Chapter 47: Curse of the Black Coffin, Dragon Genesis Talent

Guided by the imprisoned guest specter, they walked deep into the innermost depths of the secret chamber.

There were no clay pots here, and the air was thick with a bizarre, foul stench.

At the very end stood a towering ancient tree. Rather than a true tree, it looked like a shrub-like mass piled high with countless writhing, scarlet flesh and blood. The basement's ceiling and floor were choked with root-like blood vessels and swollen veins, and countless distorted human faces covered its surface like leaves.

Those human faces were wailing in collective, agonizing pain!

Even more horrifyingly, on one side of the "human face tree," sticky black liquid could be clearly seen gnawing away at the majority of the human faces until they were riddled with countless holes, clinging like parasitic bone-eaters.

The scene before them was dripping with the eerie, eldritch style of Cthulhu mythos.

It was both repulsive and deeply surreal.

Both Ji Yan and Long Yuan felt a powerful shock to their eyeballs.

An aged hag, with a distorted, withered, and emaciated face, pointed trembling fingers at the fleshy tree: "This is the foundation of the apartment副本!"

"Those facial skins covering the surface of the foundation are the original bodies of the apartment's native residents. Every once in a while, the landlord comes down here to inspect and feed them. Only when they grow and their expanding flesh seeps into the walls can the apartment be reinforced."

"But now, as you can see, the foundation is riddled with holes, and the apartment is on the verge of collapse!"

"Those black parasites live by feeding on the foundation, and by now, they have spread to the point of being completely uncontrollable!"

Looking closer, those black substances were actually dense swarms of black maggots writhing beneath the surface.

Long Yuan felt his scalp tingle just looking at them.

If any cleanliness-obsessed player were here, they would probably drop dead on the spot.

"You guys just stood around watching and did nothing?"

Ji Yan glanced at them.

A bald old man spoke in a hoarse voice: "We had no choice."

"Those parasites are completely fused with the foundation. To clear them rashly would only accelerate the death of the foundation!"

A short old man chimed in: "Only by resolving the source of these parasites can this apartment be saved!"

He pointed toward the rear of the apartment's foundation.

Lying there was a decaying coffin.

The parasites were endlessly emerging from the mouth of that coffin...

"That coffin is the root of all evil!"

"We don't know where it came from, nor do we know how the coffin lid was opened."

"However, as long as that coffin is sealed back up, it will definitely stop the spread of these parasites!"

An elderly ghost woman raised her bloodied, mangled hands: "But we simply cannot touch those coffin nails; they are as scorching as hot irons."

"Therefore, you are the only ones who can complete the sealing of the coffin!"

As they explained the source of the ailment, both Ji Yan and Long Yuan received prompts from their gaming panels.

The game interface had popped up.

That meant they were heading in the right direction.

As long as that black coffin was covered and sealed properly, this utterly wretched main quest would finally be over!

Feverish excitement flashed in Long Yuan's eyes.

Ji Yan, however, remained cautious. The closer they got to such a crucial moment, the less he dared to open the champagne early.

Under the guidance of the imprisoned guest specter, Ji Yan and Long Yuan stepped over the writhing blood vessels and veins, approaching the coffin.

They could clearly see that several coffin nails had been pried open and had fallen to the ground.

There were four in total.

In Long Yuan's eyes, these four coffin-sealing nails were a cake cleanly cut into four equal portions!

He looked at Ji Yan: "Two for each of us, and we split the reward fifty-fifty?"

Ji Yan shook his head: "It won't be that simple."

"A coffin this wicked—how could it let us seal it up so obediently?"

Long Yuan scoffed: "How will we know if we don't try?"

"If you don't dare, I'll step into this minefield first."

With that, he walked straight forward, picked up the two coffin nails from the ground, and approached the coffin.

Just as the black coffin lid was pushed slightly closed, and before Long Yuan could even drive in the nail he was holding, a massive stream of blood suddenly spurted from his facial orifices.

The next second, he collapsed to the ground, dying in a terrifying manner!

Ji Yan's eyelids twitched.

Did this guy really just die like that, just as lively a moment ago?!

Why did he suddenly hemorrhage from all seven orifices and drop dead? Could this black coffin possess some kind of fatal radiation?

Yet the next second, a scene occurred that made Ji Yan's eyelids twitch even harder.

Long Yuan, who had just violently perished, suddenly opened his eyes, "resurrected," and climbed back to his feet.

He wiped the blood from his mouth and nose, quickly retreating a few paces.

He cursed under his breath: "The coffin and the nails both carry a curse; touch them and you die!"

Ji Yan's eyes flickered as he guessed the truth: "Is this your innate talent?"

"My talent is an A-grade talent called [Nirvana Rebirth]. It triggers once for every quest accepted."

"In other words, I have two lives in every single quest."

"Furthermore, after resurrection, it reveals to me the cause of my previous death." Long Yuan answered Ji Yan's doubt with unexpected earnestness.

Wiping the blood from his palms, Long Yuan said to Ji Yan:

Ji Yan looked skeptical: "Talents are a player's most crucial trump card. Why are you telling me this so easily?"

Long Yuan replied: "We're in the same boat now; there's no need to hide things."

"I've already stepped on the mine once. Next, it's your turn to show what you're made of."

Long Yuan stared intently at Ji Yan.

The puzzle before them was simple:

They had to seal the coffin.

However, both the coffin and the nails carried a lethal curse.

It was much like a box containing a life-saving medicine, yet the outside of the box was completely laced with tripwires—touching it meant instant death!

How were they supposed to complete this task?

Ji Yan fell into deep thought, then turned back to look at the imprisoned ghost guests standing idly in the rear: "When you encounter something you don't understand in a game, interact with the NPCs."

"You'll always get some clues, more or less."

Ji Yan stepped back and tossed this thorny problem right back to the imprisoned ghost guests.

Hearing this, the bald old man specter tremblingly tore off a completely necrotic piece of skin from an original resident, smearing thick black blood onto Ji Yan's hands.

"Use this blood... it can insulate against the curse!"

When these ghost guests touched him, a flash of realization crossed Ji Yan's eyes. After a brief pause, a look of surprise appeared on his face: "It's really that simple?"

Long Yuan stepped closer, equally incredulous: "The problem was solved just by having a little chat?"

"We mean you no harm, and we also want to save this apartment. One of you can try it first."

As the ghost hag spoke, she also tore off a piece of flesh from a dead native resident, smearing the black blood onto Long Yuan's hands.

Looking at the blood covering his hands, Long Yuan volunteered himself and once again picked up the curse-laden coffin-sealing nail.

After waiting a moment, a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.

"I'm fine! The curse really has been blocked!"

He walked over, grabbed Ji Yan's hand, and placed the sealing nail into Ji Yan's palm: "Why don't you try?"

The instant he clasped hands with Long Yuan, Ji Yan's expression shifted slightly. A moment later, he nodded indomitably: "It truly does ward off the curse."

"Then let's hurry up and seal the coffin!"

Picking up the remaining three coffin-sealing nails from the ground, Ji Yan and Long Yuan began hammering them into the black coffin...

Behind them, the gathered ghost guests watched this scene intently, yet beneath that tense focus, something else seemed to be hidden...

Ji Yan pulled out a mallet and struck the rusty coffin-sealing nail.

Yet he had only hammered it twice when he felt a wave of physical discomfort.

By the time Ji Yan snapped back to his senses, he discovered that blood was gushing freely from his own mouth and nose...

His pupils constricted.

What was going on? Weren't the curses supposed to be blocked?!