Gu Rong was woken up by hunger.

Before falling asleep, his little tummy was already growling.

Now, the rich aroma of roast chicken wafted to his nose, along with the sound of someone smacking their lips while eating.

Gu Rong blinked his eyes open, staring intently at Huang Daoren, who was sitting by a coffin, eating roast chicken.

The room was filled with coffins. Huang Daoren sat beside one, eating chicken.

The doors and windows were tightly shut, and the room was dimly lit. Judging by the faint light filtering through the cracks in the windows and door, it was probably daytime now.

Gu Rong started turning his little head again.

All the Jiangshi were standing against the wall, and Gu Rong was no exception.

The other adult Jiangshi had deathly pale faces, talismans stuck to their foreheads, and their eyes closed, appearing completely unaware.

Gu Rong stood at the end of the line, glanced at the other adult Jiangshi, then quickly turned his little head back to look at Huang Daoren, who was tearing into the roast chicken at the table.

Huang Daoren had casually placed his bell and peachwood sword aside. The cloth bag containing talismans was also tossed on the ground. One leg was bent, foot resting on a stool. He had already eaten a third of the roast chicken.

Gu Rong’s little tummy rumbled gulu gulu, and he unconsciously swallowed.

Frustrated by being unable to speak or move freely, Gu Rong could do nothing but watch eagerly.

Gu Rong complained pitifully: [Rongrong wants to eat too!]

006 sighed: [Little host, in this instance, you can only eat food from within the instance. Little Jiangshi cannot speak, so even if you want to eat, you can’t ask.]

Gu Rong was already a food-loving cub by nature. The Little Jiangshi role he played in this instance had died in anger from missing a meal, giving him an extraordinary obsession with food.

At first, he just watched Huang Daoren eat. Gradually, his watching turned into glaring. His cute little bun-like face looked distinctly angry.

Soon, Huang Daoren had eaten until only bones remained.

Gu Rong’s face was full of resentment, his little face flushed red with anger.

Hmph, didn’t even leave a single bite for Zaizai!

Gu Rong stood stiffly against the wall, his two little arms held straight down at his sides. A yellow talisman was stuck to his forehead, but his large, dark, glass-like eyes glared resentfully at Huang Daoren.

Glare you to death!!

After finishing the chicken, Huang Daoren turned his head and met the Little Jiangshi’s angry little face.

“?”

Huang Daoren paused, then let out a surprised cry: “You little wild Jiangshi are awake? What’s wrong? Why are you angry?”

Gu Rong could make small movements lasting less than 10 seconds. Hearing this, he turned his little head away sharply and pouted, expressing his indignation.

Zaizai angry!

Huang Daoren: “…?”

This little wild Jiangshi actually has intelligence? It can even express emotions?

He knew that most Jiangshi only had basic instincts and no intelligence, but this Little Jiangshi was clearly different.

Huang Daoren’s eyes widened. This Little Jiangshi cub, even with a talisman on its forehead, could blink and turn its head! These two points alone put it streets ahead of the Jiangshi beside it.

In Huang Daoren’s knowledge as a Maoshan Daoist Priest, Jiangshi sucked human blood… Of course, in popular belief, Jiangshi also sucked human blood.

Huang Daoren didn’t realize Gu Rong was angry because he didn’t get any roast chicken; not only did he not get any, but he had watched him eat the whole thing.

Seeing but not eating, with a rumbling tummy, it was natural to be puffed up with anger.

Huang Daoren thought the Little Jiangshi cub was unhappy about being carried all the way with grass ropes.

He said in a coaxing tone, like talking to a child, “You little wild Jiangshi, you can even get angry! Haha, don’t be mad. I’ll put a light-avoiding talisman on you right now and take you to get a bamboo basket custom-made.”

Gu Rong sharply turned his little head again, from looking left to looking right. The yellow talisman on his forehead swung back and forth.

Zaizai IS angry!!

Zaizai can hop by himself!

Didn’t leave Zaizai a bite of food!

Zaizai won’t let you carry him!!!

The livestream chat found it both heartbreaking and hilarious, utterly charmed.

[Priest didn’t give Zaizai chicken leg, starved Zaizai! Priest bad, Zaizai good!]

[This instance only allows eating instance food. Look how hungry Zaizai is, puffed up like a little pufferfish! [Gift points]]

[Shouldn’t Little Jiangshi be drinking blood? Why does he want roast chicken?]

[So what? Little Jiangshi drinks blood, but that doesn’t stop Zaizai from wanting roast chicken! [Gift points]]

–

Huang Daoren stuck a light-avoiding talisman onto Gu Rong’s little forehead and carried him on his back again.

“Only you, with your little arms and legs, need someone to carry you. Look at the other Jiangshi, which one doesn’t hop on its own?” Huang Daoren carried Gu Rong out of the Yi Zhuang, adjusted his hat with one hand, and closed the door with the other.

“Huh, the wind’s blowing so hard. Is it going to rain?”

The twenty Jiangshi inside the room all had talismans stuck on them and couldn’t move. He’d be back quickly; surely nothing could go wrong.

If nothing unexpected was supposed to happen, then something unexpected was bound to happen…

As Huang Daoren opened and closed the door, the evil wind from outside blew into the room, directly blowing the yellow talisman off the forehead of the leading Jiangshi.

The moment the talisman fell, the Jiangshi’s eyes snapped open.

Its eye sockets were dark, its face gaunt and skinny like dried wood, as if drained of moisture. Its deathly pale skin had a greenish tinge, and its cheeks were deeply sunken, like skin stretched over a skull with no flesh underneath.

