Chapter 13: Death Instance
Only then did Su Qiong truly understand: this thin, fragile girl was the ultimate boss of the Gangan Village instance. She possessed enough power to control the entire world around them.
According to the rules of IF, all instance bosses were life-forms that either currently existed or had once existed. Their origins and jobs didn’t matter. There was only one strict requirement: they had to earn the main system’s acknowledgment.
The rule sounded simple, but the IF system was incredibly cunning. The fact that Li Ting had earned its acknowledgment meant she was far from ordinary.
Su Qiong followed Li Ting out of the wooden house. Looking up, he saw thousands of glowing lights drifting across the sky on the opposite side of the Yin-Yang River.
Gangan Village had no electricity. Where was the light coming from?
Looking closer, Su Qiong realized the lights were the tens of thousands of wooden name tablets that had hung inside the house. In the pitch-black night, every single tablet had ignited. The flames carried the centuries of suffering those women had endured.
The village was already in total chaos.
The villagers, whose grotesque traditions had allowed the settlement to survive for hundreds of years, were now fleeing in pure terror, desperately trying to escape the fire raining from the sky.
Yet, over the centuries, the men had built countless barricades and checkpoints at the village exit to ensure the women they tricked could never escape. Every path out of the village was locked tight. Only now, as disaster rained down on their own heads, did the men realize they had sealed their own tomb.
The glowing fire illuminated Li Ting’s calm profile. “Do what you want to do,” she whispered.
The instant she spoke, the flames crashed down like rain. Millions of sparks merged into a roaring crimson sea, engulfing everything stained with sin.
Through the raging fire, Su Qiong watched the cave they had slept in burn to ash. As the stone walls crumbled, the secret hidden inside them was finally exposed…
Gold!
The stone inside the mountain had been hollowed out and filled with thick, heavy gold bricks. Tumbling from the cracking rock, they piled into a towering, blinding mountain of gold.
So Gangan Village truly did have a mountain of gold? Su Qiong thought. No wonder he had always felt a freezing draft seeping through the walls at night.
“You still don’t know what my special ability is, do you?” Li Ting said softly. “My ability is called Equivalent Exchange. For all these years, the villagers ate my food and drank the water I provided. I sustained their lives. Therefore, everything they have belongs to me. That’s reasonable, isn’t it?”
Su Qiong nodded. “Reasonable.”
He had originally guessed her ability involved plundering or theft. He hadn’t expected it to be Equivalent Exchange. But for a realistic instance, it was undoubtedly the most fitting power. Karma. Cause and effect.
On the opposite bank, the villagers still didn’t understand what was happening. They covered their heads, running pathetically from the fiery rain. Suddenly, one of the men spotted the mountain of gold. He sprinted toward it like a rabid dog.
“Gold! My gold!”
Instead of stopping him, the other men’s eyes went red with greed. Without a second thought, they blindly charged straight into the sea of flames to grab the treasure.
Shi Yuntian took a few steps back, staring in utter disbelief. “Their mental state is completely broken.”
No one disagreed. Accompanied by the gentle sound of the flowing river, Li Ting answered, “It broke a long time ago.”
Suddenly, an old bachelor who had escaped the flames noticed the three women standing behind Li Ting. He lunged at them, his eyes wide with ravenous hunger.
“Wives! My wives!”
“Ah!” one of the women screamed in terror, ducking behind the young girl.
Before the filthy man could even get close, Lu Shufan and Shi Yuntian viciously kicked him to the dirt.
“Get the hell away from them!” “Filthy trash. What rotten luck!”
The old bachelor coughed up a mouthful of blood as the flames rapidly closed in around him. He looked at the women, then at the blazing mountain of gold that had been hidden in his village all along. A look of intense, agonizing fury twisted his face. He had sung that creepy nursery rhyme for most of his life, dreaming day and night of a wife and a mountain of gold. Now that everything he wanted was finally right in front of him, how could he accept dying?
Li Ting didn’t spare him another glance. With a flick of her finger, she pulled several gold bricks out of the fiery sea, floating them over to the players.
“Each of you may take one. It will be enough to clear the game,” Li Ting said. “I intend to leave the rest of the gold to A-Qiu and the sisters.”
The players immediately understood. When they first entered the game, the system promised there were multiple ways to win. Even though they hadn’t earned enough money working in the city, completing this hidden quest perfectly satisfied the clearing conditions.
