Chapter 142: Butterfly Village

There were eight rooms on the first floor. Li Zhi and Xu Yan stayed in Room 104. Upon entering, they found the entire room furnished with bamboo, creating an elegant and refined atmosphere. Inside were two single beds. Li Zhi casually chose the one closer to the inside wall, lay down, and closed her eyes to rest.

Xu Yan checked the room thoroughly but didn’t find anything unusual. After cleaning the kettle and teaware, she boiled a pot of hot water and poured a cup for Li Zhi. “How are you feeling now?”

Li Zhi opened her eyes, her face pale. “Dizzy. Weak.”

Xu Yan sat down by the bed. “If it’s because of the butterflies, you shouldn’t be the only one affected. Could it just be that you’re getting sick?”

Holding the cup, Li Zhi suddenly asked, “You didn’t feel anything strange?”

Xu Yan paused to think. “If I have to say… I did feel a bit stifled in Butterfly Valley, like it was slightly hard to breathe. But I have rhinitis, and inhaling powder like that usually triggers this kind of reaction for me. It got much better once we left. Do you really think it’s the butterfly powder?”

“Maybe it’s not the powder,” Li Zhi replied, but didn’t continue further.

They had just entered the instance, and any further speculation would be baseless and might mislead teammates or viewers. It was better to wait until they uncovered some concrete clues before drawing conclusions.

She moved on to discussing their current mission. “We just need to stay here for seven days. Either something dangerous will happen during these seven days, preventing the players from surviving to the seventh day, or there’s some kind of restriction that will keep us from leaving after that.”

Xu Yan nodded. “The guide mentioned the legend of the immortal butterfly. Maybe the secret here has something to do with religious worship. Could it be butterfly worship? Live sacrifice? Offering to some evil deity?”

“They said they built a golden statue for the Immortal Butterfly, right?” Li Zhi said. “Our tour should include seeing that statue. We’ll check it out then.”

Evil gods and righteous deities revealed themselves differently through their statues. Righteous deities usually conveyed solemn benevolence, making people feel at peace just by looking. But evil gods, born of impure faiths, only brought discomfort and dread to those who weren’t their followers.

If they could see the Immortal Butterfly’s golden statue, perhaps they could glean some clues.

Xu Yan didn’t disturb her further. The room faced the street, so after closing the curtains, she dragged a bamboo chair to the bedside and sat down, watching the passersby outside through the narrow gap.

Although the room faced the street, it was surprisingly quiet, unlike the bustling ancient towns she remembered. Tourists walked by slowly, taking photos, casually sightseeing as if life were serene and peaceful.

Li Zhi lay on her side, and as she shifted, her sunflower pendant slipped from her chest. She smiled silently, grasped the sunflower in her palm, and closed her eyes for a brief nap.

When she reopened them, she noticed Xu Yan was no longer seated by the window but had instead taken cover behind the window frame, watching something intently.

Li Zhi got up and tiptoed over. “What did you find?”

Xu Yan whispered, “Three o’clock direction, second window of the teahouse—see that man? He’s been sitting there as long as you’ve been sleeping, staring at this inn the entire time. Looks suspicious.”

Li Zhi followed her gaze. Across the dozens of meters between them sat a young man wearing glasses, looking shifty and uneasy.

“I’m feeling better now,” Li Zhi said. “Let’s go have a look.”

After quickly tidying themselves up, they were about to head out when they opened the door to find Nie Miao squatting right outside. Seeing them, she perked up. “Zhi-jie! Are you feeling better?”

Xu Yan was speechless. “What are you doing squatting here?”

Nie Miao looked pitiful. “I was waiting for Zhi-jie! I didn’t want to disturb your rest, so I didn’t knock.” Just as she was about to stand up, she winced. “Zhi-jie, I’ve been squatting too long… My legs are numb. Can you help me up?”

Classic green tea behavior.

Xu Yan rolled her eyes, reached out, and yanked her up. “Can’t you see Zhi-jie is sick? Stand up by yourself!”

Nie Miao: “……”

Li Zhi glanced around the corridor. “Where’s Guan Xiaoxing?”

“She couldn’t wait and already went out with the others to look for clues,” Nie Miao replied.

