Chapter 27: Yin Fate (Twenty-one)
Judging from her expression, the village woman looked a little unnatural when she mentioned Sun Peipei's death, but there was no sign of lying in other places.
Qiao Yuan asked the village woman for Grandma Agu's address, but as it was getting late, she decided to go back first to avoid being discovered by Brother Chen.
After saying goodbye to the village woman, Qiao Yuan returned along the same route and tiptoed back to the backyard, making almost no sound throughout the process.
Even so, the moment her toes touched the ground, she felt an extremely aggressive gaze that was hard to ignore, like that of a wild beast. She turned her head and saw that Song Yanchi's eyes were already locked on her.
Qiao Yuan had become accustomed to Song Yanchi's vigilance. After all, it was Song Yanchi who first discovered that Zhou Lian had woken up.
Qiao Yuan: "I found out some things."
Hearing Qiao Yuan's voice, Su Yan realized that she was back. She turned around and staggered over, looking excited: "Miss Qiao, you are finally back. What did you find out?"
Qiao Yuan briefly recounted the news he had learned from the village woman. Although Su Yan already knew that Sun Peipei was put into the coffin alive, she couldn't help but shudder when she heard that many villagers knew the whole thing and even acquiesced to it. She thought of the villagers she met on the road before. She originally thought that those people who took the initiative to greet her were very kind and amiable, but now thinking about it, those people's expressions seemed to have been distorted in her mind and became hideous.
Even if Sun Peipei had the fate of an evil ghost before, at least she was still a living person before her death.
Song Yanchi frowned slightly: "So Granny Agu is standing on the opposite side of the female ghost."
Qiao Yuan nodded and fell into deep thought as he spoke: "Yes, she told Zhou Lian before that she was being targeted by a ghost, and from what the villagers said, she does have some skills."
At that time, Qiao Yuan thought that the other party was just being enthusiastic, but now it seems that Grandma A Gu’s advice to Zhou Lian was also because of the female ghost.
The most important thing is that some of the onlookers have met with accidents, but Grandma Agu, who proposed all this, has been fine. It is obvious that she has other means. It is understandable that the village chief and his wife are not worried. After all, Grandma Agu is his biological sister, and she doesn't seem to be afraid of any trouble.
Qiao Yuan: "Wedding..."
Song Yanchi: "Wedding..."
Su Yan: "Wedding?"
When she came to her senses, she heard Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi speak at the same time, and she repeated the sentence subconsciously.
Weren't we talking about Granny Agu before? Why are we jumping back to the wedding now?
Noticing that Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi were looking over, Su Yan quickly waved her hand, signaling them to continue the discussion. She was just mentioning it casually and they should ignore her.
Qiao Yuan: "Our mission is to hold a perfect wedding, but as soon as we entered the village we found out that Li Yaozu and Sun Peipei were dead..."
Although Su Yan looked confused and didn't know why Qiao Yuan suddenly brought up this matter that they had known for a long time, she could still remember very clearly how she felt when she learned that she was going to hold a wedding for two dead people. However, out of her admiration for Qiao Yuan, she did not say anything to disturb him.
Song Yanchi followed Qiao Yuan and said, "Yes, right after that, we met an NPC who guided us through the entire wedding process..."
Su Yan could tell that the NPC Song Yanchi was referring to was Brother Chen, but she was still a little confused. She could only judge carefully from Song Yanchi's tone: "So Brother Chen is a bad guy? Isn't he an NPC set up by the system to help us?"
It’s like a student answering a teacher’s question. As long as the teacher’s tone becomes slightly rhetorical, the student will immediately change his answer.
After hearing Su Yan's words, Song Yanchi realized what he had just said.
Qiao Yuan had the same idea as him, so he subconsciously followed the other person's words, which had never happened before.
But Song Yanchi soon didn't have time to think so much, because Qiao Yuan turned to look at Su Yan: "It is precisely because he is the NPC who guides us and is not a bad person that he distracted our attention and made us focus on holding the wedding and taking the requirements of the groom's father as an important criterion for measuring the wedding."
If Brother Chen was a bad guy, they would have been alert early on. However, the other party happened to be an old colleague with rich wedding planning experience, which alleviated their confusion about wedding planning. As a result, they followed Brother Chen to plan the wedding in the early stage and ignored the protagonist of the wedding——
Li Yaozu and Sun Peipei.
