Uncle Tian moved using photosynthesis.

 

Xing Ye quickly crumpled the QR code into his palm, clenched his fist, turned around, and looked helplessly at Aunt Tian. “Auntie, Uncle Tian fell into the paddy field.”

Aunt Tian walked over with a kind smile, gently touched Xing Ye’s face, and said, “Good child, your Uncle Tian has poor health—he can’t get wet. Turn around and close your eyes.”

Obediently, Xing Ye took a few steps away, turned his back, and heard rustling sounds behind him.

Unfortunately, the "projector" could only be used on players, not NPCs, or else he could’ve seen what Aunt Tian was doing.

Xing Ye wasn’t worried about his own safety. He had personally witnessed the village chief casually disposing of Yang Xiaomao’s father and ignoring the pleas of Xiaomao’s mother, yet the chief hadn’t harmed him. Instead, he was taken to eat, bathe, change clothes, and brought here.

This meant the mountain god's sacrifices had to remain alive. Moreover, the village chief clearly didn’t care what the sacrifices saw—so Aunt Tian likely felt the same.

While Aunt Tian was focused on her task, Xing Ye shielded his movements with his body, unfolded the nearly ruined piece of paper, and quickly scanned the QR code with his wristband.

Through countless worlds, it had been proven that while NPCs might know someone was a player, they definitely couldn’t see the wristband. And in worlds where phones existed, NPCs would only see normal phones, not the monochrome interface of the system.

Right after absorbing the QR code, Xing Ye heard Aunt Tian speak behind him: “Good boy, give me the paper in your hand. Your Uncle Tian already lost one leg—we can’t let him lose the other.”

Xing Ye remained calm. Without turning around, he continued facing away and passed the soaked piece of paper back. This type of paper was quite durable—similar to the material used for Chinese currency. Even when wet, it wouldn’t fall apart, and once dried, it could be used again.

Aunt Tian took the paper. A few minutes later, Xing Ye heard her say, “Good child, let auntie take you back now.”

She never let Xing Ye turn around to see what had happened. She had him walk in front and forbade him from looking back.

Xing Ye asked, “Aunt Tian, earlier you said Uncle Tian’s left leg was injured. Is it painful? Can it be healed?”

“Hehe, this period will be hard, but once the mountain god’s ritual is over, everything will be fine, hehe.” Aunt Tian let out a gentle, kind laugh.

Under the scorching sun, Xing Ye felt a chill run down his spine.

From Aunt Tian’s words, Xing Ye deduced that this wasn’t an ordinary village, and the matter of sacrifices to the mountain god wasn’t just folklore.

Back in the room, Aunt Tian took Xing Ye to wash his hands and feet, cleaned the mud off his shoes and pants, and gave him a red outfit to change into. She said it was temporary—once his original clothes dried, he’d have to switch back.

After handling all this, Aunt Tian brought Xing Ye back to the room and told the children, “It’s almost time to eat. Be good, all of you.”

Once she walked away, Xing Ye told the others what had happened.

“You didn’t look back?” Qin Xiao’er asked unhappily, as if blaming Xing Ye for not checking.

Xing Ye feigned fear. “I was alone at the time. I’m a fate defying player and don’t have any strong QR codes. I had to obey.”

It was normal for fate defying players to have fewer QR codes. Xing Ye was playing the role of a player with 60,000 points and only in his second advanced world—being timid and cautious fit the profile.

“Paper person? Fully healed after the mountain god’s ritual…” Wang Sifang muttered, as if a thought had occurred to him.

Qian Daniu’s eyes flashed—she had her own ideas as well.

Though the five of them appeared to get along, each had their own agenda.

Cao Qian deeply disliked this kind of environment—it reminded her too much of her past teammates, each hiding their own motives. But ever since she met Xing Ye, things had changed. Among his companions, there was mutual trust. They followed their leader, acted according to Xing Ye’s plans, and everything went smoothly.

In truth, neither Cao Qian nor Guan Ling were the kind to trust teammates easily at first. But gradually, under Xing Ye’s influence, they came to believe there was no need for scheming—because Xing Ye constantly instilled the idea: Our enemy is not each other—it’s the system.

It was this shift in mindset that allowed Guan Ling and Cao Qian to maintain a cooperative spirit even after separating from Xing Ye. Cao Heihei found this former toxic team dynamic unbearable now.

Her fingers twitched—she had the urge to control the others. She had obtained several QR codes after escaping the villa world. Judging from the situations where they were acquired, most of these codes likely had restraining or binding effects—they might come in handy…

Xing Ye tapped the edge of the heated brick bed a few times. Cao Heihei immediately stopped—Xing Ye was signaling her to be patient.

Aunt Tian brought in their meal—there wasn’t a single piece of meat. It was all wild vegetables and coarse rice, with some bits of rice bran mixed in—completely unappetizing.

Everyone found the food tasteless. Qian Daniu pouted, “Auntie, why does our food taste so bad? Don’t we get any meat?”

“Hehe, the mountain god doesn’t like children who eat meat,” Aunt Tian said. “You all have to eat vegetarian food obediently. These vegetables were the life-saving crops left by the mountain god for the villagers, so every generation of sacrifices has to eat them.”

Xing Ye asked, “Aunt Tian, how did the mountain god save the villagers? Has anyone really seen the mountain god?”

