Chapter 551

However, believing in the Fox Empress does not mean having a good relationship with the Liu family. In fact, only the Zhang family has been living in harmony with the Liu family, and the two families occasionally hold sacrificial activities together. The Li family has always been at odds with the Liu family, and this is the key reason for the disagreement. The children couldn't understand, but the adults just said that there were many Li family members, and that these white-eyed wolves wanted to be the boss, and felt that no matter whether the Liu family or the Zhang family could be above him.

For this reason, the villagers of the Li family also modified the sacrificial ceremony, claiming that they were the true believers of the Fox Empress, and that the Liu family were imitators. For this reason, the two families fought several times, and dozens of people were killed or injured in the conflict.

And the earliest person to be sacrificed was not from the Liu family, but from the Li family.

The Li family's blood sacrifice behavior seemed to have started long before they decided to believe in the Fox Empress. It seems to have been passed down from the period when the Li family was active as a bandit, and it was a habit of killing and sacrificing that was inherited from that time.

After settling in Xiaoheishan, as the largest and most powerful family among the three families, they originally abandoned this practice for a while. But for some reason, I slowly picked up the matter again and restarted this cruel custom. The earliest sacrifices were those women and children that were sunk into the [Water Ghost Lake]. In their words, women are sacrifices to pray for a good harvest, while children are gifts to the Fox Queen, because the Queen loves children most.

The Liu family had a fierce conflict with the Li family for this reason, but with their small number, they could not gain the upper hand in front of the Li family. At this time, the Zhang family started to wait and see, trying to persuade both sides to make peace, and refused to really end up supporting them. On the one hand, as a result, the Liu family fell into a disadvantage and gradually could no longer prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Some elders of the Liu family said that the Li family discovered that the Fox Queen did not interfere strongly with the villagers, so their fearful attitude towards the gods changed from the beginning. He believed that the Li family had always been violent and unwilling to live in peace with the other two families. They just wanted to take this opportunity to change the rules of sacrifice and claim that they were the orthodox ones, so as to suppress the Liu family and the Zhang family. , trying to turn these two families into vassals of their Li family.

The elders also said that these behaviors of the Li family may not be random. There is most likely someone behind them to give guidance and teach them what to do.

This news is really difficult for children to understand. What they know is that the atmosphere in the village is getting more and more solemn, and there are more and more conflicts among the adults. And those Li family villagers became more and more arrogant and cruel.

Later, the Li family suddenly announced that they wanted to change their beliefs and believe in the god "Xiaoheishan Mountain God".

Later, during a bigger conflict, the head of the Zhang family said that the Zhang family would believe in both the Fox Empress and the Little Black Mountain God. He said that he would never get involved in the conflict between the Li family and the Liu family, and hoped that everyone would have something to say. Things should be discussed carefully.

Then, some adults began to change and became different from before.

[The Li family can do the sacrifice thing, so the Liu family can naturally do it too]

[Oh, aren’t they working so hard just to gain the power of the gods and gain eternal life? 】

[We are the true believers of the Fox Empress. The only people the Fox Empress can truly protect are us and our Liu family]

[Since the Li family wants to fight our Liu family to the end and wipe out all of our Liu family, then we can't continue to be polite with these white-eyed wolves]

[They occupy the Water Ghost Lake, so we can use the bottomless lake in the forest. We also come to offer sacrifices, we also come to beg the Queen, and the Queen will definitely respond to us! 】

The initial sacrifice was just a sneaky act by some adults. The patriarch severely rebuked this and personally enforced the law and beat these adults to death with sticks.

However, more and more sacrificers appeared later.

It's like a certain mental concept has changed.

In other words, something that only appeared on the spiritual level, like an infectious disease, began to spread among adults.

Bloody sacrifices began to become more frequent.

More and more people were sunk into the lake, killed, even cut into pieces, torn into pieces, and made into so-called "delicious meals."

The children were led to dark rooms one after another by the adults in confusion, and were led to the cold lake.

But, were there originally so many people in this village?

【Empress, empress, please protect us】

The devout prayers continued.

[Please bless us to have good weather and no disease or disaster this year]

[Please bless our fields to have a good harvest this year, and bless us to live in peace and safety]

[Please bless our grandchildren...suck...hehehe...please bless them to be delicious, and bless them to have endless aftertaste...]

Amidst the increasingly twisted prayers, the gentle god sat on the high platform and gently chewed the flesh and blood of the believers.

