Gu Lin hadn’t slept for long before he was awakened by a shrill, terrified scream from outside.

The little cub gululu climbed up. His snow-white little face was full of confusion, his long, thick eyelashes blinking.

In the skeleton house, besides Gu Lin, there was only the Double-Cap Big Shot.

He was lying on his side on another bed, his eyes closed, seeming completely unaffected, not woken up.

Even when lying down to rest, the Double-Cap Big Shot still stubbornly wore both hats.

Su Qiao and Song Ran were nowhere to be seen, not in the room.

The shrill screams outside continued. Gu Lin was well-behaved and obedient, and didn’t go to wake up Hat-gege.

He sat blankly on the bed for a moment, using both his hands and feet to crawl on the bed, crawling to the edge of the bed, and slid himself off the bed.

After sliding off the bed, Gu Lin’s feet weren’t wearing shoes. He found his shoes and put them on his little feet.

Gu Lin could put on his shoes, but his little hands were too small, and his movements were inevitably clumsy.

After putting on his shoes, Gu Lin kicked his little feet in place. He didn’t forget to put on his Ultraman backpack, and then deng deng deng ran out.

Seeing Gu Lin wake up, the skull heads on the wall that had been pretending to be dead became active again, all shouting for the fat baby to pat their heads.

Gu Lin had already run out.

Behind him, the Double-Cap Big Shot slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the small figure of the cub running out.

The shoes on his feet seemed to be…on the wrong feet?

–

Several skeleton houses were connected. All the players heard the screams and came outside.

Su Qiao and Song Ran were also there, standing with the other players, looking in terror at a male player rolling around on the ground.

Gu Lin, carrying his Ultraman backpack, walked to between Su Qiao and Song Ran, standing obediently. One little hand held onto Su Qiao, and the other little hand held onto Song Ran.

Suddenly feeling a soft touch on their hands, Su Qiao and Song Ran were both startled. Then they looked down and saw the little dumpling with a tuft of daimao sticking up, the little flower still there, swaying.

Gu Lin raised his little head, his eyes curved in a smile: “Jiejie, Song Ran-shushu.”

Su Qiao: “…”

Song Ran: “…”

How did he wake up and run out on his own?

Su Qiao ruffled the cub’s head, smoothing down his daimao.

Song Ran picked up this little ghost, and while picking him up, he also lifted him up high.

The Double-Cap Big Shot, after Gu Lin came out, also left the room, standing at the back of the crowd, still in that lazy posture.

Zhou Lu stood next to Song Ran. Seeing the little player, he couldn’t help but shift his gaze over to look at him.

Gu Lin sensed his gaze and even sweetly called out to him: “Passerby-gege.”

Zhou Lu: “…” Alright.

Su Qiao and Song Ran couldn’t help but laugh.

Next to Zhou Lu were the other three members of the Deep Sea Guild. Seeing Gu Lin, they couldn’t help but look over.

But soon, everyone’s attention was drawn back to the male player screaming in agony on the ground.

The male player was rolling around on the ground, his screams heart-rending.

On his skull, the skin and flesh were literally breaking open, hair and scalp slowly being lifted, a green plant breaking through the skin from inside his skull.

The male player raised his hand, wanting to scratch his scalp, but he had nowhere to grab. The pain made him scream constantly.

And his raised hand, in the blink of an eye, turned from flesh to white bone.

The speed of skeletonization was very fast, starting from his two hands, spreading upwards at a speed visible to the naked eye. Soon, his entire arm had turned into stark white bones.

Then his neck and cheeks. In less than two minutes, the male player had transformed from a living person into a skeleton.

After turning into a skeleton, the male player stopped screaming.

He raised his hand in mid-air, moving his finger bones, making a clicking sound of bones colliding.

“Th-this, what’s going on?”

A player trembled, frightened by the scene in front of him.

All the players’ faces were unsightly.

The black-robed skeleton had said that on the sixth day they would be completely skeletonized, but before that, they were already skeletonizing. Judging from this player who had already completely turned into a skeleton, the speed of skeletonization probably varied from person to person.

They didn’t have that much time, and could become skeletonized at any time.

The completely skeletonized male player, after becoming a skeleton, lost his sense of pain, no longer feeling pain.

