During the day, Song Cheng and the three women had breakfast and then quietly made their way to the outer edges of the mountain forest.
Leaving his wife at home alone was something Song Cheng couldn't bring himself to do. Although he lacked combat experience, he had watched his fair share of television in his previous life... Thus, he wasn't unfamiliar with the plotline of "women left at home only to have their home plundered."
He glanced back; the three women each held the knives, sickles, and axes of the third-ranking leaders, with combat powers respectively being "2~2," "2~2," and "0~0."
Song Cheng took a look at Nan Hui, who still had a combat power of "0~0," even holding an axe.
Well...
Perhaps the axe was blunt...
The group traversed mountains and valleys, with the cold winter wind carrying both the sunlight and the chilling mix of stale and rotten mud in the air, which seemed to come from the bodies of dead beasts that had rotted away ages ago...
Guan Xi suddenly spoke up, saying, "Mr. Song..."
Song Cheng hurriedly waved his hand, replying, "I'm just a country bumpkin, not worthy of being called Mr."
Guan Xi asked, "If I may be so bold, what level have you reached in your practice?"
Song Cheng was taken aback, and then asked, "Just some random practice by a countryman, tell me about it Miss Guan. What are the levels?"
Guan Xi explained, "Martial Artists have three realms: Power, Force, and Form.
Among them, Power is external, the strength of flesh and blood.
Force is internal, nourished by flesh and blood.
For example, if Power were the force to charge with heavy cavalry, then Force would be the fine iron spear held by the heavy cavalryman.
As for Form... Forgive my ignorance, I've heard the name, but I do not understand its essence."
Upon hearing this, the woman from the east nearby became very respectful and also felt a slight sense of inferiority.
Oh dear, city people.
They are so well-informed and eloquent.
Song Cheng was also surprised.
His character panel clearly showed "Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow, Grade A, B, C, D," so what was this "Power, Force, Form" about?
If it corresponded to "Yellow Armor, Yellow Level Grade B, Yellow Level Grade C, Yellow Level Grade D," wasn't there one missing?
But if it was a correspondence from the base, then it did match up.
So, he said, "Oh, then I am still at the level of Power."
Guan Xi said, "Even within the Power Realm, Mr. Song is not weak. The bandit from before was on the verge of breaking into the higher levels of the Power Realm."
Song Cheng said, "I ambushed him."
Guan Xi: ...
...
They set out in the morning and did not reach the front of the mountain until evening.
On the way, the woman from the east would frequently exclaim, "There are wild vegetables there, wait for me to cut some," "Hey, those frozen mushrooms would be a waste not to gather," "Wow, why is there Fire Mother Grass here? Just use it to make tea, and a single sip will keep you warm all night..."
That is the "Herb Gathering Syndrome" of a herbal-gathering woman...
By the time the four arrived at the front mountain, the woman from the east had already cut quite a bit with the third-ranking leader's knife, filling the bamboo basket almost halfway.
The third-ranking leader's knife was quite good, used for close and distant cutting, so naturally, Song Cheng gave it to his own woman.
A moment later, Song Cheng found an old tree with a good view and hid behind it, with the three women lined up behind him.
Through the old tree, in the light of the setting sun, a small settlement was visible.
The bonfire burned brightly, illuminating the surrounding figures; there must have been about two hundred people, including bandits, but mostly villagers.
Song Cheng was stunned for a moment.
So many people?
Tang River Village had no more than three hundred families, and after the conscription of able-bodied men, there were probably just over eight hundred people left.
To be able to survive in such large numbers within a forbidden realm where one wanders at the brink of the forbidden...
Song Cheng then asked, "Miss Guan, how many bandits are there?"
Guan Xi answered without hesitation, "Fifty-six... Many of them died in the village, then some fled from the front of the village, while others ran over here. Excluding the third-ranking leader, there are only eight left here."
Song Cheng found it even more incredible.
There were actually those who had fled from the front of the village?
Then Yune had killed even fewer people.
In his memory, once trapped in "Endless Hell's" forbidden realm, it would be considered extremely lucky for one out of ten people to escape, and complete annihilation was the norm.
Apart from a few lucky survivors, there was only one real chance.
That was: Reappearance.
"Reappearance" was a term used by players on the "Endless Hell" gaming forum.
It refers to the original "programming" experiences of the source of the forbidden realm.
Everyone who enters might be swept into a "Reappearance" at any moment, becoming one of the characters.
If you betray your character's role, the forbidden will instantly kill you, and if you wait until the end of the Reappearance, you will also be wiped out.
The only chance is to seek a way to survive by "role-playing..."
This was the experience derived by the hardcore gamers on the "Endless Hell" gaming forum in the early days of the game, staying up all night. The game was truly addictive, and with virtual reality goggles on, it was like entering a horror film. Gamers tired of ordinary leveling games eagerly awaited such a stimulating and diverse game, and they immersed themselves without care for sleep or food.
