Chapter 2

It was winter in the real world so Chen Caixing wore loose and comfortable clothes. When he arrived at the wax museum out of a sudden, his mind was tense the entire time. From the start, he didn’t take notice of what was not right about his own body. Besides, this beer belly did not feel inconvenient, it blended seamlessly——

Chen Caixing was surprised by how it blended so seamlessly!

“This game world also changes the body?” Chen Caixing refused to accept it. Thinking of his four-pack abs he worked hard for after half a year. He asked, “Xiao Jiu, do you have any difference from here and outside?” He feared the child would not understand, Chen Caixing cited an example1 as he walked to the bedside, “It means that you’re tall and handsome outside but you’re short and fat in this place?”

Yuan Jiuwan sat obediently on the bed and shook his head, “Gege, I don’t know. I didn’t look in the mirror.”

Well, everyone was in the living room once they arrived in this world. Chen Caixing felt his intelligence drop due to his beer belly. Looking at the primary school student, he struggled to say, “You are still young so you are very cool and handsome. Don’t worry.”

It was an established fact that his four-pack abs had unified to turn round. It couldn’t be changed even if he continued to be entangled with it. Chen Caixing laid on the bed in a daze but because of this reason, his fear towards this horror world was diverted.

Anyways, he wasn’t filled with questions for the time being. I won’t concern myself with it.2 I’ll sleep first.

“Xiao Jiu, you sleep on the inside.” Chen Caixing laid down on the bed with his sweater.

“Ok, gege.” Yuan Jiuwan did as he was told and shifted inside.

The room lights were dim. Chen Caixing continuously worked overtime for a week and his vitality was strained once he got here. Now, laying on the bed for a while made him sleepy. He was bewildered when he heard rustling sounds from the other side of the bed and it was difficult to open his eyes so he said, “Xiao Jiu, go to sleep.”

The rustling sounds immediately stopped.

“I know, gege.”

He didn’t know if he was muddled-headed but Chen Caixing felt the voice of the primary school student was soft and cold, unlike his lovable, soft and sticky voice before. He turned his body over. The quilt wasn’t used for a long time so it had a damp smell. It didn’t have much of a warming effect. The more he slept, the colder he got. Chen Caixing was very sleepy but his sleep was not so peaceful.

A while later, the small body behind him came closer to him. His pale face stuck to Chen Caixing’s back and made use of his nose to smell Chen Caixing. An arm went over the quilt wrapped around them and his hand just happened to settle on Chen Caixing’s beer belly.

The heat transmitted over, that moldy smell of the quilt changed into an indistinct mild fragrant.

A familiar smell.

Chen Caixing thought before he fell fast asleep.

“Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, are you awake? I want to go to the toilet……”

Zhao Ru’s voice trembled as she asked her companion. She was truly too scared. When she got nervous, she was more likely to want to go to the toilet. The guest room of the wax museum only had one bed and the toilet was at the end of the corridor on the second floor. Zhao Ru didn’t dare to go alone but she couldn’t hold it back anymore, “Xiaoxiao, could you accompany me to go?”

“No.” Wang Xiaoxiao refuted as she got up and left the bed to find a flower vase to pass on to Zhao Ru, “Take this to use for the time being.”

Zhao Ru felt embarrassed, “No, it’s no good?” Although the two of them were girls.

“It’s up to use if you want to use it or not. In any case, I won’t accompany you to the toilet.”

Zhao Ru had a wronged expression and grumbled a bit. If she was with a man and threw a tantrum, the other party would definitely accompany her to go.

“Did you remember what the handsome guy in the corridor told you? Don’t go out of the room at night.” Wang Xiaoxiao was courageous in the real world and rather like a tomboy from young but she was also scared of this place. She said, “That NPC also reminded us. If you don’t fear death, then go.”

After a while, the sound of water resounded in the room. Zhao Ru still could not hold it back and went back to the bed after she finished but in her heart, she was unhappy and felt angry.

“Going out doesn’t mean you’ll certainly die. Perhaps, it’s just to scare us.”

“I don’t know what that man was thinking. He would rather team up with a primary school student……”

Zhao Ru complained as she turned over to sleep but Wang Xiaoxiao paid no attention to her. If not for them being girls and Zhao Ru having no team, she was not willing to deal with her.

Dong, dong, dong!

This sound seemed to be reverberating endlessly from a distant place and it brought a sense of rhythm. The sound was strange, clear and loud, as well as depressing.

“Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, did you hear that sound?” Zhao Ru couldn’t sleep, covered herself with a quilt and only revealed a pair of eyes. She unwaveringly stared at every nook and cranny of the room, afraid of strange things popping out from nowhere.

The sound got clearer and clearer as it came closer from afar.

Wang Xiaoxiao looked pale as she heard it clearly, she wrapped the quilt around herself and closed her eyes, “Hurry up and go to sleep, don’t listen to it anymore.”

