Volume 2: The Days of Playing with Monkeys in the Village
Little Child
Are they imitating our actions?
Zhang Jianshe’s house is also a two-story small building, with the first and second floors not connected internally, only accessible to the second floor from the outside.
He directly led the four players upstairs, dividing three rooms for them: “My house has three rooms left, you two women have to live together.”
Shen Maomao couldn’t ask for more. She immediately grabbed Lou Jingmo’s arm, leaned close to her in an intimate gesture: “We are good girlfriends, we’ll sleep together!”
The other two didn’t know each other, they didn’t trust each other, and were also glad to live in separate rooms.
Zhang Jianshe took the four of them to their respective rooms, told them to make themselves at home, and then went downstairs.
Shen Maomao and her companion were staying in the room to the left of the staircase, next door was the woman, and across from the woman was the man.
She closed the wooden door of the room, turned around with her back against the door, and looked at Lou Jingmo: “Sister Lou, this door can’t be locked!”
Not being able to lock it was too thrilling.
Lou Jingmo was observing the layout of the room. Upon hearing her say this, she immediately walked over to examine the wooden door.
The door opened inward, had no lock, and the door frames on both sides protruded outward, with two hook-like things in the middle on each side.
“It can be locked,” Lou Jingmo said. “When we come back at night, find a wooden stick to prop it up. At least we’ll hear if someone comes in.”
Shen Maomao nodded and asked her: “Are we going out to meet up with Yun Shengjin in a bit?”
Lou Jingmo: “Yes, let’s see what he wants to do.”
The sun was tilting westward, the fiery clouds tinting half the sky red, like some kind of ominous sign.
The other two left first. Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo put down their DSLR cameras and backpacks, and also walked along the village path towards Liu Zhuangshi’s house. It was already evening, but the number of children playing and hopping around on the road hadn’t decreased at all. Seeing strangers, they curiously followed behind the two of them, not coming close to talk.
At first, Shen Maomao didn’t think much of it. After walking for a while, she couldn’t help but look back, and found that those kids were still following behind them, standing in two rows on the left and right. The moment she turned her head, the row on the left also swiftly turned their heads away.
“F*ck,” Shen Maomao cursed under her breath, quickly turning back around. “Sister Lou, are they mimicking our movements?”
Lou Jingmo said in a deep voice, “Don’t pay attention to them.”
So Shen Maomao stopped looking back and walked straight ahead without glancing sideways.
When they reached Liu Zhuangshi’s doorway, the children scattered with eerie laughs. The two of them pushed open the door and entered, seeing a group of people sitting in the courtyard.
Everyone except the two of them was already there, all sitting on benches, naturally arranged in two rows, six in front and six behind, with two empty spots in the back row.
Yun Shengjin, sitting in front of everyone, put on a fake greeting to Lou Jingmo: “Oh, you’ve come too. I thought you and your teammate wouldn’t need me to explain the game rules, so I started early.”
Shen Maomao suddenly realized: now she had her own face, and Yun Shengjin didn’t recognize her anymore.
“Indeed, we don’t need it,” Lou Jingmo smiled, holding her hand as they sat down in the back.
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Next to them was Shao Mei, looking unwilling. Seeing the two of them, she let out a cold snort and turned her head away, refusing to communicate with them.
Shen Maomao mocked her: “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be a bootlicker? Why did you come here?”
Shao Mei glared at her resentfully, then turned away again, inwardly blaming Ye Tingnan who had forced her to come along.
Only Liu Zhuangshi’s wife, Sister Liu, was at home. Knowing they needed to discuss matters, Sister Liu very conscientiously went upstairs to rest, closing the door tightly, not eavesdropping.
Shen Maomao guessed: This must be the talking time the game left for players. In the previous world, when players gathered together, the foreman also left voluntarily.
Yun Shengjin wasn’t intimidated at all facing so many pairs of eyes. Like a leader holding a meeting for employees, he continued on the previous topic: “I’m sure everyone has noticed that every household in the village seems to have this statue.”
As he spoke, he pointed to the red cloth in Liu Zhuangshi’s courtyard: “I asked the NPC of this house, and she said this is the village’s Monkey God, who will bless believers with wealth and peace. The village chief also said that the sacrifice is about to begin, which should refer to the sacrifice to the Monkey God. It seems our main quest is related to this sacrifice. This time, players have relatively free time. Now that everyone is here, I’ll arrange the upcoming task allocation. If anyone has objections, you can leave now.”
The two experienced players living with Shen Maomao and her group stood up, showing no respect for him, and left directly.
Meanwhile, the one living with Yun Shengjin hadn’t moved for half a day, lost in thought about something.
Lou Jingmo also stood up: “Let’s go, this trip was a waste.”
She had thought Yun Shengjin might have made some progress, but upon coming here, she saw he was still the same old way.
Shen Maomao stuck close to her main support, and the two of them walked out of Liu Zhuangshi’s house.
The cool mountain breeze brushed across their faces. Crickets in the roadside bushes chirped noisily, making people feel irritated and unable to think clearly. Spring nights darkened particularly quickly. Two red lanterns lit up at the entrance of the Liu family, casting a bloody glow over their bodies.
Just as every household seemed to enshrine the “Monkey God,” each house here also had two red lanterns hanging at the entrance. Not far in front of them were the two experienced players who had left earlier. Those two walked together, their bodies and feet bathed in crimson light, as if walking through a sea of blood.
Ahead was a sea of blood, and behind wasn’t necessarily the shore of a sea of suffering.
Yun Shengjin had ill intentions, using newcomers as shields to test the game rules. They should find a chance to warn the newcomers later…
The group of children playing in the street each returned to their homes, making Shen Maomao feel much more at ease.
