Chapter 8

Sure enough, there was a diary hidden under the sofa in the main hall.

You Xi opened the diary and read it thoroughly, not missing any details.

Many complex words in the diary were replaced with pinyin, so You Xi concluded that the protagonist who wrote the diary was a child younger than seven years old. The diary only was only recorded for 7 days, then stopped randomly on Sunday.

But the protagonist’s experiences during those 7 days were terrifying.

On the first day, the owner of the diary wrote that 13 strangers came to their house. The kind aunties in the villa let them in and welcomed them with delicious food and drinks, but they didn’t expect to let wolves into the room. The group spent all night in the villa wasting food and beating the servants.

A terrified auntie hid the protagonist, the owner of the diary, in a room.

You Xi assumed that the owner of the diary was Jiang Jiang.

The next day, joy and laughter continued to ring throughout the villa, but the heavy snow didn’t stop at all. The way down the mountain was blocked completely. After a day of revelry for the strangers, they were told that the food was completely finished.

The strangers endured a full day of hunger and became arrogant and unreasonable.

On the fourth night, the auntie failed to return. Jiang Jiang, who was hidden in the dark, also felt hungry for the first time, but remembered his auntie’s words and didn’t dare ask any of the strangers for help.

The diary continued through the seventh day, until Jiang Jiang, who was starving to the point of dizziness, finally wrote:

“I have a small appetite and don’t eat much. I want to beg them to have pity on me, even one bite is enough.”

You Xi shut the diary. All the clues came together.

The auntie who didn’t return on the fourth day as usual must have been killed and eaten by the strangers. Young Jiang Jiang, who was unbearably hungry, did not receive pity from the devil and had his life brutally ended by the strangers.

Now young Jiang Jiang has become a boss, incarnated as an adult. In front of the foreign invaders, he had to get in their way and have the players kill and eat each other.

You Xi guessed that the best way to play this game was to immediately bury the headless corpse from the first night’s dinner in the coffin, then the next few days when there was no food to eat, they could resist their hunger and not eat the headless corpse.

However, that kind of gameplay was impossible. There was too little information to discover right after entering the game, so it was difficult for players to make the right decision. In addition, everyone was a mess. If they were hungry enough to faint, if they secretly ate the corpse then other people couldn’t help it.

The second best way to play the game was to find a way to have the ghosts of the dead players kill each other while the remaining living players share in their hatred and fight against their enemies.

However, on the fourth day of the fame, the trust among the players completely collapsed. It was rare enough for them not to stab each other. When they encountered danger, everyone wanted to hide instead of charge into battle, so it was even more difficult to play the second-best route.

Finally, there was a self-sweeping snow style of gameplay 1– it was based on avoiding Jiang Jiang and his auntie if the ghosts went crazy and relying on the krypton talisman papers and drugs to persist for 7 days.

The key to avoiding the auntie and the ghosts was to not occupy her coffin and the key to avoiding being murdered by Jiang Jiang was to not hurt the innocent boy Xiao Lu.

You Xi guessed that Xiao Lu represented the Jiang Jiang of the past, a ray of hope hidden within the game. As long as Xiao Lu lives, it proves that humanity hasn’t completely deteriorated. On the other hand, if no one protects Xiao Lu, then the boss no longer has to be polite to the group of players simply wearing human skins.

Looking back now, even as early as the first day, when the ‘last supper’ was eaten, the game had already given them obvious hints. There was a traitor among the 13 people, and it could have been any of them. But Xiao Lu, who didn’t appear at the table, was absolutely innocent.

You Xi fell into thought. The self-sweeping snow style may shamefully let him pass the level, but that wasn’t what he wanted. There must be another way to play beyond common sense.

The key to winning the game lay between Jiang Jiang and Xiao Lu.

You Xi thought hard, and suddenly he was struck with inspiration.

He had a way.

It was late at night again, but everyone had gathered in the same room. As midnight approached, Xiao Lu couldn’t resist. He was so sleepy that he started napping, but he was awakened by Gu Mian.

“Xiao Lu, Xiao Lu.” Gu Mian said, “Is there anyone you want to protect?”

Xiao Lu thought through his sleepiness: “Gu-gege. Mr. You, Jiang-gege, Ren-jiejie…”

Jiang Jiang sneered. “Is there a mistake? Your Ren-jiejie threw you aside and ran away by herself. Do you still want to protect her?”

Xiao Lu said: “I know, but she really treats me well.”

Jiang Jiang was silent. The candlelight flickered on schedule as midnight arrived.

There was a knock on the door to that room first, and someone begged to be let in. But of course his plea couldn’t be answered while sparing everyone’s lives, so no one would open the door for the ghost. The voice gradually became more stern and full of resentment. The knocking became more rude, and in the end he was banging on the door.

You Xi took out the kitchen knife again, but this time he stuffed it into Xiao Lu’s hand.

Holding a heavy kitchen knife, Xiao Lu couldn’t stand still.

The fat auntie said in astonishment: “Sir, are you sure? Is your sure plan to let Xiao Lu use a kitchen knife to kill ghosts?”

You Xi didn’t bother paying attention to the fat auntie. He leaned on the table and gently encouraged Xiao Lu. “Think of a way to persuade your Jiang-gege to take the knife from your hand.”

Xiao Lu looked puzzled but still acted obediently.

