Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

Is a shadow considered part of the body?

"That's most likely the case!"

Owen frowned and said, "We have the saying that ghosts don't have shadows, but it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that everyone in Red Village is a ghost. We can't be ghosts, can we?"

"I think... perhaps the Red Village itself is a very special space. Under the special rules of the instance, it caused the phenomenon that we and others have no shadows?"

“We can go outside and take a look,” Fan Xiao suddenly suggested. “When we were outside Red Village, our shadows didn’t disappear; they were right under our feet.”

"Wait! How were you able to sense this?"

Canglang looked at Fan Xiao with a suspicious expression.

Why is it that everyone else got infected, but you were the only one playing on easy mode?

Did you cheat by yourself?

Instead of answering the question himself, Fan Xiao glanced at Owen.

The latter immediately understood, revealing an arrogant expression, and said to Canglang, "Even among C-level players, there can be worlds apart in strength! What level are you? Do you even deserve to discover the same secret as Mr. Fan?"

Canglang: “…”

"The words are rough but the reasoning is not rough."

Fan Xiao laughed and said, "Although I am a C-level player, I have psionic energy that leans towards the mental type. My mental strength and mental resistance are a bit higher than the average player. That makes sense, right?"

The group of eleven people did not linger any longer and turned to walk towards the entrance of Hongcun Village.

The village of Hong is surrounded by a fence made of neat green bamboo, with some protruding spikes on the outer layer, which looks like it is for the purpose of keeping wild animals away.

However, Fan Xiao guessed that this was more like a method used against the mountain spirit... well, a way to comfort himself.

Looking out from the entrance of the fence, everyone saw that a thick fog had appeared on the ground, and visibility had become very low.

The wolf felt a lingering fear about the fog and subconsciously took a few meters back, reminding everyone, "It's spread so quickly... Be careful! This fog can do more than just block out sight and reduce visibility."

"It can also significantly disrupt or block out other senses such as hearing and smell."

"You might not even notice if a monster comes right in front of you."

The serious tone added to everyone's apprehension about the fog outside the village.

In any case, they are unlikely to run away on their own initiative.

"It seems the only clue to clearing the game can be found in Red Village," Owen said. "Or rather... the clue is right there in Red Village!"

You Guo thought so too.

He looked at Fan Xiao and asked, "How about we put the Shadow thing aside for now? It won't affect us much anyway."

"I'm just giving you a heads-up; it's not something we should be pursuing right now."

Fan Xiao nodded, then said in a threatening tone, "Why do you think the villagers are all carrying black umbrellas? I heard that ghosts are afraid of the sun. It's a cloudy day now, and the villagers haven't opened their umbrellas; they're just clipped to their waists... These details are quite coincidental. Perhaps they'll open their umbrellas when the sun comes out."

"...Ghosts being afraid of the sun is just a folk tale, right?" Canglang said speechlessly, "There's also a saying that ghosts are afraid of people with strong yang energy! With such a high evolution rate, how could our yang energy be low? I haven't seen those villagers afraid of us."

“Ghosts don’t walk with feet, they float!” one player chimed in. “There’s no point in thinking about these questions.”

“I already said it was just a reminder,” Fan Xiao said with a smile. “There’s no need to argue about it.”

So the group split up at the entrance, some choosing to go it alone, others to team up in pairs, and began collecting information about the black umbrella.

Fan Xiao walked alone in the east direction. After walking for a while, he quickly located a family whose house was temporarily empty.

His blood-red cloak flew off and, under his psychic command, transformed into the shape of a gray wolf, stealthily sneaking into the house.

Then I stole...something temporarily.

Considering that the villagers here are a group of people who live in isolation from the outside world, Fan Xiao did not choose to leave any game coins or anything this time.

As he had expected, the villagers had spare black umbrellas in their homes.

Fan Xiao controlled the flesh-and-blood creature to take the black umbrella. Just as he was about to leave, he thought for a moment and then controlled the "Azure Wolf" again to steal several sets of dark, rough clothing from the house.

The villagers of Hongcun were all dressed in dark-colored coarse linen clothes as they went about their activities.

Perhaps striking colors are considered taboo in this village?

Fan Xiao couldn't be sure, so he could only do it on suspicion for now.

Actually, stealing or borrowing things is still somewhat risky.

In the current unclear situation, if a player causes property damage to the villagers, it might be classified as an attack, triggering a crisis in the instance.

He dared to do this without hesitation mainly because he was confident enough.

If you encounter a serious danger, just summon the little angel and have him slash around wildly.

In most C-rank dungeons, the crisis level is so high that you can't get past the little angel.

Soon, the flesh and blood creature transformed back into the crimson shawl and returned to Fan Xiao's body.

Fan Xiao quickly changed his clothes.

“Those villagers don’t always stay together. There have been many times when they’ve strayed out of sight and acted alone, but nothing happened to them… Being alone is indeed safe.”

Fan Xiao looked around. Because he had chosen a relatively remote household, he quickly determined the safety of his solo operation—he was probing various ways to ascertain the hidden rules of Red Village.

