Ita Era

Chapter 33 Peach Blossom Village (31)

Although several people have already died from violating the third rule, Ding Shi still hasn't been able to figure out Gui San Niang's third rule for killing. As for Jiang San Niang, as long as you don't confront her directly and hold your breath immediately, you won't be in danger. After all, she's a mindless zombie, easy to deal with.

It's 3 AM on the seventh day, and there are about 30 hours until 8 AM on the eighth day. During these 30 hours, I can't sleep, or I'll need to take turns keeping watch with my companions.

Can these two companions be trusted? Ding Shi doesn't trust Zhang San, and Sun Qi is alright, but not very smart.

Zhang San picked up the kettle, poured four cups of water, and said to the village chief, "As long as we know Third Sister's rules for killing, we can hold out until the end of the sacrificial day." He then placed the water in front of the three of them.

Ding Shi didn't touch the cup of water. Before figuring out Gui San Niang's rules for killing people, he tried his best to restrain himself from doing things he hadn't done before.

Upon hearing this, the village chief looked at Zhang San with some excitement: "You already know Third Sister's rules for killing people?"

Zhang San shook his head, picked up the water with two fingers and took a sip. Just as he was about to speak, Gui San Niang suddenly appeared behind him.

The four sat around a table with candles on it, surrounded by darkness. Suddenly, the face of Ghost Third Sister appeared from the darkness, instantly terrifying Ding Shi, the village chief, and Pan'er.

Zhang San was puzzled as to why everyone else was staring so intently. He turned his head in the direction of their gazes and gave San Niang a close-up kiss. Then, his body trembled as San Niang's ghostly hand pierced his chest from behind and ripped out his heart.

Zhang San stared at the heart in San Niang's hand, his eyes glazed over, then collapsed to the ground and died.

As soon as Zhang San died, San Niang disappeared immediately. Then Pan'er screamed, and the village chief frantically tried to calm her down. Ding Shi, supporting himself on the table, picked up a water cup and looked at it in the candlelight for a while.

The third rule of Gui San Niang's killing method has been established: those who come into contact with the liquid will die.

Wetting your pants, you die. Stepping into a paddy field, you die. Drinking water, you die.

Furthermore, those who were murdered in the Haitang family all had the blood of the victims on their bodies.

Here's another detail. Taking Haitang's decapitation as an example, the blood sprayed onto Zhang San. This process constitutes an event, and Gui San Niang cannot kill Zhang San because of it. After the event ends, although Zhang San has blood on him, it's considered pre-existing blood and won't trigger any rules.

Pan'er gradually calmed down, grasped the rules, and prepared to go out to do her mission, since the school was right next door anyway. Just as she stood up, there was a knock at the door. Not three knocks, not four, but a random series of knocks, knock, knock, knock.

The village chief and his daughter-in-law crawled under the bed together. Ding Shi walked to the window, picked up a flashlight, and shone it to the side.

Ding Shi put away the flashlight, snapped his fingers, took out a shotgun, loaded it with steel balls, added the paper-wrapped gunpowder, and then opened the door. Zhao the Blind's purple face suddenly appeared.

The next second, the musket fired a deafening roar, and dozens of steel balls pierced through Zhao the Blind's neck. Zhao the Blind's neck was already half-eaten off; due to the tearing force and impact of the steel balls, his head immediately fell to the ground.

Ding Shi pushed Zhao the Blind Man aside and kicked his head away: "You little purple zombie, you dare to cause trouble for firearms."

Ding Shi changed his ammunition, shouldered his musket, and went out. Just as he stepped out the gate, he saw the zombie Aunt Li strolling along the road. Ding Shi didn't bother with her. He held his breath, brushed past Aunt Li, and then kicked her down the steps.

Ding Shi was in a great mood after bullying the two zombies. He climbed over the school wall and saw Jiang San Niang standing in the school playground.

Sorry, you've come to the wrong place!

Ding Shi immediately held his breath, frantically emptying the steel balls from the musket, removing the paper packet of gunpowder, and turning the musket into a card to put away. Then, Ding Shi climbed over the wall, retreated 10 meters, climbed over the village chief's wall, and looked towards the school playground, monitoring Jiang San Niang's every move. Jiang San Niang slowly left a few minutes later, but Ding Shi didn't move. He remained squatting there for almost half an hour until a wave of drowsiness washed over him. He checked the system time; it was already 5 a.m. Looking at the still dark sky, Ding Shi had a bad feeling.

