The message from Chao Musheng set the hundreds-strong group chat abuzz. Some asked what had happened, others inquired about which tourist was involved, and a few even sent voice messages spanning dozens of seconds. Within minutes, over a hundred messages flooded the chat.
[Old De, Descendant of Lu Ban: Stop spamming! I can’t see what Musheng said!]
[Xiufang: Sounds like there’s a bad person in our village.]
[Old Rong Selling Free-Range Eggs: Yeah, a criminal disguised as a tourist snuck into our village.]
[San Dandan: Uncle Rong, do you still have any free-range eggs left?]
[Xiufang: Who? Who are they talking about?]
The group chat was in chaos. Chao Musheng merely swatted at the mosquitoes on his legs while the discussion inside escalated into a heated debate over whether the criminal was a human trafficker or a spy.
Worried they’d soon start speculating about an alien invasion, Chao Musheng quickly summarized the incident in the chat.
It might just be a coincidence, but when it came to children’s safety, no precaution was too small.
[Brother Qiang the Fierce: That brat actually dared to sneak into the fishpond for a swim? I’m going to teach him a lesson right now!]
Xiaoyou and Fatty, pretending to be tourists, walked around the village but couldn’t find any household mourning a recent death.
Chaojiawan Village wasn’t particularly large, with most residents sharing the surname Chao. It had a community center, a clinic, and was the picture of tranquility.
If not for the occasional mission prompts, they might have mistaken this for a peaceful, real world.
"Pretty lady, you dropped your hairpin."
A little girl with a tiny ponytail ran up to Xiaoyou, her small, tender palm holding out the hairpin. Her eyes were bright and clear, filled with the innocence of a child.
"Thank you," Xiaoyou said, taking the hairpin. Her fingertips brushed against the girl’s palm.
It was warm.
"You’re welcome!" The little girl beamed at the gratitude, tilting her head before skipping back to her friends, her ponytail swaying like a butterfly fluttering in the night.
"Xiaoyou, why are you spacing out?" Fatty noticed her staring at the girl’s retreating figure and assumed she was scared. He lowered his voice. "Don’t worry. Her favorability toward me is 45. Yours must be even higher."
As long as an NPC’s favorability toward a player was above 20, they wouldn’t attack.
Xiaoyou clutched the hairpin, still feeling the lingering warmth from the girl’s palm.
"I just…"
She didn’t know what to say. Her chest felt tight.
Fatty wanted to say more but stopped when he heard faint footsteps ahead. His face instantly broke into a friendly smile. "Chaojiawan Village isn’t just welcoming—even the kids are adorable and polite. What a rare gem. We should definitely come back—"
He cut himself off, as if just noticing the approaching figure.
When he saw who it was, Fatty paused, then grinned. "Hey, handsome. Fancy meeting you here."
"Hello again." Chao Musheng recognized them. "Had dinner yet?"
"We have. The village food is delicious," Fatty replied smoothly. "We were just taking a stroll to enjoy the night scenery."
Fatty tried to pry useful information from the young man, but all he got were recommendations on where to eat, the best fishing spots, and the most photogenic locations.
Unsure of the young man’s identity, Fatty didn’t dare push further, afraid of raising suspicion.
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching wail echoed from the distance.
Something was happening!
The sound seemed to be coming from… the direction of the farmhouse inn.
Fatty noticed Chao Musheng wasn’t startled by the cries—in fact, the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
A chill shot up Fatty’s spine.
"Hey, is someone crying?" Xiaoyou shivered despite the warm summer night.
"Just a naughty kid getting what he deserved," Chao Musheng explained kindly, noticing their unease. "Nothing serious."
Fatty and Xiaoyou forced a laugh. "Oh, is that so?"
Who would believe that?
The two hurried away. Chao Musheng opened the "Chaojiawan Love and Harmony" group chat on his phone.
Many were reminding parents to discipline their kids for sneaking into the water.
A minute later, a parent responded.
[Brother Qiang the Fierce: Thanks for the heads-up. Already on it.]
[Brother Qiang the Fierce: (Photo of mud-covered kid) (Photo of reddened palm) (Photo of tear-streaked face)]
"The crying stopped?" Fatty halted, listening carefully. "It was definitely from the farmhouse."
Xiaoyou gripped the hairpin, her face pale. "Maybe it really was just…"
"This is a dungeon world," Fatty sneered. "NPCs are all monsters."
He checked the time. "Five minutes till ten. Let’s regroup."
Xiaoyou nodded silently.
The players came from different guilds—neither allies nor enemies, just mutually suspicious. Any cooperation was purely for the mission.
Luckily, they’d been assigned to the same guesthouse, allowing them to pretend to be casual acquaintances chatting.
As soon as they entered, Thin Man spoke first. "Find anything useful?"
"No one in the village has died recently," Fatty said simply, then glanced at the others.
"The village has a custom of keeping the deceased for three days before burial," Lone Man said flatly, flicking his lighter. "Even if someone dies tonight, we can’t attend a funeral within two days."
"So you’re saying this mission is impossible?" The couple in the corner looked grim.
Lone Man didn’t answer, just toyed with his lighter.
