Chapter 24

Chapter 23: Snow Mountain Town – Playing Out of Turn

The townspeople returned from the cemetery, fervently discussing the day’s events.

Rumor had it that shortly after the grave relocation began, Mr. Mayor had left due to a sudden illness.

Rumor had it that in the opened tombs, every single coffin was unnervingly heavy.

Rumor had it that the wind sweeping through the mountain forest that day sounded like a faint, ghostly sigh…

The gossip flared up briefly, then faded back into a quiet lull.

The mining district had entered its development phase, but Mr. Mayor seemed to be ill.

He began to see strange things—blinding particles erupting from a deep, abyss-like vortex in the earth, drifting through Snow Mountain Town like volcanic ash.

He dared not breathe without wearing a ridiculous respirator mask. He also compulsively washed his clothes and bathed incessantly, claiming he had to scrub away the “particles” that had landed on him. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

His family sent him to a doctor, who diagnosed his retinas as perfectly healthy and recommended a psychiatric referral.

Of course, Mr. Mayor refused to admit he was insane, so the hospital visit was abandoned.

But the symptoms didn’t subside. Mr. Mayor suffered from night after night of insomnia, seeing those dancing motes of light even when his eyes were closed.

His wife, her heart aching for him, brought him warm water and sleeping pills. But the sight of her made him recoil in shock.

“How did you get so haggard?” he gasped.

His wife stared at him in bewilderment. She grabbed a mirror and held it up to his face. “You’re the one who looks like a ghost! When was the last time you actually slept?”

Mr. Mayor looked into the mirror. He saw his own reflection: heavy dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights, his eyelids slightly swollen, his hair a tangled mess. But his wife looked even more sickly than he did. Her skin had turned a ghastly shade of grayish-blue, her cheeks sunken while her cheekbones jutted out sharply. The skin was stretched so tight over the bone that the blue veins beneath were clearly visible.

He tried to express his alarm, but his wife insisted she felt perfectly fine. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Driven to madness, Mr. Mayor burst out of the house. He had to gather everyone in town, unite them, and drive Tuoxin Mining out of Snow Mountain Town.

This can’t go on! he thought. They brought this upon us. They’re the ones who opened Pandora’s box and unleashed this disaster!

His head throbbed, his mind a chaotic blur. He stumbled into a passerby, and the sight of the man’s dead-fish eyes—dull, milky-white, and vacant—sent him screaming in terror. In an instant, every person on the street turned to face him.

Each one wore the same face, a grotesque mask of a demon.

Mr. Mayor’s legs gave way. He scrambled and crawled back into his house, barely able to keep his footing.

Too terrified to step outside again, he made a series of phone calls, pleading with the town’s most prominent figures to come to his home for an urgent meeting.

He had prepared himself for the worst, but what actually knocked on his door defied all reason.

The hotel owner’s body was bristling with dense, bloody bone spurs that pierced the air. A second face had sprouted from the back of the Forestry Station Master’s neck. The business shareholders were covered in swollen, pendulous tumors that sagged heavily from their flesh. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Mr. Mayor fainted on the spot.

When he woke, he saw only darkness. The only things visible were jellyfish-like particles, drifting and swaying in the empty void of his vision.

“He’s like this now,” the Mayor’s wife explained to the others, her voice heavy with worry. “He’s terrified of everything he sees.” She had tied a cloth blindfold over her husband’s eyes to keep him from scaring himself to death.

Everyone else in the room expressed their concern and worry for Mr. Mayor’s mental state.

Hearing this, it seemed as if everyone else was perfectly normal. Mr. Mayor, his eyes still covered by the cloth, wondered: Could it be that my own mind is the one that’s broken?

He sat up, leaving the cloth over his eyes, and tried to speak as calmly as possible. He urged everyone to join him in halting Tuoxin Mining’s development of the underground mineral deposits. He even listed a whole series of reasons to justify his plea: the devastating environmental impact of mining and smelting, the traps hidden in the contracts Tuoxin Mining had signed with the townspeople, and the company’s cold, arrogant attitude after arriving in town—a complete 180-degree turn from their initial promises.

Everyone firmly opposed his proposal without a moment’s hesitation. Even those closest to him, his most loyal supporters, now rejected his request without mercy.

