The skeleton house was also very large. The benches and tables all had skeleton elements, and the tables were also decorated with butterfly and rose patterns.

Zhou Lu was from the Deep Sea Guild. There were four members of the Deep Sea Guild in this group of players. He stood together with the other three players.

Of those three players, one looked to be around forty years old, a middle-aged male player, with a very serious face, giving off a picky and arrogant feeling.

The other two were both female players, both around twenty years old, very beautiful and elegant. Their appearances were almost identical, even their height and figure were no different, but their clothing styles were vastly different, allowing people to distinguish them at a glance.

One was dressed conservatively, with a gentle and kind smile on her face, looking very approachable.

The other had colorful twin ponytails, wearing a tank top and tight shorts, accentuating her curvaceous figure. She had heavy makeup on her face, was chewing gum, and her expression was quite disdainful.

Zhou Lu’s foot had completely healed under the effect of the healing spray. He told them about how he had almost had his foot bitten off by the skeleton, and how Gu Lin had saved him.

The three players, hearing this, were all somewhat silent.

Then, the girl with the twin ponytails chuckled and blew a bubble, saying, “Then you’re pretty useless.”

Zhou Lu’s face turned red, and he retorted, “Useless is better than your ranking!”

Twin Ponytails: “You’re older than me.”

Zhou Lu: “…”

Damn it.

This girl with the twin ponytails was named Ling Xing, and the other girl was her twin sister, named Ling Yue.

Ling Yue had a much better temper, smiling gently, and even comforting Zhou Lu: “It’s good that you’re okay. A-Xing, don’t say so much. Uncle Quan is still here.”

Uncle Quan was that forty-year-old middle-aged male player.

Lu Quanming snorted coldly: “The guild sent you here to bicker and argue? You might as well go back and argue. You’re embarrassing yourselves here.”

Ling Xing rolled her eyes, continued chewing gum, and didn’t speak.

The four Deep Sea Guild members’ gazes were all locked on the human cub not far away.

That’s right, their guild had sent out four capable members just to snatch this child!

They had expected that they wouldn’t be able to snatch him in the game lobby. With this kind of little doll, if you didn’t build a relationship in advance, wanting to abduct him was wishful thinking.

So, they had come with men, women, old and young, all ready to launch an offensive against this little cub, to make him willingly join their guild.

On the other side, Gu Lin was sitting on a small skeleton stool, holding a different snack, having switched to Oreo cookies.

Su Qiao and Song Ran were sitting next to him, watching him eat. The Double-Cap Big Shot was leaning lazily against a nearby table.

And next to the three adults and one child, there were two other people – Wu Jin and Wu Lan, who had followed them into the game.

By coincidence, they, like the four members of the Deep Sea Guild, were also here to snatch the child.

In the game lobby, they hadn’t managed to snatch him, so they realized that they had to build a relationship with this little cub first.

Wu Jin and Wu Lan looked at the four members of the Deep Sea Guild. They all knew each other, and their expressions were somewhat grave.

They had thought that the Deep Sea Guild wasn’t interested in this child, but they were waiting here.

The four members of the Deep Sea Guild, seeing that the Starry Sky Guild had only sent these two people, raised their eyebrows provocatively at Wu Jin and Wu Lan.

Ling Xing even gave them the middle finger.

The two guilds had always been at odds, and Wu Jin and Wu Lan’s expressions darkened.

Song Ran noticed the gazes of those four people and couldn’t help but tsk: “Could those four people be human traffickers? Why are they constantly staring at this little gui?”

Su Qiao glanced over, then subtly blocked Gu Lin behind her, shielding him from those people’s gazes.

Those four people, unable to see Gu Lin, indeed withdrew their gazes.

The Double-Cap Big Shot just raised an eyebrow.

Wu Jin briefly explained to them: “They are from the Deep Sea Guild, and they probably want this little cub to join their guild.”

Song Ran was stunned for a moment, looked at those four people, then looked at Wu Jin and Wu Lan, and said, “So you’re saying you don’t want him to join their guild, right? Look at other people’s sincerity, and then look at yours.”

Wu Jin and Wu Lan: “…”

–

Putting aside whether or not to snatch the child for now, the most important thing now was to complete the mission.

The game mission was to break the curse of the undead skeletons or survive for seven days.

