Chapter 2: What a big bead!

Outside the Ruined Temple, the Male NPC’s face had turned a deep, purplish red.

“I don’t care what kind of ghost or demon you are—if you want to kill me, just do it! But how can you just rummage through someone else’s things!”

The Tall Thin NPC, terrified, quickly tugged on his companion’s sleeve, signaling him not to be rash.

So they’re not mute NPCs after all.

Yun Miao stared in surprise, noticing that the NPC was fixated on the baozi, baked flatbread, hemp rope, and dudou in her arms. She replied amiably, “I picked these up.”

The Male NPC blurted out in embarrassment and frustration, “That’s our bundle! And that dudou… that dudou is the Token of Affection my beloved gave me!”

Yun Miao tried to reason with the NPCs.

“You two ran off and left your bundle on the ground, so I thought you didn’t want it anymore. What’s yours, what’s mine—Player Pickup means it’s for players to pick up!”

At that moment, a voice rang out from inside the temple.

“Are you a human or a ghost?”

Yun Miao turned her head and saw that it was the same young female NPC standing behind Granny Hua who was speaking.

This person wore a fitted black outfit, with long limbs and wheat-colored skin.

A long saber hung at her waist, and a red hairband tied two small braids and the rest of her black hair into a high ponytail, giving her a cool, aloof air.

Unfortunately, her brow was always furrowed, making her seem perpetually gloomy.

Facing the question, Yun Miao only pondered for a second before replying, “A Stone Person.”

Just as the Monkey King was called the Stone Monkey for jumping out of a rock, she too had emerged from a stone, so she was a Stone Person.

Huaxin’s gaze sharpened. “So you really are a Stone Demon.”

The Male NPC, who had been clenching his fists, immediately recoiled in fright, taking two steps back.

Yun Miao corrected her, “No, I’m a person who jumped out of a stone. In short: a Stone Person.”

Granny Hua caught the key point. “You say you’re a person? Then how did you end up inside a stone?”

Huaxin frowned. “It’s impossible for a human to appear inside a stone for no reason. Don’t tell me you climbed in there on purpose just to jump out and scare me?”

Yun Miao frowned as well. “It’s not that I wanted to be inside a stone. Someone stuffed me into that stone.”

That someone was the detestable Game Planner!

Granny Hua handed the torch to Huaxin and walked toward the strange girl by the bonfire. “If that’s so, could you stretch out your hand and let Granny have a look?”

Huaxin followed, her hand somehow already resting on the hilt of her saber at her waist. The two men outside the temple looked nervous, not daring to even breathe.

But the scene everyone imagined—of the strange girl suddenly attacking and revealing a monstrous face—did not occur.

Yun Miao, thinking this was just part of the story progression, obediently raised both hands like a well-behaved kindergartener.

Granny Hua clearly hadn’t expected this. She paused, then reached out and clasped Yun Miao’s right wrist, her fingers pressing against the throbbing pulse.

After a moment, most of the wariness faded from Granny Hua’s eyes, her voice probing. “You really are alive. Who could be so cruel as to stuff a fifteen-year-old girl into a stone?”

Before Yun Miao could respond, the Male NPC impatiently demanded confirmation. “She’s really a human?”

Yun Miao nodded solemnly. “I am indeed human. I’ve been human for years.”

The Male NPC’s face turned red and black with frustration.

He clenched his fists as if wanting to scold this strange child, but seeing her messy hair, dirty face, and thin little body, he finally just rolled his eyes dramatically at her.

“So it’s just a kid. Even if you didn’t jump out of that stone on purpose, what were you crawling around on the ground for just now? You nearly scared the piss out of me… cough, cough.”

Muttering, he snatched his Token of Affection and steamed buns back from her arms, but after a moment’s thought, tossed two buns back to the odd little girl.

“We’ll reach Black Jiao Ridge tomorrow anyway. Take these two buns as my charity, you little beggar. Eat up and stay put, don’t go crawling around anymore, or I’ll have to teach you a lesson!”

The Tall Thin NPC also took back his belongings with a cold face, leaving her only two pieces of baked flatbread, then went to sit with the Male NPC as far from her as possible.

When she dared to look over at them, the Tall Thin NPC gave a heavy, disdainful snort, trying to make the strange child realize her mistake.

But what they didn’t know was that, in Yun Miao’s mind, Wen Dao Three Thousand was a single-player game she had downloaded.

This world existed for her, the player, and everything in it—NPCs, plot, items—was all meant to please the player.

That, of course, included the exquisitely embroidered, artistic Yuan Yang Dudou. The Male NPC was merely a temporary keeper of it for the player; players never reflect, players only get shocked.

“How can you just take my stuff?”

NPCs in this game could actually rob players?

The Male NPC and Tall Thin NPC stared at her in even greater shock.

“What? I took your stuff?”

“Say that again?!”

Huaxin walked over, looking down at the strange girl who seemed about her own age, her eyes finally showing a hint of youthful energy amid her exasperation.

“If you’ve always had this personality… then I guess I can see why someone stuffed you into a stone.”

Yun Miao frowned, then suspiciously looked up and asked, “Are you insulting me?”

Huaxin: “…No.”

“Oh, that’s good then.”

Since those two NPCs had given her steamed buns and baked flatbread, Yun Miao decided not to go after their bundle anymore. She quietly sat on the ground and organized her own remaining bundle.

