Chapter 1

Layers upon layers of black mist engulfed the perimeter of the small town.

In a rundown wax museum, the light was lit on the first floor.

“……Children, I have bad news, a week is needed for your car parts to be transported from the city. I hope it doesn’t delay your graduation trip. In this one week, you can live in my wax museum. As soon as the parts arrive, I’ll help you to repair your car and send all of you on your way to continue your trip.”

“The guest rooms are on the second floor. There’s food in the kitchen on the first floor so you can make your own food. Right, by all means, do not go out of your room after midnight. Also, do not go into the locked room on the third floor.1 Goodnight children.”

The person who spoke was a middle-aged white man with brown hair, deathly pale skin and sunken cheeks. When he spoke, he stared at the group of people in the living room. Friendly words came out of his mouth but his tone seemed like he was itching to slaughter them.

It did not feel a bit friendly at all.

After he gloomily stated his fixed set of lines, the self-proclaimed owner of the wax museum, Mr. House left the wax museum.

The dense fog outside quickly engulfed the back view of Mr. House, disappearing before everyone’s eyes.

The door was blown close by the wind with a ‘peng’.

Seeming to wake the people in the living room, the sound of weeping slowly resounded and the girls trembled as they hugged in groups. The routine tantrums of saying ‘kidnap’, ‘filming a show’, ‘prank’, ‘ want to go home’. These words had already broken out an hour ago. A bad-tempered uncle amongst them rushed out from the wax museum, wanting to go home.

A minute later, his corpse was suspended outside the glass window on the first floor. Blood swayed and dripped when the wind blew.

At the moment, no one felt that this was a prank. Even if it was a prank, human lives were wanted.

“So noisy, screw your crying.” Jin ge2 on the sofa, scolded and spoke impatiently, “Monkey3, explain to this group of trash.”

Monkey was a petite young man, on his face hung a non-offensive smile as he explained, “Oh, the boss of the wax museum, that is the NPC, has said it. We are a group of senior high school graduates going on a trip, the car broke down on the way here and the parts need to be replaced. The time needed to replace the parts is seven days. The conditions given in the game are very obvious. Everyone should not be nervous. There’s food in the kitchen. Just take this as a vacation, live out our seven days here carefully and then we can go back.”

“Re—, really?”

“It’s that simple? If we don’t go out and listen to the boss’ words, can we survive?”

Newcomers asked questions one after another.

Monkey smiled sincerely, “Of course, this is an intermediate-low level game world so the difficulty is not great. As for the one outside the window——he was too impulsive.” He paused before he said to the group of newcomers, “Jin ge is a veteran in this game. As long as all of you listen to his instructions, I guarantee nothing will happen to you.”

The newcomers who just got scared out of their wits found a leader, asking Monkey a hundred thousand reasons why.

Only one big and one small figure stayed at a corner and did not step forth.

The big one was a twenty-three or twenty-four-year-old man with an extraordinary appearance; he had pale skin, a pair of slightly long and narrow slanted eyes, like refined peach blossoms but his gaze was indifferent. He had thin red lips and an expression of rejecting people that could be seen a thousand miles away. The small one squatting beside him was a seven or eight-year-old child studying in primary school. His short black hair had slight natural curls and exquisite baby fat as smooth as polished jade. His features gave off the profound feeling of a mixed-blood, handsome and cute.

At the moment, the little boy seamlessly snuggled a little closer towards the man’s arm.

The man lowered his head, his indifferent eyes looked into the little boy’s kitten-like eyes.

The little boy gave him a pleasant and pitiful smile.

Chen Caixing: ……

Forget it.

Let him snuggle, who made him be the first to be provoked.

An hour ago, Chen Caixing finished working overtime and abruptly arrived at this wax museum on the way home from a traffic jam. The first floor was quite spacious but the wax figures occupied most of the place. They were like real people, big and small. They were vivid and lifelike, no different from a real person. Being surrounded by them caused a person’s blood to run cold.

Other people continued to show up intermittently and for a while, nobody kicked up a fuss.

Chen Caixing occupied a single-person sofa in the living room and calmly looked around until he met a little boy’s eyes in the midst of the wax figures. At first, he thought it was a wax figure but didn’t expect it to be a real person.

