Under the burning gaze that felt like he had met a confidant, Ji Heng calmly withdrew his hand and addressed the matter at hand: "I've inquired. The guard chief is in charge of punishments, and countless people have died under his hands."
Su Er wasn't particularly surprised. It was simply that the player's physical fitness was superior to that of the average person. Otherwise, no one would have been able to withstand the whipping. However, his gaze on the other person remained unchanged.
Ji Heng didn't take it too seriously after being given the villain card for no reason: "I'm going to find someone to make a pendant and visit the Chief of Guards while I'm at it."
"We might be a bit pressed for time." Su Er said, "It would be more convenient to find someone to cooperate with."
Ji Heng reminded: "Try not to use other people's hands in the game, it will be beneficial when the settlement is made."
As soon as he left, the surroundings suddenly became much quieter. Suer sat in the house for a while, and suddenly saw a figure through the open window. He walked out and saw that the old lady had left the room at some point, looking at the wild flowers by the wall with a gloomy expression.
"It's a nice day today, why don't you take a walk with me?" she said.
Su Er thought about it and followed.
The old lady talked about her youth, her hopeless love, her husband's harsh treatment after marriage, her unruly children, etc. In just a short distance, she had almost finished talking about half of her life.
The footsteps stopped in front of a small door, and the old lady stretched out her hand to push it open. There was a straw mat standing on the space of more than ten square meters. After it was moved away, a jar of wine was revealed.
"Jun'er always believed that his father was poisoned by me, but in fact it was alcohol poisoning." The old lady took off the red silk stuffing on top, and the rich aroma of wine wafted out.
She went to the yard to get a small cup, scooped a cup, and handed it to Su Er: "Try it."
Su Er refused flatly.
The old lady drank it herself: "Don't worry, it's not poisonous. I'm just afraid that one day I will die in the hands of a ghost, and it would be a pity to waste this wine."
Then he poured him another cup.
Su Er still didn't drink.
The old lady didn't force him, and drank it all in one gulp. Before leaving the hut, the old lady suddenly pulled out a sharp knife from her sleeve and stabbed it at Su Er's head.
Sur was already wary of her, so he turned his head away and ran forward several steps to ensure his safety. In a blink of an eye, the distance between them had widened by more than ten meters.
The surprise brought by Zhakong was not as great as this moment. The old lady's eyelids trembled. Young people with a little blood in their veins would subconsciously choose to snatch the dagger or strike back. They ran away so cleanly and neatly that it was really speechless.
At this moment, Soul was still theoretically analyzing her from a safe distance: "The town has a limit on alcohol consumption, and the conditions for alcohol poisoning are not easy to achieve. Find a better excuse next time."
The old lady was old but had good eyesight. She saw the mockery in the man's eyes clearly: "You knew I was going to kill you?"
Su Er nodded: "With me here, the ghost will definitely come looking for you at night, so you won't leave any trouble behind."
When their eyes met, he spread his hands and said, "Don't get excited. Change your angle. If a ghost comes looking for me, I won't care about your end."
In fact, the biggest reason why the old lady wanted to kill Sur was that she was afraid that he would steal the pendant. Before, there were two young and strong guys, and she couldn't deal with them. Now that one of them was out for something, she could deal with them separately.
It's a pity… As people get older, their physical strength is a major drawback.
Of course, she had misjudged Sur. According to the original plan, the other party's focus would be on whether there was poison in the wine, so he would be highly focused at this time, and the second before leaving was the time when he was most relaxed.
Su Er suddenly took a small step forward, and the old lady reflexively stepped back, almost tripping over the threshold.
"You're tired." He changed to a respectful title again. "It would be better to go back to your room and rest for a while."
Not sure what this was about, the old lady glanced at Sur and did not let go of the dagger in her hand before entering the door.
After the door closed, Su Er sat in the yard with a gloomy face, reading a brochure to kill time. Suddenly, there was a noisy sound outside. One or two families living in the distance were almost all out, and they walked quickly in one direction.
Suer walked out and stopped one of them: "Excuse me, what happened?"
