Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

Above the dry well, Zhao Feng was still shouting loudly.

"Stone, what's going on? Is there something inside?"

Zhang Shi pretended not to notice anything unusual and responded loudly, "It's nothing, just some wooden signs with words on them. I'll put these away, and you guys can quickly pull me up."

Zhang Shi didn't dare to look up again, for fear of causing trouble. Instead, he told everyone what he had just seen during the team chat and asked them not to show it.

Ge Dalong saw the message and glanced at everyone as if nothing had happened. He did not notice the fourth figure and reminded Zhao Feng.

"Brother Feng, pay attention. Wait for Zhang Shi's signal, and then we'll pull him up together."

When Zhao Feng saw Zhang Shi's message, his expression changed obviously. He stared closely at the situation in the well and did not react at all to Ge Dalong's words.

Wu Qing stepped forward and patted his shoulder, and Zhao Feng came back to his senses. He glanced at Wu Qing, then nodded slowly and tightened his grip on the rope with both hands.

Down the well, Zhang Shi discovered that these wooden blocks could not be put into the system backpack, so he took out a wooden barrel and put all the wooden blocks into the barrel.

Zhang Shi counted them and found that there were eighteen wooden blocks in total, and each block had different words engraved on it.

He mustered up the courage to look upwards again. The weapons at the mouth of the well had disappeared, and the three people above were staring at the bottom of the well with different expressions.

Zhang Shi shouted loudly, signaling everyone to pull him up.

Zhao Feng received the signal, exerted force with both hands, and rushed in the opposite direction, pulling the rope. Ge Dalong and Wu Qing were unable to help, and Zhang Shi was pulled up by Zhao Feng.

Seeing that Zhang Shi was safe and sound, Zhao Feng finally felt relieved, calmed down his nervousness, spat and cursed.

"This copy is really weird. I think we should just give up."

Zhang Shi stepped forward, patted Zhao Feng on the shoulder and comforted him.

"This is just the beginning. As long as we follow the rules, nothing should happen."

Outside the dark red wooden door, four people sat in front of the door and took out the eighteen wooden blocks brought out of the dry well one by one.

Ge Dalong took a look and made a judgment.

"This seems to be a couplet. I can try to reorganize it."

After squatting on the ground and fiddling with it for a while, Ge Dalong arranged the eighteen wooden blocks neatly to form a couplet.

First couplet: The shadows are lost in the depths of the netherworld

Second line: The soul wanders in the dark forest

Horizontal banner: But all is suffering

Everyone felt a little uneasy after seeing this couplet.

Wu Qing's brows were furrowed even more tightly, and he gripped the iron spear so tightly that even his knuckles turned white.

Zhang Shi bravely tried to place the wooden sign on the wooden door. As if attracted by a magnet, the wooden sign was firmly sucked to the door.

Zhang Shi placed the eighteen wooden blocks in the order arranged by Ge Dalong.

"crunch~"

The wooden door slowly opened as the last wooden block was placed.

Wu Qing's face turned pale, she bit her lips, no longer caring about her image, hiding behind Zhang Shi and looking carefully into the door.

Zhang Shi pushed the door open with his big hand, revealing the scene inside.

Looking around, the houses in the village were in ruins, and many had even collapsed, becoming ruins.

As the wooden door slowly opened, a stale, slightly musty smell greeted them. Covering their noses, the four of them cautiously stepped into the village. The stone pavement beneath their feet, though mottled, remained sturdy, leading them deeper into this forgotten land.

Zhao Feng walked in front, a flint axe in hand, scanning the surroundings with vigilance, fearing any unforeseen events. Zhang Shi followed closely behind, Old Duan in hand, activating Ding Zhen and scanning the surroundings, ready to respond to any emergency.

Wu Qing was obviously frightened. She followed Zhang Shi closely, clenched her fists, and tried her best to remain calm.

Ge Dalong did not forget the strange things that happened after Zhang Shi went down the well. He took out his magic wand and checked the team interface while covering his retreat.

"The mission has been updated!" Ge Dalong reminded in a low voice, breaking the silence.

Zhang Shi looked at the task panel and found that the task prompt had indeed changed.

Task 2: Find out why the Village of Doubt is abandoned.

Seeing that this instance finally had a clear direction, Zhao Feng came up with an idea and strode towards the village.

"Everyone be careful, this village looks like it has been abandoned for a long time, but there is no guarantee that there is no danger." Zhang Shi warned.

-

The four of them walked through the narrow streets, with dilapidated earthen houses on both sides. Most of the doors and windows were dilapidated, and occasionally the furniture inside the house could be seen through the gaps, as if telling of the prosperity and bustle that once existed here.

However, the village was dead silent at this moment. Even the wind seemed to bypass it, unwilling to disturb the silence.

It has been more than ten days since we came to the wilderness. We finally saw civilization, but it was such a weird scene that made everyone feel a little disappointed.

"Look, there's light over there!" Wu Qing suddenly shouted, pointing ahead.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a faint light piercing through the darkness in the ruins not far away. The light seemed to have an inexplicable attraction, making people unconsciously want to get closer.

"It may be a clue to the mission. Let's be careful and go take a look." Ge Dalong said, quickening his pace.

The four of them carefully made their way through the ruins, eventually arriving at what appeared to be the village's ancestral hall. The door was ajar, and the light was filtering through the crack. Ge Dalong gently pushed the door open, and a stronger musty odor filled his nostrils, accompanied by an indescribable, mysterious aura.

The ancestral hall was bare except for a worn stone table in the center. An oil lamp sat on it, its wick flickering, emitting a faint but steady glow. Scattered beside the stone table were a few yellowed ancient books and a bunch of rusty keys.

"It seems this is what we're looking for." Ge Dalong picked up the key and examined it carefully. "The shape of this key suggests it's used to open some important mechanism."

Zhang Shi stepped forward to take the key and scanned the ancient book with his Ding Zhen. A few lines of text immediately appeared on the mirror: "The village's secrets are hidden underground. The key opens and the truth is revealed."

This was the first time that this kind of prompt appeared. After sharing the information, Zhang Shi carefully thought about it.

"Underground? Is there a basement here?" Zhao Feng asked in surprise.

Ge Dalong nodded, looked around, as if searching for something, and finally his eyes fell on a stone slab in the corner of the ancestral hall.

He walked over, stepped hard, felt the touch of the stone slab, and then stepped hard again. As if triggering some mechanism, the stone slab slowly sank, revealing a staircase leading underground.

The four of them looked at each other, raised their weapons and moved underground.

Just as everyone was about to step into the underground stairs, the originally calm weather suddenly changed.

In an instant, the dark clouds in the sky became thicker, even black clouds.

A sudden gust of wind blew by, carrying away the dust in the courtyard of the ancestral hall.

A wild beast's roar came from above everyone's heads, breaking the eerie silence.

Zhang Shi looked up and found a skinny black tiger climbing down from the courtyard wall and landing outside the ancestral hall. Its face was ferocious, fangs bared, and it stared at the four people with a fierce look.

Zhang Shi immediately became alert and performed an appraisal on it.

"Ding, confirmed at first glance, identified as: Corpse-eating Black Tiger."

[Corpse-eating Black Tiger (Green): Panel (Unknown) Ability Value: 45]

[An elite monster of the exquisite level, mutated due to long-term consumption of corpses, possessing some special abilities.]

Zhang Shi shared the information with others, held Lao Duan horizontally in front of him, and winked at everyone, signaling them to step back.

However, this action seemed to anger Black Tiger.

It roared and rushed towards Zhang Shi.