IGSB – Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Entering the New World (Part 16)
On the final day, after breakfast, the players, who had all been blacklisted by the Ghost King, gathered to discuss their plans.
At this point, the Ghost King's blacklist was no longer important. As long as they could leave alive, they would brave it together!
This discussion was led by Jing Ruyu.
She was the only one who had gone out the previous night and found the ferry crossing. They could only learn about the risks of the night through her.
Jing Ruyu was direct: “Stock up on things that can start a fire. At the very least, everyone needs one. It could save your life when necessary.”
As she spoke, she held up the tinderbox from her pocket. “I used this to burn a ghost to death yesterday.”
Looking at Xia Zhiyi, she added an explanation, “It was a ghost, not a skeleton.”
Xia Zhiyi blinked in surprise. “Oh? So they’re afraid of fire too?”
Jing Ruyu nodded lightly.
Last night, she had been entangled with a spider-like ghost. She had to be gentle to avoid waking the surrounding ghosts while constantly fending off attacks and watching for the right moment to strike. The difficulty had instantly increased significantly.
However, while she wanted to keep a low profile, her opponent did not.
The ghost not only relied on its regenerative abilities, unafraid of being slashed by blades or chopped by axes, but it also smashed things left and right, as if it wanted to turn the world upside down and throw the Gu Residence into chaos.
She defended against its attacks several times, but it only grew more aggressive. Finally, her patience wore thin. During one attack, she grabbed some nearby weeds, lit them, and threw them directly at it.
The moment it saw the fire, its expression changed. Its offensive faltered, and it tried to hide in terror.
Seizing the opportunity, she pressed her advantage. Flames erupted, instantly engulfing the monster. Just like that, she had accidentally resolved the crisis.
Xia Zhiyi nodded in understanding and distributed the few extra tinderboxes she had shamelessly requested earlier to Xiao Ya and the other two.
The three were incredibly moved that Xia Zhiyi would so generously share such an important item. Then they watched as Xia Zhiyi turned to Jing Ruyu and said, “Let’s go fleece some more later. The more, the better. If we can’t get them, we’ll steal a few. You’re more skilled, so I’ll be your lookout.”
The three of them: “…”
You really are an outlaw.
Jing Ruyu felt an inexplicable urge to laugh. She nodded and said, “Yes, we’ll go find her in a bit.”
The “her” she referred to was the kind-hearted little maid NPC.
“Okay!” Xia Zhiyi replied cheerfully. “Speaking of which, is the ferry crossing really in the backyard? Is it true that the area underneath is full of skeletons? How did you manage to open the gate and avoid them yesterday?”
Her questions came out in a rush, one after another, making her seem quite eager.
The other three also turned their gazes to Jing Ruyu.
After listening, Jing Ruyu calmly stated, “I didn’t open the gate, and the skeletons below didn’t see me.”
Xia Zhiyi: “?”
“You can also see it from the top of the wall,” Jing Ruyu said, taking a composed sip of water. “The instance didn’t force us to open the gate.”
Xia Zhiyi closed her agape mouth. After a moment of thought, she cursed the New World in her heart once more.
You didn’t need to open the gate to confirm the ferry crossing’s location, but they still had to open it to get there. Not everyone here had Jing Ruyu’s skills.
The New World, what a vicious thing!
“However, the skeletons’ range of movement is limited to that backyard. It seems they can’t leave that area.”
Jing Ruyu turned to look at Xia Zhiyi.
“Yesterday, I saw some skeletons walk to the courtyard gate. They really wanted to get out but couldn’t. Then they suddenly looked up towards Miss Gu’s residence before turning back into the courtyard, looking reluctant and unwilling.”
Reluctant and unwilling…
Xia Zhiyi felt like she had heard the word “unwilling” quite a lot these past few days. It was as if the entire residence was filled with an air of resentment, making one feel very uncomfortable, yet it was impossible to ignore.
“No clue,” Xia Zhiyi frowned, but her expression quickly relaxed. “Shall we go for a walk?”
Jing Ruyu nodded. “Let’s find that person first.”
