The ‘ Friend of Women’ aura was really useful!

“Doesn’t know anything — what a waste of a skill use!” Niu Xiaohua said angrily.

Yan Hebi saw that Yang Xiaomao was staring at him. He immediately took two steps back to avoid Niu Xiaohua’s embrace, and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand where she had kissed him.

Fortunately, by then Niu Xiaohua’s attention had already shifted to Xing Ye. She smiled slightly and was just about to approach him when Xing Ye said, “No need to use your skill. I’ve already learned about Wang Siping’s item’s ability from you — one piece of intel for another. I’ll tell you our team’s trump card. The one who attacked you that night was Cao Heihei. Her ability is ‘Copy Master’, allowing her to infinitely duplicate the QR codes in our possession. It’s an extremely powerful ability.”

Hearing of such an overpowered ability, Niu Xiaohua’s expression stiffened for a moment, then she sneered and said, “Ha, and you think I’ll just believe that? I’d better verify it myself.”

With that, she started walking toward Xing Ye. Xing Ye, unwilling to let Niu Xiaohua flirt with him, took two quick steps back on his short legs. Niu Xiaohua smiled and said, “Did you really think I have to make physical contact?”

Then she let down her hair, unbuttoned her collar, and threw a charming wink toward Yang Xiaomao, her tone full of seductive allure as she asked, “Who exactly attacked us the night before last? What was their ability?”

Xing Ye imitated Wang Siping’s vacant expression, his mouth slack as he quickly replied, “It was Qian Daniu’s ability. Cao Heihei is a fate-defying player, but her ability is total garbage. Qian Daniu’s ability, on the other hand, is ‘Old-Fashioned Copier.’ She can duplicate up to five QR codes per day — but only if she can see them on a phone screen. Since there are no phones in this world, she uses her wristband instead. What she used that night were codes she’d stockpiled from previous worlds — and she has nearly used them all up.

“The reason we told you it could infinitely copy was just to intimidate you — so you’d follow our lead, and we could get close enough to assassinate you.”

Qian Daniu: “……”

After finishing, Xing Ye noticed the triumphant look on Niu Xiaohua’s face, so he immediately feigned dizziness and shouted, “Your ability is too despicable! I won’t fall for it again!”

“I don’t need you anymore,” Niu Xiaohua said as she tied her hair back up, then turned to the other members of the guard team. “Intel gathering complete.”

Liang Ergou praised, “Sister Niu, you’re amazing!”

Cao Qian couldn’t help but snicker when she heard Liang Ergou’s voice. Before she met Xing Ye, she’d thought her old teammates were very strong — they could always find crucial clues in each world, coordinate well in battles, and hunt down other players to gain points. But after learning from Teacher Xing and meeting her old teammates again, she realized how ordinary they really were.

They were like countless other players in the game — unable to see through its true nature, dancing like puppets on strings (NT: being manipulated or lacking control), led by the system wherever it pleased.

Now, Liang Ergou was new to the advanced worlds and didn’t yet understand their rules, so he’d been acting like a bootlicker to other high-level players.

Cao Qian thought to herself that she’d really grown — how could she ever have been fooled by people like him before?

Hearing Cao Qian’s laugh, Liang Ergou looked at her darkened face and asked, “Have we met before, maybe in the melee world?”

“How should I know?” Cao Qian turned and looked him straight in the eye. “There are too many lackeys like you in the game — I can’t keep track.”

Cao Heihei’s current appearance was small and dark-skinned, completely different from Cao Qian’s original face, so it was hard for Liang Ergou to recognize her. Liang Ergou, however, was still in an adult body that resembled his real one, so Cao Qian recognized him at once.

He was no longer important, so there was no need to reveal her identity. Rather than deny it outright, she brushed it off casually.

As for Liang Ergou’s feelings, that was none of Cao Qian’s concern.

Liang Ergou was good at enduring humiliation. Even after being mocked, he didn’t lose his temper and instead said, “I’m a new player in the advanced worlds. Asking experienced players for guidance isn’t called bootlicking — it’s called humility.”

After that explanation, he fell silent, stepping back to give his teammates the spotlight.

Chang Laizi stepped forward and asked, “Li Datou, you’re one of us. If we lose, you’ll lose points too. Are you really going to betray us?”

Yan Hebi replied, “I’m not afraid of losing points — and I’m not betraying anyone. I just choose to believe in their team.”

Seeing that reasoning with Li Datou the rookie was pointless, Chang Laizi turned to Wang Siping and said, “We’ve received a new mission. The village chief insists on killing you during the Mountain God Festival to draw your blood. If you don’t act, we won’t either. We’ll settle this during the festival.”

He cast another glance at Cao Heihei, sensing that this girl was the leader of the other faction.

Cao Heihei said, “We stopped your fight the other night for the same reason — to wait for the Mountain God Festival. We’ll maintain a truce until then.”

Wang Siping shrugged. “Our team’s only got two people left. If you all say truce, we can’t exactly attack — if all eight of you ganged up on us, we’d be done for, right?”

The ten players agreed to a temporary ceasefire and focused on waiting for the festival to begin.

*

Next came the troublesome issue of room assignments. The courtyard had plenty of rooms, but Aunt Tian had only cleaned two — one for the sacrificial team and one for the guards.

But now that Yan Hebi had defected, there were effectively three teams, and no one wanted to share with anyone else. They wanted Aunt Tian to tidy up another room.

