Gu Lin stomped on the skeleton dog, crushing it. After retracting his little foot, his small fists were still clenched, maintaining a fierce-in-a-childish-way expression.

Everyone was so shocked they were speechless, feeling like they were seeing an illusion.

This little baby was so small, not even as big as the skeleton dog, yet he crushed a ferocious-looking skeleton dog with one stomp?!

The other players assessed themselves, feeling that if it were them, they might not even be a match for this skeleton dog.

Players: “…”

They couldn’t possibly be inferior to a child less than two years old, could they?

The Double-Cap Big Shot was relatively calm. In the previous instance, he had already witnessed Gu Lin kick Scarface flying with one foot. Stomping a skeleton dog seemed like nothing much.

Su Qiao and Song Ran, however, were quite shocked, taking a long time to recover.

Seeing everyone’s reactions, the aunties in the livestream chat laughed “hahaha” while feeling proud of the little cub.

As expected of the cub they were fond of, the cub was the best!

Su Qiao squatted down in front of Gu Lin, looked down at his little feet that weren’t even ten centimeters long, and couldn’t believe it. How was this possible?

Su Qiao was dumbfounded: “Dumpling, are you okay?”

Gu Lin unclenched his little fists, his fierce expression receding. He patted his little tummy and said, “Cub has natural divine strength!”

Su Qiao: “…”

Song Ran couldn’t help but tsk tsk in amazement: “I didn’t expect this lazy and gluttonous little piglet to have such strong combat power.”

Gu Lin’s voice was childish: “Cub is not a little piglet!”

He was an auspicious beast cub!

Song Ran, using his hand that hadn’t yet turned into bone, touched the little dumpling’s fluffy little head: “Little piglet and xiaogui are the same, both nicknames, understand?”

Gu Lin didn’t want to be called a little piglet, he wasn’t a little piglet: “If you call me little piglet, I’ll call you Little Piglet-shushu!”

Song Ran: “…”

Alright, arguing with this little cub, he had never won.

–

The sacrificial ceremony ended, and the players left Skeleton Valley.

On the way back, Wu Jin came over and said, “Have you noticed anything strange? Why are the plants so lush everywhere else, but Skeleton Valley is full of dead trees?”

Wu Lan: “My brother and I checked just now and found that those dead trees only look withered, but they are not dead trees. Those trees are still alive.”

Hearing them say this, Su Qiao also said, “I also think it’s very strange. In other places, animals are skeletonized, and plants are thriving. In Skeleton Valley, it’s the opposite. The plants are withered, and the butterflies are very lively, not skeletonized.”

“Yes, exactly, that’s the key.”

Wu Jin snapped his fingers: “So, I think the curse is not simply skeletonization. The system mission didn’t say the curse was skeletonization, but the undead curse, just to let us break the ‘undead curse’ of these skeletons.”

“This made us overlook whether other species also have this kind of undead curse.”

“This curse manifests on humans as skeletonization, and on that dog too, but on those boneless creatures, it’s another state, such as those withered but still living dead trees.”

“So, this undead curse includes skeletonization, but it’s not entirely equivalent to skeletonization. It should be a state of ‘living in a state of death,’ and it applies to all species.”

“…” Wu Jin’s words were reasonable, and Song Ran and the others had also noticed.

Black Robe said that all animals on Skeleton Island would be skeletonized, but plants would not.

But some animals didn’t have bones, how could they be skeletonized? Butterflies had exoskeletons, and they were not skeletonized.

At first glance, Skeleton Island seemed to be mainly human, so the preconceived notion was that the curse was skeletonization.

Those skeletons also thought so, which made people even more convinced.

But Skeleton Island also had another main element, which was those plants.

Song Ran pondered: “Where animals are skeletonized, plants are vibrant and thriving, and where animals are full of vitality, plants are withered.”

At this time, the Double-Cap Big Shot slowly spoke, summarizing in four words: “One wanes, one waxes.”

“…” When these four words came out, everyone fell into silence.

Indeed, it was one waning, one waxing.^[1]T/N: This is another classical Chinese-style phrase implying an inverse relationship or trade-off.

Skeletons were waning, those plants were waxing. Those dead trees were waning, butterflies were waxing.

