The bride's experiences were blatant evidence; anyone could see she was a victim.
However, being a monster embedded in the game's rules, even with her pitiful appearance, no player would risk approaching her.
Because all her suffering, shrouded in Chinese horror, only danger remained.
"Before you, I sought help from other players, but very few responded… I'm used to their indifference."
She slowly lowered her head, returning to the state Zuo Meng had initially encountered—melancholy, radiating sorrow, evoking pity.
Zuo Meng stood there, bewildered, unsure what to comfort her with. He held up his mud-covered hands, speechless for a long while before finally saying, "I know a lot of bad things have happened to you, and no one has helped you. But I stopped for you, so if you need any help, just tell me, and I'll definitely do something for you."
He nodded earnestly. "Even if you're a monster, I don't mind helping you, so don't worry, you'll find your way home."
The bride's slender figure trembled slightly, then she nodded. "Then... please dig the thing out first, kind person, thank you for your help."
Encouraged, Zuo Meng immediately turned and continued digging, his movements much more efficient than before.
The night wind rustled through, and the cemetery returned to silence.
Ye Tianxuan, who had been listening from the sidelines on the tombstone, subtly tugged at the clothes covering him and turned over, pleased with Zuo Meng's smooth progress in the dungeon.
But of the six, only Zuo Meng had been to the dungeon before; the others were either on vacation or had more important matters to attend to.
Ye Tianxuan slightly raised his eyes, noticing it was already late at night, and guessed that Li Mo was probably close to bedtime as well.
After Yin Xiu went back to sleep, Li Mo replaced the hanging coffin on the mountainside with his usual double coffin. However, the double coffin couldn't fit three people, so Li Mo and Ya Ya stared at each other on the coffin lid for three minutes before Yin Xiu finally moved them both outside, while he lay down to sleep, clutching the little tentacle ball.
"Do you think brother is asleep?" Ya Ya asked softly, her ear close to the coffin lid, listening intently to the sounds inside.
It had been quite a while since Yin Xiu had gone to sleep in the coffin.
"He's asleep," Li Mo nodded. With the little tentacle ball beside Yin Xiu, he could feel his movements.
In his familiar coffin, clutching the familiar little tentacle ball, with two trustworthy people guarding outside, even in the dungeon, Yin Xiu slept soundly, showing no sign of waking from the quiet conversation outside.
"That's good, brother's finally asleep. So, who's going?" Ya Ya raised her bright little eyes, staring intently at Li Mo. "Who's going?"
"Of course, I'll stay with my boyfriend, and you go," Li Mo replied without hesitation.
Ya Ya frowned. "I'll definitely stay with brother, and you go!"
The two fell silent again, staring at each other for a few seconds.
"Let's play rock-paper-scissors," Ya Ya suggested.
Li Mo nodded.
Two figures, one in black and one in red, sat on the coffin and began playing rock-paper-scissors seriously.
Li Mo, who had never played this game before, started seriously after Ya Ya explained the rules, but he lost to her in all three rounds.
"I often play this with the monsters in dungeons! I'm an expert!" Ya Ya proudly put her hands on her hips.
"Okay." Li Mo stared at his hands for a few seconds, then gave in, nimbly flipping over and jumping off the coffin lid. "Keep an eye on your boyfriend."
"Of course, I'll protect brother!" Ya Ya waved from the coffin lid, watching Li Mo's dark figure disappear into the distance.
She was secretly delighted to be alone with her brother when she turned her head and met the gaze of a tiny, tentacle-like ball of fluff emerging from the crack in the coffin.
The eyes on the tentacles curved slightly before disappearing.
Ya Ya gritted her teeth, pried open the coffin lid, quickly squeezed past the black ball of fluff, and snuggled into Yin Xiu's arms, staring wide-eyed at the little tentacle-like ball of fluff.
Having chased away the black ball of fluff, she forgot about the little black ball of fluff that had fallen from it.
Today was another day she hated the black ball of fluff.
Yin Xiu, half asleep, noticed something had squeezed into the coffin, instinctively wrapped his arms around the small body pressed against him, then reached up and pulled the coffin lid shut before falling asleep again.
He was probably trying to catch up on the sleep he hadn't had in a while; lately, he slept very soundly when Li Mo was around, even in the dungeon, perhaps this was what was called a sense of security.
After leaving the coffin where Yin Xiu was sleeping, Li Mo looked away and turned to walk towards the marriage tree in the village.
As he walked, he clasped his hands together in the air, black mist swirling within his palms, gradually coalescing.
When Li Mo opened his palms again, a tiny Yin Xiu holding a small knife lay in them.
The little Yin Xiu opened his eyes, his gaze filled with malice as he stabbed around with the knife, muttering, "Kill! Kill you all!"
But Li Mo completely ignored his little boyfriend's threatening gesture, cradling him and kissing him, unconcerned about being pricked several times by the knife.
The power he received from the God of Misfortune was just enough to alleviate the difficulty of missing his boyfriend when he wasn't around, but only the fierce boyfriend from before materialized, and he was pricked several times every time he tried to kiss him.
But with persistent effort, it seemed that this little boyfriend was gradually becoming less fierce.
Li Mo carried and kissed the little Yin Xiu all the way to the Marriage Tree, where he saw Zhong Mu sitting under the tree sewing something.
"Li Mo, you're finally here?"
Noticing Li Mo's approach, Zhong Mu looked up at him. "I thought you were stuck with Xiu-ge tonight. I finally managed to get away from the doctor. I would have been sad if you hadn't come."
Li Mo held the tiny Yin Xiu doll closer, noticing the needles, thread, and fabric scattered around Zhong Mu. "What are you doing?"
Zhong Mu held the fabric, which vaguely resembled a human figure, looking troubled. "I don't know what to give the doctor as a token of our love. He said he wanted something that would remind him of me whenever he touched it. After thinking about it, I... decided to sew a little rag doll of myself for him."
Such a small needle, going through such fine thread, sewing back and forth on the fabric, finally turning it into a human shape—it looked so difficult.
Li Mo stopped in his tracks, staring intently at the little rag doll in Zhong Mu's hand, then at the needles and thread beside him.
But...maybe your boyfriend might want to touch something similar to him when he's not around!
Li Mo's expression gradually became serious. "I can learn."
Zhong Mu was taken aback, then couldn't help but laugh after understanding what he meant. "Li Mo, really...you don't have to imitate everything humans do when they're in love, because you already have something similar...your little tentacle ball serves the same purpose, and it's even more convenient than mine."
Zhong Mu stared at the little Yin Xiu waving the knife around in his hand, then looked down at the lifeless little cloth doll in his hand, and fell silent.
Li Mo suddenly understood, and picked up his little boyfriend. "Isn't this the same?"
"So what if you have some power... I'm not envious at all, the doll is fine too."
He muttered to himself, putting away his needlework, radiating resentment.
"Since you're here, let's go find Boss Ye. He said he's sleeping in the cemetery." Zhong Mu stretched after packing up.
These people were still out running around in the middle of the night, but Boss Ye wasn't going to suffer, going to sleep first, even if it was in the cemetery.
Finding the doctor was one of Zhong Mu's purposes, and also a reason to trick Yin Xiu into entering the dungeon. The real plan was what the four of them would do after entering the dungeon.
Ye Tianxuan, Li Mo, Zhong Mu, Ya Ya—excluding Yin Xiu who was on vacation, only Zuo Meng, whom they were unexpectedly matched with, had actually been to the dungeon; everyone was just pretending during the day.
Now that Yin Xiu was asleep, they had to officially begin.