Transformed into a heartthrob's simp, every day is a battleground.

Chapter 359 Mission Refresh

The ancestral hall was dimly lit by candlelight, and behind the numerous memorial tablets was a statue whose face was impossible to discern.

The upper half of the statue was covered by hanging banners. In the vast space, only the candles on the offering table provided illumination. The only place that Yan Xun could clearly see in the entire ancestral hall was the small area in front of the offering table.

But when he entered the ancestral hall, he had a strong feeling of being watched, as if the statue enshrined by the Gao family was staring at him from a place he couldn't see.

The offering table was set with three kinds of sacrificial animals. Logically, these things should have been intact, but at this moment, they had clearly been eaten whole.

Yan Xun could even clearly see the teeth marks and tearing marks on it.

If it was said that the person behind the altar gnawed on it, he felt that the teeth marks seemed too small.

Yan Xun simply went closer to the gnawed offerings... and then discovered footprints on the offering table.

He followed the footprints and soon found that they led to the other side of the ancestral hall, eventually disappearing behind the closed window.

Yan Xun pushed open the window and followed the direction of the footprints out.

He also remembered Li Wu saying that there was a forbidden area in the Gao family compound, where a madman was imprisoned.

The footprints quickly disappeared on the path behind the ancestral hall. Yan Xun stood behind the artificial hill, recalling the location Li Wu had drawn, and prepared to first search that forbidden area.

"Hey."

Yan Xun felt as if a pebble had been thrown at him.

He glanced in that direction and saw a man with greasy lips and a disheveled appearance. The man even burped when he saw Yan Xun.

How did you end up coming from that side?

He lay on the artificial rock and asked Yan Xun.

"who are you?"

"Never seen it before."

The other person's hair was messy, covering most of his face, and the lower half of his face was covered by a beard, making it look like he hadn't taken care of himself in a long time.

"I was sold to Master Gao by my uncle and aunt," Yan Xun cautiously revealed his identity.

The man laughed out loud, "Another unlucky guy."

He lay on the artificial hill, laughing heartily, "Haha, you won't live much longer."

Yan Xun feigned anger, "Don't talk nonsense."

"I'm perfectly healthy, how could I not live long?"

The other person burst into laughter again, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe... He laughed so hard he was doubled over, and then, without thinking, his whole body flipped over the edge of the artificial hill—just as Yan Xun was about to help, he nimbly flipped in the air and landed lightly on the ground.

"Haha." He looked at Yan Xun and laughed again. "Although you're stupid, you're actually a good person at heart."

"This little thing thinks it can catch me?"

He gestured to indicate the height difference between Yan Xun and himself, "You?"

When the man stood in front of her, Yan Xun realized that he was as strong as a bear, a stark contrast to the frail Gao Ruiyun.

"Who are you?" Yan Xun asked. "Why are you stealing the offerings from the ancestral hall?"

"I ate what I wanted, no reason needed." The man said, wiping his greasy mouth with his sleeve. "Delicious!"

He said he wasn't going to pay any more attention to Yan Xun, so he walked past Yan Xun and headed in another direction.

Yan Xun didn't say anything, but just followed behind him.

The man turned his head and said, "Why don't you hurry back and pay your respects to that important figure?"

He said mockingly, "Otherwise, that lord will get angry again and bring disaster upon the Gao family."

As he spoke, he made a trembling gesture, "That bastard Gao Ruiyun must be scared to death."

Yan Xun looked at the bear-like man strangely, "What does that have to do with me?"

Black Bear: "?"

"Didn't you already marry Gao Ruiyun?" he asked.

"Yes," Yan Xun said, "but it wasn't my choice?"

Black Bear looked at Yan Xun and said, "If that lord brings disaster upon the Gao family, you won't be able to escape even if you marry Gao Ruiyun."

He no longer spoke with the sarcasm he had before, "You have no idea how sinister this thing the Gao family worships is."

"I've seen him before..."

He stopped there, saying, "Anyway, you should hurry back."

Yan Xun smiled at him.

The black bear was confused, thinking the boy was stupid and couldn't understand him. Just as he was about to try to persuade the silly boy again, the boy spoke up.

"That's perfect."

Yan Xun said, "I'm happy that the Gao family is in trouble."

