Only when you are pampered and sheltered by your family could you be so innocent and wilful, much like a pampered cat, both invoke a sense of fondness.
But that's not him.
Faint signs of fatigue could be seen between his brows, Ren Yifei propped his hands against the bamboo shed. He slowly exhaled, relieving all his pent-up emotions. Even reaching out to pull down the shirt collar, only to feel that it was easier to breathe.
That was the longest scene he had ever acted.
There was not a moment during this half-day was his mouth idle, whether it was talking or eating.
However, Ren Yifei actually didn't like to talk. It was not his innate disposition but due to environmental influences, it became a part of this personality over time.
There were few secrets in this kind of business- the things that you complained about, showed off and drunkenly said today would be public property the next day. Appearing in other people's conversations as well as the internet, giving people a reason to criticise and find fault over and over again.
Therefore, he didn't like to talk. He didn't like to open up and present himself to others even more.
He took out the card and swiped a finger over it, the rose gold words glowed in the dark.
[One of the players is a murderer, find them or survive for seven days. ]
Ren Yifei made a bold assumption: those who would suddenly appear in the crowd are the players and if they were to disrespect the dead, their identity would be revealed. Hidden within the players is a 'ghost' and the existence of the 'ghost' may be a threat to their survival for the following seven days.
Find the 'ghost' and survive for seven days. It had used 'or', therefore, only one condition needs to be met. Was it in accordance with clearing the game or was it a basic condition to pass?
So as long as you perform successfully for seven days, you can survive.
But would this matter progress so favourably?
"Who's inside? I really need to go! Hurry, hurry," a person outside the toilet stomped his foot.
Ren Yifei snapped back to reality and dropped his hands.
It's time, the next scene has begun.
His mouth slowly curved into a mischievous smile, the corners of his mouth were adjusted to be more curved to better match 'A Fei's' persona, followed by the eyes and then the eyebrows, even his posture became less proper.
Just like that, layer by layer, a mask formed over his face.
"Hurry up," the person outside shouted.
On the blank mask, eyes and brows were drawn stroke by stroke, transforming into 'A Fei's' face.
His tone also changed slightly, becoming more lively, "It'll be ready right away, stop urging, you're so damn persistent."
When Ren Yifei returned to the front yards, there was exactly one person missing from the poker table so he got pulled in to join.
"Wait for this little master to slaughter you all," he rolled up his sleeves.
They played late into the night. The watchman passed by the door, knocking on the watchman's clappers. The sound of his hoarse voice and the crisp sound of wood colliding could be heard echoing through the quiet night.
"It's midnight, everything's safe and sound."
The dark clouds gathered to block the moon, the wind had stopped along with the chanting and hoarse crying. Even the voice of the night-watchman stopped.
Ren Yifei was holding the cards in his hand, with a triumphant smile, he was about to throw down his all-inone move. In an instant, everyone on the opposite side suddenly froze, startling him into hitting the brakes.
They've became unresponsive?
Is it a bug?
His thoughts flew all over the place while his body stayed frozen in place, not moving an inch.
He originally had his eyes wide open looking forward, however, it didn't feel proper after a while. He slowly relaxed his muscles and slightly squinted his eyes until there was only a narrow slit to look around.
The world had never been so quiet as it was at that moment, only the shoddy candlelight still flicker and crackled.
"Everyone, come out."
The eldest grandson, who was on his knees burning paper, threw the remaining paper money into the copper basin. He clapped his hands together to get rid of the dust and stood up.
His gaze circulate around the crowd, his eyes locked onto the other players, each with different expressions. The corner of his mouth pulled into a smirk, "I've already noticed you guys early on."
In the suddenly static world, all the players were fidgeting, seeming strange and out of place; all of them stuck out like a sore thumb.
The young man called A Song had no other choice but to stand up. As he passed the poker table, he's eyes just happened to land on 'A Fei' who was leaning against the bamboo shed facing the mourning hall, he had his eyes closed with a triumphant smirk as he held the cards in his hands. What kind of cards did you draw that was so good?
