Chapter 52

Shi Jian repeated, "Guard the best grandmother!"

"Guard the best grandmother!"

The other ghostly servants also began to respond one by one. There was a fire burning in their hearts now.

It was the flame of anger!

They felt injustice for their best grandmother. Had the rubbish village chief already forgotten who had contributed greatly to the trafficking in this village?

That was Granny Yu!

If it weren't for Granny Yu's personal involvement, if it weren't for her brainwashing of the many women who had been trafficked, could Happy Village have this many people? Now, it probably wouldn't even exist anymore.

But after Happy Village became larger and larger, Granny Yu, who should have been given a prestigious position, was instead marginalized by the village chief, all for the sake of newcomers.

The ghostly servants: Sucking the blood of the elders, promoting newcomers, how infuriating!

This rubbish Happy Village doesn't deserve Granny Yu working so hard for it. When will the rubbish village chief explode on the spot?

They were so overwhelmed by their anger that they had completely forgotten that the person in front of them, Shi Jian, was the newcomer who had caused Granny Yu to be marginalized by the village chief.

Of course, besides the anger, what was even more confusing was the fact that—

The abusive words against the ghostly servants, the idea of guarding Granny Yu, were all proposed by Shi Jian.

In order to avoid physical brainwashing, Shi Jian carried out reverse brainwashing on everyone. As someone from within the circle, Shi Jian could speak those words with ease.

She had seen it too many times.

Shi Jian was very relieved. Although the ghostly servants had higher intelligence than the bride ghost, they couldn't resist this round of abuse.

The ghostly servants indeed admired Granny Yu a lot.

...

[??? The smell is so strong. Am I wrong in feeling this?]

[No, you're not wrong. This is the same as the fan culture. The brother is left with only us, and there’s a lot of brainwashing done for girls who don’t sleep, who are feverish for 25 hours, too many elements. (Pfft—)]

["Guard the Best Grandmother"][Is reverse brainwashing really okay?]

[Yacht X10]

[Super Rocket X5]

Each yacht costs 500 points, and each super rocket costs 999 points.

Such rewards continued to pour in. Shi Jian's long-time fans in her personal live stream room couldn't help but feel emotional. The streamer was getting more and more popular.

But she deserved it!

The popular superstar Shi Jian should be wildly famous and should become a top-tier streamer!

How is she any worse than top-tier streamers? The top 10 ranked ones don't seem to be any better than Shi Jian.

Shi Jian was still directing the ghostly servants. She actively opened the door for everyone and reminded, "Go ahead, make sure to be quick."

Go, Pikachu ghost!

Once you leave, don’t come back.

In fact, there was no need for Shi Jian to say anything. The ghostly servants had already rushed out of the house. They couldn’t wait to go settle the score with the rubbish village chief.

Granny Yu's defense battle was about to begin.

Shi Jian's live stream audience: This is so interesting!

Let’s go take a look at the ancestral hall and see what’s going on. The more trouble, the better! Let’s make some noise!

...

Over at the ancestral hall, Granny Yu hurriedly returned and found the village chief tangled up with the bride ghost.

As the village chief’s absolute supporter, Granny Yu, even though the village chief had once been cold toward her, only felt a bit wronged and quickly forgave him.

Granny Yu: The village chief did nothing wrong, he was just confused for a moment and blinded by that woman. The real culprit is Shi Jian, it’s all Shi Jian’s fault!

So, Granny Yu immediately howled, "Village Chief, I’m here to help you!"

Then Granny Yu joined the battle between the village chief and the bride ghost.The bride ghost had a very high combat ability. Even though the village chief and Granny Yu were no match for her, as the battle was getting intense, the ghostly servants arrived at the scene.

Granny Yu was very confused when she saw them. She yelled out.

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on that vile Shi Jian?"

The ghostly servants were faster than their mouths. They quickly grabbed kitchen knives and hot water and started attacking the village chief.

Granny Yu's daughter-in-law slashed the village chief's back with a kitchen knife, then turned around with high spirits and said to Granny Yu, "Grandmother, don’t be afraid, we’re here to protect you!"

Granny Yu: ???

Why protect her?

By the time Granny Yu realized what was happening, it was already too late. She screamed and tried to stop her daughter-in-law and the other ghostly servants, "What are you doing?! Stop! Are you out of your minds?!"