"One of the three Li brothers had a stroke last night, and two others died suddenly."
Su Er was skeptical: "This is too unfortunate."
But deep down he knew that it was related to Li Shouzhang.
"The Li family are all very virtuous people. We are going to visit them now..." Before he could finish the rest of his words, he was urged by the people in front to hurry up.
The man stopped talking to Suldo and hurriedly started walking again.
"Tsk." The old lady opened the door upon hearing the noise and saw this scene with a disdainful expression: "What do you mean by visit? They clearly want to elect the Chief of Guards. Now they are going to confirm whether their competitors are really no match for them."
Su Er: "The death is so strange, no one comes to investigate?"
The old lady said coldly: "I said it was an accident, not murder."
When Su Er frowned, she curled her lips and said, "Everyone in this town follows the rules. There is no way there would be a murderer."
There was an inexplicable irony in the words coming out of her mouth.
Suer quickly realized that here, it was common for children to be beaten to death by their parents for making mistakes, and many townspeople had died at the hands of the chief of guards. There were no laws, only rules, and that was what was truly terrifying.
On second thought, Ji Heng had just left when the three Li brothers were completely annihilated. It was most likely that he had instructed Wen Buyu to instruct Li Shouzhang to do it.
Sure enough, Ji Heng was the mean one.
Just as he was muttering, the real owner arrived. Ji Heng, holding a wooden box in his hand, slowly crossed the threshold without showing any impatience.
Soul: "So fast?"
Ji Heng: "With huge profits, there's nothing I can't do."
Anyway, it was the last day in the copy, and the remaining coins were useless, so he went to find Wen Buyu and collected all the money and gave it to the jade craftsman.
After a moment, he said seriously, "I passed by Wei Chang's house earlier. He was shocked to hear the tragic news about the three Li brothers. He was so heartbroken that he suddenly collapsed."
"…"
Su Er looked at him deeply but did not question it.
Ji Heng pointed out the key point: "When I came back, the Minister of Defense had already announced that early voting would be held."
Su Er frowned before recalling, "If I hadn't been running for Guard Chief, you could have passed the test two days earlier."
Let him stay in bed, then deal with the three brothers of the Li family, and send Li Shouzhang to the position, all in one go.
Ji Heng shook his head: "The host called the dungeon a game, and the degree of world exploration is very important."
For example, Sur unearthed the hidden boss, the Ghost King, which was beneficial to the final settlement.
After saying that, he handed over the pendant in the wooden box.
Suer was nearly stabbed to death by the old lady, so he naturally didn't hold back. He found an axe to boost his momentum, kicked the door open, and knocked the other person unconscious in front of the old lady's horrified gaze.
After changing the pendant, he gave it to Ji Heng.
Ji Heng: "You keep it."
Suer hesitated a little. He first used half of the ghost bone flower, and now he got the pendant. It was a bit unreasonable.
"Training new members is very time-consuming," Ji Heng said directly, "You are currently the weakest in the team. Staying alive is the most important thing."
Soul: "I'm worried that someone will snatch it away."
Ji Heng disagreed: "Then take it back and make the plunderers pay some interest."
The voting time was set for the afternoon. The Minister of Health was really in poor condition and had difficulty speaking.
Walking down the street and hearing people talking, Su Er couldn't help but ask, "What did you do to the Chief of Guards?"
"I just led the souls of those who died unjustly at his hands back there," Ji Heng said calmly, "The yin energy is too strong, and the human body can't bear it for a while."
A living person attracts ghosts?
Su Er couldn't help but look at him.
The town, which had been silent for a long time, became a little lively due to a series of unexpected accidents. Even the place where the old lady lived in seclusion could be heard with some noise. However, the grave mound was still eerily quiet.
The coffin had been lying alone on the loess since it was dug out. Suer and Ji Heng looked at each other, walked up and knocked gently.
The coffin shook violently and Sur quickly took a step back. Even so, his face was covered with dust.
Su Er swallowed the earthy taste in his mouth and said, "According to our previous agreement, you will recommend me to be the chief of guards."
