jdhmnovel Chapter 14 An Ominous Night
Chapter 14 An Ominous Night
"How many survival coins are you giving out this time? They're for the number of days you survive. I only have 16, so let's save them," Wang Zhe whispered.
"I'm 22, Wang Zhe. What happens when I run out of these survival coins?" Ding Xuehui asked curiously.
"Once you've used it all, you'll be forced to enter a dungeon."
A woman with a soft, alluring voice suddenly appeared behind the three of them, startling Wang Zhe so much that he broke out in a cold sweat.
Jiang Lin turned his head and saw a graceful woman in a dark red silk cheongsam with peony patterns that made her skin look fair and radiant. Her long, wavy hair was styled to one side.
Although Ding Xuehui is the school beauty, she clearly lacks the charm compared to this other girl.
Wang Zhe's eyes widened: "Good sister, why do you walk so quietly?"
"Your ears are just for show, when have they ever been of any use?" The beauty swayed her round palm-leaf fan slightly as she sneered.
"Ahem, this beautiful lady is the owner of this place. She's beautiful inside and out, and everyone loves her!" Wang Zhe frantically winked at Ding Xuehui and Jiang Lin.
Ding Xuehui's breath caught in her throat, and her hair stood on end. Could anyone running a hotel on Dead Soul Island be a living person?
"Little sister, don't worry, we generally won't hurt players." The proprietress smiled and fanned Ding Xuehui.
Jiang Lin's eyes flashed with a glint of light. What did he mean by "generally not"?
The proprietress noticed Jiang Lin's gaze, a slight smile playing on her lips. She then rested her left arm on Jiang Lin's shoulder, her breath sweet and fragrant.
"You can enter the dungeon before your survival days run out. I advise you newbies not to just coast along, but to accumulate as many survival coins as possible and find a way to enter the temple. Only then will you have a chance... to escape this sea of suffering!"
Ding Xuehui asked excitedly, "You mean, we have a chance to leave Dead Soul Island?"
Back in reality, whenever Ding Xuehui closed her eyes, the image of her friend's severed head would flash through her mind. Even outside the game world, the thought of participating in the next dungeon would still choke her, making it hard for her to breathe.
Only after entering Dead Soul Island and standing beside Jiang Lin could she calm down again. However, upon returning to reality, Jiang Lin did not contact her, which made Ding Xuehui feel very frustrated.
The proprietress pointed her fan upwards: "There are three temples on the mountaintop. The third temple opens every quarter, which is 120 survival days."
"It will select a certain number of players to open the Underworld instance based on their ranking using Survival Coins."
"The Second Temple, the Hell Dungeon opens in Season 3!"
"The First Temple, the 9th season of the cycle of reincarnation dungeon has been opened!"
"You can leave Dead Soul Island as long as you pass the Reincarnation Dungeon."
Jiang Lin's eyes flickered, and she said gratefully, "Thank you for the reminder."
Ding Xuehui wanted to ask for more details, but was interrupted by the proprietress's voice.
"I see you three poor bastards can't afford anything, so I'll treat you to a drink today. If you become rich someday, you can pay for the drinks later!" The woman finished speaking and then swayed away with her charming figure.
"I've been here so many times, but this is the first time the proprietress has ever treated me to a drink. Tsk tsk, the ancients were right, even a virtuous woman can be won over by persistent suitors!" Wang Zhe said excitedly.
Ding Xuehui rolled her eyes at Wang Zhe's infatuated look and said to Jiang Lin, "She seems like a good person."
Jiang Lin shook his head slightly. Whether she was a good person or not didn't really matter to him. What puzzled him was her overtures to the three newcomers. However, the information he had wasn't enough for him to deduce the woman's true intentions, so he could only keep this question to himself.
After finishing their drinks, the three of them went to see the temple on the mountaintop. The temple was majestic, and they did not have permission to enter.
After understanding the basic situation, everyone prepared to log off and return to reality.
After Ding Xuehui left, Wang Zhe pulled Jiang Lin aside and said, "I think our school beauty seems to have a bit of a crush on you. What do you say?"
Jiang Lin teased, "My qualifications are not good enough for her. Her target is Young Master Ji."
A symbol of wealth and power, a life of luxury and honor in the second half of life!
"Come on! How can an ordinary person be neighbors with the Ji family?" Wang Zhe knew about the relationship between Jiang Lin and Ji Xingyi, and looked incredulous. He wasn't a child; he wasn't that naive.
"These days, you get jobs based on your skills, you know! Judging from the way the school beauty is looking at you, you've got a good chance!"
Jiang Lin was surprised that Wang Zhe would dare to encourage her to steal Ji Xingyi's boyfriend: "You don't think our school beauty Ding is innocent just because she said a good word for you back then, do you?"
Wang Zhe shrugged: "I think she's a nice person, quite kind-hearted."
Jiang Lin shook his head and chuckled: "Be careful you don't get swindled out of your underwear by a woman!"
Ding Xuehui knew about Jiang Lin and Ji Xingyi's relationship all along, so why didn't she bring it up from the beginning? Why did she only bring up her relationship with Ji Xingyi after Yang Bin and Tao Tao died one after another?
