After standing silently in place for a while, he too walked out of the wooden door, doing nothing.
If this woman was really as she appeared to be, then death was certain, and there was no need for him to take a finishing shot.
If this woman was truly dangerous, then his finishing shot might not kill her anyway, but would instead cause her to bear a grudge against him.
...
As soon as he stepped out of the cabin, he saw that many villagers had already gathered around it.
Quite a few of them were holding spears in their hands, looking at them with what seed like anger.
"Be careful."
The burly man who stood beside Chen Miao, as tall as a bear, barely moved his lips as he whispered, "I have a long-range special detection skill; the spears in these villagers' hands are all special equipnt from the secret realm."
"They are rule weapons."
"They ignore defense."
"A single stab causes light injury, two stabs cause serious injury, and three stabs result in death."
The voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of all the players, showing how crucial it was to have soone in the team who could detect such information from a distance.
"..."
Chen Miao's eyelids twitched slightly, as he too realized the danger. At that mont, about forty or fifty villagers were surrounding them with spears, but as long as the villagers were well-defended, his barrage would leave them all lying here.
No matter how strong the weapon in one's hand, one must still be able to make contact with the target.
Unless these people knew how to throw their spears.
The next second—
"Roar!"
A roar suddenly erupted from the crowd, as if a leader had issued a command. Then, nurous villagers, who had been tightly gripping their spears with both hands, suddenly raised them above their heads with one hand, ready to throw at any mont.
"..."
Chen Miao's mouth twitched slightly, preparing to silently step back and hide behind the group. But just then, he was surprised to discover that although he had been the last one to leave the cabin, and thus should have been at the very back of the group,
sohow, he had beco the person at the forefront.
Without knowing when, the others had all moved behind him.
When did this happen?
He hadn't noticed at all! Was this the vigilance of a high-level supernatural player? The strength itself was a separate matter, but when it ca to self-preservation, their alertness was extrely high.
He glanced back at the others with a sowhat speechless expression.
"Look ahead."
The burly man standing behind him, without a trace of guilt on his face, whispered, "Don't look back, lest they think we're plotting sothing. This is clearly a storyline event. As long as we don't make any superfluous moves, they will soon proceed to the next step of the story."
"But if we do make unnecessary moves, we're likely to trigger a 'plot kill.'
Just then—
The villagers who had surrounded them suddenly dispersed, and an old man using a cane slowly walked out from the crowd, stopping a few steps away from Chen Miao. He lowered his head to look at the cane Chen Miao was using, his gaze lingering for several seconds before he spoke hoarsely.
"You're so young, yet you also need a cane?"
"Ah."
Chen Miao nodded, "I've had a leg disease since I was young, and my legs are inconvenient, making it hard to walk smoothly."
"That's a pity, such a young man."
The old man, who seed to be the village head, first shook his head in pity before looking at Chen Miao and his group, "You're tourists, aren't you? I am the village head of nearby Chengxin Village. We an no harm."
"Our village is holding a trial today. We will determine the fate of the person on trial based on the villagers' votes."
"There are a total of 148 people in the village."
"The last three trials each ended in a tie, preventing the trial from proceeding."
"So I personally ca up here to see if there were any tourists, hoping you could join in the voting and help us conclude these three trials."
"Hmm? That's—"
The old man, who had been speaking, suddenly paused, his brows furrowing as he looked over Chen Miao's group, counting with the cane in his hand, "One, two, three..."
"There are six of you?"
"That won't do; then there could be a possibility of a tie again, right?"
"The number can't be even; it has to be an odd number."
As he finished speaking,
Chen Miao and the few people behind him exchanged glances, perplexed. What did this an? Did they need seven people to advance through the secret realm? The woman they had killed in the cabin—had they done it too soon?
So now it seed the story couldn't move forward?
In other words, was this a bug in the scenario?
"No problem."
Soon the village head of Chengxin Village seed to think of a solution and, looking up warmly at Chen Miao and his group, said, "As long as we're ideologically resilient, there are always more solutions than problems. Just one of you needs to die, and then there will be five of you."
"Five is an odd number; that fits just right."
"Which one of you wants to die?"
Almost instantly, Chen Miao could sense that the breathing of the people behind him had all stopped abruptly; evidently, no one had anticipated that the story would move forward by such forceful ans.
"Let's do this to be fair,"
After coughing lightly, the hunched village head raised his hand, signaling for a group of people to surround Chen Miao and the others. "We'll take you all to the village for a trial. In the village, everyone speaks the truth, and the most wicked one dies."
"The remaining five can then cast their votes."