"As for whether I live or die," he looked at the black bear, "is being sold to Gao Ruiyun by my uncle and aunt better than living?"

Black Bear probably didn't expect Yan Xun to say that. He scratched his hair in annoyance, "Fine, I don't care about you!"

He then ignored Yan Xun and walked off to the other side.

Yan Xun, of course, would not let go of this rare living person from the Gao family. He stayed by his side and asked, "Do you know the secrets of the Gao family?"

He asked the black bear questions as he walked.

"You said I wouldn't live much longer," he said, following behind the black bear. "Why?"

"Didn't you say you weren't afraid of death?" the black bear mocked without turning its head. "Then why are you concerned about this?"

"You reminded me that I don't have long to live, just hoping I'd hear your warning and leave the Gao family quickly," Yan Xun asked. "If that's the case, why are you unwilling to tell me what secrets the Gao family holds?"

Black Bear probably didn't expect Yan Xun to be so eloquent. He turned back and said, "I was just mocking you."

"They're mocking you for not living long and being a short-lived ghost."

“You actually think I’m reminding you,” Black Bear said quickly. “I think that’s why you were tricked by your uncle and aunt and sold to Gao Ruiyun.”

“I wasn’t fooled by them,” Yan Xun said.

The black bear immediately retorted, "If you weren't tricked, why would you be here?"

"They had someone ambush me, knock me unconscious, and then tied me up in the bridal sedan chair," Yan Xun said, half-truthfully. "When I woke up, Gao Ruiyun had already lifted the curtain of my bridal sedan chair."

The black bear remained silent.

“I was thinking that once I entered the ancestral hall, no one would be watching me, and I could find a spot against the wall to leave the Gao family,” Yan Xun said. “But I never expected that following the footprints… I would actually find you.”

As the two were talking, Yan Xun finally saw the high walls of the house—it didn't look like a large courtyard house, but more like a fortress to prevent the people inside from sneaking away.

Black Bear turned and glanced at Yan Xun. "You can't leave by climbing over the wall."

“That thing is incredibly evil. Once someone enters the Gao family home, they can’t leave,” Black Bear said. “Unless you can get Gao Ruiyun’s permission to leave this house.”

"Otherwise, you'll still come back to this house after you wake up."

After Black Bear finished speaking, he waited for Yan Xun's reaction—he thought that this new wife brought by Gao Ruiyun should feel fear and despair, just like every servant who realized that they could not leave the Gao family.

He stared at Yan Xun for a while, but Yan Xun didn't react at all, which made him a little unsure. "Didn't you understand what I said? Or are you an idiot?"

The black bear didn't say the second half of the sentence, but his eyes made it very clear.

Yan Xun glanced at him a few times, "I didn't expect that."

Black Bear: "?"

"You're quite timid," Yan Xun said slowly.

Black Bear: "??"

"I'm a coward!" the black bear shouted angrily, his voice rising several octaves. "Am I a coward, or are you out of your mind?"

"Didn't you understand what I meant?" Black Bear genuinely doubted that the man had grasped his meaning. "I wasn't trying to scare you."

“I’m not kidding you.” The black bear pointed to the high wall. “Some people even tried to climb over the wall to leave before.”

"And then what happened?"

"He disappeared the next day." Black Bear sneered. "By the time he was found, he had been dead under his bed for some time."

“Yes, you might be thinking of trying to curry favor with Gao Ruiyun, hoping he can let you leave.” Black Bear shook his head as he spoke. “Let me tell you, don’t dream about it.”

"Once you enter the Gao family, you can't leave here."

"Gao Ruiyun said he doesn't have long to live..." Yan Xun pondered Gao Ruiyun's words from last night, "Are all of us going to be buried with him?"

"Have you forgotten about the banquet for that person?" Black Bear said, looking down at Yan Xun. "We don't even know if you'll survive until the banquet ends."

Yan Xun knew that this instance wouldn't let them quietly fight for the family fortune. The fact that no quest prompts had appeared yet proved that their exploration of this instance was still insufficient.

He looked at the black bear and noticed that it kept tilting its head in a certain direction when it spoke, so he asked curiously, "What's wrong with your eyes?"

Black Bear looked at Yan Xun and muttered a few words, "You're quite perceptive." As he spoke, he lifted the thick hair that covered half of his face, revealing the pale scar that ran from his forehead to his cheek.

