Just as Bai Ci and Qu Ling were both standing there, lost in their own thoughts...
Xie Lai showed them exactly what the lethal power of pure, naive stupidity looked like.
“Ah! I forgot to tell you! Brother Sang has already been replaced by an alien.” Xie Lai froze on the spot, slapping her thigh in hindsight, her face filled with frustration.
She frantically apologized to Qu Ling, randomly scrambling her sentences and repeating herself four or five times, looking as panicked as could be.
“What alien?” Now it was Bai Ci's turn to act shocked and confused.
Although she already knew this from the Rain's Message panel, in terms of normal investigative logic, she shouldn't know. So she had to play along.
Once she finished apologizing to Qu Ling, Xie Lai used the exact same routine to start apologizing to Bai Ci.
Qu Ling gritted her teeth, glaring at Xie Lai with absolute exasperation and disappointment. “Xie Lai! How on earth could you forget such a crucial instance setting?”
This single question laid bare her inner breakdown.
But now was not the time to get angry or assign blame. The three of them immediately huddled together to quickly compare notes on their recent experiences and piece together the known clues.
Throughout the process, Bai Ci mostly mapped out the framework, Qu Ling filled in the details, and Xie Lai listened quietly on the side, occasionally nodding in agreement.
Within just a few minutes, the three of them had figured out quite a lot.
For example, the village replacement rule.
This was proposed by Bai Ci. Currently, it had only been confirmed within the wedding team; whether the villagers had met with the same fate remained unclear for now.
Another was the identity of the alien species and the truth about the raw honey, which was brought up by Qu Ling.
Tianmi Village's fragrant honey was indeed a bestseller, and it truly possessed the advertised benefits of improving physical constitution, extending lifespan, and enhancing beauty. However, it also contaminated one's spirit, leading to subtle mental derangement.
This reminded Bai Ci of the conversation she had witnessed between Shen Jiayi and Shen Tan when they were impostors.
She wasn't sure about Shen Tan, but Shen Jiayi had clearly told her that Shen Tan had stolen raw honey to drink as a child. It turned out that was when the subtle mental issues had started.
Having finished sorting things out, the frustration and jealousy in Qu Ling's heart were practically overflowing.
She grumbled inwardly. Why did a novice like Xie Lai, who constantly dropped the ball, get to meet a powerful NPC like Bai Ci who could carry the entire run?
With such a powerful NPC who naturally possessed the ability to break any deadlock, if she had been the first to cooperate with Bai Ci, how could she have ended up in this state?
Now she was forced to work with a novice whose logic was full of holes.
At this thought, the way Qu Ling looked at Xie Lai became increasingly complex, a mix of speechlessness, envy, and disdain.
Just as their information exchange drew to a temporary close, the phone in Bai Ci's pocket suddenly vibrated.
It was a notification for a received message.
Bai Ci immediately took out her phone to check. Since they were inside an instance, any message received this late at night was bound to be significant.
Sure enough, when she opened it, it was an urgent text from Shen Jiayi.
When the two of them had first reached a cooperative consensus earlier, they had added each other's contact info to exchange clues later.
The text was brief, but it didn't stop Bai Ci from feeling the overwhelming anxiety and panic radiating from it.
[The old geezers in the village found out about Shen Tan's pregnancy. They believe it's a divine child and want to force its growth to induce an early birth. If this continues, Shen Tan will die.]
Bai Ci's heart sank. She couldn't just sit by and do nothing.
Emotionally, Shen Tan was an innocent victim. She had been violated, manipulated, and treated as a vessel to incubate a monster; she shouldn't have to meet such a tragic end.
Rationally, this was a high-risk instance world, and Gluttony was still glowing in an active, usable state.
If that non-human, abnormal life form in Shen Tan's womb was forced to mature and be born by those old village geezers, what if it turned into a mini-boss?
Her experience with Wisteria told her that even a mini-boss on its own was difficult to deal with. If it then teamed up with the final boss...
How should she put it? Looking at the current lineup, the one best suited for combat seemed to be her Gluttony.
Wang Dong and Qu Ling didn't seem to have combat classes. Especially if the latter wasn't lying, the former was a ticking time bomb who might end up hurting both allies and enemies alike.
As for Xie Lai, she was clearly a complete novice.
Under normal circumstances, one shouldn't expect a novice to do anything to turn the tide of a battle.
No wonder Gluttony had been unsealed from the moment she entered the instance. Was it because the game's balancing point lay in these temporary teammates of hers?
Without hesitating any longer, Bai Ci quickly replied to the text.
[Where is the location? I'm coming over right now. Let's meet up first, then figure out a way to save her.]
[I just came out of Shen Tan's house and am heading down the path behind the village chief's house. Let's meet in front of my house. Remember to bring the item Shen Tan gave you today.] The reply came almost instantly.
Bai Ci immediately put away her phone, briefly informed the other two of the message's contents, and made it clear that she was going to save her.
She didn't hide it, nor did she need to.
The commotion of this matter couldn't possibly be hidden from the other two people in the same room anyway.
Besides, the rescue mission carried unknown dangers; an extra person meant an extra hand.
Furthermore, with the players' bizarre array of items and classes, there might just be something that could play a crucial role at a critical moment.
Hearing this, Qu Ling was the first to respond, agreeing with Bai Ci's plan and stating she would go along.
A divine child, forced growth and birth, an abnormal life form...
Wasn't this the exact hatching process of an instance boss? As a veteran player, this scenario felt all too familiar to her.
Once successful, the consequences would be endless. They had to stop it by any means necessary.
Xie Lai, standing to the side, didn't think so deeply or complexly. She simply trusted Bai Ci.
Since Sister Bai wanted to save her, it meant saving her was probably useful, so they might as well do it.
“We can't go through the front door,” Qu Ling said, immediately entering mission mode as she thought quickly.
“The people across from us have a dog. If we go through the front and accidentally wake it up, its barking will make it impossible for us to leave.”
As she spoke, she turned and walked to the window, picking up her backpack leaning against the wall.
Pretending to rummage through her suitcase to organize her things, she actually quickly retrieved a roll of item hemp rope from her system inventory. It looked incredibly strong and durable, with uniform thickness and excellent weight-bearing capacity.
An item with its own attributes. Its effects would definitely not be worse than an ordinary one.
“The second floor isn't high, and this rope is long enough to reach the ground. Leaving through the window is the stealthiest way and won't leave any traces.”
Xie Lai quickly stepped forward and pushed the window open.
Then, inevitably, she looked directly at the Red Church, which was nestled among the mountain trees.
In the next instant, a wave of red surged before her eyes, blanketing her entire vision. Her thoughts gradually blurred, and she sank into a heavy place where she was completely unable to think.
“What are you doing? Why are you just standing there?” Seeing this, Qu Ling muttered under her breath, “Idiot.”
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