Chapter 43: Merely the Saintess's Task

“Stop flirting with me! My sexual orientation isn't into you old ladies! Tell you what, I'll introduce you to a guy who's still in his prime! Aside from being lacking in the junk department and being short, poor, and ugly, he's actually quite decent!”

Wu Wang sprinted wildly up the mountain.

The young girl he had hoisted onto his shoulder, having just finished a meal, grew increasingly pale.

She clamped her hand tightly over her mouth, trying her best not to vomit.

Wu Xiaoyou felt as if her stomach were being tossed in a storm; her already fragile mental state was becoming even more listless.

“Come here~ Come find us~”

“We will give you everything you desire~”

“Child~ This is your home~”

Accompanied by the bone-eroding, decadent whispers ringing in his ears, Wu Wang felt an inexplicable, wicked fire beginning to burn within his chest.

【Mental Strength: 25——24】

His mental strength was continuing to decline.

Yet, his footsteps grew increasingly agile.

However, because he was carrying Wu Xiaoyou, he couldn't perform a double jump to escape directly from the sky. Otherwise, the opponent wouldn't be able to use his method of resurrecting by falling from a great height.

He had sensed something was wrong the moment those female ghost shadows appeared.

It seemed they were heading straight for the dilapidated house.

Eerily, their primary target wasn't him, but Wu Xiaoyou inside the house.

“Unlucky Sister! How are you feeling? Don't sleep! Whatever you do, don't fall asleep!” Even in the midst of his frantic sprint, Wu Wang found time to check on Wu Xiaoyou's mental state.

To be honest, the danger of this Nightmare-level dungeon was simply too exaggerated.

If it were any other player with a mental strength in the single digits or barely over ten, they would have likely collapsed and fallen into the ghosts' clutches long ago.

Fortunately, he had the help of the Abyss God.

Coupled with his innate talent for frequent suicide, his mental strength was sufficient to sustain him until he reached the village.

But Wu Xiaoyou wasn't so lucky.

“Don't say things like that! Sleep my ass! You look like a doctor in a white coat in an ICU trying to resuscitate someone... I just feel like throwing up...”

Wu Xiaoyou squeezed out broken words through gritted teeth.

Looking at her, her spirits actually seemed quite high.

He didn't know why.

Aside from being initially affected by the Great Deity of Yin Affinity, the whispers of the hundreds of female ghosts behind them didn't seem to have any impact on her at all.

“You're all girls, you should have common ground! Why don't you tell these sisters to pause for a bit so we can chat about something else? Like, how about those 'down-bad' men on Xiaohongshu? I happen to know a real piece of work who loves voyeurism!” Wu Wang continued to spout nonsense.

This earned him a massive eye-roll from Wu Xiaoyou.

Truthfully, she could only feel an inexplicable, chilling sensation approaching from behind, but when she looked, she saw nothing.

The fact that there were hundreds of female ghosts chasing them was something Wu Wang had mentioned while making his way down the mountain.

Under normal circumstances, humans cannot see ghosts.

She suddenly shouted toward the rear: “Stop! This guy isn't looking for a wife! And we don't have any cough syrup either!”

Having said that, she glanced down at Wu Wang.

She asked helplessly, “Do you really think shouting like that will work? Please, I'm just an ordinary person. It would be too weird to try and shout ghosts into stopping.”

*Thud—*

Wu Wang suddenly stomped his foot hard on the ground and stopped running.

He glanced behind him.

Then, as if discarding trash, he dumped Wu Xiaoyou off his shoulder. She hit the ground with a thud, her small face crumpled in a wail as she rubbed her backside, grimacing in pain. “Why did you stop? Did you give up hope and decide to just wait for death?”

“No, it's not over,” Wu Wang said with a strange expression. “They actually stopped.”

At this moment, within the field of vision visible only to Wu Wang

Behind the winding mountain path and the surrounding trees, the dense shadows of the female ghosts showed no sign of continuing the pursuit.