The green plant on his head was still growing. Perhaps feeling that it was growing too slowly, the male player directly pulled it out a few centimeters.

At this time, this new skeleton was like a large mobile potted plant with a lush green meadow on its head.

Male player: “Hehe, it’s kind of nice to become a skeleton.”

Players: “…”

You’re happy.

The green meadow on your head is also nice.

Gu Lin looked at the green plant on the male player’s head, raised his little hand, and touched the little flower on his own head, his childish voice surprised: “He has grass growing on his head!”

The male player, who couldn’t see his own head: “…”

Oh, was there grass growing on his head?

Then wasn’t that just green?

Male player: “…………”

Before turning into a skeleton, the male player didn’t dare to touch his head. After turning into a skeleton, although he pulled the green plant up a few centimeters, his skeleton finger bones couldn’t feel what that thing was.

The male player instantly looked bereaved, found an empty space nearby, sat down, and began to pull the grass on his head.

As he pulled, the grass grew wildly, impossible to pull out completely.

The players, watching him pull the grass on his head, felt it was pitiful, but also a bit comical.

Not long after the male player turned into a skeleton, the black-robed skeleton came over again.

After coming over, he first looked at the cub being held.

Gu Lin obediently called out: “Skull-bobo.”

The black-robed skeleton, hearing this “Skull-bobo,” his eyes softened a few degrees.

Then he looked at the newly made skeleton and laughed strangely, “hehe”: “This skeleton’s quality is not bad. The faster the skeletonization, the higher the chance of being selected for sacrifice. Everyone, hurry up.”

Players: “…”

Was sacrifice something to be eager for?

Everyone’s faces were gloomy, and they had nothing to say.

The black-robed skeleton said, “Okay, now I’ll take you to the Black Swamp.”

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, confused.

Zhou Lu said, “Go now? Didn’t you say we’d go on the second day?”

The black-robed skeleton smiled at everyone: “Isn’t it already the second day?”

Players: “?!”

There was a time display on the player’s livestream panel. Everyone looked at the time. From entering the instance until now, it had clearly only been seven hours…

Wait a minute, seven hours?

Thinking of Skeleton Island’s reverence for the number 7, could it be…

Zhou Lu: “How many hours are there in a day for you?”

Black-robed skeleton: “Of course it’s seven hours.”

Players: “…”

Where did the “of course” come from? Normally, there are 24 hours in a day, okay!

As if seeing the doubts of the crowd, Black Robe chuckled, “7 is our lucky number. We believe that 7 will bring us luck and blessings. Therefore, our day is seven hours.”

“We don’t have a sun, we can’t see day and night, so of course it’s impossible to follow the law of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west to determine the time of day.”

The players’ hearts sank.

If a day was only seven hours, their seven-day mission time was actually only 49 hours, which was only about two days.

Everyone had originally thought they had plenty of time. Although they were nervous, subconsciously they weren’t that nervous, feeling that there was still plenty of time.

But now, it was already equivalent to a day having passed, and there were less than 42 hours left.

“Oh my god, in less than 42 hours, we’re going to be goners.”

“Be confident, on the sixth day we’ll be completely skeletonized. At most, there are 35 hours left.”

“…” Time was suddenly pressing.

A cloud of gloom hung over everyone’s hearts, their faces serious, and they couldn’t smile anymore.

–

The players followed behind the black-robed skeleton, heading towards the Black Swamp.

Gu Lin was being carried by Song Ran, and Su Qiao walked beside the two of them.

After walking for a while, Su Qiao suddenly noticed something was wrong.

She looked down at Gu Lin’s little feet. The shoes on both feet were on the wrong feet.

Su Qiao was stunned for a moment, then laughed: “Dumpling, who put your shoes on for you?”

Gu Lin was eating a lollipop. He lifted his little feet and said, “Cub put them on himself.”

Song Ran also looked down and saw that Gu Lin’s shoes were indeed on properly, if not for the fact that they were on the wrong feet.

It seemed that such a small baby, when putting on shoes by themselves, liked to put them on the wrong feet, very uniformly.

Su Qiao smiled and shook her head, switching his shoes back.

Soon they arrived at the Black Swamp.

The Black Swamp was boundless, like a black sea, but the swamp was thicker.

On the shore of the Black Swamp, there were vibrant, dripping red roses.

