Chapter 22
by GideonChapter 22: Snow Mountain Town 22—The Feng Shui Here Is To Die For
The moment Jiang Qibai sat up in bed, she spotted a familiar, glossy black figure with two long antennae resting on her pillow.
She stared in disbelief.
[ Imitation Cockroach Quality: D-rank Description: A single-use item. Attracts monster aggro for 30 seconds. Note: A roach-tastic temptation. ]
The good news was that it wasn’t a real cockroach. The bad news was that it was too realistic—even the delicate veins on its wings were clearly visible!
She grabbed a nearby bag and stuffed the Imitation Cockroach inside, hiding it from sight.
The Ugly Cloth Mouse had already vanished. Jiang Qibai glanced at Robbery Cat, whose face bore its eternal, smug smirk. She knew exactly who was behind this prank. In the past, items had only ever appeared on cabinets or bookshelves; this was the first time one had been delivered right to her pillow.
Just then, a message from a friend popped up. It was Sweet and Sour Fish, reminding her not to forget their trade at noon.
Jiang Qibai found the reminder strange. It had only been one night—how could she have possibly forgotten something so important that Sweet and Sour Fish felt the need to remind her?
But as she pulled back the curtains, she understood the hint. Against the gloomy sky, heavy snowflakes drifted through the air, fluttering like moths as they slammed into the windowpane and piled up on the sill.
Hmm… is it too late to back out now?
But she’d already promised Sweet and Sour Fish. Jiang Qibai steeled herself and decided to brave the trip to Central Square.
Fortunately, by the time she’d finished eating and tidying up the safehouse, the snow had stopped. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, turning the snow-covered ground into a dazzling field of silver that was almost too bright to look at.
Jiang Qibai turned back to find her snow goggles and put them on. The snow outside had piled up even deeper. She stepped out in her makeshift snowshoes, which looked like oversized flippers. With each step, the shoes sank slightly into the soft snow, but the surface never rose high enough to spill over the edges. The snowshoes were a success, she thought.
As she drew closer to Central Square, Jiang Qibai noticed more and more fresh footprints. Occasionally, she exchanged distant glances with other Players.
Everyone was bundled up in bulky clothing. Some wore professional snowshoes from an outdoor sports store, while others, like Jiang Qibai, wobbled through the snow in homemade versions crafted from plastic and cardboard. A few inexperienced Players struggled along, their legs sinking deep into the snow with every step, forcing them to heave their lower legs out of the drifts with great effort.
In such conditions, even speaking felt like a waste of energy. The Players merely exchanged silent glances before averting their eyes and continuing on their way.
It took her much longer than usual, but Jiang Qibai finally reached the Central Square. She immediately messaged Sweet and Sour Fish, asking for her exact location.
“I’m under the mermaid statue,” Sweet and Sour Fish replied.
As Jiang Qibai crossed the square, she saw players gathered in small groups, whispering urgently. Even in this brutal weather, a few players still came here to trade. After all, this was the town’s most famous landmark.
To avoid revealing their safehouse locations, players generally avoided trading near their bases, choosing the Central Square instead. Besides, being the “center” of town, it was never too far to reach from anywhere else.
Major players like Sister Huang and Mr. Tree weren’t around to keep the peace today. Without them, the passing players hurried along, never lingering too long for fear of being targeted.
Jiang Qibai spotted Sweet and Sour Fish beneath the statue. She wore a conspicuous, neon-yellow knit hat, her hands tucked into her sleeves as she stamped her feet repeatedly to stay warm. Every time someone drew near, she watched their movements with wary eyes.
Jiang Qibai took a couple of steps closer and pulled off her snow goggles. When Sweet and Sour Fish clearly saw her face, her tense shoulders finally relaxed.
“Am I late?” Jiang Qibai asked, putting her goggles back on. From Sweet and Sour Fish’s expression, it looked like she’d been waiting for a long time.
“No,” Sweet and Sour Fish replied, her breath forming white puffs beneath her scarf. “I’m meeting someone else too, so I just got here early.”
Jiang Qibai skipped the pleasantries and immediately produced an HP Recovery Item. “This one restores 20 HP in a single go. I think its value is higher than several items that only restore 5 or 10 HP.”
Using an item to instantly refill 20 HP was far more efficient than fumbling with several smaller ones. In life-or-death situations, every second saved was another chance at survival. Therefore, Jiang Qibai believed this single item was worth more than two 10-HP or four 5-HP items. If they used the standard exchange rate of two HP per pound of frozen meat, she would be taking a loss.
