After obtaining the quest item, Feng Bujue had to lift the small bell to his head to reconfirm the directions around every three minutes. In that manner, he led Passing Rain around for half an hour, but they were still unable to find this Temple of the Hidden Bell. The forest felt like it was endless and had a complicated geological expansion. The temperature around them continued to drop and that was combined that they could feel with their bodies. The temperature should have dropped to around ten degrees. The outfit that Feng Bujue was wearing quite cold resistant, but at Passing Rain’s side, even though her lower body was covered in long hiking pants, she was wearing a sleeveless cotton tank top. It was natural for her to feel cold, and the exhaustion of her Stamina Points was greater compared to Feng Bujue.
“It’s a shame that I cannot remove my jacket and give it to you.” After Feng Bujue walked for a distance, he stopped again to pull out the small bell. As he raised the item, he said, “Even if I’m just wearing the shirt plus the vest, it should be better than your sleeveless shirt.”
“In any case, the color purple does not suit me,” Passing Rain commented lightly.
“Is that so? In any case, I still suggest you go and change into an outfit that is suitable for all four seasons, one that will be able to deal with the change in temperature, especially when it is extremely hot or cold.” He straightened his arm and held the small bell up at the same level. He started to slowly turn in a circle. “Xiao Tan’s assassin outfit is not a bad option. Laughing Soul’s set is a bit too thick. When the temperature goes up to thirty degrees, she will have to suffer the additional Stamina Points exhaustion.”
“I’ll see what I can do after this scenario is done,” Passing Rain said. “Earlier, I was merely considering whether the outfit would affect combat movement. So, I selected the few that were at the front of the lists at the marketplace. Looks like I was being a bit too rash back then. When I return for another purchase, I will consider my options more seriously. It is necessary that it can adapt to various temperature changes, and it would be best if it comes with its own storage or camouflage effect…”
She rambled to herself when she noticed Feng Bujue was looking at her with a strange type of look. He was looking into her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Passing Rain asked. She did not avert her eyes away from Feng Bujue, she used her usually cold stare to gaze back at him.
“I just noticed something.” Feng Bujue put the bell away and used a hand motion to signal for Passing Rain to follow him. Then they continued moving. “When we are alone, you have more to say…”
“Is that a complaint that I’m being chatty?” Passing Rain asked while she walked.
“Of course not… From a psychological perspective, there are many explanations to this situation. Perhaps you are hiding some kind of anxiety, or perhaps you have a lower guard around me… Be careful about where you step.” He warned her when he crossed over a crack on the rock. “For example, the things that you have just said. If there was someone that you are not familiar with present, perhaps you would not have said those things but thought about everything in your mind. Due to a kind of trust that is present between us, you share your thoughts as we move together.”
“The two of us are not that familiar with each other,” Passing Rain replied. This was not wrong. In terms of real time, they had known each other less than a week.
“It’s more accurate to say that I am not familiar with you,” Feng Bujue corrected. “This is because you have read my books, so you think you have a certain degree of understanding toward me…”
“That is not wrong,” Passing Rain said. “But you are quite different to the ’Bujue’ that I imagined.”
“Haha!” Feng Bujue laughed. “In what way? Let me guess… I am uglier than you expected me to be?”
“Oh no, in terms of appearance, you have surpassed my expectation. I thought you would have an unusually critical and mean face.”
“What kind of logic is that… You get that from reading the things I write?”
“Indeed.” Passing Rain did not deny it. “But after meeting you in person, I only realized my expectation of your personality is far from the real truth.”
“Oh? Then what kind of person is this detective novel writer Bujue in your mind?” Feng Bujue asked.
“First, he is probably only a tenth as obsessed in himself compared to you.”
“Hmm… That is indeed a problem I face, but unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it.”
“Secondly, he should be someone extremely rational that he appears unfeeling.”
“I am not that kind of person?”
“You can be very rational and have a side that is unfeeling.” Passing Rain hesitated before continuing. “But most of the time… it is hard for me to say.”