These roses were unusually enchanting, as if they had been satiated with the blood of living people, so red that they seemed to drip blood.

The Black Swamp was boundless, and the rose field was endless.

These roses formed the “coastline” of the Black Swamp, blooming in the land of death, yet blooming passionately, blooming dazzlingly and blindingly.

The players were all amazed by the rose coastline in front of them.

A player couldn’t help but ask: “What will happen if you sink into the Black Swamp?”

The black-robed skeleton stood with his hands behind his back: “You will be sanded.”

Player: “…What does sanding mean?”

This term had been mentioned more than once.

The black-robed skeleton looked at the boundless Black Swamp. After a good while, he sighed and said, “A skeleton’s lifespan is very long, but it will be sanded, like quicksand, falling apart. The sanded skeletons won’t die, but they can no longer be pieced together into a complete skeleton. Consciousness will remain in these sanded skeleton fragments, consciousness fragmented.”

“But they are still alive.”

“Once a skeleton is sanded, it will no longer remember who it is, and it can’t find its way home.”

“…” The black-robed skeleton paused for a moment, a trace of sadness in his tone: “Sanding is the most feared fate of every skeleton, and it is also our inescapable fate.”

“Is this way of survival very terrifying?”

Saying this, the black-robed skeleton turned his head, and then the sadness was swept away, his bewildered skull face looking bewildered.

Everyone looked bewildered, following his line of sight, and then they were all stunned.

Then, there were successive sounds of gasping.

They saw that the human cub, who had somehow gotten down from Song Ran’s arms at some point. Now he was behind everyone, lying on the sand made of sanded skeletons.

The little cub flattened his little body, his little legs straightened, and from time to time he would flap them, playing by himself leisurely.

Everyone: “!”

Gu Lin was lying there playing with sand, and he was also talking to the skeletons that had turned into gravel.

Sand: “Aiya, aiya, who are you? Why are you so small?”

Gu Lin grabbed sand with his little hand to build a house, while crisply answering: “My name is Gu Lin, who are you?”

Sand: “I don’t know, why am I here?”

Gu Lin wondered: “Eh, you are sand, how can you still talk?”

“Alas, I can’t remember, I can’t remember anything.”

“We are just sand, we can’t talk, don’t talk anymore, shush.”

Hearing “shush,” Gu Lin also raised his short little finger: “Shush.”

The players watching this scene were dumbfounded.

The black-robed skeleton, looking at the little baby who didn’t care about cleanliness and was sprawled on the ground, said, “These gravels are the bones of skeletons after they have been sanded. After a long period of time, they turn into these gravels.”

He paused, then said something even more terrifying, “But they still have consciousness, they are not dead yet.”

“…” The black-robed skeleton squatted down, grabbing a handful of gravel from the ground. But his hand was only bones, without flesh and blood, and the gaps between his fingers were too large. The gravel he grabbed quickly slipped through his fingers.

“Don’t worry, when you sink into the Black Swamp, you can personally experience sanding.”

Players: “…”

Thank you so much.

–

The Black Swamp was like a thick, black sea, with roses as the dividing line, and fine gravel on the shore.

The Double-Cap Big Shot looked at the thick, black sky. At first glance, the sky and the Black Swamp were the same, both a thick black.

After a moment, the Double-Cap Big Shot withdrew his gaze, looking at the little cub who was playing carefree.

Song Ran tisked: “This kid is hopeless.”

Gu Lin had good hearing. Hearing Song Ran say this, he immediately turned his head and said, “Cub can still be saved with a wash.”

Song Ran immediately relented: “Okay, okay, okay, you can still be saved with a wash.”

Gu Lin turned back around and continued to play with the sand, chatting with the sands.

“Although my memory isn’t very good, I can’t remember who I am, but I’m on Skeleton Island every day, so I remember some things after sanding.”

“Skeletons can be broken into billions of pieces and still be reassembled. If it’s a missing arm, leg, or head, the skeleton will regenerate.”

“Regeneration consumes more energy than reassembly, so generally, it’s better to choose reassembly.”

Gu Lin said, “Then why don’t you reassemble?”

“Alas, there’s a limit to skeleton reassembly and regeneration, which is the sanding threshold. Once this threshold is crossed, they will be sanded and can no longer be reassembled. Sanding is crushing the skeleton into pieces that can’t be crushed any further.”

