And Then the Skeleton Laughed Out Loud [Infinite] - Chapter 6

◎ The deity seems to like you a lot ◎

“Ah Xue, Ah Xue?” Li Yiqing’s calling rang in her ears. Qi Qiuxue snapped back to her senses, finding the idol in front of her exactly as it was before; nothing had changed.

“What’s wrong?” Li Yiqing looked at her with concern, reaching out to feel her forehead. “Are you feeling unwell? You were totally spacing out.”

“I’m fine.” Qi Qiuxue shook her head, only now realizing she had broken out in a cold sweat. “How long was I out?”

“A while,” Li Yiqing said. “What happened to you?”

“Do you feel like anything is wrong?” After a moment of silence, Qi Qiuxue lowered her voice to speak to Li Yiqing and Liu Ge. “Just now, the idol seemed to move.”

“Moved?” Li Yiqing was shocked. She was already timid and had been trembling since entering the temple; now she was in a full panic. “N-no way, I didn’t see anything.”

“I didn’t either.” Liu Ge re-examined the idol before them, her expression grave. “If the idol really moved, and with such a large frame, we should have noticed, right?”

“No, it wasn’t a large movement.” Qi Qiuxue frowned, recalling the scene again. “It wasn’t the limbs that moved—it was the inscriptions on its body.”

“The inscriptions?” Li Yiqing was completely baffled.

Her voice was a bit loud, which somehow attracted the attention of a female player standing nearby. The player looked young, perhaps in her early twenties, with short hair and a petite build. She had been standing alone, but upon hearing the word “inscriptions,” she involuntarily glanced toward them.

Her face was deathly pale, as if she had just experienced something extremely horrific, and her shoulders were shaking slightly. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but she hesitated. After a moment of wavering, she finally walked over.

“Hello.” She nodded to the three of them and said softly, “Pardon me for asking, but did you just mention… the inscriptions?”

Qi Qiuxue and Liu Ge exchanged a look. They didn’t rush to answer, but asked back: “Is there something we can help you with?”

The girl still had reservations: “I…”

Qi Qiuxue waited for a while but never heard what came after “I.”

Actually, the girl couldn’t be blamed for being overly cautious. They were meeting for the first time, and in a life-or-death environment, her lack of trust in Qi Qiuxue and the others was reasonable. Knowing how to protect oneself and not giving away trust too easily is the only way to survive long.

Since she was unwilling to speak, Qi Qiuxue didn’t intend to force her. However, Li Yiqing suddenly leaned forward and took the initiative to talk to the girl: “It’s okay, don’t be nervous, take your time.”

“If you have any concerns or ideas, just tell us. None of us are bad people.” Li Yiqing was naturally mature and beautiful; at first glance, she looked like a very reliable, intellectual older sister. When she smiled, she felt even more approachable.

The girl was beguiled by her appearance, unaware that she was actually the most unreliable of the three. After a pause, the girl finally chose to speak: “I just wanted to ask… do you feel like there’s something wrong with the inscriptions on the idol?”

She had said almost the exact same thing as Qi Qiuxue.

Qi Qiuxue already had an answer in her heart, but she was even more cautious than the girl: “What do you mean?”

“…” The girl glanced at Li Yiqing. Li Yiqing was still smiling at her, encouraging her to continue. Finally, the girl stopped hiding: “Did anyone notice? Those inscriptions were moving just now!”

As expected.

Qi Qiuxue knew that the scene wasn’t a hallucination, though for some reason, not everyone could see it. She nodded and gave an affirmative answer: “Yes, I saw it.”

“But my companions didn’t,” she added honestly. “As for the reason, I can’t say for sure yet.”

“Then…” The girl seemed to want to say more, but before she could open her mouth, she was interrupted by Xiao Xiao’s voice.

From the moment they entered the temple, Xiao Xiao had stopped paying attention to the players. She had completed her own worship first—taking three sticks of incense, lighting them, inserting them into the burner, and kneeling on the cushion with her hands joined, muttering something.

Her voice was very low; no one could hear what she was saying. After a moment, Xiao Xiao picked up a bamboo cylinder nearby and drew a lot for herself. There were no words on the bamboo stick, only that the tip was green.