“Oh… Is there anything else about me that does not live up to your expectations?”
“Is this some kind of readers’ meeting for you?”
“Hahaha… Do you think I am the kind of person who would go to those kinds of events?”
“I do not wish to continue this topic anymore. If you have more questions like this, when we become actual close friends, I will tell you more.” Passing Rain changed the subject and tried to move the topic away.
“Then how long will that take?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Who knows? It could take several weeks or perhaps several months.” Passing Rain shrugged as she answered. “Or perhaps that day will never come.”
“We will never become close friends? Is that even a possibility?” Feng Bujue asked in curiosity.
“Of course it is. After this period of time that we have spent together, I realize you have more and more personality traits that I dislike. If this continues, when those traits add up to a certain level, I believe… for us to part ways and exit from each other’s social circles might be a suitable choice for both of us.”
There were not many people in the world who would have said things like that in person and directly, but Passing Rain was someone like that. From this point, it could be said that she was not a normal person either… And in truth, she had serious trouble making friends in real life. She was a serious case of social ineptitude, and most people in the world, when they heard such things being said to them in person, would feel slighted and would burn internally, perhaps even mocking, Just who do you think you are to pass a judgement on others like that?
But Feng Bujue was unlike most people. His eyes glowed, and he answered so very happily, “Wow! You are an incredibly understanding person! If everyone in the world was like you, just how wonderful my life would be. Just imagine the amount of meaningless social interaction that I could have avoided and the time I could have saved.”
Ring ring… Ring ring…
The sudden jingle of the small bell interrupted their titillating conversation. Feng Bujue did not place the item back in his inventory. When he was not using it, he placed it inside his breast pocket. If he did not purposely go and wiggle the bell, it would not ring on its own. Even when he was moving through a treacherous terrain, it would not ring. However, at that moment, the bell rang on its own.
“Hmm… We have finally arrived…” Feng Bujue instantly took the bell out from his pocket. As if coming alive, the bell kept shivering and making that sound. If Feng Bujue did not clamp his fingers over it, the bell probably would have jumped out from his grasp already.
Suddenly, a wave of iciness swept over them, and the temperature plummeted. At the same time, the scenery around them started to change. The trees, rocks, and brush around them began to waver like a mirage. Some tall trees shrank into small saplings while others disappeared completely. The grass and rocks changed their position and shape in a strange and unusual way.
This scene was like watching a silent movie. Two video reels overlapped over each other simultaneously. Even though the scene for both movies was the same, but the time of the scene being captured was different. This kind of situation was not unfamiliar to Feng Bujue and Passing Rain. They both understood without the need for communication that they had run into a ghost. In that kind of time period, if the ghost did not know some skill that manipulated space and mind, they would be ashamed to call themself a ghost.
“Wu… wu wu…” A girl’s weeping suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Feng Bujue and Passing Rain heard and turned toward the source. The scene that appeared before their eyes would cause any person’s heart to skip a beat. There was a thick wooden pole that was stuck into the ground. The pole was surrounded by branches, and a girl about ten years old was tied to the pole. Around her small, slender body, a thick, heavy iron chain was tied.
“Wu wu… Please, I beg you… Release me… Wu wu… I am in so much pain… I want my mummy…” The girl cried as she said these pleading words repeatedly.
“Kill her! Burn the witch!”
“It is because of her fault that the King of Dragons refuses to grant us rain!”
“My father is seriously ill and lying in bed. I am sure it is because he is cursed by this demon!”
“Disgusting creature! You have caused the entire farm of my livestock to die from illness!”
“Burn her!”
“My family has given birth to a defective child. It definitely has something to do with you! Admit it!”
More curses appeared in their ears. There were old and young voices, male and female voices. But there were only voices and no people in sight. From the content of the words, it was clear that it was this group of people who tied the girl to the pole. With regards to these people’s identity, and comparing it to what the tree monster had said earlier, they could confirm that these were the former villagers of Chang Lin Town.
