“Little one… you’re not Zhang Mazi’s kid.”

The skeletal ghost’s voice was halting and sinister.

“You’re the one who was cursing me just now, aren’t you?”

The finger bones on its hand grew even sharper, and its gaze fixed on Wu Wang with ravenous greed.

It hadn’t noticed at first. It wasn’t until the boy had kicked it, making physical contact, that the ghost had detected a faint, fragrant scent on him.

That scent held a fatal allure, like a cool mountain spring to a traveler dying of thirst in the desert.

It had never encountered anything so wonderful!

Brother, you smell so good!

“No, I’m a butterfly.”

Wu Wang’s form shifted back to his original appearance. The child’s body had been far too awkward. Otherwise, that last kick would have sent him flipping much farther away.

He couldn’t use brute force right now. He wasn’t worried about being killed by this Fierce Ghost, but he was terrified of being captured.

As the old saying went, if you couldn’t escape, being captured alive was far more tragic than death.

He cracked his neck and shot the ghost a cheeky grin.

“My species is called the Reverse Butterfly. Remember that.”

With that, he leaped high into the air. A grenade-like object slipped from his hand, exploding the moment it hit the ground.

In an instant, the entire main hall was shrouded in a strange white smoke. The skeletal ghost suddenly found that it could no longer sense Wu Wang’s presence at all.

【Smoke-No-Harm Grenade. When used, creates a mist in the surrounding area. No perception or damaging actions can be performed within the mist. The duration is 10 seconds.】

【Remark. Smoke-no-harm is a Law of the universe!】

This was another trophy Wu Wang had tearfully looted from a corpse. To be honest, that guy Tuxing Sun had practically no items for direct combat. Almost everything he owned was for escaping.

What a pity. For someone so skilled at running away, he died on his one and only greedy venture.

As expected, true security could only come from an AK-47.

“I want to fly to the sky, shoulder to shoulder with the sun! The world is waiting for me to change!”

Wu Wang hummed the lyrics to “I Believe” as he soared farther and farther away. He had to admit, the Cloud-Stepping Steps skill was insane. Just the stackable double jump alone was a game-changer.

Theoretically, as long as he had enough stamina, he could literally step on his left foot with his right and climb above the stratosphere.

The biggest limitation of the skill was a simple one. How to land safely after getting so high up? It was the same principle as trying to get off a tiger you were riding.

Wu Wang had tested many landing methods over the past three days. He discovered that the pressure the skill needed to withstand upon use was equal to the pressure on his body in its current state. Continuously double-jumping was simple, because the pressure was always just his own body weight.

But after reaching a certain height, if he decided to cancel the skill and then use a double jump to land after free-falling to a safe altitude, that final jump would have to bear the accumulated pressure from gravitational acceleration.

His knees would be instantly pulverized.

So, Wu Wang chose the simplest landing method. He would pick a spot where he wouldn’t crush anyone and slam into the ground headfirst.

As long as the height was sufficient, he would die on the spot.

Reviving on the spot was a safe landing.

Safety didn’t equal staying alive.

The inequality for the win!

Pfft!

“Where do you think you’re running?”

The skeletal ghost’s voice echoed from the Main Hall.

Wu Wang looked down. A sharp, bony object had viciously pierced his chest. The ten-second smoke effect was over. He hadn’t expected his opponent to have a long-range attack that could hit him from so far away.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

His death interrupted the double jump. The sound of rushing wind filled Wu Wang’s ears as he plummeted. He squinted, trying to steer his fall as far away as possible.

BOOM!

Wu Wang crashed violently into a house somewhere in the village.

He revived the instant he died. When he opened his eyes, he found himself facing two familiar people.

Aunty Li and Uncle Li.

The two were staring at him, their faces filled with terror. They were holding carving knives, in the middle of engraving something. A closer look revealed they were working on a spirit tablet.

The name was already carved.

【The Memorial Tablet of Zhang Sanfeng】

?

Hold on, buddy, why are you making a memorial tablet for me?

Before the Li couple could react, Wu Wang reached out, grabbed the bone spur in his chest, and yanked it out. He pressed its sharp point firmly against Aunty Li’s neck.

With a grim expression, he asked, “Why are you making this memorial tablet?”

Seeing his wife threatened, Uncle Li was about to get angry but froze when he saw the bone spur push forward a little. Aunty Li’s skin broke. Any further and it would pierce her throat.

He immediately waved his hands and answered anxiously, “Don’t do anything! We can talk this out! This memorial tablet is for the little madman who lives on the mountain by the village entrance. The village couldn’t find a suitable Yin Fate Saintess this year, so we can only use the backup plan.”

“Backup plan?” Wu Wang raised an eyebrow.

“The village has been raising that little madman just in case a situation like this arose,” Uncle Li told him everything. “If we really can’t find a Saintess, we can sacrifice him to the Yin Fate Great God. Things won’t be perfect this year, but at least no disaster will befall us.”

Hearing this, it all clicked for Wu Wang.

So that was it. No wonder the instance description forced him to make a choice. Either he would be used as a sacrifice for the Yin Fate Great God, or he would offer up the girl he found to be the Yin Fate Saintess.

One choice meant he was screwed. The other meant someone else was.

It seemed like a simple choice. But considering the girl’s possible connection to Wu Xiaoyou and the goal of clearing the instance, Wu Wang could never hand her over.

In the three days before entering this world, he and Baili Dao had chatted a lot. He had gained some basic knowledge about the 【Spirit Calamity Game】. He was facing a Nightmare-level instance with a clear rate of less than one percent.

If clearing it was as simple as sacrificing an outsider… then this game was just plain stupid.

“Redemption or sin…”

“All things are bound by fate…”

Wu Wang recalled the two lines from the instance description. But there was no time to think any further. That bizarre skeletal ghost was still in hot pursuit!

Since it usually wore the old village chief’s human skin to interact with the villagers, it would have to put that skin back on before it could come out and chase him. It couldn’t exactly sprint after him like a track star in the old chief’s decrepit body, not in front of everyone.

It would most likely order some nimble-footed villagers to the crash site to carry him back.

If he hadn’t happened to see this spirit tablet, Wu Wang would have been long gone by now. But now that he had his answers, he violently shoved Aunty Li towards her husband.

While the other man was catching her, Wu Wang turned and prepared to vault out of the house.

Just before leaving, he saw a large, white mantou on the table. He snatched it and stuffed it into his pocket. He was still hung up about not getting to eat that mantou earlier.

The moment before he left, he glanced back at the terrified couple.

“A plain white bun is always the better choice.”

Since Uncle Li had been so forthcoming, it only confirmed Wu Wang’s suspicions. The villagers were not ignorant. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they were unrepentant.

This village was full of villains, every last one of them!

“Be careful of the retribution for eating Human Blood Mantou.”

“Especially retribution from those who died unjustly.”