Chapter 5: Night Stroll in Yin Village 03

The live stream audience exploded upon witnessing this scene.

"Oh my god, he's a monster!"

"From raising his hand to finishing... 3 seconds and 7 milliseconds! Did he just break the record?!"

"I remember the fastest player before took at least a minute and a half to mentally prepare."

"Why is he so eager to pluck out his eyeball? What kind of freak is he?!"

After removing his eye, Qin Fei showed no signs of pain.

The eyeball in his hand had transformed in texture after leaving its socket, becoming hard and icy cold, like a stone.

Yet, his now empty left eye socket remained unchanged, with its honey-colored pupil still clear and bright.

Qin Fei held his "eyeball" between his index finger and thumb, lifting it up and squinting at it as if examining the luster of a pearl under sunlight.

After a brief moment, the young man smiled and said, "It doesn't hurt."

Players: "...."

Brother, this isn't about whether it hurts or not!

Seeing the pale expressions on the other players' faces, Qin Fei didn't bother explaining further. He helplessly stuffed the eyeball back into his pocket.

He wasn't exaggerating; it genuinely didn't hurt at all.

That eyeball didn't feel like it belonged to him. Just now, the moment his finger touched the socket, it was as if something had sucked it in, accompanied by a chill.

What followed didn't seem to be an action he consciously performed. It was like watching a cutscene play out, and then the eyeball was perfectly intact in his hand.

As Qin Fei had previously thought, the scene inside the auditorium wasn't real. After removing the eyeball, the image before his eyes was vastly different.

The crystal chandelier above his head gradually faded, transforming into a pale white paper lantern.

The flowers and bronze candlesticks vanished, replaced by an old wooden table with a mottled surface. The white candles had turned dark red, their melting wax dripping down to form pools of blood-like stains at the corners of the table.

And yet, the array of ingredients on the table was, in fact, a feast of trash.

It wouldn't be entirely accurate to call it trash, though. The table was laden with platters of dark red raw meat.

The meat had clearly been left for far too long and had begun to rot, emitting a pungent stench. Upon closer inspection, one could spot unknown flies buzzing around it. Bumps had formed on the surface of the flesh, harboring tiny maggots wriggling beneath.

Ugh, how revolting.

Qin Fei took another glance at the guide.

Before entering the auditorium, Qin Fei had incessantly chattered away, boosting the guide's favorability towards him to 12%. The guide's treatment of Qin Fei was now distinctively different from that of the other players.

His gaze would occasionally land on Qin Fei, and he would respond to about one out of every three or four questions asked by Qin Fei. The text in the small brackets above his head, which previously read "(The guide doesn't like you and even wants to give you a good slap)," had changed to "(The guide doesn't like you)."

Well, not bad, right?

At least he wasn't thinking of slapping Qin Fei anymore.

Unfortunately, this method seemed to have a ceiling. After reaching 12%, the favorability bar progressed at a much slower pace.

Until just now, Qin Fei had been the first to pluck out his eye under the guide's watchful gaze, causing his favorability to surge to 17%.

It seemed that he would need to support the guide more in the future.

Sitting before the table of trash, Qin Fei endured the stench and idly rolled the stone eyeball between his fingers.

But to Xiao Xiao and the other players who had yet to undergo the eye-removal ritual, Qin Fei appeared half-covered in blood, looking listlessly at the freshly plucked eyeball he was playing with.

The scene was so terrifying that it could potentially cause psychological trauma.

Xiao Xiao was on the verge of tears from being scared by Qin Fei. He couldn't bring himself to call him "big shot" anymore: "Qin Fei, you...?"

"Oh, oh, right, I remember." Xiao Xiao subtly moved his stool further away while forcing a laugh, "You said you had an illness."

Qin Fei: "..."

If thinking this made you happier, then so be it.

Perhaps Qin Fei's calm demeanor was too encouraging, as Sun Shouyi and Xiao Xiao both raised their hands simultaneously after a brief struggle.

Then,

the third, the fourth, the fifth...

This was probably the smoothest "eye extraction" segment that the live stream viewers had ever seen in the Xiangxi scenario.

The players were slightly dazed after removing the eyes, as the sudden change in scenery left them in a trance.

White paper wreaths adorned the corners of the hall, and an old, fluttering curtain occupied one corner of the room.

Upon closer inspection, the windows were not open; the wooden frames were sealed shut with joss paper, not even leaving a crack for air.

On the wall directly opposite the main dining table hung a large, colorful painting of a man in long attire.

Recalling the guide's warning about not staring directly into the deity's eyes, Qin Fei swiftly closed his own.

Similar to the food on the table, the painting seemed to possess a mesmerizing charm, drawing the players' attention like a black hole and absorbing all their focus.

"Don't look!" Sun Shouyi covered his eyes with his hand and whispered urgently.

