The black-robed skeleton’s words implied that he wanted to give this little cub a backdoor.

If he intended to protect this little cub, then there would be one less spot among the seven surviving players.

Although everyone would die, dying later was better than dying sooner.

The black-robed skeleton didn’t care about the players’ thoughts, and turned around: “Okay, now I’ll take you to eat.”

The players who had experienced the previous instance, hearing about eating, were all somewhat hesitant.

How did normal people become skeletons? Could it be that eating would cause skeletonization?

Su Qiao asked this question: “Will eating cause skeletonization?”

The black-robed skeleton, hearing this, laughed strangely again, snorting and saying: “The moment you set foot on the island, you were destined to become skeletons. On this island, except for plants, all other living things, including animals, will be skeletonized. It has nothing to do with whether you eat or not.”

He paused, then said: “However, you can only eat vegetarian food.”

The plants on this island were indeed overly lush and flourishing, like monsters that sucked the essence of living people.

Black-robed skeleton: “This is also the reason we invited you here. Sacrifice you to the Skeleton King, and maybe the curse of the skeletons can be lifted.”

“Maybe?”

Twin-ponytail Ling Xing, chewing gum, said: “So you’re not sure? Why kill us for something uncertain?”

Zhou Lu said: “Also, you said that skeletons are undead and immortal, but you also said that after we become skeletons, those who aren’t chosen for sacrifice will be sunk into the Black Swamp. Isn’t that a contradiction?”

The black-robed skeleton laughed, “hehe”: “Who said that sinking into the Black Swamp means death?”

Players: “…”

Black-robed skeleton: “Our definition of ‘death’ and your definition of ‘death’ are not the same concept. Death is still living, and living is worse than death. It is precisely because consciousness will not disappear that punishment will be more interesting, hehehehehe.”

Players: “…………”

Everyone was both terrified and angry, and also full of doubts.

For a time, no one spoke.

After a long while, Song Ran said, “What the hell is that Skeleton King?”

As soon as he said this, the black-robed skeleton turned his head and glared at him. Seeing the little cub in his arms, his expression softened slightly.

A trace of fear flashed in the black-robed skeleton’s eyes: “Don’t say things that are disrespectful to our Skeleton King.”

“If we really want to say whether Skeleton Kingdom has a king, then the Skeleton King should be considered the only king of our Skeleton Kingdom.”

Saying this, he sighed lightly: “The Skeleton King is located in the depths of the Black Swamp. No skeleton has seen Him, because those who have seen Him…”

Player: “Are all dead?”

Black-robed skeleton: “I don’t know.”

Players: “…”

Black-robed skeleton said: “We once sent a skeleton squad, risking the risk of turning to sand, to the depths of the Black Swamp, but none of them returned alive.”

Player: “Did any dead ones return?”

This time, the black-robed skeleton looked at the players as if they were idiots: “The living couldn’t return, how could the dead return?”

“I really want to see if your brains are missing something after you become skeletons.”

Players: “…”

–

Skeleton Island was very large, foggy everywhere, as if a dark filter had been added, eerie and terrifying.

The black-robed skeleton led the players to a skeleton street.

The skeleton street was bustling and lively, with bright lights and a crowd of skeletons.

All kinds of shops, and juggling performances, it was like accidentally entering a skeleton demon realm.

The players were all stunned by the scene before them.

“No wonder it’s called a kingdom, it’s really luxurious here,” a player couldn’t help but exclaim.

The other players all agreed.

The whole street was full of skeletons, some were skeletons in the normal sense, some were just terrifying.

But whether they were male skeletons or female skeletons, without exception, they were all dressed up.

And there were young skeletons, middle-aged skeletons, and old skeletons, but no little skeletons.

As far as the eye could see, the whole street was full of adult skeletons.

The players braced themselves and walked into this skeleton street.

The passing skeletons all turned their gazes over, finally locking onto the little dumpling being held in someone’s arms.

The skeletons: “??!”

A child?

Is this a child?

Where did such a small baby come from?

The gazes of the skeletons were all abnormally eager, like the townspeople of Mermaid Town, as soon as they saw Gu Lin, they were all amazed.

A dilapidated skeleton, seeing Gu Lin, jumped three feet high, its bones scattering all over the ground: “Wow, a child, it’s really a child, I actually saw a child!!!”

Players: “…”

Had they never seen a child before? Why were they so excited?

These skeletons really hadn’t seen a child in a very, very long time.

Gu Lin, such a fair and delicate little doll, was already likable in itself. Add to that the scarcity, and he instantly became the focus of the skeletons.

Rarity makes something precious, and Gu Lin was extra precious.

The players were all a little strange.

Especially the new players, only seeing Gu Lin as a child, couldn’t help but wonder.