Fatty and Xiaoyou’s companion hesitated but stayed silent.
Thin Man scoffed. "Who says it’s impossible? There’s always a way."
The companion frowned but still didn’t speak.
"Fine, I’ll say it." Thin Man smirked, shooting a pointed look at the couple—still bitter about how they’d stepped on him earlier to curry favor with NPCs. "There’s another custom here. If a child dies, they must be buried within two days."
"But there aren’t any sick kids in the village—"
"Killing a random NPC shouldn’t cause too much trouble," Thin Man cut Xiaoyou off. "There are plenty of kids here. One’s bound to wander off alone tomorrow."
Xiaoyou protested. "No—"
Fatty clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her aside. "We’ll follow Thin Man’s lead."
Thin Man nodded in satisfaction. Only after everyone dispersed did Fatty release Xiaoyou. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll gather more intel from the villagers."
Xiaoyou returned to her room in a daze. The moon hung high outside her window. She stood by the sill, staring blankly at a family of three grilling by the fishpond.
Since entering the infinite dungeons, she’d encountered countless eerie, unnatural NPCs. It had been so long since she’d seen something so… normal.
Everything felt so normal that it unconsciously made her reminisce about her family and friends, missing the mundane life she once had.
On the small path beside the homestay, two elderly women who had just finished square dancing at the community center passed by, and the name they mentioned caught Xiaoyou’s attention.
"No wonder she flaunts it so much. If my grandson got into Jinghua University and brought me gifts every time he came home, I’d show off even more than her."
"Chaomusheng has always been sharp-witted—who in the neighboring villages can compare? Didn’t he fix your phone last time it acted up?"
"Ah, I’m just envious, that’s all."
"Some things you just can’t envy. I remember Chaomusheng’s mother was the city’s top scorer in the college entrance exams, and his father’s a university professor. That kind of intelligence is hereditary..."
The two women gradually walked away, and Xiaoyou didn’t close the window until their voices faded completely.
The Chaomusheng they mentioned must be the young man who had helped her on the bus earlier.
A mother who was the city’s top scorer, a professor father, and what sounded like the prestigious Jinghua University.
The identity settings for NPCs in this instance were far more intricate than any she’d encountered before.
After taking a stroll outside, Chaomusheng ended up with ten mosquito bites. By the time he finished showering, his phone was flooded with over a hundred messages—all photos from his roommates’ trip.
He randomly opened one. In their group photo, a red banner with his name hung in the background, and the area around them was packed with tourists. They didn’t feel awkward—he was the one cringing from outside the frame.
[Roommate #1: Fourth Bro, even though you ditched us, we included you in the photo. Aren’t we the most heartwarming brothers in the world? @Twilight]
[Roommate #3: Remember to bring us loquats and cherries!]
[Roommate #2: @Twilight You went back to your hometown last minute—is everything okay there?]
[Twilight: Everything’s fine @Roommate #2. The photo’s great—next time, don’t. @Roommate #1 And stop thinking about food @Roommate #3.]
After replying, Chaomusheng heard his grandparents returning home and settled into bed, relieved.
Even though he hadn’t gone on the trip with his roommates, avoiding the tourist crowds wasn’t so bad.
The next morning, the Thin Man inexplicably felt like something was watching him. But when he used his tool to investigate, there was nothing there.
He wandered around the village in circles, taking two full laps before finally spotting two children under a cherry tree.
"Hey, kids." The Thin Man crouched beside them. "I think I saw you at the school gate last time I went to see Teacher Wang."
He remembered clearly—that pretty-faced Chaomusheng had used the same trick on kids.
The two cherry-picking children ignored him.
"You’re so diligent, helping your family pick fruit. What are your names? Next time I see Teacher Wang, I’ll make sure to praise you." When the kids stayed silent, the Thin Man tried leaning in slowly.
But before he could take two steps, a powerful force slammed into him from behind, sending him flying.
The Thin Man didn’t even have time to make a sound before three or four burly men pinned him to the ground.
"Our school doesn’t even have a Teacher Wang." The two kids hid behind Chaomusheng, clinging to his legs and sticking their tongues out at the Thin Man. "Haha, liar! We’d never fall for that."
With a mouthful of dirt and weeds, the Thin Man couldn’t understand how he’d been suspected before even doing anything.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
At the township police station, the veteran officer, who had just returned from an overnight call and finally managed to nap, was jolted awake by the phone. He answered while shaking his trainee, Little Lin, awake.
"Got it. We’ll head to the scene right away."
"Boss, whose dog ran away this time? Or was it another dug-up field ridge?" Little Lin groggily put on his cap, his dark circles heavier than a vengeful ghost’s.
"Big case. Chaojiawan Village caught a possible child trafficker. Go wake two more officers—we’re heading out together."
"Chaojiawan Village?" Little Lin was confused. Hadn’t Chaojiawan Village been buried in a landslide during the Dragon Boat Festival, with the entire village wiped out?
He shook his head and checked his phone. May 2nd—tomorrow was the festival.
He must’ve hallucinated from sleep deprivation.
Kids of Chaojiawan Village: Stranger talks to me? No! No!
