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Chapter 27.1: Healing-style
Chapter 27.1: Healing-style
Chapter 27.1: Healing-style
Zheng Qingyue hadn't embellished anything in the first short essay she posted on the game forum. She was indeed an ordinary top student from an ordinary college located in the capital of a poor province. While it ranked lower in the national rankings, it still gathered talented individuals from the entire province, and needless to say, there was no shortage of academic talent. Therefore, Zheng Qingyue was not considered a prominent figure on campus.
However, if she were to be placed in the nationwide group of young adults aged 20 to 30 nationwide, she would be considered an exceptionally rare genius…
In any case, Zheng Qingyue, who had both intelligence and initiative, led four other players and explored several underground chambers. Finally, in a well-preserved cellar of a wooden house, she successfully found the second item for the quest: "Letter x1."
"Dear Anna,
On the 151st day after arriving in Taranthan, Yarlyn was successfully elected as the mayor, and my dear friend entrusted the opportunity of being sheriff to me.
I can't wait to share my joy with you, my love, but unfortunately, the merchant caravan only comes once a year. Every day, I eagerly await winter, yearning for its swift arrival.
We have successfully reclaimed the barren land to the south and planted wheat, potatoes, and radishes, which are thriving.
General Charlotte's sheep ranch has also been established, and if all goes well, we can have our own ranch in two to three years.
The goddess of prosperity has blessed us, and we firmly believe that the desolate land of Taranthan will become a fertile treasure that we can pass on to future generations. The climate here is pleasant, rainfall abundant, and the land is even more fertile than we imagined.
When you and our child arrive here, you will definitely fall in love with this place.
Yours, Morris."
Unceasing Entropy passed the parchment letter around for her teammates to read, and after everyone was done, she put it away.
Her team then continued searching for about half an hour, and in another underground cellar, using tools like wooden boards and sticks, they dug out the gravel and mud that players had filled and, to their surprise, beneath the layer of mud about one meter deep, found a dusty wooden door!
"Found it!" Tang Jia exclaimed in joy. She reached out her hands and felt around the dusty surface of the door, finding a latch or something similar, and pulled it up with force.
Study Obsessed, who had also come down to help clear the buried debris, immediately exclaimed, "Holy shit…"
The underground passage, sealed for who knows how many years without any airflow, definitely didn't smell pleasant. However, since the players were all skeletons, their sense of smell and taste wasn't very effective. Players relied mainly on vision, hearing, and touch, with little to no sense of pain. So, it wasn't a significant issue.
The reason Study Obsessed cried out was because there was a decayed skeleton lying on the descending steps of this passage. The skeleton's head was facing upward toward the exit, while its feet pointed downward.
The skeletal remains had turned completely white, but the clothing on it still remained well preserved, seemingly a brown shirt with black trousers. There was also a shoe hanging on one foot, so worn out that only the laces remained.
On the back area of the shirt were three exaggerated claw-like tears, as if a tiger had clawed it.
Tang Jia lifted the wooden door and set it aside, and after glancing into the passage, she teased Study Obsessed, "What was that scream for? You give me a scare! It would be one thing if it were a proper corpse, but we see skeletons all the time, right?"
Study Obsessed: "…"
She didn't really like Tang Jia's manner of saying this, but for some reason, she couldn't come up with a retort at that moment…
The underground cellar was barely two square meters wide and couldn't fit too many people. Tang Jia and Study Obsessed went into the passage first, while Zheng Qingyue went in next, followed by Yang Ying and Brother Lahong.
Zheng Qingyue wasn't in a rush to enter the depths of the tunnel and motioned for everyone to wait first. She crouched down at the slanting entrance of the narrow passageway, which was barely half a meter wide and could only accommodate them standing in single file. Extending her skeletal fingers, she examined the remains lying at the entrance of the tunnel.
"Do you think this corpse could be Morris?" Brother Lahong didn't rush to descend; instead, he squatted beside Zheng Qingyue, watching her intently.
Zheng Qingyue shook her head. "No, this corpse was probably a woman."
Brother Lahong: "??"
"I've studied some forensic books before, and there are distinguishable differences between the skulls of men and women. I first noticed in Vanilla Pudding's video that player character models are independently designed," Zheng Qingyue explained, lifting the skull from the floor and pointing to the temple. "Look, this area appears smoother compared to yours, without any noticeable bulging."
Brother Lahong: "…"
Zheng Qingyue placed the skull back, then reached into the pockets of the corpse's pants and, to her surprise, really found something.
"A gold ring?" Brother Lahong showed a hint of interest as he watched Zheng Qingyue retrieve the item.
"Not gold, it's gold-plated silver. With 'Identify,' I can view the item's information. It's a wedding ring." Zheng Qingyue raised the ring, gesturing for Brother Lahong to use the beginner skill.
Brother Lahong couldn't help but feel fortunate that his Potential had reached 41 points, allowing him to use "Identify." Otherwise, it would have been rather embarrassing.
Upon using "Identify," the information of the ring was displayed:
[A gold-plated silver wedding ring with the 'Anna' inscribed on the inner side.]
"Anna? Oh my!" Brother Lahong got excited. "Could this be the wife that Morris was writing to in the letter?!"
"Probably." Zheng Qingyue put the ring in her waist pouch. "If a wedding ring is a gold-plated silver, it means a gold one couldn't be afforded. This suggests that the owner of the ring was financially strained, which aligns with the concept of Morris, the husband, leaving his wife and child behind to join the pioneer expedition to an undeveloped land."
Brother Lahong, despite being a man, was quite a sentimental person and couldn't maintain the same level of composure as Zheng Qingyue. With a gasp, he blurted out, "Hold on, could this quest be 'healing-style'? Even the wife, who was far away at home, came to Exile Town and died at the entrance of this passageway… Does this mean that the one who wrote the letters, Morris, has already died before that?!" [TL note: Healing-style is a Chinese phrase that sort of means someone or something that can warm the hearts of the audience.]
Zheng Qingyue made a downward gesture with her finger, signaling the ones in front that were blocking the passageway to proceed forward. She continued to explain rationally to Brother Lahong, "Think about it carefully. This town was chosen by Black Mage Yang as the resurrection site for the undead race controlled by us players. We appeared in the game by emerging from underground… and considering the nature of this quest, it's clear that the planners are suggesting that not a single resident of the original Exile Town managed to escape. They were wiped out long ago."
Brother Lahong: "…"