Chapter 21: Second Time Around

Huang Wei awoke with a start, her upper body snapping straight as she sat up on the ground. Her sudden movement startled the players before her. In her mind, the System’s voice echoed again.

“Huang Wei, confirmed entering Instance — ‘Whisper.’ Identity: NPC. Role: Guide.”

The first thing Huang Wei noticed about this new batch of players was that they were different from the previous ones—they’d been swapped out, and even their reactions were polar opposites. Compared to the last group, these players were clearly warier and more aggressive. The instant Huang Wei sat up, a small knife was pressed against her neck.

The one holding the knife was a young girl, seemingly only eleven or twelve. Her expression was cold, and her gaze toward Huang Wei was unfriendly. Clearly, Huang Wei’s abrupt movement had triggered the girl’s vigilance.

Under the pressure, even though Huang Wei’s mind was a tangled mess, she had to act in line with her assigned role: “Who are you people?!”

The young girl was stopped by a man in glasses from their group. Then someone who appeared to be the captain stepped toward Huang Wei. It was a woman with flamboyant long hair, thin brows, and red lips. She was beautiful and dressed fashionably, but right now Huang Wei’s heart was utterly calm—no trace of romantic flights of fancy.

The captain spoke: “Little miss, don’t be afraid. We’re a group of travelers who accidentally got lost in the mountains. Could you guide us to a nearby village to rest a while? Look at our team—we’ve even got a child. We really can’t keep wandering these mountains.” This new squad was clearly more professional than the last; there were fewer of them—seven this time—but the captain’s words were far more persuasive. She made perfect sense and didn’t seem suspicious.

Huang Wei nodded. “I’ll only lead you to the village. Whatever comes after isn’t my business.” With that, she stood up from the ground and dutifully performed her role as Guide. She glanced down at her pants and shoes—they’d changed back to the outfit she’d worn when she first transmigrated.

As she walked, she felt her pants pocket. Inside, she found a key. She didn’t pull it out to look, but from its feel and shape, she was certain it was the key Cheng Luyun had given her just before she fell unconscious. She’d even told her to come back early…

Questions slowly piled up in Huang Wei’s mind. It looked like the Instance had reset. A new batch of players, and she had to do her job as an NPC Guide. But… how had the Instance reset? Her first thought had been that Cheng Luyun killed her, and upon dying, she’d re-entered the Instance—that seemed normal enough.

But on second thought, Huang Wei felt that wasn’t it. She’d passed out when Cheng Luyun spoke to her, but Cheng Luyun hadn’t shown any intent or action to attack her. It was possible Cheng Luyun moved too quickly, or her attack wasn’t physical, but earlier, Cheng Luyun hadn’t intended to kill her—of that Huang Wei was certain.

Then… had all the players died, triggering the reset?

That was also a very logical condition. After all, Instances existed because of the players trying to clear them. In games, once all players were wiped out, they’d be ejected, the boss would respawn in its initial state, and it would await the next batch. In the original novel, the male and female leads usually cleared things on the first try. As a reader, she didn’t know the exact mechanics of Instance resets.

Huang Wei recalled Sister Cui turning into that spider-woman and scampering along the wall. She’d quickly disappeared from sight, moving in a hurry as if on a mission… Was she, at that moment, on her way to kill the players?

The dots connected into a line, unravelling the questions in Huang Wei’s mind.

If Huang Wei’s theory was right, everything made sense now. But there was one thing she still found odd: Why had Cheng Luyun wanted to kill all the players from the last round? Cheng Luyun was the Boss of the “Whisper” Instance, and she held immense intimidation over the villagers. Sister Cui lived right next door to Cheng Luyun—without Cheng Luyun’s approval, she couldn’t have brazenly gone out and slaughtered every last player.

Then there was only one answer: Cheng Luyun had sent Sister Cui to kill them.

Amidst her thoughts, Huang Wei hit upon a possibility: Was it… because of me? There had been a few players still bouncing around until they found her and revealed the keyword “back mountain”—only then had Sister Cui wiped them out.

As she pondered, Huang Wei had already led the new batch of players to Huang Family Village at the foot of the mountain. From a distance, she could see the two old locust trees at the village entrance. She also saw Cheng Luyun and Huang Chengcheng standing there. Before Huang Wei could say anything, Cheng Luyun came over with Huang Chengcheng. Cheng Luyun’s expression was gentle, and Huang Chengcheng rushed up to hug Huang Wei’s leg.

It was exactly like their first meeting. Cheng Luyun said, “Brother Wei, you’re finally back!”

Huang Chengcheng said, “Daddy, you’re back at last! We’ve been waiting so hard for you!”

They acted as if they’d completely forgotten everything from the previous Instance, without a single memory—just like the first time they’d seen Huang Wei return home.

