: "Wow! You're so reasonable! If everyone was like you, how wonderful my life would be, how many meaningless social activities I could save."

Ding-a-ling... ding-a-ling...

The sudden sound of the bell interrupted their idle chat.

Feng Bujue never put the quest item into his knapsack. When he wasn't using it, he just kept it in the inner pocket of his jacket. This small bell wouldn't ring if you didn't deliberately shake it, and it wouldn't even make a sound if you jumped around a little while walking. But at this moment, the bell was ringing on its own.

"Hmm... have we finally arrived..." Feng Bujue immediately took the bell out of his pocket and held it in his hand. The bell seemed to be alive, constantly trembling and making noise. If Feng Bujue didn't hold it tightly, the item would almost jump out of his palm.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold swept over them, dropping the temperature to freezing point. At the same time, the surrounding scenery also suddenly changed. The trees, grass, and rocks around the two began to flicker, some trees suddenly turned into small saplings, while others disappeared completely. The grass and stones were also strangely changing positions and shapes.

This scene, to describe it vividly, was like watching a movie from the silent film era, when suddenly, two sets of shots that had been edited together repeatedly appeared. Although these two sets of shots were filmed in the same location, the filming times were different.

This situation was not unfamiliar to Feng Bujue and Si Yu. They didn't need to communicate to know that they had encountered a ghost.

These days, ghosts without space and illusion abilities are too embarrassed to call themselves vengeful ghosts.

"Waa... waa..." The sound of a girl crying rang out.

Feng Bujue and Si Yu immediately turned around upon hearing the sound. The scene that appeared before their eyes would make anyone's heart sink.

There was a thick wooden stake planted in the soil. Firewood was piled around the stake, and a little girl of about ten years old was tied to the stake. What bound her small body was actually a circle of heavy iron chains.

"Waa... please... let me go... waa... it hurts so much... I want my mommy..." The little girl cried and repeatedly said pleading words.

"Kill her!" "Burn this demon to death!" "It's all because of this jinx that the Dragon King won't send rain!" "My father has tuberculosis, it's all because of this little畜生!" "Jinx! All the crops in my family are dead because of you!" "Burn her to death!" "My child was born with a lame leg! It's all because of your evil!"

Many shouts of abuse immediately rang out in their ears, from men, women, old and young, but only their voices could be heard, not their people. From the content of their words, it was undoubtedly this group of people who had tied up the little girl. As for the identities of these people, according to the information provided by the tree demon earlier, it could basically be determined that they were the villagers of Cangling Town in the past.

"Waa... Ling'er didn't harm anyone... waa... please... I want my mommy..." The little girl was still crying, but the surrounding curses didn't stop. Obviously, this group of people just wanted to vent their emotions, and they wouldn't listen to any explanations at all.

Until a torch was thrown into the pile of firewood, the raging flames stopped these voices, replaced by the heart-wrenching wails of a little girl.

Until the last moment, the little girl was still pleading and crying, but soon... after a violent cough, she could no longer make any sound.

"Death fragment replay."

"Death fragment replay?"

Feng Bujue and Si Yu turned to look at each other almost at the same second, saying the same sentence in unison, except that one used a declarative tone, while the other still had some uncertainty.

They thought this depressing performance would end quickly, but it had only just begun.

The scene in front of them changed again. The pile of burning flames suddenly shot up high, forming a wall of fire. After it dissipated, a small temple appeared before the two.

The temple door was closed at this moment. From the outside, the building occupied about two hundred square meters. It was estimated that there was only a Buddha hall inside to enshrine the Buddha statue, and it couldn't possibly be divided into many rooms. A plaque hung in front of the small temple door—Hidden Bell Temple (Cangling Temple).

Many voices of conversation were heard again in the ears of the two players, but this time it was no longer loud curses, but sounded more like whispers in lowered voices.

"You say this demon is dead, but why are there more and more disasters in the village..."

"Yeah... I heard that someone went up the mountain to chop firewood yesterday and didn't come back..."

"This is the fifth one, right?"

"Who says it isn't? And ah, the hunter, old Chen, and his wife, died together at home last night, the whole house was covered in blood..."

"I'm afraid... the demon's ghost has come to seek revenge, right?"

"But that day, everyone buried the ashes that were left after the burning under the Hidden Bell Temple (Cangling Temple). With a temple suppressing it, what demon can still cause trouble?"

"What's the use of that small temple? I think that demon has great magical power, we have to... have to invite a high monk to perform a ritual, otherwise none of us in the village will escape..."

These voices floated around, not knowing where they came from, but Feng Bujue and Si Yu heard every sentence clearly.

After this passage ended, many figures walked out from behind them. Some of those people were monks wearing kasayas, some were Taoists wearing Taoist robes, and some looked like down-and-out martial artists. Some held prayer beads and wooden fish, some carried dusters and treasured swords, and a few carried a basket of strange equipment on their backs, with a circle of peach wood swords inserted behind them, making them look like they were performing in a Chinese opera.

