I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

"Sit here and wait to die is not a solution."

Lin Hao spoke first, his voice very low.

He reached up and touched the scarf around his neck, his fingertips brushing against the soft, mushy thing beneath it that was constantly wriggling slightly, and his brow furrowed deeply.

"We only have these few clues right now."

Ouyang Qiu rubbed his icy hands, his voice trembling as he thought of the players who had been taken away in coffins:

"If we don't find a way to push the mission forward, we'll eventually become like those human-faced rats."

"Grandma Huang's wish is quite obvious; it's probably related to revenge."

Zhou Hui sighed: "Four sons are not as filial as a cat—the problem now is that doing missions turns you into a mouse, but not doing missions means you can't leave. It's a vicious cycle."

"Even a vicious cycle must be broken."

Lin Hao's eyes were sinister:

"Tonight after midnight will be the seventh day after the old lady's death; we can't rely on these villagers anymore—"

Before he could finish speaking, a series of knocks came from outside the door.

The surroundings were neither hurried nor slow.

The sound was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent courtyard of the ancestral hall.

The three of them fell silent instantly, all turning to look at the doorway, their muscles tense.

Rat with a human face?

Or is it the ghost of Old Lady Huang?

Ouyang Qiu made a shushing gesture and peered through the crack in the door.

Under the dim light of the white lanterns, a fat shadow was cast, hunched over with a pointed head, looking at first glance like an upright mouse.

It was Huang Facai who left and then returned.

He stood at the gate, hands behind his back, face toward the crack in the door, as if he already knew the three of them were watching from inside.

"Hey, you three guests inside, stop hiding."

Huang Facai's voice came in, high-pitched and thin, with a sinister smile.

"I know you're inside. Today is the seventh day after my mother's death. According to the village's custom, the coffin must stay in the mourning hall at the threshing ground for one night. We must keep vigil and add oil to the coffin. We can't be careless for a moment."

"All the able-bodied men in the village have gone to catch cats, and there aren't enough people."

I see that the three guests are all strong and healthy; could you please do me a favor and keep vigil at the mourning hall for the night?

"Don't worry, you won't have worked for nothing. You'll be rewarded afterwards."

He spoke politely, but there was no hint of negotiation in his tone.

It was as if they were certain that the other party would not refuse, nor dared to refuse.

The three people in the room exchanged glances, and each saw a serious expression in the other's eyes.

reject?

How do I refuse?

Outside were villagers who had turned into rats and humans. If Huang Facai were truly angered, he could simply stuff them into coffins to be buried with them. It was just a matter of lifting a finger.

promise?

On the seventh day after her death, the spirit of the wrongfully deceased Old Lady Huang was being kept vigil, while a large black cat lurked in the shadows, ready to pounce.

This isn't keeping vigil; it's sending people to their deaths.

Just then, the ink-wash characters floated up:

[Side Quest Triggered: Seven-Day Vigil]

[Task Description: Tonight is the seventh day after Old Lady Huang's death, and her spirit will return to the ancestral hall. Players are requested to keep vigil at the threshing ground until dawn, adding oil to the ever-burning lamp every half hour to ensure the flame never goes out.]

[Task prompt:]

1. Prepare quicklime in front of the coffin and sprinkle it around the perimeter. Invisible footprints will appear on the quicklime. Do not panic when you see them; simply use a mourning stick to drive them away.

2. During the vigil, cats and rats are strictly prohibited from touching the coffin, otherwise it will cause the corpse inside to turn into a zombie.

3. The lamp must never be extinguished.

[Mission Reward: Story progress +15%, Ratification progress temporarily slowed for 12 hours]

[Failure Penalty: All members will be deemed to have failed the vigil and will be hunted down by the Cat-Faced Granny.]

……

……

Cat-faced old lady?

Isn't this just a scary story made up by adults to frighten children?

So, Grandma Huang turned into a cat-faced old lady?!

All three of them trembled.

But they didn't even have the option to refuse.

Now that things have come to this, there is no other way but to bite the bullet and move forward.

……

……

It was completely dark, and white lanterns were hanging at the door of every household in the village.

The lanterns swayed in the wind, their dim light casting long shadows that looked like mice.

On the walls, tree branches, and even the roof of the ancestral hall, patches of green cat's eyes appeared one after another, like countless floating will-o'-the-wisps.

The cats' meows rose and fell, shrill and even more ferocious than the night before.

Pairs of eyes stared intently at them, low hissing sounds emanating from their throats, as if they were about to pounce at them at any moment.

We've arrived at the threshing ground.

A simple mourning tent was set up in the center of the venue, surrounded by a white cloth that rustled in the wind, sounding like countless hands clapping.

White banners and paper wreaths were hung in the mourning hall.

There were four or five paper figures, both male and female, standing on either side.

The paper figure had red cheeks and black eyebrows painted on its face, a stiff and eerie smile, and its eyes were fixed on the entrance of the mourning hall, as if it were welcoming guests.

In the very center, a somewhat familiar black coffin sat quietly on the spirit bed.

The coffin was freshly painted black, so shiny that it reflected people's images, and a large "喜" (happiness) character was written on the top of the coffin.

