The Heroine Fell Deeply For Her [Quick Transmigration] 227p1

Chapter 227: What’s This About Marrying First and Loving Later? 12(1)

Half of the ten-person tour group had died within four days.

The remaining five exchanged glances, seeing the worry in each other’s eyes.

However, the peace didn’t last. As night fell, another person was found dead in the bamboo forest behind the ancestral hall.

The man, wearing a wrinkled black suit, lay face down on the ground, a pool of blood staining the earth beneath him.

With so much blood loss, he couldn’t possibly be alive.

“How did he die?” The tourists’ voices finally attracted the village chief, who was cleaning the main hall. He asked.

“The village chief is here.”

A villager replied, “Who knows how he died? I asked him to hand me something, and he tripped over a rock and fell.”

Another villager shook his head: “So useless, can’t even do such a simple task.”

“We said it before, city folks aren’t as meticulous as us villagers, all clumsy, and we still have to feed them.”

“Isn’t it easier now that he’s dead? We don’t have to feed him anymore.”

These remarks clearly didn’t treat the tourists as human beings. The tourists were indignant but didn’t dare to speak out. Outnumbered, resistance wouldn’t achieve the desired outcome.

Bravely defying the final boss was just a legend, no one could actually do it. That was the final boss, inherently superior to all players, possessing all the advantages.

Yan Wenruo couldn’t help but glance at the village chief, quickly averting her gaze before he noticed. Now, she even suspected whether the village chief was still alive.

Then she thought, even if she knew whether the village chief was alive or not, it wouldn’t help with the game.

The village chief spoke: “Respect the dead. Since he’s dead, take him away and bury him properly.”

These words made it seem like the village chief had a bit of humanity. If Yan Wenruo hadn’t known that there were no graves in Lingxiu Village, she would have believed that he was a virtuous old village chief.

As soon as he finished speaking, several strong young men stepped out from the crowd, grabbing the black suit’s shoulders and lifting him.

A subtle squelching sound followed, and more blood spurted out, a long, sharp bamboo shoot being pulled out of his eye socket, the heavy smell of blood filling the air.

The sound of someone gulping could be heard nearby.

His eye had been impaled by a young bamboo shoot, causing him to bleed to death, a gruesome sight.

Who would believe that a bamboo shoot could kill someone, and that he would fall onto it just so? In Lingxiu Village, it was possible.

Something round fell from the black suit’s face, rolling on the ground and getting covered in dirt.

A young man picked it up, putting it into his pocket without looking.

A dark bloodstain spread on the coarse cloth pocket, but the villagers didn’t say anything because this was his deserved reward.

After the body was taken away, the village chief said again, “It’s getting late, everyone go home, we’ll continue tomorrow.”

On the way back, Yan Wenruo said, “I used to have these thoughts when I saw sharp objects, like accidentally falling and having it pierce my eye…”

Now, having witnessed it firsthand, she would never have such thoughts again. Reality was far more terrifying than imagination.

Yan Wenruo wasn’t the only one thinking this, some even thought further.

One death in the morning, another in the afternoon, now only four people remained in the tourist camp.

This was only the fourth day, how could they survive until the end of the seventh day?

And she had heard Lei Ge mention that a total party kill ending existed in the game, and until the very last moment, no one knew if they would be the final winner.

It was late, and the crowd had dispersed before sunset, returning to their homes.

A thought flashed through Liang Chun’s mind—they were running out of sacrifices.

The village didn’t raise livestock, so human flesh was used as a substitute for every ritual. Fruits and other crops could be found on the mountain, but they were mostly for show.

Judging by the Mountain God’s style, she wasn’t a vegetarian.

And after being processed, under the dim light, ordinary people couldn’t tell what kind of meat it was. The tourists from the previous batch had been puzzled for a long time, wondering where the villagers, who didn’t raise animals, got the sacrifices from.

Liang Chun had once accidentally stumbled into the village chief’s underground cellar, where processed bodies were stored.

The naked bodies, like shaved white pigs, hung in the cellar, their skin condition suggesting they were likely tourists from outside.

The villagers of Lingxiu Village couldn’t possibly have such delicate and elastic skin, most of them were extremely thin, regardless of age or gender.

Only the isolated village idiot looked exceptionally normal.

After that experience, Liang Chun had vomited at the sight of meat for half a month, unable to forget the scene in the village chief’s cellar, a lifelong memory.

These incidents didn’t affect Tao Ning. Under the village chief’s orders, she had been sent back to her house by other villagers.

The wedding dress was also delivered, along with a red wooden box carved with a double happiness symbol.

The wooden box, shaped like a vanity case and tied with red silk, looked quite decent at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was hideous.

The villagers had not only carved a double happiness symbol on the wooden box but also a pair of mandarin ducks on the front.

Having harmed so many brides, the implication of “a pair of lovebirds” was quite ironic. Tao Ning thought, sitting and watching the villagers bustling around in her house.

Together, they unfolded the wedding dress and placed it on a large clothes hanger, giving Tao Ning’s small, broken house a touch of brilliance.

In this godforsaken place, one couldn’t expect to find many people with good taste, having Aunt Hua was already difficult enough.