The devout people knelt on the ground, surrounded by their mutilated and chewed-up children.

Madness spreads like a plague.

No one knows what happened.

Where did this distortion come from, and who started it all? Ignorant children have no way of identifying it. Even if they know that the adults have changed, both the Liu family and the Li family have become more and more different from before, while the Zhang family has disappeared without a trace and can no longer be traced, but they have no way to make any changes. , there is no way to stop this bloody carnival from continuing to spread.

They only know that the adults who were supposed to protect them have turned into something else, become strange, cruel, and terrifying.

They can only become the lambs in this banquet, can only bear the tragic pain that they cannot understand, and walk towards the darkness in endless despair.

And this accumulated pain will become the beginning of a new distortion.

[What a poor child... I didn’t expect such a tragic thing to happen deep in this wild forest]

A figure wearing a Taoist robe slowly walked out, sighing softly.

[Since I am here by fate, I can’t turn a blind eye]

[If this twisted resentment cannot be guided and cannot be put to rest, it will inevitably cause extremely terrible disasters. We have to find a way]

[Well, these villagers... although they are obviously severely distorted, they are not completely unable to communicate. Let's try to make contact with them first. Please don’t let down your guard. This is the first time we have encountered this kind of distortion that affects more than a thousand people. We must not be careless]

The old man in Taoist robes gave serious advice, then stepped forward and walked towards the confused and wandering children.

What happened after that is no longer necessary to describe.

Gao Hai, who sensed these twisted and broken memories, had already opened his eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and moved his body a few times.

The burden of being able to empathize with two Red Moon-level core obsessions in a short period of time is quite serious.

If possible, Gao Hai really wanted to take a nap right now. He estimated that it would take him half an hour to relieve his mental energy consumption and return to full strength.

Of course, considering that a terrifying thing would find him through dreams, Gao Hai would definitely not dare to sleep in this dungeon. You must know that it was because of his sleep three weeks ago that the seeds of the blood-colored vines were planted in him, and thus the blood flowers were summoned to pursue him.

{Did you find the key information? }

Zhen Fei, who had been standing next to Gao Hai, saw him opening his eyes and asked in the spiritual link.

{There is no direct information on the core obsession object, but it can determine its approximate whereabouts. Hmm...either in the [Bottomless Lake], or in the hands of the Fox Empress, or it may be held by the watcher. Pretty much these are the three possibilities}

As he said this, Gao Hai lowered his head and looked at the blood painting he had drawn, and found that what he drew was a longevity lock.

For these children who are building resentment and obsession with each other, is this the only object that can anchor their obsession?

Gao Hai didn't make any comment on this. He just thought about the scenes he had seen before, and then suddenly realized that there seemed to be a slight oversight.

In the fragment of the shared obsession just now, the final scene only shows the old Taoist priest leading his disciples to try to contact the strange thing and formulate a plan to appease and seal it.

But the real outcome of the Liu family is to be completely eroded by the power of the bloody flowers, so that the entire village disappears from the real world and becomes a twisted world covered by bloody vines.

Some information is missing.

How the seal of the blood flower was broken hundreds of years ago, swallowing up the entire Liu family, and then being sealed again. Gao Hai was completely unable to find this information on this strange creature.

In other words, the blood flower went out of control after the veteran Taoist priest Ge Yuan successfully sealed the children's artifact. There were no signs of this happening before, right?

While thinking, Gao Hai had already shared the intelligence he sensed with several teammates present through a temporary spiritual link, and walked towards the outside of the house.

Chapter 118 Kaguya’s anxious thoughts and the player with a secret

[Bottomless Lake], which is located in the deep forest of Xiaohei Mountain, is the final gathering point of one of the branches of the river formed by the snow on the mountain.

Unlike Water Ghost Lake, Bottomless Lake is located in a deep forest, so it is easy to encounter animals such as wild boars and bears, so villagers rarely come here to fetch water. And when the villagers came into contact with the power of God and changed, the animals gradually showed abnormal changes, so no one came here.

At least the information obtained from Lijiacun goes in this direction. However, considering the large number of infant corpses that the Moyu Gang members saw when investigating the [Bottomless Lake], this matter obviously does not make sense. So, if the Li family had not come to the Bottomless Lake, who would have performed the sacrifice here? This question has finally been answered until now, that is, the Liu family has been using this lake to make sacrifices, and all children will eventually be thrown into this lake, whether directly dedicated to the Fox Empress, or made into "delicious meals" What's left after.