Combining the information obtained in the past few days, the village chief lied at the beginning. He said that Li Yaozu and Sun Peipei had a good relationship, one was in a car accident and the other committed suicide. According to the feedback obtained by Song Yanchi and others after changing Li Yaozu's clothes, Li Yaozu's body did look like he died in a car accident, and it could be said to be in pieces. Su Yan has made up her mind to become a vegetarian in the future, and Li Lei's reaction at the time seemed to have left him with a serious psychological trauma.
However, Sun Peipei obviously did not commit suicide voluntarily. She was indirectly killed by the villagers, so the villagers were the target. The paper figures surrounding her should be the missing or dead villagers. Later, Grandma Agu did something that caused Sun Peipei, a female ghost, to be temporarily silent. If they just wanted to completely seal or eliminate Sun Peipei, they still needed this wedding so that Sun Peipei could be buried in the ancestral tomb as a member of the Li family.
Qiao Yuan had been thinking about the definition of a perfect wedding, but the definition of perfection was too broad. According to Brother Chen, the criteria for judging a perfect wedding depended on whether the couple, their parents, and the guests were satisfied.
Brother Chen was watching the wedding process, and the wishes of the village chief and the villagers were also very clear, that is, they wanted Sun Peipei, the female ghost, to disappear completely, and Sun Peipei seemed to want to kill the villagers who killed her...
And after knowing that this wedding was just to eliminate herself, it was a question whether Sun Peipei would let the wedding go smoothly. However, according to the mission, the wedding must be held.
Song Yanchi had also thought of this, but he was more experienced: "We have to choose a path."
This is similar to the side quests he had done in previous copies. He needs to choose a side quest to finally complete the main quest.
After Song Yanchi and Qiao Yuan's suggestions, Su Yan finally figured out the key points and realized that she had to choose between the female ghost and the villagers. After all, the demands of both seemed impossible to meet. If it were in real life, she would definitely choose to stand on Sun Peipei's side without hesitation, but this was in the dungeon world, these people and ghosts were just NPCs, and the success or failure of the mission was related to her life...
Su Yan hesitated. It seemed that it would be easier to choose to satisfy the villagers. However, the NPCs in this game were too real. Sun Peipei's experience also made her feel sympathetic. Su Yan always felt sorry for her conscience by standing on the side of the villagers. She felt like she was helping the evildoers...
Qiao Yuan: "This is not a multiple-choice question. We must satisfy their wishes at the same time."
"Perfection is to satisfy both the people and ghosts present."
Qiao Yuan's voice sounded, but it did not make Su Yan feel relieved as she did not have to make a choice.
Song Yanchi even said directly: "How is this possible?!"
However, he soon realized that what Qiao Yuan said was indeed correct. It is indeed difficult to call it perfect if only one party is satisfied.
Qiao Yuan actually had some idea in her mind, but because there were too many uncertainties, she needed to deduce it several times in her mind before telling the two of them, so she turned to mention another thing -
Grandma Agu.
There must be other reasons why Grandma A Gu suddenly called Zhou Lian over, so we must find out, and it would be best if we can stop Zhou Lian from getting close to her.
Su Yan finally had a chance to speak: "Let's find someone to approach him!"
She subconsciously looked at Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi, only to find that they were looking at her.
Su Yan: ???
Qiao Yuan: "I want to, but he has discovered my true identity and will definitely not take me with him."
"As for him...he was the first person Zhou Lian didn't want to get close to."
Su Yan: “…”
She has always been introverted, but at this moment she couldn't help but complain in her heart that Zhou Lian's hatred was so widespread, but he missed her and made her the one who slipped through the net.
Qiao Yuan: "Of course, if you get close to Zhou Lian, there will definitely be a risk . If you don't want to, we can't force you to go."
"But if you agree to approach him, I will sneak up on you at night and protect your safety to the best of my ability."
She didn't like to force others. If Su Yan didn't agree, she would spend more time thinking of other solutions.
Su Yan fell into silence.
Qiao Yuan has explained the interests involved to her clearly, and now it is time for her to make a choice.
After learning Zhou Lian's true identity, Su Yan didn't want to get close to him at all. She knew she couldn't beat Zhou Lian at all. If Qiao Yuan hadn't been there on the first day, she would have died long ago.
But she also knew that she couldn't always rely on Qiao Yuan. Even if she survived this copy, there would still be the next one, and the other party couldn't always protect her.
Song Yanchi had no intention of persuading anyone: "If you don't agree, then forget it..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard Su Yan's crisp voice: "I promise!"
She was born shy and taciturn, and even her normal speaking volume was lower than others, often sounding like a mosquito's whisper to others. But this time she finally reached the volume of a normal person.
