This bug is amazing!

Chapter 261 Seven People
Ji Yi was startled upon hearing the sound. Had she been discovered?!
In such a dark environment, he had tried his best to remain silent, so how could he possibly be detected? Just what kind of monster is Dugu Hong?

Ji Yi had no intention of killing anyone, so he slowly retreated, and under the cover of the chirping of insects and birds at night, he quickly got far away from Dugu Hong.

And from that direction, the sound of shovels being swung could still be heard.

"Boom, boom, boom."

Each blow felt like a tap on Ji Yi's heart, sending a shiver down his spine.

"I was actually scared, scared by an ordinary person."

There's still an hour until midnight. To avoid running into the blood moon at midnight, if we want to be on the safe side, we should go back to sleep.

However, Ji Yi did not choose to go back to her room.

Instead, they went around in circles and came to a bamboo forest. In a clearing in the bamboo forest, there were several more grave mounds.

Those were the bodies that everyone worked together to bury during the day. Besides the two elderly people who were shot, there was also the body of Liu Zhaohua.

Liu Zhaohua's sidearm had already been dismantled and destroyed by Dugu Hong. Dugu Hong's original words at the time were: "I don't like fighting."

"Heh, with things like this, who can beat you? You didn't want to kill anyone, but others forced you to, right?"

While complaining, Ji Yi found a shovel next to the grave mound, then found a grave and started digging on the spot.

"After killing someone, the body must be buried, otherwise crows will carry away the bones, which is an omen of disaster."

As Ji Yi spoke, her gaze gradually became firm and fervent.

"Based on the current clues, it's not hard to determine that besides this rule, there's a corresponding hidden logic—"

"The dead will become monsters and seek revenge on the murderer."

Old Zhang's night raid is a case in point. The acrid smell on his body at the time probably meant that he had gone to find Wang Aotian, but unfortunately Wang Aotian was burned to ashes. Unable to take revenge, Old Zhang turned his attention to his neighbor.

"This strange possession isn't necessarily fatal; there's usually a way to resolve it, but..."

Ji Yi's movements became faster and faster, and soon a corner of the shroud was revealed.

“If the body of the dead is not buried, he will turn into a more ferocious evil spirit, which is called ‘calamity’.”

Disasters are most likely something that human beings cannot resist, and even worshipping ancestors at their graves is useless.

Of course, Dugu Hong was an outsider with no ancestors to worship, so he had no way to break the deadlock.

“Dugu Hong killed Liu Zhaohua, and as long as Liu Zhaohua is ‘dead without a burial place,’ I can use the rules to make this guy die from a vengeful ghost.”

Although it was underhanded and winning wouldn't be honorable, Ji Yi shouldn't have gambled on Dugu Hong disappearing before him, right?

To leave your life to luck? You might as well just kill Ji Yi. Why go through all this trouble?
While pondering, Ji Yi's hands moved just as quickly, digging for nearly 40 minutes until most of the corpse was finally exposed.

"There wasn't enough time, so we removed the whole thing, but this should be enough, right?"

After glancing at the sky, Ji Yi quickly returned home, took off her dirty clothes, and soon lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

Before the clock struck twelve, Ji Yi fell into a deep sleep, and whatever happened after that night would be none of his concern.

That night.

The blood moon hung high in the sky, its scarlet light shining on the small village of Sanshi.

Black fog descended from the mountains, casting a shadow over the village.

Meanwhile, in the air above a bamboo grove, the incessant cawing of crows filled the air. The sound was a mixture of crying and laughing, and anyone who heard it would likely feel a chill run down their spine.

The small earthen grave that Ji Yi had dug halfway up now had no trace of the corpse.

Within the black mist, something eerie seemed to be wandering around, as if searching for something.

As they passed by the villagers' houses.

The guard dog tied up in the yard didn't bark at all. Or rather, the dog's jaws opened and closed tightly, its teeth clashing together, making only a slight clicking sound, which didn't attract the attention of these strange creatures at all.

A strange, shapeless figure, whose form was indistinct, stopped in front of a house.

Raise your hand and try to push the door open.

But the moment his hand touched the wooden door, a hissing sound suddenly rang out.

The door was clearly locked.

So the strange creature didn't linger and headed to the next house.

This scene plays out every night, but tonight is slightly different.

With a creak, the thing in the black mist pushed open an unlocked door and entered the room.
at the same time.

Ji Yi had a dream; she dreamt of a well.

There shouldn't be a well in Sanshi Village. At least in this era, the well has long been abandoned, and even some of the elderly people in the village have never seen one.