After that, this child glued onto him. In the beginning, he was one or two steps away from him. He stood obediently and didn’t say a word, only staring at him. Seemingly frightened. This was normal. Even he, a grown-up man, was baffled at his sudden arrival at this strange place, not to mention a child.

Until, the corpse of the uncle who was finding a way out, got hung outside the glass window. Blood streaked down the glass. The crowd of people noisily weeping without rest in the living room was like chickens who got their necks strangled as they sank into abnormal silence.

Chen Caixing also got frightened, he didn’t think that someone would really die.

It was at that time the little boy came closer as if drawing warmth from him.

In the living room, the oldest in the group was over forty and the youngest was seven or eight years old. And like so, that NPC was able to lie through his teeth, to forcefully identify them as a group of senior high school graduates. Chen Caixing was made to be younger by a few years and could only accept.

If not, what could he do? He couldn’t even get out of here.

“……Jin ge, there are a total of twelve people. Other than the four of us, eight of them are newcomers. Five men and four women, including the one hanging outside the window. Oh and also a newcomer who’s a child.” Monkey swept his gaze to the little boy by the side of the sofa and didn’t bother adding the last sentence.

Jin ge: “Nine newcomers……then it won’t be difficult.”

As the others listened to the veteran say so, their tense and uneasy hearts somewhat relaxed.

“It’s getting late, go to the second floor and rest early.” The middle-aged man beside Jin ge said.

Jin ge: “Ok.”

The veterans took the lead in going up to the second floor. The others tightly huddled together to keep up with them. The light at the staircase entrance was broken, residual light shone from the living room. It was dark and gloomy. The further they climbed the stairs, the darker it was, like a monster’s mouth. A row of wax figures stood next to the railing, facing the stairs as if watching a group of people go up to die.

Chen Caixing walked at the end, the little boy anxiously followed after him. Not even two steps before a hand stretched out from behind and carefully tugged his sleeve. Chen Caixing sensed the child was trembling. He thought of all the abnormalities here and didn’t say a word. He only turned back to glance at the little boy.

“Gege.”4 The little boy helplessly showed an obedient, soft and sticky expression.

Even Chen Caixing who doesn’t like children, couldn’t be hard-hearted at this moment. He was also a newcomer. He looked calm when he arrived here but in fact, he was also confused and could not guarantee anything.

“Suit yourself.” Chen Caixing turned around and continued to climb the stairs.

Chen Caixing couldn’t see anything behind him. The little boy held Chen Caixing’s hand and trembled slightly but it wasn’t because of fear. The boy’s eyes glowed brightly. He was obviously in a good mood. The corners of his mouth were also slightly raised as he obediently followed Chen Caixing from behind, taking step-by-step up the stairs. He sensed something and slowly turned back. The originally cute and obedient expression became lifeless as he gloomily swept his eyes downstairs.

The pitch-dark stairs below.

That row of inanimate wax figures seemed like they came to life at some unknown time. A pair of malicious eyes glared at the group of people on the stairs but when they met the boy’s gaze, they instantly stiffened up. They issued out a light clacking sound and had lowered their head a bit in fear.

Chen Caixing stopped walking, there seemed to be a sound just now?

He turned back.

“Gege?” The little boy’s moist apricot eyes looked around, like a little squirrel and asked in a small anxious voice, “Gege, what wrong?”

Chen Caixing: “Nothing’s wrong, you walk in front.”

The stairs were narrow, it could accommodate two people side by side. Chen Caixing let the boy walk together with him. The boy instantly showed a smile to please, obediently and deftly said, “Gege, you are really good.”

It was the first time Chen Caixing received a good person card from a primary school student. He patted the boy’s head and didn’t say anything.

Someone switched on the light on the second floor. The lights were lit in a while. With the light, they seemed to have confidence. The newcomers appeared to have found rationality from their panic-stricken selves and someone proposed, “Can we room together?”

“Jin ge, can I room with you?” The delicate and charming voice of a girl sounded.

“Right, right, right. With more people, we’ll have more strength.”

Jin ge didn’t look at the girl at all, chose a guest room in the middle and spoke to a middle-aged man, “Zhao ge, let’s share a room.”

