Chapter 7: Joy, Joy, Joy
At this very moment, Ji Linmo was still standing in front of the vending machine, quietly awaiting the opinions of the others.
After all, asking the residents for a task was merely his own conjecture. Although he needed someone to confirm this theory, he had no intention of urging others to act.
[Alert!]
[Recently, a joyous event has arrived at Ruolan Community. It is said that the resident of Room 403, who never leaves the neighborhood, is getting married. I wonder what the bride will look like?]
[System prompt: You have angered the other party. Please act immediately to avoid death.]
What?
Ji Linmo stared incredulously at the message before him, raising his head to scan his surroundings.
The area was completely empty. Aside from himself, not a soul remained.
Zhu Jun, Liu Bi, and the others had all vanished without a trace!
“What’s going on? Who did I anger out of nowhere?”
A deep frown creased Ji Linmo’s brow as cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
There was no doubt—since the system prompt had appeared, he must have violated some rule of the game.
Yet, no matter how he analyzed his previous actions, he found nothing amiss.
What on earth had he done wrong?
Just as his nerves were stretched to the limit, a crisp chime disrupted his thoughts.
“Ding dong! Thank you for your purchase. Please come again!”
Amid the vending machine’s cold, static-laden mechanical female voice, Ji Linmo looked up to see an item tumble from the center of the third shelf, rolling into the collection compartment and revealing a glimpse of red.
—it was a beautifully packaged box of candies.
Ji Linmo gazed at the candy box, upon which the words “Everlasting Union” were inscribed in bold characters. After a moment’s thought, he gently opened it.
Inside the empty box lay a single, perfectly cut, blood-red “Double Happiness” character.
“A wedding sticker?”
Ji Linmo picked up the sticker from the box, his brows knitting tighter.
In that instant, the row of tiny print beneath the vending machine pierced his eyes like needles.
[Vending Machine Notice]
[3. There are currently no weddings in this community. The machine does not sell ‘Double Happiness’ stickers. If you see such a sticker inside, leave immediately.]
“Damn!”
Suddenly grasping the danger, Ji Linmo turned and sprinted toward the apartment building.
But it was already too late!
The world abruptly fell into endless darkness, as though the curtain had dropped on a play.
The crowd, the sky, the lawns—everything vanished.
Ji Linmo stood frozen, looking up.
In this place swallowed by deathly silence and darkness, the only glimmer of light was the vending machine from which he’d tried to flee.
“Double happiness! Double happiness! Double happiness!”
A howling wind tore through, and the shrill, gleeful laughter of children rang out, piercing and harsh.
Instinctively, Ji Linmo covered his ears, but the wind snatched the “Double Happiness” sticker from his hand and slapped it against the vending machine with a bang.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the machine began to shake violently.
Scarlet and garish “Double Happiness” stickers bloomed wildly across the machine’s shelves, like flowers bursting forth in profusion.
[Double Happiness Sticker]
[Item Quality: ?]
[Price: Free]
[Item Description: Today is a day of great celebration in the community. Free stickers—won’t you take one?]
Rumbling—
The accumulated stickers swelled into a crimson tide, surging toward Ji Linmo with irresistible force.
Wherever they passed, black smoke billowed forth.
Highly corrosive!
“Lightning Whip!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ji Linmo summoned his S-grade Lightning Whip.
The dark purple whip crackled with electricity, hissing and snapping.
“Break!”
Facing the towering blood-red wave, he flicked his wrist, fury flashing in his ink-black eyes.
Crack!
The fierce whip lashed out like a flood dragon, tearing through the crimson surge.
The stickers split instantly, sliced in two.
Seizing the opportunity, Ji Linmo dashed forward.
“Damn it! What the hell is going on?”
Even as he fumed, Ji Linmo suddenly collided with something in the darkness.
Staggering, he looked up—and saw a graceful figure.
It was the “Ghost Bride.”
Tall and imposing, a man disguised as a bride, she stood utterly still before him, a red bridal veil covering her head.
[System prompt: You have angered the other party. Please act immediately to avoid death.]
“Wh-Why…”
A cold wind swept by, lifting the red veil just enough to reveal the ghost bride’s pale, rosy lips.
Staring at her, Ji Linmo’s eyes widened. Recalling all that had just occurred, he suddenly understood.
Of course. He had broken the rules.
[S-class Instance: Ruolan Community (Night of the Ghost Bride)]
[Background: Recently, a joyous event has arrived at Ruolan Community. It is said that the resident of Room 403, who never leaves the neighborhood, is getting married. I wonder what the bride will look like…]
He, Ji Linmo, even as the bride, now resided in Room 403, counted as one of its occupants.
But as a resident who never left the community, he had broken the game’s setting by stepping outside its gates.
Thus, whenever he left, he would hear soft laughter, see other residents avert their eyes.
—Because he was already dead.
“Ha…hahaha…”
Ji Linmo covered his face with his hand, laughter bursting uncontrollably from his chest.
Everything before him now seemed steeped in absurdity.
“You must be kidding. I didn’t even notice this, and so I stumbled in the shadows…”
In an S-class, high-difficulty instance, every line of dialogue was laden with meaning.
It was common, with a single misstep, to break the rules and fall into death’s grasp.
The ghost bride gazed at Ji Linmo, who could not stop laughing, and extended a broad hand, pointing straight at him.
“Die!”
The word had barely left her lips when an irresistible force hurled Ji Linmo toward the crimson tide of “Double Happiness” behind him.
The intense corrosion would surely reduce him to a skeleton the moment he landed.
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
Clenching his teeth, Ji Linmo let out a hoarse roar and hurled his whip behind him with all his might.
Crack!
Bolts of electricity exploded from the whip.
In an instant, the tide of “Double Happiness” was swept up, splitting down the middle into charred fragments as if struck by lightning.
[Lightning Whip – Devil’s Kiss]
[Special Note: When the player is in a state of extreme anger, there is a chance for a critical hit upon attacking an enemy, and a demon shall be summoned.]
[Current Player Status: Extreme Anger]
A critical hit!
The force of the blow sent Ji Linmo soaring once more into the air.
Suspended above, he saw a youth in ceremonial red robes and phoenix crown, smiling at him from beneath a bridal veil.
“Demon! Help me defy the rules—let me resist the corrosion of the ‘Double Happiness’!”
As black mist billowed from the base of his whip and coiled around his arm like a living thing, Ji Linmo shouted at the darkness.
This was the demon summoned by his critical strike.
The seething black mist revealed a pair of blood-red eyes, fluttering submissively.
“As you wish.”
With those words, the demon’s mist solidified into armor, encasing Ji Linmo’s entire body.
[You have summoned a demon. The demon will remain for five minutes.]