He understood now.

The source of it all was the Old Village Chief’s desire.

At first, he had built the village with the refugees simply because he wanted to survive.

Later, he wanted to live longer, so he made a deal with the Yin Fate Great God and became a ghost.

And now, he felt that life as a ghost was too suffocating.

He wanted to rise up, rebel, and take on the role of the Yin Fate Great God himself.

And after that?

It was an endless cycle.

A person’s desire is a chasm that can never be filled.

To satisfy it, those who are deeply ensnared are willing to pay any price.

The Old Village Chief’s tone was no longer friendly.

“Say what you will. Right now, you just need to tell me one thing. Are you taking this deal or not?”

He was actually quite puzzled.

The man before him, who could change his appearance at will, had been pierced clean through by his bone spur, then had fallen from a great height.

The chief had even used the Yin Fate Great God’s power to place a curse on him.

Yet, his target still appeared at this grand ritual as if nothing had happened. He was so lively and energetic that he looked completely unaffected.

How on earth did he do it?

“And if I don’t?”

Wu Wang stood up and began to pack food into a container.

“What can you do to me? It’s not like you can catch me.”

If he didn’t head back soon, his Second Sister would go hungry.

The Old Village Chief’s face darkened.

“From today onward, no one can leave the village without the Yin Fate Great God’s permission unless the grand ritual is a success.”

“Now that both Zhang Sanfeng and the Saintess are gone, the Yin Fate Great God will sacrifice the entire village after the three-day grand ritual is over. This place will become its domain.”

He already believed that Wu Wang had killed Zhang Sanfeng.

And since there was no Yin Fate Saintess and the little lunatic’s life was no longer available to repay the debt…

“You don’t want to be trapped here forever, do you?”

At this, Wu Wang understood.

He finally knew what the Main Quest erased by the Abyss God was!

【Escape Yin Fate Village within three days】

Or perhaps…

【Exorcise the Yin Fate Great God】!

After all, Wu Wang had tried it himself. There was no normal way to leave this village.

As soon as he stepped into the surrounding forest, he would always end up circling back.

Trying to persuade the Yin Fate Great God to let him leave was clearly a delusion.

That only left one option. Kill it!

Killing the boss of a Nightmare-level Instance…

The Old Village Chief’s expression was already tinged with frenzy; it was clear he had been waiting for far too long.

“Once I replace the Yin Fate Great God, I’ll have the authority to let you leave! It’s a win-win!”

Now, the opportunity to be free was within his grasp.

How could he possibly allow Wu Wang to slip away?

Wu Wang pondered for a moment.

Then, carrying the packed food container, he prepared to step down from the viewing platform.

“Let me consider it for a day. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow night at the Ancestral Hall.”

Ignoring the Old Village Chief’s attempts to stop him, Wu Wang leaped off the platform and vanished into the crowd.

Even as the Old Village Chief surveyed all the villagers below from his high vantage point, he still couldn’t tell who the man had become.

But he wasn’t worried.

He knew this person would definitely come back.

He could smell the same scent on the man as on himself.

The scent of a craving for freedom and release.

“Speaking of which, that fragrance on him has grown stronger. What in the world is it…”

The Old Village Chief muttered to himself as he sat back down to enjoy the performances of the grand ritual.

He pondered what the alluring scent could be.

It was a bit like the scent of a Yin Fate Saintess, but even more enticing.

Who on earth had this fellow been in contact with to be stained with such a scent?

Having quietly left the plaza, Wu Wang hurried towards the mountainside.

Along the way, he was contemplating two things.

First was the truth of the Yin Fate Grand Ritual and the whereabouts of the real Yin Fate Saintess.

When the Old Village Chief had been speaking, Wu Wang had glanced at his own status panel.

【Side Quest 1: Investigate the secrets of the Village Chief’s home (Completed)】

This proved that the Old Village Chief hadn’t lied about his origins. He was indeed a relic from two hundred years ago.

However, the next side quest was not marked as complete.

【Side Quest 2: Learn the truth of the Yin Fate Ritual, and find the real Yin Fate Saintess】

This meant the Old Village Chief was hiding something about the Yin Fate Great God. The truth was not necessarily what the old man had claimed.

He still needed to meet the Yin Fate Great God in person to be certain.

Second, there was the matter of the contaminated broadcast.

If he recalled correctly, Principal Wang had also obtained the Abyss God’s aura by hearing a strange broadcast, which had led to the contamination of Gao Shan High School.

Now, the contamination of Yin Fate Village came from the same source.

This proved that the Instance worlds were not completely independent of each other!

But a broadcast must have a source.

Wu Wang didn’t think the Abyss God itself was behind it. A single glance from that entity could make an Instance explode. It was simply too terrifying.

In comparison, the aura from the broadcast was far too weak. It felt more like someone was using the aura unintentionally radiated by the Abyss God to slowly contaminate other Instances.

“Who would do such a thing? A player? Or a certain NPC?”

The more Wu Wang thought about it, the more horrifying the implications became.

He thought back to the announcement from the Open Beta.

【After the Open Beta, any Instance that fails to be cleared three consecutive times will descend upon the real world.】

Someone was deliberately increasing the difficulty of the Instances to make them descend upon reality!

What kind of disaster would that be?

Although he himself was undying, his Second Sister was not!

What if an Instance descended near her…

“Forget it. I shouldn’t overthink this. I’ll speedrun this Instance first and worry about the rest later.”

Wu Wang shook his head to clear his thoughts.

His motivation had always been quite simple.

He needed to become stronger. Strong enough to protect his Second Sister under any circumstances.

And strong enough to find the Abyss God’s true form.

Then, he would ask the entity to kill him.

It was perhaps the only being in the world with any hope of succeeding. Maybe he could even learn the reason for his immortality from the Abyss God.

Wu Wang had longed for a true death for a very, very long time.

For an ordinary person, the most primitive cravings are for water and air. For him, the allure of death was just as strong.

Perhaps this was the Curse of being Undying.

“Ehehe~ The chicken soup is here~”

Wu Wang pushed open the wooden door with a cheerful grin.

It was just like when he was back in the real world, calling his Second Sister out of her room to stop playing video games after he had finished cooking.

However, the moment he entered, he saw her lying stiffly on the bed.

Her eyes were tightly shut, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

Her whole body trembled, her breathing grew rapid. She clenched her teeth, making a chattering sound.

It was as if she was trapped in a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake, her mind being relentlessly tormented.

“Ah!”

Before Wu Wang could step forward to check on her, Wu Xiaoyou sat bolt upright as if startled awake from a fatal illness, her eyes flying open.

An uncontrollable look of terror filled them.

Seeing Wu Wang’s worried gaze, she subconsciously stammered.

“I… I had a nightmare. I saw a strange person, and they told me to tell you not to make any deals with the Old Village Chief.”

“Hm? What’s this, a prophetic dream?”

Wu Wang was a little puzzled.

What kind of dream message could possibly mention him? And even know about his discussion with the Old Village Chief?

The moment his words fell, Wu Xiaoyou’s trembling grew even more pronounced.

She had never felt such a bone-chilling cold in her life.

The scientific concepts and materialism she had been taught since childhood were shattered in an instant.

Even though she couldn’t understand how this was happening, she instinctively knew what had occurred.

She had run into a ghost.

“That person said… their name is…”

“Yin Fate Great God…”