The village chief had already been slashed with a kitchen knife and had hot water thrown on him. His whole ghost body was filled with rage, and he looked angrily at Granny Yu.

"Are you having your subordinates stab me in the back?"

"I knew you’ve been holding a grudge, no need to pretend, what’s with the innocent act? Who are you trying to fool?!"

While the village chief was distracted by talking to Granny Yu, the bride ghost seized the opportunity and stabbed out his other eye.

The village chief was now completely blind.

Granny Yu was extremely wronged and even tried to explain herself, "I didn’t, I don’t know anything."

But the village chief had lost both of his eyes. He only believed what he saw, so how could he listen?

Audience members who had rushed over from Shi Jian’s live stream: They could prove that Granny Yu really didn’t know anything and that she was indeed wronged.

But who told Granny Yu to capture Shi Jian and brainwash her?

Granny Yu had boxed herself into a corner from the start.

The audience who had been keeping an eye on the ancestral hall situation seemed to have caught onto some inside information.

[What’s going on? Can someone explain? Is this connected to Shi Jian’s doing? Didn’t she escape?]

Then the audience who had come from Shi Jian’s live stream began to explain—

First, Granny Yu had captured Shi Jian and had the ghostly servants brainwash her. Then, Shi Jian successfully reversed the brainwashing.Public live stream audience: Whoa! This is so exciting, we need to go check it out too!

A large influx of viewers from the public live stream flooded into Shi Jian's personal live stream room.

...

Shi Jian being captured hadn't gone unnoticed by the other streamers. One male streamer was the first to notice the situation. He quickly informed the other streamers.

Everyone started brainstorming countermeasures.

There were six ghostly servants. Originally, they had six members, but Lin Yang had been excluded from the group by the other streamers due to her instigating behavior.

They hadn't been paying attention to Lin Yang's movements.

However, because the female streamer who went to speak with the bride ghost and the male streamer who was covering for her were both far from the others, and the fight had become chaotic, they couldn’t reach them in time. Thus, the small rescue team for Shi Jian was reduced to just four people.

Four people against six ghostly servants didn’t seem impossible to handle. However, when they assessed the situation inside the house and were about to formulate a strategy, they found that the six ghostly servants had left.

The streamers: ??? Why did they leave?

Had something happened to Shi Jian?

As soon as the ghostly servants disappeared from sight, they quickly rushed towards the house, and ran straight into Shi Jian.

Shi Jian had even changed her outfit in such a short time.

After all, she had been wearing the bride outfit for a while, and female celebrities change costumes when they switch scenes.

Zhou Fan saw that Shi Jian was unharmed and breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"

Shi Jian shook her head, "I'm fine." Not a scratch on her.

Actually, the streamers could all tell. After all, Shi Jian was so meticulous, she had even changed her clothes.

While rushing toward the ancestral hall, they listened to Shi Jian describe what had just happened, eager to see the situation on-site.

After hearing about Shi Jian’s words, they all gave her a big thumbs up.

What is a true strong person? Shi Jian is the epitome.

She can even do this?...

By the time Shi Jian and the others arrived at the ancestral hall, the real battle had just begun.

The ghostly servants who had been guarding the best grandmother had stopped attacking the village chief, not because they weren't determined, but because they were too preoccupied to continue.

The vengeful souls that had crawled out from the deep pit had surrounded them completely.

Shi Jian saw Granny Yu's daughter-in-law being entangled by a female ghost.

The female ghost was lying on Granny Yu's daughter-in-law's back, showing her sharp teeth.

She said, "Fang Fang, do you know? I trusted you so much. I thought everything you said was true, because you were also a victim of trafficking. When I was planning to escape, I kept thinking about taking you with me, so we could go down the mountain to save other sisters. But I never thought you were always lying to me."

"You tipped them off. How did it feel watching me get captured? Don't you feel guilty at all?"

"When my legs were broken, it hurt so much, but my heart hurt even more. I was played and betrayed by the one person I trusted the most."

"Fang Fang, I've already broken the legs of the bastards who broke mine. Why don't you try?"

Granny Yu's daughter-in-law ran, crying, and howling in pain.

She tried to pull the ghost off her back, but she couldn't.

In the end, she could only watch helplessly as her legs were broken.

Scenes like this were happening all around.

The ghostly servants were being embraced by the girls they had once deceived by using their identities, and they were sharing in their pain.