“I, I can’t sleep.” Zhao Ru covered her ears but it was useless. The sound came pouring into her mind from all directions. She trembled more violently.

Dong, dong——

When the sound stopped at their door, the lit lamp by their bedside died out. Zhao Ru was unable to suppress herself and let out a shriek.

Someone let out a miserable shriek. Chen Caixing was woken up from his dream. The room was pitch-dark, it was unknown how the light was turned off. In the dark, Chen Caixing touched something hard and ice-cold but he had not reacted yet. Yuan Jiuwan’s voice resounded from the inner side.

“Gege, what’s wrong?”

Perhaps he just woke up, the voice of the primary school student was somewhat ambiguous, soft and sticky. Chen Caixing didn’t reply, his hand moved downwards. The cold and hard sensation of a tentacle turned into soft and ice-cold. It seemed to be Yuan Jiuwan’s arm.

He just woke us so he might have made a mistake. Chen Caixing breathed a sigh of relief. That feeling just now was highly likely a bad association.

“I’m fine, are you cold? Why is your arm so cold?”

“……I’m really cold.” Yuan Jiuwan’s pitiful voice was heard, “Gege, could you hug me?”

There were no scruples between men. Moreover, Yuan Jiuwan was still a child. Chen Caixing made way for Yuan Jiuwan to come over. The child was frozen cold all over but warmed up in a while.

With an interruption and on top of that, the entire house was quiet with no strange horrible shrieking, Chen Caixing forgot about the female’s voice screaming for help before that woke him.

On the morning of the second day.

Chen Caixing got out of bed to wash up but there were a few people blocking at the bathroom door.

“……Who died?”

“Seems to be Xiao Ling and her roommate.”

”

”

“Two died?” Monkey looked stupefied at Jin ge.

Jin ge’s expression was a bit ugly. He pushed people aside to go in.

Chen Caixing then knew people had died last night. Two girls stood at the door, one long-haired and the other short-haired. The long-haired was the one who invited him to share a room. Her face was pale at the moment, her head full of cold sweat as her whole body trembled non-stop. She wept tearfully, “Yest—Yesterday night, I heard a thumping sound. And, and it stopped at our door……”

“I’ll say it.” Wang Xiaoxiao cut off Zhao Ru’s roundabout and incoherent explanation. She told them what happened last night once through, “……We thought we were dead, who knew the thumping sound would leave after a while. What exactly is that thumping sound?”

Jin ge looked at them, “Your luck was good, someone blocked the blow for you.”

“These two newcomers are really courageous, running to the toilet after midnight.” Monkey explained properly, “That’s why you newcomers must listen to our words carefully. Don’t act foolishly.”

After looking at the corpses, the expression of the four veterans was calm as they left.

Zhao Ru was so afraid that her legs went soft and she couldn’t walk with ease. Upon seeing this, Wang Xiaoxiao supported her with her hand. When passing Chen Caixing’s side, Wang Xiaoxiao thanked him. At that time her mind was full of what is this place and how to get back so she didn’t take to heart the NPC’s words. If not for this man reminding Zhao Ru and hearing it, accidentally falling into a trap.

Chen Caixing inexplicably received a thank-you card but his attention was on the washroom.

The smell of blood was so strong that it could be smelled when one stood at the door.

The layout of the washroom was not complicated and was obvious at a glance. The interior was divided into toilet cubicles and the exterior was a row of washbasins. The male corpse was lying on the floor near the washbasins and the floor was full of blood. The door was wide open in the first toilet cubicle, partially revealing a pale and slim arm.

The blood on the floor had already coagulated.

The deceased was a male and a female. They were badly mutilated from head to toe, not an area of skin was in good condition. They were a male-female newcomer team that was formed at the last moment yesterday. It should be that the female wanted to go to the toilet. The male accompanied her and waited outside the bathroom. Then, the two of them were murdered.

The corpses were then left untouched and dried up in the washroom.

Chen Caixing didn’t know whether the others had washed up. He didn’t go to the toilet. He hurriedly rinsed his mouth and washed his face at the utmost outer washbasin but this sort of environment was too distressing.

“Gege.”

Chen Caixing was startled by the sudden arrival of a voice and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Yuan Jiuwan. He obstructed in front of the primary school student. The situation inside was too cruel. He said, “Hurry up and wash up, we’ll go downstairs.”

Yuan Jiuwan did what Chen Caixing said and didn’t peer inside out of curiosity on what was going on. He stood on tip-toes to wash his face and hands.

The two of them went downstairs together.

The original thirteen people, except for the uncle who died just as he came in, two people died yesterday night. Now, there were ten altogether.

Breakfast was on the dining room table. The four veterans sat awfully leisurely to eat while the others didn’t have an appetite. Especially when they saw the corpses in the bathroom, their complexions were pale and they looked alarmed, with a set of crumbled expressions.