A player raised this question: “Why are there no children here?”

Su Qiao, Song Ran, and the others also shifted their attention over.

This question had been bothering them since the last instance.

Not only were there no children among the NPCs, but there was also only one child player, Gu Lin.

The black-robed skeleton was silent for a moment, and said: “Probably because our creator god has never seen a child. In His concept, there is no such thing as a child.”

Players: “…”

Extending that, the main god of this game had no concept of children, so there were no children in the entire game.

But how did this explain Gu Lin’s existence?

For the time being, no one could give this answer.

But everyone was clear about one thing, that this human cub, less than two years old, was indeed special.

Gu Lin didn’t care about this at all. His attention was all on eating.

His eyes lit up, focusing on the food on the roadside.

But after looking around, Gu Lin disappointedly lowered his little head.

There was no meat on the island, his favorite food. There was only vegetarian food. He looked for a long time, but he didn’t like any of it.

These vegetarian foods, colorful, were mostly blue or green, or blood red, making people lose their appetite at a glance.

9527, seeing this, shook its head: [Little Host, let’s exchange for something delicious from the system store!]

Gu Lin nodded: [Mm-hmm!]

Gu Lin had 9527 exchange a fragrant big chicken leg for him, wrapped in a plastic bag, held in his little hand.

The toy kitten he had been holding was put into the bib pocket of his overalls.

After getting the chicken leg, Gu Lin’s little face showed a big smile. He was so happy that he shook his head. If he hadn’t been eating, he probably would have been humming a song.

The aroma of the big chicken leg attracted the attention of other players.

The players who had seen Gu Lin eat before were only silent.

What could they say!

Those who had just seen it, after being stunned, couldn’t help but gasp.

Sure enough, he was a child, only thinking about eating. He probably didn’t even know why he was here.

Gu Lin was the best at eating. He was held in Song Ran’s arms, and he didn’t get Song Ran’s clothes dirty at all.

After eating, Su Qiao helped take the trash and wiped his little hands with a wet wipe.

Just after wiping his little hands, Gu Lin exchanged another bottle of milk from the system store.

Finally, after eating and drinking well, he patted his little tummy.

Everyone: “…”

Why were they all in the same horror game, but they were all different!

–

There were many skeletons, and as they passed by the players, they all cast glances.

Some skeletons, their neck bones creaking, rolled their eyeballs to stare.

Some skeletons deliberately crack twisted off their own heads. Seeing the players’ faces turn pale with fright, they laughed xixi, and grew new heads.

“…” Even if the players pretended to be calm, they couldn’t help but tremble.

There was also a skeleton with green fungi growing on its head, and one that was dilapidated, with only half of its body remaining.

But none of this affected their survival.

Song Ran: “Their heads fall off and they don’t die. How can we lift the curse?”

Su Qiao: “That one with only half a body is also still alive.”

Wu Lan: “I just saw one wrapped like a mummy, with only its eyeballs showing.”

Wu Jin: “Think about those skull heads that build houses.”

“…” Sigh.

Everyone sighed.

At this time, the Double-Cap Big Shot, who had been quietly low-key, slowly opened his mouth, saying only four words: “Source of the curse.”

Others: “…”

The Big Shot was indeed a Big Shot, always able to hit the nail on the head and grasp the key point.

Indeed, since it was a curse, it must have been placed by someone. To lift it, they first had to find the source of the curse.

If these skeletons knew, that would be easy.

The other players were all thinking about the mission. Gu Lin, having eaten and drunk his fill, began to watch the excitement.

Passing by a juggling performance, a skeleton was performing fire-breathing, with many skeletons watching.

At this time, a water-spouting skeleton passed by, like a small mobile sprinkler truck, extinguishing the fire-breathing skeleton’s fire.

The fire-breathing skeleton stopped performing and went up to the sprinkler skeleton, spraying it.

The sprinkler skeleton was clearly not one to be trifled with, and immediately sprayed back.

The watching skeletons became excited, clapping their hands and cheering, enjoying the chaos.

Gu Lin’s eyes were shining brightly, craning his little neck to look over there.

Seeing the exciting part, he also clapped his little hands.

“…” Song Ran was so tired from holding him that he couldn’t even speak, let alone watch the excitement.

Gu Lin was held in Song Ran’s arms, still carrying his Ultraman backpack, carrying it very securely.

No matter where he went, he would carry his only belongings with him, very protective of his possessions.

You wouldn’t know it until you held him, but holding a twenty-plus-jin child was not easy.

Song Ran didn’t know how Lin Xingchi could hold a little chubby baby all the way in the previous instance. Look at these little arms and legs.

He grabbed Gu Lin’s little arm and weighed it in his hand. The flesh was solid, but also very soft.