Seeing that the two had their own plans, Zhou Yan turned to Xiao Ya and Liuliu. “Then let’s go for a walk too.”
She picked up a tinderbox. “We’ll find something to put inside this to see if we can make the fire bigger. We can also familiarize ourselves with the path to the backyard.”
Liuliu and Xiao Ya nodded. To survive, everyone was united and full of motivation.
With the wedding postponed, the servants in the residence had another day of hard labor.
Like tireless tools, they remained at their posts, silently and numbly serving the Gu family.
The little maid Jing Ruyu had saved was also assigned to the garden today.
When the two found her, she was squatting on the ground, tending to the flowers and plants. The sunlight spilled on her, creating a scene so serene and beautiful it was as if evil spirits and monsters had never existed here.
While lamenting how miserable it was to be an NPC, having to work diligently despite knowing there were ghosts around, Xia Zhiyi called out to greet her.
The little maid turned, and upon seeing familiar faces, she couldn’t help but smile. “Benefactors, you’re here again.”
She was still as innocent, friendly, and endearing as ever.
“Is there anything you need this time?”
Jing Ruyu spoke first. “We’d like two more tinderboxes.”
Xia Zhiyi added, “And a few torches.”
The little maid tilted her head, puzzled. “What do you need these for?”
“We’ll use the torches to help you drive away snakes, insects, rats, and ants, and also burn some weeds to lighten your burden,” Xia Zhiyi said with great kindness.
The little maid recalled Xiao Qiao saying the wedding was postponed because the weeds in the residence hadn't been cleared. Believing her without suspicion, she told them to wait and immediately ran off to help gather the tools.
As a member of the residence staff, it was easier for her to collect tools than it was for Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu. She returned quickly.
Of course, she didn’t forget to include a bucket of water.
“Please be careful when using fire. Don’t let it burn anything else, or the Master and Young Lady will be angry.”
Xia Zhiyi took the bucket, thinking to herself: It’s fine, your young lady was already full of anger last night.
Jing Ruyu glanced towards the shaded area of the garden.
It was quiet there, just as quiet as when they first arrived, with nothing but a few new trees they had planted.
But she knew that the ghost that was cowardly to the core was definitely still there.
She retracted her gaze and looked at the little maid, asking, “Aren’t you afraid?”
The little maid paused for a moment. When she realized what Jing Ruyu was referring to, she smiled. “I am, but I still have to do my work.”
Seeing her smile, the two of them were suddenly at a loss for words.
They didn’t know whether to say she was just another emotionless, numb tool or that her fate was tragic. It seemed the servants of the Gu Residence could never escape this cage, from birth to death.
“Have you never thought of escaping?” Jing Ruyu suddenly asked.
She was both trying to see what the maid was thinking and hoping to trigger a new plotline.
The little maid was taken aback.
It was the first time she had ever heard someone ask this question.
But why escape?
Serving the Gu family, attending to the young lady, this was their destiny—they had never questioned this destiny.
“Why would I escape?” she asked Jing Ruyu in return.
Jing Ruyu was blunt. “I don’t want to lie to you. Here, you will never belong to yourself, and you will never have any freedom.
“In life, you have to work for her. In death, you become a ghost, helping her kill people under her command. Even when you’re nothing but a pile of white bones, you still have to guard her gate.
“You—no, every single one of you, from life to death, will be used by the Gu family, by this young lady.”
She had laid bare a fact, a reality the little maid had never heard before.
The little maid was stunned. “You mean…”
She hesitantly pointed towards the shaded grove. “Those people were once servants in this residence, just like me?”
Xia Zhiyi nodded.
The little maid was so shocked she stood speechless for a long time.
So after they died, their faces and souls would become so twisted that they were unrecognizable, thinking only of harming people every day?
Even as a pile of bones, they had to continue being the young lady’s watchdog?
So this was their entire life…
But why was it like this? Why did they have to suffer all this?
All of it sounded so—
“So unwilling.”
Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu suddenly heard her say this.
An exceptionally familiar phrase.
The two looked at her, only to see her pupils suddenly turn white. Three seconds later, they returned to normal, and she smiled again. “What were we just talking about?”
