Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 55.2: Flower Servant (3)

July 16, 2023 by Wyrd

Fang Qi: “Have you ever thought that these waters not only drain our strength but also potentially make us dependent? Once we leave these waters, we may feel uncomfortable or even unable to survive.”

“You all made valid points,” Jia Chensheng said. “My intention isn’t to forcefully leave this place. What I mean is that we need to make proper arrangements for what comes next. We can’t continue passively following them.”

People in the water prison turned their attention to him, some even perking up their ears.

Jia Chensheng continued, “From yesterday to today, the most expensive thing is the human bouquet. Do you agree?”

They agreed.

They also knew that the human bouquets had the highest requirements for ‘flowers’.

Witnessing things so far, they confirmed that the six people chosen to form the human bouquet indeed had the best overall appearance.

Jia Chensheng said, “That middle-aged woman, without even batting an eye, took the human bouquet of six people. She likes Ning Su but she can’t afford him.”

“With her spending power, the number of her servants, and her attire, she should be quite wealthy. If even she can’t afford a possible flower attendant, it shows just how terrifyingly expensive they are. For ordinary wealthy families, they can only admire them but not afford them.”

“But what does this have to do with our upcoming arrangements?” someone asked.

Jia Chensheng remained undeterred and continued with his own train of thought, saying, “The human bouquet has higher requirements for the flower servant’s quality, but many among us have better appearances than those six people. That means there might still be many who will become flower attendants or be prepared as flower attendants.”

“The fact that there are flower servants that even ordinary wealthy people can’t afford. It indicates that within Furen County, there exists a group with extremely high status, similar to a noble class.”

“Many of us might be taken to different families of this aristocratic class.”

The players were stunned.

“Our current main objective is to find a way to meet the Flower God, but this is a level-five instance, so it won’t be easy to find this method.”

“Such powerful and influential families must exist, otherwise there wouldn’t be instances where the Holy Maiden has witnessed the Flower God and received their blessings. These events are surely the hidden secrets kept by the major families.”

“What I want to say is that those of us who would be sent in different families should find a way to communicate and collectively search for the method to meet the Flower God. In this challenging instance, cooperation is the best method to clear it.”

After speaking, he glanced at Ning Changfeng, who was lazily leaning against a wooden pillar.

Truly deserving of being the president of the third-ranked guild in the gaming base, he had deduced so much from just a few transactions and had already arranged the next course of action.

It was precisely because of his unexpected and well-founded speculations, as well as the reasonable arrangements, that many people were convinced, and there was immediate agreement from many.

Zhu Shuangshuang asked, “President Jia, will there be a Ghost Master in this instance?”

Ning Su remained silent.

Jia Chensheng briefly looked at her face and replied gently, “Why are you still referring to it as a Ghost Master? Little girl, you should be flexible. The one in this instance should be a Divine Master.”

Seeing Ning Su relaxed and nodding in agreement with Jia Chensheng, Ning Changfeng suddenly spoke up, “Who knows if it’s a god or a ghost?”

The water prison fell silent, and no one dared to say whether it was or wasn’t.

Whether it was a Ghost Master or a Divine Master, Jia Chensheng’s earlier speculation about higher ranking families and Flower Attendants was correct.

As the sun had just set in the afternoon, Boss Qi closed the door.

He took out several players from the water prison.

The first one was Ning Su.

As Ning Su left the water prison, he glanced at the third water prison.

Sun Yangtai, who had been huddled in the corner, looked up at him.

Sun Yangtai had an ordinary appearance. He had been sold as a flower servant at the age of 13, and no one knew how he had managed to survive all these years.

He turned from the dark corner and faced the lake. When he looked at Ning Su, the evening sunlight reflected on the lake shone into his eyes, and there was a gleam in his eyes as he looked at Ning Su.

He opened his mouth, and silently said something to Ning Su.

Ning Su knew what he said.

“You must meet the Flower God.“

That numb flower servant, deeply trapped in this quagmire, placed his wishes, the wishes of all flower servants, on him.

To meet the Flower God and escape the sea of suffering.

While he withered here, numbly.

Ning Su nodded at him and turned to follow the boss.

He stepped onto the white bridge, turned sideways to face the setting sun, and the orange evening sunlight fell on him, creating a dazzling and warm color on his white clothes.

Everyone here had long hair, and many male players were not used to it, thus resulting to messy hair. Ning Su’s hair was as smooth and bright as it was at the beginning, with each strand shining with a halo.

Sun Yangtai looked at this scene, suddenly lowered his head, and on the calm surface of the water, a faint ripple spread from the drop of an insignificant tear.

The ripple disappeared, and the water's surface returned to its silence once again.

Silence was the original destination.

Zhu Shuangshuang felt uneasy witnessing this scene. She looked at Sun Yangtai, then at the indifferent and hopeless faces of the flower servants in the third water prison, and asked with doubt, “How did flower servants appear in this world?”

Su Wangsheng: “Where there is an authority that makes others follow some rules, there would be exploitation, and there would be people who are enslaved and exploited.”

Zhu Shuangshuang continued to ask, “But why should there be these rules?”