If the core obsession is a longevity lock... it may sink into the lake with it. In this case, it will have to go to the lake again. Speaking of which, this lake is called a bottomless lake. Could it mean that if you don't go down in the right way, it will be endless and you won't be able to reach the bottom?

However, considering that the main object of the sacrifice is the Fox Queen, it is possible that the Fox Queen may have swallowed the person and the longevity lock together? Gee, I always feel like it sounds like a hell of a joke. What's going on? However, if it is really obtained by the Fox Empress, it is difficult to say whether the thing can become an obsession due to the gap between a god and a monster. Well, let’s cross this one out first, it’s unlikely.

The other thing is to update the person. If this person really gets it, it will definitely be the worst situation. Because the watchman has actually been completely eroded by the blood-colored flowers, players other than Gao Hai will die directly when they see the watchman. When he sees the watchman, he will directly summon the blood flower that can turn into an apron, Hongxia. , it belongs to a situation where no matter how you touch it, it will be a dead end.

All in all, let’s go to the Bottomless Lake first. If you can't find the bottomless lake, use this core obsession as your last option and wait until the other three are found before considering it.

In Liujia Village, which had completely turned into a paper village, Gao Hai roughly confirmed the next course of action after a brief period of reflection and judgment.

{Then shall we go to the bottomless lake in this hidden space, or shall we return to the bottomless lake in the space in Lijia Village to investigate? }

Brother Mao, who listened to Gao Hai's analysis, put forward his opinion.

{I think it is better to consider the bottomless lake in this hidden space first. According to Hai Jun, there are already serious hidden dangers in Lijiacun. If something happens after passing by, it will be difficult to deal with. In addition, since the core obsession created by Liujiacun and the villagers of Liujiacun has also been hidden together, so that no trace can be found in the surface space, then the obsession corresponding to this obsession should also be in this space}

Before Tangyuan expressed her thoughts, Zhen Fei first spoke up and put forward her own thoughts in the temporary spiritual link.

Tangyuan, who was obviously told his opinion in advance, just shrugged slightly, and then said "Me too" and stopped talking.

{In this case, even if we have reached a basic direction of action, let's go and see what other things are in this hidden space. Whether it's a super-large underground cemetery where ghosts break the wall, glass shards guarded by a group of elite monsters, or a dark night Mitane with a combination of ghosts and beasts, I'm ready to face it}

Gao Hai smiled very confidently and walked at the front of the team towards the dense forest outside the village.

Although he admitted that he really had nothing to do when facing the bloody flowers, now in front of these red moon-level monsters, Gao Hai has regained some confidence. Generally speaking, his mentality is relatively stable at the moment.

In another hidden space that he did not pay special attention to, someone was also having a conversation.

{Gao Jun has confirmed that the third core obsession is a collection of children's monsters created by the hidden villagers of Liujia Village through sacrifices. Although they have not obtained the core obsession object yet, they have already begun to take action to find the location of the obsession object}

In a small room, Kaguya sat upright and spoke to several other people in the room through a spiritual link.

{So, Kaguya-kun, have you thought of something? }

Chika blinked and looked at Kaguya curiously and asked.

{The wedding dress and coffin artifacts correspond to the red and white affairs that the Li family can originally control. These two core obsessions will appear in the surface space. In contrast, they can also be controlled by the villagers of Lijia Village. The children's monster is related to the disappeared Liujiacun, so it disappeared and was hidden together with Liujiacun}

{I think that the remaining fourth core obsession should be related to Zhangjiacun. This family tried to believe in two gods at the same time. Their demise may be related to the fourth core obsession. And Gao Jun said that traces of Zhangjiacun can be found in surface space}

{Although it is an untouchable village like a phantom, since it can be found, it can already explain a lot of problems. So, my idea is that if we want to find the fourth core obsession, I'm afraid we have to go back to the surface space. Or to be more precise, both the second core obsession and the fourth core obsession need to be found by going back to the surface! }

Kaguya closed her eyes and spoke quickly after a brief pause.

{Well, it certainly sounds like that, but there may have been some changes in surface space now. Ahai's intuition has always been very accurate. Since he feels that the terrible thing may have appeared in the surface space, then going to the surface space is a very dangerous behavior. With our current capabilities, if we encounter a problem, it may be difficult to escape smoothly}

Qianhua nodded slightly, but then frowned and expressed her own thoughts.

