“What happened?!” Wang Ruizhi and Li Gang hurriedly arrived, carrying the sunstruck and still-unconscious Xia Xueqin. “Bugs were flying in the sky and crawling on the ground, all rushing downstream like mad!”
Li Gang said, “I just used my earth/thunder to blow up a mountainside, hoping to hold them back a bit.”
Auntie Wang spotted the queen insect that had become almost an empty shell from behind, as well as He Yuncong covered in blood. “The queen insect… Did the Dream Faller perish together with the queen insect?”
Mu Shan said, “He didn’t die. He’s just badly injured.”
Zong Rui said annoyedly, “We just cooperated to kill the queen insect, but the system only prompted kill rewards. It didn’t say Side Quest 2 was complete.”
“…Could it be a system bug?”
The group talked over each other there. Down below the cave, the worker insects ran frantically, creating an earth-shaking rumble. They completely ignored the few players and uniformly headed downstream.
Mu Shan’s expression changed. “No…”
“We got it wrong from start to finish.”
The other players saw her expression and also got chills down their spines, sensing something bad.
Auntie Wang’s voice cracked with sobs. “Little niece, don’t scare your auntie… What’s really going on?”
Mu Shan looked at the surging insect tide outside and finally grasped the key point. “No time to explain. Everyone, hurry back to the village!”
The group carried the two unconscious ones and ran back toward the way they came. He Yuncong’s sand snake had already died attacking the giant insect monsters. Li Gang could transform into a cat and leap quickly through the treetops, but the rest had no fast movement tools.
If they went on foot, by the time they reached the NPC Village, the villagers would probably be reduced to bones, and Side Quest 1 would end in miserable failure.
Yu Da hoisted the blood-soaked He Yuncong onto his back and turned his head to look at her, his gaze questioning.
Without thinking, Mu Shan pulled out the last two monster cards from the Card Album and tossed them into the air.
【Character Card: One Lepidopteran Giant Insect Monster, One Coleopteran Giant Insect Monster】
In the blink of an eye, two giant insect monsters descended from the sky. With a “boom,” they smashed up a cloud of dust. But they didn’t join the surging, frenzied insect tide. Instead, they paced restlessly around the players.
“Grab onto the bugs and don’t let go!” Mu Shan endured the disgusting texture as she climbed onto the massive butterfly’s body and gripped the long antennae on the butterfly’s head, transforming into a [Butterfly Knight].
The others all clambered onto the massive beetle’s shell as well. With Mu Shan’s command, the two insect monsters charged forward at full speed, starting a chase to reach the village ahead of the enraged insect tide.
The butterfly’s wingbeats made it fly extremely fast. The gale blew so hard they couldn’t open their eyes, but Mu Shan grew anxious at heart. In just a few short minutes, several guesses formed in her mind.
The giant insect monsters that attacked once every three days had misled the players’ attention. Because the strength gap was too vast, their focus had always been on “how to defeat the insect monsters.”
But the real focus of the Humid Heat Forest dungeon was: Why were the insect swarms so fixated on the village? They wouldn’t even proactively attack safe houses.
Was it really just the [behavior protocol] the system assigned them?
Only now, after the queen insect was killed and the insect swarm went berserk toward the village, did Mu Shan truly realize the problem she’d always overlooked:
—What was so special about this NPC Village that made the insects attack every three days for a year and a half, more diligent than corporate drones clocking in!
Combined with the small path, old insect nest, and insect shells discovered not long ago in the Stone Valley, Mu Shan formed a guess with extremely high possibility.
“Collector!” On the beetle’s back, Zong Rui shouted, “Tell us quick—what’s the situation? Why didn’t killing the queen insect complete the task? I’m dying of anxiety—!”
Her voice scattered in the wind. Mu Shan turned her head. “Side Quest 2 says: 【Task failure deducts 100 gold coins; if insufficient gold, deduct other items instead】. Compared to Side Quest 1’s 【3000 gold】 penalty, that’s way too little.”
“I originally thought the system was stingy and didn’t believe players could kill the queen insect, so it only set a 100-gold penalty.”
“Now I see—this was actually the system’s hint!”
Mu Shan’s voice mixed in the wind, becoming fragmented. “Because the dungeon boss is only worth 100 gold!”
“The system said ‘kill the dungeon boss,’ not ‘kill the queen insect.’ Its wording has always been precise. No need to use two different terms for the same thing!”
“This was a trap the system deliberately set for us. It never intended for players to challenge the queen insect beyond their level.”
Auntie Wang was stunned. “…It didn’t want us to kill the queen insect? But tricked us into throwing our lives away?”
Zong Rui slammed her fist into her palm viciously. “Damn!!!”
“So many players died this past year—all for nothing? We were all fooled by the system?!”
She broke down a bit and stood up, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Collector, tell me what the dungeon boss really is!”
Li Gang advised from the side, “Don’t worry about Side Quest 2 now. The insect tide is almost at the village. If Side Quest 1 fails, we’ll all go bankrupt!”
Mu Shan sat on the giant butterfly’s back, watching the NPC Village draw nearer. Her voice was low and hoarse. “The two quests are linked. Whether Side Quest 1 or 2, the key is the same one thing.”
When they first entered the dungeon, they’d seen the village nestled in the jungle, exuding peace, quiet, and detachment from worldly strife. Now, the flying giant insect arrived first and utterly destroyed the wooden spike barricade at the village entrance.