“Big Sister?!” A-Qiu and the others gasped, stunned by the massive fortune.
“Gangan Village is a place of sin, but the girls born here are innocent. All of you have bright futures ahead,” Li Ting smiled warmly at them. “Since fate made us sisters, what does shared blood matter?”
With everything settled, Li Ting turned back to the players. “The instance is over. You should leave.”
“Yes, absolutely!” Those Who Obey Me Win cheered, instantly grabbing a gold brick.
Su Qiong, however, stared fixedly at the young girl. Somehow, a look of genuine concern seemed to appear on his featureless marshmallow face. “What about you?”
“My wish has been fulfilled.” Li Ting fell silent for a few seconds. She had originally planned to let her soul fade away the moment someone uncovered the village’s dark truth. But now, she had changed her mind.
“I plan to leave this place, reset my alignment, and become a white-name NPC just like you.”
Su Qiong felt a bubbly sense of joy. “Alright. Let’s meet again in a happy instance next time.”
“Mm,” Li Ting nodded. She watched him fade out of the instance alongside the players, a sad smile touching her lips. “You truly are innocent,” she whispered to the empty air. “Aside from my village, where in this game is there ever a place without killing?”
Su Qiong didn’t hear her final words. He had already warped out of the level, the system’s robotic voice chiming in his ears.
[Congratulations to NPC Su Qiong for completing the beginner guidance mission. KPI +40. You may visit the system shop to exchange for items.]
[Congratulations to NPC Su Qiong for completing the Gangan Village hidden quest, “The Women.” Reward: 8,000 points.]
Su Qiong fell silent. Points were the currency meant for human players. A massive reward of 8,000 points was enough to boost a player straight from Level 0 to Level 5. Level 5 players were highly respected in the beginner zone and considered experts. But he was just a system NPC. What was he supposed to do with player points?
[Congratulations to NPC Su Qiong for earning the Instance Clear achievement. Boss Reward obtained: Equivalent Exchange Bag.]
A golden pouch shaped like a lucky draw bag materialized in Su Qiong’s hands. Beautiful, golden Gangan sprouts were embroidered across its silk surface, making it look incredibly luxurious.
[Item Description: Equivalent Exchange Bag. When the holder trades with anyone inside an instance, as long as the exchange remains within reasonable limits, the bag will automatically force the other party to pay whatever they still owe.]
[System Evaluation: Blackhearted Transaction Bag. Forced buying, forced selling—who are you trying to anger to death?]
“Su-su, you got the boss item!” Lu Shufan pounced over, inspecting the glowing pouch. He sucked in a sharp breath. “What an outrageous item.”
Standing nearby, Those Who Obey Me Win rubbed his bruised neck. Seeing the word “transaction” practically gave him PTSD. The bag’s ability sounded harmless enough, but if it fell into the hands of a certain ruthless capitalist…
“Here.” Su Qiong held out his squishy hands and passed the golden pouch directly to the ruthless capitalist.
“For me?!” Yu Qimiao lacked gaming experience, but even he knew how priceless a boss-drop item was. Su Qiong had done all the heavy lifting for the hidden quest, yet he was freely giving away the ultimate reward.
“Mm. Boss items are meant for players,” Su Qiong said, pushing the bag into Yu Qimiao’s hands. He looked at the rest of the team. “This item suits him best. If I have the opportunity to guide you guys again, I’ll help you find your own items.”
“It’s fine~” Lu Shufan waved a hand cheerfully. “I only know how to spend money anyway. Giving me a magic wallet would be a total waste.”
Shi Yuntian, however, caught a specific word. “What do you mean, if? Are you saying you aren’t going to be our guide next time?”
“That’s right,” Su Qiong looked at him like it was obvious. “I’m a roaming NPC. I get randomly assigned to different instances. IF has thousands of active levels. The probability that we’ll end up in the exact same one again is…”
Su Qiong paused, calculating the math in his head.
“Approximately 0.00135 percent.”
Shi Yuntian was devastated. He really thought the little marshmallow was their exclusive pet NPC. Why didn’t this trashy game let players bind themselves to a guide?! It was infuriating!
“I have to go guide other players now. Hurry and enter the safe zone. Goodbye,” Su Qiong said brightly, turning to leave without the slightest hesitation.
“Wait!” Yu Qimiao suddenly grabbed the edge of Su Qiong’s cloak. “I have something for you.”
