Chapter 339: New Information

Chapter 339: Chapter 6: New Information

After running it by Cuihua and Little Fatty a few more times, Duan Fei confirmed his assessment.

All the strange occurrences in this instance were related to cooking.

As soon as Cuihua started cooking, the sky would gradually darken. That was the first stage.

And once the sky was completely dark, Cuihua and Little Fatty would hear strange sounds that affected their sanity.

The kitchen seemed to block these effects. Once they realized that, the anomaly would enter its third stage.

Various ghosts would try to impersonate people to get inside. They usually emerged from their victim’s shadow, mimicking them to trick the people inside into opening the door before trying to enter the kitchen.

Although he hadn’t seen a fourth stage, Duan Fei suspected it would involve interfering with Cuihua’s cooking.

Having sorted out the external factors of the instance, Duan Fei began to assess the players’ current situation.

Their comms had been blocked, so they couldn’t communicate with anyone outside the instance for now. Fortunately, Duan Fei’s presence, undetectable by the ghosts, could serve as a litmus test.

Moreover, they still had their Professions and Attributes, so they retained their combat strength. It was just less effective against ghosts.

Opening the “Instance Objective” tab, Duan Fei saw there was only one goal: “Complete the Divine Artifact Trial.”

However, the objective didn’t explicitly state that cooking was the way to complete it. This left Duan Fei wondering if cooking was truly the requirement for this mission.

After thinking for a moment, Duan Fei realized there were too few clues. He could only turn to Cuihua and ask, “To make the crystal pork knuckle, what are you missing?”

After checking the ingredients, Cuihua said, “The pork knuckle.”

“Alright, got it. I’ll go find the pork knuckle. Little Fatty, you stay here and keep watch with Cuihua. And like I said, don’t trust anyone but me.”

“What if that Little Daoist shows up?” Little Fatty asked hastily.

“Warn him the first time. The second time, just attack. Kill him. If it’s a fake, well, it’s dead. If it’s the real one… well, he’s dead too.”

Little Fatty looked at the list on the wall and clapped his hands. “Got it! Our mission doesn’t have anything to do with him, so if he dies, he dies. I just thought you didn’t like the guy.”

“…Alright, I’m heading out.”

“Why’d you pause for three seconds just now?”

After giving his companions their instructions, Duan Fei headed back to the rear mountain to search for the pork knuckle.

Duan Fei had been on edge earlier because of Little Fatty’s jumpiness. But now that he was back, he realized the rear mountain wasn’t so bad. It was even a bit lively.

Two large statues of an Earth God stood guard at the entrance. Their paint-chipped eyes constantly scrutinized the path to the rear mountain, yet they paid Duan Fei’s arrival no mind.

Several paper effigies in red armor were on the ground, smoking. Someone must have dropped a pack of cigarettes, which had become a welcome way for these ghosts to relax. With every puff, smoke billowed from the cracks in their bodies and drifted toward the sky.

The shadow that had impersonated Little Fatty was there too, huddled over some incense ash on the ground and inhaling it nonstop.

The paper giant whose shell Duan Fei had smashed was also present. It was currently staring glumly at the broken spot, unsure how to fix it.

Besides them, a large number of other Chinese-style ghosts who had yet to make an appearance were gathered to the side, looking down at the kitchen with worry.

The group of ghouls probably looked quite terrifying on a normal day, but right now they just seemed comical, even a little pathetic.

An armored paper effigy tossed a cigarette butt aside. A bamboo-shoot-shaped monster reached out, snuffed it out, and said, “Be careful. We need to practice fire safety on the rear mountain.”

“We’re about to be wiped out, and you’re worried about fire safety?!” the cavalryman cursed. “That Old Dao… stubborn ’til the bitter end. If we can’t get this done, we’re all screwed.”

“Who is this Old Dao, anyway?” Duan Fei asked, sitting down beside the cavalryman.

But the cavalryman didn’t seem to hear him, continuing, “And weren’t there supposed to be three of them? Why are there only two now? Where’d the other one go?”

“The number of people is the least of our worries. The real question is who attacked us last night.” The giant paper effigy looked at the gash on its leg and said painfully, “I didn’t see a thing. I just got hurt out of nowhere. What do you guys think it was?”

The shadow, still in the shape of Little Fatty, chimed in, “I heard that when people die, they become ghosts. When ghosts die, they become a *jì*—a spirit that even we can’t see. You don’t think… that thing was a *jì*, do you?”

The surrounding chatter ceased. Then, the group of ghosts collectively hugged their arms and shivered. “Jeez, that’s enough to scare a ghost to death.”

“Yeah, seriously! The thought of a *jì* being over there makes me too scared to go.”

“Too scared or not, we have to go. It’s an order from the Old Dao. We have to obey.”

“But the Old Dao is dead, right? Now it’s just the Little Daoist. Why are we still afraid of them?”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m scared.”

“Let’s just do it. We should rise up against him together.”

“And you’re not worried this is all part of the Old Dao’s plan?”

The more the ghosts talked, the more demoralized they became. Finally, they all sighed in unison, it was unclear if they were lamenting the Old Dao’s tyranny or their own helpless fate.

Duan Fei, eavesdropping on the side, had picked up some interesting information.

Based on the ghosts’ conversation, the funeral at the foot of the mountain was likely for the Old Dao, and the Little Daoist interacting with the players was the Elder Daoist’s apprentice.

The interesting part was that even though the Elder Daoist was apparently dead, his power still lingered. The ghosts didn’t even dare to defy a dead man.

‘The Old Dao ordered the players to cook, but he also ordered the ghosts to attack the players. Why would the same person issue such contradictory commands?’

‘There’s still missing information.’ Duan Fei wanted to see if he could learn more from the ghosts’ chatter.

But the ghosts quickly changed the subject. One commented on which family downhill had the tastiest offerings. Another praised a certain factory’s exquisite craftsmanship, saying their paper effigies were so lifelike that he’d use one for his next Possession.

After listening for a while, Duan Fei yawned. He figured these ghosts wouldn’t have much more useful information.

He picked up an Incense Stick and wrote on the ground: “Where can I find pork knuckle?”

In the eyes of the other ghosts, Duan Fei’s presence was Zero, but the words he wrote were visible.

Seeing the words, one of the red-armored cavalrymen said, “There are offerings in front of the idol on the rear mountain. You’ll find raw pork knuckle there. But the spirit there is really temperamental, so don’t cause any trouble. Wait… who wrote this?”

“Not me.”

“Not me either.”

Seeing his companions flatly deny it, the red-armored cavalryman felt a chill. The plates of his armor seemed to stand on end, and a shiver ran down his spine.

“You guys… You don’t think a *jì* is here, do you?”

“Give me a break! That *jì* stuff is just a legend. It must be some ghost who’s had a little too much incense and is trying to pull a prank. Let’s just… slowly back away and find a new spot.”

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

Watching the little ghosts scurry away, Duan Fei dusted off his hands and headed toward the idol.