Fear Under the Sun

 

Yan Hebi glanced at the Little Mirror and thought that although the person in the mirror was good-looking, he still liked girls. Unlike Qian Daniu, he wasn’t that obsessed, but he still felt a little twinge of jealousy.

Yan Hebi asked, “In the hospital world, it seems you didn’t use this ability. Otherwise, wouldn’t that world have been easier?”

Xing Ye looked at Yan Hebi. Although there was a strange hint of jealousy in Yan Hebi’s words, the question just happened to touch on a topic Xing Ye wanted to discuss.

Xing Ye said, “In the hospital world, the mirror hadn’t gained this ability yet. After that world ended, I obtained an upgrade QR code, and the mirror’s initial skill upgraded to ‘Eye of Truth.’ That’s when it gained the power to read mirrors in the game worlds. However, in worlds without a mirror, its power is difficult to exert.”

Yan Hebi nodded repeatedly. “I get it. In this world without computers, I really am useless.”

Qian Daniu said, “This ability is so convenient! Though you can’t hear sound. Can the Little Mirror enter other mirrors and hear what the village chief or village secretary is saying?”

“Impossible,” Xing Ye hid the fact that the mirror could transfer consciousness, “the item is fixed to one object; it cannot transfer.”

Xing Ye’s words were highly convincing. His acting could deceive an elite player like Shao Lin, and Qian Daniu didn’t suspect anything.

After seeing the content displayed by Lu Mingze, the group stayed awake and gathered to discuss.

Qian Daniu asked, “If the lip-reading that the Little Mirror decoded is correct, does that mean the village chief is a good person?”

Cao Qian shook her head. “On the contrary, I think the village chief’s real goal is to kill the Mountain God and seize the grass on the mountain used to make paper humans. He was the first living person to return from the mountain and can turn people into paper humans, so he must know many secrets.”

“And what about the village secretary?” Yan Hebi asked. “Now it’s basically confirmed he’s human, but what kind of existence is he? Is he looking out for the villagers, or does he have his own purpose?”

Xing Ye said, “He only took bone from you to save his son. For now, his motives are mysterious. There are already many clues, but we still lack some key information. When it gets light, we need to do the following—

“First, probe what controls people during the day, see if it affects our bodies, and determine whether it is related to the Mountain God;

“Second, gather information from the village secretary. We can split up: Yan Hebi will go through the village secretary’s wife, while Qian Daniu and Cao Qian approach the secretary. If necessary, use force, and we can test his combat ability at the same time;

“Third, search for QR codes. I previously found a very special QR code in this world. I believe we will gain more;

“Fourth, locate Yang Dazhuang. I want to study his body.”

Qian Daniu listened to Xing Ye while annoyed that she didn’t have a pen to record. When he finished, she only remembered the last point and asked, “Study? Skin him?”

Xing Ye shook his head. “I have a testing method. As long as Yang Dazhuang is unconscious for a few minutes, it’s enough. I had planned to do a test for us before, but it was too late, so I intended to wait until morning. Now we can test.”

Xing Ye hadn’t done the test immediately, not because it was late, but to give Qian Daniu time to calm down. Now that she had, it was fine to proceed; it would only take a few minutes.

The “Test tube” was a QR code Xing Ye found in the hospital world’s laboratory. The original QR code had been replaced with two player chips in the casino world and later exchanged back. It was the only QR code Xing Ye possessed.

Yan Hebi raised his hand. “I’ll test first. I’m worried about the spine in my back.”

Xing Ye immediately drew the “Test tube” QR code. A capsule appeared on the kang, and Yan Hebi lay inside.

Curious, Qian Daniu hovered around the capsule. One minute later, a test report came out. Yan Hebi crawled out, and the capsule disappeared after a few more seconds.

The report read:

Patient Race: Paper-Grass Human
Patient Gender: Male
Symptoms: Second thoracic vertebra missing
Potential Risk: Patient used a replacement; replacement lifespan 72 hours, easily damaged after 72 hours
Blood Test Result: No blood, fluid in the body is sticky paper-grass sap
Physical Condition: Blessed by Mountain God for 9 years
Remaining Duration of Mountain God’s Blessing: 500 years

Qian Daniu glanced at the report, seeing that the capsule could examine many details. She quickly entered a new testing capsule, and her results were:

Patient Race: Hybrid of Paper-Grass and Human, 14 human blood
Patient Gender: Female
Symptoms: External bite marks, minor
Potential Risk: Though only 14% human, physical traits are human-like, recovery slightly faster than humans, but inherently weak
Blood Test Result: Human blood and paper-grass sap genetically fused, recovery twice as fast as normal humans, 18 for paper
Physical Condition: Not blessed by Mountain God
Remaining Lifespan: Over 150 years

Xing Ye’s test result was:

Patient Race: Weak Human
Patient Gender: Male
Symptoms: External bite marks, minor
Potential Risk: Human body too weak
Blood Test Result: Ordinary human blood
Physical Condition: Not blessed by Mountain God
Remaining Lifespan: Less than 70 years

Cao Qian and Xing Ye’s test results were the same as each other except for gender, showing ordinary humans.