In the eyes of the uncultured villagers, a bride wearing beautiful clothes, with red cheeks and her hair adorned with red beads and tassels, was the most gorgeous attire.

Respecting the Mountain God meant giving the Mountain God’s food the best packaging they could.

After putting down the things, they warned Tao Ning not to open the box before the appointed time, saying that it had been blessed before the statue and opening it early would ruin her good fortune.

If she opened it early and something happened, it would be her own fault.

Besides this, they also prepared a meal for Tao Ning.

“Life is getting better and better, no need to worry about food, clothing, shelter, or transportation,” Tao Ning said to the red-clad doll on her lap as they were about to leave.

The villagers who heard her words: “…”

Some people were clearly foolish, some were obviously stupid, and then there was Tao Ning, hard to categorize, seemingly foolish but not quite, with a remarkable talent for infuriating people.

It was getting dark, and the villagers didn’t stay long, quickly closing the door and leaving.

Tao Ning had agreed obediently, but as soon as the villagers left, she opened the wooden box tied with red silk.

Putting a blind box and a bored person together was the villagers’ biggest mistake. Someone with nothing to do would do anything.

The villagers had fallen into a misconception, thinking that Tao Ning, like the other brides, would be apprehensive about the wooden box that had been offered before the Mountain God’s statue.

The wooden box had three layers. The first layer contained red hair ornaments and other accessories.

The second layer was larger, containing a folded red veil, with double happiness symbols embroidered in gold thread at the four corners, so simple that one wondered if it was just a piece of red cloth randomly cut and embellished.

The third layer was the largest, containing a set of crudely made cosmetics, the bottles and jars showing obvious signs of use.

“It seems Lingxiu Village is really poor, even the cosmetics are inherited,” Tao Ning said, taking out the items and examining them.

The first thing she opened was a red powder that would turn one’s face into a monkey’s butt with a single application, likely serving as both blush and eyeshadow.

Tao Ning dipped her fingertip in it, applying it to the back of her hand, leaving a red mark.

She brought it to her nose and sniffed. Fortunately, it wasn’t made with blood, just coarse in texture, not even as fine as flour.

Looking at the red powder on her hand, Tao Ning had an idea, her gaze shifting to the black beady-eyed doll lying on the bed, finally landing on Xuan Miao, who was playing with the lid of a jar, her chin resting on her hand.

A palm-sized porcelain jar, shaped like a duck egg, contained dead-white powder, a lead-based powder used as makeup to adjust the bride’s skin tone.

Xuan Miao wasn’t interested in the lead powder, her slender fingers twirling the oval lid, her fingertips translucently white.

Sensing Tao Ning’s gaze, she knew without looking up that Tao Ning had another idea, resolutely refusing to meet her eyes.

However, Xuan Miao underestimated Tao Ning, who squatted down, holding the box and looking up: “My Lady Mountain God, how about I apply some blush to your doll? I think it would be very cute.”

Xuan Miao: “…” Very cute.

Without a word, Xuan Miao reached out and grabbed the doll from the bed, tucking it into her wide sleeve and disappearing.

Her actions clearly expressed her thoughts—no.

Tao Ning was a little disappointed. She genuinely thought it would be cute, although it would indeed detract from the Ghost King’s dignity, but no one else would know that the cute doll with blush was a Ghost King.

But since Xuan Miao didn’t want it, then forget it.

“Actually…” Tao Ning closed the rouge box, wanting to talk about the fake Mountain God, but felt her hand lighten.

With a flick of her finger, Xuan Miao took the rouge box from her hand and then summoned the wooden washbasin from the washstand, pouring both the lead powder and rouge into it.

As if competing, Xuan Miao stirred the mixture with her finger, making it completely irretrievable.

After doing this, Xuan Miao looked at Tao Ning with a “you’re so childish” expression, but her words were different: “Daring to say such things to a Ghost King who has lived for who knows how many years, where do you get your courage?”

Tao Ning, her hands empty, thought, Ghost King, your childishness is also quite impressive.

Her vision blurred, and the scene before her changed. In the blink of an eye, she was lying on the soft bed.

A figure in red was pressing down on her, preventing her from moving. Who would have thought that beneath the beautiful red clothes, Xuan Miao’s limbs were wrapped around Tao Ning like an octopus?

Xuan Miao lay directly on top of her, her cool, jade-like cheek pressed against Tao Ning’s neck: “I’m tired, don’t move.”

Tao Ning, being used as a large pillow and held tightly by Xuan Miao, really didn’t move, her arms embracing the person in her arms: “Why are you suddenly tired?”

Thinking about how Xuan Miao had been listless and clingy these past two days, could it be that this was her period of weakness?

Two tigers couldn’t live on the same mountain. Xuan Miao’s true body had been destroyed, and the fake Mountain God had taken her place.

One Mountain God strong, the other weak, further confirming the connection between them.

But from the way the fake Mountain God had been hiding, it could be seen that it only had some skill, but wasn’t that powerful.

If it were truly powerful, why would the fake Mountain God go through so much trouble to kill the villagers and then resurrect them as living corpses?