"You have always been the ones sharing information and clues with me. This time I also want to try..." Su Yan hadn't finished her words, but Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi had already understood what she meant.
Qiao Yuan: "Great! Then it will be easier for the three of us to complete the mission !"
Song Yanchi: "Who's with you two..."
"But I will go with you when the time comes. You can think of it as me protecting you."
Su Yan didn't feel flattered by Song Yanchi's words as usual. Instead, she was full of enthusiasm because she had taken on the task. She was ready to go: "So how can I get close to him? He should know that I'm close to you guys, and I can't act..."
She had never performed in a play when she was a child and had no acting experience, so she really needed Qiao Yuan to share his acting experience.
Qiao Yuan: “It’s very simple.”
"Go and have a fight with Gui Lanlan first, then wait for Zhou Lian to come find you. Just stay in front of him for ten minutes."
"By the way, remember to be yourself, don't lie, and choose to remain silent when you don't want to answer."
Su Yan: “…Ah?”
So simple?
Even Song Yanchi looked at Qiao Yuan with an expression of "what are you talking about". However, he couldn't even pretend, and had no experience in getting close to people, so naturally he didn't know how to refute Qiao Yuan.
Qiao Yuan ignored Song Yanchi's gaze towards him and turned to look at Su Yan: "Okay, you can go now."
Su Yan was dazed: "...Okay, okay."
Although she agreed readily at the time, Su Yan still felt the pressure belatedly when she thought about having to face a ghost alone without Qiao Yuan by her side.
When she turned around, Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi even found that her hands were shaking violently, as if she had Parkinson's disease. She walked unsteadily, not like she was walking with her feet, but with her hands. Unless Gui Lanlan and Zhou Lian were blind, they would have .
"Stop shaking." Song Yanchi's dissatisfied voice sounded from behind Su Yan. Although he did not mention anyone by name, Su Yan already knew that he was talking about her.
She can't control it!
I thought Song Yanchi would scold or sneer, but I didn't expect his voice to be so calm at this time: "Who do you think is scarier, Qiao Yuan or that ghost?"
Qiao Yuan: "What kind of comfort is this..."
Song Yanchi really doesn't know how to comfort people. How can she be scary as a ghost? Didn't the other party's words obviously make Su Yan even more scared?
Su Yan: “…”
Yes.
Even if it is a ghost, doesn't it have to participate in labor under Qiao Yuan's arrangement?
Before Qiao Yuan could finish his words, he watched Su Yan stop shaking.
Qiao Yuan: ???
Although Su Yan did not make a choice verbally, her body had obviously answered Song Yanchi's question.
Qiao Yuan didn't expect that Su Yan had such an image of herself in her mind. She turned around and looked at Song Yanchi with a complicated gaze for the first time: "I didn't expect that you would take the initiative to comfort her and understand her so well."
Hearing Qiao Yuan's words, Song Yanchi glanced at Qiao Yuan coldly: "After all, it is related to our mission."
"Also, I don't understand her, I understand you."
He still hasn't remembered the name of this newbie, so how could he possibly understand him? It's just that he knows Qiao Yuan too well.
There was nothing ambiguous in his tone, which didn't make people think too much.
Qiao Yuan smiled, thinking that Song Yanchi's words were just a more advanced mockery. He looked at Su Yan. Whether the plan could be implemented smoothly would depend on the other party.
Song Yanchi's comfort really worked, and Gui Lanlan behaved like a normal person, which greatly relieved Su Yan's tension.
Gui Lanlan's personality was the same as before, and now she had to work harder, so her temper became even worse. Seeing Su Yan deliberately walking by as if nothing had happened, she soon started quarreling with Su Yan.
Li Lei wanted to mediate, but the volume was not as loud as Gui Lanlan and Su Yan's voices, and soon it became background music.
Seeing that Brother Chen was about to go on stage, Zhou Lian on the side walked up to the two of them first and began to mediate between them with a diligent and responsible look.
After Zhou Lian arrived, Su Yan quickly stopped talking, and Lan Lan couldn't make a fuss about a ghost either. The quarrel between the person and the ghost was settled, but their expressions were full of resentment.
Brother Chen gave Zhou Lian a look that said "you are the best". After he found that Zhou Lian was walking to the side with his men, he did not think much about it. He thought that Zhou Lian wanted to continue to persuade Su Yan who still looked angry, so he just said, "Pay attention to the time."
Su Yan encouraged herself: Pay attention to the time!
Boil for ten minutes!