...
On the way back to the village, Chen Miao felt the villagers' spears pointing at his back, even sensing the sharpness of their tips.
And when the spear touched his body.
The panel about the spear appeared before him.
"Prop Na": Ordinary Spear.
"Prop Level": Secret Realm Special Item.
"Prop Restriction": Cannot be taken out of the secret realm, and players cannot use it.
"Prop Effect": For any Supernatural Player, one stab causes minor injury, two stabs cause serious injury, three stabs result in certain death; for ordinary people, it has no special effects.
"Prop Introduction": Crafted by Wang the Blacksmith.
A very ordinary prop, except its effects are anything but simple.
Thus, they were half pushed, half escorted toward the village, montarily safe, but each person's heart was heavy with foreboding, uncertain about the impending judgnt awaiting them.
Whoever was most evil would die?
Truth be told, were there any good people here?
Those who could enter a C-level secret realm were practically superhuman in the real world. Could you expect a superhuman to abide by the law in an ordinary society?
That was wishful thinking.
Since none were good, the one with the most sins would be the asure. Each person secretly revisited all their misdeeds in their hearts.
If this judgnt was rely a literal one, Chen Miao wasn't worried. After all, he had just saved an entire world, and his rit Points were overflowing. Whoever might die, it likely wouldn't be his turn.
If this were a Hong Huang novel.
With the rit he had from saving the world, he might even beco Holy on the spot, right?
...
Soon—
they erged from the forest, and a village ca into view. Many villagers were busy in the fields, and they showed no surprise when they saw the village chief's group escorting several outsiders back to the village, as if it was a normal occurrence.
They were escorted all the way to the very center of the village.
It was a platform.
At that mont, there were three pillars on the platform, with three people tied to them respectively.
A young man.
Two old folks.
There were no visible wounds on the three, but they seed as if they had not eaten or drunk for a long ti; each hung their head as if they had fainted. The group of six were similarly invited onto the platform.
They were not tied to the pillars, though.
Instead, six chairs were brought over.
"Please, have a seat."
The village chief, leaning on his crutch, stood on the platform and looked at Chen Miao and the others, "I am fair, and I do not arbitrarily deprive people of life, but for those who are hypocritical and morally corrupt, I do not mind executing justice on behalf of heaven."
"..."
Chen Miao, who sat in the first chair, didn't speak. He just narrowed his eyes slightly, surveying his surroundings. He was assessing the dangers of this village. If it were just those rule-bound spears, they posed little threat to him.
He was confident that in the blink of an eye, he could slaughter all these villagers.
But...
None of the others dared to make a reckless move. Being unfamiliar with C-level secret realms, he, too, didn't dare to act first. It was clear that if he did sothing, perhaps the village would suddenly turn into an 80-level boss.
This was the first plot-driven secret realm he had encountered.
Before entering the realm, Zhou Shen had ntioned sothing to him. Apparently, the greatest danger of death in plot-driven secret realms cos from the plot itself.
Plot-driven death...
"Let's start with you, the young man who has been troubled with leg disease since childhood," said the village chief, waving his hand. A villager took long strides forward, holding an extrely eerie, high-tech device that clearly stood out from the surroundings. After attaching several red and blue wires to Chen Miao's arm,
the screen on the device slowly lit up.
A line of particularly glaring words appeared.
"Sin Value: 0."
anwhile, the village chief, still leaning on his crutch, looked at Chen Miao with a slight hunch in his back and a smile, "Anyone on this platform can only tell the truth and cannot lie. And this machine will give you a specific sin value based on the bad deeds you have done, making it more direct."
"First question."
"Na the bad deeds you have done in your life."
"..."
Chen Miao remained silent without uttering a word. He initially thought this village was so kind of folk horror setting, but the appearance of this high-tech device left him puzzled. Then he shook his head.
"None."
"I have been kind all my life and have never done a bad deed."
The mont his words fell.
A visible sign of disbelief flashed in the village chief's eyes. After being dazed for a long while, he finally spoke, "How is that possible? You just lied to about having a leg disease since childhood. Is deceiving an elder not a bad thing?"
"Is it?"
Chen Miao looked up at the village chief.
The village chief didn't respond, but stared at Chen Miao with an uncertain expression for a mont before waving his hand and saying, "Next."
Chen Miao thoughtfully looked at the machine, apparently understanding the situation. Here, a bad deed was defined as sothing you believed was bad. If you didn't think what you did was bad, it wasn't bad.
Him?
He never believed he had done anything bad.
He had just saved the world, hadn't he? Could soone who saved the world do anything bad?
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