Chapter 75: Folklore Horror (5)
“Where did they all go?!” The male players gathered in the adjacent room, shock flashing across their faces as they looked at one another.
The banquet was still laid out as before. The dishes on the tables were steaming hot, white vapor curling into the air. Even the small stove by the wall still had a pot of rice wine warming on it, the lid not yet lifted.
There were no signs of a struggle.
Everything looked as if the party had been in full swing—yet all the guests had vanished into thin air.
A group of curious villagers stood at the doorway, craning their necks to peer inside. The village chief tried to drive them away, scolding, “Stop looking. All of you disperse—go eat your own food.”
“Wait!” Fatty immediately blocked the village chief and turned to the villagers. “Such a big group of living people—when did they leave? Did no one see anything?”
“We didn’t see anything.”
“No one came out at all.”
“I’ve been standing right at the door.”
The villagers all spoke at once, their overlapping voices making it hard to follow.
Finally, seeing that the players looked displeased, the village chief stepped forward cautiously and said, “Young sirs, please don’t get angry with the villagers. These young women going missing has nothing to do with us. Maybe they slipped out on their own to have some fun. They might come back after a while?”
“…Bullshit!” One of the male players snapped angrily. “They’re grown women—why would they sneak off to play? There’s only one door to the village committee building. Even if they left, it would’ve been right under your noses. If no one saw the women from our Geological Survey Team walk out, that means they disappeared inside this room!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the village chief’s face turned deathly pale.
The villagers behind him also blanched and began whispering nervously:
“Disappeared inside the room?”
“Could a demon have taken them?”
“That’s never happened before!”
The two sides stood in tense opposition when suddenly a child’s voice rang out from the villagers. Xiao Liuliu squeezed his way through the crowd and pointed at the players, shouting angrily, “Maybe it’s because you disrespected the gods and the Mother Goddess punished you! I heard the women from your survey team at the banquet just now—they said the paper bride was ugly and strange. They said a lot of bad things about the Mother Goddess and the paper bride!”
“If you don’t like our village’s ritual, then leave! Our village doesn’t welcome you!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Before the players could flare up, the village chief was the one who lost his temper. “The survey team came to study the geology of Mother Goddess Mountain. They’re our guests!”
He ordered someone to drag Xiao Liuliu away.
The boy’s feet dangled in the air as he kicked furiously, his voice piercing even as he was hauled farther and farther away, as if it could stab through the sky and burrow into everyone’s ears: “Mother Goddess Village doesn’t welcome you outsiders! Get out! Get out!”
Creak—
The wooden door of the village committee building opened a few inches more. Deng Ran poked her head in from outside and asked in surprise, “What’s going on?”
She glanced back at Xiao Liuliu being dragged away, then at the villagers gathered at the door. Finally, she looked at all the male players inside with confusion.
The players stared at her in silence, their expressions strange—if anything, more shocked than she was.
Deng Ran said, bewildered, “Why are you all looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”
She wiped her face randomly. “There isn’t.”
“…” The room remained deathly quiet.
At last, Jian Yuntai spoke. “You didn’t eat at the banquet just now?”
“I did,” Deng Ran said, pointing behind her. “I only ate a few bites before going back out to watch the festival.”
Fatty patted her shoulder. “Congratulations.”
Deng Ran: “…?”
Fatty’s expression was complicated, almost admiring. “Because you liked watching the excitement, you just escaped a disaster.”
Deng Ran grew even more confused. “???”
Only then did she notice that people were missing from the room. She looked around, then asked blankly, “Where are the women?”
Fatty replied, “They all f*cking vanished into thin air.”
“…” Deng Ran stared wide-eyed for a moment, then patted her chest in lingering fear. “Good thing I thought the food tasted bad.”
After she said that, the atmosphere grew even worse.
The villagers looked displeased. They had generously provided food to outsiders on such an important festival day, and now they were hearing the food was bad—and that these outsiders had been criticizing the Mother Goddess behind their backs. It was like repeatedly stomping on their sore spots.
