This bug is amazing!

Chapter 252 Pig

Ji Yi hummed a little tune as she walked along the road.

He had his hands in his pockets, playing with two lollipops inside, looking as relaxed as if he were taking a walk after a meal.

No vehicles passed by along the way. Even though Ji Yi deliberately slowed down, no cars or motorcycles came by. It was obviously too desolate.

"How come I didn't notice last time that this road, besides being a maze, seems to be abnormal to begin with?"

Muttering to herself, Ji Yi soon arrived at an empty fence, below which was an inconspicuous path with a very steep slope.

Ji Yi slid down the slope with practiced ease, keeping her body as close to the slope as possible to avoid falling and getting injured like last time.

Because he slowed down as much as possible to walk safely, Ji Yi's speed was no faster than last time.

After traveling for forty minutes, he heard songs coming from afar.

[Grandma Moon, her blood-red eyes open, and a skeleton crawls out of the mountain crevice. Whose child is counting straws? — "One, two, three, one head is missing."]

That's An'an's voice.

Grandpa Well, puffing out cold smoke, the windlass turns the empty barrel ring.

Uncle Crow

Ji Yi slowed his pace and approached gently. He didn't intend to disturb the other person's singing, but simply to maintain a safe distance so that he could hear clearly.

So, An An sang the second half of the song this time.

River Goddess, frozen on a ribbon, floats an empty coat wrapped in silver dumplings. Last year, Aunt Wang's shadow sank, this year, half a smile is retrieved.

[The grave doll lights a white candle, illuminating the empty table as it distributes sticky rice cakes: "Mushrooms grow on Father's seat, and the bowls, chopsticks, and knives rust."]

The water clock has stopped, the moon is full through the window, and the wind blows through the empty house. A deity counts heads on the beam: "The heads of the first, second, and third young masters have been found."

The entire song exudes an eerie and terrifying atmosphere. If An An really saw it on TV, then it would be quite a strange thing in 2025.

For some reason, as times have changed, some ideas and cultures have become more conservative. Ji Yi guesses it's probably because of the economic downturn.

With her mind wandering to completely unrelated things, An'an paused for a moment after finishing the song before opening her mouth again and starting to sing from the beginning.

[Grandma Moon, Blood-Red Eyes Open]

"Hmm, is this line about the blood moon? It feels quite fitting in a certain sense."

Ji Yi listened silently as An An sang the ballad again.

When An'an's childish voice fell silent once again, the other person stopped singing and instead picked up the lantern and silently walked towards the village.

Upon seeing this, Ji Yi immediately followed quietly.

Walking along the dirt road, shrouded in darkness, one would remain undetected as long as one did not make any loud noise.

The reason why Ji Yi avoided meeting An An this time was due to a variety of considerations.

He arrived just in time and died overnight, the cause of death unknown.

This undoubtedly raised Ji Yi's vigilance to a very high level. The triggering mechanism for the first death was unclear, and it could not be ruled out that it was related to An An and Xie Ping.

Of course, judging from Xie Ping's attitude, it is highly unlikely that it has no direct connection with her. After all, she had been advising Ji Yi to leave quickly, while it was Ji Yi who "courted death" by insisting on staying, which led to his death.

However, there may be some indirect connection between them, and Ji Yi believes that the possibility cannot be ruled out.

So this time he simply became a lone wolf, avoiding direct contact with anyone, to see if there would be a different outcome.

Although the night was quiet, there were occasional chirping insects and croaking frogs in the fields. Ji Yi followed along, concealing his voice among them to ensure that he was never discovered.

Soon, he arrived inside the village.

The scattered lights in the mountains and fields are the lights shining from the houses scattered around.

Ji Yi stopped and watched An An walk away until the small lantern entered the courtyard, and the double wooden doors opened and closed again.

At this point, the only moving point of light in the night disappeared, and the entire night became like a tranquil painting.

"This time I will not have any contact with people and will spend the night in the wild."

Ji Yi muttered to herself, picked up a lollipop, tore open the wrapper and tossed it aside, then put the candy in her mouth and tasted that it was grape flavored.