At this moment, the thick clouds in the dark sky seemed to dissipate somewhat, revealing a gap.

This allowed the sunlight, which was close to five in the afternoon and far from being warm, to shine directly in through the gap.

Fan Xiao looked down, and in the light, he saw his own shadow on the ground.

The shadow has returned.

He suddenly realized something, his expression changed, and he quickly opened the black umbrella, placing himself in the shade created by the umbrella blocking the sunlight.

The elongated, slanted shadow was completely obscured by the shadow of the black umbrella, defying all logic.

This black umbrella... doesn't seem to be an ordinary umbrella?

Fan Xiao was somewhat surprised—he didn't feel any discomfort during the few seconds the sunlight hit his body.

The people living in the red village don't seem to be afraid of the sun.

If you're not afraid, then why carry an umbrella... is it for some kind of sacrificial ritual?

Or perhaps… the players are like the villagers, but not entirely the same—while they also lose their shadows, everything returns to normal when sunlight shines, so sunlight doesn't harm them. But the villagers… might be harmed?

You can't just carry an umbrella around without any deeper meaning, simply to keep out the rain, can you?

With this in mind, Fan Xiao quickly began searching for villagers in the surrounding area.

at the same time.

Another location in Hongcun.

Owen, along with two teammates, sneaked out of the first house.

Although they only stole from one house, the three had already collected two black umbrellas—they had entered a couple's house.

Owen tucked one of them into his waistband.

"It seems the villagers here only bring one umbrella for themselves," the short-haired male player sighed. "We'll have to try again. Luckily, the theft didn't trigger any crisis."

“Let’s all be on high alert!” Owen said seriously, noticing their somewhat relaxed demeanor. “Mr. Fan said that until we find and put on the Black Umbrella, we will all be in danger!”

"No way, Owen."

The short-haired male player said speechlessly, "Although we're being monitored by this damn surveillance system, since that guy needs our help to explore the map and gather intelligence, he naturally won't do anything to us. You..."

Why are you still licking it?

You're not really going to become a simp, are you?

Owen looked down at the black umbrella in his hand, ignoring the provocative words.

Just then, the clouds dispersed, and sunlight streamed down from the sky, brightening the surroundings slightly.

Owen looked down and found that his shadow had returned.

The shadows were stretched rather long in the sunlight around five in the afternoon.

At that moment, several villagers from Hongcun passed by.

The villagers had all opened their black umbrellas and placed them over their heads without anyone noticing.

Owen saw this scene from afar and was stunned for a moment.

Recalling Fan Xiao's earlier warning, he quickly followed suit, opening the black umbrella and placing himself in the shadows.

His elongated shadow was thus covered in an unscientific way by the shadow cast by the black umbrella.

Upon seeing this, the short-haired player quickly opened his black umbrella and used it to shield himself from the sun.

The remaining, slightly muscular male player, having no umbrella, forced his way under the short-haired player's umbrella.

The two of them held up an umbrella together, and their shadows were partially visible through the black umbrella's shade.

A black umbrella can only shield one player's shadow at most?

Upon realizing this, Owen felt a sense of unease and quickly distanced himself from his two teammates.

suddenly!

A pair of enormous, grotesque arms emerged from the ground and grabbed the short-haired player's legs.

Then came the second pair, the third pair... *splat*—the short-haired male player was suddenly ripped apart by a barrage of arms.

His body, split in two, spurted blood as it crashed heavily to the ground... no, not crashed, but rather dragged down into the earth by those giant arms with terrifying force.

It was as if they were fighting over food.

"What……!?"

The slightly muscular male player was suddenly startled.

My comrade died too quickly!

He was dismembered in the blink of an eye.

Is there danger underground?

Just as he was about to jump up and dodge, wisps of black smoke suddenly rose from the ground.

One after another, tall, sturdy figures carrying black umbrellas emerged from the ground.

They were all over two meters tall, standing on the ground like a small mountain, densely surrounding the burly male players.

Then they swarmed forward.

Owen heard a piercing scream.

Because of the human wall blocking his view, he couldn't see exactly what had happened to his second companion; he only heard the sound of flesh being torn apart.

After those tall figures dispersed, only blood-stained, tattered clothes remained on the spot.

"..."

Owen felt a chill run down his spine.

His two teammates... seemed to have been devoured by these monsters?

Where did that tall monster with the black umbrella come from?!

Could they be villagers from Hongcun?

Are all the people in Red Village really ghosts?

"Huh? This is..."

Suddenly, Owen saw new monsters appear around him—three figures radiating a scarlet glow.

After the three figures appeared, the tall monsters holding black umbrellas swarmed around them.

At this moment, the crimson figures scattered in all directions, moving away from the monsters.

The red light flashed and disappeared in an instant; the three red figures vanished after traveling a distance.

After losing their target, the black umbrella monsters returned to Owen's side and surrounded him.

Owen could feel pairs of lifeless eyes staring at him from under the black umbrella.

His body tensed instantly, ready for battle.

"I've been targeted too!?"