[Damn it! What kind of rotten person is this? Ugly people really do cause more trouble, WTF!]

[You’re dead! Dare to touch our Zaizai, you will die!]

[Family, don’t worry! This guy isn’t even enough for Zaizai to kick! Truly courting death!]

The livestream chat started cursing Jones intensely. 006 also spat out a couple of curses, what an unlucky trash.

The faces of Zhuang Yu’s trio also turned unpleasant, protectively shielding Gu Rong in their arms.

Jones sneered coldly and averted his gaze.

Led by the four villagers, the group walked towards the cave entrance.

After getting off the boat, Zhuang Yu held Gu Rong directly and didn’t let him down to walk on his own little legs. Mainly to guard against the psychopath Jones.

Gu Rong obediently let Big Brother hold him, saying crisply: “Thank you, Big Brother for holding Zaizai!”

Zhuang Yu smiled and ruffled his little head, lowering his voice, “Let’s stay far away from that Jones.”

Gu Rong clenched his small meaty hands into little fists, waving one in the air, his little bun-face determined: “Zaizai not scared! One punch sends big, bad guy flying!”

He possessed divine strength. Don’t underestimate his small fists; one punch per Jones was completely within his power.

Zhuang Yu naturally believed in Gu Rong’s strength and wasn’t particularly worried, but being extra careful couldn’t hurt.

Shen Hanxiao smiled encouragingly: “Yes yes, little ghost is the best!”

Hearing the praise, Gu Rong happily shook his little head.

Lin-dalao also walked beside them. Although close, for some reason, the dalao exuded a very solitary aura – cold, taciturn, with a powerful presence.

But having the dalao around indeed made people feel much more secure.

Gu Rong was a cub who loved to eat. They hadn’t walked far before his small hand was clutching a lollipop, eating it.

Zhuang Yu couldn’t help but look down at him.

Gu Rong saw Zhuang Yu looking at him and thought he wanted some too. The cub wasn’t stingy. He took out another lollipop, first asking Zhuang Yu who was holding him: “Big Brother, eat candy!”

Zhuang Yu: “Big Brother doesn’t eat. Rongrong can eat it himself.”

Gu Rong then turned the lollipop towards Shen Hanxiao: “Little Brother, eat candy!”

Shen Hanxiao smiled: “Little Brother doesn’t eat either. You shouldn’t eat too much either, watch out for cavities.”

Gu Rong treated everyone equally. Seeing Big Brother and Little Brother both decline, he offered the lollipop towards Lin-dalao: “Uncle Doctor, eat candy!”

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao, seeing Gu Rong knew to ask Lin-dalao too, thought: If we two don’t eat, the dalao certainly won’t either.

Who knew, just as they thought this, Lin-dalao reached out, took the lollipop, his voice deep and smooth: “Thanks.”

Gu Rong, having given away the candy, was also very happy. He stuck his own lollipop in his mouth and clapped his small hands.

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Shen Hanxiao: “…”

Sure enough, only this little cub could get along with the dalao.

Xiaoshan trailed behind the group, always wanting to get closer to Gu Rong. There were so many people here. He usually only played with Gu Rong; he looked at everyone else with timid eyes, not daring to approach.

But Big Fool and Little Fool were each other’s only friends – this was just the instance setting. Gu Rong had no memory of playing with Xiaoshan and naturally felt closer to Zhuang Yu’s trio.

Xiaoshan wanted to approach Gu Rong but didn’t dare. He was afraid of Lin-dalao with his strong aura and black windbreaker. The other two looked less intimidating, but he was afraid of them too. He could only follow the main group at a distance, occasionally glancing towards Gu Rong.

Gu Rong sensed Xiaoshan’s gaze, looked over Zhuang Yu’s shoulder towards Xiaoshan. He had no prior memories, but they had played together on the boat.

Seeing Xiaoshan constantly looking at him, Gu Rong thought he might want a lollipop too. He took out another lollipop: “Xiaoshan Big Brother, eat lollipop!”

