“Brother Lou, what are we looking for?” Lin Man Man asked as she followed behind Lou Fan. Lou Fan has long legs so 2 steps from him equal to 3 steps for Lin Man Man. Furthermore, he walks fast so Lin Man Man needs to trot to keep up.
Lou Fan’s eyes swept around as he replied, “Keep an eye for a pair of mother and daughter.”
Lin Man Man nodded, “Okay, Brother Lou. Go slower, please?”
Lou Fan slowed down. The mother and daughter are no longer at the place he saw them. Since they couldn’t catch up, they could only look around for them carefully. Lin Man Man is a well-behaved girl. Her long and black straight hair is tied into a neat ponytail for easier movement. Lou Fan looked at her and saw that she no longer looked panicked like yesterday, quickly adapted to the world. Lou Fan could not help but sigh that ‘the environment will make people grow’, but it still varies from person to person.
“Are you afraid, Man Man?” Lou Fan asked.
Lin Man Man, who was looking around carefully, became silent for a while when she heard the words. Pursing her lips, she replied, “I was still feeling scared yesterday or even this morning, but it’s better now. Brother Lou, can you tell me some experience?”
“Experience, huh? Let me think about it.” Lou Fan also fell into a silence. He didn’t seem to have any experience to talk about. After thinking for a long time, he said, “The first is to improve your own strength. This is the most important. Second, there are many useful items in the mission world, such as mission items or key items. You have to pay attention, if you can bring the items back to Lazuli, they can allow you to redeem a lot of good things.”
Lou Fan and Qin Tan have discussed before that the things they exchanged in Lazuli are of fine quality. For example, a normal compressed biscuit can keep one full for half a day, but the ones from Lazuli can last a day or even longer. By the same token, whether it is medicines or weapons, Lazuli’s products are regarded as high-quality goods.
The two chatted as they walked and Lin Man Man took notes one by one. These will be the basis for her survival afterward so she must take notes.
There are very few villagers around, as most of them have run off to the square. After walking for a long time, no one else can be seen. The layout of the houses in the village is also very strange. Lou Fan and Lin Man Man walk around, feeling that everything looked the same as if they are in a maze. Though not sure what’s going on, Lou Fan didn’t have any fear to see the weirdness here, probably because he is mentally prepared.
“What is your spirit weapon?” Lou Fan asked Lin Man Man, turning his head.
Lin Man Man got taken aback and didn’t realize what a spirit weapon is. 5 seconds later, she took out a rope from her pocket and smiled bitterly, “It’s a skipping rope.”
Skipping rope? It’s another strange spirit weapon.
“I don’t know how to use it.” Lin Man Man said, “I loved skipping rope when I was a kid, and I won an award before. Just that I didn’t expect that the weapon I brought over is a skipping rope. Anyway, Brother Lou’s weapon is better, your bow and arrow are cooler.”
Lin Man Man looked a little helpless while holding the skipping rope. She shook the rope loose with one hand and then retrieve it with another shook. The movements are very skilled.
Lou Fan praised, “This is not a skipping rope at all, you can use it as a whip.”
Lin Man Man grabbed the skipping rope and couldn’t believe what she heard, “Whip? Brother Lou, are you kidding me? The difference is more than a thousand miles away.”
Lou Fan laughed, “Man Man, you have to know that the only role of spirit weapon for us is to be a weapon, whether it is to attack or defend. So, no matter what form it is, it will end up being used the same way. You don’t need to consider its name. What it is called doesn’t matter, as long as it can keep you alive. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Lin Man Man looked at the rope in her hand, and her gaze slowly became firm. That’s right, as long as she can survive and return to her parents in the real world, who cares? As long as the rope can be used as a weapon to protect herself, isn’t it all right?
Looking at the smiling Lin Man Man, Lou Fan couldn’t help but tease, “But you have to practice your arm strength. Know what is King Kong Barbie? It’s best to practice like that.” Then, seeing Lin Man Man wrinkled her face, Lou Fan laughed unkindly.
The moment Lou Fan caught two figures flashing by at the corner of his eyes, Lou Fan immediately put away his smile, “There, hurry up.”
However, after a turn, the mother and daughter disappeared again. Lou Fan turned around but didn’t even see their shadow. Lin Man Man also looked around. Then she turned around and asked Lou Fan, “Brother Lou, will we trigger the death condition? It may be a key NPC, or it may be a death condition.”
Lou Fan’s intuition is the mother and daughter pair is the key NPC. As for the key to the main mission or side mission, it is hard to say. He has never thought about the conditions of death.
“It’s a 50-50 chance. No one knows whether it is a chance or a death. The fact that we are in the mission world is already not in accordance with common sense. In every mission, we desperately try to stay alive.” Lou Fan said firmly, “I only know that once we found the key NPC, there may be equipment or key clues that we can obtain.”
“Let’s go, keep looking.”
Lin Man Man couldn’t refute, she looked up at the side of Lou Fan’s face. This man looks handsome and gentle and has a very strong style of doing things. He is not at all sloppy, and his way of doing things can’t be linked in the slightest with his looks. That should be what it means by ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’.
The layout of the houses in the village is really strange, and there is no pattern at all. The two could only run around, and yet they didn’t even encounter anyone of the other two groups. Fragmented whispers passed into Lou Fan’s ears, and he walked around looking for the source. The voices sounded near but it actually took him almost 10 minutes to find the person.