Other players came out one after the other, gathering at the centre.
The 'monk' rushed out first, he ran so fast he almost fell.
His face showed a pleasantly surprised expression having found companions, he voiced anxiously and in a disoriented manner, "Did you guys also got here inexplicably like me? Where is this place? What's up with this card?"
In the corner, the 'second grandson' poked his head out cautiously, his whole person still seemed a little frightened.
There were no golden letters on her head but Xiao Mei, who had been scared and cried several times, was relieved when she saw so many people, "He- Hello everyone, we could be considered as comrades, right?"
The old man who had been cleaning in the corner lowered his broom and walked out slowly. He seemed calm, but his hand that was tightly gripping onto the broom exposed his real emotions.
The eldest grandson looked at the two remaining people.
The eldest grandson's wife had a foul expression on her face, still bothered by the mistake she had made earlier. The young man responsible for adding fuel to the alter lampshade had a smile that didn't seem like a smile.
These two were obviously old players.
"You're indeed certainly unkind," the young man in charge of refuelling looked at the eldest grandson, "Tricking a newcomer to get exposed."
"If I had known that the newcomer will be exposed right away, why bother using someone to test the waters? Why blame me? Blame his wretched luck," the eldest grandson player put a hand on his waist and sneered. He lifted his hand to twirl his hair, but of course, he couldn't.
He almost forgot that he was currently a man.
The exchange between the veteran players could only initially be understood by other veteran players. Therefore, the eldest grandson's wife was the only one that reacted and laughed, the rest of the players felt strange. They did not expect their companions to meet in such a manner.
Pitting a newcomer? That newcomer would be…
They looked back at the 'monk', who had been exposed from the beginning, and at the 'second grandson', who had been pitted.
The 'second grandson' had yet to recover from his shock while the 'monk' was also a newcomer, knowing nothing at first. Of course, he now realised that there were dangers, "What- what got exposed?"
The few veteran players ignored him, they looked at him as if he was a dead man. The new player rubbed his arm that seemed to have goosebumps.
The players' cards felt slightly hot at that moment, they hurriedly took out their cards only to see the content of the first line at the top change.
[The first night: What people hate is what it hates. ]
The veteran players were not surprised while the new players' faces showed an indescribable expression, they were curious but hesitated to ask.
"Something's not right," the 'eldest grandson's wife' found that something was wrong.
The eldest grandson, the eldest grandson's wife, the second grandson, Xiao Mei, the monk, the lamp trimmer, the old sweeper and the night-watchmen A song- she counted twice, "Why are there only eight people? Where's the ninth player?"
The eldest grandson's wife scanned around, but no matter how she counted, there were only eight people. She grew more anxious.
There were nine players, but one disappeared?
"Who knows? Maybe they're hiding, or maybe, they're the ghost?"
Despite saying that, the 'eldest grandson' still scanned over the crowd. From the group of monks who were chanting scriptures to the family members to the night-watchmen outside, there was nothing unusual. Could it be that they were hiding in a room?
Could they be a newcomer, or a veteran player?
Ah, that guy's sneaky.
"They're just making things unnecessarily complicated, they're probably hiding in some room. You can find them as soon as you look."
The 'eldest grandson's wife' used this method to vent her anger for the mistake earlier.
She turned her head to look at the 'monk' and the 'second grandson'. With these two guys before her, she was still safe for the time being. However, nothing's for certain, there has never been a rule that states that the 'ghost' could only kill one person per night.
"The beginner rounds have too many restrictions on abilities, no skills can be used and there's only one prop as a reward," the eldest grandson's wife was a little unwilling.
The 'lamp trimmer' player laughed, "Smart people would be familiar with the conditions and use it while stupid people blame and complain about the conditions."
"What did you say?" The 'eldest grandson's wife' who had been indirectly criticised was furious, she was originally already in a bad mood.