They simply stared forward with eyes obscured by the mist.

To be precise, they were staring at that exquisite, pale face currently grimacing in pain while rubbing her backside.

“Little girl... take care...”

“Do not forget your home...”

The bizarre whispers of the female ghosts rang out again.

But this time, Wu Wang did not feel any loss of mental strength.

It was as if they were truly just offering a reminder.

【Triggered Hidden Quest — Selection of the Saintess】

【Find the tomb of the Yin Affinity Saintess and help them find liberation】

【Reward: Memory Washing Stone (Key Plot Item)】

“Huh?” Wu Wang was completely stunned.

So, in addition to the main and side quests provided at the start, one could actually trigger hidden quests in a dungeon?

The key was the reward.

The note "Key Plot Item" made it obvious that, under normal circumstances, one would need this "Memory Washing Stone" to clear this dungeon.

His progression had already veered off the intended track.

Other players entering this dungeon wouldn't have discovered the truth about the Village Chief not being human so easily, nor would they have been able to get the old Village Chief to sit down and communicate properly, leading him to willingly reveal his origins.

And it would be even more impossible to strike a deal with the old Village Chief.

After all, the prerequisite for all of this was that the old Village Chief had a need for him—to assist him in absorbing the aura of the Abyss God.

If other players were to come into contact with the Abyss God's aura...

The image of the starter dungeon suddenly flashed through Wu Wang's mind—the way the corpses being purged on the ground became twisted and eerie under the gaze of the Abyss God.

Barring any accidents, it seemed that currently, he was the only one capable of ignoring the influence of the Abyss God.

Even if his body underwent mutations, Wu Wang only needed to die and resurrect once to return to normal.

*Stare at me! You brat!*

“Hey, Zhang Sanfeng, where are we going next? Back to the dilapidated house?” Wu Xiaoyou asked as she stood up.

Her complexion had improved significantly.

Her mental strength recovery speed was clearly abnormal, but Wu Wang didn't focus on that.

He was actually more concerned about how she was able to make those female ghosts stop.

In this dungeon, was she really just playing the role of an unlucky person who wandered in?

Especially after learning that no one could leave the village during the Great Yin Affinity Ritual.

Wu Wang became even more suspicious.

【While walking in the forest, you encounter a young girl who has lost her way and fallen down the mountain, unconscious.】

This was the dungeon description for how Zhang Sanfeng found Wu Xiaoyou.

But in a forest locked down by the Great Deity of Yin Affinity, could an ignorant girl really stumble down the mountain and accidentally wander in?

Was she really Wu Xiaoyou?

Even if she was...

Why had her second sister come to this place back then?

“No, the plan has changed. I'll take you to stay in the village tonight,” Wu Wang said after a moment of contemplation. “I've already found a way to ensure they won't hurt you.”

“That impressive? Sigh... you look about the same age as my little brother, and he's such a dummy,” Wu Xiaoyou said with a tone of disappointed exasperation.

A strange glint flashed in Wu Wang's eyes.

He had caught a linguistic loophole.

The other party...

Wasn't she supposed to have amnesia?

But Wu Wang did not point out the issue; he simply led the way down the mountain in silence.

Before long, the two arrived at Yin Affinity Village.

Seeing Wu Wang return, a flash of surprise clearly crossed the old Village Chief's face.

He had expected to meet him at the ancestral hall tomorrow night.

Why was he back so soon after leaving?

“You've changed your mind? *Hiss*... and who is this?”

At first glance, the old Village Chief knew that Wu Xiaoyou absolutely met the criteria to become the Yin Affinity Saintess; he didn't even need to ask for her birth details to sense it.

But where did this person come from?

Hadn't Yin Affinity Village already been under lockdown?

Hearing this, Wu Wang spoke leisurely, “Oh, sorry to bother you, but please arrange some accommodations for us.”

“I've come back to bring you an offering.”

Old Village Chief: "?"

Wu Xiaoyou: "?"

(End of Chapter)