The female ghosts attached to Granny Yu were the most numerous, and Granny Yu could hardly see any ghosts around her anymore.

Of course, more female ghosts had shifted their focus to the villagers of Happy Village. The ghostly servants were accomplices to the crime—they were the culprits.

Today was Judgment Day.

None of them would escape.

Some of the female ghosts used their hands to rip open the villagers' stomachs.

They were forcibly giving birth, and ultimately died from complications during childbirth.She wanted this beast to feel the sensation of a swollen belly.

Other villagers were chained by the neck with iron chains, crawling on the ground like dogs.

The anger of everyone was sky-high. It all had to be settled.

The village ghosts were no match for the female ghosts. In life, they had used the strength derived from gender differences to control, hurt, and insult others, but in death, how could they compare to the female ghosts who were forced to endure persecution in life and continued to suffer torment after death?

The village ghosts gave in. They apologized and confessed, "I was wrong, please let me go!"

The female ghosts sneered and rejected them, "I’m not wrong. I also cried out for you to let me go. Did you let me go? Did you let us go?"

No.

No matter how they begged, how they reasoned with them, or even promised huge sums of money from their families if they were released, they still didn’t escape.

Then, let them savor the evil consequences they had brought upon themselves!

The female ghosts devoured the village ghosts' flesh and drank their blood. Only by doing this could they make them feel the same pain they had experienced.

...

Shi Jian also discovered something different in the revenge. Among the many female ghosts, there was one male ghost mixed in. Most of his head had been shattered.

The face was very familiar. It was the excited boy who had been following them during their night wanderings around Happy Village, trying to push them toward the ancestral hall.

Shi Jian: "..." Why did he become a ghost?

Based on the information she gathered, Shi Jian guessed that he was from outside the village and had been beaten to death by the villagers.

"No, Xiao Jie is a villager of Happy Village."

A gentle female voice rang out beside Shi Jian. She turned her head and saw a young girl dressed in jeans and a fitted knit top. The girl took the initiative to answer, "I’m the ghost who was buried in the small house where the girls were imprisoned."

Because of successful revenge, she had returned to her appearance from life.

The girl's face was full of satisfaction and relief. She had waited for this day for so long and had finally resolved everything herself.

Shi Jian didn’t understand and asked, "Since you’re a villager of Happy Village, why did Xiao Jie...?"Why did Xiao Jie die too? Why did he also have hatred?

The other person told Shi Jian, "Xiao Jie was one of the few college students from Happy Village. He made it out of the mountains."

Shi Jian soon finished hearing Xiao Jie's story.

Most of the villagers in Happy Village were generations of farmers, with few people who had an education. The area didn’t emphasize education, and it was considered good if someone could read.

Marrying a wife, having children, and having sons were the main pursuits of most villagers in their lifetime.

But Xiao Jie was different. His mother was also trafficked. As a child, he had seen his mother hiding from his father, crying secretly too many times.

Xiao Jie's mother didn’t dare to cry in front of his father. If she did, she would be met with a beating.

Xiao Jie was an empathetic boy. He was different from the other boys. He noticed that the pattern of life in Happy Village was wrong, and as he grew older, he sympathized more with his mother and women like her. So, he worked hard to study and managed to get out of the mountains.

Xiao Jie wanted to help his mother escape.

To take his sister with them.

His sister was one year older than him, but Xiao Jie had never seen her... because the day she was born, when they discovered her gender, she was thrown into a water barrel.

She drowned.

His sister's ashes were kept in a small urn that his mother carefully stored.

Even so, Xiao Jie still thought about his poor sister, who never had a chance to breathe a single breath of air in the world.

Xiao Jie's father happily told him, "Erhuzi from the village is dead. You know, right? His father said to find someone for a ghost marriage, so Erhuzi would have a companion in the afterlife. Your foolish mother finally did something right. After it's done, they'll give us five hundred bucks."

Xiao Jie's father wanted to use his sister's ashes just for that five hundred bucks.

Xiao Jie felt like he was going crazy. He told his mother to take his sister's ashes and leave, but when things were exposed, during the argument, his father hit him in the head with a hoe.

"Beast!"

"Tiger poison doesn't eat its own child. How could they do that?"

"How could they bear to kill their newborn daughter by drowning her?"

The streamers discussed among themselves.