Aunt Tian, annoyed, said, “Why do you people have so many demands?”

Cao Heihei said, “Then just give us the tools, and we’ll clean it ourselves.”

Yan Hebi added, “Those sacrificial kids tried to escape last night. I’ll personally keep an eye on them, so you don’t have to worry, Aunt Tian. Could you get another room ready for me?”

Aunt Tian, who had been grumbling, immediately brightened up. “Oh, it’s you, Datou! No problem at all — I’ll get one ready right away.”

Yan Hebi then said, “Aunt Tian, can we maybe stop eating grass? I’ve been eating grass for days now — I’m starving. The Mountain God Festival’s tomorrow, and I’m afraid I won’t have the strength to climb the mountain.”

Aunt Tian beamed like Maitreya Buddha (NT: reference to the smiling, jolly Buddha statue symbolizing generosity and indulgence) and said, “No problem, no problem! Auntie will cook something special for you!”

Everyone: “……”

Yan Hebi gave an awkward laugh — it seemed his ‘ Friend of Women’ aura really was only useful for getting better meals.

Aunt Tian gave Yan Hebi’s group the best room, with brand-new bedding. At lunch, she even brought them a huge bowl of meat. The other two rooms’ occupants looked at their plates of wild greens, sniffed the smell of meat wafting from next door, and practically drooled.

The sacrificial team tried to ask Aunt Tian for some dishes, but she said sacrifices could only eat grass. The guard team asked for meat, and she gave them a bowl of bare bones, telling them to gnaw on it.

The unfair treatment made the guards furious, but they forcibly endured it, silently chewing bones and weeds.

Qian Daniu swung her legs happily while eating meat and said to Yan Hebi, “Your ability’s actually pretty useful after all.”

Yan Hebi smiled shyly. “Yeah, it’s only got little uses like this.”

“No,” Xing Ye shook his head. “I think it’s got big uses.”

At his words, everyone paused and looked at him.

Xing Ye said, “Have you noticed? Uncle Tian is different from the other paper people. The others can move around freely at night — you can’t even tell them apart from the living. But Uncle Tian can’t. At night, it’s like he loses all energy, just sits in front of the door in a daze.”

Yan Hebi hadn’t noticed, but Cao Heihei and Qian Daniu had. Cao Qian thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “The paper people’s weakness — it might be connected to Uncle Tian!”

Aunt Tian had begged the village chief to cure her husband. The chief said he would after the Mountain God Festival, once a new crop of paper grass had grown. That meant Uncle Tian’s problem was treatable — but it also confirmed something was wrong.

Qian Daniu’s eyes brightened. “If we can find out what caused Uncle Tian’s illness, we’ll know the paper people’s weakness!”

She patted Yan Hebi’s shoulder. “Go on — use your charm to get the key info out of Aunt Tian!”

She shook her head slightly, realizing that ever since joining Teacher Xing, she’d gotten smarter. “Actually, this game is full of clues. If you just investigate carefully, you can always find key information. But once we reached the advanced worlds, we started focusing only on beating the other five players instead of learning the truth of each world. Come to think of it, this whole team-vs-team structure in advanced worlds is just the system’s way of dividing players and distracting us — so cunning!”

Cao Qian patted her head approvingly. “You’re improving quickly.”

After lunch, Yan Hebi carried bowls and plates over to help Aunt Tian wash dishes. She was so pleased she ignored her husband outside, who was puffing on his pipe furiously.

After a whole afternoon of helping, Yan Hebi returned to his room, making sure no one could overhear before whispering to the others, “Aunt Tian said her husband used to be normal. Half a year ago, while working in the mountains, he fell into a pond up there. He managed to crawl back home, but soon after, his body started deteriorating. Paper people aren’t supposed to fear water — but he does. His left leg was dissolved after he fell in.”

“The pond on the mountain?” Cao Qian asked. “Could it be connected to the Mountain God?”

Yan Hebi shook his head and said, “It’s not the pond near the Mountain God’s Cave. The villagers normally don’t go there, and Uncle Tian is an honest man — he’d never take such a risk. Aunt Tian said that there used to be people who went to that mountain pond to play, but after everyone turned into paper people, the Village Chief forbade anyone from going there. She said that before Uncle Tian became a paper man, he loved to go up the mountain to soak his feet in that pond, claiming it could cure his ‘old cold legs’ (NT: colloquial expression meaning chronic rheumatism or arthritis in the legs, usually caused by long-term exposure to cold). But after he became a paper man, all his illnesses disappeared, so no one needed to soak in the pond anymore.”

Xing Ye said, “Cure old cold legs? Then that pond on the mountain must be a hot spring. So ordinary water can’t harm paper people — but the mountain’s hot spring water, whether because of its heat or the minerals within, can cause fatal damage to them. The Village Chief must have known this long ago, which is why he forbade the paper people from bathing there. So back then, it’s very likely he used this hot spring water to secretly kill that guard — that’s how he managed to survive!”

Yan Hebi asked, “So we need to get some of that hot spring water? Should I ask Aunt Tian to lend us a thermos bottle?”

Xing Ye shook his head and said, “What I need is a map of the mountain. You go chat with Aunt Tian again — if she doesn’t know, I’ll have to sneak up the mountain tonight and take a look in advance.”

 

Translator : DarNan