She knew her friend's plan very well. After Miko and Hayasaka disappeared one after another, Kaguya became a little anxious. Although she has grown up and no longer panics because of Hayasaka's temporary disappearance, she is more or less anxious and wants to speed up her actions and take the initiative to do something.

In other words, while Kaguya wants to explore Gaohai, she also forms a team on her side to investigate the situation on the other side. Try to complete the goal faster by spreading out your actions and achieve the conditions as quickly as possible.

“Surface space also has multiple layers of different spaces, and I think it’s still necessary to explore.”

Kaguya spoke slowly. This time she did not go through the spiritual link, but spoke directly.

"The problem is that the exit of the well must be Lijia Village, which is the initial space where Ahai discovered the problem. As long as you pass there, you must consider the possibility of encountering 'that thing'. Kaguya-kun, your idea is still too risky. "

Qianhua hesitated for a moment, and then spoke, but at the same time, she also quietly explained the current situation through the spiritual link.

"I really can't deny that it's risky to do this, but if it's through the power of the land deed, maybe it can be bypassed. Just like Miss Goto, didn't she use the land deed left by Gao Jun to bypass the clone and complete the delivery in Lijia Village?"

Kaguya was not easily convinced, but emphasized her ideas more seriously.

"That's because the clone is a summoned object. Ichiri-san directly summoned the clone in another space, but we are players, we are not summoned objects. This method cannot be used by us, Kaguya-san. Have you ever thought about this?"

However, Qianhua refused to accept Kaguya's suggestion and even knocked on the table to express her dissatisfaction.

"We don't have much time, Gao Jun has said it many times. As each week progresses, the actions of 'that thing' are constantly changing, and we can no longer delay time."

Kaguya frowned, her expression becoming more serious.

"This is not a reason to take risks alone. Since even Ahai's strength can easily cause trouble, then we can't act without authorization. The more times like this, the less anxious we can be. Kaguya-san, you also understand this very well. Bar?"

Qianhua naturally refused to give in at all. At this moment, she completely stopped her usual laughing and joking state, and her whole person looked serious.

"..."

Goto Ichiri said nothing.

As a participant in the internal meeting of Gao Hai's team, she did not say a single word during the whole process. But just watching the two companions confront each other here, using gentle tones and vocabulary to express sharp opinions, and constantly suppressing each other's momentum, she already felt like she was about to die suddenly here.

Wow, why are you suddenly arguing?

I don’t know how to persuade at this time. Should I speak? He is obviously a new member who joined the team later. If he interrupts his senior at this time, will nothing bad really happen?

The girl blinked, and at this moment, she imagined in her mind Qianhua, who was as arrogant and domineering as a young girl. She wore sunglasses and pointed at her with her mouth curled, and said in an arrogant tone:

[She's just a new maid who joined A Hai's harem. Who do you think you are and dare to teach us a lesson? 】

[It’s totally unbelievable. In Ah Hai’s harem, only if the wife of the older generation says yes, you can say yes. Do you understand? 】

[Thankfully you still have the same pink hair as me, but the difference is so big. It’s really disappointing! 】

In the fantasy, I was trembling after being lectured by Qianhua, but she showed a crying expression, bowed her head and apologized over and over again, and kept saying "I'm sorry", but in the end, she was gradually left out, and in the end she even became pregnant. Even though he had a baby, he could only be trusted by Gao Hai once every other month, and was thus relegated to the cold palace.

After the fantasy ended, Yili fell into a deeper self-isolation, and he almost shrank from his seat and shrank under the table.

{Why did Xiao Yili get hit while we were fighting over each other...Did something we said accidentally hurt her? Well, at least don’t forget to drill under the table}

Of course, it is impossible for the real Chika to perform the strange operations in Porchi-chan's fantasy world. She soon noticed that she was gradually becoming autistic, and even in the autistic state, she was still playing the guitar and remotely controlling the clone. , quickly pulled her up.

{In any case, this matter cannot be concluded easily. I can understand Kaguya-san’s desire to solve the problem as soon as possible, but as a player, you cannot act so easily}

After following Gao Hai's plan to comfort and praise Yili for a while, Chika confirmed that the girl was once again full of sunshine and rainbows. She had a little strange feeling that she was raising a child, and then she said to Kaguya.

At this time, a message came back from Gao Hai, who was still exploring, saying that he could not just leave the station so casually. Especially going to the surface space at will is not allowed, the risk is too high.