Because the girl clearly understood how dangerous her situation was, she needed new help. And coincidentally, Jiang Lin was by her side at that moment, and the young man's performance was outstanding.
After returning to reality, Jiang Lin tested Ji Xingyi, who had never taken Ding Xuehui seriously. Clearly, the girl and Xingyi's relationship hadn't reached a close stage.
It is highly likely that the girl was rejected outright.
Therefore, Ding Xuehui was initially reluctant to tell Jiang Lin about her relationship with Ji Xingyi, but later she became afraid, afraid that she would be abandoned like Tao Tao.
Just as she abandoned Tao Tao, she was afraid that Jiang Lin would abandon her.
Then, the girl used a very clever method.
He deliberately used vague language to describe his relationship with Ji Xingyi, in order to get closer to Jiang Lin and increase Jiang Lin's favor towards him, thus gaining help in passing the level.
However, Ding Xuehui did not expect that Jiang Lin was not as easily fooled as Wang Zhe.
Smart is mistaken by smart.
The fisherman, instead, gets caught by the fish in the water.
After leaving Dead Soul Island, Jiang Lin returned to his ordinary life. He was hospitalized in Hangzhou for three days and then officially discharged. He wanted to go back to school, but Zhang Hui took him directly to the Binhai Villa District.
Zhang Hui, without his permission, packed up all of Jiang Lin's belongings, including his blankets, and brought them here.
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Lin knew that this must be Ji Xingyi's arrangement. He was a little angry at first, but then he thought that now that he was bound to Death Soul Island, he would face the next dungeon sooner or later. It was indeed inconvenient to stay in the school dormitory, so he did not argue with the two of them.
Just as Jiang Lin was tidying up her room that afternoon, Zhang Hui suddenly knocked on the door.
Seeing Zhang Hui holding a brown paper bag with a conflicted expression, Jiang Lin took the initiative to ask, "What's this?"
Zhang Hui gritted his teeth and shoved a document into Jiang Lin's hand: "This is information Xingyi asked me to look up about Ding Xuehui. Although Xingyi told me not to tell you, I felt I should still show it to you. Don't tell Xingyi that I gave it to you!"
Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow and opened the brown paper bag.
It contains detailed information about Ding Xuehui, as well as... the whole story of designing Ji Mu?
Jiang Lin carefully read through the documents and discovered that Ding Xuehui had deliberately arranged for an attack on Ji Xingyi's mother a month earlier. She then seized the opportunity to save the mother, even sustaining injuries to gain her favor. This ultimately led to the arranged marriage.
Jiang Lin couldn't help but chuckle. No wonder she could call him by name so easily; the girl must have already investigated the people around Xingyi beforehand.
I really underestimated her.
interesting.
On the 10th day after the accident, the survival count jumped to 16.
At 11 p.m., Jiang Lin opened the Dead Soul Island app, paused for three seconds, and then selected "Start Game".
He had already found out all the details about entering the dungeon early over the past two days. Players who enter early have the right to choose the dungeon and can also invite their friends to join. However, Jiang Lin didn't plan to bring Wang Zhe and Ding Xuehui along; he chose to earn some points on his own first.
[Survival time: 16 days. Confirm to start the game?]
[Start/Exit]
Jiang Lin clicked "Start" again.
The screen shifted, and an invisible force seemed to envelop Jiang Lin.
Three strange-looking object images appeared on the phone screen.
The first one: A sleeping black cat.
The second one: a white rabbit hair clip stained with blood.
The third one: a photo of the gate of an old house.
Countdown 60 second.
Clearly, the three images correspond to three different scenarios. Jiang Lin skipped the first two options and frowned slightly as he looked at the third image, a picture of an old house.
He recognized the photo immediately, though it wasn't a real building; it was the entrance background of a game. He'd spent a few days there during summer vacation, only two or three months ago, so Jiang Lin recognized it instantly.
"Is it a coincidence?" Jiang Lin murmured to himself.
If it wasn't a coincidence, would the game have stolen his memories?
Before the countdown ended, Jiang Lin clicked the third option without hesitation.
[Instance: The Night of the Ominous]
[Waiting for players to enter... 5 minutes countdown...]
"Tap tap tap." Just then, increasingly clear footsteps came from outside the door.
Jiang Lin looked up and saw her childhood friend push the door open and enter.
The young man's movements as he crawled into bed were frighteningly skillful. Jiang Lin immediately hid his phone. It wasn't that Jiang Lin forgot to lock the door, but years of experience told him that locks were completely useless against his wild childhood friend.
Few people know that this young master Ji, who comes from a prestigious family, suffered from a serious mental illness in his childhood. Jiang Lin, as Ji Xingyi's only friend at the time, was like a tranquilizer to him.
Although his condition has largely healed over time, young master Ji still suffers from insomnia.
Whenever this happened, he would come to find Jiang Lin. This is why Zhang Hui didn't find it strange to see the two of them lying together in the hospital.
The game countdown is 4 minutes and 12 seconds.
Jiang Lin thought to himself that he had miscalculated; how could he have forgotten about this guy!