“Jiang-gege.” Xiao Lu said, “Let’s leave here together. If you can kill the ghosts, then you should take this knife.”

Jiang Jiang’s face turned ugly. “Leave? I’ll help you leave, but who would help me?”

His words were too strange. As he spoke, everyone exchanged looks. What did Jiang Jiang mean?

Jiang Jiang’s face suddenly changed. Xiao Lu was so scared that his eyes were flushed with tears, but then Jiang Jiang took the knife from Xiao Lu’s hand almost involuntarily.

Seeing his action, You Xi finally released his breath.

“Despicable!” Jiang Jiang turned his head and shouted at You Xi. “You tricked me–!”

But Jiang Jiang’s hair didn’t turn blood red again, and You Xi knew he was right. It was rare for him to show a sincere smile. There was always a path to heaven. 2 Xiao Lu seemed to be the weakest among the group of players and had no ability to protect himself, but the game had to pay attention to the balance of power.

The little mouse at the bottom of the food chain could handle the strongest elephant in animal chess. Xiao Lu was the little mouse, and the boss Jiang Jiang was without a doubt the elephant.

Since Xiao Lu was a symbol of Jiang Jiang as a child, Jiang Jiang couldn’t go against his own wishes, right? Xiao Lu led them through the obstacles, he must be invincible!

You Xi was able to think of that method, but he didn’t completely rely on his imagination. He recalled the night he spent with Jiang Jiang in the Wednesday room. Since Jiang Jiang deliberately opened the window to kill You Xi, then why did You Xi go against his plans and ask him to kill the headless ghost with a stab that exposed his power?

It was all because as long as Xiao Lu wasn’t dead, then Jiang Jiang must exhibit a united front with the players on the surface!

But the boss wasn’t a puppet, so how could it be manipulated by others? If others manipulate the boss, there’s a certain chance they would be killed by the blackened boss, with his hair turning from pink to red as a sign. The only person who could order the boss around was Xiao Lu. In order to avoid exposing the relationship between Xiao Lu and Jiang Jiang, the game specifically arranged Xiao Lu to fall asleep every night. Everything was carefully planned, waiting to be discovered only by those who were interested.

The door was broken down, and it was Contestant No. 1, the fat otaku ghost, who rushed towards him. He saw Jiang Jiang swipe the knife up and down extremely neatly, slicing the fat otaku ghost under the horse. 3 Contestant No. 2, the skinny stick, was waiting for an opportunity to attack Jiang Jiang from behind, but Jiang Jiang tossed him away, KO!

Contestant No. 3, Dr. Liu, broke in by smashing the window. Seeing such a tragic and innocent scene, he immediately tried to repeat his old tricks, but he was careless. Gu Mian, who suddenly rushed forward, hugged his ankle. Contestant No. 3 struggled in despair, but death’s scythe mercilessly reaped his soul–

The ghosts that terrified everyone, just like that, were picked up like a leek by Jiang Jiang. 4

Thinking that they had almost forced Jiang Jiang to become a living sacrifice, the fat auntie, the upper-class woman, the middle-aged man, and the old man stiffened.

You Xi was so happy that he rushed forward and gave a huge hug to the boss who was just like their mascot! 5

But it wasn’t a happy ending.

It suddenly changed–

A long tongue suddenly protruded from the door with a baseball bat rolled within it. Xiao Lu still had a smile on his face, but he was hit hard on the head by the baseball bat and immediately fainted. It tossed away the baseball bat, wrapped its tongue around Xiao Lu’s waist, and snatched Xiao Lu away at lightning speed.

The ghost auntie who gave You Xi afternoon tea everyday, appeared outside the door. Xiao Lu was knocked out in her arms and didn’t know anything about it.

You Xi let go of Jiang Jiang in disbelief and took a step back.

He frowned: “No. It shouldn’t be like this.”

No one was in the ghost auntie’s coffin, so she shouldn’t hurt the players. It was a violation of the rules to do something to Xiao Lu without authorization!

At that moment, Jiang Jian smiled oddly.

“You are very strong. In the past, no one found out that the little boy hand anything to do with me. The little boys who entered the villa always died within two days of starting the game. Everyone who passes the level and leaves always relies on brute force to face the ghosts. No one has ever wanted to protect the 8 other people in the game like you.”

“You almost won. It’s a pity that Xiao Lu’s life is hanging by a thread. He may die at any time. The game can’t rule that you’ve successfully passed the level. Haha, yes, who would have thought that the auntie feels so guilty towards me that even if she violates the rules of the game, she’ll desperately try to help me? Although I can’t go against the boy’s wishes, auntie isn’t restricted!”

Jiang Jiang’s smile went crazy. “Stay! Stay with me foreverr! As long as you promise, I can show mercy and let the 7 little bugs go.”

“Make a choice.” Jiang Jiang’s voice seemed like something from the abyss, haunting, tempting. “Of course you could leave them alone, but does your pride allow you to do that? Look at Xiao Lu, so innocent. Look at Gu Mian, trusting you wholeheartedly. Even if you leave now, everything that happened today will follow you for the rest of your life. Whenever you dream at night, you’ll hear them crying to you. No matter where you go, you’ll be in hell, suffering from your own conscience–“

“Stay with you alone, all for a hope of their survival.”