This bug is amazing!

Chapter 262 "Disappearance"

"How can this be?!"

A minute later, everyone left the room, and the seven people stood in the courtyard, looking at the crows circling in the sky, their expressions becoming very solemn and tense.

Ji Tuyi shouted out loud.

Above the sky, countless crows, like locusts, circled incessantly, emitting continuous cries of "Ha! Ha! Ha!"

If you look closely, you'll notice that the crows seem to be carrying bones in their beaks.

"Dugu Hong, did you fail to properly dispose of the body last night?!"

Jung Jae-puk questioned loudly.

Logically speaking, as long as the body was not exposed in the wilderness at night, it would be impossible for such a large flock of crows to appear.

"No, I handled it very carefully, and I checked it this morning."

Dugu Hong's voice was calm and composed. He always gave people the impression of being very reliable and unlikely to make such a basic mistake.

At this moment, Ji Yi, the culprit behind everything, was still holding the notebook that Ji Tuyi had compiled, frowning in thought.

This calamity was something he had summoned to deal with Dugu Hong, so it wasn't surprising.

On the other hand, he was more concerned about Ji Tuyi's information and whether their hypothesis was valid.

"Don't just stand there! The best thing to do right now is to get back inside. None of us know what this so-called 'disaster' will actually happen, but everyone should understand that neither divine power nor ghostly forces are something human power can contend with!"

Song Wan'er called out anxiously.

Upon hearing this, Dugu Hong nodded in agreement:

"Everyone, scatter and retreat. Also, stay away from me; I suspect the disaster is aimed at me."

Immediately, everyone agreed to the proposal.

"Ji Tuyi, let me borrow this notebook. If I'm still alive, I'll definitely return it to you. If I'm dead, then come to my house to get it."

Ji Yi closed the notebook and turned to Ji Tu.

Although the latter was somewhat reluctant, it seemed that it would be alright to borrow it for a look, so he had no choice but to say, "Okay, you must keep it safe and don't damage it."

"rest assured."

Ji Yi agreed, took An An's hand, and quickly left. Everyone else then dispersed and returned home.

When Ji Yi and An An returned to the house, they locked the doors and windows.

The cawing of the crows outside seemed to have subsided somewhat; they weren't nearby at the moment, probably because they had gone to look for Dugu Hong.

Sitting on the bench, Ji Yi continued to look through the documents. The more closely she looked, the more shocking the documents became.

"Information may become distorted over thousands of years of transmission, but there is certainly some merit to the claims about gods and the supernatural."

While muttering to himself, Ji Yi seemed to have grasped a glimpse of the truth from the information.

"So that's how it is! No wonder there are contradictory statements in the rules. There are actually two so-called gods!"

He found the truth!

Just then, Ji Yi felt her vision begin to darken and the light coming in from the window was rapidly diminishing!

"Brother Ji, it looks like the sun in the sky has been eaten by a big dog."

At this moment, An An suddenly spoke up.

Ji Yi frowned, closed the notebook, immediately opened the door, and poked her head out to look at the sky.

A dark spot was blocking the sun, turning the once round sun into a crescent shape, and it was still shrinking.

A solar eclipse?

Ji Yi returned to the house and locked the door.

"An'an, it's dangerous outside. Go back to your room, cover yourself with the blanket, and go to sleep."

"And what about you, Brother Ji?"

"Me too, let's all stay hidden. Everything will be fine once the sun comes out."

"it is good."

Ji Yi and An An went back to their respective rooms. Before that, he made sure to take Ji Tu Yi's notes and a light source, preparing to cover himself with the blankets later.

At this very moment, the total solar eclipse has begun, plunging the entire village of Sanshi into darkness.

"For safety reasons, it's best to go to sleep now."

Ji Yi pondered for a moment, then took out an opened box of sleeping pills from the medicine box. The packaging was very new, and she didn't realize that Xie Ping had insomnia.

"But I still have two lives, so I can take one more risk, even if I die this time."

As Ji Yi spoke, she gripped Ji Tuyi's notebook tightly.

“Then I can bring this thing with me, get the key information a day or two in advance, and so many people in the village won’t die.”

One thing Dugu Hong and Ji Tuyi said was correct: those who "disappear" are not necessarily dead.

But Ji Yi was even more convinced of one thing: he could not disappear into the shadows, for if he did, he would surely die.

