ATPnovel #568 - The first week has ended and the whole network is talking about it!
#568 - The first week has ended and the whole network is talking about it!
Suddenly, a strange noise arose from the dense fog, like the sound of some creature squirming in the mud, or the sharp sound of claws scraping against stone. This unfamiliar sound instantly stirred the most primal fear within them, like fine needles piercing the nerve endings of everyone.
A chill rose from the soles of their feet, intertwined with fear, like an invisible net that tightly enveloped the three of them. The late autumn night was already cold, and the damp fog made them shiver uncontrollably.
Exhaustion surged like a tide, the continuous escape leaving everyone drained. Tang Yin carried Xiao Mie on his back, his arms aching from prolonged exertion. He didn't know how long he had been walking, nor could he remember how many turns he had taken, as if trapped in a maze with no exit.
Suddenly, Wang Lina, who was in front, stopped.
"--Tang Yin." Her voice came through the dense fog, ethereal and unreal, like a murmur drifting from another world.
"What's wrong?" Tang Yin replied, feigning composure, trying to suppress the tremor in his voice.
"I can't go on anymore." Wang Lina's laughter carried a trace of desperate tremor, sounding heartbreaking.
"--What are you talking about." This time, Tang Yin couldn't deny her words as firmly as usual. The current situation was indeed abnormal, and Wang Lina's condition was obviously very poor, her pale face appearing even more haggard in the fog.
"Let's rest for a while, we'll be able to leave here soon, don't worry." Tang Yin tried to comfort her, but he didn't even believe the words himself.
"It's no use, it's impossible." Wang Lina's voice revealed deep fatigue.
"Why?"
"Because..." Wang Lina paused, "As long as I'm here, we'll never be able to leave the Valley of Divinity."
An eerie silence.
What does that mean? Tang Yin's brain raced.
"Granny Rong told you, right? We are people of the Yellow Springs." Wang Lina continued, "So..."
"Are you saying you can't reach the other shore!?" Tang Yin's voice was filled with disbelief.
"Because..." Wang Lina's voice grew softer and softer, "Because I grew up eating the food of Misty Hidden Village."
"And, I..." Her voice began to tremble, "I've already...been contaminated...!"
"Wang Lina!" Tang Yin shouted.
"Don't look at me--!" Wang Lina covered her face in pain.
Without hesitation, Tang Yin turned around and hugged Wang Lina. In the dim light, he finally saw her face clearly—her once fair skin was covered with brown and yellow pustules, like some kind of terrible parasite gnawing at her skin.
Without thinking, Tang Yin closed his eyes and kissed her lips. The mixture of blood and pus spread between his lips and teeth, carrying a rusty, sweet, and fishy taste, which he swallowed without hesitation. At this moment, he wanted to prove with his actions that no matter what she became, he would not leave her.
Tang Yin tightened his arms, hugging her emaciated body with all his strength, as if pouring all his love into this embrace. He held his breath, stopped all thoughts, and let time stand still at this moment.
Until his chest felt stuffy, until he was about to suffocate, he slowly released her.
When fresh air rushed back into his lungs, Tang Yin felt as if he had been reborn. And Wang Lina was in his arms, carrying pain and despair, yet still the person he wanted to protect most.
The moment their lips parted, Wang Lina didn't even have time to catch her breath before she repeated urgently to Tang Yin: "--I'm sorry--I'm sorry--I'm sorry--I'm really--very sorry--"
Her voice was like a broken wind chime, every syllable trembling.
Tang Yin still held her emaciated body tightly, as if this would keep her dissipating life. His heart churned with indescribable emotions, never imagining that he would lose to this inexplicable fate. A month ago, he was still struggling with postgraduate entrance exams, and now, he was about to watch the person he loved most wither in his arms.
Wang Lina weakly raised her arms and gently wrapped them around Tang Yin's waist, but soon, her arms drooped down like a broken puppet. Her body temperature was slowly draining away, and the pustules on her skin glowed with a morbid sheen in the moonlight.
"...Let's go." Tang Yin said in a low voice, his voice a bit hoarse.
"But..." Wang Lina wanted to say something, but Tang Yin interrupted her.
"Let's go." He said without question.
A faint, fishy smell permeated the air, the aura left behind by the pursuers, closing in little by little. Tang Yin knew they had to keep moving forward.
Time blurred in the dense fog, maybe they walked for hours, maybe only a few minutes. The pursuers' aura always followed them like a shadow, yet they strangely didn't attack, as if waiting for an opportunity.
