Gu Rong’s view was obscured by mosaics; unable to see, he stopped looking and quickly shifted his attention.

There were many people present, not just locals from Gu Family Village, but also more than ten outsiders who had just arrived.

Among the outsiders, six were game players.

Gu Rong immediately spotted Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao in the crowd, his eyes lighting up shua. Immediately after, he saw Lin-dalao standing behind them, dressed in a black windbreaker and wearing a baseball cap.

Big Brother! Little Brother!! Uncle Doctor!!!

Gu Rong’s little expression was filled with excitement. Without thinking, he immediately wanted to lower his head and run dadada towards the three of them.

Gu Laohan grabbed his small, meaty hand. Seeing him about to run off again, he pulled him back firmly: “Don’t run! You don’t even know who those people are, and you’re running forward! Stay with me properly!”

Zhuang Yu, Shen Hanxiao, and Lin-dalao were all looking at Gu Rong.

Seeing him wanting to run towards them, Zhuang Yu immediately and secretly made a hand gesture, telling him not to come over. Shen Hanxiao also shook his head at him.

The two had learned a bit while teaching Gu Rong hand gestures before, and it came in handy now.

Having just entered the instance, in the eyes of these NPCs, they, the outsiders, couldn’t possibly know a local child. They had to pretend not to know each other first.

Lin-dalao saw the two making hand gestures and couldn’t help raising an eyebrow slightly.

Gu Rong, being a cub who had systematically learned hand gestures, understood Zhuang Yu’s signal at a glance. He stopped trying to run towards the three and let Gu Laohan lead him.

He was now a child of Gu Family Village and didn’t know Big Brother, Little Brother, or Uncle Doctor yet!

Gu Rong was the only cub present. Tiny, with exceptionally high looks, carved from pink jade, snowy and cute. Instantly, everyone’s gaze landed on this little Zaizai.

Besides Zhuang Yu’s trio, the other three players also looked at this NPC cub.

This was their first time entering the same instance as this NPC cub. They had only heard about him before; now, seeing him in person, they couldn’t help but stare a bit longer.

This little cub was wearing a green cardigan little sweater. The sweater was thick and pilled. Perhaps because the buttons were fastened too tightly, or for some other reason, it made the cub’s neck look even shorter. His upper body was round and chubby, and his two little short legs below were less than half a zha long.

The players were utterly charmed, their hearts pounding, yet they forced themselves to remain calm on the surface.

The forum’s little top streamer indeed lived up to his reputation. Just looking at him was cute enough to make your head fall off.

At the same time, the livestream chats of all the players were flooded by aunties, showering donations like free money towards the players.

[Ahhhhh Zaizai has arrived! Everyone, clear the way!!!]

[Auntie is here! Finally, see Zaizai! Auntie’s heart cub! [Gift points]]

[Watching Zaizai from six camera angles! So satisfying! [Gift points]]

[Good, good, Big Brother, Little Brother, Lin-dalao are all here! Zaizai doesn’t have to go through the instance alone!]

[Isn’t Zaizai’s little sweater too thick? The whole cub looks even more like a little gas tank hahaha! [Gift points]]

[Aww~~ Can they release a Zaizai doll? Really want to change cute little clothes for Zaizai every day! Can’t raise Zaizai, raising a lookalike doll is fine too!]

The aunties jumped wildly between the six players’ livestreams, but mostly concentrated on the streams of Lin-dalao, Zhuang Yu, and Shen Hanxiao.

Lin-dalao had the most fans and received the most donations. Besides Zaizai’s aunties, many were his own fans. Because Lin-dalao and Gu Rong always cooperated most tacitly, many viewers were fans of both.

Although Gu Rong had to pretend not to know the three, seeing them still made him inwardly happy.

Just then, Gu Laohan led him to the front of the bonfire, blending into the crowd.

The village chief of Gu Family Village was a middle-aged man around forty, tall, neither fat nor thin. He smiled and patted Gu Rong’s fluffy little head, saying: “It’s lively tonight. Bringing the child out for some air is good, good.”

