Hourglass Project - Chapter 6

The thing the villagers had carried back was the same female player who had followed the envoy earlier.

Her corpse wasn’t in a gruesome state, no signs of being attacked by a weapon.

“Thank goodness I didn’t follow them… seriously…”

“Same here, I’m lucky I didn’t go.”

“Guess following those guys was the right move. Looks like they really are strong.”

“So what if they’re strong? They still didn’t want to bring weaklings like us along.”

“Is this what it’s like to start the game at max level? Must be nice…”

The group of five and Shen Wenyu stepped out of the morgue and decided it was time to act.

Saving the damsel in distress couldn’t be delayed any longer.

On the way, they discussed a plan and decided to have the experienced Li Moyan and Shen Wenyu go rescue the girl.

They soon arrived at the village chief’s house and entered boldly through the front door.

Using the sounds they had heard the day before as a clue, they quickly found the right place, an underground passage hidden in a room.

The village chief’s daughter was imprisoned below.

Li Moyan lifted the floor hatch, jumped down with Shen Wenyu, and closed it behind them.

The basement was dim, lit only by a small light bulb on the wall giving off a faint glow.

There were only two rooms below. Li Moyan opened the closest one. The room was equipped with necessary furnishings, and some things that shouldn’t have been there.

Curled up on the bed was a girl with her eyes closed, clothing disheveled, and hands and feet bound, she looked utterly broken.

They shut the door and walked over. Li Moyan gently nudged her.

The girl’s eyelashes trembled as she opened her eyes. Her expression was vacant at first, but when she saw them, fear instantly filled her face. She shrank back, screaming, “Who are you?!”

Li Moyan studied her face, despite her haggard state, she was still visibly beautiful. She gave a lazy smile and said, “We’re travelers visiting the village.”

The girl was stunned and only responded with an “oh” after a long while, then suddenly became alarmed. “How did you get in?! What are you doing here?!”

Her lucid mental state was a good thing, it would save them time.

“We wanted to find out what’s really going on in this village,” Li Moyan said gently. “We found out your father locked you up, so we figured you might know something.”

In her words, the girl’s face changed dramatically. She shrieked, “I don’t know anything! I don’t know! I know nothing! The village—the villagers!”

Good. She was triggered.

But it was nothing serious. Li Moyan remained patient. She reached out and gently smoothed the girl’s messy hair, smiling warmly, “Don’t worry. Just tell us what you know. With us here, you’ll be okay~”

Soon, the girl stopped trembling under the comfort spell Li Moyan cast. Her eyes wandered blankly, then she began speaking.

“Daddy went too far. They all did. They killed them all and wouldn’t even let me sing for him…”

Five minutes of listening was enough. The two of them learned the full truth.

The girl and the current villagers had originally been outsiders, two hundred of them, who arrived here four years ago. This was once someone else’s village.

Those original villagers were now ghosts.

The outsiders had presented themselves as wanderers and were warmly welcomed by the original village chief. He even let them settle in.

During this time, the girl had met a boy. Her singing voice had enchanted him, and the two often met up to sing and play.

Their growing bond had made her believe things would always be like that… until her father, the current chief, rallied over a hundred of their people and massacred all the original villagers, including children and the boy.

That night was one the girl would never forget.

After burying the corpses in the back mountain, they took over the village.

Since then, the girl had been in constant sorrow, unable to accept her father’s true nature. She tried escaping the mountains multiple times but was always caught and eventually imprisoned at home.

They thought they had buried the truth forever.

But evil never goes unpunished. The ones who sought retribution were the dead villagers buried in the mountain.

One month after the massacre, at midnight every night, their ghosts would rise from the earth to attack.

Among those vengeful spirits, the boy had retained some sanity and did everything he could to protect the girl from harm, even as the others were consumed by rage.

The girl had learned the reason for the spirits’ attacks, intense emotion had given the dead villagers power to exact vengeance.

The battle lasted three years. The village’s economy declined, so the new chief came up with the idea to turn it into a tourist site.

Meanwhile, the girl is still imprisoned and ignored. She had thought of escaping to report her father but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Eventually, her father discovered her intentions and locked her in the basement.

Her spirit broke. She tried escaping again and again, but each time she was caught and beaten.

She never gave up, but it only made her father more violent. He began torturing her.

Eventually, she went mad but not completely. Her heart still held onto a sliver of hope.

At night, when the villagers and ghosts were busy fighting, the reduced supervision let her slip away. If she was lucid, she’d go to the front mountain. If not, she’d go to the back to sing for the boy.

Whether he could hear her or not didn’t matter to her anymore.

Shen Wenyu processed everything, opened his mouth, and then quickly closed it.

Li Moyan withdrew her hand from the girl’s head. The two of them listened closely.

Footsteps approached from above, someone entered the room and opened the hatch.

Someone was coming down.

The girl sat motionless on the bed, eyes glazed. Even as someone came close, she didn’t react.

The chief stopped beside her bed, glanced around, then back at her. “I told you, don’t even think about running.”

“…”

“Why don’t you ever listen?!”

He yelled. The shadows beneath his eyes were darker than before.

“Do you want to get everyone in the village killed?!”

He paced back and forth, ranting. “You think turning us in will save you? You think you’ll see that damned brat again?!”

At the word “brat,” the girl’s lifeless eyes flickered. She muttered, “Daddy’s cursing again…”

“Shut up!!” the chief snapped, pointing at her.

