“Rongrong, be good and watch the house. Another batch of outsiders is coming tonight. Don’t run around everywhere, understand?”

As soon as Gu Rong woke up, he heard the last two sentences.

His eyes opened to a dilapidated roof overhead, covered in cobwebs, with two large spiders crawling around on it.

Gu Rong turned his little head, surveying the room. He found himself in a small, broken-down hut. The only furniture was the wooden plank bed he was currently lying on and a wooden table missing a leg.

Ropes were strung everywhere in the room. Hanging from the ropes were either damp clothes or various tools: a machete, a kitchen knife, an iron fork, and an iron rod sharpened to a point at one end.

Various farming tools stood against the walls: hoes, shovels, etc., along with some moldy, insect-eaten pieces of wood.

Gu Rong blinked his eyes, having just entered the instance, momentarily confused about the situation.

He moved slightly and discovered he was wrapped in a sheet, bundled up like a little zongzi (sticky rice dumpling), similar to how babies are swaddled. There was even a sturdy butterfly knot tied around him.

Gu Rong called out to 006 in his mind: [006, why is Rongrong tied up?]

He struggled a bit. It was tied very tightly; he couldn’t break free at all.

006 said: [Little host, don’t panic. Please receive the instance information…]

Before Gu Rong could receive the information, footsteps approached, getting closer to the bed.

Gu Rong, who had been struggling, stopped moving upon seeing a huge, dark shadow moving towards him. He stared blankly at the approaching person with wide eyes.

The person was an old man in his fifties, hunched over, with a fierce face, slightly bald on top, his skin rough and dark.

Most terrifyingly, on his bald head grew a large fleshy tumor, almost a third the size of his head, piled up on his forehead, looking incredibly creepy.

The old man walked to the bedside and stopped. Looking at Gu Rong, who was wrapped like a little baby and lying flat on the bed, he opened his mouth, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: “Still restless even tied up like this? Didn’t I just warn you not to run around everywhere? Really not an obedient, good child.”

Gu Rong was always obedient; this was the first time someone had called him disobedient.

He didn’t run! Wrongfully accused! Hmph!

Gu Rong wasn’t afraid of the old man’s deformed appearance; he had seen much scarier mutations. Besides, at this moment, the tumor on the old man’s head was blurred into a mosaic.

Gu Rong said in his milky voice: “Let Zaizai go!”

Hearing the foolish child speak, the old man let out a surprised “Yo ho,” his wrinkled eyes widening slightly.

This child was the only child in their Gu Family Village, and also the only little fool.

Forget speaking; besides eating and sleeping, he couldn’t do anything else. Every day he ate his fill and slept, woke up, and ate. The old man raised him like raising a little piglet.

The only issue was, sometimes when he came back too late, this little fool would get hungry and run outside.

To prevent the little fool from getting lost, every day before leaving, he had to wrap him up in a sheet.

The old man said: “I thought you little fool was a little mute. Turns out you can talk. Even if you can talk, I can’t let you go. Lie still, don’t run around.”

Gu Rong was not a little mute, and certainly not a little fool! Hearing the old man repeatedly wrong him, he puffed up his cheeks indignantly, his fair little face flushing red.

The old man had no time to waste words with Gu Rong. Seeing him puffed up like an inflated little ball, he found it amusing. Not only did he not untie Gu Rong, but he also tightened the butterfly knot further. Only then did he turn, leave the room, and lock the wooden door from the outside.

The footsteps gradually faded, leaving only Gu Rong, one cub alone.

Lying there wasn’t uncomfortable, so Gu Rong didn’t bother moving, like a little salted fish.

It was afternoon now, but the room faced away from the sun. Combined with the clutter, no sunlight could penetrate inside. The room was not only dark and damp but also filled with a pungent, unpleasant musty smell, mixed with sour and rotten odors – definitely not pleasant.

Gu Rong wrinkled his little nose, “Achoo!”, letting out a small sneeze: [Stinky!]

006, being a small system, couldn’t smell what Gu Rong was talking about. It immediately bought a bottle of air freshener from the store to deodorize.

The fragrant scent of the freshener filled the air, mingling with the various strange stenches, invading his lungs and soul – simply terrible.

Gu Rong gagged, his milky voice: [Yue—]

006: […]

006 quickly removed the air freshener and directly bought Gu Rong a mask to isolate him from the outside air.

Gu Rong wore a small child’s mask, revealing only a pair of large, watery eyes blinking rapidly. After resting for a while, he finally recovered.

006 said: [Little host, the NPC just now was Gu Laohan. Little host’s setting in this instance is a little orphan raised by Gu Laohan.]

Gu Rong asked crisply: [Why Gu Laohan call me little fool?]

Because Gu Laohan had wrongly accused him several times and tied him up, the usually polite and well-mannered cub directly called him “Gu Laohan.”

006 paused, then said: [According to the setting, the little host is just a little fool who only eats and sleeps and doesn’t even talk.]

Gu Rong said: [Zaizai not little fool.]

006: [Of course! How could the little host be a little fool? Clearly a little smarty egg!]

Gu Rong: [Zaizai big smarty!]

006: […]

Okay.

According to the instance introduction, this was Gu Family Village, nestled in a large mountain valley.

This mountain was called Shenzhong Mountain. Every year, it attracted numerous outsiders who came to explore.

Shenzhong Mountain was famous, firstly because, viewed from any angle, the mountain resembled the profile of a man lying flat, inspiring awe and curiosity, making people want to investigate.