However, these people all had one common characteristic, which was that their faces were bloodless, with a deathly look, and each of those pale faces had a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

They all appeared from behind Feng Bujue and Si Yu, and then staggered towards the gate of the Hidden Bell Temple (Cangling Temple). Before long, they brushed past the two players. When passing by the two, each of them would turn their heads to take a look, as if they knew that there was something here. This situation was indeed rare in the death fragment replay.

At this moment, Si Yu already had Sacred Seal in her hand, posing in a defensive posture. She was obviously a little nervous, and even the hand holding the sword was trembling slightly. Unconsciously, she had been infected by the surrounding terrifying atmosphere, so it was normal to have this reaction.

Just then, a steady hand gently pressed on Si Yu's hand. Feng Bujue turned his head, his face showing no fear, with a calm expression: "Take a deep breath, slow down your heartbeat, open the menu to check your scare value, and get rid of the pictures running wild in your head." His instructions were simple, everyone understood them, but not everyone could immediately think of doing this when afraid.

After hearing this, Si Yu quickly calmed down, and the scare value also dropped from a high of 70%.

"What a reliable man..." These words weren't said by Si Yu, but by Feng Bujue himself. He smiled after saying them, "You must be thinking that in your heart right now, right?"

"A little bit," Si Yu replied, but her eyes immediately revealed a hint of contempt.

"Does that mean we're one step closer to being 'mature friends'?"

"Perhaps it would have been if you hadn't said that sentence yourself..." Si Yu replied, "Now... it's turned into a feeling of 'seems very reliable at critical moments, but being self-smart is annoying'."

"Okay..." Feng Bujue shrugged, seemingly not caring much.

While the two were talking, those figures had successively "passed through" the gate of the Hidden Bell Temple (Cangling Temple). This scene was obviously implying that these guys who came to perform rituals, no matter how different their beliefs, tools, and methods were... ultimately ended up the same way, being killed by this vengeful ghost.

This death fragment replay ended here.

The surrounding environment returned to its original appearance. The players no longer had the discomfort of watching a movie with dropped frames when looking at things. It's just that the temperature didn't rise, still close to zero degrees, and the two could exhale white air from their mouths.

The Hidden Bell Temple (Cangling Temple) in front of them didn't disappear along with the other illusions, but turned into a real object. The bell in Feng Bujue's hand also stopped being active and no longer made a sound.

"If you can't stand the cold..." Feng Bujue didn't even finish this half of his sentence.

Si Yu interrupted directly: "Dream on."

"How do you know what I wanted to say?" Feng Bujue continued. "Maybe I wanted to ask you... um... if you want to make a fire?"

Si Yu turned her head and glanced at him: "Do you think this attempt to cover up will increase my affection for you?"

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue pursed his lips, his eyes seemingly revealing a hint of hope, but Si Yu continued to respond to him with that assassin-like gaze.

Two seconds later, Feng Bujue turned his head, as if nothing had happened: "Okay, we've finally found the key location to advance the plot. I'll go in first." He said as he walked, "Although it's daytime, but from what I've observed, this ghost isn't affected by time. We should still be careful."

Si Yu sighed softly, said nothing, and followed him towards the temple gate.

…………

"Hey, hey, hey... this setting is too cunning, right? It's just a waste of bullets." Xiao Tan looked at the corpse of the giant crocodile monster and said, "If you listened to me and just ran away, wouldn't we have gotten here anyway... Ouch!"

Bei Ling knocked Xiao Tan on the head and said嬌嗔ly, "Monday morning quarterback."

Minutes ago, after the monster got stuck, the difficulty of killing it was reduced to a negligible level. Although the monster was still constantly opening its bloody mouth and shaking its head violently, as a stationary target, the players were firing with fixed points, and didn't need to shoot while walking anymore, so it was still easy to take it down.

The two killed this giant crocodile, consuming a lot of stamina, and also used up a lot of ammunition on the way back. The monsters in Thriller Paradise (惊悚乐园) don't drop equipment when they die, so killing them yields nothing. It can be said that from falling into the pool until now, they haven't gained any benefits, but have lost a lot. These are undoubtedly factors that affect morale.

However, Bei Ling has always been a person who doesn't give up easily, and Xiao Tan is more easygoing and doesn't care too much about gains and losses. So, their combination isn't much affected in terms of mentality and emotions.

"Dead in this position, it's definitely impossible to push it away." Bei Ling looked at the giant crocodile's stuck corpse and said, "We can only climb over its back."

This section of the tunnel has been completely blocked horizontally by the monster's corpse, but the giant crocodile's body is flat, and there is still a certain gap between its back and the top of the tunnel, which should allow players to squeeze through.

"Then you climb first," Xiao Tan said.

"Why me first?"

"In case your there... or there... gets stuck... I can push from behind... Ah! Ah! Okay! I was wrong! I'll go first!"

Xiao Tan begged for mercy while holding his head and running towards the giant crocodile's corpse. Although the crocodile skin looked slippery, the monster's back was bumpy and embedded with a lot of shrapnel, so Xiao Tan felt quite uncomfortable when climbing over it.

After he climbed over, he turned his head and shouted, "It's okay, you... um... should be fine."

"I'll strangle you when I get over there." From Bei Ling's side, came such a reply.