The players were equally unhappy. They had arrived with fifty people in perfect condition, and after a single meal, nearly half were gone—gone in a way that made no sense at all.
Both sides were seething. Words grew sharp and heated, and before long, people began shoving one another.
It was on the verge of turning into a fight.
Not wanting to get involved in a pointless conflict, Jian Yuntai backed toward the door with the little fox in his arms.
The moment one foot crossed the threshold, a force suddenly pressed against his back. A hard staff handle pushed against his shoulder, and at the same time, the crisp jingle of copper bells rang by his ear.
Clink—
Clink—
He turned his head slightly. It was a middle-aged man dressed in shamanic robes. The man’s face was expressionless as he held a copper-bell staff against Jian Yuntai and said to the villagers, “Disperse.”
The village chief had said the same thing earlier, and the villagers had ignored him completely. Yet the moment the High Priest spoke, everyone instinctively shrank back. Their eyes were filled with reverence.
Soon, they scattered like startled birds.
Crowds brushed past Jian Yuntai. Only then did the High Priest’s gaze shift to him.
His eyes lingered on Jian Yuntai’s face for several full seconds.
Then slowly slid downward.
Gulp.
Jian Yuntai swallowed involuntarily, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
The High Priest’s gaze fixed on that movement.
The feeling was extremely—extremely uncomfortable.
Before Jian Yuntai could frown, the High Priest’s eyes moved away. In a cold voice, he announced, “Today’s celebration ends here.”
“???!”
The players froze for a moment, exchanging dark looks. After weighing the pros and cons, they had no choice but to temporarily set aside their doubts and file out in a line.
Blending into the crowd, Jian Yuntai walked out of the village committee building. Outside, the festive atmosphere still lingered—but now the place was empty, leaving behind only scattered melon seed shells and spent firecrackers.
He turned his head toward the bridal sedan chair that had been set high on display. The front of the sedan had previously held the paper bride—but now it was empty, leaving only the golden statue of the Mother Goddess.
“Where’s the paper bride?” Jian Yuntai asked the village chief.
The village chief looked puzzled. “We burned it. It was burned while you were eating.”
Jian Yuntai frowned. “Why burn it?”
“It was a sacrificial offering! The paper bride was an offering—of course it had to be burned. Don’t you burn offerings where you’re from?” The village chief gave him a strange look, then shook his head and hurried off.
Jian Yuntai’s hearing was sharper than most. Even from far away, he could hear the village chief muttering under his breath, “Questions, questions, always asking questions. These outsiders sure have a lot of nonsense!”
※※※
On the way back to the empty street, the players were in low spirits. Someone said, “If Young Master Xue hadn’t hidden the entire time when this instance last opened, we wouldn’t be this clueless now.”
“Yeah, at least we’d have some clue.”
“Last time in the instance, did any female players disappear too?”
“I don’t know… Young Master Xue got ambushed by the Slit-Mouthed Woman on the first night and didn’t participate in the main quest afterward.”
Everyone’s words carried a hint of resentment toward Young Master Xue, annoyed that he had been so cowardly. Fatty, who knew Xue fairly well, muttered quietly, speechless, “Blaming others for being trash yourself… always looking for loopholes. By that logic, I still want to check the chat.”
At least the viewers should know how the female players had vanished.
Yet… the livestream chat at this moment was full of question marks.
“Is Fatty out of his mind? This time, only he and Jian Dadan are streaming, so we don’t even know what’s happening with the female players.”
“How did they disappear?”
“No idea! One second there were voices from the next room, the next second—silence.”
“A demon! It must be a demon that took them!”
“Doesn’t really feel like a demon… The players allowed in a C-level instance are all really skilled. If a demon showed up, could twenty-something people really lose to just one? Even if they did, there would be some noise, right?”
“Exactly! Not even a cry for help. That’s the strangest part—it suggests they may have been taken unconsciously. Uh… maybe knocked out?”
“Could it be they were drugged? In the food,” Fatty began a conspiracy theory. “The demon laced the dishes with knockout drops and then carried the female players away one by one.”
