Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

Mongo frowned and said, "And they appear in groups, seemingly without physical forms, yet they're incredibly fast and can even burrow underground... Sunlight seems to block them? They disappear as soon as the weather changes. But what about at night? There's no sunlight at night!"

“Those monsters didn’t just attack us. The villagers of Bai Village also ran away in fear when they saw them, which proves that the villagers were also their targets.”

Tanya speculated, "If a monster crisis were to occur at night, how could these ordinary people from White Village have survived until now?"

"Either the umbrella monsters don't appear at night, or there are ways to avoid them at night."

“We’ll just stay together tonight. We’ll forcibly move into the villagers’ homes and do whatever they do.”

"Captain, isn't this too dangerous?" Su reminded us. "We haven't verified the three rules the villagers told us about. The first one is that we must go back to our own rooms to sleep at night. We are outsiders, so we can only go to empty houses."

“No need to verify, they lied,” Tanya said, shaking her head.

"Are you sure you're lying? Or that you didn't say anything?" Mongo asked cautiously. "Or did you just leave something out?"

"The second rule—that you must go back to your own room to eat lunch alone—is a lie."

Tanya glanced at the blood-stained, tattered clothes not far from the ground and said, "Those monsters with umbrellas before, although strong, were not fast enough to overwhelm us. As long as our evolution rate is up to standard and we focus on escaping, we can still get away."

"Three of our men have died. The first died when the monster appeared suddenly, catching us off guard; the second died because he recklessly attacked, slowing down our escape; as for the third..."

At this point, her tone became more serious: "The third one escaped, but he still died. His death must have involved other factors. And the difference between him and us is that... when he escaped, he ran alone, out of the sight of all his teammates."

"Captain, you mean... we can't act alone?" Su Shunshi guessed.

“Have you ever noticed the villagers of Bai Village when they go out? Have you ever seen them alone?” Tanya asked in return.

She couldn't help but think of the old woman she had questioned when she first entered the village.

The other party was traveling with their granddaughter.

The others also traveled in twos and threes, and before returning to their houses, they did not act alone anywhere they went.

"Now that you mention it, Captain..."

Su thought about it carefully and realized it was true. He nodded and said, "It seems this is the second rule of White Village: you can't act alone. Once you're alone, you'll most likely be located and attacked by those umbrella-wielding monsters. The villagers here are truly wicked!"

The second rule the villagers mentioned was completely designed to rip off the players!

At noon, you have to go back to your own room to eat alone... If you're alone, you'll be targeted by monsters, and the room is an enclosed space. In this environment, if you're swarmed by monsters, how many lives do you have to fight for?

"The villagers are hostile towards us..." Jian, with her long hair, frowned and said, "Could the other two rules they mentioned be false?"

"If I were in the villagers' shoes, I would definitely tell them half-truths to trick the players," Tanya said. "Once one of them is found to be false, the other two will be suspected, leading to incorrect judgments... It's hard to tell what's true and what's false; for now, we can only guess."

"Captain, you just said that tonight we have to break into the villagers' homes and imitate them..." Su realized, "You suspect that the first rule is also fake?"

The first rule the villagers told us was that we had to be back in our rooms to sleep before dark.

Outsiders don't have their own rooms, so they have to go to vacant houses where no one lives.

Vacant houses are almost everywhere in Baicun.

"It's just a deep suspicion; the outcome is uncertain."

Tanya said, "So this is just a suggestion. I will do it myself, but I won't force you."

"Those who are willing to act with me, follow me after dark."

"Those who don't want to go can go to vacant houses."

Upon hearing this, everyone wore conflicted expressions.

This is not a easy decision to make.

Seeing this, Tanya reminded her, "If we make the wrong choice, we can always escape to the outskirts of the village. The number and quality of the mountain spirits in the fog near the village are relatively low. Spending the night in the fog might be safer than staying in the village. This is our backup plan."

"What kind of backup plan is this!"

Mongo frowned and retorted.

Having experienced the fog crisis, he now instinctively rejects the idea of ​​voluntarily entering the fog.

"Actually, the appearance of the umbrella-wielding monster in White Village is a good thing for us."

Tanya advised, "The crisis is a visible attack. Our enemy is clear. We can either escape or fight back."

"If the village had a dungeon-like rule where breaking the rules meant instant death, that would be a real problem!"

"Of course, I don't rule out the possibility that the two can coexist, so I prefer to take a risk and go directly into the villagers' homes at night, and learn what they do."

At this point, she changed the subject: "Alright, there's still some time before dark, let's explore and make decisions as we go. Let's head to the village chief's house first."

After saying that, she once again displayed her decisive and efficient demeanor, walking directly past the crowd.

Su and Jane followed immediately.

Seeing this, the others had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​continuing the conversation.

The village chief of Baicun is not hard to find.

Most of the houses in the village were thatched huts, and there were only a few tiled houses with courtyards. After walking around the village for a while, the group of eight quickly located the village chief's house.

After they knocked, a man with a few gray hairs at his temples welcomed them into the house.

“Outsiders, you’ve come a bit too early,” the village chief reminded them. “I won’t have time to accompany you to the Ghost Goddess Temple to pay your respects these next couple of days; you’ll have to wait until the day of the burial.”

"When will the burial take place?" Tanya asked.

"Two days later at dusk," the village chief replied.

"Who...who is the person who unfortunately passed away in the village? Can you tell us?" Tanya asked.

The village chief shook his head: "You're not from this village, so stop with your unnecessary thoughts and don't offend the deceased's family."

“Alright,” Tanya didn’t press the matter further and changed the subject, “Can you tell us about the rules of White Village?”

"The other villagers must have already told you, right?"

Upon hearing this, the village chief repeated the three rules.