“Wu Wu… Ling Er has not harmed anyone… Wu wu… please, I’m sorry… I just want mummy…” The girl was still crying, but the cursing around her never stopped. Obviously, this group of people just wanted to vent their negative emotions. They were not there to listen to any explanation. Then a torch was tossed onto the branches. The flame spread almost immediately. The crackling of fire finally drowned out the voices, and in their place were the bone-chilling screams of a little girl. Until the last moment, the girl was still pleading and crying, but soon… after a series of coughs, she was no longer able to make any noise.
“A replaying of her death scene.”
“Replaying of her death scene?”
Almost at the same second, Feng Bujue and Passing Rain turned to look at each other. They both same the same thing at the same time, but one was using a statement, and the other phrased it in the form of a question. They thought this grueling performance was already over, but to their surprise, the show had only just begun. The scene before their eyes shifted again. The burning fire suddenly leaped high into the air to form a fiery wall. After the wall collapsed, a small temple appeared before the duo’s eyes.
Currently, the temple gates were closed. Looking from outside, the place was about only two hundred meters large. There was probably only one hall that served a buddha statue inside. It was not a large temple by any means. There was a small plaque hanging on the gate outside the temple—Temple of the Hidden Bell.
The sound of chatter echoed in the two players’ ears again, but this time, it was no longer the booming cries of curses. It sounded more like the suppressed whispering of the villagers.
“Hey, now that the cursed child has died, how come more misfortune has fallen upon the village?”
“Yes, I heard another person who went into the mountain to gather kindling hasn’t returned…”
“That is the fifth one already.”
“Yes, who can forget what happened before? That Ol’ Chen, the hunter and his wife died together inside their house last night. The whole house was covered in blood…”
“Do you think… the cursed child’s spirit has returned for vengeance?”
“But that day, we collected all of the remaining dust and buried it under the Temple of the Hidden Bell. With a temple standing over it, what kind of spirit is able to harm us?”
“What use is a small temple like that? From how I see it, it is because the spirit is too powerful. We… we have to invite some powerful monk here to cleanse this place, or else no one from our village will be able to escape her curse…”
These voices were airy and wispy. It was impossible to tell where they came from. But for some strange reason, Feng Bujue and Passing Rain heard every single word extremely clearly. When the conversations ended, many human shadows appeared from behind them. Some were wearing monk’s garbs, others were Taoists monk in Taoist attire, and there were also members of the martial world who looked worse for wear. They were holding wooden clappers, Buddhist beads, ritual swords, or large brushes. Some came bearing a strange assortment of items, with a wooden sword on their back like they were there to perform some kind of Chinese opera.
But there was a single similarity to these people, they all looked lifeless. They looked like dead people, and on their pale faces, there was an expression that looked like the shadow of a smile. All of them appeared from behind Feng Bujue and Passing Rain, and they shuffled their way toward the gates of Temple of the Hidden Bell. Then, they walked past the two players. When that happened, each of them would turn their head to look at the two, as if they knew that there was something different about the duo. This kind of situation was indeed rare in any kind of death scene replay.
At that moment, Passing Rain was already holding Holy Seal in her grasp and was in a highly alert state. She was obviously a bit nervous. Even her hand that held the blade was slightly shuddering. Without even realizing it, she had slowly been influenced by the atmosphere around her, and that was why she was acting like this. It was only normal.
At the same time, a firm, heavy hand fell on Passing Rain’s hand. Feng Bujue turned around without a trace of fear on his face. His expression was calm like this could not have been more normal. “Take deep breaths to get your heart rate to slow down. Open your menu to check your Terror Points and try your best to chase away the dark thoughts in your mind.”
His directives were very simple. Anyone could understand them, but not everyone would be able to do something like that in a highly frightening situation.
After hearing that, Passing Rain soon calmed down and returned to normal. Her Terror Points dropped down from a height of seventy percent.
“Such a reliable man…” This did not come out from Passing Rain’s mouth but Feng Bujue’s own. After saying that, he even smiled. “That must be what you’re thinking in your head at this moment, right?”
“A little bit,” Passing Rain admitted, but her eyes were filled with mocking intention.