Deng Ran rolled her eyes. “I ate that food too.”
Jian Yuntai added, “The villagers didn’t see anyone leave. If they were taken, it would have had to happen inside the room.”
Hearing this, Fatty looked thoroughly puzzled.
“That’s what I don’t get. The next room’s doors were wide open. What kind of demon can teleport twenty-some people away on the spot without the villagers outside noticing?”
At least, according to all the folklore books he had ever read, such a demon didn’t exist. Curious, Fatty lowered his head and asked Fuzhuo, “Is there a demon like that?”
“No,” Fuzhuo flicked his tail.
The situation fell completely into a stalemate.
The players ahead hurried back to the houses, moving at a fast pace. Before leaving, many clustered around Deng Ran, forcibly giving her a bunch of single-use items.
In the upcoming instance missions, Deng Ran would undoubtedly become a focus of attention. To prevent her from disappearing, the players handed her several tracking items.
That way, even if she vanished, she could be located.
Deng Ran took the items one by one, stashing them close to her body, and sighed helplessly. “Do I really need this? I’m not necessarily going to be taken, am I?”
“It’s their good intentions, at least.”
Jian Yuntai strolled along the courtyard as if on a casual walk, ignoring the items and chatting with Fatty about the Slit-Mouthed Woman.
Soon, they were far ahead of the other players.
Turning a fork in the path, Xiao Liuliu suddenly leapt out from a crack in the stone, rushing forward and shoving Deng Ran to the ground.
“Ah—!” Deng Ran yelped, losing her balance and landing squarely on her backside. Before she could react, Xiao Liuliu grabbed a handful of small stones from the ground and started hurling them wildly at her.
The sharp stones came flying like a hail of bullets. Even Jian Yuntai was hit several times. The stones posed no threat to him, so he didn’t bother dodging, letting them bounce off him.
Fuzhu quietly flicked up his large fluffy tail, invisibly shielding most of the stones from hitting Jian Yuntai.
Deng Ran raised her hands to cover her head, dodging awkwardly, and, fuming, shouted, “Are you crazy?!”
Xiao Liuliu, a few meters away, screamed hoarsely, “You’re not welcome here! Leave our village!” Then he glared at Deng Ran, his eyes bloodshot.
After staring for a moment, Xiao Liuliu turned and ran.
Fatty immediately rolled up his sleeves and called out to Jinjin and the cat spirit to chase after him, cursing as he ran: “Unbelievable! Bullied Jian Dadan yesterday, now Deng Ran today. Do you really think we’re easy targets? I’ll smash your ass today!”
Once they were gone, Jian Yuntai helped Deng Ran up with one hand, smiling. “Aren’t you a Sinister Monster Type?”
“Ah?” Deng Ran used his support to rise, still stunned from being pelted. A few seconds later, she forced down her anger and gritted her teeth. “That kid jumped out of nowhere and caught me off guard. If he tries to push me again next time, I swear I’ll kick him to the bottom of the mountain.”
Jian Yuntai chuckled in agreement.
But in his mind, he was thinking: something wasn’t right.
Xiao Liuliu’s scolding always repeated a few set lines, constantly emphasizing that everyone should leave Mother Goddess Mountain.
The repetition made Jian Yuntai analyze Xiao Liuliu’s intentions. During the lion dance earlier that day, Xiao Liuliu had shown no hostility toward him, only performing playful antics.
If he truly disliked him, would he have done that?
Xiao Liuliu didn’t dislike him.
These actions were simply a warning: leave Mother Goddess Mountain.
This meant… Xiao Liuliu believed that if things continued, all players—including Jian Yuntai—would be in danger.
Especially Deng Ran, being a woman.
After walking another roughly five hundred meters, they saw Fatty sitting on the roadside, staring blankly at the ground.
He looked as if a thunderbolt had struck his forehead, his whole body frozen in shock.
“What’s wrong?” Jian Yuntai asked. “Didn’t catch anyone?”
“…” Fatty wiped his face blankly, shaking his head in disbelief.