Huang Wei’s expression was neutral, but inside, waves were churning. Countless thoughts surged through her, finally coalescing into one sentence: You’ve got to be kidding me.

Though their performance was flawless, Huang Chengcheng’s gestures were far too familiar—much more intimate than the first time. Compared to her, Cheng Luyun showed no cracks; she was exactly the same as when she’d first met Huang Wei.

Was this what a Big Boss was like? Truly, emotions hidden beneath an unreadable face.

Huang Wei suspected they did remember the previous Instance. But after leaving the players and walking further with Cheng Luyun, Huang Wei grew more and more confused. She held Huang Chengcheng’s hand as the little girl bounced along, looking even livelier than before. And every villager who greeted her along the way showed no signs of recognition—each one performed flawlessly, truly identical to their first behavior.

Such professionalism? Seasoned actors, every one?

For a split second, Huang Wei was speechless, even doubting her own judgment. But when she felt the key in her pants pocket, she was still certain Cheng Luyun remembered. The way she’d given her that key—it was as if she’d known the Instance was about to reset. And if she knew the Instance was resetting, how could she have no memories of the previous one?

This time, since they hadn’t wandered around the mountains like last time, Huang Wei arrived home much earlier. When she entered the main hall, she glanced at the date and time—sure enough, it was June 13th again, just past 1 p.m. After arriving home, Cheng Luyun told Huang Wei to go wash up first. With a smile, she said, “Brother Wei must be tired from the trek back. Wash up and take a nap. Even if you oversleep, it’s fine—I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”

At the word “eat,” Huang Wei’s whole being jolted. The sacred right to cook, which she’d only just wrested into her own hands, had reverted to Cheng Luyun because the Instance had reset. At that moment, Huang Wei felt much more awake. She shook her head. “I won’t sleep. I’ll just go wash up. Later, I want to have a little chat with Chengcheng. It’s been so long—I’ve missed her.”

On the words “so long,” Huang Wei put emphasis. If Cheng Luyun understood her, she’d know just how badly Huang Wei wanted to give her a couple of solid punches. But Huang Wei didn’t dare actually do it—she could only get her satisfaction in her heart.

That wicked female ghost—she was definitely trying to poison her with her cooking.

After experiencing the Instance reset, Huang Wei had gotten bolder. She now knew that for now, Cheng Luyun didn’t want to kill her and was only warning her not to cross the line. Otherwise, Cheng Luyun would have dealt with her first, not the players.

Cheng Luyun loved to tease people, and she clearly wasn’t done playing with Huang Wei. In Huang Wei’s eyes, Cheng Luyun was like a cat—still extending a paw, claws sheathed, just gently batting at her with soft paw pads. As long as Cheng Luyun hadn’t lost interest, Huang Wei was safe for now.

She could, to a limited extent, stretch her limbs and her temper, as long as she didn’t touch Cheng Luyun’s boundaries.

Sure enough, though Huang Wei’s words this time weren’t particularly polite, Cheng Luyun didn’t get angry. Instead, she told Huang Chengcheng not to fool around with “Daddy,” because “Daddy” was tired and they should be considerate. Huang Chengcheng—ever the obedient little girl—naturally nodded in response.

Huang Wei went upstairs to wash up first. There probably wouldn’t be any farm labor this afternoon; during the first day of the last round, Cheng Luyun hadn’t made her work either. Plus, right before she’d blacked out, she’d just come back from the field. If she worked now, she’d literally keel over! Huang Wei entered the second-floor washroom. On the sink counter, there were three sets of toiletries: two large, one small. Of the two adult sets, one was clearly brand new.

Nice attention to detail—the props had been restored too.

Huang Wei turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face. Droplets slipped down her bangs. She wiped her hands and used her fingers to push her bangs up on her forehead, looking at her whole face in the mirror. Huang Wei’s expression was blank, making her appear somewhat dazed and wooden. Even with a pretty face, her lack of expression dulled its beauty.

She had a hunch this Instance run would be very different from the last. Those players looked like serious stuff—the type who prefer violent clears. In the real world, game players had all sorts of styles: those who patiently advanced the plot to savor the clearing experience, and those who just wanted to brute-force their way through. That eleven-or-twelve-year-old girl alone made Huang Wei think they weren’t the kind to follow the script.

Huang Wei wiped her face, hung the towel on the rack, then went into the master bedroom and found her own clothes from the wardrobe. She chose an outfit that looked appropriately rustic and country-bumpkin-ish, then went back downstairs. When she came down, Cheng Luyun and Huang Chengcheng were sitting face-to-face at the square table in the main hall. Hearing her footsteps, both turned their heads to look at her.

Facing the Big Boss and the Little Boss together still put a lot of pressure on Huang Wei. She took a deep breath, steadied her nerves, then spoke: “I’ll take Chengcheng out for a walk.”