At first glance, this seemed like a team effort. As long as one player broke the curse of the skeletons, everyone could clear the instance.

Immediately, the room was filled with the sounds of enthusiastic greetings, everyone trying to get close to each other.

Since it was a team battle, these twenty people were a whole, and naturally, they had to be loving and friendly.

With Gu Lin as the link, this temporary small group gathered together, but each of them was unmoved.

Wu Jin said, “I don’t think it will be that simple.”

Wu Lan: “I think so too.”

Song Ran said: “The instance difficulty rating will only be displayed after clearing the instance. It’s like opening a blind box, you have no idea how difficult it is.”

At this moment, the player named Zhou Lu walked over, holding something in his hand.

The gazes of the several people all fell on him.

Zhou Lu, bearing their gazes, came closer, also a little nervous.

He looked at Gu Lin, handed over the thing in his hand: “Thank you for saving me earlier. This is an item I got from the previous instance. If you don’t mind, please accept it as a toy.”

Saying this, he quickly added: “My name is Zhou Lu, ‘Lu’ as in ‘passerby.’ In this instance, if you need anything, I will do my best to help, and if I can clear the instance, I will give you 50% of my points.” ^[1]T/N: Zhou Lu introduces himself using the characters for “road” (路 – lù) and “person” (人 – rén), which together make up the word “passerby” … Continue reading

Others: “…”

Why did this sound vaguely familiar?

Everyone was a little surprised.

This little cub, not only had he been alone with adults, but he had also managed to save someone?

Gu Lin, seeing Zhou Lu hand over a toy kitten, about the size of his little hand, took it with his little hand and sweetly thanked him: “Thank you, Passerby-gege.”

Zhou Lu: “…”

Others: “…”

Pfft!

I’m telling you, why did you have to introduce yourself like that? There are so many words to describe “Lu,” why did you have to choose “passerby”?

After Zhou Lu left, Su Qiao sat next to Gu Lin, wiped the cookie crumbs from the corners of his mouth, and said, “Dumpling, how did you save him?”

The others also focused their attention, even the Double-Cap Big Shot looked over.

Gu Lin babbled, telling them about Zhou Lu being bitten on the foot by the skull, and him patting the skull’s head.

In the end, Gu Lin concluded: “Cub didn’t save him.”

Everyone: “…”

Gu Lin was young and didn’t understand. If he hadn’t patted the skull’s head at the critical moment, Zhou Lu’s foot would have been ruined.

No wonder he sent over an item and promised to give points, a foot in exchange.

Song Ran: “Why did you sit on the skeleton’s arm and come over? Where were you teleported to?”

Gu Lin: “Cub’s legs are too short, I can’t walk fast.”

Thinking about where he had been teleported, he said, “Teleported to the woods, the ground was full of skulls.”

Just as Gu Lin finished speaking, a voice came from the doorway: “You came from the Skeleton Forest.”

Hearing the voice, the players in the room all looked towards the doorway.

They saw a tall skeleton in a black robe walking in from the door. The robe was long, reaching his ankles, and he also had a hood. This skeleton had his hood pulled up, and a cross hanging around his neck.

The skeleton also wore a ring on his finger bone. He folded his hands together and was turning the ring.

Seeing everyone’s gazes shift over, this skeleton nodded slightly, continuing to look at Gu Lin and saying: “The Skeleton Forest is also the Skeleton Mound. There are indeed many wild skeletons there, who like to hide under the fallen leaves.”

“We usually use them to build houses.”

Everyone: “…”

Wild skeletons?

Having just arrived, they had already learned a new term.

The players looked at the house they were currently in. Could it be that this was built with wild skeletons?

The black-robed skeleton came over. The players immediately went on high alert, all their attention focused on this skeleton.

This skeleton, except for the exposed face and hands, had all other places covered by clothes.

A player pointed at the skulls on the wall and said, “Are these skeletons all alive? Why can they talk?”

The black-robed skeleton’s gaze fell on this little dumpling, Gu Lin, looking for a long while, before shifting away.

Hearing this player’s question, the black-robed skeleton tilted his head and laughed, “hehe.” After laughing, he said, “We skeletons are undead and immortal, of course we’re alive. Can’t you see? Otherwise, why would we invite you here!”