Of course, it was also very tiring.

Song Ran also lifted the Ultraman backpack. He didn’t know what was in the backpack, but it wasn’t light either.

Song Ran knew that in this instance, he would probably have to take Lin Xingchi’s place and hold this little cub all the way.

He decided to discuss it with this little cub: “Little gui, isn’t it inconvenient to carry your backpack all the time? Aren’t you tired? How about you don’t carry it for now? When we get out of the game, shushu will buy you a new one.”

Gu Lin was not one to abandon the old for the new. His little backpack was bought for him by his gege. He didn’t want a new backpack bought by Song Ran-shushu.

Gu Lin said, “Cub can carry it, not tired.”

Song Ran: “…”

But he was tired.

Not only did he have to hold Gu Lin, but everything on Gu Lin was also hanging on him.

Song Ran said, “But it’s a little tiring for shushu to hold you like this.”

Gu Lin, hearing him say this, tilted his little head, thought for a moment, and then, his two soft little arms wrapped around Song Ran’s neck, saying quite considerately: “Song Ran-shushu, you can let go of your hands. Then I’ll be holding you, and you won’t have to hold me, so you won’t be tired, ba?”

Song Ran: “…”

Su Qiao: “…”

Double-Cap Big Shot: “…”

Wu Jin and Wu Lan: “…”

At first glance, it actually made sense, it was impossible to refute.

But weren’t you still hanging on my neck!

Song Ran: “…………”

The others were all laughing to death, even the Double-Cap Big Shot couldn’t help but laugh.

Song Ran’s arms were numb. He had to admire Lin Xingchi.

Song Ran was persistent: “Listen to shushu, throw away the backpack, and I’ll buy you two later!”

Gu Lin was young, but he also knew what was good and bad. When dagege held him, he didn’t want to throw away his little backpack like Song Ran-shushu did.

The little cub also had a temper. He hmph’ed, saying in a childish voice: “If you keep doing this, I won’t let you hold me later!”

Song Ran: “…”

Good heavens, so holding you is my honor?!

Others: “…”

Pfft…

Hahahaha, so funny.

Song Ran deliberately scared him: “Later, you’ll be snatched away by a skeleton.”

Gu Lin had always been a polite and well-behaved little cub, but he couldn’t stand Song Ran being so gou.^[1]T/N: Gou (狗) literally means “dog,” but in this context, it’s slang for someone being annoying, mean, or acting like a jerk.

Gu Lin crossed his little arms, retorting: “Snatch you away.”

Song Ran analyzed for him: “I’m so big, a skeleton can’t snatch me. You’re so small, a skeleton can easily snatch you.”

Gu Lin: “Then bite you into small pieces and snatch you away.”

Song Ran: “…”

The two’s bickering was childishly cute.

The others watched, greatly amused.

Wu Jin and Wu Lan were going through an instance with Gu Lin for the first time, and were frequently surprised by this little cub. They could only say that the little baby was indeed worthy of his reputation.

[The cub is already one in a million in terms of being well-behaved and cute, but this Song Ran is too gou]

[So many aunties are lining up to hold him, he really has no idea!]

[Hahaha, the cub’s logic is online, firmly holding the upper hand]

[He even knows to bite into small pieces, I’m laughing to death. The cub is really good at arguing]

[He can’t even win an argument against a child]

The others had enough fun watching.

Su Qiao, suppressing a laugh, said, “Give Linlin to me, I’ll hold him for a while.”

Wu Jin also said, “How about I hold him for a while? I have enough strength.”

Gu Lin was a little cub with backbone, struggling to get down from Song Ran’s arms.

Song Ran touched his little head: “Okay, okay, okay, Song Ran-shushu was wrong. Hold, hold, hold, I’ll hold you!”

Su Qiao held back a laugh, took the Ultraman backpack, and helped carry it.

Next, Song Ran didn’t dare to tease the child anymore, afraid that he really wouldn’t let him hold him.

–

After wandering around for a long time, they still hadn’t finished walking through the skeleton street.

“Have you noticed, the skeletons here are very good at dressing up,” Wu Lan said, “Or rather, they are very focused on dressing up.”

She pointed to the shops on both sides of the street: “And the beauty and clothing industries are very developed, just like the human world.”

Who would have thought that a skeleton kingdom would even have beauty and clothing industries.

Su Qiao said, “Could it be because these skeletons themselves are not good-looking, so they focus on these external aspects?”

Their conversation was heard by the black-robed skeleton.

The black-robed skeleton turned his head, laughing strangely, “hehe”: “Our Skeleton Kingdom values beauty above all else, and promotes ultimate beauty. Only beauty can conquer us.”

