The thing is, Jia Hyson was already having some doubts when he was with Li Guiren. He, who has such a poor memory and face blindness for new people, had inexplicably felt that Li Guiren was so much like Drake despite the fact only his eye coloring were the same. Jia Hyson thought it was just a way to cope with the loss.
Even though in his reality black eyes were rare and usually just a really, really dark brown, in stories, many people had eyes 'as black as night'. Generally important characters but some cannonfodder and bystanders had them too. So it was easy to brush it off.
However, grey eyes were not common, not even in stories. Forest green, blue as the ocean and the sky, golden honey brown, mesmerizing purple, blood red... even stormy blue-grey were more often seen. For eyes, silvery grey colors was not really the most popular thing despite being a kick-ass color choice. Even if it were... the character would have it as a rare genetic mutation or maybe a special bloodline or something.
Silver eyes are not cabbages at a market okay? They don't show up in every goddamn story. It was already strange enough a bystander character like Monroe had them.
So, seeing this seemingly random piece of shit cultist cannon fodder have silver eyes… the exact same shade as Monroe, the only other person other than Drake who had left a shadow in his heart… how can he not suddenly waver?
"You," Jia Hyson rasps, even though his voice was naturally a little dry due to his cause of death suddenly it truly felt like he had lost saliva in his throat, "You, are you really Su Shian?"
A flash of surprise, then wariness crossed over the veteran's eyes, "No," He croaked, it was the first time he spoke, low and raspy but unlike Jia Hyson it was a hoarseness developed from age and a lack of use. "Su Shian was a subordinate of mine, I am Liao Zhiqiang."
The answer is smooth, and Jia Hyson couldn't sense a lie. It would also make sense why everyone was avoiding him then if he was a stranger, after all during his time in captivity he didn't recall anyone who was ostracised to such an extent. Suddenly Jia Hyson couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic for Liao Zhiqiang with a 'so it's like this' feeling.
Because this meant there's a strong chance he was the protagonist character in this short story. The real Su Shian must be quite cautious and intelligent. He would have been the most suspicious of the blackmailer and so he tricked Liao Zhiqiang into taking his place, given the shared background he probably cashed in some sort of life-debt favour, pushing him into a pit. Liao Zhiqiang had good survival skills as a soldier, a decent commanding presence and the identity as the innocent unwitting victim. It checks a lot of horror protagonist boxes. Plus… Jia Hyson's gaze flickers over the man.
Plus he was quite attractive ah.
The veteran was someone in his sixties but still retained a somewhat muscular, commanding figure. Despite his grey hair messily covering his sallow face and the faint smatterings of a beard, it didn't completely hide the sharp distinguishing features of his taciturn appearance.
He completely had the look of a handsome young commanding officer who came into the army with the swaggering arrogance and confidence of a man with his whole life of paved victories ahead of him then had got discharged for reasons and became disillusioned with humanity after experiencing war, then trying to drown it out with booze and bad decisions as he slowly wastes away.
Honestly, it was sort of hot.
Bebe: 'Are you seriously going to throw the plan away for a nice face?'
Jia Hyson: '…No.'
Bebe: '…' Bebe doesn't believe you.
Jia Hyson: 'I *cough* just realised it would be interesting to make some sudden adjustments, leaving a survivor or two behind will help us spread the notoriety of the house.'
Bebe: '…' Bebe still doesn't believe you but what you said does make sense.
"Liao Zhiqiang, a good name," Jia Hyson savers the name then chuckles, looking away from the veteran to sweep his gaze over the rest of the room. Unlike Liao Zhiqiang, they all shuddered and felt a terrible intent gripping at their hearts. They felt their blood turn cold and their sweat turn colder. Jia Hyson quietly applauds himself. [If Looks Could Kill (Active) Level 4] really has such a good effect, the fear is so pungent he can literally taste it. Which you know, sounds gross but for ghosts it was like opening the oven door containing a delicious Sunday roast.