Sweet and Sour Fish immediately caught on and started haggling. “High-value items have their perks, but smaller ones are more convenient. Sometimes you’ve only lost a little HP; using a big one would be wasteful. The 5-HP and 10-HP items are perfect for that—no waste at all.”
“If only it were that simple,” Jiang Qibai said earnestly.
“I’m not trying to lowball you, it’s just—what?” Sweet and Sour Fish’s words died in her throat. Why wasn’t Jiang Qibai reacting the way she expected?
“Look at the items I brought you! Three that restore ten health points each, and one that restores twenty. The cost-performance ratio is incredible!” Jiang Qibai brought out all four items. “They’re efficient, powerful, and reliable.”
Sweet and Sour Fish opened her mouth to speak, only to find she had no rebuttal.
After a moment’s thought, she said, “I can throw in an extra three jin of pork spine.” The pork spine was the part of the pig’s vertebrae—mostly bone with very little meat. No one wanted it on its own; everyone preferred the meatier, more substantial cuts.
Jiang Qibai hadn’t expected Sweet and Sour Fish to make much of a concession anyway. She decided to accept the offer. “Deal.”
Sweet and Sour Fish pulled an electronic scale from her bracelet and began weighing the meat.
The meat had been pre-cut and frozen, coated in a layer of white frost. The twenty-five jin Jiang Qibai received consisted of some ribs, some pork belly, and two jin of pork lard.
In the apocalypse, fat was never despised. In this freezing weather, you couldn’t survive without some grease in your belly. Besides providing energy, lard could be used to make oil lamps, smeared on hands and feet to prevent frostbite and skin cracking, or even used as a temporary lubricant for machinery. It was truly multifunctional.
After confirming the weight was correct, Jiang Qibai stored the frozen meat into her spatial bracelet.
“You’re leaving Snow Mountain Town soon, aren’t you?” she asked casually.
Sweet and Sour Fish stuffed her hands into her pockets, not surprised at all that Jiang Qibai had guessed correctly. She nodded. “The day after tomorrow.”
“Then I wish you get another D-rank Dungeon next time,” Jiang Qibai said, offering the blessing every Player craved.
Sweet and Sour Fish could only manage a wry smile. “Thanks for the well-wishes, but I’m afraid I’m headed for a C-rank one.”
“Is there a way to find out what your next Dungeon will be in advance?” Jiang Qibai asked, puzzled. She had never heard of any method from other Players to learn the rank of their next Dungeon beforehand.
“I had a Player with a Divination skill predict it for me,” Sweet and Sour Fish explained, revealing a method Jiang Qibai had never even considered.
“Aren’t you afraid of being scammed?” In Jiang Qibai’s eyes, this sounded like one of those “guaranteed baby boy” scams—where they’d offer a full refund if you had a girl. It was a goldmine with zero risk for the scammer because by the time you’d find out the prediction was wrong, you’d already been teleported to another Dungeon. Even if you wanted to settle the score, you’d never find them.
“Each person can only perform a divination once every so often, and there’s a high chance of failure. Plus, they charge the same price regardless of whether the divination yields a result,” Sweet and Sour Fish explained. “And you don’t get concrete information like the Dungeon’s name or rank. It’s all just vague descriptions. My result just happened to match up perfectly with a C-rank Dungeon.”
The moment Jiang Qibai received the grim news, she immediately began preparing for her next Dungeon—gathering more supplies, buying HP Recovery Items, and so on.
“Do you want me to recommend this Player to you?” Sweet and Sour Fish was quite confident in the divination results. In her view, Skills were granted by the System, and being teleported to a Dungeon was also a System operation. Therefore, it was completely reasonable for a Player with a Divination Skill to predict the System’s actions.
Jiang Qibai thanked Sweet and Sour Fish for her kind offer but declined.
Since the information was so vague, and as a Dungeon newcomer, Jiang Qibai knew very little about other Dungeons. She couldn’t deduce which one she would be sent to, making it impossible to prepare.
Sweet and Sour Fish still had to wait for other Players to come to the Central Square for trades, so Jiang Qibai said her goodbyes and left first.
Today’s daily quest was to kill five Shadow Ghosts, which wasn’t too difficult. Jiang Qibai planned to complete the quest on her way back to the Safehouse.
While Jiang Qibai was diligently slaying Shadow Ghosts, a group of people walked out of a Tower that bore the marks of history, looking utterly dejected.
