Don't provoke mentally ill people in the infinite flow genre!

The four followed the maid who led the way to the shed set up in the backyard, where they saw Steward Jia there, inspecting the coffin.

He straightened up, still with that calm and dignified expression, looking at them with unwavering darkness in his eyes.

He had met Yan Zhao once before, and according to Yan Zhao, there was nothing unusual about it.

He was the one who hired those bandits to kill them on behalf of Master Zhu, but now that they have returned safely, he is not surprised at all.

It seemed as if everything was expected, or as if there had been a backup plan all along.

Not only that, he was, after all, an old butler who had served Master Zhu for decades. When the four young masters died suddenly overnight, he showed no signs of grief and was simply going through the motions of official business.

"Before dusk, all four coffins must be painted. Remember to apply clear varnish to the outside and cinnabar base coat followed by black varnish to the inside. The paint should be even. Paint the character '寿' (longevity) on the coffin lid—do you understand?"

The four of them exchanged glances secretly, but outwardly they still obediently agreed.

"I understand, I understand, don't worry."

Butler Jia didn't say anything more. He gave them a deep look, then turned and left.

[System prompt: Use the [Vengeful Spirit Tracking] skill? Skill duration: 5 minutes. Can be used twice globally.]

【Yes. 】

Yan Zhao watched him leave with a cold gaze. A moment later, wisps of purple mist, visible only to her, spread out and wrapped around his back like kite strings.

She let out a long breath, as if confirming some guess, and handed the fox tail bone hidden in her sleeve back to Yi Zanglan.

"That's right, the fox spirit is indeed possessing Steward Jia."

Yi Zanglan nodded: "Master Zhu seems to still be alive, but now the Zhu family is probably under the control of a fox spirit."

"And something's not right about this coffin."

"How so?"

Yan Zhao circled the coffin, examining it closely. His expression was grave. "This coffin is for two people. It's clearly designed to accommodate the four of us."

Wu Ying carefully recalled what Butler Jia had said: "Didn't he just say to paint the character 'longevity' on the coffin lid? I don't know much about this. The four young masters died so young, and now they've painted 'longevity' on their coffins? Is that reasonable?"

"Of course it's unreasonable," Yan Zhao said. "At least it should be the death of an elderly person over sixty years old that uses the character '寿' (longevity); for normal deaths, or for coffins prepared in advance, the character '福' (fortune) is sometimes used; for those who die young and violently, at most the character '奠' (memorial) is painted on, or nothing is painted at all, otherwise it is easy to affect the feng shui of the house."

So here's the question: whose lifespan is this so-called "longevity"?

"Come and see," Tang Yunxi said, standing inside the coffin and carefully examining the inner walls. "Birth dates and times are engraved on both sides!"

One side reveals the young masters' birth dates, as they correspond to the reversed birth dates on their wedding dresses.

On the other hand, it's probably their birth dates and times. To be precise, it's not the real them, but the girls they're playing in this game.

Wu Ying also squatted down to take a look. She gritted her teeth, and it was easy to see that she was very angry.

"Damn, the thought of us wearing wedding dresses and lying here next to corpses tomorrow makes me feel nauseous."

"The birth dates of these four girls are all purely Yin, I suspect it's some kind of ritual," Yan Zhao said in a deep voice. "The outside is varnished, the inside is black varnished, and it's sealed with cinnabar. The coffin lid is painted with the character for longevity. It looks like evil magic no matter how you look at it."

Tang Yunxi understood her meaning and suddenly realized, "Right, right! Huang Xian just mentioned that the fox spirit wasn't just after revenge; she actually had other motives!"

"What's the purpose?"

"They say that once the ghost marriage is completed, we will be bound to the Zhu family's energy lineage, allowing it to perfect the formation, absorb the feng shui and spiritual energy of this ancient house, and break through to become a true Earth Immortal!"

"...Indeed, the four yin and four yang formation configuration makes perfect sense." Yan Zhao sighed. "But I understand that these are just the basics. The actual rules may not be entirely consistent with reality, and it's difficult to find a way to break it on my own."

"It's alright, let's paint first," Yi Zanglan said. "We might get some answers tonight."

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

Since they hadn't slept all night, the four of them adopted a strategy of taking turns resting: two people would paint while the other two would catch up on sleep in the shed, and then they would switch shifts after a certain period of time.

No one slacked off, and everyone worked extremely efficiently, finally finishing painting the four coffins before sunset.

Within the game, as the game progresses, the days will become shorter and shorter, and night will soon fall.

However, before that, Yi Zanglan had already made plans for tonight.

"Since Huang Xian suggested we not gather together tonight, let's split up—I'll go find Master Zhu, Xiao Ying will go to the central courtyard to dig up that thing, Zhao Zhao will go get four talismans, and Yun Xi will be responsible for attracting the attention of the Zhu family's patrol team and making the scene as chaotic as possible."

Wu Ying asked, "Is Zhao Zhao's tracking skill only available once? Is it meant to locate that thing in the Central Courtyard, or to find the talisman?"

"Looking for things from the Intermediate People's Court."

"But at least the Intermediate Court has a certain scope, but what about the talismans? The Yellow Immortal didn't finish his last hint."

Yi Zanglan calmly shook his head: "Although I haven't finished speaking, I've said it all."

"so……"

"Huang Xian said, 'Perhaps someone has already found it, but they didn't have time to use it.' -- What did they not have time to use? Perhaps they didn't have time to give it to the young masters before they were unfortunately possessed by a fox spirit."

Yan Zhao's expression was knowing: "The talisman is most likely with Steward Jia?"

"I'm not 100% sure either, I can only say I'll give it a try, or take a gamble."

"Okay, I understand."

Yi Zanglan beckoned, and the other three all came over, hugging each other tightly on the shoulders before separating again.

She whispered, "No matter what, let's do our best tonight."

……

While the four players inside the game were nervously preparing for tonight, in the live stream of the other teams, some members were worried, while others were praying.

[Qin Shaoyu]: This is too cunning! Games with folklore backgrounds all seem particularly sinister to me! I remember my Diamond rank promotion tournament wasn't this mentally taxing!

[Shen Yubai]: Is it possible that you were just incredibly lucky, or maybe you have a bad memory and forgot all the suffering you endured after clearing the level?

[Qin Shaoyu]: Perhaps you're trying to compliment my positive attitude?

[Shen Yubai]: Probably.

[Jiang Ling]: There's so much to do tonight. We need to retrieve talismans, dig for things, and interrogate Master Zhu for clues...

[Jiang Yao]: Because tonight is crucial, if we don't make thorough preparations, the ghost marriage ceremony tomorrow night could easily cost us our lives.

[Wang Mingyue]: That's too blunt. It scared me a little. The team leader and the others should be able to handle it, right?

[Su Su]: Yes, definitely! With such a strong lineup of four like the captain, we can overcome any difficulty!

[Juniper]: (Kneeling and praying with hands clasped.jpg)