But Ji Yi saw it, and also saw that the well seemed to be emitting a cold aura.

"Oh shit."

Ji Yi couldn't help but curse.

According to the rules, he probably only has two days left to live.

If you dream of a well for three consecutive nights, you will surely die.

"What heinous thing did I do? How did the curse of the Dream Well fall on me?"

What worries Ji Yi even more is that if the timeline for the death rewind is set to this moment, he will be completely stuck in a dead end unless he can clear the game within two days.

"It seems like it really did happen; I dug up someone's grave."

Sure enough, bad deeds will be punished.

Apart from the well, the surrounding area was desolate, and even the weeds were withered.

Just then, the well windlass began to turn on its own, making a particularly unpleasant creaking sound.

Suddenly, Ji Yi felt a surge of curiosity. He had an urge to climb up and see what was being shaken up from the bottom of the well.

I had a feeling we were going to find something amazing.

But he ultimately restrained himself from the impulse and did not go forward, and the dream ended at that moment.

After a period of chaotic silence, Ji Yi awoke.

It's 10 a.m. now. He woke up exceptionally late this time, probably because he stayed up late and did heavy work at night.

This morning, Sanshi Village was eerily quiet.

Ji Yi stepped out of the room, gazed at the desolate village, narrowed her eyes, and seemed to be deep in thought.

An'an had already woken up, and he was very sensible and didn't wake Ji Yi, so he went hungry all morning.

Seeing this, Ji Yi quickly made breakfast for An'an. After the two ate quickly, they headed straight for the village chief's house, which was also the meeting place.

Ji Yi didn't see a single person along the way.

It wasn't until he arrived at the conference room that he finally saw the five people seated at the round table:
Dugu Hong is an unparalleled warrior, capable of taking on a hundred men single-handedly.

Ji Tuyi, a mysterious writer, claims to be a struggling writer who is actually a great author.

Song Wan'er, a cute-looking girl, always seemed to look at him with a strange gaze.

Hao Hao is a very wealthy businessman, but otherwise there's not much else to remember about him.

Jung Jae-pu, a hardcore gamer, exudes a dark aura.

He looks like the kind of person who lies in bed at night, taps the keyboard with his feet, watches the visual novel on the screen, and gives a creepy smile.

As for what his hands were doing, I have no idea.

Getting back to the point, apart from these five people, all the other seats are empty. And it's highly unlikely that anyone will come to these empty seats again.

"coming!"

When Ji Tu saw Ji Yi and An An, his tone surprisingly carried a sense of relief.

Jung Jae-park sighed:
"It seems there are only seven of us left in the village. This game of gods is progressing really fast."

Ji Yi held An An's hand tightly, looking at the five people at the round table with a puzzled expression.

'How come there are so many people missing?'

Aside from those who went to kill Dugu Hong in the middle of the night yesterday, where did the extra casualties come from?

"You're a bit late; we just finished our discussion."

After Ji Yi sat down with An An, Ji Tuyi spoke to him, and at the same time, the other party picked up his notebook and began to sort out the events again.

"The village chief disappeared last night. We broke into his bedroom and found only his clothes on the bed, and his shoes were also right next to the bed."

There's not much to say about one person disappearing randomly every day.

"Then there were Sun Li, Chen Qian, and Zhao Laosan. They all died at home, and their deaths were extremely gruesome, unlike anything humans could do. We all agree that they were haunted by ghosts."

As Ji Tu spoke, she took out several Polaroid photos and handed them to Ji Yi.

"Indeed. The way they died was definitely the work of a ghost. But since they followed the rules and stayed at home, why were they killed by a ghost? Surely not everyone could open the door for a ghost?"

While it's not impossible, the simultaneous occurrence of three such incidents seems rather suspicious.

"I don't know." Ji Tu shook her head and quickly moved on to the next topic.

"As for the others who didn't come, you can ask Dugu Hong."

Ji Yi feigned confusion and looked at Dugu Hong: "What's wrong with the others?"

Dugu Hong blinked heavily, then sighed and said helplessly:
"They plotted to kill me while I was sleeping at night, but I killed them instead."

Dugu Hong's helplessness didn't seem like acting at all.

"I don't like killing people."

Ji Yi: "."

Sure, I'd give that a perfect score for showing off.

"Have you discussed what to do next?"

Ji Yi suddenly asked.

He and An'an arrived late, and they probably missed more than just this.