When they reached the corner, Zhou Lian looked around, as if to make sure that no one was around before he said, "I felt like you were very close to Lanlan today."
Su Yan:!
What is coming has finally come!
She was not good at hiding her emotions. When she heard Zhou Lian's question, she wanted to hide it, but the next second her face showed her nervousness: "No, no..."
Zhou Lian seemed not to have heard her explanation, and immediately asked, "Did Qiao Yuan ask you to do this?"
Su Yan:!!!
Is it that obvious?!
She was shocked. She didn't expect Zhou Lian to guess that this was Qiao Yuan's plan so quickly.
Their plan failed at the very beginning.
That's right, Qiao Yuan is just a human being after all, and it's impossible for him to predict everything. It's normal for plans to fail to keep up with changes. She wanted to turn around and quickly tell Qiao Yuan that their plan had been leaked to see if the other party had prepared other plans, but she remembered what Qiao Yuan said about her staying in front of Zhou Lian for at least ten minutes, so she could only grit her teeth and continue, "No, no, what does it have to do with her?"
Su Yan's astonished expression naturally did not escape Zhou Lian's eyes. Although the other party did not speak, Zhou Lian had already got the answer from Su Yan's silence.
He guessed right.
Zhou Lian: "I already know."
Zhou Lian smiled, but Su Yan felt even more depressed. She tried to resist stubbornly: "It really has nothing to do with her..."
She knew that her acting skills were not good to begin with, and she was sorry for Qiao Yuan's high hopes for her, but she didn't expect it to be this bad. Now, she couldn't even last 30 seconds in front of Zhou Lian, let alone ten minutes.
Just as Su Yan was thinking about how to get through the next nine minutes and thirty seconds, she heard Zhou Lian say seriously, "Actually, I think Lanlan is weird. Maybe she's been replaced by a ghost."
Su Yan: "Actually, it really has nothing to do with Miss Qiao... huh?!"
She raised the last line of her voice and looked at Zhou Lian in confusion, wondering why he suddenly brought up this matter.
Weren’t you mentioning Qiao Yuan just now?
Hearing Su Yan's obviously surprised voice, Zhou Lian's eyes showed a bit of satisfaction, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he looked puzzled: "I think Miss Qiao seems to know about this matter. You two are so close. Didn't she tell you?"
She did tell...
No, Zhou Lian brought this up now...
Su Yan looked at Zhou Lian in disbelief.
So this person is trying to sow discord now? !
What Su Yan didn't know was that Zhou Lian was very satisfied with her every reaction, and as Qiao Yuan guessed, this was related to the meeting with Grandma A Gu tonight.
If in the past copies, Zhou Lian was asked to go out at night, he would definitely choose to refuse, but the situation is different now, he is being targeted by a ghost.
To be on the safe side, Zhou Lian also took the time to ask the villagers. It turned out that this tailor was not an ordinary person as he thought. He could even be said to be the only person who could possibly check and balance the female ghost.
However, traveling alone at night, coupled with Grandma Agu's sudden show of goodwill, still made Zhou Lian feel a little dangerous, and he realized that he should find a companion.
Li Lei now has to take Gui Lanlan with him wherever he goes. Zhou Lian was the first to exclude her, while Song Yanchi and Qiao Yuan had been promoted to people he didn't even want to think about. Looking around, only Su Yan was left.
Zhou Lian also went through an ideological struggle over whether to take Su Yan with him. After all, although after careful observation this time, Su Yan was indeed just a novice student with no courage, she had obviously been very close to Qiao Yuan and the others in recent days. Maybe she had already been Qiao Yuan's teammate. However, he quickly overturned this speculation.
After all, even he didn't notice anything abnormal about Qiao Yuan, let alone Su Yan.
Moreover, Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi had been avoiding Gui Lanlan intentionally or unintentionally. They had obviously discovered Gui Lanlan's abnormality, but Su Yan was still foolishly approaching Gui Lanlan and even had a conflict with her.
Zhou Lian immediately realized that Qiao Yuan did not regard Su Yan as a partner. In fact, he and Qiao Yuan were essentially the same kind of people, and the newbie was just a resource that could be used. According to Su Yan's personality, she would stay away from Qiao Yuan after knowing that Qiao Yuan was a ghost. Because she had been ridiculed by Lan Lan several times before, she had almost rigidly reduced the number of times she interacted with Qiao Yuan in the past two days. Now that Qiao Yuan suddenly came so close, he did not believe that there was no one behind her.