Chief Gu also had a tumor on his head, though much smaller, barely covered by his hair.

The night temperature was low, but the bonfire burned vigorously, bringing waves of warmth.

Everyone sat down around the bonfire.

Gu Rong sat with Gu Laohan, quite far from Zhuang Yu’s trio.

Gu Rong couldn’t see them, but all the players could see the tumors on the heads of everyone from the Gu Family Village.

Everyone had different thoughts, forcefully suppressing the unease in their hearts.

Chief Gu had people distribute food and drinks. Gu Rong, being young, received a bottle of hot milk.

Gu Rong held the milk and drank, but his big eyes kept staring at the uncle roasting the lamb leg.

Seeing Gu Rong’s gaze, Lin-dalao‘s trio wasn’t surprised, but found it amusing. Heaven is big, Earth is big, but eating is biggest. Gu Rong embodied this thoroughly.

Just then, Gu Rong’s gaze was attracted by another middle-aged uncle.

The person was also roasting something, but it wasn’t lamb leg; rather, strips of worm-like things.

He held dozens of roasted insects over the fire, occasionally sprinkling cumin powder.

Not only did Gu Rong notice this middle-aged man, but others quickly noticed him too.

The six players also looked towards this middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man had shaggy blonde hair, like a foreigner, short and stout, with a big flat face. His right eye was very strange; the socket held not an eyeball, but a milky white gelatinous mass. That gelatinous mass even moved occasionally, proving it was alive.

Forget the players; even the locals of Gu Family Village looked horrified at the man.

The middle-aged man was also an outsider, but this wasn’t his first time in Gu Family Village; it was his second. His name was Jones.

Jones ignored everyone’s stares, focusing on roasting his insect skewers. Suddenly, he looked up, grinned fiercely towards Gu Rong.

Any other cub would have been scared to tears by such a fierce expression, but Gu Rong just tilted his little head, staring back innocently with his little face, not dodging, not avoiding, not scared at all.

Jones’s smile stiffened: “…”

Soon, Jones looked away. Seeing everyone staring at him, he reached up and touched his right eye, sneering: “You must be wondering what happened to my eye? This is a souvenir I got the last time I entered the cave. Chief Gu should remember.”

Chief Gu’s smile didn’t change as he nodded.

Jones: “This is also a point I wanted to remind everyone. Tomorrow we are going into the cave. It’s full of unknown bugs like this. If you’re not careful, they will attach to you. If you’re lucky, it just parasitizes you, and you coexist. If you’re unlucky, you might just be eaten hollow and die miserably.”

According to Jones’s recollection, the first time he went down into the cave, his companion was parasitized by a milky white bug from the cave, his body eaten empty. By the time he found out, his companion was already dead.

He used tweezers to pull out the bug. While examining it closely, the larva wriggled, and suddenly, stabbed into his right eye.

“It was a very small larva back then, peanut-sized. Now it’s gotten very large. Not only does it occupy my entire right eye, but it has also entrenched itself in half my skull.” Jones patted the right side of his head. It felt soft, as if something squishy was wrapped inside.

“It lives very well in here, and we get along very well too.” Hearing this, the bug in Jones’s eye moved slightly.

Seeing this scene, everyone couldn’t help but feel their hair stand on end, their scalps tingling. Whether it was more disgust or fear, they felt very uncomfortable.

Jones picked up a roasted insect skewer, brought it to his mouth, chewed and swallowed, then continued: “Every day before I sleep, I communicate with it. We are like old friends, knowing each other intimately, coexisting.”

“I told it, when you grow bigger later, aim for the neck area, don’t compress the cervical spine, that would be uncomfortable for me. Also, leave me some brain, can’t eat it all empty.” The skin under his neck bulged, like something was breathing, rising and falling.

Jones’s tone was casual, as if accustomed to it. As he spoke, he had already finished several skewers of roasted insects. Finally, he added: “Oh, right, it’s this kind of bug in my hand.”

