Chapter 139 – 1992-2020

As soon as these words came out, everyone’s expressions changed in unison.

The man with the scar turned pale with fright. Even so, he tried to keep his composure and cast a quick glance upward.

He glanced up very quickly, afraid of seeing something terrible. However, at a glance, there was nothing to be seen except the ceiling.

Everyone also looked there nervously, whispering: “What did you see?” and “There’s nothing.”

Hearing this, the man with the scar felt more at ease and said with a sneer, “What are you trying to do- scare me?”

Lian Qiao shrugged: “Why should I scare you? If I want to kill you, I will do it directly. Why would I need to scare you?”

Everyone: “..” You are indeed a unified amalgamation of knowledge and action.

Scarface also felt that what he said was very reasonable but, as the one who was being attacked, he still couldn’t swallow the anger in his heart. He pointed to Lian Qiao’s nose and was about to yell at him when he suddenly felt his cheeks heat up. Something slapped onto his face again.

The man with the scar was irritated and wiped his hand around casually. He opened his mouth and said: “You..”

Before he finished speaking, a bloody mouth appeared in mid-air without warning and the man with the scar was bitten by the open mouth!

Before the man with the scar could react, his body twitched and he fell to the ground. His neck cavity was like a broken faucet, bleeding desperately, splashing a large amount of blood red onto? the ground. The headless corpse twitched on the ground, like a fish that had been disemboweled but didn’t know it was dead.

Everyone was horrified, watching a ghost hanging upside down from the ceiling.

It was a pale man in ragged clothes. His limbs are as thin as bamboo poles but his belly was as big as a drum. At first glance, it looks like a spider with a big belly. However, he didn’t spin the silk, he just puffed out his cheeks and chewed.

The man was huge, with a mouth that opened like a washbasin, so it was effortless to chew the head of a living person. With an expression of extreme enjoyment on his pale face, he chewed the head until it cracked and bone fragments kept falling out from the corners of his mouth.

Everyone watched him swallow the human head, even the minced meat that leaked from the corner of his mouth. Slender fingers wiped the blood red lips and greedily stuffed the minced meat back into his mouth. The man’s expression changed from enjoyment to satisfaction and he swallowed all his flesh and blood.

Everyone was dumbfounded, standing on the spot like a puppet.

They didn’t react until Lian Qiao slowly said: “It turned out to be a hungry ghost.”

Then everyone realized that it was a ghost!

Someone yelled, “Why are you still standing there for, run away!!” Everyone scattered and fled in all directions as if awakened from a dream. Some ran outside, some ran to the kitchen and others ran upstairs in a panic.

However, the little bastards on the second floor who were watching the fun had long since hid in their rooms and the principal was also missing, perhaps hiding with the children.

The hungry ghost didn’t rush to chase them either but threw himself on the man with the scar and frantically devoured the rest of his body.

In a blink of an eye, the people next to Lian Qiao disappeared. The only sound left in the living room was the chewing sound of the hungry ghost.

Lian Qiao glanced at Little Apple, the last person next to him, and asked in surprise: “Why didn’t you run?”

Little Apple curled her lips: “It’s useless to run, you can’t get out anyway. It’s better to fight.” She was holding the watermelon knife that Lian Qiao lent her.

The watermelon knife was dozens of centimeters long, sharp and polished, and when it was taken out in the living room at this moment, it could be said to be extremely murderous.

After saying that, Little Apple picked up the watermelon knife and marched up. He saw her raise the knife and slash down. The watermelon knife chopped off the hungry ghost in his middle. However, the hungry ghost still gnawed on the corpse like he was unconscious, without even turning his head.

It turned out that the hungry ghost had no substance. No matter how hard Little Apple slashed, it merely went through the phantom and couldn’t do any harm to the hungry ghost.

She couldn’t make a blow and was terrified, but she didn’t freeze and immediately retreated to Lian Qiao’s side.

Lian Qiao frowned slightly and was about to speak when heard Little Apple say: “Tsk, it actually has ‘physical immunity’.”

Physical immunity?