Gu Lin’s voice revealed a little bit of sadness, also feeling sorry for them: “Then you can only be sand.”

“Little baby, if you stay on the island, you will also soon be skeletonized, turning into a little skeleton. Animals will all be skeletonized.

“Oh, except for plants, there is one living thing here that will not be skeletonized.”

Gu Lin’s childish voice: “What is it?”

“Butterflies.”

“Butterflies won’t be skeletonized. You can go to Skeleton Valley to see the butterflies. There are many butterflies, very beautiful. This is the only thing I remember after being skeletonized.”

“Little baby, after you see the butterflies, can you come back and tell me if the butterflies are still as beautiful?”

Gu Lin: “Mm-hmm, cub will go see the butterflies! And come back and tell you!”

Gu Lin liked to hum songs when he was in a good mood. At this moment, chatting with the sand, he couldn’t help but hum.

“Little baby, what are you humming?”

Gu Lin tilted his head: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, how come you haven’t heard it either?”

“It sounds really good.”

“Yes, it sounds really good. We are fortunate to hear it.”

“We’ve heard it before, but we forgot. Sing a few more lines for us!”

Gu Lin liked it when people praised his singing, so he immediately sang for the sand.

9527 and the aunties in the livestream chat, hearing the sands’ blind praise, instantly felt ashamed.

Perhaps they had been brainwashed so much, they also felt that the little cub sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” quite well, although the tune was so off that it was completely unrecognizable as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

–

The other players didn’t have Gu Lin’s leisure. They were all discussing the mission.

There wasn’t much time left, and they had to find a way to lift the curse as soon as possible.

Lu Quanming was the most experienced, having been through the most instances. At this time, many players were implicitly looking to him for leadership.

At this time, the remaining nineteen players were divided into two small groups, one group led by Lu Quanming.

The other was a small group of six linked by Gu Lin: the Double-Cap Big Shot, Song Ran, Su Qiao, Wu Jin, and Wu Lan, five adults and one child.

Lu Quanming enjoyed this feeling of being supported, with an arrogant and condescending look on his face.

The players around him were actively discussing.

Ling Xing chewed gum, her face disdainful and contemptuous: “Since they are undead, then let them all die.”

Zhou Lu chuckled: “Easy to say, there are so many skeletons, they have formed a kingdom, how do you kill them?”

Ling Xing rolled her eyes: “Idiot.”

Zhou Lu: “Then you’re really a genius.”

Ling Xing: “…”

Ling Yue smiled, her temperament gentle: “Actually, as long as one skeleton dies, it counts as lifting the curse of the skeletons. There’s no need to find all the skeletons to verify, and no need to kill all the skeletons. As long as one dies, then the curse of the undead skeletons is broken.”

At these words, the other players looked at her.

Lu Quanming, hearing Ling Yue’s words, nodded approvingly: “A-Yue is right. You two, besides bickering, you should also learn something.”

Ling Xing and Zhou Lu’s faces stiffened.

Ling Xing curled her lips, her expression like a little girl, but her tone full of viciousness: “So, we just need to grab a skeleton and figure out how to kill it.”

–

At the same time, on Gu Lin’s side, five adults formed a circle, watching the little cub in the middle, focused on playing with sand.

While the others were actively doing the mission, they were here babysitting.

After playing for a while, Gu Lin’s stomach started to growl.

He patted the sand off his little hands, not wanting to play anymore, wanting to chi fanfan.

Gu Lin got up from the ground. His overalls were covered in sand, dirty, but his skin was fair and tender, both dirty and clean.

Song Ran shook his head, saying he couldn’t handle it anymore.

Wu Lan smiled and said, “Little baby, jiejie will help you buy a one-click cleaning agent from the system store, and buy a new set of clothes to change into.”

Su Qiao: “There are such things in the system store?”

Wu Lan smiled and nodded.

The next second, the dirty little baby was refreshed, his overalls replaced with a simple cotton T-shirt and knee-length cotton-linen shorts.

After changing clothes, the little cub was cute, soft, and fluffy, a pure and clean porcelain doll.

At the same time as Gu Lin changed his clothes, he also had a bottle of milk in his arms, which he was drinking.

Gu Lin was a polite little cub, sweetly thanking: “Thank you, jiejie.”