Although they had seen and heard a lot in Happy Village, hearing this again still made them furious. It still sent chills down their spines.Xiao Jie also walked over. After his head was fully healed, he turned out to be a handsome boy.

He first apologized shyly to Shi Jian and the others.

"Sorry, that day was my mistake."

Shi Jian also responded, acknowledging it, and forgiving him for his mistake.

Xiao Jie then added the rest, "Actually, because I’m a male, my father didn’t initially plan to kill me. He hit me by accident. Later, the village chief said, since it’s already like this, we should just handle it together. They were afraid I would inform the outside, but honestly, I was planning to do that."

Xiao Jie collapsed on the ground after being struck on the head by his furious father, bleeding profusely. He didn’t have the strength to get up, but in reality, he was severely injured, not dead.

However, because they feared he would take the other women away, the male villagers killed him.

When Xiao Jie regained consciousness and felt pain, his head was crushed repeatedly with a hoe until it was smashed to pieces.

...

The vengeful ghosts avenged their grievances, and the wronged ghosts sought justice.

The streamers and the audience in the live stream all saw the villains receive the punishment they deserved.

Shi Jian handed the bright red wedding gown to the female ghost who had died in the house, asking her to, "Pass it on to the bride ghost."

Live stream audience: Did she finally have a conscience?

Everyone had witnessed Shi Jian strip the wedding gown off the bride ghost.

Shi Jian also saw the female ghost’s thoughts. The beautiful face showed disapproval, and she emphasized again, "This wedding gown should be given to me by the bride ghost."

It was something that was supposed to be given to her in the first place—how could that be considered having a conscience?!

As for why she had to return it to the bride ghost, Shi Jian answered simply, "Because I can’t take it with me."

Besides money and things given by ghosts, the streamers couldn’t take items from the dungeon. Since the vengeful ghosts had fulfilled their wishes, they would also fulfill Shi Jian and the others' wishes—seeing the morning sun.

Shi Jian and the others would leave soon.

At that point, Shi Jian no longer had any attachment to the wedding gown.

Of course, as a woman, after getting the clothes, wearing them wasn’t that special anymore. Shi Jian admitted she had already gotten that thrill, so she wasn’t too regretful about not being able to take the gown with her.Shi Jian returned the wedding gown to the bride ghost because she couldn’t take it with her.

Live stream audience: As expected, it’s you!

The streamer is so awesome, I love it!

Shi Jian reminded the female ghost of their wish—to see the morning sun.

Would it come true?

Shi Jian and the others were still a little nervous.

The female ghost smiled and immediately gave them the answer, "The reason you couldn’t see the morning sun on the mountain is because the resentment here is too strong. A large number of women died miserably here, and their resentment filled the air, blocking the sunrise."

"Now that the resentment has dissipated, the morning sun will appear."

One by one, the vengeful ghosts returned to their appearance in life.

The angry and twisted expressions on their faces disappeared. They were young girls, mature women—not necessarily the most beautiful, but full of life and vitality.

Shi Jian suddenly realized and discussed with Zhou Fan, "So, to pass the level, we needed to help dig everyone’s bones out of the ancestral hall, right?"

Zhou Fan nodded, "It seems so."

If they hadn't acted, they would have to keep waiting for the morning sun that would never appear, because the resentment here would never dissipate.

Shi Jian and the others reached the mountain top from halfway up. After a night of intense battle, dawn was about to break.

The sky was already lightening, the deep night’s filter was gone, and the flowers, grass, and trees no longer had a terrifying atmosphere, but became charming. The morning air was incredibly fresh.

...

On the other side, Lin Yang, who was too embarrassed to stay with the other streamers, was also climbing toward the mountain top.

He had been slacking off the whole time, never expecting Shi Jian and the others to progress so smoothly. After discovering that the morning sun might appear today, Lin Yang quickly rushed over.

Lin Yang had a smug smile on his face: he was devious, but what’s the big deal if he wasn’t a good person?

"As long as I can pass the level, it’s fine."

"They probably worked their butts off doing a lot of things, but I don’t have to do anything and I can still pass the level.""I know a lot of the audience must be cursing me, but this is the truth, this is the law of survival in society."

Lin Yang knew the impression he left on the audience in the live stream this time. He didn’t plan to hide it. He completely used his shamelessness as a boast.

He had been saying things like this recently.