This undoubtedly gave Zhou Lian an opportunity to win over Su Yan.
Therefore, in the afternoon, while Qiao Yuan and Song Yanchi were not paying attention, Zhou Lian took Su Yan to a corner. Su Yan had obviously grown up in the past few days, and she probably said something to Qiao Yuan. She looked at him with a wary look, but she still had a forced smile on her face, like a weak animal trying hard to disguise but not knowing that she had been exposed: "Mr. Zhou, you are looking for me..."
Zhou Lian was very satisfied with Su Yan's reaction. Seeing that Wen Jiajun and Yang Yaowuererqiwuerba had been able to live with Qiao Yuan and the others until now, and that they were still facing him without any vigilance, Zhou Lian would suspect that this was some conspiracy. The other party's subsequent expressions of shock and disbelief were all very natural, and he was completely a poor little person who was kept in the dark.
Su Yan: "Ah, this..."
Zhou Lian: "I can verify my words and prove to you that Lanlan is a ghost."
Then Zhou Lian used his own method to prove to Su Yan that Lan Lan was a ghost. Looking at Su Yan who seemed to be stunned, he said
"If Qiao Yuan hadn't mentioned this to you, then my guess would have been verified, as expected..."
Su Yan: “…”
What is it?
She didn't know how to respond to Zhou Lian's words. Thinking of Qiao Yuan's words that if she didn't know how to respond, she should just stop talking, so she chose to lower her head, looking as if she was in silence.
Although he still had a gentle look on his face, Zhou Lian was actually getting a little impatient in his heart. If there was really no one around him that he could use, why would he have to be so patient and coax a newcomer here?
Zhou Lian sighed, and closed his eyes behind his glasses, as if he didn't want to say this easily: " Qiao Yuan has a problem. She may want to join hands with Song Yanchi to kill us."
"There were many such people in past dungeons. They would attack newbies like you and step on your corpses to pass the level..."
Su Yan: “…”
Who is this describing?
She looked over with complicated eyes.
Zhou Lian suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards Su Yan, almost making Su Yan think that her gaze had revealed something. Her heart beat violently several times and her expression became visibly panicked.
Zhou Lian: "Don't be afraid. I will always remember what I promised you when we first entered the dungeon. I will protect you."
Su Yan used to think that ten minutes was too long and she couldn't endure it, and she still agrees with this feeling now.
Ten minutes was too long, and she was really afraid that she would laugh out loud in front of Zhou Lian, who had a serious face.
"How can you be sure that Zhou Lian will be fooled?" Not long after Su Yan left, Song Yanchi couldn't help but ask Qiao Yuan: "He doesn't look like someone who would be fooled by such acting."
Although he was a little surprised that Su Yan agreed to get close to Zhou Lian, he didn't have much hope. After all, Su Yan's acting skills were not good enough in front of Zhou Lian. Moreover, after being deceived by Qiao Yuan, Zhou Lian should be more suspicious.
Qiao Yuan: "Ah? When did I let Su Yan act?"
It was because she knew that someone like Su Yan with zero acting skills was useless in front of Zhou Lian, so she specifically warned him not to lie.
Qiao Yuan: "Sincerity is the ultimate skill."
"People like Zhou Lian who are not candid need to be taught how to be a good person sincerely."
Song Yanchi: "..."
It seems that Qiao Yuan does not want to teach Zhou Lian a lesson, but rather wants to save him.
Qiao Yuan: "Maybe Zhou Lian has already started to sow discord and denounce my crimes, and then said that if Su Yan wants to complete the mission, it would be better for her to join his camp."
Song Yanchi thought of an important question and frowned: "Su Yan will definitely agree, then how can she get close to us?"
Qiao Yuan: "Have you heard of double agents?"
Song Yanchi: "...I've heard of it, what's wrong?"
Zhou Lian was a little dry-mouthed when he spoke, and finally revealed his true purpose: "I found that Lanlan and Adao had been killed by ghosts because of her. If we still want to survive, we need to unite."
Su Yan finally heard what she wanted to hear. She nodded repeatedly and quickly thought of an important thing: "Do I need to stay away from Qiao Yuan and the others?"
Zhou Lian: "No, you have to seize this advantage."
"We not only have to deal with the ghost, but also with her. She shouldn't have any suspicion of you yet, so you can go back to her and continue to get information without letting her get suspicious."
Unsure when Su Yan will die, he needs to make the most of Su Yan and make her play her due value.
Su Yan: “…”
For the first time, she felt Zhou Lian’s thoughtfulness so deeply.
