Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

Then came Zhao Meng's voice:

"No! No means no! No one is allowed to leave before the two of them arrive! And how did you know something happened to them? Would you have gotten this far without Song Yuan? You ungrateful bastard!"

"You think I'm ungrateful? Hahahaha, then you, the so-called 'loyal and righteous' one, can stay here and wait for them! I'm not that stupid. They've definitely been killed by He Xiao. He Xiao's next target is me! Me! Hahahahahaha!"

As Cui Xiaofei spoke, he threw his head back and laughed wildly. The women were terrified. Zhao Meng had never seen anyone like this before—someone who, instead of screaming in fear, laughed maniacally like a madman. Thinking Cui Xiaofei was having a fit of madness, she quickly backed away, putting distance between herself and him.

"You...! Calm down, okay?! You can't do this! Do you think you're herding pigs or sheep?! Don't be so rude!"

"They're NPCs! They're no different from pigs or sheep! Are you going to move aside or not? I'm asking you, are you going to move aside or not?! I'm about to die and you're still blocking my way, hahahahahaha!"

Song Yuan: "..."

Qiao Ran: "..."

The two were arguing so intensely and intently that they didn't realize the other person had arrived until the engine was already quite loud and the headlights were shining on their faces.

Qiao Ran stepped on the gas and drove the tricycle, honking the horn twice upon arrival.

"Gentlemen, have you had enough? If you have, we'll set off. After all, if we had arrived even a little later..."

He smiled broadly, looking at Cui Xiaofei, whose face was deathly pale:

"Some people just can't wait, can they?"

When Zhao Meng saw Song Yuan, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, and her eyes lit up:

"You're back! I knew you'd be alright. Now we can go!"

"Hmm~"

Qiao Ran responded and began assigning seats:

"I'll be the driver. The two ladies and I will sit in the front, and the NPCs will stay in the back."

Cui Xiaofei thought he was about to be abandoned. His face instantly turned from white to black, then from black to purple, and he pointed at himself, trembling as he said:

"Um... what about me?"

Qiao Ran then realized, "Oh! You can stay on the roof. I just noticed the headlights are a bit dim. Can you lie down on it and help me shine the flashlight?"

Cui Xiaofei: "???!"

Song Yuan sat down next to Qiao Ran and said calmly, "Don't worry, no one here intends to abandon you. After all, what I promised you from the beginning was to guarantee that I would help you clear the game."

Besides, even if you really leave, we'll catch up with you very quickly.

Be more loyal to your teammates next time, okay?

Cui Xiaofei dared not speak. Although Song Yuan didn't lash out at him with a ferocious expression or yell like his former superiors, she still exuded an imposing, authoritative aura. He quickly nodded and bowed.

"I understand, I understand..."

Song Yuan counted the number of people; there were fifteen. Some were disabled or mentally confused, but fortunately, everyone was obedient and followed along when asked. Zhao Meng pulled the iron bolt at the back of the carriage, lowered the side panel, and let them walk up and sit down one by one.

The size of the carriages was designed precisely, fifteen in total, filling them up just right.

Song Yuan's only complaint was: "Freight tricycles are not allowed to carry passengers; it's illegal."

Qiao Ran extended her thumb and pointed behind her at the trembling women:

"Given the situation, this is considered an emergency evacuation; we'll be fine."

Just as Qiao Ran was about to step on the gas, Cui Xiaofei knocked on the car window, poked half his head out, and cautiously asked:

"Bro, are you driving steadily? This...this seems a bit narrow up here!"

Qiao Ran waved with a smile, "That kind of thing isn't important~ Hurry up, we're leaving!"

"Ahhhhh!"

On the way, Zhao Meng remained silent in her seat for a while, then mustered up her courage and asked the two of them, "Um, I wanted to ask..."

Song Yuan: "He Xiao is dead."

"Ugh, oh..."

