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Bonus chapter! Thank you to JustSomeOne for the donation! ^^
***
[Welcome, players, to the instance <Miao Village>.]
[Miao Village is a remote mountain settlement, surrounded by steep hills and plagued by poor transportation. Thick fog blankets the area year-round.]
[Yet this village is extraordinarily beautiful, attracting countless tourists.]
[You are visitors who came to explore—but since it’s your first time here, you seem… to have lost your way.]
[Instance Objective: Survive for seven days, or escape Miao Village.]
Though the system described the players as tourists, Ruan Qing’s identity was different.
The original owner, named Miao Qing, had just turned eighteen a few days ago. He was no outsider—he belonged to Miao Village, and his status was far from ordinary.
His mother was the village chief, and unless something unexpected happened, he was next in line for the position.
But his mother never wanted him to become chief. She constantly filled his head with tales of how wonderful the outside world was, even convincing him he was unfit for leadership—all to make him leave Miao Village after coming of age.
Miao Qing had always been rebellious and stubborn. Having grown up expecting to inherit the chief’s role, he refused to obey her.
He’d never felt much filial affection for his mother in the first place. Her nagging only fueled his defiance. He began to suspect she had another, secret child—someone she wanted to pave the way for—and his resistance grew fiercer.
But his mother ignored his protests. The moment he turned eighteen, she arranged several blind dates for him with outsiders.
Once a match was made, she planned to send him away from Miao Village for good.
Yet before any suitors could arrive, his mother died.
She passed the night before—not from sudden accident, but illness. Her death had been long foreshadowed.
For years, disease had withered her to bone and shadow. Knowing her time was near, she clutched Miao Qing’s hand in her final moments, pleading with him to take the blind dates seriously.
If a match succeeded, he was to leave Miao Village immediately—and never return.
As a special NPC, Ruan Qing had never once survived beyond the opening scenes. His roles were always cannon fodder, doomed from the start. That meant Miao Qing’s situation was anything but safe.
His mother’s insistence on his leaving was likely for his own good.
The original Miao Qing wasn’t particularly sharp or observant. Sheltered by his mother, he’d never noticed anything amiss.
But as Ruan Qing sorted through his memories, he caught the anomalies.
This Miao Village might seem like an ordinary mountain hamlet, but an eerie atmosphere pervades every corner. The villagers all have strangely volatile temperaments, giving off a suffocating and unsettling vibe.
What’s more, no one from this village has ever left—birth, aging, sickness, and death all happen within its confines.
Outsiders occasionally pass through, but within seven days, their figures vanish without a trace.
The original owner of this body assumed those outsiders had simply moved on, but based on the dungeon’s clues, it’s easy to deduce that they died here.
There’s something wrong with Miao Village. And there’s something wrong with its people.
Since childhood, the original owner’s mother forbade him from playing with the other villagers. Combined with their cold indifference toward outsiders, he grew up with almost no friends and few memories of them.
However, there was one incident in his childhood—he once got lost while playing outside, wandering deep into the mountains with no way back. After a long time, it was the villagers who eventually found him and brought him home.
It seems Miao Village is a place that’s difficult to leave.
Perhaps the second method of clearing the dungeon is just as challenging as uncovering the boss’s name.
Right now, Ruan Qing is inside the original owner’s room. The owner’s mother died just last night, and he was kept awake until dawn by villagers coming to discuss funeral arrangements, managing only a brief nap at daybreak.
In truth, Miao Qing’s mother hadn’t been particularly kind to the original owner—no different from the other villagers. But as the person he saw most often, even without much affection, a sense of dependence had formed. Naturally, he still felt some grief.
But that grief didn’t last long.
After sorting through the memories, Ruan Qing opened the live stream. While players couldn’t see dungeon-related comments, the volume and content of the chat could sometimes provide clues.
[Good morning, wife! A day without you feels like years—just a short while apart and it’s like whole worlds have passed (pouting.JPG).]
[Wait, players can only stream inside dungeons, right? Did wife jump straight into another one after clearing the last? That’s way too intense!]
[Miao Village dungeon? Wife’s luck is insane—three dungeons in a row with abysmal clearance rates.]
[My heart aches for my wife. After getting so badly hurt in the last dungeon, there wasn’t even a break before entering a new one. Is wife that short on points? [Donates 300 points]]
Viewers began showering the stream with point donations, flooding the screen.
But after turning on the stream, Ruan Qing ignored it entirely, not even noticing the donation alerts. Rubbing his dry, tired eyes, he carefully surveyed his surroundings.
The room was entirely white, and the courtyard was draped with white funeral mourning banners—all mourning the death of his mother.
The villagers of Miao Village had always been indifferent. On normal days, they were scarcely seen, only appearing to hold funerals when someone died.
The original owner’s room was tucked in a corner, and from the window, the entire courtyard was clearly visible. Villagers moved about, busy decorating the yard and the mourning hall.
The body of the original owner’s mother lay in the main hall. According to Miao Village’s customs, the deceased had to remain for seven days before burial on the eighth.
His mother had died the night before. The eighth day would also be the seventh day of the instance—clearly, this scenario was likely tied to her death.
In Miao Village, when a direct blood relative died, the younger generation was expected to don mourning attire. Ruan Qing picked up a strip of white cloth hanging nearby and tied it around his head, then moved to the window, discreetly observing the courtyard.
Two men were hanging the white mourning banners, their faces expressionless, no different from how the original owner remembered them.
Cold and eerie. Just watching from a distance was enough to make one uneasy.
This was also why the original owner had never liked interacting with the villagers. Even at school, he sat in the back row, completely out of place in Miao Village.
