Chapter 38: The Feast Begins! So It Was You, You Bastard!

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Wu Wang circled back to his dilapidated little shack outside the village, only to see the teenage version of Wu Xiaoyou sitting on the bed, swinging her feet with an air of profound boredom.

Just as he was about to say something.

He suddenly suffered two violent coughing fits.

A metallic, sweet sensation surged up his throat. Instinctively, Wu Wang spat to the side in an unrefined manner; the ground was already as filthy as a trash heap anyway.

【Mental Power: 35—30】

"Hah-tuh!"

Instantly, the atmosphere in the room froze.

The teenage Wu Xiaoyou looked at the ground in astonishment. What he had just spat out was actually a pool of foul-smelling black blood!?

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Wu Wang said nonchalantly, "Just some minor inflammation lately. Even my phlegm has turned red. I'll just drink more Wanglaoji later to fix it."

*Are you kidding me, bro!*

*That is clearly not phlegm!*

*Don't tell me you're dying!*

Ignoring Wu Xiaoyou's strange expression, he pulled a large white steamed bun from his pocket and handed it over. "Put something in your stomach first. When I go out to join the feast tonight, I'll swipe some more back for you."

Watching her take it.

Only then did Wu Wang turn around and sit on the other end of the bed.

He pulled back his sleeve, staring at the red vertical pupil on his wrist. Faint whispers began to echo in his ears, and an itch spread across his body, as if something were writhing and growing beneath his skin.

【Mental Power: 30, 29, 28...】

Under the stimulation of the Abyss God Mark, Wu Wang's gaze gradually became hazy and his thinking grew sluggish, yet his state became increasingly manic.

"Cough, cough, cough... I don't believe it... You think you can be more badass than the Abyss God?" Wu Wang muttered to himself with a wide grin.

His consciousness had already felt off the moment he started coughing.

He had already resurrected the moment he hit the ground during that death by bone spikes; logically, he should be in peak condition right now.

Coughing up black blood was clearly a problem.

Combined with what the old village chief said earlier about finding the Great Yin-Yuan Deity to deal with him, it was obvious that he himself was not that damn Yin-Yuan Deity.

It seemed like a curse, something akin to being hexed, which would affect him regardless of where he was.

Furthermore, this thing wouldn't dissipate upon death; even after resurrecting, he was still being affected.

But, it didn't matter!

If he wasn't afraid of being "doxxed" by the system itself, how could he fear a low-level trick like this?

What kind of curse is even qualified to go up against our big brother, the Abyss God?

"Sizzle, sizzle... Ah!"

As expected, as Wu Wang stared into the red vertical pupil, his mind filled with eerie whispers and his mental power plummeted toward a critical threshold.

A strange sound erupted from his back.

It sounded like something being scorched, sizzling loudly before finally dissolving into a scream and then into nothingness.

【Mental Power: 15】

Wu Wang jerked his gaze away.

He grinned and panted heavily, laughing, "How was it? Not a pleasant feeling staring directly at the Abyss God, is it? I hope you don't turn into a tentacle monster. That's the confidence the Abyss God gave me!"

Not everyone could withstand the bizarre mental shock of staring directly into that red vertical pupil like Wu Wang could.

For him, the worst-case scenario was simply dying.

Others, even ghosts, couldn't pull that off.

The entity behind the curse had definitely just been "doxxed" by the red vertical pupil through the mark.

That scream was truly tragic.

*I'll hunt you down through your internet cable!*

Turning around, Wu Xiaoyou's expression became even stranger.

She hugged the bun and nibbled on it like a hamster, muttering indistinctly, "How long do I have to stay here? It's so boring."

She didn't mention the bizarre phenomenon occurring on Wu Wang's body at all.

She knew it was his secret.

Since he hadn't brought it up, she wouldn't pry. Although she didn't understand what was behind that manic state, she chose to respect it.

"Er... don't worry. You'll stay here for three days at most. If it gets too boring, I'll find a way to let you go out tomorrow," Wu Wang said cheerfully.

In a sense, the broken shack was actually quite safe.

Almost no villagers would come here.

His younger sister was safe here.

At least for now.

But he couldn't hide forever; the dungeon wouldn't leave such a loophole for him to exploit. Eventually, he had to find a way to figure out what the Yin-Yuan Great Sacrifice was all about.