The scar was so deep that it covered the entire right eye. Although the right eye could be opened, the pupil was white and unconsciously turned in a certain direction, indicating that it had already deteriorated when it was injured.

"Are you scared?" the black bear asked, then lowered his hand that was lifting his bangs.

"I injured my eye at the last dinner party," the black bear said.

“The last banquet wasn’t 30 years ago.” Yan Xun looked at the black bear, whose face was almost entirely hidden behind his beard and hair, making it impossible for him to accurately judge the man’s age.

Judging from the other exposed parts, he felt that the black bear was probably no more than 40 years old.

"Were you injured when you were 10 years old?" Yan Xun asked tentatively.

The black bear laughed heartily upon hearing this. "Do I look that young?"

He touched his eyes behind his hair, "I was 30 years old when I was injured."

Yan Xun first looked at the black bear's hair, then stared at its skin for a while, "You have a secret to maintaining your youthful appearance?"

“You don’t look 60 years old,” Yan Xun said cautiously.

“That might be because I’m not normal either,” the black bear said.

He walked a little further and came to the courtyard where he lived.

The courtyard looked extremely dilapidated. The weeds on the ground had pushed the stone bricks in the courtyard to pieces, and the roof was also overgrown with weeds because no one had repaired or maintained it. Some of the tiles were missing, making it look like the rain inside the house was heavier than the rain outside on rainy days.

Ignoring Yan Xun who was following behind him, the black bear stepped over the threshold and sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard. He started drinking water from a broken bowl, muttering, "It's so salty."

Seeing that Yan Xun hadn't left the courtyard, he said to Yan Xun, "While you can enjoy yourself now, enjoy it a little longer."

"Anyway, I think you'll all be dead by the time the banquet starts."

The black bear crossed its legs while drinking water from the broken bowl.

He drank quickly and hurriedly, and the water that overflowed from the bowl first flowed onto his beard, and then down his beard onto his body.

He didn't care, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, casually threw the broken bowl somewhere, and lay down on the dilapidated octagonal table next to him.

"You mean, we might die at that banquet?" Yan Xun asked. "Who are we?"

"Me and the other ladies?"

Yan Xun tentatively explored the keywords.

"Who else could it be?" Black Bear yawned. "Gao Ruiyun's body is so weak, he can't do anything. What else could he have married you for?"

"Do you really think he fell in love with you at first sight?"

The black bear then added sarcastically, "You guys should check your birth dates and times when you have time; you might be pleasantly surprised."

“By the way, I heard that the banquet only requires six offerings,” Black Bear said to Yan Xun. “Perhaps one of you will have a chance to leave alive after the banquet.”

[Congratulations to the player for discovering the mysterious person hiding in the Gao family's house]

You are Master Gao's newlywed wife. You've heard rumors about him worshipping evil spirits. After your wedding night, you're puzzled by his lukewarm attitude. Your initial suspicion that he was blinded by lust gradually fades, but a new question arises: if Master Gao isn't interested in you, why did he marry you in the first place?

Yan Xun: "?"

"Is there something wrong with your background information?" Yan Xun couldn't help but think to himself. "Is Master Gao so lukewarm? I think he's about to spontaneously combust."

Green dinosaur: [...]

Don't worry about such small details.

Fortunately, at this moment, you discover the mysterious person whose identity has been deliberately concealed. He not only attended the previous banquet but also tells you a shocking secret.

So, all of you wives of Master Gao will die at the start of the banquet.

You are extremely anxious, only thinking about leaving the Gao family before the banquet begins.

But the Gao family mansion is a cage; without Master Gao's permission, no one can truly escape this place.

However, you did receive some good news from that mysterious person: Master Gao's mysterious banquet only requires six sacrifices, so perhaps you have a chance to escape.

Main Quest: Leave the Gao family alive

Side Quest 1: Find out how to avoid attending the banquet.

Side Quest 2: Increase your favorability with Master Gao.

Side Quest 3: Lower other players' favorability towards Master Gao

Hidden Quest: The Gao Family's Secret

Why does the Gao family hold so many secrets?

Who exactly is the great deity they worship?

How can all this be put to an end?

Yan Xun was surprised to see so many tasks refreshed at once. He glanced at the task list and immediately understood why he needed to gain Master Gao's favor.