Jian Yuntai gave him a puzzled look. “What happened?”
Fatty’s arms trembled, his voice hoarse and dry as he spoke. “This village… is completely abnormal.”
Before the two could ask further, Fatty seemed to suddenly snap awake, waving his arms in excitement as he exclaimed, “I just went to catch Xiao Liuliu, right? I did catch him, and I was about to pull down his pants and spank him, but the kid screamed like his life depended on it. And then I looked—holy crap—he had a little bellyband under his clothes!”
At first, Fatty thought Xiao Liuliu was wearing two layers of clothing, but the red bellyband had embroidered mandarin ducks on it.
He looked utterly confused and asked, “Could this kid have a cross-dressing fetish? Bellybands aren’t for girls from back in the day?”
“…” Jian Yuntai stayed silent, staring at him.
After a long moment of eye contact, Fatty finally realized, smacked his forehead in shock, and shouted, “Xiao Liuliu is a girl?!”
A bird flapped past overhead, and a chilling wind brushed against Jian Yuntai’s exposed neck, blowing straight down into his clothes. He let out a long breath.
Now everything made sense.
“I only suspected before, but now that I see Xiao Liuliu is a girl, I can be certain,” Jian Yuntai said, finally stopping his walk and sitting down on the roadside.
“Xiao Liuliu’s parents had two daughters—one is sixteen-year-old Nong Lingling, who went missing some time ago. The other is Xiao Liuliu, born a few years later. From a young age, she dressed as a boy, and probably no one in the village knew.”
Why did this couple make Xiao Liuliu cross-dress?
Why were the village’s little girls hiding indoors?
And why was Xiao Liuliu targeting Deng Ran?
All the female players who vanished from the feast were girls.
Everything pointed to the fact that being a woman in this village was far more dangerous than being a man.
“Xiao Liuliu cross-dressed to avoid danger. Her pushing Deng Ran to leave is actually a way to protect her. Once Deng Ran leaves Mother Goddess Village, she won’t be sacrificed.”
Sacrifice—the word made Jian Yuntai pause.
Looking at Deng Ran and Fatty, whose expressions were growing more and more tense, Jian Yuntai murmured, “Could it be that Nong Lingling’s disappearance wasn’t caused by any demon in the village, but by…”
He lowered his eyes, reflecting the red firecrackers and colorful ribbons scattered all around.
Then, he said slowly, word by word: “The Mother Goddess.”
No sooner had he spoken than the instance’s background sound triggered:
【Player has triggered the main quest!】
【STEP1: Proof of the Demon】
【The Mother Goddess is a demon.】
【The villagers have worshiped the Mother Goddess for generations, but she has long since abandoned them. Every year there are offerings, every year new children are born, yet every year more young girls go missing.】
【The high priests blindly worship the Mother Goddess, believing that poor harvests occur because she refuses to bless them, causing frequent disappearances in the village. The villagers, in turn, naively follow the high priests’ words as gospel.】
【Everyone believes that more sacrifices of crops and livestock are needed to preserve the fragile continuity of the village. And that more devout worship of the Mother Goddess will protect the village’s children from going missing.】
【Players must find the missing Nong Lingling and reveal the truth to the high priests: the Mother Goddess is a demon. Convince the high priests that the god they worship is, in fact, a malevolent being!】
【This quest grants fifteen days of survival time.】
“Yes! Awesome!” Fatty shouted excitedly, repeating several ‘good’ before slapping Jian Yuntai’s shoulder hard. “You’re amazing! We’re definitely the fastest to unlock the main quest.”
Jian Yuntai: “…..”
Fatty, used to Jian Yuntai’s calm demeanor, turned to Deng Ran in surprise. “Aren’t you happy?”
Deng Ran blinked, puzzled. “Huh?”
Fatty said, “We unlocked the main quest!”
“Oh, that… I’m happy, but I’m still a bit confused,” Deng Ran said stiffly after a moment. “Why did the young men in the village disappear too?”
