I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 22.2

Qi Yan shook her head, as if trying to shake the nonsense out of her mind.

Tang Shanshan misunderstood the gesture, thinking she was saying she didn’t know.

“Sister Qi, you don’t know either? Then where did that fairy sister come from? She couldn’t have just appeared out of nowhere to help us, right? Did we trigger some hidden bonus we didn’t know about?”

The scene on the suspension bridge had been chaotic, everyone too preoccupied with their own survival to notice anything else. No one had seen exactly where Bai Qing had come from.

Qi Yan hesitated, thinking about how the three of them had helped each other along the way and how, on the bridge, Huo Zheng had single-handedly blocked a fatal strike from the winged serpent. If not for Bai Qing, her hidden trump card, Huo Zheng would surely have been killed, and neither she nor Tang Shanshan would have survived either.

She considered telling them about the ring’s secret, mulling over how to bring it up.

Huo Zheng, observing her expression, sensed her inner conflict and deliberately interrupted, “Should we head straight to the ancestral hall now? Or take a break first?”

His diversion worked. The carefree Tang Shanshan immediately forgot about the fairy sister and picked up his thread. “Hmm, I’d love to rest, but times tight. Shouldn’t we hurry to the ancestral hall? Once we find the ‘Eye’ of this world, we can get out!”

Tang Shanshan was scatterbrained, but Qi Yan wasn’t. She glanced at Huo Zheng, recognizing that he had steered the conversation away to spare her discomfort, and felt a flicker of gratitude.

The matter of the fairy sister was set aside for now. The three of them found a spot to rest briefly before hurrying toward the Lu Family Ancestral Hall.

During this time, Qi Yan tried to communicate with Bai Qing, but after calling out to her several times without receiving a response, her heart grew increasingly uneasy. She feared Bai Qing might have suffered some hidden injury she wasn’t aware of.

Qi Yan looked down at the ring on her finger, a simple silver band resting quietly, no longer emitting the occasional silvery glow as it usually did. After three days together, she had begun to understand some of its patterns.

The frequency, speed, and brightness of the ring’s shimmer were all closely tied to Bai Qing’s emotions: frequent flickering meant happiness, rapid flashes signaled anger, and the brightness well, that hadn’t changed much. It always remained a soft, gentle glow, soothing and never harsh.

But now, the ring’s light had dimmed abruptly, filling Qi Yan with deep unease. She was terrified something had happened to Bai Qing. Yet, despite their spiritual bond, she had no idea what to do only helpless anxiety.

What was she so worried about?

Qi Yan herself wasn’t entirely sure. She just felt an overwhelming concern, afraid that something might happen to that fox.

Sure, Bai Qing was a troublesome fox, but she wasn’t so bad.

Belatedly, Qi Yan realized and had to admit that because she had met Bai Qing right after entering this storybook world, the life-or-death escape game hadn’t felt as terrifying as it should have. Maybe it was Bai Qing’s strength, or perhaps just having someone by her side was better than being alone. Either way, Bai Qing’s presence had been nothing but a positive influence.

She kept rubbing the ring with her right hand, silently pleading, You better be okay, you damn fox!

From the hanging wooden bridge to the Lu Family Ancestral Hall, there were only two small paths. A turn at the fork in the road would take them there. As the three of them walked, they discussed their next steps.

“We’ve been to the ancestral hall once before, we lit incense and met that old caretaker. He’s probably a minor boss, right? If we hadn’t offered incense that day, things might’ve gone badly. So how do we deal with him this time? He definitely won’t just let us search the place freely.”

Huo Zheng straightened the bent arm of his glasses, damaged in the earlier fight, and said, “If necessary, we’ll resort to force. This is the final stretch we have to find a way out. If we fail now, it’ll only get harder later.”

As the saying goes, the first attempt is the strongest, the second weaker, the third exhausted. Some opportunities only come once, and they had to seize this one.

Though Qi Yan’s thoughts were preoccupied with Bai Qing, her mind hadn’t completely shut down. She was still thinking.

“What about Song Yu?” she suddenly asked, a seemingly unrelated question.

Tang Shanshan paused. “Back in the Suspended Cave, she was walking ahead the whole time. After that, I didn’t notice her anymore.”

Song Yu’s condition had been off from the start, growing increasingly like a soulless husk.

This was a beginner’s scenario, all the players were new, completely inexperienced, with little understanding of the game’s mechanics.

Qi Yan had played plenty of games before. Based on her understanding of beginner zones, this scenario shouldn’t be too difficult. Thinking back, even when they faced the divine serpent Tengshe earlier, they had made it through without real danger. Bai Qing, with less than twenty percent of her spiritual power restored, had sliced the serpent apart in one strike, and even Huo Zheng had managed to block an attack with his dagger. That alone proved the dungeon’s difficulty wasn’t high.