"What did I say? Don't take every comment as a personal attack."
The two of them went back and forth before quickly dropping the subject, time was precious and couldn't be wasted on this kind of thing.
The eldest grandson pondered over the word 'happy funeral' and suddenly remembered, "Isn't this the hardest beginner scenario that no one has beaten in more than a year?"
"Yes, it's not easy to deal with," the lamp trimmer crossed his arms and said, "More caution should be taken this time around. The 'ghost' can't separate from its body so we can work in pairs, this would be the quickest way to restrain and determine the identity of the ghost."
"It may not be feasible, we still won't be able to tell who the 'ghost' is if the 'ghost' chooses to kill its companion and then kill another person's companion," The eldest grandson rejected and finally dismissed this idea, "Furthermore, I don't think I need to use such an inefficient elimination method."
The lamp trimmer glanced at the proud eldest grandson and said, "Fine, you can do whatever."
"You guys are also here for the ghost card, right?"
The eldest grandson's wife's eyes darted between the eldest grandson and the lamp trimmer, "There are so many old players in a novice game, which exceeds the norm. Since we came here for the same purpose, how about we each rely on our own abilities."
The eldest grandson and the lamp trimmer looked at each other, "Okay."
Putting those words into action, the eldest grandson's wife left first, leaving the eldest grandson and the lamp trimmer behind.
"Maybe you should pay attention to the ninth person who disappeared," the lamp trimmer said meaningfully, "Perhaps, this could be the greatest variable."
The eldest grandson pressed on his growling stomach, "This place is only so big, where could a person hide? The ninth person can't escape my eyes."
They walked past the bamboo hut for playing poker and passed by an NPC holding cards.
Wasn't this the NPC who refused to call them to eat porridge? The eldest grandson player looked back and sneered, "Just these cards, what's there to be proud of?"
NPC:…
"They just left?! So what should we do?" The troubled 'monk' wanted to ask for help but the veteran players ignored him. As for the other newcomers, they don't even have enough time to care for themselves, how would they have time to pay attention to him?
The 'monk', who was regarded as a dead person, could hardly stand, he fell onto a long bench and started trembling.
The newcomers were like chickens that had fallen into a fox's den, smelling the scent of the fox made them both scared and powerless.
They didn't understand what was happening, why they suddenly appeared in this place, what kind of game this was, or the reason for playing this game…they don't know anything about it.
When they originally saw the veteran players, a sense of belonging was birthed having found companions, as well as the relief of knowing that there was someone to lead the team.
In this kind of environment, these veteran players only needed to say a few nice things to move their hearts. But what about now? Let alone a sense of belonging, they were simply being used as bait and stepping stones.
The newcomers looked at the strange and gloomy mourning hall, their sense of security was extremely low.
"What should we do next?" Xiao Mei asked nervously, she looked at the still calm A Song and the old sweeper, "We can't just sit and wait."
After crying, the girl's stubbornness came out, however, she showed a bit of courage to compensate.
The monk was silent, the second grandson trembled while A Song didn't answer. The old man shook his head, "I don't know either."
"What will happen to us?" Xiao Mei asked again.
No one replied this time, only the flame of the altar lamp flickered.
Their shadows were greyish-purple, juxtaposed to the warm yellow light, they seemed even more cold and gloomy, just like their hearts.
"I don't care! I don't care! What play, what games, it can all go to hell!"
The 'second grandson' player jumped up and rushed towards the gate, shouting dumbly as he went, "This is all a dream, they're fake. Just wake up."
The sudden outburst caused everyone to be stunned, they watched him run out- even knocking over a stool on the way.
'Wait," the player Xiao Mei wanted to chase after him but stopped after two steps.
The second grandson had disappeared into the darkness.
She looked into the night, it was dark, as if a little warped- it had looked like a large open mouth. She couldn't help but shiver, chills ran through her body.