Feeling invigorated, Jia Hyson smiles widely, revealing the bloody teeth of the burly man. "Do not worry friends, I am a kind ghost. If you play with me once I will let four people go. Play another game and three people can leave. And the next game…" he lingers off suggestively. It was clear that despite his claim of being 'kind' he had no intention of letting them all leave alive.
However none of them dared to question it, they were still too shaken from all the stimulation of the past ten minutes.
Seeing their silence as submission, Jia Hyson smiles wider, clapping his hands happily like a child before wincing as the feeling of the hair needles in his hands were pushed further into the flesh. You would need tweezers to get them out now. The poor sap is going to be in a world of pain if he ever wakes up. "Fantastic, now, when I was younger I was betrayed see? Because of this betrayal I died," Even though the tone was lighthearted everyone could hear the underlying current of resentment and hatred in his voice. "So the first game will be all about betrayal. I will pick four people and everyone shall do their best to confess a secret about at least one of them. The person who is betrayed the most will die. Simple ah?"
Everyone began to sweat. Yes. It was very simple. So simple it was easy to see the consequences of it. The ghost was asking for their blackmail secrets! Does he not understand how important some of these people were? Some of these secrets are literally life-threatening! To say them in front of a crowd… even if they do leave the room who knows if they can survive outside?
Sensing their thoughts, Jia Hyson gives them all a knowing look, "The people who can give out the worst secret for each person can leave. They can also discuss and kill off another one of the four." Thinking it may not be enough incentive he adds, "And I am willing to divulge a special secret myself that can lead you to new riches."
Murmurs and whispers began to fill the air as greed and the will to live light up their eyes. People who are scared are more likely to grasp onto survival, and if they can even get extra benefits alongside it, well, there's a reason treasure-hunting had been so popular back in the day. Or was it these days? Jia Hyson wasn't fully aware of the time period okay. Bebe tried to explain the basic rundown to him ages ago but he was never great with history. Whatever. That's the author god's problem not his.
Quickly he began to pick his targets, "The handsome young man in a green tang suit over there, that gentleman who's still wearing a hat indoors and uh, you, yes, you with the tiny glasses." Jia Hyson points at the three he had singled out before contemplatively looking around for his last victim. The trio who had been shoved forward by their fellow cultists were the few Jia Hyson recognised when he was still alive. The Green Tang Suit Guy liked to hit him to vent about his 'stressful' life as a incompetent heir to the family (not in the face though, there seems to be a serious rule about not hurting his face). The Hat Guy liked to tempt him with hot delicious smelling food before eating half of it in front of him. He would finally let Jia Hyson eat some after licking it all over, getting some kick out of watching a beautiful boy like him hungrily devour his shitty leftovers. The Small Glasses guy...
Well, actually he didn't do that much but he wore his small glasses outside his mask and it just fucking sort of pissed him off so you know. Obviously he's got some shady shit going on. Let's see if we can kill him off.
Bebe: '...' As expected of the reasoning of Li 'Orange shirt must die in a basement' Guiren's older brother figure.
The three people held a look of pure fear and despair as they stood in the middle of the room. Jia Hyson struggles a little but eventually stands up, walking jerkily around to decide on the last victim. There were two in the room that forced him to give them blowjobs, there was another one that liked to whip him, oh, he also saw one asshole he's pretty sure ejaculated into his food bowl a few times...
Okay. Well, there could have been many people who did that. That seems like something these perverted freaks would do. And the food really wasn't that great so it's a real possibility. But there was only one who had the balls to do it in front of him. Jia Hyson sort of respects that. Don't get him wrong, he'll definitely tear them off when he gets a chance. But like, in a respectful manner.
In the end, he decides to go strategic and take Liao Zhiqiang. Because one, it seems he's an outsider so he won't be backstabbed so hard unless Su Shian was also a fucking blabbermouth and therefore the chance of the other three dying increases exponentially. And two... even though he was fairly sure Liao Zhiqiang wasn't a tormentor of his, Jia Hyson was still a little leery. If anyone betrays anything about him than it would definitely prove he has an affiliation with them and Liao Zhiqiang's identity would once again become suspicious.