Yu Qimiao quickly opened the player shop. Using every single point he had just earned from clearing the instance, he purchased a brand-new Mimicry Cloak, identical to the one Su Qiong was wearing.
“You tore your cloak to pieces just to help us get bus tickets. At the very least, let me replace it,” Yu Qimiao said softly. He gently unclasped the tattered gray fabric from Su Qiong’s shoulders and draped the fresh, clean cloak over him. His voice was thick with genuine concern. “Be careful out there. Stay safe.”
“…Alright.”
Su Qiong took back his previous thought.
Suddenly, a chaotic, messy knot of unfamiliar emotions seemed to insert itself directly into his code. A probability of 0.00135 percent. Will we really never meet again?
After parting ways with the Orphan Alliance, Su Qiong didn’t immediately jump into another level. Instead, he floated over to the massive safe zone where players gathered between games to gather intel.
It was the fourth day since the new batch of millions of players had been dragged into the game, and tens of thousands had already successfully escaped their first instance. Strangely, they hadn’t entered the true game world yet. Instead, they had built a massive survival base in the blank void outside the instances.
The survival base was peaceful. It had even developed a functioning market economy. As long as players paid points, they could buy food, rent hotel rooms, and enjoy entertainment. As for the players who had “failed” their instances, Su Qiong learned that they weren’t dead—they had just been transported by the system to some dark, unknown corner of the beginner zone.
Hearing this, a strange thought flickered through Su Qiong’s code, though he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it meant. Either way, IF was terrifyingly difficult. Even if players could revive infinitely in the beginner stages, they absolutely could not afford to fail. There was always a terrible price to pay.
Aside from relaxing, the base was the perfect place to trade information.
Once players began leveling up, the system unlocked a global leaderboard displaying the top one hundred players. Ordinary players could pay a small fee to view the experts’ stats and clearing records.
The player ranked #1 was named ERROR. On the very first day, he had been assigned to the most brutal beginner level in Instance Three, clearing it in just twenty minutes. Over the next two hours, he casually crushed Instances One and Two as well. Still unsatisfied, ERROR had voluntarily unlocked the deadliest hidden instance in the game and hadn’t been seen since.
The player ranked #2 had a blank ID, but the veterans at the base simply called him “A.”
A had been assigned to the hardest level within Instance Two, and he was the only player inside the entire map. The instance had been active for four full days, and A still hadn’t cleared it. Yet, his points increased at a terrifying, relentless speed every single day. He had already amassed over 400,000 points.
A player who had earned 400,000 points but still couldn’t beat a beginner level? According to the game’s logic, that map was officially classified as a “Death Instance.”
Guiding players trapped in Death Instances was one of the core duties of a white-name NPC.
The system bat flapped its leathery wings and glided down to land on Su Qiong’s shoulder.
Before the bat could even squeak a greeting, Su Qiong said, “Send me to A’s instance.”
The bat nearly fell out of the air. “Are you insane?! That instance has been active for four days! The difficulty level is way beyond what a Level 0 trash mob like you can handle—”
Su Qiong stared at it expressionlessly. “Oh. So you don’t have the power to do it?”
“What?!” The bat exploded with fury, its fur standing on end. “Who are you calling weak?! I am your superior! My authority is practically limitless! You want me to send you into an active death trap just so you can die? Fine! Wish granted!”
The bat shrieked a command, and a blinding white light engulfed Su Qiong.
When the light faded, the little marshmallow found himself standing in the middle of a hospital.
A long, dimly lit corridor stretched out before him. The flickering fluorescent lights cast long shadows, and the air was suffocatingly thick with the metallic stench of fresh blood.
Drip— Drip— Drip—
Two meters ahead of Su Qiong stood a tall, slender man with his back turned.
The man held a freshly severed head in his left hand. In his right, he held a long, gleaming sword. Blood dripped steadily from the blade as he slowly carved one final, bloody stroke into a massive wall of tally marks.
“Twenty-three thousand, five hundred and six,” the man whispered.
Finishing the mark, the man casually tossed the still-warm head to the floor and slowly turned around.
In the pale moonlight spilling through the window, Su Qiong saw a pair of captivating, obsidian-black eyes.
The man’s pale, thin lips parted as he stared down at the little marshmallow, softly stating his next number.
“You. Twenty-three thousand, five hundred and seven.”
