Chapter 168: [Transplantation] Overflowing Green Tea Aura
“You can just call me Old Qin. The village chief sent me to pick you up, and I’ve already arranged your accommodations. There are six men and six women among you, so you’ll be housed separately.”
This detail alone—living separately—put many players on high alert.
Theoretically speaking, separated lodgings made perfect logical sense.
Inside a game, however, separating men and women often implied that the two sides would encounter very different scenarios.
Moreover, up until now, this instance appeared entirely too normal.
The scenery in Xiaoguang Village was quite lovely as well.
It was the kind of picturesque landscape bathed in bright, vibrant sunshine. Checking the time on their phones, it was April 2, 2022—the height of spring.
There were even patches of wood sorrel blooming nearby.
Those flowers bloomed exquisitely.
They grew in lush clusters, and unlike the usual rose-pink blossoms of common wood sorrel, these flowers bled a much deeper red, leaning far closer to the shade of crimson roses.
The blooms were quite large too, visible almost everywhere—along the bases of house walls, in front of doorways, and lined up by the roadsides.
Old Qin even led them on a loop around the village, showing them a earthen slope located directly behind the settlement. That entire vast slope was covered completely in wood sorrel.
Delicate, exquisite little flowers blossomed one after another under the sunlight, painting a truly gorgeous scene.
“Are we here on vacation? Is this really the horror game you mentioned?” The newbie girl finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. She slid closer to Bai Cha and whispered in a low voice.
The reason she chose Bai Cha was likely because the girl appeared somewhat pale and fragile, yet her eyes—much like her own—seemed filled with innocent naivety.
Pure, innocent, naive Bai Cha: “Yeah, it’s super terrifying. Who knows, maybe there are human bones buried under these flowers. I heard that feeding flowers with cold chicken soup and bones makes them bloom much more vibrantly—so human remains should work even better, right?”
The newbie girl choked on her breath: “…”
The male player beside Bai Cha couldn’t help stealing a glance at her. Seeing that her face truly bore that innocent, candid expression—as if she were merely uttering a passing, harmless thought without a second thought—left him thoroughly perplexed.
He couldn’t read her at all.
When she claimed earlier that she had only cleared five instances, the bullet chat had confirmed she wasn’t lying.
Though no further details were revealed, the fact that he could see the bullet chat’s comments meant Bai Cha really wasn’t lying—she truly had cleared only five instances.
How impressive could her record be, then? Generally speaking, for a relative newcomer, earning a B-rank rating was already considered quite decent.
Which meant her current rank was definitely nothing high.
The male player shook his head inwardly.
If she had managed to clear her past instances relying purely on this naive nature, then she might just be the exceptionally lucky type, which wasn’t impossible.
If she was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, then that was a formidable skill in its own right.
Either way, it was best not to get on her bad side.
Just as he was pondering this, Bai Cha raised a hand to touch her own head.
“My head hurts so much… Old Qin, do you guys have any fever medication here? I’m running a fever.”
Perhaps due to her illness, her voice sounded soft and delicate, making her appear entirely harmless—not to mention she was naturally blessed with a gentle, non-threatening appearance.
Generally speaking, upon seeing a girl like this, even if someone didn’t feel immediate pity or sympathy toward Bai Cha, they at least wouldn’t react like Old Qin, whose brows furrowed instinctively as a flash of disgust flickered deep in his eyes.
Oho, there’s a story here.
Under these circumstances, he could only have encountered a specific incident in the past that left him unable to feel goodwill toward this type of person, or he harbored a natural prejudice against her type.
It was much like the tall, short-haired female player standing beside the newbie girl. Her muscle tone looked fantastic—even beneath her clothes, her smooth, toned physique gave off a completely different vibe compared to the average girl.
That short-haired girl had already frowned and shot Bai Cha several glances, displaying an obvious dislike, though it hardly stemmed from true malice.
Old Qin, however, was a different story.
After displaying that fleeting disgust, the look he cast in her direction held a dark, sinister undertone.
Bai Cha, accordingly, put on an even more innocent, delicate, and frail persona.
Her brows knitted slightly, as if she were enduring the agonizing torment of her illness.
The newbie girl beside her couldn’t resist reaching out to touch Bai Cha’s forehead, comparing the temperature against her own.
“Oh wow, you really are running a fever! Is it a cold?”
“I don’t know, I woke up like this,” Bai Cha let out a soft, delicate sigh.
The girl cast a pitiful look at her, joining in to urge Old Qin on her behalf.
“Do you have any fever medication here then? There must be a health clinic in the village, right?”
The other players: “…”
Do you two genuinely think you’re here on a vacation?
Only then did Old Qin speak up with a trace of impatience: “There’s a health clinic, but women aren’t allowed inside. Women are nothing but trouble. I’ll take you to your lodgings first, and I’ll have someone bring the medicine over to you later.”
The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions on everyone’s faces turned subtle and telling.
Up until now, this NPC had been droning on about the scenery and local specialties.
Now, something entirely different had finally slipped from his mouth.
Several players exchanged covert glances.
It appeared that in this instance, a strict divide existed between men and women.
For the male players, this wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
If this place suffered from a severe, ingrained preference for men over women, there was a high likelihood they would encounter female ghosts.
And those female ghosts would naturally harbor a much stronger murderous intent toward men.
“What century are we in that people are still favoring men over women?” the male player beside Bai Cha muttered under his breath.
He had cleared an instance in the past triggered by a tragic case of misogyny and male preference—he had nearly lost his life back then, leaving him with a massive psychological scar.
The male and female players were housed separately—one group at the head of the village, the other at the tail.
The female players were assigned to the village tail, arriving at a building that received remarkably poor sunlight.
It was almost impressive that they managed to locate such a place amidst an area blessed with such lush scenery and abundant sunshine.
The interior appeared as though it hadn’t been cleaned in a very long time.
Several female players knitted their brows into tight knots.
“Couldn’t you guys have cleaned up a little beforehand?”
Old Qin had dropped the male players off at their lodgings first. They had caught a glimpse of that place—it was clean, neat, and brightly lit inside.
“There’s a broom over there, sweep it up yourselves.”
Dropping those words, Old Qin turned and departed with an expression of deep disgust, looking for all the world as if he had been contaminated by bad luck.
“Fuck!” The short-haired girl let out a low curse.
Still, the house undeniably needed cleaning—at the very least, they had to clear off the beds.
There were three rooms in the courtyard in total; assigning two people to a room posed no issue whatsoever.
“Let’s split up the rooms first, then clean our own areas.”
No one raised any objections.
“How about we introduce ourselves first? My name is Bai Tao—Tao as in peach. You can just call me Taozi.”
Bai Cha offered a friendly smile.
The short-haired girl furrowed her brows again, shooting a look at her.
“Are you always like this?” she said bluntly. “Even inside a game, you stay like this? There aren’t even any men here!”
Bai Cha blinked her eyes, a hint of confusion and grievance surfacing on her pale face.
“Did you misunderstand something…?”
As she spoke, Bai Cha naturally glided over to her side.
“Big Sister, what’s your name? I really didn’t mean anything by it! How about the two of us room together? I’ll prove it to you!”
The girl: “…”
She pulled her hand back in a flash.
“Don’t act so familiar with me. My name is Wen Xing, and I don’t need you to prove anything to me!”
Bai Cha lowered her eyes in a crestfallen manner, speaking with pitiful helpless vulnerability: “Alright then… I just didn’t want you to misunderstand me. I really liked you the moment I laid eyes on you… Can we really not stay together?”
Wen Xing: “…”
Fuck.