Jia Hyson had already blackened pretty badly. He would even occasionally test Li Guiren's loyalties, to not do so to this stranger would be unlike him. Still, like Li Guiren he held some expectations in his heart.
As the four stood in the middle, the backstabbing began. Jia Hyson gestured toward a timid looking man to start first, he hesitates for a moment, glancing at all of them before finally landing on Small Glasses Guy. "Brother Ren and I work in the same building," he began, he cowers once more under Small Glasses' furious glare before quickly gaining his confidence. The more he spoke the more disdainful his expression was, his true feelings toward this 'good brother' of his coming out, "I work the late shift a lot so I often caught sight of him and a woman sneaking in to the hospital after his work hours are over. They would take any room available, even the morgue was no exception!" Then with a sneer he adds, "In fact, I think his favorite place was the morgue, I would often hear others complain about the white crusty stains and off moaning coming from there at random times."
"You! How dare you!" Small Glasses' yells, ashamed and angry as many people's gazes toward him quickly change as the first secret comes out. He was the hospital director's son and a well known doctor who was handsome, gentle and attentive. It turns out... he was a deranged perverted sex addict who liked to defile the health violations of his own hospital and his own body by engaging in such acts in the morgue!
Even though they were all perverts on some level to kidnap Bai Li Wei, because the young man was such an unparalleled beauty, they can more or less brush it off with a few excuses like, 'it's a waste to let him be unappreciated', 'he was going to rot in that wretched home anyway' etcetera. Everyone was a tyrant in some manner, most had a history of stealing people's innocence or overpowering them with their money and lineage so they were used to comforting themselves and losing no sleep over such things after a while.
However, humans are intrinsically self-centred. It's okay if they did it. They had their reasons but when someone else is outed for a similar crime they cannot help but judge them.
Also, Small Glasses' hospital was a prestigious top medical facility, a place they used! No one liked thinking that the place they associated with healing and sterility was actually a ground for uninhibited sexual misconduct! Not to mention, to have sex in the morgue… either Small Glasses was an exhibitionist that needed an audience or a necrophiliac right? He had always been looking forward to Bai Li Wei's death too now that they think about it… How depraved!
Jia Hyson laughs quietly. They've only unveiled one secret and already it's enough to ruin the guy's future ah. Secretly he glances at a tape recorder he had hidden inside one of the old drawers. Even though it wasn't high tech in order to match with the times it came from BeBay so the audio quality would still be much better than average. He plans to copy then anonymously mail the device's contents around and hope someone has the balls to publish such scandalous news on such high profile people.
"Hong Zhuwei!" Small Glasses roars, "I treated you well and this is how you repay me?!"
"Your father and his wallet treated me well," Hong Zhuwei sneers, "I would rather you didn't treat me at all given how it's your fault I'm in this mess!"
"Haha I wasn't the one who got down on his knees to suck the boy's cock while he was sleeping!" Small Glasses reveals derisively making it Hong Zhuwei's turn to go red.
Jia Hyson gives Hong Zhuwei a contemplative look. So it turns out this guy's into somnophilia ah? Jia Hyson sighs. Aiyah such an easy thing, this sort of vanilla kink one could pay for at a brothel and yet he had to go kick an iron plate and join a beauty cult to get his rocks off.
Before they can waste time arguing some more Jia Hyson turns to look at the person next to Hong Zhuwei. This one was clearly from an older generation however Jia Hyson has no intention to respect the elderly here. "You, you're next." He snaps.
It seems the elderly had no intention to respect him either. The old man stares at him with red eyes. "W-Who are you to make such demands of us!" He shouts, only a slight waver in his voice betraying his true feelings, "We don't deserve this sort of sick game!" And maybe that would have been a somewhat acceptable thing to say if the old man didn't add, "Leave and maybe I will think of letting you go!"
Jia Hyson: '...'
Bebe: '...' Host was right. The quality of people in this world was very low ah.