No matter how Mr. Mayor accused, threatened, or even pleaded with them, they only replied that he had been working too hard lately. They said his mental stress was too great, and he should rest well and stop worrying about these trivial matters. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

After everyone left, Mr. Mayor stared blankly at the white wall of the room, muttering to himself, “Why did they turn into that? That deformed, twisted, and completely oblivious state?”

His wife, assuming he simply couldn’t understand the town’s support for Tuoxin Mining, said, “It must be because of those pills.”

“Pills?”

His wife sounded a bit guilty. “Tuoxin Mining gave everyone some golden capsules. They say they can cure many diseases. The innkeeper’s joint pain, the Forestry Station Master’s skin condition, even the ski resort owner’s lung cancer—they’ve all improved these past few days!”

“Nonsense! There’s no such medicine!” Mr. Mayor retorted loudly.

His wife didn’t argue. She also felt that those golden capsules weren’t some miracle cure. Otherwise, why hadn’t her husband’s hysteria improved?

When he lay in bed unable to sleep, the family secrets he had once dismissed as mere fables surfaced one by one in his mind, revealing just how foolish he had been to let the wolf into the house. He sprang from the bed and, taking advantage of the empty streets at night, ran to the basement of the Tower. He stayed there all night, then hurried back home before the townspeople began their activities at dawn.

When Mr. Mayor mustered the courage to step outside again, he went straight to the mine operated by Tuoxin Mining. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The company’s employees resolutely blocked his path, refusing to let him take another step forward, let alone allow him a glimpse of the operations inside the mine.

“Liars! A bunch of liars!” Mr. Mayor roared, venting his fury. “You deceived me! You deceived everyone! That’s no mineral deposit! That’s—”

He choked on the word, too terrified to speak it aloud.

The employees merely stared at him with cold, mocking expressions, remaining silent.

When Mr. Mayor returned home, he learned some terrible news: an accident had occurred at the mine. The entrance had been blown in, burying all of Tuoxin Mining’s staff inside.

“Madmen! Fools! Cultists!” Mr. Mayor screamed, his voice breaking. “What could you possibly gain from doing this?” He raged until he collapsed, utterly exhausted.

After that day, Mr. Mayor took the initiative to blindfold himself with a gauze wrap. He locked himself in a room in the Tower, refusing to work, to go out, to eat, or to sleep.

Gradually, the figures of Jiang Qibai and the others began to materialize in the room. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Only now had they finally entered Mr. Mayor’s dreamscape.

But the Town Mayor inside the room completely ignored them. They couldn’t leave, either; in a few more minutes, an invisible force would simply toss them out.

This same sequence of events had already repeated several times.

Xingshan speculated that the reason they were able to leave the Mayor’s dreamscape unscathed was likely because they had never truly entered it in the first place.

The Mayor in the dream rejected everything, denying all irrevocable truths as if pretending nothing had happened would somehow make it so.

Xingshan tore off the Mayor’s blindfold. Jiang Qibai’s Shadow Ghost employee stood right before him, its dark red eyes fixed on the Mayor’s face.

The Mayor squinted, blinded by the light. When he finally saw what was before him, he didn’t scream in terror as everyone had expected. Instead, he looked stunned and heartbroken.

Without a word, he walked out of the room, heading straight for the tower’s basement. He pushed open a dust-covered door. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Inside was a massive chamber filled with shrines, mirrors, and jewel-encrusted implements.

The Mayor approached the most ornate shrine, retrieved a slender, snake-shaped crystal from within, and plunged its sharp end into his own heart.

Some things are too late to be undone, but others are still within reach.

The glowing particles that had been drifting incessantly finally dissipated before his eyes. The Town Mayor closed his eyes in peace.

The scene they were in shattered like a bubble.

They were back in the same room, but the person who had been lying on the open floor was gone. In his place stood a monster, its body swollen and bloated like a massive silkworm cocoon. Its head was completely retracted into its chest cavity, and the snake-shaped crystal embedded in its chest glowed a blood-red hue.

The monster swayed unsteadily as it stood up.