"Whether I live or die, I should be able to find some clues."

After saying that, he lay down by a bamboo grove on a small earthen slope, his eyes fixed on the village ahead.

ten minutes later.

"Damn, it's so itchy!"

Ji Yi frantically scratched her ankles, neck, and other exposed skin, complaining angrily, "Squatting like this is practically a slow death, damn it!"

As he spoke, he stood up and moved his limbs, trying to avoid being attacked by mosquitoes through exercise.

Clearly, this approach had little effect.

There's no other way but to tough it out.

So Ji Yi gritted her teeth and persevered for more than twenty minutes until everyone in the houses turned off their lights.

"what?"

Ji Yi stopped, grimacing.

"That's a bit odd. The lights are being turned off at way too concentrated a time."

Half an hour ago, most houses still had their lights on, but in just a short while, all the lights went out.

Is this schedule a coincidence or a signal?
Ji Yi recalled the scene when she last entered Xie Ping's house.

Old-fashioned furnishings and furniture, a calendar from 08 still hanging on the wall.
"I remember there should have been a clock hanging there, and it should have been able to tell time."

Since she didn't have a photographic memory, it was quite a struggle for Ji Yi to recall what she had seen.

Fortunately, he eventually remembered.

"It was around 9 o'clock at the time, close to 10 o'clock, so I guess it must be 10 o'clock now."

"Is there some hidden rule behind the uniform requirement to go to bed before 10 p.m.?"

After thinking for a moment, Ji Yi got up and boldly headed towards the village in the dark.

The night was very dark, so dark that even by the moonlight, Ji Yi could only barely make out the outline of the terrain, and could not see anything else.

Conversely, even if some villagers were still awake, they wouldn't be able to see Ji Yi through the window.

Ji Yi passed a house along the dirt road.

According to my memory, there was a white dog tied up in front of this house. It was silent and would just stare at people.

Eerie ballads, a uniform daily routine, a silent family dog, and a passerby who died suddenly.
What is the connection between these unusual inconsistencies?
Despite his physical exhaustion, Ji Yi was now somewhat excited, and he quietly made his way to Xie Ping's residence in the dark.

Xie Ping's family does not keep dogs. The walls of the house are made of stone slabs. The two-bedroom, one-living-room house is built in a row and appears long and narrow from the outside.

The double wooden doors in the living room don't seem to be the only entrance; there's another entrance on the moss-covered stone steps to the left of the house that appears to lead inside.

Upon seeing this, Ji Yi immediately lay down on the ground and slowly moved towards the entrance.

This look is a bit disheveled, but it's still quieter and less likely to be noticed than walking.

Enter the house from the left side.

The first thing Ji Yi noticed was the stench of swill mixed with the smell of pig manure.

He immediately stood up. It turned out that the pigsty was to the left of the entrance, and what was level with his head was the pigs' feeding trough.

Looking over the stone slab, you can see a huge domestic pig fast asleep inside.

"The left side is the pigsty, and the right side..."

There was a wooden door there, which must be where An'an sleeps.

I raised my hand and gently pushed the door, but it was locked.

"That's quite meticulous. Are you afraid of people stealing from your house?"

No, if you think about it carefully, there was only a woman and a child in the house, so it was indeed a bit unsafe.

Ji Yi didn't intend to stay any longer and turned to leave.

But just then, the pigs in the sty suddenly started grunting and squealing; they had woken up.

To be honest, there's nothing interesting about pigs, and Ji Yi doesn't plan to go see them.

But just then, the pig took a few steps to the trough, suddenly leaped up, put its hooves on the stone slab, and its head was now facing Ji Yi.

It was at this moment that Ji Yi saw things clearly.

The moonlight streamed down from outside, illuminating the pig's face clearly.

This is the face of an old lady with a big smile on her face.

This was exactly the same as what Ji Yi had seen on the highway.

"!"

Ji Yi immediately stumbled, her body involuntarily falling backward.

"boom!"