Players: “…”

Yes, they also wanted to know. They were just here to do a mission. Who knew what the instance setting was, or what they were being invited here to do.

But no matter what, their mission came first.

The black-robed skeleton, like a schizophrenic, became courteous and polite again, bowing to the players and saying, “Is it not delightful to have friends come from afar? Dear honored guests, welcome to Skeleton Island. Next, I will…” ^[2]T/N: This is a quote from Confucius’ Analects.

Someone interrupted it: “Wasn’t this Skeleton Kingdom? How did it become Skeleton Island?”

The black-robed skeleton tilted its head back and laughed again, a strange and creepy laugh. After laughing enough, it said: “Skeleton Kingdom, also known as Skeleton Island. We ourselves are used to calling it Skeleton Island. Skeleton Kingdom is the elegant name we use for external promotion. Otherwise, if people hear ‘island,’ they might mistakenly think we are primitive islanders, that is, savages.”

Players: “…………”

Oh…

Skeleton Island was better.

They had discovered that this skeleton was trying to act cultured, even quoting a sentence from the Analects, but doing it awkwardly.

Its outfit was somewhat similar to a priest in a church, especially the cross around its neck.

The players who had experienced the previous instance, however, sighed in their hearts, unexpectedly they had even been upgraded from guests to honored guests.

The black-robed skeleton continued what it hadn’t finished saying: “Welcome to Skeleton Island. Next, I will…”

At this time, another player interrupted it: “Since you claim to be Skeleton Kingdom, is there a king here?”

With so many players, there were all kinds of people, it was easy for them to talk over each other.

Besides, half of these players were experienced players, many of them very experienced, and naturally wouldn’t miss the opportunity to gather information from the NPC, perhaps they could find some clues.

This black-robed skeleton, with a strange temperament, was interrupted many times, but it didn’t get angry.

It laughed “hehe” again for a while, its skeleton frame shaking. “There is no designated king. Each of us is our own king.”

Players: “…”

After saying this, the black-robed skeleton said again, “Next, I will lead all of you honored guests on a tour of our Skeleton Island.”

After it finished speaking, a childish voice sounded: “Can we eat first, Skull-bobo? Tummy is hungry.”

Skeleton: “…………”

Players: “…………”

Good heavens, that’s the rumored little player, right!

He couldn’t forget to eat wherever he went!

And, Skull-bobo?!

The experienced players had all heard of Gu Lin, after all, he was too famous. But the other ten new players didn’t know.

Hearing this childish voice, everyone was stunned for a moment, then followed the sound to look at Gu Lin. Their expressions were immediately varied and colorful.

The black-robed skeleton was obviously also stunned by this “Skull-bobo” call. It looked at this human cub, and this time it didn’t laugh strangely.

The other players all directly interrupted it to ask questions, but only this little cub spoke after it had finished.

The black-robed skeleton cracked its mouth, opening it so wide that the bones of its jaw fell down like wood shavings. A strange light flashed in its eyes: “What a polite little cub.”

Then it said, “We can eat while I lead you on the tour. Everyone, please follow me.”

After saying that, the black-robed skeleton turned around and left first.

The new players were unsure, but some experienced players had already followed.

Seeing this, the others immediately followed.

Lin Xingchi wasn’t there, and the ground wasn’t smooth, so Gu Lin couldn’t ride the scooter.

Song Ran glanced at the Double-Cap Big Shot with his arms crossed. The Double-Cap Big Shot raised an eyebrow slightly, not moving.

After a half-second standoff, Song Ran bent down, resignedly picking up this little chubby baby.

Song Ran said, “Little gui, why is everyone else gege and jiejie, and I’m shushu?”

Gu Lin gave a sufficient reason: “Because you’re older than my gege.”

Song Ran: “?”

It was that simple?

Those younger than or around the same age as his brother were called gege, and those older than his brother were called shushu?

Song Ran: “How old is your gege?”

Gu Lin tilted his little head and thought for a moment, saying in a childish voice: “I don’t know.”

Song Ran: “…”

Could he really be a fake brother?

–

The sky was dim and gloomy, like an inverted abyss, with an indescribable fear.

The players followed behind the black-robed skeleton, coming outside.

Everything here was novel, like coming to a different world.

Both sides of the road were full of skeleton flowers.

