Please don't question multi-week players

Chapter 153. Impersonating a Terrifying Old Woman
"boom--!"

The old woman's withered, claw-like hand brushed past Jiang Jianxin's face, the resulting foul gust of wind leaving several cracks in the wall.

Jiang Jianxin spun around and retreated, his hair whipping up a dark arc in the strong wind.

In the cramped bedroom, it was difficult to unleash one's fists and feet.

Jiang Jianxin thought for a moment, then seized the opportunity and threw a straight punch at the old lady's throat. As the old lady turned her head to dodge, she leaned back, lightly touched the ground with her toes, and darted into the living room like a swallow.

"Da da……"

The old woman's joints made a sickening cracking sound as she shuffled after him.

Yin Qingyue's living room has many antique black wooden furniture pieces. When she first entered the room, it felt gloomy, but now they have become excellent weapons.

Jiang Jianxin pressed his back against the divination table, grabbed the carved black wooden chair with both hands, and slammed it down hard on the old woman.

"Whoosh—Bang!!"

The wooden chair, carrying a strong gust of wind, hurtled towards the old woman's head, but was narrowly avoided at the last second.

A heavy black wooden chair crashed into a celadon flowerpot, instantly scattering shards of porcelain and dirt. The roots of the Monstera deliciosa, covered in mud, meandered across the oak floor like struggling earthworms.

The old woman swayed, dodging the flying shards of porcelain. Her deeply lined face suddenly twisted, and a strange smile appeared on her lips.

The next second, her thin body leaned forward like a broken tree trunk, her withered claws aimed straight for Jiang Jianxin's face.

Jiang Jianxin raised her right arm, and the diary slapped against the attacking claws. At that moment, the old woman's other hand reached out and went straight for her heart.

In a flash, Jiang Jianxin reacted just as quickly, extending his left hand to grab the withered claw.

The touch was sticky and cold, as if grasping a piece of rotten tree bark. The two men stood frozen in place, their arms pressed together, even their breaths catching in their throats for a moment.

Jiang Jianxin frowned, about to exert his strength to break the deadlock, when he saw the old woman's mouth twitch strangely—her neck suddenly stretched like rubber, and her head slammed into Jiang Jianxin's chest like a cannonball.

"Tsk!"

Jiang Jianxin's pupils suddenly contracted, his waist arched backward sharply, and at the same time, his right leg swept out like a whip.

With a muffled thud, the old woman's thin legs were struck hard, and she fell heavily to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Jianxin's right fist struck out like thunder the instant the old woman fell to the ground.

"Pfft!"

Her shriveled head exploded under the blow of the fist, and rotten blood and bone fragments splattered onto her cheeks and clothes like splashed ink.

The warm, fishy smell filled the air, but her eyes were colder than ice.

The surroundings suddenly fell silent, as if time itself had frozen for a moment.

until--

You're amazing.

In my mind, information from intuition slowly began to surface.

Jiang Jianxin coughed twice, the soil splashed out from the flowerpot she had just knocked over made her feel nauseous.

On the ground, the old woman's corpse was dissolving at a visible speed. The flesh sizzled as if corroded by strong acid, turning into a pool of dark red pus in an instant, leaving only the gray cloth garment eerily retaining its human shape, like an empty sack.

Jiang Jianxin sat on the ground, and before he had rested for long, he heard sticky footsteps suddenly echoing from the depths of the corridor amidst the silence.

"Da da da……"

Like dragging wet cotton shoes on concrete, each step carried an eerie, sticky feeling. The sound came and went, as if an unseen person was dragging a mutilated limb, wandering in the darkness.

Is this... yet another berserk resident has come looking for us?

Jiang Jianxin didn't even frown; he deftly grabbed the still-warm garment and put it on. The rustling sound of the fabric against the fabric was particularly jarring in the deathly silent room.

【Hey, I was just about to remind you—did you figure it out?】

His intuition told him something was amiss. Jiang Jianxin nodded and mentally replied:
[The fight I just did was quite loud, and the door was wide open, so the sound must have traveled somewhere. This monster disappeared from here, and I'm sure more monsters will come looking for me soon.]

She was exposed as a tenant on the very first day of the game. Even if the residents can't kill her, I don't know how they'll deal with her in the Happiness Lane instance.

This was a terrible situation that Jiang Jianxin did not want to happen.

To avoid this terrible situation, there is only one way to do it now—that is to impersonate the terrifying old lady.

It is known that there was a fight between the indigenous people and humans. If it was all a misunderstanding, and the indigenous people suspected the wrong person, so they came out to patrol again after testing the waters—that makes sense, doesn't it?
Jiang Jianxin put on the old woman's clothes and smeared more blood on his face.

It was dark outside, and there were no lights in the stairwell. As long as she smeared enough blood and her figure was convincing enough, she wouldn't be recognized.

Thinking of how the old lady had moved over before, she also tried to walk out little by little.

His spine was bent into an eerie arc, his shoulders tilted 15 degrees to the left, and his right leg would twitch unnaturally every three steps.

[Land on your heel first... Yes... Now drag your toes...]

Intuition clearly tells me how to imitate the old lady's posture, and I give her instructions in my mind.

"Da da……"

"Da da……"

Two sticky sounds echoed in the hallway.

Jiang Jianxin moved slowly down the corridor, his body hunched over.

The old woman moved even slower. The monster below was going upstairs, and Jiang Jianxin figured they were bound to run into it. Luckily, her intuition was working, and she mentally shouted:
[If we bump into each other later, please remind me how to react.]

Okay, it's a minor issue.

Intuition promised.

Jiang Jianxin didn't know how to react, but her intuition told her that the correct answer didn't require any logical reasoning, and reminding her was even easier.

And so, Jiang Jianxin moved slowly upstairs at the same pace as the old lady, until he heard a sticky crawling sound behind him.

A stench of sludge, almost tangible, was so strong it resembled countless maggots crawling up her spine.

"Has Yin Qingyue been rented out?"

The sound seemed to be squeezed out of rotting vocal cords, each word wrapped in a viscous, bubbly sound.

Even more bizarrely, the voice was sometimes sharp like an old woman's, and sometimes mixed with a deep throat sound.

Jiang Jianxin's neck, which had been smeared with blood, suddenly tensed up.

She could feel something pressing against her back with an asymmetrical breathing rhythm.

Don't be nervous, relax, shake your head.

Intuitive cues appear in the mind at the right time.

The old woman you're playing is quite old, speaks haltingly, and usually doesn't talk much.

Upon seeing this prompt, Jiang Jianxin immediately relaxed and slowly shook her head.

"Whoosh-"

Something whistled through the air as it hurtled towards the back of her neck; her intuition told her:
Dodge! It's testing you.

Following his intuition, Jiang Jianxin quickly dodged to the side.

The terrifying old woman reacted very quickly; she was probably using this to test his identity.

Ordinary gifted individuals would not be able to dodge such a close-range attack, but Jiang Jianxin is a Sword Master, and this strike was still too slow for her.

She easily dodged the attack, her intuition telling her:
[Make two indistinct, low growls; be careful to make them indistinct, not clear.]