Chapter 25: The Sunflower That Absorbs Sunlight

"It's a letter." Sun Qian picked up the letter from outside the door and announced it to the group.

Everyone’s attention immediately converged on the envelope.

Has it begun?

Since the game instance is called "The Incoming Letter," it is highly probable that both the path to survival and the progression of the game are tied to this correspondence.

Sun Qian exchanged glances with the others before tearing the envelope open. Inside was nothing strange, just an actual letter, which caused everyone to exhale in relief.

Unfolding the letter, they all read it together.

[Lin Yuan, how have you been lately? Your village is too remote; there is no internet, so I can only contact you by writing. Although we are separated by distance, I still love you. We have been married for three years, and even if my parents do not approve of us being together, I am willing to believe in love. Love can dispel all negative things. I hope you can write back to me—Your loving Xinran]

The contents of the letter seemed quite ordinary, appearing to be nothing more than a loving couple separated by distance, their union unblessed by the wife’s parents.

However, could it really be so ordinary?

Clearly not. This is an "unsolvable" level instance.

After reading it, Sun Qian couldn't help but ask, "What does everyone think of this letter?"

"It looks like a couple in love, but for some reason, they are in a long-distance situation," Wang Jian said.

"The key should be the reply, right? She said she wants Lin Yuan to write back," Su Yueling said, hitting the nail on the head.

The group looked at the corpse lying in the room and felt a sense of trouble.

Lin Yuan was already dead; he couldn't write back. If they didn't reply, Lin Yuan’s wife would surely sense something was amiss, and then whether she called the police or did something else, it would be extremely difficult to handle.

The main objective restricted them from leaving Lin Yuan’s cabin after 10:00 PM. If they were taken to a police station, they would certainly fail the main task.

"So, for now, what we need to do is write back, impersonating Lin Yuan, so his wife doesn't suspect anything," Xu Bing summarized.

"That's right. We should first search the house for information about Lin Yuan. If we don't find any, we'll go into town to scout. Otherwise, without enough information, we won't be able to fake a reply," Sun Qian said, lighting a cigarette to think.

"Agreed. Let’s act quickly while it’s still light out," Luo Ya concurred.

As they prepared to move, Sun Qian’s eyes suddenly widened in shock. "Brother Liu Tong, what on earth is that on your shoulder?"

Hearing this, everyone turned their gaze toward 'Liu Tong,' and they were all left dumbfounded.

There, swaying on Bai Wan's shoulder, was a cute, smiling sunflower.

Bai Wan smiled and explained to everyone, "It’s my character skill, 'Cute Sunflower.' When it matures, it can produce sunflower seeds. I’ll treat you all to some when they're ready."

The group was stunned.

A cute sunflower that produces seeds when it matures? What kind of bizarre skill is this!

*Whoosh!*

Nearby sunlight was absorbed by the sunflower on Bai Wan’s shoulder, and a smile gradually appeared on the flower. Sun Qian and the others watched with wonder. While it had no practical use, it was truly miraculous.

Su Yueling also looked at Bai Wan with curiosity. As the strongest mysterious newcomer to receive a negative evaluation, she had always been intrigued by him. According to Liu Tong, he possessed an outrageous ability that could make doors disappear, but what was this sunflower on his shoulder? She didn't believe it could only produce seeds. Bai Wan was deceptively cunning; nothing that came out of his mouth was entirely true.

Liu Tong had also mentioned he might be a miner... Could character skills be highly correlated with a character's reality? Was Bai Wan a miner whose side job was a door repairman and whose main hobby was growing sunflowers? It sounded absurd.

After watching the sunflower for a while, the group dared not waste time and soon began their task. They pushed Lin Yuan’s corpse into a corner and began searching the house for clues; in an unsolvable-level instance, one could not be too careful.

Bai Wan wandered around the cabin with his sunflower, and the faint sunlight slowly gathered toward him. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of plants it would summon once it had absorbed enough energy. He had played "Plants vs. Zombies" a lot as a child—Peashooters, Wall-nuts, Chili Peppers, Melon-pults, Rose Assassins—he wondered which one would appear first.