The ground was not paved with stones, but with broken skull fragments. Stepping on them had a very strange texture, making people feel uneasy.

They were always afraid that something bad would happen if they stepped on them.

The skeletons here were undead and immortal, so were these fragments dead or alive?

The black-robed skeleton walked at the very front, slowly saying: “God created the world in six days, and rested on the 7th day. The sixth day of our Skeleton Island is also the day of rest.”

Its voice was slow and deliberate, not very loud, but strangely, the players walking at the very back could hear it clearly, as if they were speaking face-to-face.

The players guessed that this skeleton was probably the greeter of their island.

The black-robed skeleton also said: “In our skeleton culture, 13 is an unlucky number, and we also avoid it. It is synonymous with betrayal and treachery.”

The players, listening to what it was saying, were completely confused.

And, skeleton culture?

They even had their own culture?

But, wasn’t this interpretation of the numbers 7 and 13 derived from humans!

However, these skeletons were also human before they became skeletons, so thinking about it that way, it made sense.

Hearing this skeleton mention numbers, Song Ran and Su Qiao exchanged a glance.

When they had let Gu Lin choose the instance, they had just convinced themselves not to be superstitious about numbers, and they ended up in a ghostly place that was superstitious about numbers.

This black-robed skeleton went on and on about the numbers 7 and 13, even bringing up “The Last Supper.”

Finally, a player couldn’t help but say, “Do you believe in Christianity?”

The black-robed skeleton: “We believe in the Skeleton King.”

Players: “…”

What was the Skeleton King?

The players all stopped talking. They felt uneasy, always feeling that this black-robed skeleton wasn’t saying these things for no reason, but what was its intention?

Soon, they would find out.

The black-robed skeleton stopped, turned around, faced the players, and smiled strangely: “There are twenty of you. We will only keep seven, and we will kill the other thirteen.”

Players: “…………”

Holy! Shit! Damn!

The players almost cursed.

They had just been loving and friendly with each other in the skeleton house, thinking that this was definitely teamwork, and were preparing to seek clues together.

But now they were told that thirteen of them would die, and only seven would be left.

As soon as this was said, the atmosphere among the players instantly changed. Their eyes were filled with vigilance and suspicion, and even the distance between them widened slightly.

If thirteen people were destined to die, it was very likely that the players would kill each other.

After all, being killed by skeletons was unknown, but if they killed other players, they had a high chance of surviving.

Everyone had their own sinister thoughts, but they quickly suppressed them. No one dared to act rashly, otherwise, it was still unknown who would kill and who would be killed.

The black-robed skeleton’s smile grew wider, and its voice became sharper: “Today is the first day. On the sixth day, you will be completely skeletonized. We will only keep those who are completely skeletonized. Those who are not completely skeletonized will be sunk into the Black Swamp.”

“On the seventh day, we will select seven people to sacrifice to the Skeleton King.”

“Those who are not selected will also be sunk into the Black Swamp.”

“…” Dead silence.

The players were speechless.

No one dared to casually interrupt the black-robed skeleton’s words.

Another player weakly asked, “What, what does skeletonization mean?”

The black-robed skeleton laughed, “hehe”: “Naturally, it means the literal meaning, turning from a human into a skeleton, becoming a skeleton like us.”

“…” The players’ hearts sank.

So, if they didn’t complete the mission, not only those thirteen people, but the other seven would also die.

Complete skeletonization would turn them into NPCs, and becoming an NPC meant they could no longer clear the instance.

They had originally thought that the mission time was seven days, and they could slowly look for clues, but according to this black-robed skeleton, they would be skeletonizing every day.

At this time, the little cub being held, his stomach was already growling, so hungry he had no strength to speak.

Gu Lin said, “Skull-bobo, cub is so hungry he has no strength to speak. Let’s go eat first! We can eat and talk at the same time.”

Black-robed Skeleton: “…”

Others: “…”

They were about to be skeletonized and sunk into some black swamp, and he was still thinking about eating?

Seeing this little cub, the black-robed skeleton’s smile receded slightly, and he said, “God created the world in six days. We only need to sacrifice six. You, little cub, do not need to be sacrificed.”

Others: “…………”

Here it comes, here it comes, the NPC’s large-scale double standard scene!

This little cub was really popular wherever he went!