When he woke up again, Gu Rong found that the coffin wasn’t rocking anymore, and the eerie music outside had stopped.

Gu Rong blinked his big eyes, lying obediently in the coffin, motionless.

Voices came from outside:

“Have to say, Third Brother is both brave and cunning. He anticipated the ambush by bandits near Yin Mountain long ago, catching them off guard and wiping them all out.”

“However, our Town Mayor is certainly rich. Just the burial goods alone amounted to a hundred boxes of gold bars. No wonder it attracted robbers.”

After a moment of silence, someone stammered: “So much gold… enough to live comfortably for a lifetime.”

“It’s just a pity… having to be buried underground forever with this dead man. If you ask me, since we ran into bandits anyway, why don’t we…”

“Why don’t we just split the gold bars among ourselves!”

Once these words were spoken, another silence fell.

“There are twenty bandits here, and there are twenty of us. If we change into their clothes, smash their faces, we can make others think the funeral procession encountered bandits, the entire group was wiped out, all escorts killed, and the burial goods looted clean.”

Gu Rong listened to the voices outside. Soon, the coffin was lifted again.

The coffin was too big, and he was too small; he couldn’t reach the sides of the coffin at all. So, as the coffin bumped along, his little body slid from one end of the coffin to the other.

Before Gu Rong could steady himself, he felt a much more violent collision, followed by a loud “PENG!” sound.

Gu Rong’s little head spun, seeing stars.

“Just throw the coffin here. We need to hurry and get these gold bars up the mountain…”

As the voices faded into the distance, Gu Rong finally lay steadily inside the coffin.

Although still inside the coffin, Gu Rong clearly felt something was different.

He reached out his small hand to feel around, touching something with the texture of cloth. Feeling further, he touched another small hand.

Without thinking, Gu Rong grabbed the small hand and lifted it before his eyes to look.

This small hand was slightly larger than his, but icy cold, devoid of warmth.

Huh?

Turning his head again, Gu Rong met a pair of smiling eyes. Another child was lying quietly beside him.

Gu Rong’s eyes lit up: “Lord Devil!!!”

Lying next to him was indeed Lu Li.

This overly excited little tone made Lu Li raise an eyebrow in the darkness. The pair of fuzzy animal ears on his head also twitched slightly.

Gu Rong had entered a memory flashback. 006 had also disappeared. Suddenly seeing someone he knew, even if it was Lord Devil, felt incredibly comforting.

This coffin was large enough; the two cubs lying side-by-side was no problem at all.

At this moment, Gu Rong also forgot that Lord Devil might eat him and proactively tried to get close: “Lord Devil, where did you go just now? Why didn’t Zaizai see you!”

Lu Li didn’t answer, just acted as if he hadn’t heard, seemingly too lazy to answer such questions.

Seeing him not answering, Gu Rong didn’t get angry, mainly because he didn’t dare to get angry. Although he looked small, he was excellent at adapting to the situation, knowing when he could be haughty and when he had to restrain himself.

Gu Rong could see normally in the dark. Since Lu Li wasn’t talking, he played by himself.

Soon, his gaze shifted to Lu Li’s pair of animal ears.

How come Lord Devil has two fuzzy little ears! Gu Rong was extremely curious. He had been curious since the first day he saw them. They even moved! So nice! He didn’t have any!

Gu Rong had wanted to touch them for a long time, but he didn’t dare. Instead, he raised his small hand and touched his own head. He had a hat on, only touching the hat.

Lu Li noticed Gu Rong staring at his pair of animal ears, those large, dark, glass-like eyes faintly showing envy. He couldn’t help but find it amusing.

He laughed, but it was the same cold scoff as always. Heh heh, absurd.

As soon as Lord Devil opened His mouth, even if it was just a cold scoff, Gu Rong seized the opportunity to talk, unable to hold back: “Lord Devil, why do you always laugh like that, ‘heh, heh’?”

He imitated Lu Li’s two heh’s perfectly, a spitting image.

It would have been better if Gu Rong hadn’t imitated. Upon hearing it, Lu Li let out two more cold scoffs, his level of childishness rivaling Gu Rong’s.

He scoffs if He wants to scoff, who can control Him?

Seeing Him scoff, Gu Rong followed suit: “Hehehehehehehe, hehehe, hehehe…”

He scoffed out the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Lu Li’s face darkened: “…You wanna die?”

Gu Rong stopped scoffing, huffed, crossed his little arms, and scooted sideways, trying his best to distance himself from Lu Li.

When Lu Li got angry, he was still a little scared and didn’t dare act recklessly.

Gu Rong desperately tried to move away from Lu Li.

But the coffin was only so big. With two cubs lying inside, even moving was still close together.

Gu Rong couldn’t move anymore, so he flipped his little body over, turning his back to Lu Li.

