Chapter 41: Shall We Make a Deal? It Is Called Desire

He understood now. Everything stemmed from the old man's desires.
In the beginning, he wanted to survive, so he built the village with refugees.
Later, wanting to live even longer, he made a deal with the Marriage God and became a ghost.
Now, he felt that living as a ghost was too suffocating, so he wanted to turn the tables, rebel, and take the place of the Marriage God himself.
And what about after that?
Endless.
Human desire was like an unfillable chasm. To satisfy it, someone deeply trapped within would pay any price.

"Say whatever you want. Now you just need to tell me, do we have a deal or not?" The old village chief's tone lost all its former amiability.

In truth, he was also baffled.
The fellow before him, who could change his appearance at will, had first been pierced clean through by his bone spikes and then thrown from a great height. In the end, he had even cursed him using the power of the Marriage God.
Yet, the opponent had still appeared normally at this grand ceremony, looking lively and showing no signs of any adverse effects whatsoever.
How on earth did he pull that off?

"If we don't, what can you do to me? You can't catch me anyway." Wu Wang stood up and began packing food into a container.
If he didn't head back soon, Second Sister would go hungry.

The old village chief's expression darkened. "Starting today, unless the grand ceremony succeeds, no one is allowed to leave the village by even half a step without the permission of the Marriage God."
"Now that both Zhang Sanfeng and the Saintess are gone, the Marriage God will sacrifice the entire village at the end of the three-day ceremony, and the village will become its territory."

He already assumed Wu Wang had murdered Zhang Sanfeng. Since there was now neither a Marriage Saintess nor the little madman's life to pay the debt, "You don't want to be trapped here forever, do you?"

Hearing this, a flash of realization hit Wu Wang.
He finally understood what the main quest erased by the Abyss God had been!
[Escape the Marriage Village within three days.]
Or rather: [Exorcise the Marriage God!]

After all, Wu Wang had tested it himself.
Indeed, there was no normal way to leave this village. The moment one stepped into the surrounding forest, they would always end up circling back.
Trying to persuade the Marriage God to let him leave was clearly a delusion.
In that case, the only option was to wipe out the other party!
To kill a boss of a Nightmare-tier instance...

"Once I replace the Marriage God, I will have the authority to let you leave! It's a win-win!" The old village chief's expression bordered on frantic, showing he had waited far too long for this.
Now that the chance to break free from the Marriage God was within arm's reach, how could he possibly allow this person to slip away?

Wu Wang pondered for a moment, then picked up his packed lunch box and prepared to step down from the stands.
He said coldly, "Give me a day to think about it. I'll give you my answer in the ancestral hall tomorrow night."

Ignoring the old village chief's attempts to make him stay, Wu Wang jumped down from the stands and blended into the crowd, disappearing from sight.
Even though the old village chief overlooked all the villagers from the highest vantage point, he still failed to notice what face the other had assumed.
Yet, he wasn't worried.
He knew this person would definitely come looking for him.
Because he smelled the exact same scent on him as his own—the scent of a yearning for freedom and liberation.

"Come to think of it, that fragrance on him has grown even stronger. What on earth is that..."
The old village chief muttered to himself as he sat back down to enjoy the performance of the grand ceremony, pondering what that alluring fragrance could possibly be.
It somewhat resembled the scent of the Marriage Saintess, but it was far more enticing.
Who on earth had this fellow been in contact with to be stained with such a scent?

***

Quietly slipping away from the plaza, Wu Wang hurried toward the mountainside.
Along the way, he considered two matters:
First, the truth behind the Marriage Grand Ceremony and the whereabouts of the real Marriage Saintess.
When the old village chief spoke those words earlier, he had checked his status panel.
[Side Quest 1: Investigate the secrets of the village chief's household (Completed)]

This proved that the old village chief hadn't lied about his background. He truly was an ancient relic from two hundred years ago.
However, the next side quest showed no sign of completion.
[Side Quest 2: Uncover the truth of the Marriage Ceremony and find the true Marriage Saintess.]

This demonstrated that when it came to matters concerning the Marriage God, the old village chief had concealed things from him.
The truth wasn't necessarily what the village chief claimed it to be. He would have to see the Marriage God in person to confirm it.

Second, what on earth was going on with the contamination broadcast?
If he remembered correctly, Principal Wang had also acquired the aura of the Abyss God by listening to a certain eerie broadcast, after which Gaoshan High School became contaminated.
Now, the contamination in Marriage Village likewise originated from the same source.
This proved that the instance worlds were not entirely independent existences!

Yet, every broadcast had to have a source!
Wu Wang didn't believe the broadcast contents were being transmitted by the Abyss God Himself. The Abyss God could cause an instance to implode with just a glance; He was simply too terrifying.
By comparison, the aura emanating from the broadcast was far too weak.
It looked much more like someone utilizing the inadvertent aura given off by the Abyss God to slowly contaminate other instances.

"Who would do such a thing? A player? Or some NPC?" The more Wu Wang thought about it, the more bone-chilling it became.
Coupled with what was mentioned during the public beta—
[Instances that fail consecutive clears three times after the public beta will descend into reality.]

Someone was deliberately increasing the difficulty of the instances, causing them to descend into reality!
What kind of disaster was this?
Although he was an immortal existence, Second Sister was not!
If an instance were to descend near her...

"Forget it, stop overthinking. Let's speed-run this current instance first." Wu Wang shook his head to clear his thoughts.
His motivation for moving forward had always been very simple:
To become strong—strong enough to protect Second Sister under any circumstances, and strong enough to seek out the true body of the Abyss God, then trouble Him to kill him.
He might be the only hope in the world capable of killing him. Perhaps he could even discover the reason behind his immortality from the Abyss God.
Wu Wang had been looking forward to true death for a very long time.
Just as water and air were the most primal cravings of life for ordinary people, the allure of death was nothing less than that to him.
This was perhaps the curse of being immortal.

"Hehehe~ The chicken soup is here~"
Wu Wang cheerfully pushed open the wooden door, acting just like someone returning home in reality with freshly cooked food to call his gaming sister to the dinner table.
Yet, the moment he stepped inside, he saw her lying rigid on the bed, eyes tightly closed, cold sweat beading on her skin.
Her entire body was trembling, her breathing turned rapid, and she grit her teeth, making a clicking sound.
It was as if she were trapped in an inescapable nightmare, her spirit being continuously tortured.

"Ah!"
Before Wu Wang could step forward to check on her condition, Wu Xiaoyou jolted upright like a terminally ill patient experiencing a miraculous recovery, her eyes snapping wide open as she woke with a start.
Terror poured unceasingly from her eyes.
Catching sight of Wu Wang's worried gaze, she subconsciously stammered, "I... I had a nightmare. I saw a strange person who told me to warn you not to make any deals with the old village chief."

"Huh? Are you Cao Cao now? Fond of killing people in your dreams?"
Wu Wang was slightly puzzled.
What kind of dream message could possibly mention him?
How could it even know about the deal he was discussing with the old village chief?

The moment he finished speaking, Wu Xiaoyou trembled even more violently.
In all her life, she had never felt such an icy, bone-chilling sensation.
The scientific concepts and materialism she had been taught since childhood were instantly shattered. Even if she couldn't understand how such a situation had occurred, she instinctively knew what had happened—
She had encountered a ghost.

"That thing said... its name was..."
"The Marriage God..."