...
Yune, on one hand, was a newly created forbidden; on the other hand, the process of becoming a forbidden had not gone smoothly for her, since she had been interrupted by Song Cheng, an interruption born of good intentions, but could it have weakened Yune's original power?
With all these thoughts flickering through his mind, Song Cheng stopped dwelling on baseless speculations, and started to patiently observe the people coming and going from the camp below.
The bandits naturally acted like lords.
Even though there were many villagers, none dared to act rashly, at the beck and call of the bandits.
And the village girls with even a slight hint of beauty had already been claimed by the bandits, becoming private possessions, and taken with them wherever they went.
Just as Guan Xi and Nan Hui had previously followed the third-ranking leader.
Lines of data flashed before Song Cheng's eyes.
"0~0" was the most common.
A few were "3~5", "4~6", and the like.
Song Cheng observed until it got dark and continued to observe.
The three women stood behind him in astonishment, trying to follow his gaze, but all they saw was pitch darkness, unable to make out anything.
Guan Xi reminded him, "Mr. Song, they've all gone into tents."
"Where did the tents come from?"
Meticulous as ever, Song Cheng asked again.
Guan Xi replied, "They sent people into the village to get them. Usually, if three go, only one comes back; sometimes, it's one out of four.
In addition to tents, they also took some coarse grain flour and the like. They all fetched from the houses closest to the back mountain, grabbed what they needed, and returned immediately."
Song Cheng: ???
Three go, but only one comes back?
Indeed, that Miss Yune isn't fierce...
He nodded and continued to observe.
In fact, his confidence had started to rise steadily with his observation.
The strongest person in the camp below was just a "4~6".
Whereas, he was a "16~29".
This battle, should he be able to fight it?
Song Cheng decided to take action.
But he needed to choose the right moment.
...
So, he turned around and shared the plan with the three women.
The lady from the east brought out cold meat she'd brought along, shared it with everyone, and then took out a red-leafed grass from the bamboo basket. She soaked it in water, took a sip herself, then passed it to the others.
The night deepened...
The sky in the deep mountains was ever-changing.
There was moonlight just a moment ago, but suddenly, a demonic wind stirred up, blowing sand and stones.
The moon was hidden, and thick clouds silently drifted by, bringing about a swift snowfall.
In the pitch-black world, anyone walking here would be as blind as a bat.
Song Cheng simply closed his eyes, and the monochromatic world once again appeared before him, where no piece of data could escape his eyes.
The lightless night could affect anyone, yet it couldn't affect him.
Song Cheng, accompanied by the three women, moved closer to the tents, then pulled out his wolfskin knife sheath and stealthily approached from the downwind direction through the wind and snow...
He caught the nearest tent, peered through the fabric to pinpoint one of the data points that indicated a lack of goodwill and was obviously a bandit, channeled strength into his arm, twisted his body, and his knife sliced through the air.
Shh!
The tent was pierced, and the person behind it was skewered to the ground.
The village girl who was sleeping next to the bandit didn't notice a thing.
Song Cheng's movements were swift: as the knife lifted, it fell, and as it fell, it was lifted again.
In the flying snow of the night, his heart pounded furiously as he carried out the slaughter with immense tension.
Finally, villagers from Tang River Village began to scream in terror amidst the darkness.
But by then, Song Cheng had already killed all the bandits.
The tension in the depths of his heart abated somewhat, and just as he was sheathing his knife, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.
Off to the west, in the direction of Tang River Village, there seemed to be... something spying on him.
'Is it Yune?'
...
...
The cold river flowed, its bed littered with numerous corpses.
The rotting, soaked bodies were curiously intact.
A woman in green stood on the river's surface amid the light snow.
She was gazing towards the east.
What she was looking at was unclear.
After suppressing her killing impulse and letting go of some villagers, her memory finally began to peel away rapidly.
What remained was only the "operating system" of a ghost, or perhaps, wisps of memory buried in the deepest recesses of her shell.
Suddenly...
One of the corpses on the riverbed floated up.
The bloated body seemed to belong to a criminal with a face full of scars and was extremely robust.
If Guan Xi and Nan Hui were present, they would've recognized him as the bandits' boss.
As the boss's body floated to the surface, the woman in green stared at him unblinkingly.
Suddenly, like a soulless vessel, the woman sank into the water, while the boss stood up. His decaying flesh was repaired by a mysterious force, and he looked as alive as before his death.
His fierce eyes flipped open, revealing a ghastly white devoid of any life.
Mists thicker than the fog that had shrouded the village before began to spread from the river, expanding into the surroundings...
Taboos have their "programming," and also their "loading."
And the more powerful the vessel, the more it can unleash the power of the forbidden.