Li Zhi thought to herself that this little green tea girl was surprisingly calculating.

The three of them headed outside together. Passing through the lobby, they saw that Yin Fu wasn’t there—only a young waitress cleaning up. Li Zhi exited through the inn’s main entrance and looked toward the teahouse at the three o’clock direction, the one visible from their window. The young man was positioned exactly across from the entrance, clearly peeking at the inn.

He was watching the inn.

Li Zhi paused, then turned around and brought the waitress over, pointing at the teahouse. “Do you know that man over there?”

Realizing she’d been noticed, the man awkwardly turned away, trying to hide.

The waitress recognized him immediately. “Him again! He’s here again!”

Nie Miao was curious. “Who is he?”

The waitress said angrily, “That’s our boss’s ex-boyfriend! They broke up years ago, but he still shows up every few days, harassing her like a fly you can’t get rid of!”

Nie Miao joined in indignantly. “Ugh, exes who can’t let go are the worst! Why don’t you call the police?”

The waitress sighed. “How could we? He just brings flowers or tries to chat her up, asking her to get back together. He hasn’t done anything to threaten her safety, so the police won’t intervene.”

Li Zhi fell into thought, then walked toward the teahouse.

Before she could get close, the man seemed to realize trouble was coming and bolted. The teahouse entrance led to another street, and by the time Li Zhi got there, he was already gone.

Xu Yan said, “If he’s after Yin Fu, he’ll definitely show up again. Let’s go look somewhere else for now.”

Li Zhi nodded. “Let’s head to the tattoo shop.”

The three of them made their way to the tattoo shop Yin Fu had mentioned, the one with butterfly lanterns hanging outside. Pushing open the glass door, they saw two walls covered with butterfly tattoo designs. The shop was cluttered, and the tattoo artist was busy working on a customer’s tattoo.

Li Zhi immediately recognized the girl in the chair. “Tao Tao?”

Tao Tao looked up and recognized them too, smiling. “Oh, it’s you guys! Are you here for tattoos too?”

Li Zhi walked over and saw that a butterfly had already been inked onto Tao Tao’s wrist, and the artist was adding color.

Tao Tao looked slightly embarrassed. “I thought Yin Fu’s butterfly tattoo looked so pretty, so I wanted one too.”

The bearded tattoo artist glanced at them and smiled. “Want to try too? We’ve got lots of designs on the table—pick whichever you like. I’ve been doing butterfly tattoos for over ten years, guaranteed satisfaction.”

Li Zhi picked up the design book and flipped through it. There were sample designs and photos of real tattoos. “You’ve had this shop for over ten years?”

The tattoo artist laughed. “Nah, I took over from the previous owner a couple years ago. But I’ve specialized in butterfly tattoos for years. It’s tough competing in the big cities, but when I heard about Butterfly Village, it just fit perfectly with my work, so I moved here.”

He kept chatting away like it was just small talk. “Didn’t expect business to be this good. Everyone here loves butterfly tattoos. Yin Fu’s ink was done by me too.”

Li Zhi was intrigued. “So pretty much everyone here has a butterfly tattoo?”

“More or less,” the artist said. “Some were done by me, some by the previous guy. This shop has been around forever, steady business every year. Getting tattoos here is practically guaranteed income. So, beautiful lady, want to try one?”

“No, thanks,” Li Zhi smiled. “I’m afraid of pain.”

“Oh, it doesn’t hurt,” the artist coaxed. “We use anesthetic.”

Beside them, Tao Tao, eyes watery from pain, subtly shook her head at Li Zhi and mouthed: It hurts like hell!

Li Zhi chuckled.

Leaving the tattoo shop, the three of them continued strolling along the ancient street. Butterfly motifs were everywhere. The old village had been here forever, the sky blue, the mountains green, and walking along in the gentle breeze almost made it feel like they really were just tourists.

“This is so weird,” Nie Miao couldn’t help saying. “We’ve been walking around for ages, and nothing feels off. This place is way too normal for an instance.”

Li Zhi shook her head. “It’s not normal at all.”

“Huh?”

Li Zhi said softly, “Haven’t you noticed? There’s not a single child in this village.”