The back of his head slammed violently against the wooden door behind him, like an iron hammer striking the door.

Ji Yi's heart rate suddenly spiked, and his adrenaline surged. He knew something was wrong and turned to run outside.

The moss on the stone steps was indistinct in the darkness. Ji Yi stepped on it and staggered forward, unable to stop herself from taking more steps.

Immediately, he plunged into the small lotus pond in the yard with a "plop." "Damn it!"

Ji Yi cursed inwardly; he was truly uncomfortable with the feeling of being an "ordinary person."

They may experience fear, anxiety, and panic, and while these so-called "bad traits" are much better than those of the average person, they are still just ordinary people.

Perhaps due to the shock of the cold water, Ji Yi calmed down considerably. Not only was her mood more composed, but her mind was also rapidly analyzing the situation:
"There are two possibilities for the appearance of this human-faced pig: either it's my hallucination, or it really does have a pig's face!"

After thinking for a moment, he climbed out of the lotus pond and walked back towards the pigsty.

"Whether it's an illusion or not, we'll know after one more look! As for An'an and Xie Ping inside the house..."

"It's strange that such a commotion didn't wake them up. Simply explaining it as them being sound asleep doesn't seem to make sense. Whatever, it's good that you didn't come out."

Perhaps out of embarrassment and anger, Ji Yi actually flipped over and jumped into the stinky pigsty.

He grabbed the pig by the ear with one hand, ignoring its squeals, and dragged it back to the wall, where he looked at it in the moonlight.

At this moment, the pig's face became clearly visible again.

The old woman's once wrinkled, smiling face has now reverted to the appearance of an ordinary domestic pig, bearing no resemblance to a human face.

If she had to say, Ji Yi could at most tell that this face resembled Tang Hulu's.

"Snapped!"

Ji Yi immediately slapped the pig across the face: "Fuck your mother! Coming here in the middle of the night to scare your dad instead of sleeping!"

It's unclear who benefited from this exchange, but Ji Yi calmed down and climbed out, satisfied.

It turns out that it was just an illusion.

With a flick of her water-soaked bangs, Ji Yi strode away without looking back.

Until he walked out of the courtyard gate, he did not see any lights on inside the house, nor did he hear even the slightest sound.

"Strange. Could they be dead?"

Ji Yi had just climbed over the fence gate when she turned back.

Having already caused such a commotion, are you afraid of making it even bigger?
Thinking it over, Ji Yi took a few steps to the front door and tried to push it open. The door made only a slight noise, clearly indicating that there was a horizontal wooden bolt inserted from the inside, preventing Ji Yi from getting in.

So he tried to feel around for the window, but it was too small and locked from the inside.

Even if you look inside, you can only see complete darkness.

Ji Yi was somewhat skeptical, so she went to the door and started banging on it.

This series of reckless actions should have resulted in countless deaths in a hellish dungeon.

But Ji Yi kept making mistakes and courting death, yet nothing happened to her.

"Bang bang bang!"

Ji Yi continued knocking on the door.

"Bang bang bang!"

Just as Ji Yi was thinking about whether she should go find some tools like hoes and sickles.

The wooden door suddenly made a loud "bang" sound!
The door suddenly opened, and a metallic light reflected from the moonlight shone brightly in Ji Yi's eyes.

Having combat experience, Ji Yi reacted quickly, even though everyone around her was just ordinary people, and dodged the sharp knife.

Under the cover of darkness, Ji Yi was able to make out the figure of the person behind the door.

"Ms. Xie Ping, I meant no harm."

Ji Yi spoke, and the person behind the door was clearly taken aback, stopping their attack.

"To my shame, after years of staying at home, I ran away from home and wandered around for many days. I got lost and ended up here by mistake. I came here not to rob money or women."

Xie Ping was clearly very wary:

"Why do you know my name?"

Ji Yi was taken aback. He had only wanted to calm the other party down as quickly as possible, and he hadn't prepared any follow-up remarks at all.

"I don't know either. Maybe we were lovers in our past lives. Do you know about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl?"