Hmph, angry now.

Lu Li looked at the Little Jiangshi cub with his back turned, round and chubby, a small braid still hanging behind his head. He didn’t turn back for a long time.

After a while, He extended a finger and gently poked the little dumpling.

After poking, Lu Li crossed his arms again, saying nothing.

But who knew, after that poke, Gu Rong remained motionless, showing no reaction at all.

Lu Li frowned and poked again.

Gu Rong still didn’t react.

Lu Li, whose already scarce patience ran out, just reached out, wanting to push this little follower.

Gu Rong: Huhu Zzz (Sleeping sounds)

Lu Li: “…”

Heh, heh.

–

Gu Rong had fallen asleep again directly.

It was nighttime now, pitch black all around, the environment quiet and comfortable, and he was lying inside a coffin.

In conclusion, perfect for sleeping.

Gu Rong slept until dawn, waking up with a small yawn, stretching lazily.

Lu Li was still lying beside him, arms crossed, eyes closed. The moment Gu Rong yawned, He slowly opened His eyes, completely clear, without a trace of sleepiness.

Gu Rong stretched lazily, his little arm sweeping across Lu Li beside him.

Lu Li’s expression was gloomy, his little bun-face sullen. He raised a hand, stopped Gu Rong’s arm, and placed it back on Gu Rong’s own body.

Gu Rong’s small body paused. Only then did he remember where he was, becoming about 70-80% awake.

Slowly turning his head, he glanced at Lu Li, then turned back, touched his own little leg, and pinched his little arm.

Arms and legs still intact. Gu Rong breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling safe.

006 was right, Lord Devil wouldn’t eat Zaizai for now!

Lu Li didn’t know what was going on in Gu Rong’s little head. Noticing his gaze, He showed no reaction, acting as if He hadn’t seen.

Just then, 006’s voice sounded in Gu Rong’s mind: [Congratulations, little host, for completing the task. Reward: 1,000,000 points, Devil’s Key *1.]

Hearing 006’s voice, Gu Rong’s big eyes sparkled. But hearing the task was completed, his little head felt fuzzy: [Eh? When did Zaizai complete the task?]

006: […]

006 was also baffled: [Wait, didn’t the little host enter the memory flashback last night and learn that those Jiangshi were previously bodyguards escorting gold bars and coffins, then killed the robbers and became robbers themselves?]

It had reviewed Gu Rong’s flashback after being unblocked; there couldn’t be a mistake.

Seeing Lu Li beside him, 006 couldn’t help but feel a bit scared. Every time, it was blocked by Lu Li and locked in the little dark room. It was almost developing trauma.

Gu Rong heard 006’s explanation, his little expression still a bit meng (dazed), saying tenderly: [Oh.]

006: […]

After 006’s analysis, Gu Rong understood.

Those big Jiangshi and Wu Sandeng were originally the people escorting the gold bars. Later, they encountered robbers, killed the robbers, became robbers themselves, stole the gold bars, and discarded the coffin.

Gu Rong thought about the dizzying bumps inside the coffin earlier; that must have been when the big Jiangshi dumped the coffin.

Combining this with the story Zhao Jiuquan wrote down based on the big Jiangshi’s account, the story was quite simple.

After stealing the gold bars, Wu Sandeng became greedy, poisoned the twenty Jiangshi, and took the gold bars for himself.

Wu Sandeng probably used these gold bars to become the Town Mayor.

Gu Rong counted on his little fingers and said: [Big Jiangshi twenty, gold robbers also twenty, One-eyed Uncle is extra!]

006 paused, then exclaimed in shock: [Little host found the blind spot! Twenty bodyguards, twenty Jiangshi, it matches perfectly! Wu Sandeng is the extra one! Then who is Wu Sandeng?]

Gu Rong spread his small hands.

Gu Rong received another Devil’s Key. Just like the previous two times, it was the same mini key, landing in Gu Rong’s small palm.

Gu Rong held the key and directly handed it to Lu Li beside him: “Lord Devil, here!”

Lu Li glanced at the key but didn’t take it. Looking at Gu Rong, he said: “You hold onto it for This Lord. We’ll talk after all the keys are collected.”

Gu Rong pinched the small key, looking left and right, furrowing his little eyebrows: “How many keys are left?”

Lu Li: “Don’t ask too many questions.”

Gu Rong obediently put the key away and didn’t ask further: “Oh.”

Lord Devil is so bossy! The cub felt quite indignant internally, but didn’t dare show it.

Just then, a noise came from outside. Before Gu Rong could react, the coffin lid was opened from the outside.

The coffin, which couldn’t be opened before, was now easily opened.

Gu Rong turned his head. Lu Li, who had been lying beside him, had already disappeared.

Only he, one cub, remained in the coffin.