Lin Yuan’s old house was quite empty. Despite a thorough search, they found no useful clues. Finally, they gathered in front of a warehouse outside. It looked dilapidated, as if it had been abandoned for a long time. It was the only place they hadn't checked yet.

Sun Qian saw that the lock was in the open position, so he removed it and grasped the warehouse door, preparing to open it.

Suddenly, everyone’s expression changed.

*Thump, thump, thump!*

Their hearts began to race violently; their bodies felt as if they had fallen to the bottom of an icy lake.

*Thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump!*

The sound of their heartbeats grew increasingly intense.

"Everyone, back away!" Sun Qian shouted urgently. Even before he spoke, many had already retreated, with Bai Wan being the fastest.

"Is this... a 'Heartbeat Warning'?" Wang Jian’s face was deathly pale. Although he hadn't experienced it before, he had heard senior players mention that in some instances, apparitions far exceeding the current difficulty would appear. These apparitions usually didn't involve the main plot; if one encountered them, the best course of action was to run.

Sun Qian nodded, wiping cold sweat from his forehead. "I’ve experienced it once. This is a Heartbeat Warning. We cannot approach this warehouse again."

Sun Qian looked at the warehouse with a solemn expression. What was in there? During their search of the house, they had found painting supplies; Lin Yuan might have been a painter. Why would an ordinary painter have such a terrifying entity hidden in his warehouse? And what was this "Incoming Letter" about? He felt as if he were surrounded by fog. Encountering a Heartbeat Warning right at the start of the game was not a good omen.

"Let’s head into town," Sun Qian said.

With the warehouse inaccessible and nothing found in the house, they had no choice but to head into the village. They walked out of the gate, with Bai Wan following at the rear.

The town outside was desolate. Most of the houses were crumbling; it looked like a very impoverished village. As they walked, Bai Wan was pleasantly surprised to find that the sunflower was absorbing even more sunlight. It made sense; the amount of sunlight outdoors was certainly different from indoors.

Su Yueling walked up to Bai Wan and looked curiously at the sunflower on his shoulder.

Bai Wan smiled at her. "Want some sunflower seeds?"

"Thanks, I'll pass," Su Yueling said, rolling her eyes.

"There are so few people," Luo Ya remarked. They had been walking for a while and hadn't seen a single soul.

"Actually, many rural areas in reality are like this. Because young people go out to work and the population drifts away, it's mostly elderly people left," said Wang Jian, who came from a rural background and understood the situation well.

Luo Ya rolled her eyes at him, remarking disdainfully, "So your hometown is in such a godforsaken place, too? I’m definitely not going back to your hometown with you in the future."

Wang Jian felt awkward and didn't reply.

"Even though there aren't many people in rural areas to begin with, this is too few..." Sun Qian frowned as he surveyed the village. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but despite being under the sun, his body felt incredibly cold.

Finally, after walking for a long time, they saw an old man lying on a rocking chair.

Sun Qian felt a surge of relief and walked over. "Sir, hello. We are travelers from out of town. May I ask you something?"

"Hm?" The old man heard someone approaching and sat up, puzzled. After eyeing Sun Qian and the others with a strange expression, he said with surprise, "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen strangers. Traveling? What’s there to travel for in this broken little village?"

Sun Qian replied with a smile, "We have a friend named Lin Yuan, but we haven't been able to contact him lately, so we came to check on him and decided to do some traveling while we're at it."

The old man looked at Sun Qian and said, "Lin Yuan, eh? The painter who suddenly became famous in our village these past few years. Are you all artists, too? You can find him if you just keep going straight along this road."

Is he really a painter? Everyone listened intently, hoping to glean some information.

Sun Qian added, "We’ve been to his house, but no one was home. Does he have any friends or the like living in the village? We’d like to pay them a visit."

The old man shook his head. "No, there aren't many people left in this village, and Lin Yuan was always a recluse. Ever since his wife died, he’s spoken to people even less."

*Buzz!*

The old man’s words made Sun Qian and the others shudder. Even under the bright sun, they felt a chill.

What...

The old man said Lin Yuan's wife had been dead for a long time...

Then, who was it that wrote them that letter?

Sun Qian and the others couldn't help but gasp. The letter they had received... was a letter from a ghost.