Chapter 40: You Are Ghosts

Huang Wei walked outside, carrying Huang Chengcheng, and as she walked, she also studied how to use these points. She cleverly discovered a Store in the system and opened it to find a dazzling array of goods. In the end, she realized one thing: she had asked for too little.

When Huang Wei read the novel, she only saw the male and female leads exchanging for abilities. At the start, the point costs for abilities were written out, but later, probably because the author found it troublesome, specific point values were omitted, replaced directly with sentences like, “She used a large number of points to exchange for a certain ability.” So Huang Wei understood points, but not thoroughly.

But now, seeing those skills on the panel that required tens of thousands of points to exchange for, she instantly felt she’d asked for far too few points.

Huang Wei swept her gaze over those skills. She was a little tempted, but didn’t act on it.

Because she knew very clearly, with the frequency she could earn points, exchanging for these skills would be useless. What she faced was the final instance, the Big Boss. If she could defeat Cheng Luyun with the meager points she earned now, then Cheng Luyun might as well not be in the business. Besides, she was a hopeless romantic; why would she exchange skills to go against Cheng Luyun?

Of course, she could exchange for some skills for self-preservation, but it wouldn’t be very useful.

In this instance dominated by Cheng Luyun, until the male and female leads arrived, no one would threaten her. As long as Cheng Luyun protected her, Huang Wei was an invincible existence.

Rather than thinking about how to use points for skills, it was better to think about how to win Cheng Luyun’s favor.

However, regarding the situation in the previous instance where she’d been kidnapped by players, Huang Wei felt she still needed some instant-teleportation tools. The Town Portal Scroll in the Store seemed quite suitable. The ever-thrifty Huang Wei exchanged for one, spending 5000 points, leaving 2200.

As she walked down the road, she exchanged some points for sunflower seeds for Huang Chengcheng to munch on. These seeds were the same kind Wang Ling had given the villagers to eat when she came before; Huang Chengcheng had eaten them quite happily then too. Huang Wei saw that, so naturally she bought some for Huang Chengcheng to enjoy. The price wasn’t expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either—a bag of sunflower seeds cost 100 points.

The Main God Space really was an utter rip-off.

Huang Wei walked on, carrying Huang Chengcheng. Before long, they reached the old locust tree. At this time, quite a few village women were gathered there chatting. Huang Wei went over, gave them a handful of sunflower seeds, and asked where the village chief’s house was.

The village women accepted the sunflower seeds. As soon as they put them in their mouths, their expressions shifted slightly, and they became noticeably warmer toward Huang Wei. “It’s easy! You just follow this path straight ahead. In no time, the most impressive-looking house—that’s the one.”

Huang Wei thanked them and set off with Huang Chengcheng.

This settlement of Huang Family Village was feudal, ignorant, and backward. The houses in the village looked like something from ten or twenty years ago. Although most families had built two- or three-story small buildings, the overall style looked very dated.

Huang Wei soon picked out that “most impressive-looking house” from the cluster of buildings.

It stood out jarringly among the old houses. Even the wall on the side with the main gate was much wider than others, and it was painted with whitewash—it clearly wasn’t ordinary. Arriving at the front gate, there was even a four-character stone inscription above the door reading “Garden Full of Spring Scenery.” If one were talking about impressiveness, the village chief’s house was indeed extraordinarily grand. Even their front door was a large, wooden gate, neatly painted with red lacquer.

Huang Wei stepped forward, raised her hand, and knocked the brass door knocker against the wooden door, producing a “thud thud” sound.

The door was soon opened from the inside, revealing a young man who bore some resemblance to the village chief. Huang Wei couldn’t tell if this was the chief’s son or grandson, but based on his age, she tentatively assumed it was his grandson.

The young lad greeted her: “Brother Wei.” Huang Wei responded, then heard the lad ask, “Did you come to see my grandpa about something?”

“I do have something.” As Huang Wei spoke, she moved to push the door open and enter, only to find the door was jammed by the young lad and wouldn’t budge an inch. Huang Wei couldn’t match a strong young man in strength in the first place, let alone the fact that the young lad inside was actually a ghost.

Huang Wei’s hand on the door stiffened slightly.

In her arms, Huang Chengcheng, who had been cracking seeds, couldn’t stand this grievance. She stopped eating, brushed off her hands, and jumped down from Huang Wei’s embrace.

Her arms were a bit high; Huang Chengcheng’s sudden movement startled Huang Wei, who instinctively tried to catch her. But before she could even move, Huang Chengcheng landed steadily on the ground, then lifted her little foot and kicked the door wide open with a single kick.

The main gate flew open. Huang Wei walked inside and saw the young lad lying on the ground.

Terrifying—such was the power of the Little Boss.

Huang Wei gasped inwardly, nodded at the young lad, and then walked past him, through the front hall, and into the courtyard.

The village chief was sunbathing in the courtyard, sitting in a reclining chair that gently swayed. His eyes were squinted, looking utterly comfortable. Seeing Huang Wei arrive, the chief paused. The recliner came to a creaking halt. The chief placed one foot on the ground, straightened his upper body, and used his eyes to signal Huang Wei, asking what she wanted.

Huang Wei offered a smile. “Of course I have business.”

The village chief looked at the young lad who had hurried in behind Huang Wei, and shook his hand dismissively.