"Don't deserve it? Don't deserve it?" Even though a part of him was really itching to just slap the old man even stupider, it wouldn't be very fitting for the tone of the atmosphere. Instead he lowers his head, then does that thing so many villains do where they start to chuckle softly, then the laughter gets louder and louder before finally throwing his head back and cackles hysterically. It felt… really fucking cool.
"Old fool!" Jia Hyson spits at the now pale and shaking old man, his face contorted into a bloody smile, "You still haven't figured out who I am?"
Before anyone could answer he escapes the burly man's body, letting it fall in an unseemly clump on the ground as he floats upwards, revealing himself to the room. Everyone gasps somehow shocked by the identity reveal.
"You?!"
"It, it can't be!"
"Bai Li Wei?!"
"I had my suspicions but… to think..!"
However Jia Hyson did not have time to silently roast these incompetent pieces of human scum because a notification had just rung in his head.
[Congratulations! You've unlocked the special skill, I Can't Believe it's Not Human! (Active) First butter, now people? The world is a lie!]
Jia Hyson: 'Okay, seriously, give me this guy's number, I think I'm in love.'
Bebe: 'Overlord Li Jun doesn't have a number… he *sighs* he made it so anyone who wanted to contact him has to use this ☆*:. o(≧▽≦)o .:*☆ emoticon.'
Jia Hyson: '…oh wow.' It's official, he's going to find the guy and marry the fuck out of him.
Li Guiren: 'Suddenly I feel a disturbance in the force.'
Liao Zhiqiang: '…'
He didn't have time to ponder over the system-equivalent of sex nor his new special skill right now though. Using Hair Control he lifts the old man from the ground by the neck with a maniacal smile, "You all ruined my life, you humiliated me, treated me worse than a dog and then you killed me! And you still have the face to say you all don't deserve this?! This is heaven's punishment!"
Jia Hyson: 'Hahahaha this feeling is really too cool!' ψ(｀∇´)ψ
The old man weakly struggled, the horror in his eyes evident to see. Gasping, he incoherently tries to say something and then the tinkling of urine hitting the floor was heard. Giving the old man a mocking smile, Jia Hyson drops him into the puddle of his own cowardice, the expensive clothing he wore immediately ruined by the cooling liquid.
Even though he had frightened the old man to the point of pissing himself, Jia Hyson wasn't satisfied. Now that the old man had spoken against him. An example needed to be made.
The old man screamed as suddenly after being choked, his right forearm was suddenly impaled by Bai Li Wei's hair. It did not get better after that as Jia Hyson cocked his head curiously then he points at the old man's arm with a two-finger gun shape. However, instead of making the shooting motion, he splits the two fingers apart in a scissoring action. In response, the hair still stabbed through the arm also splits in two, pulling the forearm apart mercilessly.
One can better understand the analogy as shoving a pair of chopsticks into the middle flesh of a chicken wing, right between the two bones, then using the same chopsticks to split the flesh apart.
Of course it was a little more difficult than that, so Jia Hyson tries to use more hair to crack open the man's wrist. He was curious to see if he could completely split the arm in half all the way down to the hand. He ended up being semi-successful, the sight was utterly messy and gory as a result. Blood, muscle, tendons and a few bits of broken off bone was strewn onto the floor, the old man had miraculously failed to pass out during the whole process, screaming and begging for help desperately.
Finally satisified, Jia Hyson turns around to run his gaze across the room. With Bai Li Wei's cursedly beautiful appearance, even the abject torture he had just committed could not diminish the loveliness of his features. Instead of the innocent, naive fear that made them want to bully him, there was only ice cold hatred, disdain and madness. And yet it was still oddly just as captivating as before. For some even more so.
Liao Zhiqiang stares up at Bai Li Wei with an inexplicable and complicated gaze.
"If you lie or fail to tell a secret, you'll be even more worse off than him," Jia Hyson informs everyone with a gentle smile, only the insanity and eagerness to destroy reflected in his eyes showed just how little he cared about them following the rules now. After that scene, who would dare fight back? Even the burly man was helpless and poked full of holes. The people who did not know the four victims well silently panicked and despaired, itching to escape their fates.
Jia Hyson gives them all an angelic smile. "Now, let's continue."