If it were any other ghost, Sul would not believe it, but the Ghost King was obsessed with following the rules. Even if he didn't want to in his heart, he would make the opposite decision in his actions.
There was no response from the coffin, so Su Er took it as a tacit agreement and continued, "Vote this afternoon. Please keep your promise."
"There are still two days before the election of the Chief of Guards." After a long time, a hoarse voice finally came.
Soul: "You overslept."
"…"
With a light cough, Soul changed his tone: "It's just a joke. Actually, the Minister of Health is seriously ill, so the voting day has to be moved forward."
"Seriously ill?" The hoarse voice revealed a sharp tone for the first time.
Su Er remained calm and said, "If I were more ruthless, I could have told you after the election. If I wasn't the head of the guard by then, you would have breached the contract." He closed his eyes for a moment and then slowly opened them: "We're husband and wife, so I'm here to tell you."
As soon as he finished speaking, the branches around him swayed. Every tiny movement caused a huge tremor in the fallen leaves on the ground. Under the strong wind, Su Er felt the wound on his arm open again. He had intended to stand with his hands behind his back, giving the illusion of absolute independence, but the wind was too strong, and he lost his balance and fell back repeatedly.
He retreated all the way to Ji Heng, who held him and smiled playfully.
Su Er touched the tip of his nose and decided to make a new life plan: develop slowly and don't waste time!
Just as he made up his mind, the coffin opened a crack: "Red paper."
These two short words carried a chilling murderous intent.
Su Er took the red paper from Ji Heng and handed it over. A terrifying hand bone peeked out from the gap, and for a moment, the sharp finger bones and the fragile pulse were only a fraction away.
"Then I'll go back and wait for the result." Su Er said before leaving: "In return, I will take the pendant off the old lady's hand for you."
It's a sign of weakness, giving both sides a way out.
Only after they were completely away from the graves did Suer say, "The old lady wanted to kill me, but the Ghost King will take care of her. The guard is seriously ill, so I'll consider it my payback for the few lashes I gave him when I got here." He paused and looked up at the sky. "What's written in the book is true; good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished."
It made sense, but when Ji Heng heard it, he couldn't tell who was the good side.
The afternoon sun was scorching and hot. The head of the guard was supported by someone and stood in front of the ancestral hall with the ballot box in front of him.
The crowd outside was packed, and the townspeople held their breath, staring intently at the ballot box, barely half a man's height, as if they were looking at a rare treasure, their eyes sparkling. The players had already arrived, and Wen Buyu was the first to arrive. He found a good spot... on a boulder beneath an ancient tree. He was shielded from the crowds and had a great view.
Bai Yan was there too, and Su Er had almost forgotten such a player existed. The latter was also quite embarrassed. On the third day of the game, she had to stay in bed most of the time because of an infected wound. She thought she was going to die, but unexpectedly, she won the whole game without doing anything.
Seeing Ji Heng and Su Er, he quickly waved and whispered, "Why are you here so late? The votes have all been cast."
She followed Wen Buyu's choice and voted for Suer.
Su Er only said that he went somewhere, and then looked at Shen Jiangbei and Wan Yi.
"We chose you." Wanyi smiled.
The early voting date was definitely related to Ji Heng. Thinking about it, they made a basic mistake from the beginning, focusing solely on the candidates and ignoring the possibility of moving the voting date forward through human interference.
As he was speaking, a huge dark cloud appeared in the sky, instantly covering up the scorching sun.
The weather became cooler and without the sun, the captain felt much better.
Su Er stared at the ballot box. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but it seemed to have moved forward. Just as he was about to speak, Ji Heng put his index finger to his lips and said, "Shh."
Then he pointed him in a direction.
Looking over, I saw half a skeleton inside the ancestral hall, crawling towards the ballot box. The bottom layer of the ballot box was originally made of half of Zhou Linjun's skeleton, and now it was like the two poles of a magnet, firmly stuck together at both ends.
Despite such a horrific scene, the townspeople, even the nearest captain of guards, seemed to have not noticed. Sur looked closely at their eyes and saw a small red dot deep in them, none of which were focused.
