The discussion for the poisoning took a pause while Feng Bujue’s group planned their movement for the rest of the day. Atobe’s main mission was to collect information. The plan was to ask the waiter at the inn where Mu Rong’s room was, and he prepared to pay her a visit to see if he could get any information from her. This appeared to be the least dangerous task. There was no risk involved, but to put it into practice, it had its own difficulty. The most imminent problem was how to get the information from the waiter. The players did not have anything that could be treated as currency in this world, and getting information without any ’tips’ would be hard.
Feng Bujue did not treat this issue of money too seriously, even though it could be quite troublesome. If not for the fact that the Six Blades had given them the Tian row room, even if the inn had empty rooms left, Feng Bujue could not pay for the accommodation. Of course, in Feng Bujue’s original plan, he never did consider how to pay for the stay. After all, they would disappear from the face of this world after two days. As for the payment… the innkeeper could try to ask, but the players would not be found anywhere. Other than that… even if Atobe managed to find out the room number, the attitude and words used during conversation were another form of art.
The talk of professional gigolo was just a joke. Atobe understood that Feng Bujue had currently established the image of a jealous and overprotective husband. So, seeking out a beauty to have a private conversation had to fall to another man aside from Brother Jue. If he did go and do it, it would mean that he was a fake gentleman. To be frank, having Feng Bujue do the negotiation would not only fail to help the plot progress, it would influence then negatively.
The other candidate was Xiao Tan. Even though Atobe did not know him that well, from the brief period of interaction, even if the child could not be called kind and innocent, he was one without a cunning bone. This kind of person was not suitable for information collection.
Therefore, this task fell on Atobe’s shoulders. Nothing could be done about it. At least he had a gaming studio; his ability might not be as good as those like World’s Enigma, but at least it would not be worse than the average player. From the gaming and data perspective, this was merely a test on the player’s communication skill. As long as they followed the scenario’s world building and started the conversation politely and reasonably, it was unreasonable that they would come away with zero new information. Even the games from seventy years ago had characters repeat the same sentence to the players. In the latest games, it was impossible for the NPC not to provide any valuable information.
The four from Underworld Frontline planned to split into two groups for the day. Feng Bujue and Passing Rain would head into the mountain north of town to explore the ’broken temple’ mentioned in the intro. Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul would conduct a carpet search in those homeless houses in the city to find items and skill cards. This separation was suggested by Feng Bujue. Of course, he was not following the ideal that members of different sexes should go in one group; he was considering the actual situation and made the most effective arrangement.
When Feng Bujue heard the intro cinematic, he noticed that the intro did not state clearly whether there were ghosts in this world or not. It merely covered everything with the term ’rumor’, and then it was ended in a confusing manner.
What will be the result of this match? What is the truth at the ghost town? Is there a conspiracy lurking in the background?
This kind of intro appeared to give the players some kind of information, but it was more like a guide or misguide to lead the players down a rabbit hole. Reading from start to end, the player still could not confirm whether this village was really haunted or whether there was just a person behind it. Therefore, for the sake of security, Feng Bujue decided to treat all the rumors as real. Even if the temple in the mountain was dominated by evil spirits, the combo of him and Passing Rain should be able to handle it. He had Death Poker and Passing Rain’s Arcane Swordsman and skills were used to fry spirit type enemies. They were powerful and strong. Exploring the temple in broad daylight would not lead to this becoming a one-way trip for them, right?
On the other side, to conduct a search of the town, moving alone would be a bad idea. If a sudden event like the previous night’s happened, being alone would be very dangerous. There were many abandoned houses in Chang Lin Town. Other than the houses near the inn, which were occupied, it was hard to tell what they might find in the other houses. What if someone had hidden a body, venom, or weapons in some hidden corners? If they were encountered by the players, it would lead to a serious battle.
