Wan Mei’s words were somewhat horrifying upon careful consideration.
Feng Xiaoxiao was so certain that the phoenix trees never withered and even claimed that these two phoenix trees represented the most faithful love. This was originally a beautiful symbolism, but if these two phoenix trees had withered and the ancient legend was true, what could have happened a thousand years ago to the general and the beauty to make both phoenix trees withered?
Moreover, if Wan Mei’s judgment was correct, then their previous conclusion about the eternal bloom of the phoenix flowers would be completely wrong.
Waiting for the game to end, anticipating at least a B-level clearance rating, only to find out they hadn’t cleared even the C-level, could potentially lead to a nauseating end. Damn, this Dream World is trash; the gaming world is full of pitfalls.
“…Hey, now I understand why the completion rate of this game is so low,” Zhou Api seemed to have come to the same realization, and his chubby face was filled with frustration and fear.
“Just think about it. When everyone believes they have victory in their hands, they discover that they have been fed false information from beginning to end. It’s truly…”
“What should we do next? How can we find the real answers?” Zhou Api asked.
Mo Yang glanced at Zhou Api. “Why are you so anxious? Today is only the second day of the game, and after tonight, it will be the third day. Since it’s the most difficult mystery-solving game among the first-level games, you can’t find the answers so early. I’ve been wanting to complain about this. How terrible must the designer be to create an eternal love tree in a mystery-solving game? And as for the clues, we’ll be able to see them tonight, right? The forbidden area must have something worth exploring.”
“So, what we need most now is to go back, rest and recharge, eat something delicious, organize our belongings, and gather more information when we explore the forbidden area tonight.”
Zhou Api thought about it and agreed. Well, it’s better to have a calm mind and a full stomach. He had been a little anxious earlier, but now he had made up his mind to eat more and run faster at night.
On the way back, Mo Yang suddenly asked Wan Mei, “Do you think anyone in Feng Huang Village knows the current state of these two phoenix trees?”
Wan Mei’s eyes revealed a mocking expression. “If they didn’t know, no one would have gone missing.”
Mo Yang nodded.
Perhaps the younger generation, like Feng Xiaoxiao, didn’t know the secret of the phoenix trees. But the village chief and the ceremonial phoenix, Feng Zhao, were impossible not to know that the phoenix trees were half dead.
Since they knew the state of the phoenix trees but showed no urgency about whether the trees might suddenly wither and had the mindset to welcome tourists, there must be some conspiracy going on.
Mo Yang kept exploring his own ideas, trying to connect the dots of several discordant elements into a suspenseful novel.
When they reached the front door of Feng Mengmeng’s house, Mo Yang suddenly halted.
“Big Boss?” Zhou Api turned back.
Mo Yang sighed and inadvertently curled his lips. “I just thought of an… interesting novel idea.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Meanwhile, Wan Mei, the big boss beside them, became quite interested and looked over. “Tell us about it.”
Mo Yang raised his chin. “My storytelling fee isn’t cheap.”
Wan Mei chuckled lightly.
Then Zhou Api saw Yang Heigou, who had warned them not to have any strange thoughts with an earnest tone just yesterday afternoon, sitting in the yard. He was emitting an aura of fujoshi culture, waiting for Mei Baiwan to personally make two plates of snacks and brew a pot of tea for him.
Heh heh.
The fujoshi relationship between you guys is almost blinding my eyes, yet you tell me not to think too much?!
Mo Yang contentedly ate a piece of fried shrimp made by Mei Baiwan and then narrated a completely grim story about the two phoenix trees.
“Well, the story goes like this. When the general arrived in the village, he fell in love at first sight with a beauty. Since the beauty only had a younger sister left as her only companion, the general took the opportunity to bring the beauty’s sister along when he went to war. Before departing, the general and the beauty planted two phoenix trees at the village entrance, and the general said that he and the beauty would be together like these two phoenix trees, forever.”
“The general’s campaigns were successful, and his status grew higher and higher, as did his relationship with the beauty. However, this happiness began to stir up increasing jealousy in the beauty’s younger sister. She became extremely angry and felt that it was unfair. Why, as sisters born to the same parents, did she not have her sister’s beautiful appearance? Even if she couldn’t match her sister’s beauty, she should at least be pure and pretty. Unfortunately, she couldn’t even be considered beautiful; she was an insipid woman.”