This brings us to the difference between players and natives.

Even if Ji Yi, as a "player," sees through the truth of the disappearance, she will most likely die according to the "system's" judgment after disappearing.

The natives, on the other hand, will survive in some form after disappearing from the world, because of the truth of their worldview.

To put it bluntly, Ji Yi and the others weren't playing by the same set of rules.

Unless he completely unravels the mystery of the world's structure and gets the system to update the main quest.

However, the fact that there has been no system announcement so far suggests that either the information is incomplete or the timing is wrong.

"Unless we find more compelling clues, these speculations alone are not enough to trigger a mission update, and I only have two days left to live."

Before nightfall tomorrow, he needs to ensure that he is the only one "alive," and at the same time, he needs to completely uncover the whole truth.

"Damn, this is tough."

Ji Yi rubbed his temples; his brain felt swollen from overthinking.

"There's another very risky method."

Ji Yi muttered to himself.

"If I commit suicide now, going back to the time before I dug up the body last night, the disaster will not happen, and I probably won't dream about the well, which would have given me only two days to live."

"The only thing to be careful about is that if the same person holds the word 'live' for seven consecutive days, everyone else will disappear. To ensure that I survive the eighth day, I need to kill someone, the only person who holds the word 'live'."

"And it also needs to be a perfect crime, preferably one where the person dies in an accident, so as not to arouse the villagers' sensitive nerves."

After much thought, this is the only way; it's the method with the highest success rate to pass the level.

Ji Yi put the notebook in her inner pocket and then picked up the sharp knife next to the bed.

He's no novice when it comes to suicide.

"puff."

With a soft crack, the artery ruptured, and Ji Yi lost consciousness in a very short time.

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

[Activated Skill: Death Rewind (3/4)]

[Begin backtracking.]

Ji Yi saw the well.

But unlike the first time she saw the well, Ji Yi was much closer to it this time, almost standing right next to it.

"Squeak, squeak~"

The well's windlass turned on its own, and this time, judging from the sound, it was closer to Ji Yi.

He finally couldn't resist looking down into the well. There he saw an embroidered shoe, slowly bobbing up and down in the bucket of water.

"Woo——"

Just as a cry was about to reach Ji Yi's ears, it abruptly stopped.

"Shh-"

Ji Yi woke up very early; judging from the sky outside, it was probably only four or five o'clock, just beginning to get light.

hum! ! !
When Ji Yi realized what had just happened, he felt as if he had been struck a heavy blow to the heart, and his scalp tingled on the spot!

The rewind was successful, but it also failed; he returned to an unchangeable point in time—a dead file!

The bones he dug up have already been carried away by crows, and disaster is bound to befall them.

Even more terrifying is that the death curse of "three consecutive days in the Dream Well" is already two-thirds complete, and he will surely die after tonight!
Although, according to this timeline, this was his first day in the Dream Well.

However, the death rollback mechanism is such that it will retain the user's state before the rollback. Just like he is now carrying Ji Tu Yi's notebook in his chest, the number of his dream wells will not be reset due to the rollback!
"Damn it, this is trying to kill me."

Relying too much on death rewind has backfired spectacularly this time!
There is only one way left to do this now.

Massacre of the village.

He wanted to kill everyone and become the sole survivor in the village.

The game will end the moment he refreshes the note under his pillow, the curse of the Dream Well should be lifted, and the "survival" mission will be completely completed.

As for unraveling the mystery of Shenmiao, fate will naturally provide the answer.

I glanced at the clock on the wall; it was only 4:30 a.m., and I guessed that no one else was up yet.

"I had no choice but to kill. Why did you have to force me to do this?"

Ji Yi is indeed a kind person, but to say that killing a complete stranger could save his own life...
He might feel lost, hesitant, or tormented.

But at the same time, he would do it; it's a survival instinct.
If others don't die, then he is the one who will. Who has the right to stand on the moral high ground and condemn someone who only wants to survive?
There's no time for being lost.

He had to race against time to ensure that he was the only living person before dawn the next day.

"Dugu Hong will definitely be killed by the backlash of the calamity, which makes the operation much easier."

Muttering to himself, Ji Yi had already begun to take action.

He took off all his clothes and spread them on the bed.