Coughing as he moved, he got up from the recliner. “Let’s talk inside.” He hunched his back, holding the cane that had been resting at his side. Even his steps were a little unsteady. The village chief looked like an old man not long for this world, but Huang Wei had absolutely no intention of respecting the elderly or cherishing the young in his case.

Her gaze fell upon the chief’s cane, and she recalled the fire tongs Big Ya had held in the previous cycle. She wondered, if the village chief turned into a ghost, would this cane be his most effective weapon?

Once they entered the main hall, the village chief told Huang Wei to sit down.

The layout of houses in the same village was generally similar, but the chief’s house was larger. Besides the usual sideboard and square table, there was also room for a sofa on one side. At this moment, the village chief sat on a grandmaster chair placed beside the sofa, his hands resting on the armrests, his back straight, putting on the airs of an elder.

Huang Wei led Huang Chengcheng by the hand and sat down on the sofa. The coffee table before them was still set with melons and fruits. Not long after they sat down, the chief’s young lad even served tea. Though as he served the tea, he shot Huang Wei a look—quite a resentful one—clearly blaming Huang Wei for coming to their house uninvited in the first place.

Huang Wei ignored the young lad’s look and didn’t reach out to drink the tea. She understood now: nothing of that sort in this village was fit to eat. Aside from purely natural things, nothing here would taste good.

She was meticulous and observant. In truth, she could understand many things just by watching.

On the first day of the first cycle, when Huang Chengcheng ate, she didn’t show anything special, as if the food was completely normal. But after Huang Wei cooked and placed the dishes on the table, Huang Chengcheng clearly tasted the flavor. Later on, she even refused to eat Cheng Luyun’s cooking. However, during the second cycle, she’d eaten the sunflower seeds Wang Ling had given the village women under the old locust tree.

She had eaten them very happily then, and those village women had also cracked the seeds with relish.

Back in this current cycle, sunflower seeds were clearly set out on their main hall table, but there were no seed shells in front of the players, only one or two beside Auntie Wang. This was enough to show just how terrible Huang Family Village’s sunflower seeds were.

Combining all these observations proved one thing: these NPCs actually could taste flavor, but only when they were with a living person, or when a living person gave them the food.

This was very important. It gave Huang Wei bargaining chips.

The fact that Huang Wei didn’t drink the tea made the village chief’s eyes narrow slightly. His eyelids, nearly a slit now, revealed a tiny bit of black pupil in between. The look in his eyes was strange, as if peering at her through a gap in a wooden door. Huang Wei didn’t like this gaze. It was clearly a friendly, smiling face, yet it felt impossible to feel at ease looking at it.

After watching Huang Wei for a moment, the chief spoke. “Why doesn’t Brother Wei drink the tea?”

In the village, when you visited someone’s home and they brought you water, even if you weren’t thirsty, you had to take a couple of sips out of courtesy. If it was too hot, you at least took it in your hands to show you’d drink it later. But Huang Wei showed no such gesture. She just sat there, clearly not giving face.

The old village chief was someone who cared immensely about face. Huang Wei’s actions were no different from slapping him directly. If not for fear of Cheng Luyun behind her, he would have already picked up his cane and whacked Huang Wei.

Huang Wei glanced at the tea, then looked up at the village chief. True to her straightforward nature, she chose to speak bluntly. “I won’t drink it. This tea is too awful.”

The chief’s amiable mask nearly cracked. He furrowed his brow slightly, as if chastising an ignorant junior. “What kind of talk is that, Brother Wei? How can you say my family’s tea is bad without even taking a single sip?”

Huang Wei’s grip on Huang Chengcheng’s hand tightened a little. The Little Boss looked up at Huang Wei, who glanced down at Huang Chengcheng. In her heart, she prayed Huang Chengcheng wouldn’t let her down. She also prayed Huang Chengcheng truly had her in her heart, even if just as her “dad.” At the very least, she should protect this “dad” of hers.

Huang Wei steadied her breathing and looked directly at the village chief. Her tone was calm. “Tea brewed by a ghost can’t possibly taste good.”

“Ghost?” The village chief opened his eyes wide. His pair of pitch-black pupils stared unblinkingly at Huang Wei. They weren’t murky with age, but neither did they hold any spark of shrewdness. They were like two black stones, utterly lifeless.

He murmured, repeating Huang Wei’s words, his voice full of confusion. “What is Brother Wei saying?”

“I’m saying you are a ghost. Not just you—you and that young lad in your house, you’re all ghosts.”

Huang Wei picked up Huang Chengcheng, who was feigning fear. The child trembled and shrank into Huang Wei’s arms, her movements hiding her face from Huang Wei’s view. That was probably for the best. Huang Chengcheng’s acting was never very good. If she showed her face now, nine times out of ten, her cover would be blown. The best method was to hide her little face.

When Huang Wei exposed the chief’s identity, he still tried to play dumb, insisting it wasn’t so. But Huang Wei was too blunt. She laid out all the things wrong with the village chief. “The wrinkles on your face hide some age spots, but those age spots are very strange. If you look closely, you can see they aren’t age spots, but the livid marks of a corpse.”

The village chief’s movements stopped. His aged face just faced Huang Wei directly. After the chief opened his eyes wide, the livid marks on his face became even more distinct.

“Dead… dead… I am… I am a ghost?”

Huang Wei nodded. “Yes, you are a ghost.”