Gu Rong patted the stone wall with his small hand. Strange, where did Lord Devil go again?

Outside the coffin were Wu Sandeng, Huang Daoren, and the others.

Seeing the Little Jiangshi cub lying flat inside the coffin, everyone’s expression froze for an instant.

The atmosphere became momentarily quiet, with a faint awkwardness hanging in the air.

Gu Rong placed his small hands on his little tummy, blinking his big eyes, meeting the gazes of the circle of people surrounding the coffin.

As he looked, Gu Rong’s little tummy growled twice.

Gu Rong: “Tummy hungry!”

Everyone: “…”

Still the same!

–

On the summit of Yin Mountain, the evening wind swept through the treetops.

Twenty Jiangshi lay in twenty coffins, each coffin filled with gold bars.

These Jiangshi, originally full of anger, looked peaceful now, hugging the gold bars.

Twenty-one pits had all been dug. A coffin was placed before each pit. The coffin Lu Li had lain in earlier, also filled with gold bars, was placed before one pit.

Other coffins held Jiangshi; only this coffin contained nothing but gold bars.

Wu Sandeng looked at this coffin, silent for a long time. Finally, he ordered his men to lower all the coffins into the pits and bury them.

Gu Rong held a bottle of milk, drinking. Laifu squatted beside him, tongue lolling out.

Compared to Wu Sandeng, Laifu was clearly closer to Gu Rong.

These Jiangshi had all been summoned by Gu Rong using the [Little Jiangshi King] card.

His task was completed, and now he had also helped the players complete their task.

Shen Hanxiao said, “Little ghost, as soon as the instance ends, Little Brother will transfer the points to you.”

Gu Rong beamed: “Thank you, Little Brother!”

Zhuang Yu said, “Rongrong, where do you go after an instance ends? Players all go to the Game Lobby. Do you want to go to the Game Lobby and play too?”

He had already checked: non-fixed NPCs needed to spend points to go to the players’ Game Lobby. Not many, 100,000 points per visit.

He would pay this amount for Rongrong.

Gu Rong, however, didn’t know it cost points. Hearing this, his eyes sparkled, and he nodded vigorously: “Zaizai go!”

Zhao Jiuquan made a welcoming gesture.

Gu Rong, having learned sign language well, actually understood. He also made a gesture with his small hands, saying while gesturing: “Thank you, Daoist Priest Big Brother!”

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao died laughing.

Laifu heard the conversation, whined, and nuzzled Gu Rong’s Little Jiangshi clothes with its head, looking very reluctant to part.

Gu Rong hugged Laifu’s dog head with his short little arms, his small face also showing reluctance.

Just then, a childish voice echoed in the void.

“Little follower.”

Gu Rong’s little ears twitched.

“See you next time.”

Gu Rong looked up but saw no sign of Lord Devil.

006 said: [Little host, could it be that Lord Devil isn’t actually playing an NPC role?]

Seeing Gu Rong’s confused little face, 006 explained: [Lord Devil also appeared in the last instance but didn’t play any NPC role. Could it be the same for this instance?

Except for the first instance, Lord Devil seems… ] It hesitated for a moment, [Seems to just be following the little follower?]

Gu Rong asked: [Follows Zaizai?]

006: [Correct! Lord Devil was just lying in that coffin. We naturally assumed it was His. Perhaps it wasn’t His coffin, but belonged to that extra person?]

[Extra person?] Gu Rong’s little face was thoughtful, [One-eyed Uncle?]

006: [Exactly!]

Besides, that coffin wasn’t a child’s coffin at all. It could fit two cubs side-by-side, perfectly enough to fit an adult.

But perhaps the truth no longer mattered.

What mattered was…

Gu Rong pinched the small key, making a secret resolution.

He wouldn’t just earn points to find Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa Ming; he would also collect the keys, so Lord Devil wouldn’t kill Zaizai!

Huang Daoren folded a paper airplane from a yellow talisman, came over, handed it to Gu Rong, and stroked his small goatee, saying: “You, Little Jiangshi, Daoist Priest Grandpa can’t fold paper rabbits, but paper airplanes are okay. Take it and play.”

Gu Rong took the paper airplane with his small hand, saying happily: “Thank you, Daoist Priest Grandpa!”

Seeing this, everyone else couldn’t help but think, Wo cao. This old Daoist priest has been led astray by this Little Jiangshi cub, actually using yellow talismans to fold airplanes to amuse a child.

Gu Rong held the small paper airplane, threw it into the air. The paper airplane fluttered along with the wind, drawing an arc in the air.

The cub and dog chased after the paper airplane.

The Little Jiangshi cub ran a bit, then hopped twice, very dedicated. The yellow talisman on his little forehead and the little braid behind his head also swung back and forth.

This Little Jiangshi was really… too cute.