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

Chapter 56 The Dark Mushroom Man

Yan Xun knew he was dreaming.

In his dream, he saw the plaque of Wusheng Village, which he had just seen not long ago. He was standing in front of the Cimu Hall, the golden roof being the only color in the almost gray dream.

Everything was blurry in the dream. He stood in front of the Mother's Hall, neither going in nor leaving.

After a while, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself in a conference room, with his colleague looking at him as he presented a PowerPoint presentation on the screen, asking if he had any new ideas.

Yan Xun found himself standing up, his hands braced against the table. The lights in the conference room were dim, but he could see the expressions on his colleagues' faces—a mixture of confusion and bewilderment, and even some mockery… He couldn’t quite figure out what the dream meant, so he could only shake his head. “I’m not feeling well, I’ll go out for a bit.”

As he spoke, he left the suffocating meeting room right before his colleagues' eyes.

In the break room, two colleagues making coffee were talking about the latest big news. They had heard that there was a mysterious and frightening belief in a small village.

Yan Xun glanced at it. "Where?"

"The Village of No Life," the colleague said. "Have you heard of it?"

Just as Yan Xun was about to say something, he realized that the scene in his dream had changed again. Someone was snapping their fingers in front of him, seemingly to attract his attention.

When his attention returned, he found himself sitting in a white room, and someone said to him, "This isn't your fault, you just..."

The other person's mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear or see what the person was going to say next.

Then, the scene returns to the village of No Life from the beginning.

He stood in front of the Cimu Hall, looking at the tightly closed door, he hesitated for a long time, but in the end he did not choose to push it open.

……

When I finally woke up, it was already past 9 a.m.

Yan Xun opened his eyes and looked at the somewhat unfamiliar ceiling, only to find that Sun Zhao, who had been lying next to him last night, was nowhere to be found.

After a while, he heard footsteps, and then the door opened. Sun Zhao walked in from outside with steamed buns and fried dough sticks. "Awake?" He looked at Yan Xun and put the breakfast on the table. "Here's some food."

Yan Xun slowly got out of bed. He looked at Sun Zhao for a while, then at his own hands, and finally asked Sun Zhao, "How did you sleep last night?"

"How is it?" Sun Zhao was peeling an egg when he heard Yan Xun's words. He thought for a moment and said, "Not bad?"

I had no dreams all night.

Yan Xun put on her slippers and went to the bathroom to wash up.

He brushed his teeth while looking at himself in the mirror.

Perhaps due to poor sleep quality, his dark circles were still very obvious... He lowered his head and spat out the foam in his mouth. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Yan Xun walked over and sat down next to Sun Zhao.

"Your parents have gone out."

"Let me wake you up for dinner."

Sun Zhao briefly explained what had happened that morning, "And you know what, it's a coincidence."

"Those college students actually decided to come and explore after watching the video," he told Yan Xun. "It seems to be some kind of outdoor adventure team..."

Yan Xun took a bite of the fried dough stick, which had cooled down because it had been sitting for a while, and the taste was just so-so. He swallowed it hastily and then went to eat the steamed bun. "How many people are there?"

“Three or four,” Sun Zhao said. “One of them didn’t come.”

After the two finished their simple breakfast, Yan Xun pushed open the door and went out.

Perhaps knowing that Yan Xun was the son of Yan's parents and a distant cousin of Yan Yu, the people in the old house greeted him affectionately, saying, "Your parents are out. If you're bored, you can go play with your cousin."

Yan Xun glanced at the young man. "Not going to disturb us?"

"He's not preparing for his wedding recently."

“What’s the problem?” the man said matter-of-factly. “He’s not busy all the time.”

"Those college students said they wanted to go for a walk around the village. If you're bored, you can go with them." He said, waving at Yan Xun, then carrying a bag and walking away.

Yan Xun soon spotted several college students.

Two men and two women. When they saw Yan Xun, one of them looked a little confused, but quickly realized who he was and nodded to him as a greeting.

The remaining three looked at Yan Xun with some wariness.

The first person to walk over introduced himself as a junior in college, saying, "My name is Meng Zhi, and we're in the same club."

As he spoke, he began to introduce the three people beside him.

“Ruan Yun, she’s a sophomore this year.” Meng Zhi pointed to the long-haired girl next to him.

"Sun Yue." Before he could introduce her, the girl with glasses hurriedly spoke up.

"Gu Jia." The last to speak was a boy whose hair almost covered his eyes. He was tall, but perhaps because he was not good at interacting with people, he nervously looked away when Yan Xun looked over.

His overly long bangs almost covered most of his face.

The more Yan Xun looked at him, the more frightened he became, until he almost hid behind Sun Yue.

Sun Yue said to Yan Xun somewhat awkwardly, "Don't mind him, he's not targeting you, he's just shy around strangers."

“Sun Yue is Gu Jia’s cousin,” Meng Zhi explained. “That’s just how he is. You see, he ignores us when we talk to him.”

He called out Gu Jia's name, but the other person completely ignored him. Despite his large stature, he shrank behind Sun Yue, as if he were terrified of everything.

“…I want to go home,” Gu Jia said softly.

"How are we going to get back?" Sun Yue couldn't help but ask. "Didn't we agree to wait until after the temple fair before leaving?"

“Brother Yan Yu said he’ll arrange a car to take us away,” said Ruan Yun, who has long hair. “We just need to wait a few more days.”

Gu Jia seemed to want to say something, but the thought of arguing with someone made her feel it was too much trouble, so she simply shut up and remained silent like a mushroom.

Yan Xun looked at Gu Jia, then at the three people, and figured that the three people were most likely players, but as for Gu Jia... he wasn't so sure.

Yan Xun also gave a brief self-introduction. He noticed that when he introduced himself, the three people all looked knowing, neither surprised nor curious—they had obviously read the script and knew that he was just a background character.

Gu Jia kept her head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Perhaps because there wasn't much to say about a cannon fodder extra who died not long after the start, the three of them said a few words and then prepared to leave.

Only Gu Jia remained standing in the same spot.

"Okay, I'm off," Meng Zhi said. "Didn't we say we were going to check out the village?"

"I'm not going." Gu Jia stood still. "I don't want to go to the village."

Meng Zhi looked puzzled, but in the end he said nothing. "If you don't want to go, then don't go, but don't wander off."

He looked at the other two and said, "Let's go take a look."

The two naturally agreed.

For a moment, only Gu Jia, who was neither an NPC nor a player, and Yan Xun, a passerby who died in the first half of the movie, remained here.

Yan Xun looked at Gu Jia, "...Goodbye?"

Gu Jia's bangs almost covered the bridge of his nose. His hair was a bit long and looked messy because he hadn't styled it.

He looked down slightly at Yan Xun, "Where are you going?"