“Yes,” Aunt Tian said, patting Xing Ye’s head. “Actually, the mountain god didn’t appear too long ago—about fifty years back. I was just a little girl then, maybe seven or eight. That year, there was a terrible famine—no harvest at all. People were so poor they were eating dirt.”

This “eating dirt” wasn’t a joke—it referred to a type of clay known as Guanyin soil, which could suppress hunger but offered no nutrition. It couldn’t be digested, and while small amounts wouldn’t kill you, people would still die of malnutrition.

“After eating it for two days, many people died, but some kept chewing on it. Then a child said he saw a figure in the mountains and ran in—he never came back. But those who followed found wild vegetables in the crevices of the rocks—the same kind you’re eating now.

“They followed that path and found wild vegetables all over the ground. That year, everyone survived because of those greens. But the child never returned.

“Three years later, another famine came. Another child disappeared—and again, wild vegetables saved everyone.

“Since then, the village began the practice of offering children. At first, they did it wrong, and the mountain god got angry. But slowly, people figured it out, and now we have five offerings each time.

“Eat well. In three days, someone will escort you up the mountain.”

After hearing all that, Xing Ye asked, “How many people will be in the group taking us up the mountain?”

“Also five, all chosen from those who have returned from previous trips to the mountain,” Aunt Tian replied.

“But didn’t they lose their memories?” Xing Ye asked again. “Do they still remember the way up the mountain?”

Aunt Tian chuckled and said, “Who knows? If the Mountain God wants them to forget, then they have to forget. If the Mountain God wants them to remember, would they dare not remember?”

As she spoke, the children forced themselves to finish the unappetizing dinner. Aunt Tian didn’t let them clean up—she took away the bowls and dishes herself and then locked the door to the room where the children were staying.

“If you need to use the toilet, just knock,” Aunt Tian said from outside.

Xing Ye stared at the door, lost in thought.

Captain Qin looked at Xing Ye and said, “Don’t you think you’ve been talking too much? These kinds of questions should be asked by me. If you want to know something, you should tell me and let me ask. That’s how a team works.”

Xing Ye looked at him innocently and said, “I was just trying to understand the situation. Since you said that, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Captain Qin said coldly, “If it weren’t dangerous to go out after dark and we didn’t need your combat strength, I’d teach you a lesson right now.”

Xing Ye glanced at Captain Qin, then subtly at Wang Sifang, and couldn’t help wondering—was the system assigning him teammates like this on purpose?

Being able to bend and yield when necessary, Xing Ye held back his rebuttal and obediently agreed.

Qian Daniu clutched her stomach and said, “I only chewed a couple of bites of weeds—I’m not full at all. This is too cruel.”

Actually, it had always been traditional during sacrificial rituals to bathe, burn incense, and fast for several days. Xing Ye thought the food was quite normal in that context.

Qian Daniu sniffled and said, “I clearly smelled meat earlier, but what was brought to us was all wild vegetables. This is so miserable.”

She couldn’t bear the food, but Cao Qian forced herself to eat her fill. No matter how bad it tasted, she swallowed it down—she was the main combatant in the group and needed the strength. This wasn’t the time to be picky.

The group chatted for a while, but the conversation didn’t go well, and eventually, no one spoke. They sat silently until night fell.

During that time, each of them went to the bathroom once. Their escort was supposedly Uncle Tian, and Cao Qian said his right leg had also become lame.

Xing Ye knew it was because of the paper he had crushed earlier, but he said nothing about the QR code.

Night finally fell completely. Qin Xiao’er walked to the door and used some unknown skill. The lock outside clicked open quietly.

By then, all the lights were off, and snores could be heard from the small room next door—Aunt Tian was clearly fast asleep.

The group of children tiptoed out. Just as they opened the outer door, they saw Uncle Tian sitting right outside, eyes wide open.

Qin Xiao’er, who was in the lead, was startled and almost cried out in fright. Fortunately, Cao Heihei behind him was quick and covered his mouth before he could make a sound.

Uncle Tian saw them, but didn’t move at all. The five tiptoed past and saw that his eyes were wide open, yet he remained completely motionless. When Qin Xiao’er gave him a push, he didn’t react.

No wonder they said you could go out after dark—this guy, whether man or paper, couldn’t move at night.

“What is he, photosynthetic?” Qin Xiao’er mouthed silently.

They were close enough to see each other's faces in the dim moonlight. Xing Ye saw Qin Xiao’er’s lips and roughly guessed his meaning.

A thought stirred in Xing Ye’s mind—actually... that might not be impossible.

Based on the legend, the wild vegetables were symbolic of the Mountain God. Though called vegetables, they were actually grass. And some types of grass could be used to make paper.

Ancient Egypt even had a kind of papyrus plant whose roots were edible and whose sap was a natural adhesive—pressed together, it could be used as paper. Xing Ye had seen such paper before in a museum while traveling in Egypt.

And Uncle Tian was also made of paper, though of a different type than what Xing Ye was familiar with.

So Uncle Tian = paper man = grass man. Relying on photosynthesis to move wasn’t entirely out of the question. After all, this was a mysterious world full of secrets.

And Aunt Tian had mentioned that after the Mountain God’s sacrifice, Uncle Tian’s lost left leg could be restored.

If that was the case, then how many paper people were there in this village?

Translator : DarNan