Wen Buyu also felt dizzy and said reluctantly, "It was the ghost's trick."
After finally getting away enough to open his eyes, he saw Soul standing there as if nothing had happened. He couldn't help but wonder. Based on his strength, this guy was obviously the weakest, so why was he the only one affected?
Soul was barely staying conscious, relying solely on self-electroshocks.
Fortunately, this period of time was not very long. When the dark clouds gradually dissipated, he saw hundreds of red papers in the ballot box. However, in the blink of an eye, the red faded little by little, and there was no difference between them and ordinary ballots.
When the skeleton left, it stopped at Sur for a moment, probably considering whether to take the opportunity to kill him.
Ji Heng said coldly, "The candidate for the Chief of Guards has not yet been announced."
The skeleton was unwilling to give up. He thought that if he traveled during the day, he would fall into sleep again earlier. After weighing the two options, he decided to take the old woman's life first.
"I'll remember you."
The skeleton had already walked some distance when it suddenly turned back with lightning speed and stretched out its sharp claws, reaching towards half of Sur's arm.
You can't take away someone's life, but you can teach them a lesson.
Sur seemed to have known this would happen, and actually made a move to escape before the skeleton turned back. The Ghost King's outstretched claws froze in mid-air, momentarily dazed.
Su Er gasped: "Husband and wife are of one mind, you and I are in sync."
The Ghost King was now the closest to Wen Buyu, only a few inches away, and the latter's legs were almost limp with fear. Fortunately, the skeleton finally gave up the attack, quickly moved forward on the street and disappeared.
In fact, even if he didn't hide, with the pendant, the Ghost King couldn't do anything to Sul with one blow, but he didn't want to expose the existence of the prop.
Ji Heng came over and gently reminded: "The effect of that thing on you is not even one tenth of what it would have on the old lady."
The implication is that he should not rely too much on props.
Suer nodded, his mind as clear as a mirror. The old lady and the Ghost King had a mother-son relationship, and with the pendant injected with umbilical cord blood, her life could naturally be saved.
The townspeople gradually regained consciousness. The chief of guards asked Li Shouzhang to stay and count the votes, while the rest of the crowd gradually dispersed. Some glanced greedily at the ballot box before leaving, dreaming of becoming the chief of guards.
Before going in, Li Shouzhang couldn't help but glance at Wen Buyu, remembering her promise this morning that she would leave this place as soon as the election for the chief of guards was over, and the fact that he had poisoned his father would be covered up underground along with the funeral.
The votes were very scattered, with the three Li brothers holding the highest vote count. After the incident, the townspeople had no choice but to choose someone else. The early voting time also forced most people to form small groups and vote for those close to them.
With the help of the Ghost King, Sur is competent with absolute advantage.
After seeing the result, the chief guard covered his chest and coughed several times, shocked by the completely unexpected candidate.
Li Shouzhang knew the result long ago, but his face was still very ugly. If there had been no unexpected changes in the middle, he could have built up momentum after his father's death, won the sympathy of the townspeople, and become the chief of guards. Now he could only watch the position go to someone else.
Unwilling to give up, he asked, "Is there something wrong with this ticket?"
The guard's face turned cold. The Yin energy entering his body had already made his face pale, and now there was no trace of blood. He shouted in a low voice: "Who gave you the courage to question the votes!"
If I hadn't lacked strength, I would have whipped him.
Li Shouzhang's subconscious fear of the Chief of Guards made him shut up.
"Whoever gets the most votes will be the new Chief of Guards." The Chief of Guards suddenly lowered his head and let out a strange laugh. "It doesn't matter. Once you become Chief of Guards, you can't make even the slightest mistake from now on."
He felt the pain of it better than anyone else.
That afternoon, the Chief of Health announced the new Chief of Health in front of everyone.
This was an extremely important moment. Even if there were doubts in their hearts, no one dared to raise them in public.
Sur stood beside the Chief of Guards, his gaze sweeping across the faces without much expression. He spoke only a few words, and since the previous Chief of Guards was in poor health and needed assistance even to stand, the succession ceremony ended hastily.