“We failed again…” Suisui An said gloomily. “That guy is like a turtle hiding in its shell. We couldn’t break his defense at all.”
“Thank goodness he sends us out every time,” Fried Tomato sighed. “Otherwise, we’d be trapped there until we died.”
“His emotions only fluctuate wildly when Shadow Ghosts are involved,” Xingshan recalled. “But that’s still not enough.”
“Someone’s coming,” Suisui An interrupted, and the group quickly ducked into a nearby building to hide.
Sure enough, a large group marched toward the Tower. Their leader’s ID displayed as [Old Snake]. One of the players in their party was dragging a Shadow Ghost, bound as tightly as a crab. The ghost struggled incessantly, but it couldn’t break free from its restraints.
Xingshan’s expression darkened. The information she had gathered was available to everyone else, and they had acted on it faster than her team.
The group watched as the newcomers pushed open the Tower’s main doors, their eyes filled with disappointment. But the moment the others disappeared inside, a dark shape was suddenly flung out of the building.
“Haha, the Shadow Ghost got kicked out!” Fried Tomato started to grin, but his smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. “That means our plan won’t work either.”
Their only idea had been to bring a Shadow Ghost inside.
But the “turtle” inside was playing defense perfectly, shutting down that possibility from the start.
“If only there were a special Item or Skill that could force a Shadow Ghost inside,” Hugo mused.
Suisui An suddenly snapped to attention. “I know a Player whose Skill seems to be related to Shadow Ghosts.”
Jiang Qibai received an unexpected message from Suisui An.
Bai Qi, can you control Shadow Ghosts?
The question was a bit presumptuous, which wasn’t like Suisui An at all. She always had a keen sense of boundaries and never overstepped.
Jiang Qibai hesitated for a moment before replying: I have a related ability. What’s wrong?
She didn’t bother hiding it. First, her Beast Tamer talent had already been revealed multiple times, so it was hardly a secret. Second, Suisui An had once helped her capture a Mutated Shadow Ghost, meaning she had already guessed the nature of her ability. Denying it would be pointless.
We’ve run into some trouble and want to see if your ability can solve it. Don’t worry, the price is negotiable. Whether you want supplies or items, we’ll do our best to meet your demands.
What kind of trouble requires my ability to control Shadow Ghosts? Jiang Qibai was completely bewildered. No matter how strong a Mutated Shadow Ghost was, Suisui An and her team were veteran players who could take on several of them at once. What could a single Shadow Ghost do that they couldn’t?
Jiang Qibai wouldn’t agree to such a vague proposal, no matter how many rewards they offered.
Seeing her cold demeanor, Suisui An decided to be more direct. “You’ve seen the Blood Terracotta in the inn, right? We’re preparing to take on another one. To kill it, we need to shatter the Dreamscape it’s currently constructing. We suspect bringing a Shadow Ghost will help.”
“All you need to do is help us break the Dreamscape. We’ll handle the rest of the fight.”
“That’s just a guess,” Jiang Qibai countered, instantly spotting the trap. “If you fail to break the Dreamscape, won’t I be trapped inside with you?”
“You’ve killed a Blood Terracotta?” Suisui An asked, surprised. The detail Jiang Qibai mentioned was something only someone who had faced a Blood Terracotta would know. Yet just a few days ago, Jiang Qibai had been completely clueless, asking her about the Blood Terracotta’s corpse in the inn.
“I’ve encountered two,” Jiang Qibai lied, counting the Incomplete Body. She wanted to show them she wasn’t some naive newbie they could easily deceive.
Suisui An was stunned. A Dungeon newcomer who had already participated in two battles against Blood Terracottas and escaped unscathed? That was far beyond mere luck.
“You might not know this, but this Blood Terracotta is a special case,” Suisui An explained. “If you can’t break its Dreamscape in time, you’ll be kicked out. We’ve already gone in twice and came out completely unscathed. How else would we know the key to breaking the stalemate is the Shadow Ghost?”
“If you don’t believe me, come to the Town Tower right now. I can prove it to you.”
Jiang Qibai’s current location was indeed close to the Tower.
She decided to go and see.
She had a pretty good impression of Suisui An and her group. If they weren’t hiding anything, they might be worth cooperating with.
Jiang Qibai quickly reached the vicinity of the Tower. As soon as Suisui An saw her, she pulled her into a building that offered a clear view of the Tower’s main entrance.
There were many familiar faces here: Xingshan, Hugo, Fried Tomato, and a Player Jiang Qibai hadn’t met before, whose ID was [Shuikaibai].