It was rare to hear game terms and Lian Qiao was pleasantly surprised. He suppressed a smile and asked: “Then what should we do? Do you know magic?”

“What are you thinking, of course not.” Little Apple gave him a blank look and reached out to pull him, “Forget it, let’s get out of here! This is a ‘plot killing’! (Note)”. {Game terms again, not sure if my translation is correct as I don’t play online games.}

“Wait.” Lian Qiao remained motionless but handed the baby into her arms, “Hold him for a second, let me try.” Then he put his hand into the backpack.

Little Apple’s eyes lit up, expecting him to bring out some peerless treasure, but he never expected that what Lian Qiao held in his hand was still the classic crowbar.

“Aren’t you dumb?!” Little Apple was very disappointed, “I thought you were going to take out a Vajra Pestle!” {Buddhist/Ancient Indian weapon.}

“Let me just try it!” Before Lian Qiao finished speaking, he had already rushed out.

The hungry ghost had already gnawed the corpse to pieces, leaving only bits of flesh and bones on the ground. At this moment, he just turned his head and salivated at the two lively people.

Lian Qiao waved the crowbar and rushed towards him. The hungry ghost didn’t take it seriously at first and smiled slyly, neither dodging nor dodging. But the moment he saw the crowbar clearly, his face changed suddenly and he shrank his neck to hide.

He was actually afraid of crowbars!

As soon as Lian Qiao slammed it towards him, he immediately changed direction and threw it at the hungry ghost again. This time the hungry ghost not only dodged ahead of time but even crawled to the corner of the house extremely nimbly with both hands and feet. He bared its teeth and growled at him.

This hungry ghost was obviously very afraid of crowbars. Little Apple was stunned and blurted out: “How come?!”

Lian Qiao: “It’s been ‘consecrated’.” {Game term again, sorry not sure if my translation is correct, probably not.}

Little Apple: “???”

Lian Qiao was too lazy to explain. He picked up the crowbar and charged aggressively at the hungry ghost. The hungry ghost glared at him viciously, then turned his head and slammed itself into the wall. Like milk falling into water, it disappeared without a sound.

Lian Qiao held a crowbar and stared at the empty wall, feeling lost.

Little Apple chuckled, “It’s all your fault. You didn’t take out the crowbar earlier, so the monster slipped away.”

She said that the “monster” slipped away, not the “ghost”. There was no doubt about this familiar tone.

Lian Qiao raised the corners of his mouth: “You also like to play games?”

Little Apple was taken aback, then smiled: “Yeah, I’m a game geek.. What about you?”

A strong sense of intimacy rose in Lian Qiao’s heart. But now is not the time to recognize relatives so he quickly walked back to Little Apple, stretched out his hand and said, “Give him back to me.”

“No, let me hug him for a while. This kid is so cute.” Little Apple smiled. She dodged and pinched Little RenDong’s face, “Ah, this little face feels so good, I’ve long wanted to.. Wuuu!”

Little RenDong actually bit her finger!

Little Apple felt the pain and quickly withdrew her hand. In a moment of carelessness, the hand holding the little RenDong loosened and the swaddle slipped from her arms!

The two were shocked immediately. Fortunately, Lian Qiao reacted quickly and caught RenDong with quick eyes and hands, thus avoiding a tragedy.

Even though there was no danger, Lian Qiao was still in a cold sweat from fear. His heart was beating wildly, he tightly held RenDong in his arms and yelled at Little Apple: “What are you doing! Idiot, you can’t even hold a child!” He didn’t finish speaking before-

“Ahhh!”

Lian Qiao felt the pain in his hands and subconsciously wanted to let go but reacted in the next second, tightened his arms instead, and once again took Little RenDong into his arms.

He lowered his head in a daze and was shocked to find that RenDong had actually bitten him hard!

Lian Qiao’s first reaction was why did you bite me but what he blurted out—

“You have teeth?!”

Little RenDong: “..”

RenDong was shocked by his wonderful reaction and couldn’t help letting go in a daze.

Lian Qiao instantly forgot the tooth marks on his fingers and carefully opened RenDong’s mouth to count the teeth in his mouth. Immediately he excitedly said: “You have teeth! You have three teeth! Finally, hahahaha!”