“After years of envy, during one of the general’s campaigns, she uncontrollably killed her sister with her own hands. In order not to be discovered, she peeled off her sister’s face and stuck it onto her own. She started impersonating her sister.”
At this point, a scornful smile appeared on Mo Yang’s lips. This smile made Zhou Api, who already found the story a bit creepy, gulp down a mouthful of saliva, while Wan Mei continued drinking tea without any change in expression.
“In theory, the general should have recognized the change in his intimate partner, but when the general returned, he didn’t recognize that his partner had changed.”
“And then, the phoenix trees in the village withered.”
“Because the sister died. And the general changed.”
“Later, the general ascended the throne, and the younger sister became the queen. As the queen, she thought of the phoenix trees in the village and sent someone to inquire about them. Originally, she planned to replace the withered phoenix trees with two new ones. However, to her surprise and delight, those two phoenix trees didn’t wither. It was said that they bloomed and didn’t fall even in winter, as if it was a miracle.”
“But wait! You just said that the phoenix trees withered, and now you’re saying that the phoenix trees didn’t wither?” Zhou Api interrupted Mo Yang’s story. “This is a bug.”
Mo Yang chuckled, “It’s not a bug. It’s the wisdom of the villagers.”
“Think about it. The general and the beauty who came from their village became the emperor and empress. If this emperor and empress knew that the phoenix trees, representing their love, had withered, how would they treat the people in the village? And if these two phoenix trees became miracles, how would they treat the people in the village then?”
Zhou Api abruptly fell silent.
“So, those two phoenix trees don’t represent an unchanging love story but rather a combination of fear and desire.”
Mo Yang looked up and noticed Zhou Api’s unpleasant expression, so he ate another shrimp stick. “Ah, don’t take it seriously. This is just my speculated version of the story. Maybe Feng Xiaoxiao’s version is the correct one. Perhaps the withering between the two phoenix trees happened because the general and the beauty encountered a severe illness halfway through?”
Zhou Api: “…”
I’m not falling for your trick. Now my mind is filled with conspiracy theories, you know!
After Zhou Api left, Wan Mei and Mo Yang locked eyes. In the end, it was Mo Yang who looked away first. “Ahem, my speculation has come out. If you’re going to do something dangerous on the edge, at least involve me. Don’t forget, you’re still a weakling.”
Dr. Wan raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything further.
At midnight that day, eight players and Feng Xiaoxiao appeared punctually in the middle of the flower field. When Feng Xiaoxiao saw them, she still seemed worried.
“You weren’t discovered by other villagers when you came out, right? Are you sure no one followed you? Sneaking into the forbidden area is a serious matter. If we’re caught, we’re done for.”
Liu Meiren frowned upon hearing this. “Isn’t that too serious? We’re just visitors here.”
Feng Xiaoxiao seemed to see through Liu Meiren’s thoughts with just one glance. A mocking expression appeared on her veiled face. “Don’t think that being a visitor grants you a get-out-of-jail-free card. For our village, no one’s life is more important than the survival of the village.”
Before Liu Meiren could say anything else, Feng Xiaoxiao turned and walked towards the northwest.
The entire Phoenix Village was built along a crescent-shaped river, forming a long and beautiful village. If described by a shape, it would resemble a crescent moon lying flat with a pointed end facing upwards.
And now, they were heading towards the center of the crescent moon, where there was originally a barrier of rocks. However, under Feng Xiaoxiao’s guidance, they took a hidden path through the mountains and, after crossing it, came across a row of dilapidated stone houses. In front of the stone houses stood a three-meter-high, massive stone wall enclosing a large courtyard.
From within the walled courtyard occasionally came bone-chilling cries of pain, causing Zhang Xiaoyao, Murong Feng, and the others to instinctively furrow their brows.
“What’s in there? Why do I feel like the cries inside sound like… human voices?” Chen Yuanyuan stared at Feng Xiaoxiao with a pale face.
Feng Xiaoxiao’s expression at this moment was not good, but she appeared stronger than everyone else. “…This is the confinement area. Those locked inside are the criminals of Phoenix Village.”