Chen Caixing also didn’t have an appetite but he knew if he wanted to live, he couldn’t be worn down first.

Breakfast was simply milk bread, the dairy products in the bread were poorly made so the bread was a little dry. Chen Caixing drank a mouthful of milk, wanting to swallow it down but the milk had a fishy taste, causing him to be nauseous and retching a few times. Perhaps seeing the corpses made him nauseous.

“What are you retching for! So disgusting, with you like this, do you still want people to eat?” The newcomer at the table got cranky all of a sudden.

Chen Caixing covered his mouth to apologise, “I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well.”

In this situation, where the spirit of people was tied onto a high tension power line, they would explode over small trivial matters. That man was like so, he found an excuse to be foul-mouthed and charged at Chen Caixing with his bad temper. The female companion beside him dissuaded him with a few sentences. In the end, the man cast aside his bread, venting his anger on overthrowing a cup of milk and causing the milk to spill on the table.

Chen Caixing had completely lost his appetite.

The four veterans on the table acted as if they didn’t see anything and left for the living room after they ate. The cranky man also left.

“Gege, I hate him.”

Chen Caixing turned his head and saw Yuan Jiuwan with bulging cheeks as he childishly glared in the direction of the departing man’s back. When he saw him looking over, he complained in a low voice that was soft and glutinous, “He bullied Gege, he’s a bad guy.”

“Small matter. But I also don’t like him.” Chen Caixing patted the head of the primary school student. His bad mood in the morning was slightly better. This kind of soft, adorable, obedient primary school student who knew how to protect someone was quite cute.

After a while.

Monkey came over to say, “You few newcomers come over here, I have a task for you.”

Chen Caixing nodded while eating the dry bread. He didn’t retort. He didn’t know much about this world and still needed to count on the veterans to pass the novice stage but he had to be more cautious.

“……I just heard Jin ge say ‘two died so the NPC’s words should be trustworthy’, I feel that the veterans are using us to test it out. We need to be more careful.” The one who spoke was the short-haired girl. She was quite courageous.

Chen Caixing nodded his head when he heard that, “Thank you. I’m Chen Caixing.”

“Wang Xiaoxiao.” Wang Xiaoxiao intentionally spared no effort to be good, wanting to pull him in to be a teammate. The other male-female newcomer team, a cranky male with no capability but still threw a tantrum, a female who only knew how to kiss up to rely on the male. There were the veterans, as for Zhao Ru, she was too timid. She needed a new teammate.

Chen Caixing could also hear the unlying meaning in Wang Xiaoxiao’s words. He wasn’t opposed to teaming up with her. When he just finished speaking, he noticed Yuan Jiuwan quietly approaching him with a hand trying to hold his hand.

“?”

“Gege, I’m also very powerful, I will protect you.” Yuan Jiuwan stuck out his chest as he said so.

Chen Caixing looked towards the primary school student who was as tall as his waist.

Once he thought about it, he knew the child was afraid that he would team up with Wang Xiaoxiao and abandon him. He coaxed him by saying, “Yes, yes, Xiao Jiu is very powerful, Gege will rely on you for my safety.”

This primary school student was too cute.

Living room.

Jin ge issued a task, “We will look around the wax museum first, see if there are any suspicious leads——“

“Didn’t you say we’ll be able to go back once we stay here for seven days?” Wang Xiaoxiao asked.

Jin ge indifferently glanced at Wang Xiaoxiao and said, “You don’t want to go back early but others want to.”

“We can still finish this in advance to go home?”

“That’s great.”

Zhao Ru and another newcomer girl, who were originally dejected and anxious, became happy. Wang Xiaoxiao didn’t think of that and was stupefied on the spot. Chen Caixing looked at Jin ge. To be honest, he didn’t believe these four veterans were truly good people who wanted to send them out in advance.

“What is up with this game world?” Chen Caixing looked towards Jin ge, “If we’re going to search for clues, we should at least know a bit pertaining to the matters of the game.”

Jin ge didn’t say anything. He looked at Monkey.

Monkey helplessly heaved a sigh and said, “You newcomers are too vigilant, what Jin ge says is for your own good. Fine, I’ll tell you. This game world. Since it’s a game, it will have rewards for the winners. Only if we find clues in advance to hand over an answer, not only can we return the reality earlier, there will be gold coins and props awarded. Gold coins can be exchanged for real money, one gold coin equates to ten thousand yuan. That’s why you must listen to us and properly find clues……”

The author has something to say:

Primary school student Yuan Jiuwan: Gege, I will protect you.

Chen Caixing: ??? Who protects who?

–

Boss Yuan Jiuwan: Gege——

Chen Caixing: Stop talking and protect me! Extremely formidable! Lovely!