Before Lin Xiao could even ask any questions, Wang Mei, now a middle-aged woman, took charge, her voice filled with urgency and confusion. "What is happening? Are you telling us we are the villagers of this village—the same villagers who disappeared? If that's true, what happened? Please, explain."
The woman took a deep breath, her eyes filled with a mixture of regret and sorrow as she began to explain. "Yes, you are the villagers. All of you. Many years ago, this village was plagued by a terrible drought, and the crops failed. The elders, in their desperation, decided to perform a sacrificial ritual to appease the gods and bring back the rains. But something went horribly wrong."
Lin Xiao listened intently, trying to piece together the story. The woman continued, "The ritual required the sacrifice of a pure soul, but instead of offering a single life, the elders were too greedy, hoping to multiply the blessings. They offered many of us as sacrifices, including the children. But the gods were angered by this greed, and instead of blessing us, they cursed the village."
She paused, her voice trembling as she recounted the events. "The curse trapped us in a never-ending loop of youth, wiping our memories each time the loop restarted. We forgot who we were, why we were here, and lived as if nothing had happened. The village has been stuck in this loop for decades, and each time the loop resets, we are brought back to this moment, unaware of our true identities."
Wang Mei, now visibly aged, looked horrified. "So... we've been reliving the same days over and over again, never aging, never moving on?"
The woman nodded sadly. "Yes, and every time the loop resets, the ritual begins anew. We are forever young, forever searching for a way out, but unable to break free from the curse."
Lin Xiao's mind raced as he processed this new information. A time loop, a cursed village, and the teenagers—or rather, the villagers—were at the center of it all. His character remained silent, allowing the woman to finish her explanation.
"The only way to break the curse," she said softly, "is to undo the ritual that caused it. But no one remembers how to do that... until now." She looked directly at Lin Xiao's character, her eyes filled with a glimmer of hope. "You were sent here for a reason. You must have the power to end this loop, to set us free."
Before Lin Xiao could respond, time stopped, and the options appeared:
[1. Ask her why she doesn't do it herself, cause she remembers everything in the loop too]
[2. Tell her he is not sent by the gods and he can't help them]
[3. Beat her up and ask for the truth]
Lin Xiao rolled his eyes at the third option and selected the first one. Time resumed.
Before Lin Xiao could speak, the mysterious woman muttered, "What the heck was that? Weird-ass feeling..."
Lin Xiao's character, ignoring her confusion, spoke with a stern tone. "If you remember everything each time the loop resets, why haven't you tried to break it yourself? Why wait for someone else to do it?"
The woman's gaze sharpened, and she sighed deeply. "Do you think I haven't tried?" she said, her voice heavy with frustration. "I've lived through every reset, retaining my memories each time. But that's exactly why I can't break the loop. The curse binds me more tightly than anyone else. I was the one who led the ritual, the one who believed we could cheat the gods. My soul is shackled to this cycle as punishment. Every time I try to interfere or change something, the loop resets even faster, erasing any progress. I'm trapped in a cage of my own making."
She looked down at her hands, as if seeing invisible chains. "The gods are cruel. They won't allow the one who caused this to undo it. That's why I prayed for someone like you. An outsider, someone not bound by the curse, someone who can act where I cannot. You're not sent by the gods, but you're here, and that makes you our only hope."
Lin Xiao felt a chill run down his spine. The weight of the situation was sinking in deeper with every word. His character remained composed, but Lin Xiao himself was feeling the pressure. This wasn't just a game anymore—it felt like a responsibility.
"What am I supposed to do then?" Lin Xiao's character asked, his tone serious.
But before the mysterious woman could answer, Wang Mei interjected, her voice trembling. "Wait, wait, wait? I can't believe it. Are you saying we've been stuck in this loop for many years??"
The woman sighed, nodding slowly. "Yes."
Wang Mei's voice quivered with disbelief as she asked, "How many years?"
"One hundred thirty-five years and sixty-five days," the woman replied, her tone heavy with the weight of time.
Wang Mei's old face was a mask of shock, the years suddenly catching up with her as if she could feel every one of them pressing down on her all at once. "So… every loop, we're just here, thinking we're teenagers whose bus broke down and we had to stay in the village?"
The woman nodded again. "Yes."
Lin Xiao watched as Wang Mei struggled to process the truth, her confusion and disbelief etched into every line of her now-aged face.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao's mind was racing. Who exactly was this mysterious woman? How could she sense the game's time stops? And why was she able to reverse the aging on Wang Mei and the others?
As Wang Mei and the woman continued their conversation, Lin Xiao's thoughts drifted to another nagging question.
If this loop thing was true, why hadn't the time reset when he waited for the day? There had to be something more to this—some clue or hidden mechanic in the game that he hadn't uncovered yet.
The mysterious woman's ability to keep her memories despite being part of the loop made her even more intriguing. Was she the key to unraveling this entire mystery, or was she just another piece of a much larger puzzle?
And if the time didn't reset when he waited, did that mean there were certain triggers that controlled the loop?