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

The old woman moved slowly, seemingly because of a back problem, and it was a little inconvenient for her to bend down.

Fan Xiao went over and helped her pick a few cabbages, putting them in the basket next to her.

"Grandma, we're from out of town, looking for someone named Yan Keke. Do you know her?"

Upon hearing this, the old woman shook her head, indicating that she did not recognize him.

Then she opened her mouth again, pointed to her mouth, indicating that she could not speak.

Fan Xiao looked into her mouth and found that a section of her tongue was missing, as if it had been cut off.

Judging from the current situation, it must have been cut off many years ago.

"Don't you recognize him..." Fan Xiao didn't ask any further questions, and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, I'll go ask other people."

After picking up the basket from the ground and handing it to the old woman, he and Xiao Li continued on their way.

After walking a dozen meters, Fan Xiao looked back and saw the old woman leaving the vegetable garden, leaning on her cane. She walked unsteadily, and her leg seemed to be lame.

Fan Xiao frowned, thinking of some unpleasant things.

"Is there a problem with that old lady?" Xiao Li asked.

Fan Xiao said, "His tongue is missing a piece, and his leg is lame."

"Uh... I know she's pitiful, but that's not what I'm asking," Xiao Li said. "I'm asking if she's in any danger?"

"..."

Fan Xiao glanced at him and said, "Even if this instance is dangerous, don't be afraid of everything. He's just an ordinary old man."

"Phew...that's good, that's good."

Xiao Li breathed a sigh of relief.

Fan Xiao continued, "There is arable land in this town, but not much. With this little bit of grain, we can't feed the whole town. And there are large areas of withered grass outside that no one is cultivating. It's a bit strange."

"This issue was raised by players before the dungeon opened. If nothing unexpected happens, the town's residents should be getting their food from outside the town."

Xiao Li offered his own insights.

Fan Xiao neither agreed nor disagreed, but simply said, "Maybe."

The two moved on.

During his journey, Fan Xiao saw two elderly women again.

Like the one I met in the vegetable garden before, they were also missing a piece of their tongues, and their legs were also lame, leaning on crutches and walking unsteadily.

Fan Xiao went up and spoke with both of them, asking about Yan Keke.

One of the conditions for passing the level is to find Yan Keke's diary.

The name sounds like a girl's, but I don't know what age range she is.

Fan Xiao thought the elderly people in the town would know about Yan Keke, but after asking a few questions, he got nothing out of it.

Even if they can't speak, they can give answers by nodding or shaking their heads; the elderly always say they don't know them.

It was as if Yan Keke didn't exist here.

"If it were really that easy to find Yan Keke, she wouldn't have gotten involved in the conditions for passing the level."

Xiao Li said, "This dungeon is extremely difficult."

“Those three old people must have had their tongues cut out and their legs crippled by the people in this town,” Fan Xiao suddenly said.

"Are you sure it was someone from the town who did it?" Xiao Li asked doubtfully. "The background information says that the residents of this town get along very well and rarely have conflicts."

"Locals get along well with each other, but it's not necessarily the same with outsiders."

Fan Xiao said, "If towns can't retain young people, the population will naturally decrease. Young women won't stay in the towns, and old bachelors won't be able to find wives. The towns will continue to decline."

"The mayor took measures to alleviate this situation. What do you think were the measures he took?"

"Could this be... human trafficking?"

Xiao Li frowned and asked.

The answer is so obvious; if he still can't figure it out, then he's a real idiot.

“I saw it online,” Xiao Li said. “Old bachelors buy women from human traffickers to be their wives. To prevent the women from escaping, crying for help, or talking nonsense, they cut out their tongues and break their legs… Is this how the population problem in this small town is solved?”

"It seems that this is indeed the case."

Fan Xiao sighed softly.

This discovery put both of them in a bad mood. They stopped talking and continued on their way in silence, soon arriving at their destination—in front of a brick house.

Xiao Li looked at the house, then at Fan Xiao, and said with some surprise, "I didn't expect our 'homes' to be together. What a coincidence! Being together means we can look out for each other and it's safer. By the way, after talking for so long, I still don't know your name!"

Fan Xiao: "Fan Sha".

"...My name is Li Jian."

Xiao Li... or rather, Li Jian suppressed his urge to complain and gave his name.

Fan Xiao: "Are you a jerk?"

Li Jian: "..."

Fan Xiao laughed and said, "Just kidding."

"By the way, Brother Fan."

Li Jian asked, "Those six players who separated from you before, were they from the same place as you? You were teammates, right?"

Fan Xiao didn't answer the question, but instead asked, "Aren't you a little too timid? You want to team up with everyone you meet?"

“Sigh, in a normal dungeon, I wouldn’t be in this state,” Li Jian said. “But ‘Wangxiang Town’ is truly terrifying, no joke.”

"Don't worry, considering how much information you've provided, I won't stand idly by if you run into trouble. Cooperation is still no problem."

Fan Xiao said, "Let's go, let's go check out the situation."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked towards the gate of the brick house.

Li Jian quickly followed behind him.

As the two approached the gate, before they even stepped onto the stairs, the gate opened by itself.