If Xiao Tan worked together with Laughing Soul, it would be much safer. After all, they both had guns, and facing humanoid enemies, they at least could fire their weapons if push came to shove. And they worked well together. Puzzles would be left to Laughing Soul, and for dirty work like moving stuff around, Xiao Tan would be suitable. Even if they were discovered by others to be going through the empty houses, it would be fine. At most, they would suspect the two of trying to find a secluded place to do some pleasurable stuff. They would not guess that they were looking for gaming items.
In any case, the plan of the day could be split into three paths—collect information, collect items, and explore the only clue provided by the system. The five promised to meet up at the inn before sundown. If someone did not show up, the rest would come up with another plan.
…
The morning passed quickly. The lobby of Chang Lin Inn became fuller. The big bosses from various schools would normally go to the inn for breakfast and enjoy the other meals in their rooms. Those who went to the inn to eat were mostly members of the martial world who stayed outside the inn. This group of people was far bigger than those who stayed at the inn, so the lobby was far more exciting than it had been in the morning.
Due to limited seating, the people knew what to do. After they had their fill, they left; those who came for tea would leave after enjoying a full pot. It meant that a lot of people walked in and out.
The rumor of Broken Sword Chahitsu spread like wildfire, but most of the people who were sitting on the ground floor at that time had not been present in the morning, so they did not know what Feng Bujue’s group looked like. With the chaos in the lobby and the people moving around, when the four players left the inn in pairs, they did not cause much of a ruckus. Only a small number of people recognized them, but they only pulled on the sleeves of the people around them and point about.
After Feng Bujue and Passing Rain left the inn, they followed the main road and headed north. It was close to noon, and the sun was high in the sky. They walked for a while and felt the heat. This kind of trekking exhausted stamina points, but the exhaustion was not obvious. They hurried for twenty minutes and reached the northern edge of town. There were no longer any houses to be seen. On the horizon were several abandoned fields instead. The farming houses next to the fields had already collapsed, leaving behind only ruined wood and stone.
They continued north. The mountain that could be seen from afar got closer. The road became conspicuously rockier and started to slope upward. The road narrowed to a path, and the further they went, the narrower the road became until it completely disappeared.
At noon, the two entered the mountain. They were stepping on dirt and grass, and the trees around them started to become more numerous. Feng Bujue had thought that it would get hotter after entering the thick forest, but the surrounding temperature actually dropped.
“This is strange…” Feng Bujue realized that things were off and opened his mouth to comment. “The slope at this place is too steep. It’ll be hard to find any buildings built on this kind of surface.”
“We’ll walk a bit longer,” Passing Rain replied.
“Hmm…” Feng Bujue nodded and continued to lead the way. Even though this situation was quite strange, there was not yet an actual reason to stop exploring. Be it their stamina or time, they had enough of it. They could walk for another three hours, much less another stretch. They trekked for another ten minutes. Feng Bujue suddenly stopped and turned around to ask, “Say… have you noticed it?”
“What?” Passing Rain replied.
“Since entering the mountain, along the way… I haven’t seen any animal tracks or feces. There’s not even a sight of insects or birds,” Feng Bujue observed. “In fact… there’s not even the sound of birds and insects. This forest is impossibly quiet.”
He paused and said with a frown. “And don’t you realize it’s been getting colder?”
Passing Rain heard him, thought for a few seconds, and asked, “A supernatural setting?”
“That shouldn’t happen in a world with a wuxia setting,” Feng Bujue replied. “It could be supernatural, xuanhuan, or even sci-fi. In any case… this forest we’re in is definitely not normal. There’s no sign of life, and the nearer we get to the center, the colder it gets.”
“Because this is the Forest of No Return.” Suddenly, a scary female voice echoed. This strange voice that came from nowhere caused Passing Rain to shiver uncontrollably, and her Terror Points fluctuated. Feng Bujue was naturally unaffected. He and Passing Rain turned toward the voice and looked at a large tree at the front left side of them. The tree had a thick trunk, and the speaker was completely hidden behind it.
But when Feng Bujue and Passing Rain’s eyes moved that way, half a waxed face slowly moved out from behind the trunk…