Wang Lina's condition deteriorated rapidly, her steps becoming more and more unsteady, stopping every few steps to cough violently, spitting out black liquid mixed with blood. After each bout of vomiting, she would look at Tang Yin apologetically, constantly saying "I'm sorry." And Tang Yin could only endure the heartache, encouraging her to continue with gentle words.
They staggered forward in the fog, Wang Lina's footsteps becoming increasingly wet, as if stepping on rotten mud. The passage of time became unreal, maybe they walked far, maybe only moved a few meters. Wang Lina's apologies echoed in the fog, intertwined with her viscous footsteps, forming a desperate elegy.
Reality began to distort, as if living in a nightmare you could never wake up from. If none of this was real, then nothing that happened would be surprising.
Suddenly—
"Tang Yin." Wang Lina called his name in a hoarse voice. These simple words sent a jolt through Tang Yin's heart, like a ray of light suddenly appearing in the darkness.
Then.
"Thank you..." Her voice was as light as a cicada's chirp, and before she could finish speaking, she vomited violently again.
"I'm happy." These were her last words.
As soon as the words fell, the hand he was holding suddenly became light and weightless. Tang Yin was stunned.
—What's going on.
He looked down and found that all that remained in his hand was a rotten hand, the skin on the palm already ulcerating, revealing the blackened muscle tissue underneath.
Then, Tang Yin heard a chilling sound: viscous fluid flowing on the ground, the muffled thuds of internal organs and limbs falling one after another, like ripe fruit falling to the ground. Except for the rotten hand in his hand, Wang Lina's body instantly turned into a pile of bloody, unidentifiable remains.
Tang Yin stood there, watching her remains pile up into a small mountain of flesh in the dense fog.
At that moment, a strange realization surged into his heart: he had lost her forever, never again would he be able to touch her warm body, hear her sweet voice, or see her bright smile. Everything was over, like a shattered beautiful dream, leaving only endless despair and nothingness.
—Is this what it means to be a [Yellow Springs Person]?
However, he couldn't give up now.
Memories flooded back, Wang Lina's last words echoing in his ears: "No matter, what part, is fine, take me, away from here." Her voice was so weak that it was almost inaudible, but it revealed a heartbreaking determination.
Tang Yin carefully put her remaining hand into his inside pocket, close to his heart. The skin and flesh of the palm had already begun to rot, emitting a faint stench, but he didn't care at all. He carried the sleeping Xiao Mie on his back and continued to move forward in this strange fog. Xiao Mie's breathing was very light, like a feather falling on the back of his neck.
Before long, Xiao Mie woke up. When she realized that Wang Lina had left forever, she broke down completely. She lay on Tang Yin's shoulder and wailed, her tears soaking his clothes. Her crying echoed in the fog, like some kind of ominous omen.
"I want to walk myself." Xiao Mie said sobbing. Tang Yin hesitated for a moment, but still put her down. Her feet had just touched the ground—
Suddenly, something unexpected happened!
A force full of malice stretched out from the depths of the dense fog, instantly dragging Xiao Mie in. Tang Yin only had time to see a huge arm covered with grayish-brown fur, with wriggling muscles visible under the fur, emitting a disgusting stench.
A shrill scream pierced the night sky, a sound between human and beast, chilling to the bone. Tang Yin hesitated in place for a few seconds, as if making a final ideological struggle, then turned and ran wildly in the direction where Xiao Mie disappeared.
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A huge figure loomed in the dense fog, a terrifying beast he had never seen before. Its outline was blurred, but the suffocating sense of oppression was terrifyingly real.
Tang Yin ran desperately, and suddenly felt a cold touch under his feet. He looked down and saw that he had stepped into a patch of dark water. He had finally found the legendary Valley of Divinity, but it all had lost its meaning. Wang Lina had turned into blood, Xiao Mie was taken away by a beast, he had lost everyone he cared about, leaving him alone.
Wang Lina's dying words echoed in his mind again: "No matter, what part, is fine, take me, away from here."
—Does her last wish still have meaning?
No, he must make her last wish meaningful. He had to get out of here alive and return to the city, no matter what, he owed it to her. Tang Yin tightly pressed against the pocket on his chest, where Wang Lina's hand still lay.
Passing through the last patch of dense fog, the huge wolf-shaped creature finally revealed itself completely. Its body was the size of a small car, covered with dark gray fur, and its eyes were like two balls of ghostly green fire. Seeing this, Tang Yin suddenly understood.