“…”
The two exchanged a look, a question forming in their minds: Was her memory just erased?
Xia Zhiyi suddenly thought of something and pulled Jing Ruyu’s hand to the side, whispering, “She doesn’t remember what you said. Could it be that they have some kind of curse from the Ghost King on them that automatically erases related memories and suppresses their emotions, forcing them to be docile tools?
“Could the ‘unwillingness’ the ghosts keep muttering be about this?”
To be used by someone from life until death, until they turned to dust—no one would be willing to accept that.
The Ghost King needed people to work for her, and to save herself trouble, she would naturally want quiet people who wouldn’t cause problems. So, once someone learned of their fate after death and their emotions fluctuated, that memory would be erased.
And since the ghosts were already dead, they had become the Ghost King’s kin, so there was no longer a need to erase their memories.
These were all Xia Zhiyi’s speculations; she couldn’t say for sure if they were right.
Jing Ruyu fell silent for a moment upon hearing this, then turned to look at the shaded grove.
“We can just ask for the answer directly.”
Xia Zhiyi paused, her gaze following Jing Ruyu’s to the grove.
The sky was clear, the wind was gentle, and the leaves rustled.
The ghost hid beneath the ground, waiting for its prey to walk right into its trap.
It waited for a long, long time, and finally, it heard faint footsteps from above.
Step by step, they drew closer.
Here it comes, here it comes, new prey is here.
The time to avenge its shame and be a ghost anew has finally arrived!
“Hah—die—”
Swish!
A shovel plunged straight into the ground in front of it, and that familiar sense of oppression descended once more.
Its expression froze. It swallowed hard and slowly looked up.
Beneath the layers of leaves, two beautiful women were looking down at it.
They stood on either side of it, holding torches that were utterly fatal to it.
The one with more delicate features smiled at it. “Hi, we meet again.”
“…”
I really didn’t want to meet again.
Jing Ruyu beckoned to it with a finger. “Come out. We have some questions for you. If you dare to run, I’ll burn all the trees here, and you’ll have to stay in the dirt for the rest of your life.”
“???”
Are these two not some fierce bandits from a mountain stronghold?!
It had no choice but to obediently crawl out of the dirt pile and stand respectfully before the two of them.
To be a ghost to this extent was a great loss of face…
“Um, can you move the torches a little further away from me?” it asked awkwardly.
Xia Zhiyi very kindly moved it a tiny bit away and got straight to the point. “Do you know where you’ll go after you’ve been baked by the sun until you’re nothing but bones?”
“I know, the backyard.”
After saying that, it took two large, wary steps back.
“What are you trying to do? I haven’t provoked you!”
After a few seconds, nothing happened to the ghost.
Jing Ruyu smiled. “Relax, we won’t do anything to you.”
Her not smiling was one thing, but her smile made the ghost’s hair stand on end.
The Ghost King was terrifying, but people who didn’t act like people were also terrifying!
What kind of sin had it committed to run into people like this?!
Xia Zhiyi asked again, “Are you also unwilling? Unwilling to only obey the Ghost King and be stuck here?”
The ghost was instantly speechless. “…”
To be honest, it was indeed unwilling.
Why should it be trapped in this place even after becoming a ghost, not allowed to go anywhere? And it could only listen to the Ghost King’s words like a dog…
But what did that have to do with them? If they were so sympathetic, then they should just let it kill them to vent its frustration!
“None of your damn business.”
Xia Zhiyi raised an eyebrow.
Oh, it had quite a temper.
“Don’t be upset. I have one more question for you. Do you know what your Ghost King is afraid of?”
The ghost froze upon hearing this. It subconsciously glanced at the burning torch, and realizing its mistake, it hastily averted its gaze.
“I don’t know! Don’t ask me!”
Xia Zhiyi and Jing Ruyu exchanged a look.
It was clear this was a ghost that couldn’t keep a secret and was terrible at acting.
A new idea formed in their minds in perfect sync.
Xia Zhiyi turned her head and looked at the terrified and disheveled ghost with a smile.
“Last question, want to join us and pull off a big job?”
The ghost: “…”
These two must be fierce bandits from some mountain stronghold!!!
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