“Can you really summon a Shadow Ghost?” Fried Tomato asked, sizing Jiang Qibai up skeptically.
Although Jiang Qibai had healed him before, Fried Tomato had been unconscious at the time and had never actually seen her. After so many days, Fried Tomato showed no trace of the dying man Jiang Qibai had seen at the inn’s entrance. He was now full of energy.
“Look behind you.”
The Shadow Ghost employee appeared out of nowhere, pressing right up against Fried Tomato’s back. Feeling the sudden movement, Fried Tomato practically leaped three meters away in a reflexive jump, his weapon already gripped in his hand.
“Why didn’t you warn me first!” he complained.
“I did warn you. And you were the one who wanted to test it,” Jiang Qibai said flatly.
Xingshan tried to smooth things over. “Stop messing around, Tomato. I think they’re about to come out.” She pointed toward the Tower’s main entrance.
“What are we waiting for?” Jiang Qibai asked, confused.
“Another group is trying to take down the Blood Terracotta inside the Tower. They just went in a while ago,” Xingshan explained. “Once they’re expelled, it will prove that this Blood Terracotta’s Dreamscape can’t trap Players.”
Jiang Qibai waited with the others, still skeptical.
About ten minutes later, an invisible force violently ejected seven or eight people from the Tower’s main entrance.
One of them, a middle-aged man, had a label floating above his head: [ Player: Old Snake | Status: Good ]
“Old Snake?” Jiang Qibai blurted out.
“You know Old Snake?” Xingshan asked, her surprise evident.
She and Old Snake had been taking turns leading teams into the Tower over the past couple of days, neither wanting to give the other an advantage. If Jiang Qibai and Old Snake were acquainted, it made no sense for Old Snake not to have reached out to her first.
“I’ve just heard of him,” Jiang Qibai said, keeping her answer brief. “He’s recruiting Healers, and someone asked me on his behalf.”
Shuikaibai, standing nearby, chimed in. “Old Snake’s crew completely forgets about their Healers the moment a fight gets intense. Anyone willing to run with them is just trading their life for money.”
His tone dripped with contempt. Jiang Qibai guessed he was the Healer currently on Xingshan’s team.
Basic information confirmed. Now for the price negotiation.
Xingshan asked Jiang Qibai if she wanted Points, Supplies, or an Item.
Jiang Qibai chose the Item. “Do you have anything that improves Safehouse defense?”
The lingering dread from the last intruder had yet to fade. Now, whenever she ventured too far from her Safehouse, she couldn’t help but imagine someone attacking it while she was too far away to return in time.
“I will,” Xingshan offered. Even if summoning a Shadow Ghost failed to break the Blood Terracotta’s Dreamscape, resulting in a wasted trip for Jiang Qibai, she would still give Jiang Qibai an Item to protect her Safehouse.
If the plan succeeded, although they had agreed Jiang Qibai wouldn’t need to participate in the subsequent battle, she would still inevitably be drawn into the battlefield and bear the risks. Therefore, Xingshan would give her another Item.
The terms were generous, and Jiang Qibai agreed without much hesitation.
Xingshan and her group had already prepared for battle before arriving at the Tower, but Jiang Qibai had been completely in the dark. Her Spatial Bracelet still contained the frozen meat she had traded for the Sweet and Sour Fish.
“Are you in a rush?”
“The sooner, the better,” Suisui An said. If they delayed too long, what if Old Snake also found a Player who could summon a Shadow Ghost?
“I’m afraid today won’t work. It’s too rushed,” Jiang Qibai refused. “I need to make some preparations.”
After all this delay, the sky over Snow Mountain Town was already showing signs of dusk. It was indeed not the most suitable time.
“How about we meet here tomorrow morning?” Xingshan suggested.
Everyone agreed.
Jiang Qibai didn’t actually need to prepare anything extra. She always carried all her Items with her anyway. The only reasons she was heading back were the late hour and her worry that the frozen meat would melt and spoil in the Dreamscape.
After returning to the Safehouse and storing the meat in the small freezer, Jiang Qibai claimed her daily quest rewards.
[ You have received: Small Storage Shelf ×1 Type I Functional Granules ×3 Protein Energy Bar ×2 Bottled Water ×1 ]
The daily quest had been simple, so the rewards were predictably meager.
Lying in bed with her eyes closed, Jiang Qibai found herself pondering a question: Why were Xingshan and Old Snake so desperate to get their hands on the Blood Terracotta in the Tower?