After feeding her, Wu Wang performed two consecutive jumps and left the house.

Now, he was going to explore the outskirts of the village.

This excursion lasted for several hours.

By the time he returned, it was nearing dusk.

He had gained a decent understanding of the surrounding environment.

The entire Yin-Yuan Village was surrounded by mountains, mostly uninhabited forests, without even a single normal mountain path leading out.

Not only that, but the deeper Wu Wang ventured into the forest, the more severe his loss of direction became.

In the end, he wandered back to Yin-Yuan Village in a daze.

One must realize that to practice his wilderness survival skills, he had trekked through several mountain ranges and forests in the country known as "forbidden zones" last year, using nothing but a small knife similar to Bear Grylls'.

He had ruthlessly ganked wild creatures in the wilderness.

From rats to crocodiles.

None had escaped Wu Wang's hunt.

Barring any accidents, a normal adventurer—or even several professional teams combined—wouldn't have as much experience as Wu Wang alone.

The fact that he could lose his way under these circumstances meant that there was clearly some kind of mysterious, invisible force controlling the area, preventing him from leaving.

Seeing that it was getting late.

Auntie Li had mentioned taking him to the village for a feast, so he had to hurry back to the shack to avoid being detected if anything went wrong.

"Er-wa! Are you asleep? Auntie's here to take you to eat!" Auntie Li's boisterous voice drifted in.

Wu Xiaoyou silently put on that ugly hat.

The little beggar had said that if she wore this, people wouldn't see her while she was crouching. She didn't know if she had lost her mind, but she actually believed such nonsense.

*Click—*

The door opened.

Auntie Li walked in, a bandage wrapped around her neck and a forced smile on her face. Her expression toward Wu Wang was one of slight pity.

She knew this poor child was to be sacrificed to the Great Yin-Yuan Deity in two days.

She figured she should let him have a few good meals over the next two days.

It would be better to be a "full corpse" on the road to the underworld.

"Auntie, why are we eating outside? Is there something good happening?" Wu Wang's eyes suddenly became "wise," and he asked in a foolish manner while biting his finger.

As he spoke, he even picked his nose and wiped the dirt on Auntie Li's clothes.

Beside him, Wu Xiaoyou almost burst out laughing.

It was hard for her to imagine that this was an act.

After all, he truly looked like a dim-witted little lunatic!

Auntie Li spoke as gently as possible, "We are going to hold a sacrifice for the Great Yin-Yuan Deity the day after tomorrow. We'll be feasting for three days starting today. We must make it grand so the Great Yin-Yuan Deity will be happy and bring prosperity to the village."

As she spoke, she took a piece of coarse hemp rope and tied it around Wu Wang's neck, fearing he might run off.

Then, like leading a small animal, she dragged the "little lunatic" in her eyes toward the exit.

She didn't spare a single glance at Wu Xiaoyou until they had left.

Wu Xiaoyou was completely stunned.

*This ugly hat actually works!?*

————

Wu Wang chatted cheerfully with Auntie Li along the way, seemingly speaking in madness and nonsense.

In reality, every two or three sentences were interspersed with information regarding the village's situation.

He paid no mind to the highly insulting coarse hemp rope around his neck.

Because in his eyes—

Auntie Li was nothing more than a corpse speaking.

She, and indeed everyone in Yin-Yuan Village, would soon pay the price they deserved. Since the main quest was unclear, he would just improvise.

Sacrifice him in three days?

By then, their lifespans would have run out too!

Just as Wu Wang had told those murderers in the novice dungeon—he had never claimed to be a good person. In a sense, there was no one in the world more contemptuous of life than Wu Wang.

So, there was no need to get angry at a corpse.

The two arrived at the plaza.

Wu Wang's first glance didn't go to the grand decorations, nor did he observe the massive crowd of villagers gathered in the plaza, or the spectacular sight of whole roasted sheep and suckling pigs on every table.

He only had eyes for one thing—

In the center of the plaza, on the platform where the old village chief sat, there was a massive sign, dozens of meters high.

Carved upon it was a lifelike eye.

Judging by its overall shape and color scheme.

It was almost an exquisite "Plus" version of the red vertical pupil on the inside of his wrist.

*Goddammit! Why is it you again, you piece of trash!*

*Has this dungeon been contaminated too?*

*Abyss God, you deserve ten thousand deaths!*

(End of Chapter)