“I have just demonstrated the process of worship for everyone.” She stood up and turned her gaze to the crowd behind her. “Next, please follow my example. In order: offer incense, kneel and bow, and ask for a lot.”

“Do we need to mutter something like you did?” Li Yiqing asked.

“As you wish.” Xiao Xiao glanced at her, annoyed that this player had so many questions—always asking, asking, asking. “Prayer is fine, chanting sutras is fine. As long as your heart is sincere.”

“Oh.” Li Yiqing nodded thoughtfully.

“I’ll go first.” A thin man at the front of the line stepped forward and, trembling, completed the process just as Xiao Xiao had demonstrated.

When it came to the final step of drawing a lot, he held his breath and shook the cylinder a few times. The bamboo stick that fell out also had a green tip.

Xiao Xiao waved her hand: “Next.”

The man retreated in silence. The next to go up was Geng Hao.

Green tip.

Liu Dawei.

Green tip.

Liu Ge.

Green tip.

Li Yiqing.

Green tip.

After Li Yiqing, it was Qi Qiuxue’s turn. There were still many players left, and the timeline was dragging. Xiao Xiao grew visibly impatient and urged: “Hurry up.”

Qi Qiuxue ignored her and seriously completed the required steps, until it was time to draw the lot.

—This time, the bamboo stick that fell out of the cylinder had a red tip.

The breathing of every player present grew heavy. A red tip. There was actually a red tip—what did it mean? Why was it different from everyone else’s?

Qi Qiuxue held the stick, equally puzzled: “What is the meaning of this?”

“Nothing.” Xiao Xiao smiled while fiddling with a strand of hair by her ear, her tone cynical. “It just means the deity seems to like you a lot~”

Like.

Qi Qiuxue raised her eyes to look at the idol. Being “liked” by such a thing was definitely not a good omen. However, she said nothing, calmly standing up and returning to the group.

On the other hand, Liu Ge and Li Yiqing were both panicked: “What’s the situation?”

“I don’t know, but it’s likely not good.” Qi Qiuxue shook her head. She believed there were no useless settings in an instance. Since two types of lots appeared—red and green—it inevitably meant there would be two different outcomes. The worst possibility involved life and death.

The green tip appeared far more frequently than the red. Since it was just the beginning, the possibility of an immediate total wipe of the players was low. Qi Qiuxue guessed that the red tip was highly likely to be bad.

“…”

Such bad luck.

Liu Ge remained silent for a while, likely having realized something herself. Li Yiqing, however, continued to be noisy. After Qi Qiuxue, several more green lots were drawn in a row. The more Li Yiqing watched, the more she felt something was wrong, her face growing increasingly heavy.

“Ah Xue, what are you going to do, Ah Xue?” she muttered, looking like a startled bird. “How about I swap mine with yours, wuwuwu.”

“?” Qi Qiuxue looked at her sideways, somewhat surprised she would say that. “Do you know what you’re saying?”

“I know!” Li Yiqing nodded, looking aggrieved. “What’s wrong with that!”

The contrast between her personality and her mature appearance was truly huge. Qi Qiuxue met the gaze of Li Yiqing, who was half a head taller than her, and for some reason, suddenly felt like teasing her: “I might die, you know. Aren’t you afraid?”

“I…” Li Yiqing hesitated for a few seconds, but soon she spoke again. “If I die, I die. Who’s afraid of who? Anyway, I’m slow-witted and have no special skills. I’m not as useful as you or Ah Liu if I stay alive.”

“As long as you two live well, it’s fine,” she said. “Just don’t forget me.”

She looked as though she had already decided to die a heroic death.

After a long pause, Qi Qiuxue couldn’t bear to tease her further. She gently patted her shoulder. “I drew the lot; swapping it to you won’t work. Don’t overthink it. Besides, it might not be such a bad result. I don’t die that easily, don’t worry.”

“But thank you anyway,” she said, letting out a small smile.

Ah Xue said thank you to her.

Li Yiqing blinked. A moment later, she started being noisy again: “Wuwuwu, Ah Xue…”