A woman with dark skin and a thin face came out.

She looked to be around thirty years old, with red and swollen marks on her cheeks, as if she had just been slapped.

Upon seeing Fan Xiao and Li Jian, the woman's face immediately darkened, and she scolded, "You two actually know how to come back! You deliberately run out during mealtimes, are you trying to drive me crazy?!"

"..." Li Jian asked, "Do we know this lady?"

"Xiaohua, did you hit your head outside and make yourself stupid?" the woman said angrily. "Get inside right now, it's almost time to eat."

"Me... Xiaohua?" Li Jian was stunned. "Auntie, are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"

"You're still pretending to be stupid, aren't you!"

The fierce-looking woman came up and was about to slap Li Jian.

Li Jian instinctively tried to dodge, but Fan Xiao pressed down on his shoulder and whispered a reminder: "Don't resist."

Snapped--!

A crisp slap sounded.

Li Jian was slapped without even realizing it.

"Well done, Xiao Cui. Your sister is getting more and more outrageous. You are much better behaved than her."

After slapping Li Jian, the woman seemed to calm down a bit, and her gloomy expression lessened considerably.

She called out to the two of them, "Come in and eat!"

After shouting, he turned and went inside.

Li Jian touched his right cheek where he had been slapped, still looking bewildered: "What happened?"

“No wonder you’re so afraid of dying,” Fan Xiao said. “You used to have a really tough time in dungeons, didn’t you?”

"……how do you know?"

"Can't you analyze and speculate? The game's three hints clearly suggest that we will integrate into this town as 'a member of the town's residents' family'."

Fan Xiao shrugged: "The situation is quite clear now. We are the daughters of this family. You are the older sister, Xiaohua, and I am the younger sister, Xiaocui."

"I did think of that game hint, but... the current situation is a bit different from what I expected."

Li Jian asked, somewhat puzzled, "How could that woman mistake us for her when there are two grown men here? Her expression didn't seem like she was acting or joking at all. She genuinely thought we were her daughters, but how is that possible? Anyone with a sound mind wouldn't mistake us, right?"

“We’re in a dungeon now,” Fan Xiao said. “Instead of discussing possibilities, we should accept the new setting and then reason and analyze it within the framework of the dungeon. Besides…”

He smiled and said, "Maybe, just like you said, she's a mentally unstable person."

"Or... she's not human at all."

"..."

Li Jian got goosebumps: "Brother, I'm calling you Brother Fan, can you stop scaring me? If she's not human, what else could she be but a ghost?"

"Hehe, don't jinx it."

Fan Xiao gave a casual reply and then walked into the house.

As she walked, she reminded her "older sister" again: "Hurry up and go in. The game tells us not to disobey our parents. If we dawdle for too long, something unexpected might happen."

"Ok."

Li Jian had no choice but to follow.

Chapter 109 The Ghost Worship Ceremony

Fan Xiao and Li Jian stepped through the gate and entered the brick house.

Suddenly, a strong, pungent smell of incense wafted over, causing both of them to frown.

Li Jian instinctively covered his nose.

Fan Xiao didn't make any extra movements. The "Detox Master" earpiece he wore made him feel at ease even in environments with strange smells, and he didn't have to worry about any toxins mixed in with the air.

He looked ahead and saw that the furniture inside the room was old and the furnishings were haphazard and messy.

Near the inside, there is a four-seater dining table, but there is no food on it.

"Didn't you say we were going to eat? Why is there nothing here..."

Li Jian muttered something in a low voice.

Fan Xiao casually replied, "Didn't you think she was a ghost? Maybe when she says 'eat,' she means 'eat you.'"

“…What’s so scary about cannibalism?” Li Jian comforted himself. “I’ve seen cannibalistic players before. What I’m afraid of are ghosts that suddenly appear in front of people with a pale face…that’s the kind of scene in horror movies that’s really scary.”

"Hehe, some people will attack the other person frantically when they are scared. Aren't you afraid of being a ghost? There's no good in scaring people like this."

As Fan Xiao replied, he looked up at the roof beam but didn't find anything strange.

The background information of the dungeon mentions that there are many strange phenomena in Wangxiang Town now, and lists three of them: ghostly orchids that flicker and drift at night, a big-faced monster hiding on the roof beams, and a mummified old woman who wanders around at night.

Whether these things are simply rumors spread by three people or are actually true, it is still difficult to determine at this time.

However, it's always good to be cautious.

Following Fan Xiao's gaze, Li Jian also looked up at the wooden beams.

After finding nothing unusual, he relaxed his tense nerves a little.

"What are you two standing there for? Come and eat!"

Just then, a woman's urging voice came from a room on the left side of the living room.

Fan Xiao and Li Jian exchanged a glance, then moved closer without saying anything more.

After opening the door, the smell of incense became even stronger.

The windows inside the house were boarded up, making it dimly lit, with only candles for illumination.

The flickering firelight illuminated the silhouettes of three people.

The woman on the far left was the one who had scolded Fan Xiao and Li Jian earlier. On the far right stood a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties, with a stern and unsmiling expression.