flstandardbreds Chapter 124 7-Day Cycle
Chapter 124 7-Day Cycle
Jiang Qi paused as he scanned through the comments on the screen, his fingers, which had been kneading his wrist, stopped moving.
After a while, Jiang Qi's eyes suddenly lit up, and the fog that had filled his mind before dissipated in an instant.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is our second cycle."
"And it's a seven-day cycle, but for some reason we failed completely the first time, so we got stuck in the second cycle."
The system spoke the moment Jiang Qi finished speaking.
[Ding dong, congratulations to player Jiang Qi for discovering the truth—[Peach Blossom Village from which there is no escape—a seven-day cycle], reward: 1500 points]
[We hope players can break the cycle and escape Peach Blossom Village soon!]
Jiang Qi's live stream.
"Holy crap, holy crap, the system actually pulled this stunt! I have to kneel before Jiang Qi, this is amazing!"
“That explains it. No wonder the system didn’t give us any information at first, no wonder there were exactly four oxcarts, no wonder…”
"I knew the system couldn't possibly be as android as an NPC."
"It has to be said that Jiang Qi thought of everything in the first cycle, leaving himself clues, and was not afraid of being overlooked at all."
"But we viewers were fooled too, how infuriating!"
"Ahhh, I never thought of the possibility of a loop. I even complained that the nightmare game must have some kind of bug."
"It started at Hell difficulty, and Jiang Qi cracked it so easily. That's amazing."
"From now on, Jiang Qi, you are my god!"
"Jiang Qi has a new title—God Qi. He is really too meticulous. It feels like he has planned everything. He believes he can discover the cycle. It's terrifying to think about."
"Is he even human? It feels like this game was made for him. To be honest, he's abnormally calm."
"Qi Shen, YYDS."
"..."
Lin Wanchu's pupils trembled; she hadn't expected things to develop this way.
If the first loop leaves no clue, and if they fail to discover the loop for a long time, they will continue to loop until they die.
[System reminder: The total number of players in this instance is thirty, and twelve players are currently alive.]
The rain outside was getting heavier, forcing them to postpone their mission.
Fortunately, Ah Jing prepared fabric for Xiao Tang and his wife to make their wedding dress and didn't make things too difficult for them.
"You still need to make four wedding dresses as usual. Tomorrow is the cave-laying ceremony. You two should be able to do it, right?"
The two dared not ask who the extra human skin wedding dress was for.
Xiao Tang and the female player nodded like chicks pecking at rice.
They were practically begging to kowtow to Ah Jing. The two embraced each other, tears of joy streaming down their faces.
But was it just my imagination, since Xiao Tang was holding a girl who didn't look like a sweet and soft girl at all? The female player scratched her head in confusion.
After the two finished embracing, they began sewing the wedding dress in the room.
Neither of them were very skilled at needlework, so their movements when threading the needle were somewhat clumsy.
Xu Cangsheng's third task was to be completed on the day of the cave-falling ceremony, and the two days they were given were to inquire about how to pray for blessings.
As for Bai Xiaoyu's task four, delivering the bride, it was the same as Xu Cangsheng's.
Although the two tasks seem to have plenty of time, there are many taboos involved.
The kerosene lamp flickered, and Jiang Qi lowered his eyelids, his expression dark and inscrutable.
Unlike them, Lu Zhi knew about this cycle all along.
Lu Zhiming could have told him directly, but he only subtly guided him toward the clues.
It seems he told Lu Zhi during the first cycle.
Tell him not to directly remind himself in the second cycle.
Unfortunately, Jiang Qi was wrong about one thing.
Lu Zhi knows his brother so well that even if his brother didn't say it, he wouldn't do that.
If the truth had been told to the brother from the beginning, then all of this would have become rather dull.
Moreover, he believed that his brother would discover the truth, after all, his brother had provided so many clues for his second reincarnation.
Yuan Qi never expected that his disgusting talent would also provide a clue.
In the first cycle, there was only one oxcart. Yuan Qi found it troublesome to have so many players crammed together, so he copied two.
The Miao girl Ajing in the stilted house was the original body. Yuan Qi, incorrigible, created another one and deceived her with sweet words.
Unexpectedly, he was still alive in the second cycle, so due to his talent being activated, the two became four again.
Xiao Tang and the female player made a wedding dress, and they barely finished the task by lunchtime.
Miao villages value simplicity, so wedding dresses don't need to be overly elaborate.
Anyway, Ah Jing's explanation to them was that as long as it was wearable, it was fine; he didn't have many requirements for them.