A flicker of joy passed through Xiaoshan’s eyes, but he shrunk his shoulders, too timid to accept.

Everyone’s gaze fell on Xiaoshan. Although this Xiaoshan was simple-minded, he was quite handsome.

Shen Hanxiao took the candy and passed it to Xiaoshan.

Xiaoshan took the candy, but hadn’t eaten one before. Seeing Gu Rong put it in his mouth, he directly put it in his own mouth to bite, without even unwrapping the paper. Naturally, there was no taste. However, this was a gift from Rongrong. Even without taste, he smiled with simple-minded happiness.

Shen Hanxiao wanted to stop him, but it was too late. Seeing the lollipop covered in saliva, he wanted to help unwrap it, but couldn’t bring himself to touch it. Forget it, let him hold it and play.

–

On the way to the cave entrance, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao took turns carrying Gu Rong. Gu Rong thoughtfully offered to walk by himself.

Gu Rong patted his little leg and said, “Zaizai’s little legs can walk.”

This was a desolate mountain wilderness, covered in thorns, with dead grass taller than Gu Rong.

Shen Hanxiao, holding Gu Rong, said: “Save your strength. Once we’re down in the cave, you’ll have to crawl yourself.”

Gu Rong wasn’t polite either, nodding: “Okay, Rongrong is best at crawling!”

After Shen Hanxiao carried him for a stretch, Lin-dalao reached out towards him, saying: “Give him to me.”

Shen Hanxiao paused, realizing the dalao wanted to join the child-carrying group. He immediately handed the kid over: “Oh oh, okay, okay, dalao hold him steady.”

Lin-dalao took Gu Rong into his arms. It indeed looked very light, almost effortless. Mainly, even holding a child, the dalao‘s cool factor didn’t diminish in the slightest.

Shen Hanxiao and Zhuang Yu both secretly admired him.

Gu Rong didn’t mind who carried him, saying sweetly: “Thank you, Uncle Doctor for holding Zaizai!”

Lin-dalao raised an eyebrow: “Consider it the return gift for the lollipop.”

The group walked for over half an hour and finally reached the cave entrance.

The cave entrance was just a hole in the ground, barely large enough for one adult to pass through, very narrow and ordinary looking. If not for the four villagers leading the way, they would never have found it.

Logically speaking, they should have entered the vicinity of Shenzhong Mountain by now. The mountain should loom before them, and being so close, one shouldn’t be able to see its entirety, only a part.

But strangely, viewed from here, Shenzhong Mountain still looked the same as before, without any change, even the distance seemed roughly the same. Still, the profile of a young man lying flat.

It seemed no matter how far one walked; one could never reach Shenzhong Mountain.

Everyone noticed this point and couldn’t help but be surprised.

A female player couldn’t resist asking a local villager: “Hey, brother, why does Shenzhong Mountain seem to be getting farther away?”

Villager Brother A glanced at the female player and said, “You must be mistaken. It’s clearly the same as before, still the same distance.”

After Villager A spoke, the tourist NPCs were stunned. So, it wasn’t their imagination; the locals had noticed this too.

Zhuang Yu asked: “Have you never climbed Shenzhong Mountain? The legend says the immortal blood is in the cave, but what if it’s on the mountain?”

As soon as Zhuang Yu said this, before the villagers could answer, Jones seemed unable to resist letting out a mocking laugh.

Zhuang Yu, holding Gu Rong, glared at him, feeling no goodwill towards this short, stout, pie-faced, frizzy-haired Jones.

Jones, after all, wasn’t a first-timer. Knowing more than the others, he answered the question for the villagers: “Haven’t you noticed? No matter where you walk, no matter how you change your angle, this mountain looks the same? No changes at all. Not just the form hasn’t changed, but also the distance.”

“It always maintains a fixed distance from people. No matter how far forward you walk, the mountain is always in that place you think you can reach with an outstretched hand but can never touch.”

Jones scoffed, his expression extremely arrogant: “No one can reach Shenzhong Mountain, nor can humans possibly climb Shenzhong Mountain. This mountain is formed from the body left behind after a god died. How could mortals possibly touch a god?”