“Does that mean we have come a little bit closer to ’close friends’?”
“Before you said that sentence out loud, perhaps it was true,” Passing Rain replied. “But now, I’m thinking ’this is someone who is reliable at necessary moments, but his narcissism is also incredibly grating’.”
“Fine…” Feng Bujue shrugged like he did not mind the comment. While the two spoke, the shadows ’walked’ through the gates of the Temple of the Hidden Bell. This scene was a clear reminder that those people who came to cleanse the spirit—no matter what kind of religion, what tools they brought, what kind of methods they used—were unable to complete their goal and were killed by the spirit. This part of death scene replay ended right there.
Their surroundings slowly returned to normal. When the players looked around, the feeling of discomfort from looking at two simultaneous movies had disappeared, but the temperature did not rise back to normal. It was still close to zero degrees. White puffs were coming out from the players’ mouths. The Temple of the Hidden Bell before them did not disappear alongside the other illusions but had morphed into something real. Feng Bujue’s bell had stopped its movement and could no longer make any sound.
“If you’re too cold…”
Before Feng Bujue could finish the rest of his sentence, Passing Rain directly cut him off. “In your dreams.”
“How do you know what I was going to suggest?” Feng Bujue asked. “Perhaps I was about to ask… Hmm… How about we build a fire?”
Passing Rain turned around to glance at him. “Do you think this kind of weak explanation will increase my affection toward you?”
“Hmm…” Feng Bujue pressed his lips together, and there was still a brief moment of hope in his eyes. But Passing Rain continued to stare at him with blatant killing intent. Two seconds later, Feng Bujue turned his head away like nothing had happened. “Okay, we finally found the place that will push the plot forward. I will go in first.
“Even though it is still morning, based on my observation, this ghost is not affected by the time of day, so it is best that we try to be as careful as possible.”
Passing Rain sighed lightly. She did not add anything and followed Feng Bujue, who was heading toward the temple gates.
…
“Hey, hey, hey… this setting is a bit too cunning, right? That was just a waste of our bullets.” Xiao Tan looked at the giant croc’s body and sighed. “We should have just taken our advice and run. When we reach this point, the ending will be the same… ouch!”
After whacking Xiao Tan’s head, Laughing Soul pouted. “I hate this kind of I told you so remark.”
Several minutes earlier, when the monster was stuck, the difficulty of killing it had dropped down to a negligible level. Even though the monster kept roaring, opening its jaw at them, and wiggling its head agitatedly, as a monster that had lost its mobility, the players were able to fire at it from where they were standing, and they no longer needed to strafe and fire. Taking the croc down was as easy as ABC.
The two worked together to take down the large croc, and that exhausted plenty of their Stamina Points again. While they retreated, they had used up a plenty of ammo. The monsters in Thriller Paradise would not drop equipment, so killing them was a pointless action. In other words, since they had fallen into the pool, they had not gained anything but had lost a lot. This was definitely something that would put a damper on their morale. But Laughing Soul was one who did not know how to surrender, and Xiao Tan was an easy-going person and did not mind these losses too much. Thus, this couple, in terms of attitude and emotions, was not that affected.
“It died at this kind of location. We will have a hard time moving it out of the way.” Laughing Soul looked at the body that blocked the path. “We will have to climb over its back.”
The tunnel was already blocked by the monster’s carcass, but the croc’s body was flat. There was a small space between the top of its back and the roof of the cave. That was just enough for the players to squeeze through.
“Then you shall go first,” Xiao Tan offered.
“Why am I going first?”
“If your… that part… is stuck, I can push you from behind… Ouch! Ouch! Fine! My fault! I will go first!”
Xiao Tan begged for mercy and hugged his head as he moved toward the croc. Even though the skin looked slippery, the monster’s back was grooved and had debris stuck in it. Xiao Tan did not have that much difficulty when he was climbing over it.
After he made his way through, he turned back to shout, “It’s fine. Your… erm… you should have no problem.”
“When I get over there, I’ll strangle you to death.”