So perhaps they should reconsider their approach. From a gaming perspective, how would a final boss in a beginner zone be designed?

Qi Yan had a feeling it wouldn’t be too hard to guess.

Her gaze shifted as she said, “After entering Baishui Town, the only significant people we’ve interacted with are the caretaker of the ancestral hall and the owner of the guesthouse, Cuilan. Between them, Cuilan has more inherent storylines and seems more like the BOSS.”

Huo Zheng and Tang Shanshan were both taken aback. “Are you guessing who the BOSS is?”

“Mhm. Or perhaps, you could say it’s the ‘heart’ of the world that the [Introduction] told us to find.”

Either through the ‘eye’ of the world or by defeating its ‘heart’ in any case, they had to locate these two to have a chance of clearing the level.

“Then why not the caretaker at the ancestral hall?”

Qi Yan replied, “Because I suspect the ancestral hall is the ‘eye.’ According to gaming conventions, the ‘eye’ and ‘heart’ wouldn’t be placed in the same location.”

After all, this was just a beginner’s level, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

“So what do we do now?” Tang Shanshan scratched her messy hair. “Does that mean we don’t have to deal with Cuilan? As long as we find the ‘eye,’ we can leave.”

If they could avoid a fight, all the better. Losing would be disastrous.

“Mhm. The ancestral hall is just ahead. Let’s check it out first.”

Qi Yan was ninety percent confident in her guess. The caretaker wasn’t the final BOSS at most, a minor one. If they could find the ‘eye’ in the ancestral hall, they’d succeed.

They had only visited the Lu Family Ancestral Hall once before, hastily offering incense last time. Now, they needed to figure out where the ‘eye’ was hidden.

Qi Yan pondered how to distract the old caretaker, but the moment they stepped inside, they immediately sensed something was wrong.

The ancestral tablets, once neatly arranged on the altar, were now scattered chaotically across the floor, clearly vandalized. The fallen tablets bore marks from weapon strikes, and upon closer inspection, faint traces of bloodstains could be seen.

The blood was still fresh, this had clearly happened very recently.

A bad feeling surged in Qi Yan’s chest. Instinctively, she grabbed her two teammates, ready to pull them out of the ancestral hall.

But as soon as they turned around, they found their escape blocked.

Standing before them was Song Yu, holding a bloodstained chopping knife, droplets of blood still dripping from its blade.

“Song Yu?! You!” Tang Shanshan gasped, instinctively stepping back, only to hear footsteps approaching from the inner hall.

Qi Yan’s heart sank. She turned and saw Cuilan emerging from the inner hall, gripping a butcher’s knife, her clothes splattered with blood.

Trapped between two figures who seemed neither human nor ghost, the trio suddenly realized this was the decisive battle.

With no way to retreat, Tang Shanshan stared at the two blocking their path, her legs trembling. “This wasn’t this supposed to be a beginner’s level? Why do we have to fight a BOSS now?”

“Hehehe.”

A light, melodious laugh came from the trees outside the ancestral hall. Qi Yan jerked her head up and saw Sister Hong lounging leisurely on a branch, looking thoroughly amused.

Qi Yan’s heart plummeted. “Sister Hong,” she said coldly, “did you have something to do with this?”

Sister Hong raised an eyebrow, impressed. “I wasn’t wrong about you, Miss Qi. You really are clever. Sharp-witted and quick to react, you’re perfect for this game.”

Qi Yan glared at her. “The [Introduction] said seven days haven’t passed yet. NPCs guiding the scenario shouldn’t interfere with its progression, right? Sister Hong, aren’t you afraid of breaking the rules?”

Sister Hong shrugged. “I didn’t do anything against the rules. Me?” She propped her chin on her hand, looking at Qi Yan with a half-smile. “I was just being kind, giving my good sister Cuilan a little reminder letting her know the old folks in the village found out her daughter was still alive.”

So Cuilan lost it. Her daughter was the only child she had left, and she would do anything to protect her.

Tang Shanshan glanced at Song Yu, then back at Cuilan, her face pale with fear. “She are they even human? How can Cuilan alone turn Song Yu into this.”

Huo Zheng frowned and said gravely, “It’s obvious. Cuilan isn’t human at all.”

“But,” Tang Shanshan wanted to ask more but stopped herself. She was making the same mistake again trying to find logic in this world.

This insane scripted world had no logic to begin with. It was just an escape game.

Qi Yan stared darkly at Cuilan. Maybe this entire scripted world was filled with ghosts, only bound by the rules to act human for the sake of playing NPCs.

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