“Beauty is in the bones, not the skin. Remove the flesh and skin, and it becomes clearer who is beautiful and who is ugly, doesn’t it?”

Players: “…”

These skeletons looked exactly the same at first glance.

Skeletons valued beauty, how did this sound like a fantasy?

“Beauty is in the bones, not the skin, but when I look around, these skeletons all look the same.”

“You’re not wrong, I think they all look the same too.”

“They’re even harder to tell apart than Ultramen.”

Hearing Ultraman, Gu Lin moved his little ears, then turned his head to look at the Q-version Ultraman on his little backpack.

Why couldn’t they tell the Ultramen apart? They looked different.

The black-robed skeleton pointed to the skeleton on the high platform not far away, and said, “See that skeleton?”

The players all followed the direction of his finger.

Their vision was filled with a dressed-up skeleton.

It was even wearing ancient clothing, with wide robes and large sleeves. It also had thick, long false eyelashes on its eye sockets, and long fake hair that reached its waist, styled in an elaborate bun.

It has to be said, it was actually not ugly.

It also had its pinky finger crooked, lying in a rocking chair.

Putting aside other things, this skeleton was pretty, and the best-looking of all the skeletons they had encountered along the way.

This skeleton was on a high platform, and below the platform was crowded with screaming skeletons, like a large-scale fan meeting in reality.

Players: “…”

Magical, truly magical!

The black-robed skeleton said, “That is the most beautiful Skeleton Maiden in our place, a beauty that makes thousands of skeletons bow down.”

Players: “…………”

Skeleton Maiden?

Was this male or female? It was impossible to tell the gender.

At this time, everyone came to the bottom of the high platform, looking at the Skeleton Maiden lazily lying in the rocking chair on the stage.

It was just lying quietly on the stage, doing nothing, and these skeletons below were screaming like crazy.

The Skeleton Maiden’s eyes moved, and from afar, she saw this group of players.

Especially that round, white little dumpling.

The Skeleton Maiden got up from the rocking chair and smiled as she walked towards the players.

When it stood up, it was apparent that it was very tall, at least 1.85 meters, slender and thin, with an ethereal air.

Judging from the height, it should be a man.

Next, the players were shocked.

When the Skeleton Maiden walked, flowers bloomed all over her body, one small flower after another, one withering, one blooming, very shocking.

The players were dumbfounded, instantly understanding why this skeleton could have so many followers.

As the Skeleton Maiden walked over, the followers under the stage also quieted down, their gazes following the Skeleton Maiden.

The Skeleton Maiden crooked her pinky finger, gracefully walking, and soon arrived in front of the players.

The Skeleton Maiden didn’t look at the others, looking at Gu Lin and smiling, her voice actually a jiazi yin: “Why is there a little cutie?”^[2]T/N: Jiazi yin (夹子音) refers to a deliberately high-pitched, sweet, and sometimes nasal voice, often used by women (or men) to sound cute or嗲 (dia, coquettish).

Players: “…”

This jiazi yin made everyone shiver.

But no matter how jia, everyone could hear that this was indeed a male skeleton!

A male skeleton called Skeleton Maiden…

The skeleton followers also looked at Gu Lin, chattering and echoing: “Little cutie, little cutie!”

Gu Lin looked at the small flowers blooming on the Skeleton Maiden’s body, his eyes wide with surprise. He pointed with his little finger, his little voice: “Little fowers~”

The Skeleton Maiden plucked a flower from her body, and the small flower remained in bloom, not withering.

She placed the small flower on this little cub’s head.

Gu Lin looked up at the small flower, but couldn’t see it.

He raised his little hand, gently touching the small flower on top of his head, not daring to use force. After touching it once, he put his hand back, not taking it off.

The little flower was placed on Gu Lin’s head, very cute, with no head. ^[3]T/N: This is a pun. The phrase “没头没脑” (méi tóu méi nǎo) means “without head or brain,” meaning senseless, without rhyme or reason. However, here it’s used … Continue reading

The other players were all charmed.

Gu Lin was a polite little cub. Since someone gave him a small flower, he didn’t forget to thank them: “Thank you…”

He tilted his little head, and the little flower also swayed.

Gu Lin looked at it, pausing, seemingly thinking about a suitable name for it.

The Skeleton Maiden covered her mouth and chuckled, winking at Gu Lin: “Little cutie, if you want to call me gege, call me gege. If you want to call me jiejie, call me jiejie. I don’t mind, whatever you want.”

Gu Lin looked at it for a while, finally finding a suitable name for it, saying in a tender voice: “Auntie.”

Skeleton Maiden: “…………”

Skeleton followers: “…………”

Others: “…………”

Hahahahahahahaha, holy crap!!

Amazing, this little cub never disappoints!!