In a seemingly crumbling house, a woman kept moving her hands while speaking quietly. Next to her sat a youthful young girl. She has a beautiful face, but with a sad expression. Her brows are furrowed and her face is pale. That’s them.
Lin Man Man looked at Lou Fan quietly, and Lou Fan gave her a calm look. Lin Man Man took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. It’s okay, Brother Lou is with her!
The room is dark, so Lou Fan’s appearance blocked most of the light shining in from the door, making the room even darker. The two people inside looked up and are stunned when they saw a strange man appear at the door. However, without saying a word, or even asking anything, the woman swiftly lowered her head again to do her own thing. Their expressions can be called numb and despondent. Even with the light blocked, it does not affect the speed in their hands. Lou Fan felt that their fingers are nimbly working even in the dark. They are weaving a fishing net.
“Do you have any difficulties?” Lou Fan asked tentatively.
The two didn’t even lift their eyes and ignored Lou Fan.
Lou Fan continued, “I heard that there are sacrificial activities in the village. We came from outside. I don’t know what the sacrificial offerings are.”
As soon as he uttered those words, the mother and daughter had a pause in their hands, and their faces turned as white as paper. The girl’s lips trembled and her whole body shrank into a ball. The woman yelled and pushed the two of them out, “You are all bad guys. Get out! Scram!”
Lou Fan and Lin Man Man got awkwardly driven out, and the bamboo door is closed with a BANG. The door shook a bit as if it is about to fall apart in the next moment. Lou Fan touched his nose and felt that this NPC is a little different from the old man in Luoyang Ancient Village.
“Let’s go. We’ll go back to the square first.” Lou Fan helplessly said.
Lin Man Man lowered her head and no one knows what she is thinking. After walking for a while, she said, “Brother Lou, I don’t think we can ask directly, we have to be a little more roundabout. Next time, let me do it. I will try to fish for clues.”
Lou Fan nodded. He is really not very good at dealing with little girls. Before this, the junior sisters in the arrow club always surrounded him. They didn’t need him to start a topic as they could keep talking. Now that he needs to start one, it is a bit embarrassing for him.
…
Wen Lang and Zhang Xue chose the other side. Like what Lou Fan’s side, there are no people around here. Since they didn’t have any specific target, they walked fast.
“Let’s walk around first.” Wen Lang said to Zhang Xue.
Zhang Xue pursed her lower lip and suggested, “Let’s go to the lake first.”
Wen Lang shrugged and agreed. They walked quickly to the lake. The surrounding terrain is curvy and has many twists and turns. It is not like any other village at all where there are large gaps between the houses. Instead, they are built close together here, with no gaps at all. Don’t they feel suffocated when living in houses like this?
After walking for a while, they found out that most houses’ door is open. Inside, the items in some of the houses are neatly arranged while some are completely empty and uninhabited. So why are there so many empty houses?
Soon, the three of them arrived at the lake. There are many people by the lake at the moment as they gathered around a boat to decorate it. The boat is decorated very festively. On the other side, there is a smoke-filled building on the mountain not far away, which looks like a temple.
Wen Lang: “That should be Lao Ye Temple.”
Zhang Xue looked at the newly decorated boat indifferently, and said, “They want to use the boat to offer sacrifice?”
Almost immediately, the image of the sacrificial process appeared in the hearts of their hearts. There were many such stories in reality. But what is being offered as sacrifices?
A thin boy passed by them and Wen Lang grabbed him. Smiling at the boy, Wen Lang took out a handful of colorful candies from his trouser pocket and handed it over, “Hello, we are here to travel. I didn’t expect to catch up with your activities. Can you tell me more?”
The young boy looked at the candy in Wen Lang’s hand hesitantly. Then his gaze swept over Wen Lang’s face a few times. After hesitating for a long time, the boy swallowed. He grabbed the candy in Wen Lang’s hand and held it in his hand.
“The sacrificial activities in our village every year are very grand. It is to sacrifice to the undead at the bottom of the sea, hoping that they won’t harass us. There is also the Ju Yuan (statue) in Lao Ye Temple which will protect the safety of our ships.” The boy stared at the candy in his hand, seemed to be thinking about whom to give it to.
“Do you know about Shenzhou?” Wen Lang asked again, “Also, how do you offer the sacrifice?”
“What is Shenzhou?” The boy opened his eyes wide and looked at Wen Lang with doubts written in his eyes, and replied the other question, “After dark, we’ll just drive the boat to the middle of the lake and wait until the midnight fog clears.”
Zhang Xue stared at the young boy with indifferent eyes and asked, “What is on the boat? What is the sacrifice?”
The boy replied as if it’s nothing, “People and livestock, as well as various things made by the villagers themselves.”
Wen Lang wanted to continue to ask but the young boy became a little impatient. He pointed over to a direction and said, “Why do you have so many questions? You will know when you come to participate during our sacrificial process. I’m leaving now, I need to help decorate the boat, otherwise, General Ju Yuan will be angry when he doesn’t like it.”
Sacrifice, people and livestock, in the middle of the lake, heavy fog… the combination of these words is not a good thing when you hear it. A pity that they couldn’t ask about the whereabouts of Shenzhou.
Zhang Xue glanced at Lao Ye Temple in the distance. She turned around and walked back first. Wen Lang also glanced at the crowd around the boat before following Zhang Xue to go back. Xiao Yu remained silent and followed the two closely.
Raw word count: 3096
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