Secondly, half of Shenzhong Mountain was buried deep underground. Over time, natural underground karst caves formed, making it very suitable for cave exploration enthusiasts.

The ancestors of Gu Family Village, to attract tourists, even concocted a set of myths and legends for the mountain, adding a layer of mystery.

The mountain was initially unnamed. It was named Shenzhong Mountain simply because its profile resembled a sleeping man. Shenzhong Mountain, as the name implies, means God’s Tomb.

Legend has it that this mountain wasn’t ordinary but formed from the body of a deity after death; the mountain was the god’s remains. The caves buried deep underground, winding and twisting, large and small caverns and passages resembling human intestines and organs, were said to be the god’s abdominal cavity.

Though the god was dead, his heart supposedly still beat to this day, never having dried up. If one could obtain even a single drop of the undried blood from the heart, drinking it could grant immortality.

Anything linked to immortality, true or false, would always attract people seeking to find out.

Shenzhong Mountain attracted more and more visitors seeking fame. Over time, the legend grew more fantastical. Everyone wanted to find the god’s heart in the underground caves, wanting to obtain a drop of divine blood.

But to date, no one has found it.

Initially, everything was normal; it was just a gimmick to attract people. But later, things started to go wrong.

Anyone who entered the caves of Shenzhong Mountain would encounter a curse. To lift the curse, one had to find the god’s heart and drink a drop of divine blood. …

Gu Rong loved listening to stories and listened with great interest. Afterwards, he asked: [Then how did the god die?]

006 said: [Legends like these usually avoid too many details. Too many details invite scrutiny, and scrutiny often reveals inconsistencies. It’s unknown if this legend is true or false. Being too specific would remove the mystery, making it less intriguing, leaving people with no desire to explore.]

The unknown breeds fear. However, those who dared to descend into the caves were generally bolder types who enjoyed excitement and adventure. Fear wasn’t a deterrent; rather, it further ignited their curiosity.

Gu Rong was a gutsy cub. His small body twisted back and forth on the bed: [Zaizai wants to go see! Heixiu, heixiu, Zaizai get up!]

He wiggled and wriggled. With one wiggle, his little body shot upwards a bit. Soon, his little head hit the wall at the head of the bed.

This bed didn’t even have a headboard. The wall was just mud brick, uneven, mottled, and peeling.

As soon as Gu Rong’s little head touched the wall, he got covered in dust. The wall surface crumbled shua shua shua, dropping debris all over his face.

Gu Rong immediately squeezed his eyes shut, pei pei, and quickly slid back down. The cub instantly became a dirty Zaizai.

006 wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, suppressing it with effort: [Little host, maybe we should sleep first? Wait for that Gu Laohan to come back, maybe he’ll untie the little host.]

Gu Rong hadn’t received any system tasks yet and had nothing else to do. His tummy wasn’t hungry either. Hearing this, he closed his eyes: [Okay, Zaizai sleepy time!]

Saying sleep, he slept. Wrapped in the blanket, he wouldn’t catch a cold. Soon, he was sound asleep, huhu.

006 looked at the peacefully sleeping little host and couldn’t help but smile. Say what you will, the little host is truly adaptable.

–

Gu Rong slept until evening.

The room was pitch black, strangely silent, looking exceptionally eerie and terrifying, like a little dark room, making one’s hair stand on end.

Gu Rong, after all, was only a two-year-old cub. He blinked his eyes, looking here and there. Unable to move, he couldn’t help feeling a little scared.

Not fear of monsters, but the terrifying feeling of being utterly alone in the dead silence.

It reminded him of the time after Grandpa Ming died.

After Grandpa Ming died, he was just a lonely little cub, sleeping alone under the bridge. At night, he worried if big zombies or mutants would snatch him away, and he had to guard against humans capturing him for research.

Because he, this Little Zombie cub, looked different from other zombies, humans had always wanted to catch him for study.

When Grandpa Ming was around, he could sleep peacefully. If someone came to steal the cub, Grandpa Ming would hide him or fight off the bad guys.

Once, he was almost snatched away by a big zombie. Grandpa Ming chased after it with his little cane, hitting the big zombie hard on the head with the cane, smashing its head open, and only then managing to save him.

Grandpa Ming said that as long as you smash a zombie’s head, you can kill it. Hearing this, Gu Rong was scared and quickly hugged his little head.

During that period, whenever he wasn’t sleeping, even while eating, he had to keep one hand protecting his head, afraid someone would smash his head too. Because he was also a zombie, if he had no head, he would die too.

Thinking of this, Gu Rong missed Grandpa Ming a little. He didn’t know when he could see Grandpa Ming again, and Daddy and Mommy.

Just then, with a “Ding!”, Gu Rong received a system task.

[Task: Gu Family Village welcomes a new batch of tourists. The village chief is preparing a bonfire party for the guests tonight. Please attend the bonfire party.]

[Reward: 50,000 points, Child Safety Helmet *1.]

Hearing there was a bonfire party tonight, Gu Rong’s big eyes lit up.

He didn’t quite understand what a bonfire party was, but he knew it must be fun.

Children are playful. Emotions come and go quickly. He was just thinking about Grandpa Ming a moment ago, but now, hearing there was fun to be had, his little sadness was swept away.

Gu Rong said: [Rongrong wants to go party!]

Saying this, he twisted his little body, [But I’m tied up, how go?]

006 said: [We can ask Gu Laohan to take us. Listen, Gu Laohan is back.]

At this moment, footsteps and the sound of unlocking came from outside the door.