She spread out the small cloth, carefully placing the steamed buns, baked flatbread, and hemp rope on it, then clumsily tied it up. The others in the temple watched her pack in silence.

The Male NPC and Tall Thin NPC were still angry at first, but seeing the strange little girl treasure those two hard, dry buns and flatbread—and even treat a length of hemp rope as a precious item—they felt a bit stifled inside.

Huaxin looked at her dirty little face, thin body, and then at the buns and flatbread she had solemnly packed away, frowning again.

Granny Hua just sighed silently. The world was in chaos; she had always known that.

***

“Ah! Monster!!!”

Suddenly, a terrified scream shattered the night’s calm from outside the temple. Everyone was startled, their eyes turning to look past the fallen half-door toward the outside.

Moonlight made the forest grasses shimmer with silver. A figure ran toward the Ruined Temple, shrieking—the same man who had earlier fled shouting “ghost!”

A gigantic spider, as big as a house, burst from the woods in pursuit, its eight hairy legs moving as fast as lightning.

Everywhere it passed, the grass and trees were crushed flat, as if the very mountains and trees were being toppled!

Crows, startled, took flight from the treetops, circling overhead with hoarse, desolate cries. In the distance, the mountains echoed with the howls of wolves.

Then everyone saw the giant spider rear up and shriek, suddenly raising its sharp forelegs.

Swish!

The man dove to the ground, and those spear-like spider legs stabbed deep into the earth, grazing his shoulder!

Taking advantage of the moment, the man rolled and crawled into the temple, his voice even shriller and more terrifying than the crows outside.

“Run! Run! The monster’s here to eat people!”

“It’s a Mountain Spider? How can there be such a huge Mountain Spider here?!”

No time to think. Granny Hua drew her saber in a flash and strode to the temple entrance. Crimson fire coiled around her blade out of thin air, the temperature in the air soaring.

The bright flames made her aged face look all the more severe.

“Evil beast, this is no place for you to run wild! Leave at once!”

The Mountain Spider stopped abruptly, as if it understood human speech, withdrawing the foreleg that had been about to probe into the temple.

But it did not leave. Instead, it lowered its body and stared into the temple, a foul stench wafting in.

It was far too close, already well past the safe distance between humans and monsters. The moonlight outside was completely blocked by its lowered upper body, plunging the temple into darkness.

But with the searing fire on Granny Hua’s saber, everyone could still see the Mountain Spider’s upper body clearly—its body covered in black bristles, eight densely packed, shiny black eyes, and its bizarre, ugly mouthparts… all enough to make one’s skin crawl!

The man who had escaped back inside retreated to the back wall, pale-faced, then pointed excitedly at a broken doghole at the base of the wall.

“What are you all standing there for? Hurry! There’s a hole here—we can crawl out through it!”

The Male NPC and Tall Thin NPC instinctively took a few steps that way, but seeing the old saber-wielder blocking the door, they hesitated again.

Huaxin stood by the bonfire, watching the Mountain Spider’s every move with vigilance, ignoring the man.

The temple was silent. Aside from the man, no one spoke. The Mountain Spider seemed to sense everyone’s determination; its black eyes flashed as it began to back away.

Granny Hua’s face remained severe, but in her heart she breathed a sigh of relief. She was old; unless necessary, she really didn’t want to fight this Mountain Spider.

But in the next second, the Mountain Spider suddenly turned sideways, its massive, bloated body climbing up the temple wall and disappearing from sight!

They couldn’t see it anymore, but the walls of the temple began to tremble ever so slightly. Dust drifted down from the walls and beams.

In the quiet night, the constant rustling of the spider’s legs scraping against the walls grated on everyone’s nerves, making their scalps tingle and their backs go cold.

Where was it? Where had it gone? What was it planning to do?!

Everyone’s eyes involuntarily followed the vibrations and sounds along the wall. Crash—a few roof tiles suddenly fell from above, smashing to pieces on the temple floor. The beams groaned under the strain.

The Male NPC and Tall Thin NPC were already holding their breath, heads tilted back stiffly, terror in their eyes as the Mountain Spider’s cluster of eyes appeared in a hole in the northwest corner of the temple.

At a glance, they looked like sparkling “stars” in the night!

“Ahhh! Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me!!!”

The man who had first been chased by the Mountain Spider screamed inhumanly, his nerves shattered. Standing by the doghole in the back wall, he shouted at everyone again.

“Hurry! Hurry and escape with me through here! If we don’t move, this Ruined Temple will be crushed by that spider monster, and then it’ll eat us all!”

Huaxin barked coldly, “Shut up! You saw how fast the Mountain Spider was just now. If it really wanted to chase us, we’d never outrun it. Our only chance is to fight back with all we’ve got!”

As she spoke, she drew the saber from her waist and strode toward Granny Hua, who stood by the entrance.

The man shrieked, “You can’t go out the front! It’ll eat you all!”

The Male NPC and Tall Thin NPC clutched their bundles, looking left and right, not knowing whom to listen to. As they hesitated, a figure suddenly crawled toward the doorway.

Huaxin looked approvingly at the strange girl, but in the next second saw her suddenly squeeze Granny Hua aside and plop herself down right where Granny Hua had been standing.

She clearly had no intention of charging out to fight the Mountain Spider.

Instead, she quickly took off her straw sandals, raised one in her right hand, and, aiming at the empty ground outside the threshold, gave a crisp ‘smack’ with the sole.

Huaxin: ???

Everyone else who saw this: ???