Song Wan'er spoke first:
"We suspect that among those who died, there's a good chance someone got the 'live' card, so we're going to wait another night. If we find more notes under our pillows tonight, it means the first person to get the 'live' card is dead, and a new survivor has appeared among us."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yi slowly shook her head:
"To be honest, I don't think waiting overnight is very meaningful; it's even a complete waste of time."

He couldn't quite figure out what these people were thinking.

Things have now deteriorated to a point where it's either you die or I live.

What good is it for the first person to receive the word "alive" to know this, whether they are dead or among them?
Find the person with the "alive" note and kill them?
So what's the next step? In the end, we'll still have to fight Dugu Hong. Why not just let Dugu Hong kill everyone? What's the point of playing this game?
Everyone present couldn't possibly be unaware of this. To be honest, Ji Yi had been wondering from the beginning: Dugu Hong had killed so many people last night, so what were these guys thinking as they sat at the same table with him?

Of course, these people weren't fools. They could think of what Ji Yi could think of, and they could understand Ji Yi's confusion.

Finally, Dugu Hong spoke up to explain:

“You’ve been staying in your own house these past few days, and when you go out you’ve been alone, so you’ve missed out on a lot of things.”

The others, upon hearing this, surprisingly nodded in agreement.

"Do you remember? I said I came to Sanshi Village to investigate the legend of the disappearing god. After so many days of investigation, I have some ideas. This is also thanks to Ji Tuyi. He found a lot of historical materials about Sanshi Village and provided me with a lot of help."

Ji Yi looked puzzled.

Did Dugu Hong discover the truth behind Shen Yin?
Dude, are you some kind of all-rounder? If an NPC like you completes the main system quest, it makes me look like a complete idiot, okay?

"Have you noticed anything inconsistent about those taboo rules?"

Dugu Hong continued to ask.

Ji Yi did indeed have some feelings about this:

"Yes, that's true. Those rules feel contradictory. Some mention gods, while others mention the supernatural and calamities. It's like the same thing is viewed from two different perspectives, or even..."

"This mystery of the disappearance is simply composed of two parts: one is 'the gods,' and the other can be tentatively called 'calamity.'"

Upon hearing Ji Yi's words, the five people all showed expressions of surprise.

They truly hadn't expected that Ji Yi, with such limited information, would arrive at such a close deduction.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Ji Yi seemed to realize something and tentatively continued:
"The reason you don't have any thoughts of internal strife isn't because you believe 'Disappearance' can't kill people, is it?"

The five remained silent and did not directly answer Ji Yi.

But their expressions said it all.

Seeing everyone's reactions, Ji Yi already had the answer in her heart:

"I see. Essentially, this disappearance is a test of humanity. If the person who received the 'death' kills in order to survive, they will face a series of punishments, such as being haunted by strange forces or even encountering so-called 'calamities.'"

"Those who are 'disappeared' are not necessarily dead—after all, no one witnessed the body, so the possibility of them being alive cannot be ruled out."

"Therefore, the best solution for everyone is for each person to do nothing and simply live peacefully until the seven days have passed and everyone has 'disappeared,' which might be the day they return. In this way, not a single person will die."

After hearing Ji Yi's words, Ji Tu Yi was completely shocked.

He flipped through his notebook with a slightly trembling hand, and said excitedly:

“What you’re saying, when combined with the historical materials I’ve researched, makes perfect sense!”

The notebook was covered with all sorts of sticky notes, and even pieces of paper torn from some ancient book.

He excitedly showed the pages to Ji Yi, saying:

"Look here, here, and here. The curse of the Three Stones Village isn't actually that terrible. Everyone can live!"

Jung Jae-powder curled his lip and said:

"It's all speculation. We can't say for sure whether it's true or not. Anyway, we can't beat Dugu Hong, so we can only listen to you."

It turned out to be the case.

No wonder this hypothesis wasn't widely publicized; it turns out that only Ji Tuyi and Dugu Hongxin had it.

Then Dugu Hong used overwhelming force to convince these people to believe him.

You found the information, how come you missed me?
Hmm. Maybe I was completely certain today, which is why I'm telling everyone now. I never imagined that being just one step too late would result in so many deaths.

But if that's really the truth, it's far too simplistic and childish.

Ji Yi kept flipping through Ji Tu Yi's notes, carefully looking at the information. Some parts were indeed reasonable, but others were inexplicable.

And just then.

"Ga! Ga! Ga!"

The chaotic cawing of countless crows, like a demonic cacophony, assaulted the ears from the distant sky.

Soon, everyone on the field realized what had happened.

Disaster strikes!

(End of this chapter)