The ink seemed not to be completely dry, and the character had a dark red sheen.

……

……

"Squeak... squeak..."

"Crunch, crunch—crunch, crunch!"

The sound of fingernails scratching the wooden planks came from inside the coffin, as if they heard footsteps outside, and the scratching became more urgent.

Those were the players from earlier!

Ouyang Qiu gasped sharply and instinctively grabbed Zhou Hui's arm.

Zhou Hui herself wasn't much better off; her whole body was tense, and she looked like she was about to cry.

"Village Chief Huang... in this coffin..." Zhou Hui's voice trembled. She was about to ask when Ouyang Qiu stopped her with a look.

What good would it do to ask?

If we expose them, Huang Facai might take action against them.

"The old lady loved cats, so she caught a few kittens to be buried with her."

Huang Facai seemed oblivious to the expressions on the two men's faces, and simply pointed with a smile to the corner of the mourning hall:

"The lamp oil, lime, and mourning sticks were all placed there."

I won't go into the rules. You three are all smart people; just follow the rules, and I'll keep you safe.

"Oh, right—"

He turned to leave, then stopped, turned back, and said in a sinister tone:

"Don't try to be lazy or shirk your responsibilities. My mother has a bad temper, and she'll be very angry on the seventh day after her death."

After saying that, he turned around and walked away with his hands behind his back, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Inside the mourning hall, only the three of them remained, along with a black coffin that would contain the players and their corpses.

The wind rustled the white cloth, and the paper figure stood in the shadows, as if it might move at any moment.

An ever-burning lamp was placed at the head of the coffin, its flame, the size of a soybean, flickering.

……

……

……

"Are we really going to have to stay here all night?"

Zhou Hui's voice was weak, her gaze fixed on the black coffin.

The scratching sound of her fingernails was almost unbearable.

Humans are strange creatures. Although those people drove them out of the west wing, for a normal person who grew up in an environment of "Five Stresses and Four Beauties"—

It is impossible to completely ignore, or even stand by and watch one's fellow human beings die.

"What else? You want to save people?"

Lin Hao sneered: "You want to go in and keep the people inside company? Yeah, you have a lot of points, but we wouldn't dare."

"How about this, Sister Zhou, you buy more mission items and see if you can rescue them? What do you say?"

Zhou Hui shivered and remained silent.

Ouyang Qiu, who was walking at the back, glanced at Lin Hao upon hearing this.

From the very beginning, he had been speaking to Zhou Hui with a barbed tone.

In the darkness, countless shimmering green lights flickered in the distance—a group of cats.

They circled the threshing floor, neither approaching nor leaving, just staring from a distance, as if waiting for something.

……

……

"Sister Zhou, come and spread the lime."

Lin Hao walked to the corner, picked up the bag of quicklime, and took the most reassuring-looking mourning stick from the mission items:

"Ouyang Qiu is in charge of adding lamp oil, and I'm in charge of chasing away the mice and cats."

Ouyang Qiu picked up the oil pot, which was half-filled with lamp oil, and hesitated for a moment.

"Then let's do as the task says and start by spreading lime."

Zhou Hui obediently picked up the bag of lime, untied the knot, and sprinkled it little by little around the coffin:

"I sprinkled some lime on the outside to ward off evil spirits, and the cats outside didn't dare to come in."

Ouyang Qiu nodded and picked up another bag: "I'll help you."

The two men circled the coffin and slowly sprinkled lime down on it.

Fine white powder fell down, forming a thin ring around the black coffin.

Lin Hao, who was standing to the side, suddenly groaned and covered his neck with his hand.

"Xiao Lin? What's wrong?" Zhou Hui asked quickly.

Lin Hao frowned, his expression somewhat unpleasant.

The umbilical cord around my neck started to stir again.

Previously, it would only twitch slightly, but occasionally it would go crazy and torment him so much that he couldn't sleep.

But now, it's writhing wildly under the scarf, as if it's been stimulated by something.

It contracted and expanded intermittently, causing a burning pain on the skin of his neck, and there was even a strange pulling force that dragged him forward.

The direction was directly toward the black coffin.

"It's nothing." Lin Hao gritted his teeth, suppressing a muffled groan in his throat. "It's an old problem."

He didn't mention the umbilical cord.

This is his trump card, and also his secret.

I was able to survive in this dungeon several times thanks to this umbilical cord warning.

But today's reaction is a bit off.

In the past, when he encountered danger, the umbilical cord would become hot and tighten, as if it were reminding him.

But today, it's pulling forward.

It was as if... something in the coffin was attracting it, or perhaps it wanted it to get closer to the coffin.

Lin Hao's heart skipped a beat.

Could there be a secret hidden in the coffin?

What treasures do you have?

Or a clue to breaking the curse?

Although the umbilical cord is troublesome, it has never missed a crucial moment.

—Perhaps he sensed something inside the coffin and was guiding him?

Once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't suppress it.

Lin Hao stared at the black coffin, his eyes flickering.

He thought of the extra sixty points Zhou Hui had, and his heart burned with anxiety.

If there really is something that can break the curse, you might miss your chance.