The expressions of the few newcomers, who had been staring blankly at the portrait, turned solemn.

But it was too late for two of them; their gazes were already glued to the painting until their fellow players shook them vigorously, snapping them out of their daze.

Qin Fei imitated the villagers, lowering his head and focusing his vision on the small tabletop in front of him, his thoughts churning within his mind.

The portrait and paper flower wreath, when combined with the eerie atmosphere inside the room, transformed the hall into something that bore no resemblance to a celebration hall – it felt more like... an enormous memorial chamber.

At the end of the hall, the village chief was softly chanting an indiscernible song before the deity statue, the melody soothing yet eerily peculiar.

The feast continued in this manner.

Seeing that the villagers remained silent, the players also suppressed their discomfort and settled into a quietude.

Except for Wang Shun.

As time passed, Wang Shun's sanity crumbled entirely. He could only chew and swallow, incapable of contemplating anything else.

He devoured the stinking raw meat in large mouthfuls, while flies swarmed around him. The air was thick with an overpowering, lingering scent of blood.

Strips of raw, marbled flesh were being torn apart by him, with dark red, translucent juices dripping from the corners of his mouth and landing on the table.

The two people sitting closest to Wang Shun couldn't help but retch violently, their nausea exacerbated by the stench of garbage. Everyone's stomachs churned tumultuously.

Only Qin Fei remained calm, even managing to calmly comment to the guide, "The food is quite good."

Xiao Xiao was seated directly across from Wang Shun, facing the full impact. His face had turned the color of liver: "Qin... Ugh! Big man, ugh ugh ugh, impressive."

To be able to lie with such brazenness was not a skill an ordinary person could possess.

Xiao Xiao glanced at Wang Shun with lingering fear.

Wang Shun was long past listening to anyone else, and naturally, he hadn't touched his own eyes either.

From the moment they entered the hall, all of Wang Shun's attention had been fixated on the pile of ingredients on the table. The putrid meat seemed like a grand feast to him, and his expression was one of madness. He had already swept his cutlery aside and was devouring the food in large mouthfuls, his breathing heavy and punctuated by bestial gasps.

Unable to bear watching, Xiao Xiao turned away, whispering, "He's eaten way too much."

Indeed, he had consumed an excessive amount, his belly visibly swollen by several rounds.

It was clear to everyone that, at this rate, Wang Shun would eventually be consumed to death.

"He…" A new player, frightened by Wang Shun's appearance, turned to the nearest veteran player for help.

The veteran player's expression was cold as they tersely spoke, "Mind your own business."

Wang Shun's behavior now was a clear sign of severe mental corruption, his sanity meter dipping below the critical point.

Under such circumstances, there was no hope for him to recover on his own; he could only wait for death.

Sun Shouyi, observing the irrational Wang Shun, frowned and said, "His mental resistance must be very low. Even if he manages to survive this, he…"

wouldn't stand a chance in future crises.

Death had already become an inevitable outcome for Wang Shun.

The newcomer shuddered, their face filled with compassion, but they forced themselves to look away.

Wang Shun, in his frenzied eating, resembled a balloon gradually inflating. Layer upon layer of fat bulged from his body, causing him to expand grotesquely until he barely fit in the chair.

With a kick, he sent the chair flying and shakily rose from the ground, his massive frame trembling.

Despite this, Wang Shun didn't stop devouring.

His clothes ripped under the strain, revealing increasingly translucent skin.

He grew bigger and bigger...

The people on either side, realizing something, hastily scrambled in the opposite direction, but it was too late.

"BOOM!!"

Accompanied by a deafening crash, the colossal figure vanished from its spot.

Putrid blood splattered across the walls, drenching the entire auditorium in a lurid red. Torn flesh and fragments mixed with white debris were scattered everywhere.

None of those who had been near him were spared; they were all now covered in filth.

Qin Fei sat across from him, also unable to escape the splash. A warm liquid trickled down his cheek, and he gently wiped it away with his finger, his gaze fixed thoughtfully on his now-stained fingertip.

Even in death, Wang Shun remained abnormal. The drop of blood was so clear and dazzling that it resembled a dark red droplet of oil.

"The feast has ended—"

Amidst the blossoming blood, the village chief rose to his feet and spoke slowly.

The villagers in the room stood up, flooding out of the door like a tidal wave, leaving only the players at the tables, stunned into silence, unable to utter a word.

"Dead... Dead..." someone stammered, then burst into tears, "Dead! Dead! Ahhhhh..."

Others were not as hysterical but still wore equally ashen faces, slumped in their chairs as if their spirits had left them.

As the weeping player's sobs subsided, the auditorium fell into a deathly silence.

In this suffocating quiet, Qin Fei was the first to rise.

The tall young man stretched his neck and shoulders, moving gracefully towards the guide. With a familiar and intimate tone, he asked, "The banquet is over. Shouldn't we be heading back?"