Then, he pulled out an old wooden box from under the bed, inside which were the old man's clothes from before he passed away.

After changing her clothes, Ji Yi took away a pair of old cloth shoes that the old man had worn.

In this way, the disguise of "disappearance" is half successful.

But that's not enough; the escape room is the most important part.

Find gauze in the medicine box, fold it, trim it, twist it into a thin rope, and tie it into a loop.

After thinking for a moment, he applied some more grease to the rope.

Ji Yi opened the door to the room and tied the rope to the bolt.
Then, Ji Yi stood outside the door and closed it.

Then, through the crack in the door, he pulled hard on the thin rope, and heard a "click".

Ji Yi locked the door from the outside, and the secret room was half completed.

"Fortunately, the gap in the door is large enough and the bolt is loose enough; otherwise, such a trick would not only be difficult to execute, but it would also be very easy to leave a mark."

Muttering to himself, Ji Yi took out scissors, cut the rope from the outside, and then pulled it out with a flick of his wrist.

Swah——

The thin rope was pulled out intact, and a sealed chamber was created with almost no trace.

Although there are still many shortcomings that can be improved, the problems should be easily identified if a professional inspects the site.

However, Liu Zhaohua is already dead.

Apart from him, trace evidence experts would probably have nowhere else to turn.

Moreover, the rule is that one person disappears every day, so who would bother to investigate the scene?

It would only raise everyone's suspicion if two people disappeared at the same time, since there is indeed a possibility that someone is faking their disappearance.

"As long as I'm the only one who's disappeared, no one else will bother to investigate."

Now comes the main event.

To make his "disappearance" story completely convincing, he needed to break into the village chief's house, take the clothes from his bed, and stage a scene of "being mysteriously murdered."

While constantly planning in his mind, he acted swiftly.

Ji Yi followed the same method, locking the door to the room in the same way, and finally cut the gauze before leaving gracefully.

Next, Ji Yi took out Ji Tuyi's notebook, which contained several photos.

The document records the scene of several villagers being killed by mysterious and bizarre circumstances, their deaths so gruesome that they were unrecognizable as human.

And this is exactly what Ji Yi can use!

So badly damaged by the supernatural, it's impossible to piece together a living person.

"If I take a piece of flesh from each person, who will be able to tell?"

Unfortunately, all of these people who were mysteriously killed died because they didn't lock their doors.

While this provided convenience for Ji Yi, it seemed strange that the locks on the village chief's house were broken when the locks on the other people's doors were not.

Therefore, Ji Yi had to add an extra task: to break and destroy the door latch.

"I never imagined I'd have to do what Wang Aotian did back then. Achieving a technically accurate recreation here is really difficult."

However, since Liu Zhaohua is dead, it's unlikely that anyone will be able to tell.

After thinking for a moment, Ji Yi picked up a urea bag and began collecting the scattered corpses from house to house.

Everything went smoothly.

Ji Yi broke down the door to the village chief's room, took the clothes from the bed, and then set up the scene.

More than three hours had passed by the time everything was finished.

It's time for everyone else to get up.

Ji Yi carefully checked the scene to make sure no suspicious traces were left behind, and then left directly.

Before leaving, he took something from the village chief's house.

The village's "Household Smoke Register" is a small booklet that uses the amount of cooking smoke as the unit of household statistics, recording the residential information of Sanshi Village.

"Everyone says that lighting candles while visiting graves will bring blessings from our ancestors, but do I even have any relatives in the village?"

Ji Yi arrived at a hiding place and began flipping through the booklet.

By now, Dugu Hong and the others should have woken up. With so many things that happened during the night, they will most likely continue their discussion until noon.

During this period, Ji Yi will remain in a state of "disappearance" and move freely.

"If all else fails, I'll have to go and pay respects at the Xie family's graves as a prospective son-in-law. I don't even know if that will work."

He flipped through the pages, hoping to find information about his identity.

According to the information Ji Tu found, praying to one's ancestors can be helpful when disaster strikes, and the strength and effectiveness of the ancestors seem to vary from person to person.

This is the only way to fight against the supernatural.

"Tsk! Found it."

Ji Yi quickly flipped to a page of information. He looked at the words "Ji Bozhang" on it and said with great certainty, though his tone carried a hint of disdain.

After all, his name is exactly the same as his father's in real life.

(End of this chapter)