When she asked this, the livestream viewers finally reacted, confused:
“Yeah! I knew something was off. It’s clear the Mother Goddess took the women, but what about the men? The young men and boys are gone too!”
“More than that, I’m curious why the Mother Goddess would take girls. Isn’t she a female herself? Shouldn’t she take boys? Or maybe this demon has no gender?”
“…You guys are discriminating based on sexual orientation. Why can’t the Mother Goddess like girls? And taking girls doesn’t necessarily mean she wants them as wives—maybe she has other purposes. At most, the name ‘Mother Goddess’ is just what the villagers call her out of desperation for children. The golden statue was made by the villagers themselves.”
“True. Maybe the Mother Goddess is actually male.”
Jian Yuntai had already considered all the possibilities mentioned in the chat.
Every possibility contradicted another.
After a long moment, Jian Yuntai shook his head.
“There are too few clues. We still can’t be sure why the young men disappeared. For now, we have to find Nong Lingling first.”
The instance’s background audio specifically emphasized that the high priests were blindly loyal to the Mother Goddess. In other words, if they just rushed in and tried to talk sense into them, mere words would never sway the high priests.
They still had to find Nong Lingling as proof.
Easier said than done.
There was a very high chance Nong Lingling was in the same place as the missing female players. To find them, unless…
unless someone got captured themselves.
After Jian Yuntai said this, Fatty’s gaze unconsciously locked onto Deng Ran.
Deng Ran’s mouth twitched. “Don’t even think about it. I’m not going to be bait. Who knows what would happen if I got captured? What if the Mother Goddess really wants a bunch of girls for her harem…”
She made a disgusted ‘ugh’ sound. “I have no problem risking my life for fortune, that’s the whole point of taking risks. But this… I absolutely cannot accept.”
Fatty sighed, lifted his shirt to hide his face in embarrassment, and squeaked in a high voice, “Looks like I’ll have to cross-dress as a girl then. I’m naturally gorgeous; even the Mother Goddess won’t lose out.”
Deng Ran immediately made a ‘yue’ sound, kicked him disdainfully, and said, “You might as well have Jian Yuntai cross-dress. At least he wouldn’t look completely out of place.”
What she said was casual, offhand. But the livestream viewers suddenly seemed to awaken all at once, as if struck by divine inspiration—they perked up en masse:
“Damn! I think it could work! His frame isn’t too big, just a little tall. Take the Paper Bride’s outfit off and put it on him, then add the red bridal veil! Two rabbits running side by side—who can tell male from female?!”
“Ahhhhhhh! After the last instance where he wore the phoenix crown and robe, can I finally see wife’s beauty again?!”
“The Paper Bride’s dress is a red wedding gown! Hehehe, I can’t help imagining wife in it, lying in my arms… hsshh, typing with both hands to prove it’s true!”
“Here? Sisters, how come a few peanuts got you drunk after only a few bites? hhhhhhh”
“You guys are thinking too small. I already imagined wife in the red wedding gown, lying on the bed. Red fabric with gold embroidery on the sleeves, wrists revealed when he lifts his arms, and the throat slightly damp with sweat as he breathes…”
“Hss—”
“Excuse me, teacher, when will you release a book?!!!”
“Pants! Pants! It’s that time again, picking up pants all over the screen—ah! Whose pants just hit me on the head?”
“!!! Suddenly kind of excited!”
“Hahaha, don’t get your hopes up. Deng Ran just said that casually; she didn’t actually mean it.”
But she did.
After she spoke, Deng Ran and Fatty exchanged a silent glance. For a brief moment, their expressions seemed to light up as if struck by sudden inspiration. Then, almost simultaneously, they both turned to look at Jian Yuntai.
Not just Fatty and Deng Ran—Jinjin, the cat demon, and even Fuzhu, cradled in Jian Yuntai’s arms, turned to look at him.
It was as if everyone was imagining something… indecent.
“???” Facing all those eager, slightly twisted, expectant gazes, Jian Yuntai let out a disdainful snort:
“Absolutely impossible!!!”
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