She had only been in Snow Mountain Town for a short time, but she had already encountered two Blood Terracottas—not counting the Incomplete Body. By all rights, they shouldn’t be rare enough to justify fighting over them at any cost.
The next day, Jiang Qibai arrived at the Tower as promised. Within ten minutes, the entire team had assembled.
Xingshan wasted no time and handed Jiang Qibai an item.
[ Swamp Moss Rank: C Description: When placed around a Safehouse, intruders who step on it will have their movement speed reduced and will continuously sink. It can grow. Note: The feng shui of this place bites. ]
The Swamp Moss was only the size of a palm, but it had the growth attribute. According to Xingshan, as long as it was watered frequently to keep it moist, it would quickly spread into a large patch.
Jiang Qibai was very satisfied with this item.
With everyone ready, they headed toward the Tower’s main entrance.
“What was this Blood Terracotta’s identity in life?” Jiang Qibai asked.
“The Town Mayor of Snow Mountain Town,” a voice replied, though she couldn’t tell who it was.
The moment she pushed open the Tower’s doors, Jiang Qibai felt as if she had fallen into a black hole.
The Tower in Snow Mountain Town was ancient, yet it remained sturdy and tall to this day. It featured a conical lead-sheathed roof of gray, exquisitely carved flying buttresses, and beautiful stained-glass windows.
The tower, which looked like an ancient ruin, had been inhabited just a few decades ago.
Only in recent years had it been repurposed as the Town Mayor’s office.
The tower’s original owners had no objections, for the structure was the family’s ancestral property. Generation after generation, this ancient clan had called it home. However, as the town’s tourism industry boomed, the tower’s unique architecture made it a famous landmark. For the sake of privacy, the Town Mayor’s father and his family had moved out when they lived there. Many of the rooms, still housing ancestral relics, remained closed to the public.
In the early morning, Mr. Mayor left his home and arrived at his office on the tower’s second floor.
Several visitors had already arrived, their faces beaming with joy as they inquired when Tuoxin Mining would finally set up shop in town.
You weren’t wearing these smiles before, Mr. Mayor thought bitterly.
When Tuoxin Mining first tentatively approached Snow Mountain Town about a joint venture to develop the mineral resources, almost every prominent figure in town had protested vehemently.
“Smelting causes pollution, and pollution destroys tourism. If Snow Mountain Town’s sky is no longer azure, its rivers no longer crystal clear, and its snowfields no longer pristine white, what will happen to their investments?”
Investors from several hotel chains, the ski resort owner, the Forestry Station Master, shareholders of the shopping mall, innkeepers, and so on—they practically packed Mr. Mayor’s office, each one vehemently expressing their dissatisfaction. The protests were so fierce that Mr. Mayor didn’t dare show his face for three consecutive days.
That time, Mr. Mayor almost gave up.
But the head of Tuoxin Mining told him to wait a little longer. He would come to resolve these troubles and change their minds, just as he had won over Mr. Mayor.
As the town’s tourism industry continued to decline, these people’s stances indeed began to waver. No one knew what benefits Tuoxin Mining had promised them, but some of them did a complete about-face, even pressuring Mr. Mayor to start the development immediately.
Yet, the moment Mr. Mayor showed the slightest hint of impatience, everyone fell silent.
If anyone had to be the one to make the biggest sacrifice for this mining project, it was undoubtedly Mr. Mayor.
The designated mining area was vast, covering almost the entire mountain range. Coincidentally, the Mayor’s ancestral graveyard lay right in the middle of it.
No one knew why the Mayor’s ancestors had chosen such a remote and rugged spot for their family cemetery. Could the legends be true? Had they once been priests serving the Snow Mountain Goddess, foreseeing the wealth beneath this land and claiming it early?
Mr. Mayor scoffed at such rumors. He loathed being associated with such superstitious nonsense. It was as if his position as Mayor wasn’t earned through his own exceptional abilities, but was instead a result of a family history steeped in mysticism—a tale that tourists and townsfolk loved to gossip about, granting him a level of popularity he felt he didn’t deserve.
On the day the graveyard was to be relocated, a crowd of townsfolk gathered to watch.
Mr. Mayor, of course, was present. But as he stood before the rows of grim, towering tombstones, a sudden, suffocating dread seized his heart.
For the first time, he saw it clearly. Every single gravestone of his departed ancestors was inscribed with the exact same epitaph:
Do Not Disturb the Deep Sleep.
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