“Why are you yelling at him?!” the girl suddenly shouted. She struggled to move, but the ropes held firm.

“Why are you protecting him?!” the chief roared, face twisted in rage. “He’s dead! They’re all dead! And good riddance!!”

He was just as unhinged.

Li Moyan sat in a wooden chair, a child on her lap. They were invisible and completely silent.

“Shut up!!” the girl screamed, throwing his words back at him. Then she turned her head and whispered, “Don’t be scared. I’ll scold him for you.”

She was shielding empty air, pitifully deranged.

Seeing this, the chief stopped shouting. Afraid he’d go mad too, he turned to leave. But she kept going, determined to protect what wasn’t even there.

“I don’t have a father like you!”

There was no sadness in her voice—only rage.

He paused, sneered coldly, clearly used to it by now, and slammed the door shut.

Only then did the girl relax, leaning against the wall and saying to the air, “I’ll sing for you, the one you said you liked yesterday.”

Her throat was hoarse from yelling, but she sang anyway.

There weren’t many lyrics, mostly music.

In her world, the boy was still there, even if he never responded.

﹉

“A few village thugs? Easy,” Huang Yuhan said arrogantly, shielding the others as she faced several burly villagers holding ropes and sacks.

The villagers moved forward, clearly intending to capture them.

The four players scattered at the call of “Run!” Clearly prepared in advance, leaving the villagers stunned.

Huang Yuhan had talked tough but wasn’t foolish. Even though the villagers had approached first, the system might still punish her for retaliating, possibly claiming she’d used excessive force.

They didn’t understand the rules of this micro-environment. The envoy’s system had deliberately kept them in the dark, like setting a trap.

“Big sister.”

Tao Luo turned around. A little girl, cuter than the one before, stood behind her.

She tugged Tao Luo’s finger and asked, “Do you know where Huanhuan went?”

“…No.”

The girl lowered her head, clearly disappointed.

Tao Luo moved her hand slightly, and the girl immediately looked up, hugged her leg, and asked sadly, “Big sister, do you know my name?”

“No,” Tao Luo replied quickly. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, and she suddenly felt uneasy.

“Big sister,” the girl looked up again, “do you know where Daddy went?”

Back in the village, situations varied.

Huang Jijun was still being pursued. Her steps quickened, but the footsteps behind her were even faster.

Scrape.

She stopped and kicked the dirt, turning to face her pursuer.

A tall, muscular man approached. His sun-darkened skin glowed. He held an axe in one hand, the blade dragging on the ground.

Huang Jijun pulled out the dagger Li Moyan had given her, trying to stay calm despite her fear.

She had never faced an opponent like this.

Chai lang raised his axe as he approached, swinging it down like he was chopping wood!

She jumped back and blocked with the dagger.

Clang!

The weapons clashed with a sharp, ringing sound.

Her arms went numb. She staggered back as Chailang raised the axe again.

Blades flashed, clash after clash.

Huang Jijun was nimble and trained in combat. His axe swings were fierce but sloppy. The real problem was his raw strength.

“Ugh…” Huang Jijun was nearly bent over from fatigue. His constant downward strikes wore her out.

Compared to her, Chai lang seemed relaxed, he raised his axe again.

She looked up, eyes calm, gripping her dagger tightly.

The axe fell—

Cold wind struck her first. Then, hot bl00d sprayed across her face.

Chai lang frozen. His grip on the axe slackened.

Two long swords had stopped the blow, one an ice blade powered by ability, the other a tech-enhanced mechanical sword.

Tao Luo struck, sending the axe flying. She helped Huang Jiajun up and tucked away her dagger.

Li Moyan pulled her sword from Chai lang’s body. Bl00d splattered. Shen Wenyu in her arms leaned forward to check.

He was dead.

Huang Jijun finally exhaled, slumping to the ground. She wiped the bl00d off her face. “Damn… I’m exhausted…”

Tao Luo looked at the long dagger next to her. “Is that your ability?”

Huang Jiajun examined it, nodded, then looked at Tao Luo’s weapon. “Yours?”

“Mhm,” she replied. The ice melted into water, and she pocketed her dagger.

“Nice, nice~” Li Moyan clapped, pleased. With a flick of her hand, her dagger vanished. She asked Huang Jiajun, “What was that guy’s deal?”

Huang Jiajun shook her head and explained what had happened after they left the village chief’s house.

They were followed by villagers and scattered. She ended up being chased by Chai Lang.

In the cabin, Huang Yuhan frowned. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would they… huh?”

Everyone understood.

There was no good reason for these random attacks.

Li Moyan, who had been lying on the bed, got up and walked to the door, peeking outside.

The others followed, and saw it too.

Several villagers were carrying long sacks toward the back mountain. Some players watched, and a few approached to ask questions.

One villager’s expression turned instantly wary.

Just like the village chief before.

Whenever players asked about the village’s past, the villagers reacted with that same wariness, afraid of being found out.

Li Moyan told them everything the girl had revealed.

The conclusion was clear: the villagers were terrified of players discovering their dark past.

And understandably. No one wants others to know they’re a murderer.

“I wonder what would happen if we reported it…” Lin Yi muttered.

Reporting wasn’t an option. Players couldn’t leave the mountain.

Tao Luo leaned against the doorframe, eyes drifting to the little girl behind the crowd.

“Big sister, do you know where Daddy went?”

“No.”

But now, she knew.

Her daddy was going to the mountain, to atone for his sins.

Though of course, not by choice.