It bared its teeth, revealing long, sharp fangs stained yellow.

The Jiangshi’s hands, which hung at its sides, stretched straight forward. It began hopping towards the doorway with surprising speed.

Reaching the door, it swept its arm, preparing to break out. After the door panel collapsed, sunlight streamed in directly, hitting it like a laser beam and repelling the Jiangshi back into the room.

The Jiangshi landed on a table with a “Peng!”, instantly shattering the table and chairs.

With the door gone, the strong wind blew in, blowing off the talismans from the other Jiangshi’s foreheads one by one. They woke up.

Outside, it was indeed the prelude to rain. The sun, which had been shining brightly just a moment ago, was now obscured by dark clouds, and the sky turned gloomy.

Without the threat of sunlight, the Jiangshi sprang up stiffly from the ground and hopped out of the Yi Zhuang.

The other Jiangshi followed closely behind, hopping out as well.

–

Huang Daoren still didn’t know that all the Jiangshi he was supposed to be herding had run off.

Carrying the Little Jiangshi, he found an old comb maker and asked him to custom-make a bamboo basket for Gu Rong.

“This Little Jiangshi has a big temper. I carried him with grass ropes, and he got unhappy, got angry.”

The old man looked at the jade-like, lovely Little Jiangshi baby. So tiny, with big eyes blinking rapidly, his little face was indeed puffed up.

It was his first time seeing a Little Jiangshi cub. Instead of looking terrifying, it was quite cute.

Hearing this, Gu Rong immediately straightened his little arms, wanting to hop down.

“See? Small person, big temper!” “Haha, the temper is indeed not small!”

[When you are weak, even anger is mistaken for cuteness. Isn’t that Zaizai? [Dog head emoji]]

[Bullying Zaizai because he can’t talk! He wasn’t unhappy being carried, it was because of the food! [Gift points]]

[Still buying a bamboo basket here? Your whole house full of Jiangshi has run off, LOL]

[Players have entered the game! Let me see who…]

“No need for a custom order. This child-carrying basket can carry the Little Jiangshi. We have ready-made ones, the size is just right.” The old man said, “The sky is so dark now, it’s about to rain. If you insist on a custom order, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

Huang Daoren looked at the dark, oppressive sky, still thinking about the 20 Jiangshi in the Yi Zhuang. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow either.

“Alright then. If we wait until tomorrow, this Little Jiangshi will puff up like a ball from anger.”

Gu Rong hadn’t gotten roast chicken, his mood was already bad, and now he was being laughed at, making him even angrier.

He immediately struggled forward, wanting to get down.

Huang Daoren could only put Gu Rong down first.

As soon as Gu Rong landed, he hopped away from Huang Daoren. After hopping two steps, he looked back at him, then continued hopping.

He stopped about two meters away, crossed his little arms, tilted his little head away, angry.jpg

Huang Daoren: “…”

Old comb maker: “…”

This Little Jiangshi can even cross his little arms?!

006 and the livestream chat couldn’t help but find it amusing.

006 was constantly watching the time to prevent Gu Rong’s error duration from exceeding 10 seconds.

The “Little Jiangshi Roleplaying Rules” had a bug. A roleplaying error had to last more than 10 seconds to be judged as an error. As long as Gu Rong made an error for 9 seconds, then resumed playing the Little Jiangshi, and then continued making errors, he wouldn’t be penalized.

Every 10 seconds, he could make errors for up to 9 seconds.

However, switching back and forth made it difficult to control the timing and easier to make mistakes.

Little Jiangshi Behavior Compendium Rule 185: If the error duration exceeds one minute, it is judged as a second error. If it exceeds two minutes, it is judged as a third error, and so on.

006 had initially thought of letting Gu Rong make one continuous error to count as only one penalty, but clearly, that was wishful thinking.

Just then, Gu Rong sniffed his little nose, catching a whiff of a fragrant aroma drifting over.

Following the scent, he saw a roast chicken shop nearby, with a row of golden, fragrant roast chickens hanging.

Identical to what the Daoist uncle ate!

Gu Rong instantly forgot his anger. His attention was completely captured by the roast chicken, and his stomach growled even louder.

Without thinking, Gu Rong raised his little arms and hopped over.

Huang Daoren, facing away while picking out a bamboo basket, turned around after paying, only to find the Little Jiangshi cub gone.

Huang Daoren: “…?!”

WTF!!!

–

[Maoshan Daoist Huang Daoren, during his corpse herding journey, stopped at Yi Zhuang to rest. While taking the Little Jiangshi cub out to order a custom bamboo basket, unexpectedly, the 20 Jiangshi originally heading to Jiangshi Town all escaped…]

[These 20 Jiangshi have significant backgrounds. Failure to retrieve them will cause immense trouble…]

[Player Task: Find the 20 escaped Jiangshi and survive for seven days to be considered cleared.]

[Time: 7 days.]

[Players: 9.]

[Special Reminder: If infected with Jiangshi toxin, use Jiangshi tooth powder antidote within 24 hours. Complete transformation into a Jiangshi is considered elimination.]

The nine players entering the game received the instance task, all looking baffled.

Good grief, the Jiangshi all look mass-produced, harder to tell apart than Ultraman. Who the hell can distinguish which is which? You can’t just catch any Jiangshi you see, right? What if you accidentally get infected with Jiangshi toxin and ga (die)!

Alternatively, just survive 7 days. But catching one Jiangshi is already amazing, and they want us to catch twenty? Two-zero! Twenty!!

Wait… Little Jiangshi cub?

The players paused strangely for a moment.

Could this be that famous NPC cub from the forums?