The players remained silent at the dinner table, and the atmosphere grew even more oppressive as the cave-diving ceremony approached.
This time, for the first time ever, Ah Jing told them to go and rest early.
"Tomorrow is the day we'll be going down into the hole, so you should all get some rest and keep your spirits up."
"It's getting dark, so don't linger outside."
The rain gradually stopped in the pitch-black night sky, and the moon hung in the sky, gleaming with a pale light.
The next morning, Mo Qing returned.
Her arrival surprised Jiang Qi, yet it also felt somewhat expected.
The four players who were marked had already been taken away by Aunt Mo, the matchmaker from the village.
At this moment, four players who did not know each other met in a room on the third floor.
Lu Xue was weak and powerless, but she was still able to hold on.
Four middle-aged women dressed them up and made their wedding gowns, which were then neatly hung on the wall.
They mechanically and numbly applied powder and red lipstick to the players' faces.
Lu Xue put on her wedding dress, her loose black hair tied up with a white veil, and several peach blossoms were inserted into the cloth on her head.
A tassel hung in front of her bangs as the woman roughly put an earring on Lu Xue.
The earrings were dangling from a woman's long black hair, which brushed smoothly against Lu Xue's collarbone, stirring a chill in the air.
"Becoming the Maiden of Falling Flower Cave is a blessing you could never hope for in several lifetimes."
Lu Xue silently rolled her eyes in her mind. Would you like this good fortune?
Jiang Qi and his group had already been taken to the ancestral hall by A Yue, but A Jing was missing, so A Yue was leading two teams by herself.
Under the gray sky, a light drizzle fell gently.
They all had to go to the ancestral hall for a meal, to welcome and bless the Goddess of Falling Flowers Cave.
Lin Wanchu lagged behind by a step, her gaze deep and thoughtful.
Is this the person I'm choosing to follow? she wondered.
This time she failed; due to interference from the markings, what she wanted to protect for Wallace did not work.
So, this time, Wall's really has to rely on herself.
Lu Xue, you must come back alive.
Even if Jiang Qi didn't say anything, Lin Wanchu was already under restrictions. She should trust Jiang Qi one more time.
More than ten tables have been set up in the open space in front of the ancestral hall, with a stage in the very center.
In front of the stage, there was an offering table with ancestral tablets and a statue of a deity on it.
Almost all the villagers had arrived.
However, unlike usual, they were each holding a white candle.
The white candle did not go out despite being rained on; it continued to burn brightly.
The clan chief was worshipping his ancestors, holding three incense sticks and steadily inserting them into the incense burner, and the rain gradually stopped.
Then he invited the villagers to sit down.
The table was already laden with food, and Jiang Qi and his group chose to sit at the corner table.
Seeing this, Xu Cangsheng took the two remaining female players from his team and sat down with them.
Yesterday, Jiang Qi had already secretly told her who the Ghost among the players was.
Therefore, Xu Cangsheng was quite grateful to Jiang Qi, and she thought highly of him.
As soon as the clan chief took his seat, the curtain of the stage was slowly lifted.
A woman's figure stood quietly in the center of the stage.
She wore a red wedding dress and various silver ornaments, but her face was hidden behind a silver mask, revealing only her eyes, which were empty and deep.
The hem of her dress swayed gently in the light breeze, and music began to play, melodious yet tinged with an eeriness.
The woman began to dance; her movements were beautiful but mechanical, as if every step and every turn had been pre-programmed.
She was more like a puppet controlled by invisible lines, exuding an indescribable sense of sorrow and terror.
As the dance progressed, her movements became increasingly exaggerated, but her facial expression remained constant, the emotions hidden behind the mask remaining unfathomable.
The red wedding dress spread out on the stage, like a blood flower blooming in the shadows, beautiful yet unsettling.
The villagers below the stage watched silently, their faces beaming with smiles.
A chill involuntarily rose in the hearts of the players.
Although the women's dance was full of rhythm, the excessive neatness and regularity made people feel an indescribable awkwardness.
The music finally faded to its last note, and the woman finished her dance.
She slowly raised her right hand, tilting it towards the sky. Her wide sleeves traced an elegant arc with the movement, obscuring half of her face.
Unseen by anyone, a strange smile curved at the corner of his mouth beneath the mask.
The show has begun.
Her posture remained impeccable, her left hand gently resting on her waist, like a flower blooming in the final dance step, quietly blossoming in the center of the dimly lit stage.
Her gaze, through the mask, was fixed on a certain spot in the audience.
In that instant, she slowly took a few steps back, and then disappeared from behind the scenes as mysteriously as she had appeared.