Everyone instantly entered combat mode. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

[ Player Xingshan has activated the skill [Dealer]. When the player deals damage to enemies, they will gain one layer of Chip (maximum 10 layers). Each layer of Chip provides the player with a 5% attack bonus. Duration: 30 minutes, Cooldown: 1 hour. ]

[ Player Suisui An has activated the skill [Within Range]. Within range, it is prey. Lock onto several prey. When attacking, gain additional movement speed, accuracy, and Physical Damage. Duration: 1 hour, Cooldown: 2 hours. ]

[ Player Fried Tomato… ]

Xingshan wielded a greatsword. Her tall stature, paired with the massive weapon, gave her an imposing presence. Each swing forced the monster’s hulking body back two steps. Fried Tomato, possessing taunt and damage reduction skills, drew the monster’s aggro while nimbly dodging. Hugo appeared and disappeared like a ghost, darting out to slash the monster from time to time. Suisui An provided long-range damage support with her bow, while Shuikaibai stayed at the back, keeping a close eye on everyone’s HP.

Compared to the temporary team Jiang Qibai had joined before, this team’s professionalism and seamless coordination were an eye-opener for her.

No wonder Xingshan had been so confident that Jiang Qibai wouldn’t need to participate in the fight.

Dust swirled in the room from the battle. The headless monster was covered in wounds, but a closer look revealed they were all superficial—none had struck bone or tendon.

The group wasn’t discouraged. They had their own battle rhythm, especially Xingshan, who needed time to build up damage and stack buffs. There was no reason to unleash her ultimate skill right from the start. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Just as Xingshan brought her greatsword down in a two-handed strike, a spherical object burst from the monster’s chest, replacing its head.

The sphere had no facial features. Suddenly, a crack split open on its surface, revealing a gaping maw like a lamprey’s. Numerous soft, anemone-like tentacles eagerly sprouted from its neck.

A single, swiveling eyeball sat atop each tentacle. Without warning, Xingshan found herself locked in a gaze with the creature’s myriad eyes. Her movements slowed, her expression turning vacant. The Monster loomed over her, its massive maw descending.

Just then, Hugo darted out from the side, grabbed Xingshan’s arm, and rolled her away. Fried Tomato stepped forward to help, but the tentacles pivoted in mid-air, all their eyes swiveling to fixate on him.

Fried Tomato’s vision filled with a kaleidoscope of churning black-and-white eyeballs. The world spun violently. He shut his eyes tight and hurled a Yellow Screaming Chicken toward an empty corner he remembered from earlier.

The Yellow Screaming Chicken emitted a hoarse, grating shriek without even being squeezed. The Monster, its attention forcibly seized by the sound, lunged toward the corner of the room.

“Don’t look at those eyes!” Fried Tomato groaned, clutching his head. “It’s a Mental Attack. My head hurts like hell.”

Hugo pulled out a green bottle, poured out its contents, and swiftly smeared the liquid across Xingshan’s and Fried Tomato’s foreheads. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

A cool, minty scent wafted through the air. Their furrowed brows relaxed, and the dizzying nausea subsided slightly.

Hugo tossed the green bottle to Suisui An. “This is an Item that boosts Mental Resistance. Apply it, then blow those eyeballs apart!”

Suisui An applied the item Hugo had tossed her, fighting through the dizziness to fire a volley of arrows at the eyeballs all over the monster’s body. With each shot, an eye burst.

The Screaming Chicken was soon torn to shreds by the monster. The liquid in the bottle dwindled, and just as they were about to destroy the last of the eyes, something began to squirm within the tentacles. With a soft pop, a new eyeball bloomed from the tip of a tentacle.

Suisui An cursed under her breath.

The onslaught slowed. No one dared to look directly at the monster, keeping their gazes fixed downward as they dodged its movements.

Jiang Qibai, still outside the main fray, had the energy to observe her surroundings. She noticed that as the monster approached, objects inside many of the shrines began to glow faintly.

The monster seemed to be avoiding these shrines. Despite the intensity of the battle, which had already smashed many pieces of furniture in the center of the room, not a single shrine had been broken. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

These shrines were all antiques. Connecting this to the information she’d gained from the Dreamscape, Jiang Qibai guessed that the Mayor’s family might be the guardians of the town, protecting a secret buried deep underground.

So, Jiang Qibai reached into the nearest shrine and grabbed something from within.

…a memorial tablet.

The tablet was made of a rare crystal, its inscriptions blurred and illegible. It pulsed with a faint, flickering light. As Jiang Qibai gripped it, she felt it grow colder the closer she got to the Monster, the chill eventually biting into her fingers with a sharp, stinging pain. In that moment, she felt as if she were clutching a piece of thousand-year-old ice.

Sorry about this.

Jiang Qibai silently deducted a merit point from her mental tally as she raised her hand and hurled the tablet.