So conversely, if you wanted the skeletons to be in a “waxing” state, the plants had to be in a “waning” state.

Su Qiao: “Does that mean that to lift the curse, we have to destroy the plants on the island?”

Song Ran shook his head: “That’s not right either. This falls into Lu Quanming and their trap. Their method of breaking the undead curse is – since they’re undead, let them die. But obviously they failed, it’s impossible.”

“Moreover, since animals and plants are in an opposing state of one waning and one waxing, why are only butterflies ‘waxing’, while humans and dogs are ‘waning’?”

So, the key was still the butterflies.

The clues were stuck here again.

Gu Lin was holding the glass bottle given to him by the Skeleton Maiden. The glass bottle contained a vibrant red rose and two fluttering butterflies.

Everyone was looking at the butterflies, lost in thought.

Next, everyone stopped talking, each digesting the current information.

Back at the skeleton house, everyone saw a stooped skeleton standing in front of the skeleton house, pacing back and forth.

Recognizing it as the Skeleton Elder, everyone was stunned for a moment, then immediately walked over.

The Skeleton Elder had already sanded part of his body at this time, leaving only two-thirds of his skeleton frame. His head had also sanded a small half. Both legs and arms were also tattered, but it didn’t hinder his walking.

Seeing the Skeleton Elder turn into this state in such a short time, everyone couldn’t help but sigh.

The Skeleton Elder’s body had sanded like this, yet he still came here. Could it be that he had remembered the source of the curse?

Gu Lin, seeing the Skeleton Elder, obediently called out: “Elder-yeye.”

The Skeleton Elder looked at Gu Lin. His memory was bad, but he had a fresh memory of this little doll, looking at Gu Lin kindly, and saying, “I remembered some things about the curse, and came here specifically to tell you.”

Hearing the Skeleton Elder say this, everyone perked up.

Knowing the source of the curse, there was hope of breaking the curse.

The Skeleton Elder looked at Gu Lin, revealing confusion: “I remember you came to the Skeleton Mound with several friends to find me. Why aren’t your friends here?”

Others: “???”

Weren’t they all here?

Song Ran pointed at each of them one by one, dumbfounded: “We’re all here.”

The Skeleton Elder carefully looked at them, his confusion even greater: “Huh? Is it you? I’m old, my memory is bad, I can’t recognize you.”

Everyone: “…”

It had only been a few hours.

They didn’t expect the Skeleton Elder’s memory to be so bad. Could he really remember the source of the curse?

Everyone couldn’t help but doubt.

The Skeleton Elder’s half body was hollow, the missing small half of his head was the back half, and his face was still preserved.

The Skeleton Elder slowly said: “I remember…”

Everyone held their breath and looked at it.

After “I remember,” there was another pause of several seconds. The Skeleton Elder slowly continued: “The undead curse abides by a law.”

Hearing him speak, everyone was about to suffocate.

The Skeleton Elder wasn’t slow in speaking, but his thinking ability was slow. After saying the previous sentence, it seemed very difficult to remember the next sentence.

It hadn’t been like this before. They didn’t know if it was related to his sanding.

The Skeleton Elder paused for several more seconds and said, “The law of conservation of all things.”

The law of conservation of all things?

Everyone was stunned.

Then the Skeleton Elder stopped talking again, with a thoughtful expression.

Song Ran carefully opened his mouth: “Then…”

The Skeleton Elder slowly spoke again: “One wanes, one waxes.”

Song Ran: “…”

This time, everyone didn’t dare to easily speak again, waiting for more than ten seconds. Seeing that the Skeleton Elder really wasn’t speaking, they guessed that he was probably finished.

So, the law of the undead curse was – the law of conservation of all things, one wanes, one waxes.

Their previous speculation was correct.

But what was the source of the curse?

After speaking for a while, a rib of the Skeleton Elder was sanded again, and the sanded bones fell down, like a pile of dust.

The Skeleton Elder said: “I remembered the source of the curse.”

Hearing this, everyone immediately looked at it with renewed energy.

The Skeleton Elder: “I don’t know.”

Everyone: “…”

The Skeleton Elder: “I only know that the curse is related to the Skeleton King.”

Skeleton King?

Everyone’s eyes widened slightly.