Xie Ping then brandished the sharp knife in her hand:

"Whoever you are, get out of here."

Seeing this, Ji Yi quietly took a few steps back:

"Sister Xie Ping, don't talk nonsense like that. Let's assume I'm a bad person. We all say we're not afraid of thieves stealing, but we're afraid of thieves eyeing us."

Ji Yi's words seemed to carry a clear threatening tone.

"If you can answer some of my questions, I promise I'll leave and never appear in your sight again."

Before he could finish speaking, there was a "whoosh" sound, and the sharp knife came straight for Ji Yi's face!

This woman actually planned to kill him!
That's true. Ji Yi is playing a villain now. Is it strange that villains have bad endings?

At such close range, Ji Yi's reaction was fast enough, but he still couldn't dodge in time. He subconsciously raised his forearm to block the knife, but it pierced through him.

"hiss!"

Ji Yi endured the excruciating pain and ran away.

He had no confidence that he could easily subdue the other party while injured on their home turf, especially since he had no desire to have a conflict with Xie Ping at all.

So he turned around, climbed over the fence, and staggered away along the dirt road.

While running, he also remembered to look back and observe Xie Ping's belongings.

The woman didn't chase after him; she just stood at the door and silently watched Ji Yi run away. After Ji Yi had run several dozen meters, the door of the house seemed to slam shut behind her.

Without time to think further, Ji Yi needed to quickly find a place to treat her injuries.

Suddenly, he remembered that he had just seen an abandoned house on a slope.

Ji Yi rushed off.

Fortunately, the abandoned house was unlocked, so Ji Yi rushed inside and immediately began treating her wounds.

Tearing clothes, binding and applying pressure to stop the bleeding, pulling out the sharp knife
After completing these actions, Ji Yi's forehead was soaked with cold sweat, his clothes were drenched, and due to blood loss, his body temperature was dropping rapidly.

"It's just a minor injury. I won't die such a pathetic death."

After Ji Yi had completely stopped the bleeding from the wound, he took off his clothes, took out the moldy quilt that smelled terrible in the room, and dried himself off.

"As messy it may be, this trip shouldn't be considered a complete waste."

Ji Yi muttered to himself as he searched for fire-starting tools in the house, naked.

Several tens of minutes later, Ji Yi touched all the reptiles, dead rats, and disgusting, sticky stuff that she couldn't tell what it was.

Finally, I found a lighter.

"Snap, snap, snap!"

Ji Yi turned the grinding wheel, and a beam of light shone in the dark room, which immediately delighted Ji Yi.

"It's a miracle that this thing still works."

It's important to know that lighters made of flint are very difficult to preserve in humid environments over a long period of time.

Then the rest is simple.

Ji Yi gathered some firewood, lit the stove, and dried his clothes and warmed himself by the fire.

Despite the broken roof, the mottled walls, and the messy interior, the house was still quite cluttered.

Ultimately, it provides warmth and protection, giving people peace of mind.

Ji Yi stared blankly at the hole in the roof, then suddenly frowned.

Does the moon look a little redder?
Ji Yi got up, walked a few steps outside, and looked up at the night sky.

At this moment, the full moon in the sky has become even more crimson, as if it were stained with blood, and this blood-red light actually enveloped the entire mountain village.

Everything in sight was red.

But soon this crimson scene began to change again.

Black fog seeped out from the mountain crevices, and the once clear panoramic view of the village was once again swallowed by darkness.

All of this happened very quickly, in just a few dozen seconds.

At that moment, Ji Yi heard An An's innocent singing voice. The genuine voice made Ji Yi wonder if he could see An An if he turned his head.

[Grandma Moon, her blood-red eyes open, and a skeleton crawls out of the mountain crevice. Whose child is counting straws? — "One, two, three… one head is missing."]

You are lost.

Player "Ji Yi" (LV.20) has died.

[Job Change Quest Failed]

[Preparing to delete character data]

Deletion failed.

[Skill activated: Death Rewind]

[Begin backtracking.]

(End of this chapter)