But this time, Lin Yang guessed wrong. The bullet screen wasn't full of insults; instead, it was flooded with:

【What’s behind Lin Yang?】

【It looks like the village chief turned into a monster. The village chief is still alive?】

【The village chief is heading toward Lin Yang, and Lin Yang hasn’t noticed!】

The village chief had his eyes gouged out by the bride ghost and had been torn apart by many vengeful female ghosts. His body was almost destroyed, but because Granny Yu had been helping him, he managed to break through the encirclement and hadn't gone offline yet.

The village chief was following Lin Yang, getting closer and closer. By the time Lin Yang turned around cautiously to check, the village chief had already grabbed him.

The village chief grinned maliciously, bringing his greenish face close to Lin Yang's and took a deep breath.

He said with excitement, "I smell the scent of a kindred spirit, so wonderful... Filthy and full of malice, just this scent."

"You stay here, be my lapdog. I don't have many subordinates left."

Lin Yang, who had still been wearing a smug expression, now turned completely pale with fear. He screamed:

"Who’s your kindred spirit!"

"Stay away from me!"

But the village chief had no intention of listening to his protests. He continued to turn him into one of his kind, covering Lin Yang's face with skin as green as mud.

The village chief and his new "lapdog" didn't have the chance to continue their misdeeds because other female ghosts were chasing the village chief and discovered them.

...

"Did you hear Lin Yang's scream?"

The female streamer who shared a room with Shi Jian seemed to sense something and suddenly asked this question.

Shi Jian and the other streamers shook their heads, "No."They didn’t hear anything.

"Quick! Look at the sunrise, the sunrise is here!"

Everyone's attention quickly shifted, with someone excitedly shouting and pointing to the horizon.

A tinge of orange-red light appeared on the horizon. It started as a small point and gradually grew larger. The orange sun slowly rose from the horizon, its light tearing through the chaos, shining on everyone and every plant.

Xiao Jie was singing. His voice wasn’t particularly pleasant, as his voice hadn't fully changed yet, but his emotions were sincere.

Shi Jian heard the lyrics:

"Mom, hurry and run, take my sister and run, don’t look back, the farther the better, never come back again."

The streamers knew they would be leaving soon. Zhou Fan wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye with the tip of her finger. She said, "The weather is really nice today."

Shi Jian responded, adding, "Every day from now on will be a good day."

Shi Jian: I specially wore a colorful dress for today’s sunrise, doesn't it look nice!

“Beep beep beep beep~”

After seeing the sunrise, everyone started to hear the sound of the level being cleared, and Shi Jian also heard it in her mind.

However, she vaguely saw a ball of bright red light rushing toward the mountain top. Shi Jian thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but Zhou Fan confirmed it too.

Zhou Fan shielded her eyes with her hand and squinted at the small red dot. She hesitated before speaking, "Is that the bride ghost?"

The female streamer sharing the room with Shi Jian said, "It is!"

"Is she coming to settle scores with Shi Jian?"

Everyone became highly alert. The female ghosts spoke up, "Don’t worry, if the bride ghost tries to attack you, we’ll stop her."

Shi Jian felt there was no need to be so nervous. "It seems like she won’t be able to climb up here right away."

The bride ghost's speed was normal, and by the time she reached them, they would already have left the dungeon.

After hearing Shi Jian's analysis, everyone felt that it was indeed true, and their expressions relaxed a lot. They also wondered if the bride ghost would get so angry when she saw that Shi Jian was gone, and whether she might get really mad.

"Maybe, she just wants to say goodbye to Shi Jian."

"Turn weapons into peace, we’re all good friends."Shi Jian: ???

The other streamers: ???

Everyone looked toward this idealist + romanticist.

These words were said by the female streamer who was carried away by the bridal sedan. She knew that Shi Jian had returned the wedding gown to the bride ghost, but since she had been absent during the events, she didn’t know how much the bride ghost hated Shi Jian.

In her view, the underworld has true feelings, the underworld has true love, aren’t TV dramas always about happy endings?

Looking at the bride ghost, she had run so hard, still wearing the wedding gown, it was clearly a selfless, desperate gesture, rushing toward Shi Jian.

Shi Jian didn’t think so, but the others still felt some anticipation due to the female streamer’s speculation.

What if?

Until the bride ghost stared in Shi Jian's direction, raised both hands, and pointed directly at Shi Jian. She then let out her first words as a ghost, shouting with a heart-wrenching scream—

"Bad! Bad!"