Xing Ye held the four test reports and said: “From the test reports, we can see that paper-people really do have stronger vitality than humans, and they can even have hybrid children with humans. So it’s understandable that the village chief wants to turn all the villagers into paper-people. But perhaps the Mountain God’s blessing places some kind of restriction on the village chief, which is why he wants to kill the Mountain God in exchange for freedom.”

Qian Daniu took her own report and said: “I think being mixed-blood is pretty good. It doesn’t affect life at all, lifespan is even longer, and I’m not one of those people blessed or controlled by the Mountain God. So why would the walking corpses want to kill me?”

No one could answer this question. It would need to be investigated tomorrow.

After staying up for most of the night, the group lay down again. This time, with everything discussed clearly and tasks assigned for tomorrow, they slept soundly.

Sleeping positions were rearranged: Xing Ye next to Yan Hebi, Qian Daniu next to Cao Qian. Xing Ye slept on the innermost side, Cao Qian—whose reaction speed was fastest—took the outer side, with Yan Hebi and Qian Daniu in the middle.

Qian Daniu tugged on Yan Hebi to her left: “Your real name is Yan Hebi? That sounds nice, unlike my name—it’s so tacky.”

Half-asleep, Yan Hebi asked with half-open eyes: “What’s your name?”

Qian Daniu said: “You might think I’m lying, but my name really is Qian Jinlai—Jin with the jade radical, Lai with the grass radical. It’s a homophone for ‘money come in.’ Because of this name I was teased by classmates since childhood. Honestly, it’s better if you just call me Qian Daniu.”

“Mm, okay.” Yan Hebi mumbled and drifted off to sleep.

Qian Daniu still couldn’t sleep. She tugged on Cao Qian beside her and whispered: “That Liang Ergou from the Guard Team—you knew him before, didn’t you?”

Cao Qian stayed silent, closing her eyes to pretend to sleep. Everyone had noticed, but since she hadn’t brought it up, no one asked. Xing Ye and Yan Hebi, being men, didn’t feel comfortable asking, but Qian Daniu was different—she loved gossip.

“You two were teammates before. But it looks like you hold a grudge against him? He harmed you, didn’t he!” Qian Daniu rubbed her chin. “No, wait. With your straightforward personality, so clear on grudges and favours, even if a teammate betrayed you, you wouldn’t have jumped out from behind the wall just from anger. That means you lost your cool for another reason. Ah—you don’t secretly like him, do you…”

“Shut up, go to sleep!” Cao Qian clamped her hand over Qian Daniu’s mouth to stop her from talking further.

From now on, the team needed a rule: forbid Qian Daniu’s bedtime gossip. The first time she chatted with Yan Hebi, she dug up an epic four-way love tangle. Now she had turned her attention to Cao Qian and was unearthing grudges and past entanglements with an ex-teammate.

Cao Qian thought her personal matters were minor and not worth discussing. She had only jumped out before because she suddenly recognized Liang Ergou as the teammate who had once fought beside her from the novice world all the way forward. Now that she’d calmed down, it didn’t matter.

Love, hate, grudges—none of it mattered. He was just a former teammate. If he got in the way, Cao Qian would kill him with her own hands. If Xing Ye needed him alive, then she wouldn’t touch him.

It was that simple.

With her mouth covered by Cao Qian, Qian Daniu finally fell asleep. The group of youngsters slept straight through until the next morning when the sun was already bright. Judging by its position, it was past nine o’clock.

Xing Ye had never woken up later than seven. This time, oversleeping could only be blamed on Yang Xiaomao—he was young, weak, and exhausted from last night’s ordeal, so he slept longer than usual.

When Qian Daniu woke up, she clutched her stomach and said: “I’m starving…”

She had eaten the least yesterday and even vomited. Now she really was hungry. But as a human–paper hybrid, her endurance was better than a human’s; though famished, her strength was still fine.

Yang Xiaomao’s home was completely bare—there wasn’t a single grain of rice in the jar. After fetching water from the vat to wash up, the group decided to go out and look for food.

But the moment they stepped outside, exposed to the sunlight, a thought suddenly appeared in Xing Ye’s mind, commanding him to return at once to where the sacrificial offerings were meant to go.

Under the sunlight, Xing Ye was controlled!

 

Translator : DarNan