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Song Cheng remembered that in the "Endless Hell" player forum, the arrival of the forbidden followed three steps: programming, loading, and running.
The most uncertain of these was "running," that is, under what conditions the forbidden would kill.
The most predictable... was "programming."
Though the specific details of "programming" were unknown, the forum listed two necessary conditions for it.
First, intense mental changes such as resentment and pain.
Where a forbidden arises, there must have been a significant amount or an acute occurrence of injustice and curses.
Second, a sparsely populated area.
The world view of "Endless Hell" had always been mysterious and vast. The game company's intention was to gradually unravel the worldview through updates.
As it happened, after the first update, "Endless Hell" was banned, and the game company vanished. The official explanation was that the company's people made a fortune and fled overseas.
Yet before that, many creative minds on the forum had speculated on what kind of world "Endless Hell" truly represented.
The most accepted theory was that "Endless Hell" was indeed Hell, a world filled with the Yin Qi of the dead. If one place had many living people, their collective energy could create a pocket of life in the Yin world, termed... Filling the Yin.
And if there were no people, it would be a complete Yin Qi world.
The Yin Qi world was a programming system, with intense mental changes as the program code...
When the program code was completed and quantitative change led to qualitative change, then... a small program would be born.
"Programming" would be finished.
In "Endless Hell," all the information about the forbidden was described in "blood red."
Even viewing that information through a screen would reveal clawing fonts and flowing blood.
Before crossing over, Song Cheng naturally thought, "These words were edited to create an atmosphere," but just now, he saw that familiar blood red in the blind man's darkened world.
He quickly glanced at the bottom of the panel, "[Forbidden: Unlocked]."
He breathed quickly, opened his mouth to speak, but found his throat dry and coughed twice to clear it, then said, "Wife, can we move house?"
Tong Jia replied, "Business isn't good here, and these villagers are always haggling.
But, moving isn't easy.
Back when dad was around, he looked into it.
Now, the Dashang Dynasty implements the Baojia system, from the village and above, starting at the county level, it's the same.
Ten households make a Jia, with a Jia leader;
ten Jias make a Bao, with a Bao leader.
If something happens to a household in the Baojia, other residents suffer as well.
Let alone getting into a better Jia, even entering an ordinary Jia isn't easy, and this involves relocating our household registration, dependent on the Village Chief's release.
Previously, dad considered offering the Village Chief some silver, but now... where do we have any silver?"
Song Cheng pondered and said, "If a natural or man-made disaster happens, the county would automatically admit the villagers, right?"
Tong Jia said, "That's settling refugees... how they're settled and where is up to the officials to decide. Besides, where's the disaster?"
Suddenly, Song Cheng gripped her shoulders tightly.
"What are you doing?" Tong Jia was startled.
Song Cheng gravely said, "Wife, do you believe I can see dirty things?"
The air suddenly fell silent.
Just as Tong Jia was about to speak, a voice came from outside, "Doctor Tong, I need a consultation..."
Song Cheng turned his head.
The village's cold wind outlined a white-lined silhouette of a woman outside.
[Strength: 0~0]
[Affection: 80]
And this voice...
Song Cheng knew from past memories that it belonged to a woman named Yune in the village, no more than twenty-three or twenty-four years old, a woman who came from the Prefectural City. Her marriage was quite the sensation then, with every family rushing to see what city ladies looked like; the result was... delicate skin and graceful beauty.
The reason the city lady agreed to leave her family and marry into the village was due to her husband.
Her husband practiced martial arts, well-built, and handsome, a figure whom anyone in town would praise as "the pride of Tang River Village." Early this year, when the army drafted soldiers, her husband of course went. Afterwards, letters came back reporting he fared well in the army, having become a bodyguard for a general. Yune was happy, becoming even more filial to her mother-in-law.
But, not long ago, news came back that the army was defeated, and her husband died in battle.
Clearly, she was a pitiful person.
"Miss Yun, have a seat."
Tong Jia quite liked Yune.
Yune walked in with a face full of sorrow, then said, "Doctor Tong, my mother-in-law is sick and very ill. A few days ago she was fine, even able to eat, but today she suddenly couldn't get out of bed, only chanting Yong's name."
Yong was her husband.
At the mention of "Yong," tears flowed freely, streaking down her soft skin, making her look like a delicate beauty.
Tong Jia quickly stood up and said, "Alright, I'll pack up and go with you."
She grabbed a small bag, putting a few commonly used consultation items neatly inside, then instructed, "Brother Cheng, watch the house."
Song Cheng nodded.
Tong Jia and Yune hurried off.
Near dusk, Tong Jia returned briefly, prepared five packets of medicine, a gourd of medicinal wine, and helped deliver them.
When she returned again, it was almost dark.
Song Cheng shut the door.
Once it was dark in the village, the clinic would close.
The darkening blood-red afterglow spilled through the oiled paper window, casting a misty light in the medicine-scented room.
Tong Jia took out a small piece of silver, shaking it in the sunset light, then grabbed it tightly, carefully placing it in the money box and said, "Yune's family does have money."
"How much?"
"No haggling, gave two coins of silver!" Tong Jia beamed.
Two coins were equivalent to two hundred copper coins.
Song Cheng furrowed his brow.
Tong Jia asked, "What's wrong?"
Song Cheng said, "Do you think... Yune always doesn't haggle?"
Tong Jia said, "What's wrong? Not haggling now becomes a flaw in your eyes?
Everyone has it tough; I quote fair prices, medicines are honest, why would they need to haggle?"
Song Cheng shook his head, saying nothing further; such matters were purely his worry.
...
Night fell.
Perhaps after rejuvenating yesterday or earning copper coins today, they were exceptionally fervent...
The bed's four legs didn't rest on the floor but on relatively flat, albeit slightly uneven, dirt, the earthy smell mixing with the cold wind seeping through window cracks, and that "squeaking" sound, as if fanning the "alchemy furnace," like flames inside burning.
The fire burned ever more fiercely.
For a long time...
The intensity abruptly calmed.
Song Cheng was exhausted.
Tong Jia, perhaps feeling strong drafts through the window, got up with bare legs, donning her embroidered shoes, moved the Bamboo Basket to block the window, then hurried back, swiftly slipping under the covers, stretching her cold legs against Song Cheng.
Tong Jia rested her chin on her hand, smiling, "Let's not think about moving for now. Once I've earned more silver, I'll buy meat to nourish you."
Song Cheng was speechless.
Tong Jia added, "Earlier you said you could see dirty things, is it true?"
Song Cheng nodded.
Tong Jia asked, "What do they look like? Where are they?"
Song Cheng said, "I can't see their form but feel the chilling aura. It hasn't formed yet, just by the old tree to the west of the door... that's why I mentioned moving house."
Knowing her husband was frail and faint-hearted, prone to suspicion, Tong Jia comforted, "Don't worry, your wife ventures in and out of the mountains. If dirty things were to appear, it would've happened already.
I heard they target the weak.
With your wife here, our home is full of vitality, no problem."
Saying so, she laughed, playfully clenching her fist.
Song Cheng said nothing more.
Actually, if someone else told him there was a dirty thing outside the door, he wouldn't believe it either.
The fact that Tong Jia listened and even considered moving showed how seriously she took him.
These days, stability was everyone's goal. Unless a bloody or survival-threatening situation surfaced, most wouldn't consider leaving home or changing their lives.
In a chaotic world, every change carried significant risk.
Many people wouldn't leave their village throughout their lives.
Song Cheng checked the progress of the "Pagoda Visualization Method."
He could only hope to improve quickly, allowing him to transcend this body and see the state of the village and the surrounding safety.
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