So the Skeleton King really existed, and wasn’t just an imaginary belief?

Gu Lin had long been curious about the “Hulu King.” What was the Hulu King^[2]T/N: Gu Lin is misremembering the name as “Hulu King” (葫芦王 – Hulu Wang), which sounds like “Calabash King,” instead of “Skeleton King” (骷髅王 … Continue reading?

“What is the Hulu King?” Gu Lin tilted his head, his childish voice, “Is it the king of the Calabash Babies^[3]T/N: Calabash Babies (葫芦娃 – Húluwá) is a classic Chinese animated series.?”

Saying this, he even sang, “Hulu King, Hulu King…”

Everyone: “…”

No, his name is Skeleton King!

You little doll, don’t always interrupt.

[Hulu King, hahahaha, congratulations to the Skeleton King on receiving the title of Hulu King~]

[The cub’s two sentences are not out of tune, the cub is singing better and better!]

[These two sentences don’t have room to go out of tune! [doge]]

The Skeleton Elder was amused by this little doll, and then sighed: “I can only help you this far.”

The Skeleton Elder looked at the dark sky like the mouth of an abyss, raised his foot, and walked in the direction of the Skeleton Forest.

That was the place he had chosen for his sanding.

As the Skeleton Elder walked, sand and dust kept falling from his body, those were his sanded bones.

Gu Lin waved his little hand: “Goodbye, Elder-yeye!”

The Skeleton Elder paused, turned his head, and also waved to Gu Lin: “Goodbye, little doll.”

–

After seeing the Skeleton Elder off, everyone entered the skeleton house.

Wu Jin and Wu Lan also followed, wanting to discuss the clues with them.

Everyone found a place to sit. Gu Lin sat cross-legged on the bed, playing with that toy kitten, quiet and well-behaved.

The skulls on the wall started chattering again: “Fat baby, fat baby.”

Gu Lin pinched his own chubby little legs and said, “Cub is not fat.”

The other people, hearing this, couldn’t help but want to laugh.

Gu Lin didn’t look fat, but he was indeed quite fleshy. There was a ring on both of his small wrists, like the one created by a rubber band.

Everyone was about to discuss the clues when a skull head suddenly rolled in from outside.

The skull head rolled around with stars in its eyes, like a ball, rolling directly under the bed.

“Aiya, aiya, I’m so dizzy!”

Everyone: “…”

Could this still be the skull head that led them earlier?

After a moment, the skull head rolled out from under the bed, standing upright like a tumbler, saying: “Skeleton Maiden wants to invite Little Cutie to play at the beauty pageant, and asked me to come and pick up Little Cutie.”

Everyone looked at each other.

Song Ran: “What beauty pageant? Wasn’t there just a sacrificial ceremony? How come there’s a beauty pageant now?”

Skull Head: “Our Skeleton Island has festivals every day. We value beauty above all else, and every month we hold a beauty pageant.”

The skulls on the wall started chattering again at this time: “This is Fat Baby, Fat Baby!”

The skull on the ground looked at them: “It’s Little Cutie!”

“Fat Baby, Fat Baby!”

“Little Cutie, Little Cutie!”

“Fat Baby, if you say it again, we’ll bite you to death!”

“…”

Players: “…”

Good heavens, could it be that they couldn’t be both Fat Baby and Little Cutie?

This group of skull heads, what couldn’t they argue about?

The skull on the ground, after all, was outnumbered, and didn’t argue with them, changing his words: “I’ll take Fat Baby to participate in the beauty pageant.”

Everyone thought for a moment, feeling that staying in the skeleton house was not as good as going out, maybe they could find other clues.

Su Qiao asked Gu Lin’s opinion: “Linlin, do you want to go see the beauty pageant?”

Gu Lin had already put on his Ultraman backpack, nodding: “Go!”

The skull head, seeing that the other players also seemed to want to go, immediately changed his face: “We only let little… Fat Baby go. If you want to go, go yourself, I won’t lead the way.”

Saying this, this skull head reassembled and regenerated, turning into a complete skeleton on the spot.

It scooped up Fat Baby, carried him in his arms, and ran, quickly leaving the skeleton house, unable to catch up.

The remaining players: “…”

Damn.