Su Wangsheng couldn’t answer her question.

The answer came from Ning Changfeng.

He was standing in front of the door, watching Ning Su leave, and casually said, “Probably because of faith.”

The system reminded them to respect the beliefs of Furen County.

Ning Su was taken to a bright and warm room with a hot spring.

The red liquid flowed and emitted circles of mist.

Boss Qi: “You should soak in the hot spring for a while. After that, I’ll take you to a good place.”

Ning Su: “I don’t want to soak.”

Boss Qi looked at him. His smile froze just in time, either turning gentle or cold.

Ning Su: “Unless you give me two chicken legs.”

“...”

After two chicken legs were brought in, Ning Su sighed comfortably in the blood-like spring.

A winner after his death.

How many zombies chased him for thousands of miles just for a taste of blood, and here he was soaking in a blood hot spring.

Too extravagant.

The blood vessels in his body throbbed under the stimulation of the scalding red liquid.

Ning Su took a bite of the fragrant chicken leg.

Life should be like this.

Even after eating the chicken leg and being forced to drink two bowls of green water to suppress the improper smell of the chicken leg, Ning Su didn’t feel any resentment.

After soaking in the blood hot spring, he carried a damp scent on his body, along with an indescribable sense of magnificence.

The person attending to him knelt behind him and helped dry his hair. When he saw himself in the copper mirror, his mind swayed for a moment.

Ning Su was unaware of his unusual appearance, as he was busy looking down at his own hair.

In just one day, his hair had grown longer.

It cascaded down his shoulders, reaching his waist.

After drying his hair, a maid knelt before him, staring at his face for a while before finally placing a red sandalwood mark at the corner of his eye.

Ning Su didn’t pay attention and allowed them to adorn him as they pleased. He was busy smelling the lingering aroma of the last bit of chicken leg on his fingers.

Next, they dressed him in layers of gauze robes, one layer of red and one layer of white.

Then came the wide waistband adorned with mysterious runes.

After that, another layer of white and another layer of red followed. On the layer of deepest red gauze, black runes were delicately embroidered.

Once fully dressed, Ning Su breathed a sigh of relief and absentmindedly glanced at himself in the bronze mirror. He was momentarily stunned.

Long black hair cascaded over the ethereal and blood-like red gown. His face was untouched by makeup, and even his pale lips remained motionless. Only the corner of his right eye bore a three-petal blood-red flower.

His eyelashes were naturally long, and it seemed like they had grown a bit longer in just one day. When partially lowered, the black lashes slightly veiled one petal of the blood-red flower, allowing the blood-colored hue to seep into his gaze.

Ning Su stared blankly for a while, scratching his arm as it started to itch. He snapped back to reality and scratched his arm, disrupting the enchanting scene.

Two maids knelt on the ground and called out to him, “Lord Flower Attendant.”

The boss also looked at him with shining eyes, radiating a light similar to the one he saw from the middle-aged woman yesterday—an indescribable brilliance.

“You will surely become the most formidable Flower Attendant this year, and perhaps even the next Holy Maiden.”

Ning Su: “Wake up, I’m a man.”

“...”

Ning Su: “Give me a chicken leg to eat and respect the dignity of my masculinity.”

Boss Qi lost the desire to chat with him.

The heartless boss directly took him onto the carriage and sent him to the auction house.

There were no windows in the carriage, so Ning Su couldn’t see what the street scene was like at the moment. He only heard that it was much livelier and more restless than the day they arrived.

Just one night passed, and tomorrow would be the day to welcome the god.

It must be lively and crazy, he thought.

After being taken to the auction house, Ning Su realized that the setting of this instance was not any dynasty he was familiar with; instead, it had some peculiar and dark elements, like a different world altogether.

The buildings here didn’t resemble the beautiful courtyard of Boss Qi. They were ancient, exuding a strange and gloomy atmosphere that surpassed an ordinary person’s aesthetic.

Because he was not an ordinary person, he had no sense of aesthetics, so he knew.

It was just like the three characters of “Furen County” on the city gate.

Here, he saw Ning Changfeng, Zhu Shuangshuang, and others dressed in similar attire.

They were separated into different areas, and before they could speak to each other, Ning Su was taken away.

He was locked inside a cage. The cage was made of an unknown material, with intricate and heavy black vines.

The cage slid down along a track, and Ning Su had to grab onto the iron vines to stabilize himself.

“Everyone knows Boss Qi’s taste in selecting flower servants. What kind of opening flower servant did he send this time? At the very least, they will become our flower attendants.”

The person in the cage appeared in front of everyone.

Ning Su saw, in this underground structure, hundreds of people sitting in black wooden chairs.

At that moment, he saw all their gazes fall on him, emitting a light that he had seen in the eyes of the middle-aged woman and Boss Qi.

Now Ning Su knew what kind of light it was.

It was the light of all desires.

Everyone had many desires, and different people had different desires, making them difficult to describe.

Wealth, power, immortality.

Greed, tyranny, despotism.

Everything, all of it, was reflected in their eyes as they looked at him.