She kicked a small stone at her feet, following the stone’s rolling path like a child. Behind her, Lou Jingmo broke off a small branch from a shrub. When she looked up, she saw Shen Maomao’s playful silhouette and suddenly felt like she was watching a living meme.
With the last kick, the small stone flew in a parabola into the bushes. A dark shadow about half a person’s height flashed by, rustling the leaves where it passed.
“Holy shit!” Shen Maomao stepped back, almost stepping on Lou Jingmo’s foot. “What was that!”
The dark shadow quickly darted through the bushes, running towards the uninhabited fields. It soon melted into the night and disappeared.
Lou Jingmo steadied her, squinting her eyes in the direction where the shadow had vanished, and said hesitantly: “It looked like a child.”
Shen Maomao recalled the children who had followed behind them, mimicking their movements, and couldn’t help but feel a chill down her spine. Her voice trembled as she spoke: “Which… which family’s child doesn’t come home when it’s dark and hides in the bushes…”
Lou Jingmo: “Naughty kid.”
Shen Maomao: “…” That makes sense.
The two people walking ahead turned around and quickly ran towards them. When all four gathered, the woman, panting heavily, asked: “Are you alright?”
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It seemed they had heard the commotion behind them and chose to come back to help.
Shen Maomao was willing to share information with such people, so she said: “We’re fine. Something suddenly darted out from the bushes. It looked like a child but didn’t attack us.”
“That’s good that you’re okay.” The woman nodded, and the four of them walked back together.
On the way, the woman introduced herself: “My name is Weiyu, and he’s Wang Xiaoming. We’re both experienced players, but we don’t know each other. We just teamed up temporarily.”
Damn, Wang Xiaoming, it sounds so fake.
Weiyu looked to be in her thirties, with a serious face, speaking mostly without expression. Wang Xiaoming seemed relatively younger, probably about the same age as Lou Jingmo. He spoke very little and appeared calm, but Shen Maomao noticed his eyes darting around, suggesting he was a person with very rich inner thoughts.
Since they had made the first move, Shen Maomao felt obliged to introduce herself.
She had already told Shao Mei and the others that her name was “Rabbit,” and she didn’t care whether Yun Shengjin could recognize her or not, so she continued to use “Rabbit” as her online name. She also took the opportunity to introduce the aloof Lou Jingmo.
The woman said: “It’s not very safe for you two young girls to act alone. Do you want to team up with us?”
Whether to do so or not wasn’t for Shen Maomao to decide. She blinked at Lou Jingmo, seeking her opinion.
Lou Jingmo said: “I’m not in the habit of cooperating with people.”
Shen Maomao felt something was off.
“Wait a minute?” She spoke up to interrupt, pointing at herself, “Am I not a person???”
Lou Jingmo glanced at her indifferently: “Aren’t you a rabbit?”
Shen Maomao: “??”
The corners of Weiyu’s mouth curved into a slight smile, which quickly disappeared. Wang Xiaoming, however, couldn’t control himself and laughed out loud.
The two didn’t seem dissatisfied with Lou Jingmo’s refusal to join. Weiyu even said: “If you need help, you can come find me.”
It’s rare to meet such players in the game, and Shen Maomao didn’t want to suspect others with malice, so she smiled and agreed: “Alright, if you have any difficulties, you can also come to me. Though this is only my second game, I’m still a newbie.”
The two made arrangements separately, without involving their teammates.
Lou Jingmo was satisfied with Shen Maomao’s perceptiveness. After all, she was already exhausted leading one deadweight. If this burden planned to hang a few more burdens on her, she might have to consider dropping the bottle.
Zhang Jianshe’s house was brightly lit, with his family of eight sitting in the courtyard eating dinner.
In the morning, they had learned from him that he had a father, four sons, and one daughter. The daughter was married off outside the village, and all four sons had their own families. The eldest son’s family of five lived with him.
Seeing the four players return, he put down his chopsticks, stood up to invite them to eat, and said to his family: “These four are the guests who came to the village to take photos, I mentioned them to you earlier.”
The adults greeted them, while the three children of the eldest son’s family – one boy and two girls – curiously looked them over.
Shen Maomao saw every child as a troublemaker and tried her best to avoid eye contact with them.
On the table were plates of homemade dishes, with plenty left over. It seemed the Zhang family had just started their meal not long ago.
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The identities set in the game must have paid, so the four players didn’t stand on ceremony. They sat down to eat, occasionally answering some innocuous questions posed by the Zhang family members.
After the meal, Shen Maomao habitually went to collect the bowls but was stopped by Zhang Jianshe’s wife.
“Guests shouldn’t wash dishes!” Aunt Zhang, with her loud voice, smilingly snatched the bowls back from Shen Maomao’s hands. “You all go upstairs! I’ll boil some hot water and bring it up later for you to soak your feet and relieve fatigue.”
“Thank you for the trouble, Auntie.”
Here’s the faithful literal English translation of the provided Chinese text with added grammar corrections, respecting the original structure, meaning, tone, and style:
The four went upstairs, separating to return to their own rooms.
Shortly after, Sister Zhang brought up some hot water. They divided it among themselves, brushed their teeth and washed their faces using the water bucket upstairs, then took turns washing their feet in a basin.
By the time they finished tidying up, it was nearly seven or eight o’clock. People in the countryside sleep early. The entire village had turned off its lights. Looking out the window, one could only see endless darkness surrounding everyone.
The author has something to say:
Afraid you might confuse the names: Shao Mei – the young lady; Ye Tingnan – the team leader; Wu Menghan – the particularly sensitive girl; Shan Xiao – the timid boy; Wang Sheng – the last remaining one.