The crystal shattered upon contact with the Monster, releasing a plume of frigid mist. As Xingshan and the others were enveloped by the fog, they felt an immediate wave of clarity. The grogginess caused by the Monster’s eyes vanished instantly. Conversely, the Monster’s tentacles recoiled into its abdomen the moment they touched the cold mist, as if struck by lightning.

The rest of the team seized the opportunity, swarming the creature with a full-scale assault. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Jiang Qibai glanced at the system notification.

[ You have unlocked the Achievement: [Memorial Tablet Match]. You have obtained the Skill: [Play Out of Turn]. ]

[ [Play Out of Turn]: Passive Skill. When the Player uses an unconventional weapon, Attack +50%. ]

After a moment, the cold mist began to dissipate, and the Monster’s tentacles started to writhe again. Seeing this, Shuikaibai followed Jiang Qibai’s example and tossed another crystal tablet.

The two of them took turns using the crystal’s freezing mist to keep the monster at bay.

Soon, a faint halo began to ripple around Xingshan. Seeing this, her teammates immediately fell back without a word, clearing the front line for her. Some even crushed defensive items to shield themselves.

[ Player Xingshan has activated the skill [Sweep]. All teammates’ stats are reduced by 20%; Player’s all stats are increased by 50%. Duration: 2 minutes. Cooldown: 6 hours. ]

[ Player Xingshan has activated the skill [Clear Table]. All Chips are cleared, dealing massive damage to the enemy. Cooldown: 6 hours. ] Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Xingshan was undoubtedly the team’s primary damage dealer—her skills even drained her own teammates.

She gripped the heavy sword’s hilt with both hands, the blade trailing behind her as she charged. The sword’s tip scraped against the stone tiles, kicking up a shower of sparks like a streak of fire.

The mountain-sized monster also charged toward her, its heavy footsteps making the ground tremble.

Its disc-shaped maw lunged forward before its body could even reach her, revealing layers of jagged, uneven black teeth. Xingshan leaped into the air, dodging the maw and planting a foot on the monster’s body. Using the momentum from the kick, she twisted her body in mid-air.

It wasn’t just a simple slash. Xingshan channeled the momentum of his entire body’s rotation into the tip of his blade. The heavy sword carved a crimson arc through the air, slicing through the monster like a hot knife through butter. The massive blade sank completely into the creature’s body, and as Xingshan landed, it tore open a gaping, deep-red wound.

The golden glow stood out vividly against the dark-red, almost black flesh. Hugo glided in like a specter, swiftly scooping out the golden mass.

At the same time, Shuikaibai’s continuous healing skill landed on Hugo, causing his health bar to fluctuate wildly. Before the skill’s effect wore off, Hugo finally secured the Blood-Flowing Gold inside a cowhide box and snapped the lid shut.

Jiang Qibai, already familiar with the routine, knew the battle was about to end. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Her main concern now was the box.

Surely we can’t be unlucky enough to encounter three Shadow Ghost Great Hunts in such a short time, she thought.

With its Blood-Flowing Gold gone, the monster was severely weakened. Its belly lay open and bloody, and the eyeballs on its tentacles could no longer regenerate.

Yet, the group fought with even more desperation than they had when the monster was at full strength. They unleashed a barrage of skills, quickly bringing the creature down.

[ Assisted in killing Blood Terracotta ×1, obtained 100 Points. ]

The monster collapsed. Xingshan was the first to move, pulling a blood-red, snake-shaped crystal from its corpse. This seemed to be the real reason they were so obsessed with this particular monster.

Hugo expertly clutched the box and bolted. Fried Tomato shouted from behind, “Don’t take a wrong turn! We sold this Blood-Flowing Gold to Huang Lvdeng! Run to her place!”

Shuikaibai, who had been holding onto a temporary shield skill without using it, quickly cast it on Hugo. Jiang Qibai noticed Hugo’s HP wasn’t full and casually cast Blessing Therapy on him, hoping he’d carry the box as far away as possible. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Blessing Therapy could heal two people, and Suisui An’s HP also shot up.

She looked at Jiang Qibai in surprise. “Isn’t your healing skill single-target?”

“Upgraded,” Jiang Qibai replied concisely.

Suisui An said nothing, but she was inwardly amazed. Newbies these days grow so fast, she thought. He managed to snag a Skill Upgrade Card in his very first dungeon.