“Wang ge, then I’ll room with you.” Monkey said in a hurry, turned his head and smiled happily as he told the newcomers, “It’s not good if a lot of people squeeze into one room. You won’t have the energy to check things out tomorrow. Everyone should split into two per room. If you pay attention a bit more, you’ll be fine……”

The four veterans split into two per room and quickly entered the rooms they picked. Only the newcomers were left in the same place, facing empty rooms and hesitating. There were smart ones who seized the rooms beside the veterans first. Chen Caixing thought of what the NPC said, by all means, do not go out of your rooms after midnight. Looking at his wristwatch, the time didn’t move and stopped at eleven-forty.

This was the time when he got off work and got stuck on the road.

Chen Caixing remembered clearly. It seemed the time outside and in the game were different. He didn’t know what time it was here. He stopped dilly-dallying and approached his chosen room. Just as he was about to go in, a girl stood outside the door and said delicately, “Hello, can I share a room with you?”

The little boy at the entrance tensed up, his watery eyes helplessly looked at Chen Caixing but he didn’t open his mouth to ask him for help.

“I’m sorry, we have enough people.” Chen Caixing refused the girl and patted the little boy standing at the doorway, “Come in.” He reminded the girl who was standing in the corridor, “You’d better return to your room as soon as possible, don’t go out in the night.”

At present, only eight newcomers survived, four men and four women. The other two middle-aged men teamed up long ago. One look at the seven or eight-year-old primary school student and you’d know he would die quickly. There was no sense of security at all. The two girls naturally did not find the primary school student to team up with so the girls in the corridor set their eyes on Chen Caixing.

Although this man was pretty and slender, he was still a man. She was truly too terrified.

She didn’t think she would get rejected.

The girl bit her lip, wanting to speak but only saw the little boy close the door. He looked at her while he was closing the door, his expression made her tremble. When she looked attentively, the door was already closed, as if all those lifeless eyes were just her hallucination.

The room was covered with wallpapers of dark yellow fine scattered flower patterns. Even if he switched on the lights, the whole room permeated with a stale odour. A small one-point-five metre bed was placed at the corner by the window. At the end of the bed was a cabinet with two doors.

In this sort of environment, the two doors of the cabinet caused people to have a bad association in general.

It seemed as if something would crawl out of the cabinet and get into their bed after they fell asleep.

Chen Caixing frowned and extended his hand to open the cabinet. Other than some old clothes, there was nothing else.

“Gege, what are you searching for?” The little boy stood behind Chen Caixing and asked with his head tilted.

Chen Caixing breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Nothing. Let’s sleep early.” He totally could not say he was scared by his own imagination.

“Ok.” The little boy obediently nodded his head while crawling onto the bed.

Chen Caixing rarely watched horror movies in reality. The repercussions were too great. After two or three days, he would automatically imagine a plot based on an aspect of the movie. Every day, he would be present there and tired to death. He could only choose not to watch horror movies. At present, he didn’t have a choice in this sort of environment. By his side, he still had a child counting on him. All in all, he could not disgrace himself in front of this primary school student.

What could he do, without a doubt, he could only go forth like a man.

Chen Caixing thought about the information the NPC gave while removing his coat and chatted with the boy, “Child, what’s your name? How old are you……”

“Gege, I’m called Yuan Jiuwan. I’m seven years old this year and in primary two……”

After a few seconds, Chen Caixing did not reply. His back facing the bed as he stiffened in place.

“Gege? Gege, what’s wrong with you?”

Chen Caixing’s face was like someone who just died, to the extent that it was more ugly. A handheld the loose-down jacket he just took off. He lowered his head, his eyes stopped on his own stomach. He couldn’t look away for a long time.

“Fu——Sunlight streaming on an incense stone kindles a violet smoke5, have you learnt it?”

“!!!”

Thinking of the primary school student in the room, Chen Caixing’s expression was unsightly as he quick-wittedly turned his profanity into a quiz but his eyes still didn’t leave his stomach. He didn’t want Yuan Jiuwan to answer at all. His other hand trembled like an elderly with Parkinson’s disease, trembling as he touched his stomach.

……It truly did bulge up.

Why did the four-pack abs he got from training for half a year become a beer belly?