Suddenly, one of the villagers seemed to sense something and turned sharply toward the corner window.
But there was nothing there—only the open window.
Frowning, the villager gripped the white streamer in his hand and slowly approached the window.
His steps were soundless, almost as if he were gliding.
The distance between the courtyard and the window wasn’t far, and the villager soon reached it. He peered inside.
The window faced a bed, where a figure lay curled up beneath the blankets, facing away, so small that even their head was hidden.
The village chief’s son?
Only then did the villager withdraw his gaze and return to his task, continuing to hang the mourning banners in silence. Not a single word was exchanged with the other villager.
Ruan Qing remained motionless under the covers, not making a sound. His slight frame, wrapped in the quilt, looked frail and vulnerable—as if he were asleep.
But his open, beautiful eyes made it clear he was wide awake.
Too sharp. That level of awareness shouldn’t belong to an ordinary human.
Ruan Qing licked his dry lips. The villagers of Miao Family Village might be even more dangerous than he’d thought.
The title of village chief might not sound like much, but in Miao Village, it seemed to carry absolute authority.
The original owner had never seen anyone dare to disobey their mother’s orders—no matter how unwilling, they would always comply.
Human greed is like a bottomless pit, forever insatiable. Most people would claw their way up by any means necessary.
In such an environment, being weak yet holding gold was an original sin.
The original owner’s mother was already dead. If the original owner were to die unexpectedly too, the position of village chief would naturally become vacant.
But Ruan Qing had a feeling it wasn’t that simple.
The original owner’s mother had arranged blind dates for them—all with people outside the village—and she hadn’t hidden this from the other villagers.
They should have known that if the original owner succeeded in a match, they would leave Miao Village with their partner, effectively relinquishing the title of chief.
Under those circumstances, the villagers shouldn’t have had any reason to kill them outright.
There were too few clues right now, making it impossible to judge what kind of danger might lie ahead.
Due to his unrestrained use of power in the last instance, Ruan Qing felt utterly drained, his body weak.
This weakness wasn’t just physical—it was mental and spiritual, leaving him in a constant state of exhaustion and drowsiness.
The villagers in the courtyard were still making preparations. Without a clear understanding of the instance, interacting with those eerie villagers would be dangerous.
Ruan Qing slowly closed his eyes, quietly waiting for them to leave.
***
He didn’t know how much time had passed when a sharp ding-a-ling suddenly pierced the morning silence, snapping everyone to attention.
The two villagers hanging white mourning banners instantly turned their heads, staring fixedly toward the corner of the room—where the sound had come from.
It was Ruan Qing’s phone.
He hadn’t been fully asleep, so he heard the ringtone immediately.
Pulling out his phone, he checked the caller ID: Blind Date (3)—one of the matches arranged by the original owner’s mother.
She had insisted the original owner save their numbers back then.
"Hello?" Ruan Qing answered, his voice slightly rough from sleep, his beautiful eyes still hazy with drowsiness.
"Is this the blind date my mother arranged?"
Before the person on the other end of the call could respond, Ruan Qing continued, "I have rather high standards for a partner. I want someone with delicate, beautiful features, a gentle and considerate personality, presentable in public yet skilled in the kitchen—able to cook eight different dishes per meal without repetition. They must love only me for the rest of their life, accept that everything I say is right—even when I’m wrong—have no friends of the opposite sex, and preferably no same-sex friends either. They must be available at a moment’s notice; if I call for you, you’d better appear within thirty seconds."
Though the original owner of this body was rebellious, he still held deep respect for the mother who raised him. He wouldn’t outright ignore her dying wish.
But that didn’t mean he had to obey completely.
By making such outrageous demands, the other party would naturally back off. That way, it wouldn’t count as him disobeying his mother.
Besides, he could barely take care of himself—he had no intention of dragging an innocent woman into his mess. If his rejection could convince her to give up on coming to Miao Village, that would be the best outcome.
Ruan Qing didn’t lower his voice, so his words faintly carried into the courtyard.
The villagers hanging white funeral banners had been expressionless, but their ears twitched slightly upon hearing his voice.
The boy’s tone carried the unique clarity and softness of youth, with a hint of hoarseness from just having woken up. It was like a feather brushing against the heart, leaving an itchy tingling in the ears.
However, after hearing Ruan Qing’s demands, their expressions turned… complicated.
Yet they didn’t stop eavesdropping. Almost as if bewitched, they drifted closer, continuing to hang the banners—though their movements were no longer as efficient as before, their attention clearly diverted as they leaned toward the window.
Ruan Qing didn’t seem to notice the eavesdroppers, nor did he care about the other party’s reaction. Without room for negotiation, he added,
"Also, I’m a very traditional person. After marriage, you must give me two sons."
The two villagers in the courtyard: "…" Their Miao Village definitely didn’t have that tradition.
Having laid out his conditions, Ruan Qing politely asked, "And what are your requirements for a partner?"
He had planned to tactfully reject the other party, but it seemed they didn’t understand the meaning of tact.
There was a noticeable pause on the other end of the line. Several seconds later, a cold, melodious male voice responded:
"Must be able to fly, breathe fire, crush red-hot iron barehanded, lend their umbrella to others in the rain, and fly home by helicopter-spinning their arms."
Ruan Qing: "…" Clearly, this guy wasn’t thrilled about the blind date either.
And it seemed Aunt Li had mixed up the genders—this was unmistakably a man.
Unfazed, Ruan Qing replied coolly, his tone polite yet distant, "My apologies, I can’t meet those standards. It seems we’re not a good match."
"I hope you find someone who meets all your expectations."
Ruan Qing hung up after saying this, then blocked the number.