Tanya and the others frowned, glancing at the woman in the same room as the village chief, feeling somewhat angry.

They actually lied to their faces!

Damn it... You're not even going to put on an act, are you?

"The second rule is wrong!" Tanya dropped the pretense and said directly, "Going alone will get you attacked by the monsters with black umbrellas! Why did you lie to us?"

The village chief's expression immediately turned tense.

He said, "It seems you have discovered some dangers in the village. There are some things that we villagers cannot tell you."

"I can only tell you that the house is safe, day or night. I am not lying to you about going back to your room to eat alone."

"As soon as it gets dark, lie down in bed and sleep. No matter what you hear or see, don't pay attention to it. That way you can get through the night safely."

"What exactly are those monsters with black umbrellas?" Mongo asked. "Where did they come from? From underground?"

The village chief sighed and said, "White Village has many taboos, and those monsters with black umbrellas are one of them. I don't know much about their origins either."

“We want to know how to leave this place,” Tanya said. “The area outside the village is shrouded in mist, and there are mountain spirits moving in the mist. We can’t get out.”

"On the day of the burial, after you join me in worshipping the Ghost Goddess, you will receive her protection," the village chief said. "Then leave, and the mist will no longer obscure your senses. As for the mountain spirit..."

He shook his head: "The people of Bai Village haven't been out for a very, very long time."

The implied meaning in those words was understood by everyone.

The protection of the Ghost Goddess allows one to easily pass through the fog and avoid being misled by "ghost walls".

However, the mountain spirits shrouded in mist still exist, and remain a crisis that villagers and players must face.

Players still have the ability to resist, but the villagers... can only remain in White Village generation after generation.

Tanya looked thoughtful.

If the village chief wasn't lying... although the result was far from what she expected, she could still accept it.

Without the fog's sensory deception, the Mountain Spirit is no longer invisible to players.

If we work together to break out, the danger will still exist, but it will be greatly reduced.

This should be the way to pass the level.

"Can you tell us the story of the Ghost Queen?" Tanya changed the subject and asked the village chief.

"of course can."

The village chief, with a respectful and devout expression, said, "Many years ago, a dragon rose from the earth in this area, and mountain demons ran out of the mountains and wreaked havoc... In this way, the Ghost Goddess lent her power to our ancestors in Bai Village, and the ancestors worked together to drive the mountain demons out of the village..."

The village chief recounted the legends about the Ghost Goddess in detail.

……

After leaving the village chief's house, Tanya and the others moved away from the tiled houses and found a quiet place without any villagers to resume their discussion.

“I don’t think the village chief’s words are credible!” Mengo said bluntly.

"Nonsense, do I need you to remind me?" Su snorted. "The question now is how much to believe."

“Those monsters with black umbrellas shouldn’t be mountain spirits,” Tanya said. “Bai Village is protected by the Ghost Goddess, so mountain spirits shouldn’t appear in the village.”

She frowned, a possibility that horrified her was coming to mind.

In the legends of the Ghost Goddess, she lent her power to the ancestors of Bai Village, and then these people who gained the power worked together to drive away the mountain demon—not that the Ghost Goddess directly drove away the mountain demon, but that the villagers who gained the power did.

So... in this day and age, are there still villagers who have gained power?

What is their attitude? Are they any different from ordinary people?

Or... are they the monsters with black umbrellas?

Before launching their attacks, those black umbrella monsters all had human-sized bodies, the only difference between them and ordinary villagers being that they were carrying an umbrella.

Could it really be them?

If that's the case... then the Ghost Queen is not a benevolent deity!

It will definitely be black when you cut it open!

The villagers revealed nothing about this matter. Was it because they were unwilling, or... afraid?

“Now is not the time to investigate the identities of those black umbrella monsters,” Mongo said. “The most important thing is to decide on our plan for tonight. Should we go to the vacant house or not?”

My decision remains unchanged.

Tanya said, "The 'no lone wolf' operation has been proven, and even the village chief is following it."

"Now that we can't determine how many lies the villagers have told, we have to break free from their web, take action ourselves, and seize the initiative."

"I'll say it again: if something goes wrong, we can just escape into the fog and spend the night there."

Regardless of what others thought, after saying that, she stopped talking about it and made the next arrangement: "Let's go, the intelligence gathering must continue. It's getting dark, so this time we'll form our own teams and split up to speed up our exploration."

"That's all we can do," Mongo sighed.

They can't act alone—now that this rule has been figured out, they can be a little bolder in their actions.

After forming teams, everyone quickly separated.

Tanya, Sue, and Jane formed a team.

As they walked, Tanya said to her two best friends, "Let's try a different approach this time. Let's look for villagers who aren't wearing mourning clothes."

"No one is wearing mourning clothes...?"

Su was taken aback, subconsciously touching his head, his expression turning serious: "I almost forgot about this difference! All the villagers we've seen along the way have white cloths on their heads... Captain, shouldn't we make up for this difference?"

"You can't fix it!" Tanya said seriously. "What's the third game hint?"

"Perhaps death is a new path to life."

Jane, with her long hair, glanced at the player panel and repeated it.

Tanya nodded and reminded him, "The game hints definitely don't mean we have to actually die. You can think of it another way, like... we need to acquire the identity related to the 'deceased'."

"In this village, those wearing mourning clothes are definitely alive, and those without white cloth on their heads... might be dead."

"...Are we dead?" Su was stunned.

"It's just a possibility."

Tanya analyzed, "The fact that they weren't wearing a white cloth might just be a prerequisite for obtaining the 'deceased's' identity."

"To truly become 'the dead,' other conditions may need to be met."

"So, let's go and see if there are any of our kind among the villagers."