Wu Lan: “You’re welcome.”

The little cutie was too adorable, his every move cute. Doing nothing, several people were charmed to death.

–

After returning from the Black Swamp, Song Ran held Gu Lin, letting him pat the heads of the skulls on the wall.

Gu Lin patted with his little hand. After patting for a while, he patted his own little head.

What was so interesting about patting heads? He really couldn’t understand these skull heads.

The fat baby’s patted skull heads were all delighted, their teeth grinning.

Song Ran carried Gu Lin back, saying, “Fat baby patted your heads, hurry up and say, what’s the background of the skeleton elder?”

This time, the skull heads didn’t pretend to be dead, and answered well: “The skeleton elder is the skeleton who carried the fat baby over yesterday.”

“Yesterday” made everyone a little dazed.

For them, it was actually just a few hours ago, but for Skeleton Island, a day had already passed.

Another skull head added: “The skeleton elder should be the oldest skeleton among the skeletons that haven’t been sanded, if I remember correctly.”

“You remember correctly. The skeleton elder is indeed the oldest of all the skeletons. However, it won’t be long before the skeleton elder is also sanded.”

Song Ran: “When will he be sanded?”

The skull heads thought for a moment and said, “Probably in the next two days.”

“…” Fortunately, they asked early, or he would have been sanded.

The group didn’t delay, immediately picking up the baby and going to the Skeleton Forest to find the skeleton elder.

Gu Lin pointed with his little finger, leading the way for everyone. Soon they arrived at the Skeleton Forest.

Everyone couldn’t help but praise the little cub. He was so small, yet he remembered the way.

The trees in the Skeleton Forest were much taller and denser than other places, the ground covered with thick fallen leaves, and under the fallen leaves were densely packed skulls.

As far as the eye could see, there was no sign of the skeleton elder.

Gu Lin cupped his little hands, making a small trumpet at his mouth, and shouted crisply: “Elder-yeye!”

As soon as Gu Lin spoke, a rustling sound came from under a tree, and the skeleton elder emerged from under the fallen leaves.

At this time, the skeleton elder was leaning against a tree, covered in fallen leaves, leaning against the tree and closing his eyes, motionless.

Hearing Gu Lin’s call, he shook off the fallen leaves on his body and opened his eyes.

Seeing the skeleton elder, the group stepped on the fallen leaves and walked over.

Thinking of the skulls under the fallen leaves, except for the Double-Cap Big Shot who was as usual, the others were uneasy.

Soon they arrived in front of the skeleton elder. The group looked at this dispirited old skeleton lying halfway under the tree, and for a moment didn’t know how to speak.

This picture looked strangely sad, a kind of lonely sadness.

Living in this way, was it really living?

Gu Lin struggled to get down from Song Ran’s arms.

Song Ran put him down.

Gu Lin looked at the skeleton elder and said, “Elder-yeye, why are you sitting here?”

The skeleton elder looked at Gu Lin for a while, recognizing this little baby, and smiled: “I’m waiting to be sanded.”

Hearing it say this, everyone felt a little emotional.

Wu Jin said: “Skeleton Elder, we want to ask you, do you know the source of the skeleton curse?”

The skeleton elder, who had just been looking like he was about to die, instantly stood up from the ground. His bones were quite strong.

“…” Everyone was surprised to see it.

The skeleton elder’s eyes flashed with a strange light: “You really came to the right person.”

Hearing it say this, everyone’s spirits lifted.

It seemed that this skeleton elder really knew the source of the curse.

Immediately, everyone looked at the skeleton elder with burning eyes.

Skeleton Elder: “Don’t be in a hurry, let me think about it. I’m about to be sanded, and my memory isn’t very good.”

The group smiled: “We’re not in a hurry, you take your time.”

Skeleton Elder nodded: “Okay, I’ll think slowly.”

Everyone: “…”

Don’t be too slow.

As a result, this thought of the skeleton elder’s lasted for half an hour.

The smiles on everyone’s faces were stiff, and they couldn’t laugh anymore.

The skeleton elder seemed to be very distressed as well, holding his head: “Ah? Ah?”

He held his head and paced back and forth, “Ah”-ing for half a day, still “Ah”-ing and walking.

Everyone: “…”

Or… maybe forget it.