Chapter 10: The System's Response

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Xia Wulei was instantly fully awake. Damn, 3,000—that could plant so many fields! But she quickly realized this was no ordinary visitor. That little ghost’s energy index had only been 30 before; this one was a hundred times that. What kind of terrifying being was this? Could it be that this was the very creature they were meant to confront?

A strong sense of being watched lurked in the darkness. Xia Wulei closed her eyes, afraid to make any rash moves. She didn’t know how long had passed before the feeling finally vanished.

Xia Wulei exhaled softly, only to notice Yu Huaiyu beside her was restless. Her eyes were tightly shut, but her eyeballs spun quickly beneath her eyelids, sweat beaded on her forehead—she seemed to be having a nightmare.

“Huaiyu? What’s wrong?” Xia Wulei gently touched her, and Yu Huaiyu suddenly opened her eyes, sitting up with a sharp gasp.

“Damn it! Son of a—! I really didn’t expect this damn thing!”

Xia Wulei thought: …Do you realize your words are all censored?

After a while, Yu Huaiyu calmed down and told Xia Wulei about her dream.

“I dreamt I was pregnant. My belly was huge, and I had no idea how many months along. The feeling was so real—the organs squeezed and distorted, I couldn’t breathe, my body felt unbearably heavy. I had to stop and rest every few steps. Sitting or lying down didn’t help either…”

“Get to the point,” Xia Wulei interrupted impatiently. If this kept going, it’d turn into a pregnancy experience sharing session.

Yu Huaiyu swallowed nervously, fear flickering in her eyes. “Then, I felt the baby growing fingernails, scratching my belly nonstop.”

“It seemed like… it wanted to come out. I felt excruciating pain, as if my body was being torn apart. Just as it was about to emerge, you woke me up.”

Xia Wulei frowned. This was definitely related to that three-thousand-energy ghost. She didn’t know what else to call it for now.

But it had only entered the dream without doing anything else?

It was still early, and they heard Zhu Chen yawning as he left to fetch water next door. Xia Wulei lay back down and dozed off a little.

Yu Huaiyu dared not sleep again—the sensation of being gutted was too vivid. She didn’t want to endure that again anytime soon.

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When morning came, Xia Wulei noticed everyone looked unwell.

“What’s wrong? Did you all have nightmares last night too?” she asked casually, only to see everyone freeze.

Hong Qi said, “You all… dreamt it too?”

They sat down and compared notes. Indeed, except for Xia Wulei, everyone had dreams related to children.

Chu Wei, like Yu Huaiyu, dreamt of being pregnant but couldn’t stand her body deforming, so she slapped herself and pinched her thigh hard to wake up from the nightmare.

Xia Wulei and Yu Huaiyu thought: …You’re brutal.

Hong Qi dreamt of a child lurking outside the door, watching him creepily, which unsettled him but left him powerless.

Zhu Chen came back with a long face. “Sister Xia, I argued with the system like you said. Today’s task is counted as done, but the requirement changed. Tomorrow, I have to fetch water at the pond, and I have to go an hour earlier.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already prepared another solution for you,” Xia Wulei said leisurely, pulling out a drinking cup and setting it on the table, meeting everyone’s curious looks. “The system never said you must use a wooden bucket to fetch water, right?”

Everyone: …

Zhu Chen happily took the cup but then frowned again. “Originally, I was supposed to go at six, but now an hour earlier? Looks like the system doesn’t want me to get any decent sleep.”

Hong Qi looked worried. “Tomorrow is the fourth day, the latter half of the dungeon cycle. That’s when the monsters start to get stronger. If Zhu Chen goes that far alone, he might get into trouble.”

It was obvious this was the system’s punishment for Zhu Chen trying to slack off. A daily-updating task system was hard to fool.

Xia Wulei volunteered, “I’ll go with you tomorrow morning. After all, it was my idea.”

Zhu Chen felt a bit embarrassed. Xia Wulei’s help had been well-intentioned; he hadn’t expected the system to retaliate like this.

“No problem. It’s a good chance for me to get some fresh air,” Xia Wulei waved off and turned to Hong Qi and Yu Huaiyu.

“Looks like next time the system will set clearer task requirements for you all. But if you’re clever, you can still find loopholes.”

Hong Qi and Yu Huaiyu: …Who else can exploit system bugs as often as you?

After breakfast, Zhu Chen went back to catch up on sleep, while Hong Qi and Chu Wei headed out to talk to the village elder.

Yu Huaiyu was shelling corn for Huwang. Seeing Xia Wulei getting ready to leave, she hurriedly asked, “Where are you going?”

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Xia Wulei replied, “I’m going to gather some farming materials. I left some provisions in the kitchen for lunch. You can decide whether to cook it; I might not be back by noon.”

Yu Huaiyu casually agreed, not thinking much of it—just another system task for Xia Wulei.

Under the blazing sun, Xia Wulei climbed the hill behind the village.

According to Li Fugui, his great-grandfather’s body was wrapped in a straw mat, tossed into an existing pit, and then covered.

Li Fugui was young back then but had accompanied his parents a few times to pay respects. Later, they stopped coming out of convenience.

Following Li Fugui’s vague description, Xia Wulei found the grave under a sturdy tree.

A small mound with a wooden plaque in front, uncarved; behind it was a dark hole, the size of a person, quite deep. It seemed that after turning into a zombie, the great-grandfather came and went through this hole.

Yun Village wasn’t highly educated, and since Li’s great-grandfather was disliked, no one took the trouble to inscribe the tomb or hold a ceremony.

Looking up, Xia Wulei noticed the mound was backed by a poplar tree.

Poplars were also called “ghost clappers,” because their broad leaves rustled loudly in the wind, sounding like clapping hands—hence the name.

Poplars were associated with yin energy. Xia Wulei guessed that this naturally formed pit was due to an underground stream. The great-grandfather’s corpse had been nourished by damp yin energy for decades, turning into a zombie capable of mischief.

…

The little ghost that Xia Wulei had driven back to the lower realm before had returned.

Being beaten back by a rookie player on the first day made him the laughingstock of the little ghost community. Unwilling to accept defeat, he wagered all his resources and borrowed some soul energy from fellow ghosts to return to this novice dungeon.

This time, he was smarter—he got into the body of a mid-level zombie that could absorb energy. By the seventh day, he was determined to make that female player weep in front of him!

The little ghost quickly adapted to the zombie body, going out at night and returning early each day. At night, he would sneak into the village to bite chickens and ducks for blood. During the day, he absorbed yin energy in the grave, restraining himself from troubling the player, conserving strength for the seventh day.

That day, the little ghost lay comfortably in the grave, absorbing the surrounding yin energy.

Huh? Why does it feel a bit hot?