This battle had also earned Jiang Qibai a new achievement.

[ You have unlocked the achievement [War Correspondent]. Reward: Life +1, Agility +2 ]

After the system notification, Suisui An silently moved to Shuikaibai’s side and said, with a hint of affectation, “That was a truly exhilarating Memorial Tablet Match.”

Shuikaibai glanced at her in confusion. After a long silence, he suddenly burst out laughing. “Hahaha, I didn’t know you liked telling dad jokes.” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

It seemed Shuikaibai was completely unfamiliar with the term “Memorial Tablet Match.”

Jiang Qibai’s probe was simply to find out if Shuikaibai had also unlocked the [Memorial Tablet Match] achievement. He was the only one among them who had performed the same action of throwing the crystal memorial tablet.

Even without the Achievement Party talent, players still had a chance to trigger various achievements. Jiang Qibai had heard A Hai casually mention that one of his items was an achievement reward.

This made it impossible for Jiang Qibai to confirm just how “rich” the “more extensive achievement system” described in her talent actually was.

While others entered Game Dungeons already equipped with all sorts of powerful Talent Skills, Jiang Qibai was still bitterly struggling to unlock achievements from scratch. If anyone else could earn them just as easily, she’d be absolutely miserable.

But Shuikaibai’s reaction—whether he was just a great actor or truly hadn’t triggered any achievements—made Jiang Qibai’s mood slightly better.

Xingshan and the others had already finished looting the spoils from this run, and they all headed out of the Tower together.

Everyone was in high spirits, Jiang Qibai included—especially after she received the final payment for this mercenary mission. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The item resembled a miniature projector and needed to be fixed to the roof of the Safehouse.

Xingshan was generous and reliable; good employers like him were rare. So, when Xingshan mentioned—perhaps out of politeness or genuine interest—that he hoped to team up again in the future, Jiang Qibai casually agreed.

“What if we went to the mines?” Xingshan asked, his tone half-joking.

“No,” Jiang Qibai replied, her voice firm and decisive.

Xingshan chuckled, seemingly taking her refusal in stride.

After saying her goodbyes to the rest of the group, Jiang Qibai headed back to her safehouse alone. She had planned to complete her mission of killing twenty Shadow Ghosts today, but Hugo had apparently lured all the nearby monsters away. She hadn’t spotted a single one on her way back.

As her safehouse came into view, she realized she still hadn’t met the mission quota. But with the urgent need to set up her safehouse items, she decided to abandon the quest. After all, she reasoned, I’ve already netted a hundred points for free today. I’m not worried about the system deducting them. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Once back inside, she placed the Swamp Moss in a shallow tray and watered it, waiting for it to grow.

Xingshan had mentioned that Swamp Moss was highly resistant to cold and wouldn’t freeze even if left outdoors. But Jiang Qibai felt that her priority was to help it grow larger, and the indoor environment was far more suitable.

The Safehouse Rock Mimicry System was a pain to install. Jiang Qibai glanced at the snow-covered roof and concluded that she definitely couldn’t pull off the “stepping on her own left foot to launch herself into the air” trick. Instead, she decided to use her points to buy a household folding ladder from the Mall.

Since the ladder wasn’t a daily necessity, its price remained within Jiang Qibai’s acceptable range.

Standing on the ladder, Jiang Qibai swept the snow from the roof’s edge before placing the Safehouse Rock Mimicry System on top. The Mimicry System automatically extended its suction cups, securing itself firmly in place, and then unfolded its solar panels to begin charging.

She suddenly realized that the system’s main advantage was its reliance on solar power, meaning she didn’t have to provide any additional energy. However, its main drawback was also its reliance on solar power. In an environment like Snow Mountain Town, the days were getting shorter, which meant the Safehouse would get even less sunlight.

If she wanted to maintain the Rock Mimicry long-term, she’d need to be in a Dungeon with intense sunlight. Otherwise, the Mimicry System would run out of power after only a few hours of use each day.

After charging for a short while, Jiang Qibai activated the Rock Mimicry. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

From a distance, the entire Safehouse transformed into a massive, dark brown rock, looking completely out of place on the town’s streets.

But in a wilderness-like environment, the Rock Mimicry would be a huge help.

Jiang Qibai didn’t have many Safehouse Items to begin with, so she didn’t mind the Rock Mimicry System’s limitations at all. Having it was already a great deal.