Zhao Meng's eyes immediately welled up with tears. She lowered her head, lost in thought for a moment, then wiped away her tears and began to sob again. The two large bags of human bones on Song Yuan's legs almost completely obscured her; only a pair of eyes peeked out from the edge of the bundle to ask her:

"You know what kind of person he is, and you're still crying for him?"

Zhao Meng: "Waaaaah, I wasn't crying for him! I was crying for... for..."

Qiao Ran kindly helped her continue: "It's a dead love, right?"

"Yes! This is it, sob sob sob, you understand me so well... I never want to fall in love again..."

Yes, a very wise choice. With Zhao Meng's abilities, intelligence, looks, and 100% romantic nature, she'd be 100% sure to get scammed if she dated someone else.

As they drove, two forks in the road appeared before them. Suddenly, Cui Xiaofei let out a sharp, piercing scream, bursting into tears as he pointed the beam of his flashlight at the figure in the center of the fork:

"Help! There's a ghost! There's a ghost! There's a ghost! Ahhhhh!"

Zhao Meng, who was focused on crying, immediately tensed up again: "Ah! Should we go back?! Should we go back?! Or should we crash into it?! Should we crash into it?!"

Their screams were so piercing that they startled the female ghost standing in the middle of the road, who looked around frantically, trying to see where the ghost was.

Qiao Ran, the driver, was getting an earache from the noise: "Calm down! Everyone calm down. She doesn't seem to have any intention of attacking. There's no need to make such a fuss, is there?"

"I know her, she probably meant no harm."

Song Yuan took out the strip of cloth stained with old blood from the side pocket of her skirt and showed it to him:

"She led us out of the back mountain and gave us a key item. She's probably here to help this time too."

Qiao Ran breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh, I see."

Zhao Meng, who didn't recognize it as the same ghost at all, exclaimed: "?! No way, her face is all scratched up! How did you recognize her?!"

Sure enough, when they reached the fork in the road, the female ghost didn't pounce on them. Instead, she crawled on all fours into the bushes and, maintaining a running speed similar to their tricycle, led the way.

When she encounters stones blocking her way, she will take the initiative to clear the obstacles.

It wasn't until the moon set and dawn broke that Qiao Ran took out her watch and glanced at it; it was already five in the morning.

Zhao Meng didn't drink the coffee and drifted off to sleep. In the distance, the national highway and power lines were already visible.

Song Yuan, holding two packages, remained silent for a long while, then suddenly realized:

"I know why He Xiao suddenly raised his gun when we were at the bottom of the pit."

Qiao Ran covered her mouth with one hand and yawned, asking curiously, "Really? Why?"

Through the rearview mirror, Song Yuan saw the female ghost dart into the forest, no longer chasing their car—because she had done enough. The scenery outside the car rushed past, and she in the rearview mirror gradually shrank into an invisible black dot, disappearing into the dim forest.

She turned her head and said, her words revealing her shock:

"They did it."

Song Yuan still remembered the village chief's account book. It contained a special record of a woman named so-and-so, who had also been abducted and drowned after jumping into a well. On the seventh day after her death, she transformed into a vengeful ghost and slaughtered the entire family who had bought her.

So the family's house was abandoned. The well where the woman drowned was covered with a yellow talisman to ward off evil spirits, and from then on, it became a place for the village chief to store "goods".

Song Yuan knew from the back mountain that this woman was the one who led the way for them.

So what happened in the mass grave?

Because of the women who died at the bottom of the pit, they were brought to this unfamiliar place, their lives violently altered. Their later years were filled with suffering and decay, and because of the heavy resentment and obsession they carried in their previous lives, they became ghosts left at the bottom of the pit.

That's why the villagers who had harmed them were torn to pieces and mangled after they fell, because it was their just deserts.

They were also the ones who suddenly changed the direction of He Xiao's gun:

Everything is for the sake of helping the surviving "women" to get out of these mountains.

Warm yellow light shone through the car window onto her face—the sun had risen.

[Ding~ Congratulations to player Song Yuan for clearing the dungeon "The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village"]

[Ding~ Rewards are stacking... Now broadcasting all achievements of player "Song Yuan" in this dungeon]