"Ah, so this is hell." He laughed mockingly.
This was neither the land of the living nor the land of the dead, but hell, which lay between the two. No wonder they didn't hear a splash when they threw Zhao Gang's body into the Valley of Divinity. It turned out that the moment they stepped into the fog and climbed down the cliff, they had already left the world.
He finally gave in. Since he had swallowed the blood of the Yellow Springs Person, he was destined to have nowhere to escape. This realization gave him a strange sense of relief, as if a thousand pounds of burden had suddenly been lifted.
Tang Yin struggled symbolically, then gave up all resistance. He stood there, calmly watching the giant wolf approach step by step. If fate was destined to tear him to pieces here, then so be it. Anyway, after losing Wang Lina, his soul had long been shattered.
Tang Yin pondered in the last moments of his life,
Ah, where exactly did he go wrong?
Was it running away via the Valley of Divinity route?
Or was it the act of running away itself?
—No, it has nothing to do with running away.
He couldn't think anymore.
—Ah, damn it.
If he had participated in the Yellow Springs Forbidden Banquet, maybe this wouldn't be the ending.
This was Tang Yin's last thought in this life.
The game popped up a prompt: [First Playthrough Ended].
...
The discussion surrounding "The Mystery of Misty Hidden Village" in the gaming community was like a dense fog in the mountains, growing thicker and wider.
The well-known game critic "Deep Sea Fish" published a long article: "The biggest highlight of this game is the perfect integration of traditional werewolf killing gameplay with a story-driven AVG. Players enter the game from Tang Yin's perspective, but don't know if they are a werewolf, which directly subverts the game logic of traditional werewolf killing. What's even better is that through the somatosensory equipment, players can truly feel the character's heartbeat, breathing, and even the sweet and fishy taste when swallowing Yellow Springs blood."
Game designer "Mu Zichen" focused on analyzing the game's scene design: "The world view construction of Misty Hidden Village is textbook-level. From the stone tablet at the entrance of the village to the sacrificial rituals, from the legends passed down by the older generation to the gossip among the younger generation, every detail tells the history of this closed mountain village. Especially the Divinity River, which blurs the boundary between reality and hell, adding a layer of mystery to the whole story."
Folklore enthusiast "Nanshan Guest" published a textual research article: "Many of the settings in the game are derived from real folk legends. For example, the villagers' worship of the Wolf God, which does exist in the southern mountainous areas of China. And the setting of "Yellow Springs People" may be derived from the customs and legends of some regions. The development team's attention to detail in folklore makes the whole game more convincing."
Popular streamer "Little Coconut" commented from the perspective of character shaping: "Wang Lina's character design is too touching! The sentence she said to Tang Yin, "Take me away from here", is simply heartbreaking. And Xiao Mie, who seems simple and cute, but is she really just an ordinary little girl? Why was it the scream of an animal when she was captured? Each character hides unknown secrets."
In the game forum, players' discussions were even more lively:
"I think the most brilliant thing is the multi-playthrough design. Every time you play, you can discover new clues. This is simply "Detention" meets "The Old Village"!"
"Has anyone noticed the setting of the Divinity River? Why is there no sound of water when you throw the body in? Could it be that the whole village is already in hell?"
"I'm more concerned about the identities of the three Wolf Gods. I feel that it is related to the village's seniority system. The older generation, middle-aged people, and young people, each group may be hiding a Wolf God."
Senior game reviewer "Bai Ze" summarized: "The most successful thing about "The Mystery of Misty Hidden Village" is its narrative level. On the surface, it is a werewolf killing game, but in reality, it tells a story about humanity, desire, and redemption. Every character in the game has their own position and suffering, and every choice will bring different endings. And the most thought-provoking thing is that players never know whether the Tang Yin they are playing is a human or a wolf. This uncertainty of identity adds a philosophical meaning to the whole game."
Quickly, topics such as #Mystery of Mist Village#, #G-sauce Scared to Tears on Livestream#, and #How Many Details are Hidden in the Game# all trended on the hot search list. Players began to organize online puzzle-solving sessions, and some even created dedicated Wiki websites to record every detail and possible explanation in the game.
This discussion lasted a long time, and even when new games appeared, people were still discussing the secrets of Mist Village. As one player commented in the comments section: "This isn't just playing a game, it's like studying an entire world."
And more people are waiting...
How will the second playthrough unfold?