After another half hour of surveillance, Ding Shi still hadn't seen the dawn. While Jiang San Niang, as a flying zombie, wasn't afraid of the sun, she probably didn't like fighting under it. And Gui San Niang, as a ghost, had an obligation to disappear before daybreak.

What if it never gets light?
After waiting another half hour, Ding Shi accepted reality: there was no sun, no daylight. For the next 25 hours, he couldn't drink water, couldn't sleep, and had to be constantly on guard against sudden zombie attacks. He didn't know how many people Jiang Sanniang had bitten to death, or how many zombies were roaming the village.

Upon entering the school, Ding Shi went directly to Sun Qi's dormitory, knocked on the door, and softly called out, "Sun Qi." The door opened gently.

Before Ding Shi could see clearly, a white zombie pounced on him. Wasn't that Sun Qi?

Jiang Sunqi bit Ding Shi's arm, but Ding Shi grabbed Jiang Sunqi's neck with his left hand and shoved its head back. The transformed Jiang Sunqi and Ding Shi were about the same strength, and they were locked in a stalemate for five seconds, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Ding Shi kicked Jiang Sunqi in the stomach, sending it flying into the dormitory, and then fell to the ground himself. As soon as Ding Shi got up, Jiang Sunqi pounced again, but Ding Shi threw it over his shoulder and slammed it to the ground. He then took the opportunity to slip into the dormitory and slam the door shut.

Jiang Sunqi started banging on the door, and Ding Shi holding his breath was useless; the zombies had already locked onto their prey's location. Unless Ding Shi could escape the dormitory.

The dormitory had glass windows at the front and back. Ding Shi picked up a chair and smashed the back window. Just as he was about to jump out, a purple face appeared in front of the window.

It's Tiezhu. Tiezhu, who was in charge of the wedding procession.

The zombie, being a purple zombie, couldn't jump over the window sill, which was about a meter high. It could only crawl inwards by lying on the windowsill.

Ding Shi watched as Jiang Tiezhu took two steps back, stepping on something. A thought flashed through his mind: wasn't this the bomb that Sun Qi had asked him to make?
Sun Qi died, but he didn't take the bomb card with him. The system says there's no penalty for dying in casual dungeons. Does this "no penalty" apply to the player themselves, rather than the items?
When a player dies, the items in the card slot will drop. Will the skills in the skill slot also drop?
It cannot be ruled out that Sun Qi did not turn the bomb into a card.

Now was not the time to think. Ding Shi took out a lighter, lit the fuse of the bomb, sprinted onto the table, kicked the zombie iron pillar in the head, sending it flying out of the window, and then jumped out of the window himself.

Ding Shi took off running, covering about 30 meters, when a loud bang rang out. Looking back, he couldn't see much due to the darkness. Ding Shi took out his musket, loaded it, and waited a moment. Then, Jiang Tiezhu appeared, limping, about 10 meters away. Jiang Tiezhu walked slowly, but with determined steps, heading straight for Ding Shi.

Ding stepped forward, inserted the gun barrel into the mouth of the dreadlocked man, and pulled the trigger. The firing pin struck the gunpowder paper, igniting the gunpowder, and a dozen or so steel balls shot upwards, blasting a large hole in the dreadlocked man's head.

Ding Shi kicked the zombie iron pillar away, staring at it as he loaded gunpowder. The zombie wasn't a regular zombie; even with its head smashed, the iron pillar didn't lose its mobility and struggled to its feet. Ding Shi fired a shot into the iron pillar's left leg, smashing its kneecap.

Jiang Tiezhu struggled to stand up, falling several times before finally managing to do so. A cracking sound came from the wound on his left leg. Giving up on standing, Jiang Tiezhu began dragging his body and badly injured legs across the ground.

Next, Ding Shi tried to shoot Jiang Tiezhu in the heart, but it was pointless.

Ding Shi shot two bullets, severing the neck of the zombie iron pillar and separating its head from its body. Even so, the zombie iron pillar's mouth continued to open and close, and its body crawled aimlessly.

Finally, Ding Shi stepped on the body of the zombie iron pillar, set its clothes on fire, and the flames ignited the human body's oils, ultimately destroying the zombie iron pillar completely.

Ding Shi didn't linger and turned to leave.

(End of this chapter)