This is very much to the players' liking, otherwise, after a long time when the sun sets, who knows what kind of unexpected changes will happen.
As the previous chief of guards was helped away by Li Shouzhang, the townspeople also dispersed one after another.
Wen Buyu asked for his opinion: "Go back to the courtyard?"
Wan Yi shook his head: "The host will come."
Just as he said, in just a moment, Mr. Shuhai appeared in front of them.
"Congratulations everyone for beating the game." As he spoke, his gaze lingered on Sur for a moment, murderous intent flashing in his eyes.
Soul had seen the same expression on Mr. Rose's face.
"Mountains and rivers are bound to meet each other," Mr. Shuhai said coldly, "I look forward to the day when I can see you all again."
After saying that, he flicked his sleeves, and the player's body was covered by the beam of light, gradually dissolving and disappearing.
He didn't leave the game directly. Just like in the first instance, Sur stood in an open space. The smell of blood filled his nose. He turned sideways and saw a wounded woman lying under a tree not far away. Her wounds were healing at a visible speed. Beside her, a girl sobbed uncontrollably.
"At least we survived." The injured woman comforted her companion.
Around Sur, except for Ge Xuyan, all the players who entered the same dungeon were there.
Wen Buyu couldn't wait to check the calculated points, but unexpectedly the sky above his head suddenly darkened and dark clouds gathered like ink.
Suer's eyelids twitched...this scene seemed familiar.
Without a trace of surprise, the next moment, a cold, mechanical notification chime echoed throughout the world: [Congratulations to player Su'er for achieving the achievement 'The Vanishing Lover'.]
For dozens of seconds after the prompt tone ended, there was complete silence all around.
The girl who had been sobbing uncontrollably before now wiped away the tears with her sleeve, looking around in disbelief. The announcement had just ended, which meant that this player had also recently entered the game, and might even be right next to them.
Su Er had already become a little famous before, and his actions in the novice field were broadcast publicly through the water curtain, so people soon recognized him.
Ji Heng suddenly said, "Follow me."
Without hesitation, Sur followed.
The inquiring gazes behind him were like knives stabbing into his back. If it weren't for Ji Heng's consideration, the players would have surrounded him and asked about the achievement points.
Wen Buyu didn't want to cause trouble, so he didn't reveal the fact that he and Su Er were in the same dungeon. He quickly quit the game while everyone's attention was diverted.
A supply point for returning to the grave.
There were only three members in the tent, and one of them saw them come in and said, "There's hot water on the table."
Sur was a little thirsty, so he took a sip after letting it cool down a bit.
The three people also heard the announcement and looked at him with complicated expressions. The boss only had one achievement point, but as a newcomer, Suer got another one, becoming the leader in the game.
Although they are taciturn, they still have basic curiosity.
One of the team members said, "Can you tell us about it?"
There are other players in the same dungeon, each with their own organization. Suer knows that even if he doesn't talk about it now, they will find out soon.
"As for how to earn achievement points, you all know better than me. You have to fulfill the hidden conditions set by the game." He paused and said, "I just stumbled upon it by accident."
The team member smiled bitterly: "Indeed, what everyone fears is not the harsh conditions, but the fact that they don't know what the conditions are."
Just like the madman who didn't hesitate to slaughter other players in the past, all players can do is keep trying, which is why they are curious about what Soul has done. After all, the game has been around for a long time, and advanced players have basically done everything they can.
Su Er's face looked a little strange. He was thinking about how to start, but Ji Heng spoke for him: "He just found a ghost king for marriage. The wedding lasted only three days before he ran away again."
To the Ghost King, isn't Soul the 'vanishing lover'?
"..." The team member curled his lips: "Boss, don't make such jokes."
Ji Heng said coldly: "I presided over the wedding."
"..." The team member stood up and walked to the table, drank three glasses of water in a row, and then said to Su Er: "Be tough!"
Su Er really felt a headache.
Ji Heng brought him back to reality with one sentence: "Your charm has increased."
Sur then looked down at his badge and saw that the original '59' had been replaced by '69'.