Everyone: “…”

Okay, very good. You really have a knack for disgusting people.

Except for Gu Rong, everyone else completely lost their appetite. They couldn’t eat anything; it was already good that they hadn’t thrown up.

Even the fragrant roast lamb leg, the players didn’t touch a bite. Gu Rong, however, was completely unaffected and ate a large piece.

Jones, seeing this little cub completely unafraid, even held out his roasted insect skewer, asking if he wanted to try a couple for novelty.

Gu Rong saw Jones eating with relish, eagerly wanting to try. His small hand actually reached out to take it.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao turned pale with fright, inwardly screaming No! Even Lin-dalao‘s expression tightened. This little cub, truly ignorant and fearless.

006 and the livestream chat also broke out in a cold sweat.

006: [Little host, cannot eat this!]

Fortunately, Gu Laohan still had some common sense. He grabbed Gu Rong’s small hand back, saying: “If you eat that bug, you’ll get parasitized by that bug too! Eat the lamb leg!” He stuffed a piece of roasted lamb meat into his hand.

Gu Rong hadn’t actually wanted to eat the roasted insect skewer, just curious. With roast lamb leg in hand, he no longer thought about the bug skewer.

Zhuang Yu’s trio breathed a sigh of relief.

006 and the livestream chat also breathed sighs of relief.

006 said: [Little host, that Jones said the cave is full of bugs like that, looks scary! If you see them, absolutely do not grab them and put them in your mouth! Those are not yummy!]

Gu Rong could only see mosaics; the roasted bugs looked like little golden strips, not scary. But he still obediently said: [Oh.]

Gu Rong asked puzzledly: [But I’m not going into the cave? How would I catch bugs?]

Who knew, just as he finished saying this, a “Ding!” sound came, the system prompt.

[Ding! Please, receive the second task.]

[Task: Enter the cave.]

[Success Reward: 100,000 points, Child Protective Suit set *1.]

[Failure Penalty: Identity card rendered void.]

This instance was called “Cave Monster.” The main plot occurred in the cave. If Gu Rong couldn’t enter the cave, he would deviate from the main storyline, and his identity card would naturally become void. If the identity card became void, he would exit the game.

006 emphasized heavily again: [Little host, absolutely do not grab bugs and put them in your mouth!]

Gu Rong: [Oh.]

006 looked at him, seemingly listening with one ear and letting it out the other, sighed, and couldn’t help but worry.

–

Soon, it was the next day. Gu Laohan had said he would take the tourists down into the cave. Before leaving, as usual, he planned to wrap Gu Rong in the blanket so he wouldn’t run off. Anyway, after sending the tourists to the cave entrance, he would return immediately and wouldn’t go inside the cave himself.

When Gu Laohan woke up, Gu Rong woke up too. Seeing Gu Laohan wanting to wrap him in the blanket again, he immediately climbed out of bed and said crisply, “Rongrong go!”

Gu Laohan paused, then said: “Where are you going? Stay home properly and sleep.”

Gu Rong put his hands on his little chubby waist and insisted: “Rongrong also go cave! Go with Grandpa Gu!”

Gu Laohan looked at the cub before him. This time, he didn’t refuse outright but showed hesitation. It had to be said, ever since this little fool started calling him Grandpa, Gu Laohan’s attitude towards Gu Rong had improved immensely.

Gu Rong was excellent at reading expressions. Seeing Gu Laohan waver, he immediately acted cute and pitiful. He clasped his small hands together, bowed towards Gu Laohan like a lucky cat: “Grandpa Gu, please! Rongrong go too!”

Gu Laohan: “…”

Such a soft, cute little baby acting spoiled, who could resist?

Gu Laohan kept a stern face, scoffing coldly: “Only to the cave entrance, then come back. You little cub, why join the chaos!”

Although he said this, he rummaged out the little sweater, roughly pulling it onto the cub, and even put a woolen hat on Gu Rong.