Some young and strong villagers formed a guard team, wielding crude farm tools like hoes and sickles to resist the insect monsters, but with little effect.
The thatched roofs and wooden plank houses were all destroyed, with scattered thatch and bricks littering the ground. Bodies lay scattered haphazardly on the empty streets, killed by the giant insects.
Mu Shan saw over a dozen elderly, women, and children huddled under the school shed with nowhere to go. The children lay gasping feebly in the over-60-degree heat.
Zong Rui used a broom to swat down a giant butterfly hovering overhead and yelled, “Hurry into the village! I’ll buy you time!”
Mu Shan used the Peashooter to attack the swarming flying insect monsters, leading the rest deeper into the village.
Seeing the players, two young men ran over crying. “Adventurer lords, please save us!”
Auntie Wang set Xia Xueqin down in a safe spot, sweating profusely and speaking rapidly. “The queen insect is dead. The insect tide army is on its way. You can only survive by leaving the forest!”
“Hurry and tell the villagers to follow the trade road out. It’s too late if you wait!”
The two young men paused and exchanged a glance. “Our ancestors have lived here for generations. We can’t abandon the village.”
One even tried pleading. “Adventurer lords, you must have a way, right?”
Before Auntie Wang could speak, Mu Shan stepped forward. “Is it that you don’t want to leave, or that you can’t?”
She raised the Peashooter in her hand, aiming the green muzzle at the young man. “Let me into the church.”
Auntie Wang and Li Gang behind Mu Shan exchanged a glance, both reading shock in each other’s eyes. The NPCs, who had been ignored until now, finally revealed something abnormal after her demand.
More sturdy villagers gathered behind the first two young men.
“The church is a sacred place. The village chief doesn’t allow any adventurers inside.”
“What are you doing?”
“Bad news! The adventurers are attacking!”
“The Savior sent you to protect the village, not threaten the villagers!”
With the massive wave of giant insect monsters about to arrive and the NPC villagers unyielding, Auntie Wang and Li Gang fumed with frustration.
Mu Shan planned to crash through the villagers’ encirclement and break in, but a hand suddenly reached from behind and gently pressed her shoulder.
He Yuncong held a small scale in his hand. One end was empty, the other held a white feather. Strangely, the scale stayed balanced.
His body was covered in dried blood and battle scars. As soon as he stepped out, a chilling aura followed. The previously noisy villagers fell silent. The two leading young men trembled but forced themselves not to retreat.
“This is the scale of judgment.”
“One end holds your heart, the other the feather of truth. If your heart is guiltless and weighs the same as the feather, the scale balances, and you gain eternal life. If your heart weighs more than the feather, the devil devours it, and you fall to hell.”
The man in the beast-head mask spoke slowly. “Your heart or the feather—which is heavier?”
As his words fell, the previously balanced scale suddenly tilted sharply to one side. The empty end plunged down abruptly, and large gulps of blood appeared from nowhere, dripping onto the ground.
One of the two young men blocking Mu Shan clutched his chest and wailed in agony before collapsing silently.
The surrounding villagers stared in shock and backed away, clearing out a vacuum.
In He Yuncong’s hand, one end of the Judgment Scale now held a bloody heart.
“He concealed his evil deeds—enough to fall to hell.”
With that result, even the previously adamant NPC villagers began to doubt themselves. No one blocked the players anymore.
Mu Shan glared warily at the villagers. A hand from behind gently pushed her forward.
“Go. Your guess is correct.”
She walked forward a few steps. The villagers on both sides only dared retreat, not block her. She, Auntie Wang, and Li Gang took the chance to shove open the tightly shut church doors and burst into the sanctuary.
Countless buildings lay destroyed and villagers displaced, yet this one brick-and-tile structure remained intact.
An elder knelt piously before a humanoid statue, praying.
“The Savior won’t come.”
“The only ones who can save the village are the players.”
Mu Shan’s voice echoed in the empty church.
Behind her, Li Gang and Auntie Wang exchanged a glance and stood to her left and right, backing her up.
The frail, withered old village chief, his wrinkled skin like he might topple in a breeze, turned shakily. His murky eyes fixed on her. “Adventurer miss, why do you say that?”
“Tasi Village Chief, the villagers dug up giant insect remains and shells from the forest a few years ago to sell, right?”
The old man turned fully. “…Yes, that’s true. Times were hard in the village. We just wanted extra gold coins to repair houses. Later, the giant insects drove us out, so we stopped digging.”
Mu Shan nodded.
“The bond between the villagers and the insect monsters started then. But the giant insect monsters don’t use knives to kill. Someone deliberately killed Player 12 and Player 3 to cover up some truth.”
The old man said nothing, listening silently.
“Player 12 was injured and stayed at the tavern. The killer feared he’d discover something, so he killed him. Player 3 had the rare eagle-eye profession. The killer feared even more that he’d see the village’s secrets.”
“Both were players. Even injured, they wouldn’t die in one hit.”
“Who could catch players most off-guard and strike easily?”
Amid Li Gang and Auntie Wang’s shocked gazes, Mu Shan gave the answer. “Of course—the NPCs regarded by players as protected objects.”
“Right? Tasi Village Chief.”
As her words fell, the village chief, old as tree bark, gazed at her calmly. He slowly drew a curved blade from behind his back. His rough, wrinkled hand gripped the hilt firmly, without a tremor.