For some reason, Jones’s tone carried a sense of superiority, and also a trace of reverence, as if that god were his god. Could it be related to his parasite? Did the worm alter his brain structure?

Villager A said, “Correct. No one has ever climbed Shenzhong Mountain. We’ve tried various methods but could never reach the foot of Shenzhong Mountain, let alone climb up.”

Villager B said, “People who have entered the cave will be cursed. Everyone in Gu Family Village has a tumor on their head, as you’ve seen. And legend says, only by finding the god’s heart and obtaining the heart’s undried blood can the curse be lifted.”

“This is your transaction for entering the cave. If you cannot bring out the immortal blood, even if you exit the cave, you cannot return alive. I hope you all remember this at all times.”

Correct. This was why Gu Family Village not only held a bonfire party to welcome these outside tourists, but the Village Chief also personally escorted them here, even sending four villagers down into the cave with them.

Gu Family Village wanted to lift the curse. It wasn’t that they themselves hadn’t gone down into the cave, but they simply couldn’t find the immortal blood and could only place their hopes on these outsiders.

Jones was impatient and couldn’t wait to go down, urging: “Alright, enough nonsense talk. Go down, and all answers will be found.”

It was already nearing noon. The players didn’t dare delay further. The instance time was only two days. They had been transported into the game at 7 PM last night; 7 PM tomorrow was the time the instance would end.

Everyone put on their safety helmets and headlamps, tied ropes around their waists, put on gloves, and were fully armed.

The adults had all this equipment ready, but Gu Rong, this toddler, had none, nor did Xiaoshan, who had joined midway.

Gu Rong had already obtained the child helmet. Seeing everyone else wearing helmets, he quickly took his small helmet out from the system backpack and put it on his head. There was even a little bunny cartoon pattern on the small helmet, very cute.

Seeing Gu Rong put on his own small helmet, the trio smiled. Lin-dalao bought him other equipment, and Shen Hanxiao helped him put it on. Zhuang Yu bought a set of equipment for Xiaoshan. Xiaoshan, however, didn’t know how to put it on. It was with the help of another player that he managed to get geared up awkwardly.

Everyone was carrying a backpack. Suddenly having an extra set of equipment, the NPCs just thought they were crazy, wearing two sets of equipment at once, weren’t they tired? They didn’t think much more about it.

Everyone looked at Gu Rong and Xiaoshan. The big one is foolish, the small one stumbles even when walking, and needs to be carried the whole way. Aren’t these two just coming to cause trouble? They weren’t cursed; most likely just haven’t entered the cave. But they’ve come anyway. If they die inside, no one can look after them.

One end of the rope was secured, the other end lowered down into the pitch-black, bottomless cave entrance.

Having completed preparations, everyone looked at the cave entrance and began to hesitate. After all, the cave below was full of unknowns. Even Jones and the four villagers, who had entered the cave before, had taut faces, showing nervousness.

The cave below was complex; less than a tenth of it had been explored. How large the cave truly was, no one knew. And how many dangers awaited them was also unknown.

The four villagers took the lead, entering the cave entrance first, following the rope down.

The others took a deep breath and followed reluctantly. Go down sooner or later, have to go down. Dilly-dallying is meaningless except for wasting time.

Zhuang Yu asked: “How will Rongrong get down? Judging by the diameter of this hole, an adult definitely can’t carry Rongrong down.”

Gu Rong had his own method. He pointed a small hand at the cave entrance and said: “Zaizai fly down!”

He had the [Hanged Little Ghost] identity card and could fly directly down. The cave entrance could accommodate an adult man’s physique. Gu Rong, being tiny, could pass through unimpeded.

Shen Hanxiao smiled: “Good idea. But I’ll go down first to receive the little ghost.”

After Shen Hanxiao went down, Gu Rong equipped the [Hanged Little Ghost] identity card, stood at the cave entrance, jumped in, swooshed, and fell vertically inside, very smoothly.