“Criminals? In this day and age, do you still have this kind of vigilante justice? Shouldn’t the criminals be judged by a court and imprisoned?” Sun Buguai blurted out these words without thinking. After saying them, she realized that this was a game world, and many things couldn’t be judged according to common sense.
But Feng Xiaoxiao looked at her as if she were a fool. “In our village, when someone commits a crime, it’s up to the village chief and the priest to pass judgment. The outside system doesn’t suit our Feng Huang Village.”
“Alright, let’s not waste time here. There is only an old and ugly couple guarding the pen here, and the prisoners are inside, extracting nectar from the phoenix tree flowers. Four of you go with me to rescue the person I want to save, and the remaining four knock out the ugly old man and the old woman who are on guard. Hurry up and discuss, the faster we act, the better!”
The eight people hesitated for a moment upon hearing Feng Xiaoxiao’s words. Sun Buguai and Liu Meiren even no longer wanted to get involved in this mess. After all, they had already solved two puzzles, so why risk angering the villagers of Feng Huang Village by rescuing a player who had nothing to do with them?
At this moment, Feng Xiaoxiao seemed to have sensed their hesitation and became angry and anxious. Finally, she grimaced and said, “It’s already this late, don’t think about backing out now! If I can’t save Lang, I will expose all of you. By then, you will all be locked up here or become fertilizer! Only if you help me rescue Lang can he and I escape, and you can stay in this village in peace. You can just blame everything on me! What are you still hesitating for?!”
Feng Xiaoxiao’s words eventually convinced the group. After all, they had come out in the middle of the night and needed an explanation. They could simply say that Feng Xiaoxiao asked for their help to save someone, and they only found out later that they had been deceived. But if they didn’t help Feng Xiaoxiao successfully rescue the person, they would likely be resented by the villagers of Feng Huang Village.
In the end, Zhang XiaoYao, Zhou Api, and Chen Yuan Yuan stayed behind to deal with the ugly old man and woman guarding the stone wall, while Mo Yang, Wan Mei, Sun Buguai, Liu Meiren, and Mu Rong Feng followed Feng Xiaoxiao into the stone wall to help her find her lover and also to see if Xu Shuai and Uncle Li were inside.
One minute later, everyone started to move.
Zhang XiaoYao and Zhou Api skillfully knocked out the ugly old man and the old woman from behind. Then the three of them stood guard at the entrance. The others entered one after another.
Zhou Api felt a bit uncomfortable as he held the ugly old woman. He placed her on the ground and looked down at her, feeling that something was not right.
It was her hands.
They didn’t look like the hands of a seventy or eighty-year-old woman. They appeared much younger.
At this moment, Mo Yang and the others who entered the stone wall were shocked by the scene before them.
If Feng Huang Village was a place of beauty everywhere, then this “pen” in the stone wall was a place of ugliness and horror everywhere.
Sun Buguai tightly covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.
Liu Meiren staggered.
There were five large and small pools within the stone wall, all filled with red phoenix flowers. The phoenix flowers that were originally beautiful on the trees seemed to have turned into something terrifying inside these pools.
They were constantly being stirred by the ugly, wrinkled “people,” their dry and withered skin resembling tree bark. The flowers flowed from one pool to another under their relentless stirring, eventually being processed into bottles of bright red, blood-like liquid.
There was a strong fragrance in the air, but it made Mo Yang and the others almost nauseous.
Feng Xiaoxiao quickly found a relatively young and strong-looking man among the people stirring the phoenix flowers. She hugged him excitedly, calling him “Lang.”
Mo Yang looked at the man, who was at least in his forties with wrinkled skin, and his mood sank to the lowest point.
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
It’s really scary! In the beginning, perhaps like everyone else, I thought that they were burying corpses under a tree or watering them with blood, but the reality is even scarier
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
I’m still trying to process it.. So what’s happening there? What’s with ugly people and the flowers? Do the flowers absorb the lives of those in the “pen”?
It seems like the processing of the flowers is stealing the lifeforce or time from the people nearby, or directly in the processing, and those turn into… health potions. That are used then on the trees and likely the guards they knocked out (who have stolen faces) and the village heads.
Oh, wow! That’s quite a great explanation for that! ⊙_⊙
those trees feed on life to maintelain itself huh
what a flashy carnivorous plants… in many aspects..