RenDong: “..” He turned his head awkwardly, smacked his lips, and did not speak.

Lian Qiao was immersed in the joy that the baby had finally grown teeth. He kissed and squeezed Little RenDong, wishing to throw him into the sky. Little Apple rubbed her fingertips which hurt from being bitten and said suspiciously: “Your son.. no, is there something wrong with your partner? Why does he like biting for no reason?” Lian Qiao’s mood was turbulent and the sound of his voice was raised in the end: “I don’t know ah~”

Little Apple: “..” This old father seems to have something wrong with his brain.

After the hungry ghost ran away, it never appeared again. Those teammates who had fled in all directions came back one after another and were extremely surprised after hearing the explanations of the two.

A seemingly useless baby can actually see ghosts? Well, after all, it’s a child, and it’s normal to see things that others can’t.

A crowbar that has been ‘consecrated’ can actually beat ghosts? Uh..it seems to make sense. But how did Lian Qiao bring the crowbar to the Buddha to bless it?

Can this thing still be ‘consecrated’?

In any case, the crisis was temporarily lifted. The director of the orphanage only came down at this time and asked everyone in surprise: “Everyone, it’s so late, don’t you need to rest?”

Everyone thought: You can speak casually now but just now weren’t you hiding by yourself behind a locked door? The principal looked really upright, as if that really hadn’t happened. She even said with a pleasant face: “If you still don’t want to sleep, please chat softly, the children are going to sleep.”

This group of people really have a strong psychological quality. The downstairs was haunted but they actually fell asleep in a blink of an eye.

Having said that, the principal might be on the same side as ghosts, after all, they are all NPCs..

These old players who have been abused by dungeons have PTSD so they were always vigilant. They not only guarded against each other but also guarded against NPCs. Lian Qiao was too lazy to talk to this group of people, so he went back upstairs with Little RenDong in his arms.

Back in the bedroom, Lian Qiao carefully locked the door. Turning around, his heart jumped inexplicably, feeling if someone had been in this room.

He then looked carefully at the room.

This room was not big but it was well equipped with tables, chairs, bed and cabinets. The decoration was very warm. There are two beds and both are adult beds. It stands to reason that one more person can live here but, for some reason, the principal did not arrange other players to live in this room, but left it alone for Lian Qiao and Little RenDong.

Lian Qiao quickly found the reason why he felt strange.

On the only small table in the room, there was a small plate. He walked over with RenDong in his arms and saw a few bear biscuits on the plate.

..Who secretly gave them cookies while they were away?

Lian Qiao picked up a biscuit and looked at it in surprise. The shape of this biscuit was simple and it didn’t smell very fragrant. In modern day it is estimated that it is a cheap product that costs a few yuan a pack. But in the ’90s, it was a rarity.

Lian Qiao looked at it for a long time and didn’t see any tricks but little RenDong in his arms yelled “ah, ah” twice and stretched out his fleshy arms towards the biscuit.

Lian Qiao thought he wanted to study biscuits too, so he handed one over. Unexpectedly, RenDong took the biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth directly.

Lian Qiao was shocked and subconsciously grabbed it: “Hey! Don’t eat it! What if it’s poisonous!”

But Little RenDong shook his head. His pair of black eyes were bright, brimming with tears. He hugged the biscuit and gnawed it bit by bit with his only three deciduous teeth. Tears were always rolling in his eyes.

Lian Qiao was stunned and suddenly his heart skipped a beat.

“This..is the room where you lived since childhood?”

Little RenDong nodded.

Lian Qiao suddenly understood.

Who that person was who, on a snowy night in cold winter insisted on walking to the orphanage, bleeding all the way.

It’s Zhong Xiu.

***

The author has something to say:

Plot killing: When inevitable failure of a battle is arranged due to the needs of the plot in RPG games. For example, during the novice period, when encountering a powerful boss from the late stage, although the protagonist can engage in a fight, the boss is far stronger than the player and? it is impossible to win. Even if the player wins the battle through super-high combat skills and cheating, he will be directly “defeated” by the plot.

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