Chapter 143 The Horror Club
The Wandering Corpse was good at murder and arson. Wen Shi had only one request for him: he shouldn’t sing. If he did, it would wake up half the mansion.
At the moment, some players hadn’t fallen asleep yet. The Wandering Corpse was set to attack at 4 AM. With his innate skills, even if Master Lin turned into a ferocious beast midway, the Wandering Corpse could still escape unharmed.
After explaining everything, Wen Shi relaxed on the recliner and listened to the rain tapping on the windows as he fell into a light sleep.
Around 4:30 AM, the room’s door slightly opened, and the Wandering Corpse walked in with his left hand covered in bloody stains.
The loud noise at the sink woke up Wen Shi.
He slowly opened his eyes and asked, “Did you finish?”
As he evolved, the Wandering Corpse started doing more human-like things. After washing his hands, he even used tissue to dry them and put on hand cream, taking care of himself like a celebrity.
When Wen Shi asked, he nodded, indicating that he had already sent Master Lin up to the heavens.
“That’s good,” Wen Shi said meaningfully. “Everyone will soon charge ahead with the will.”
The heavy rain continued throughout the night.
The next day was destined to be anything but calm. In the early morning, a maid’s scream swept through the entire mansion, effectively replacing the sunrise in waking everyone up.
Tumultuous footsteps echoed in the silent hallway one after another. Before the players could reach the source of the sound, the game’s notification had already told them what had happened.
“All players, please note that due to a key NPC’s death, the difficulty level of the ‘Horror Chronicles’ instance has been raised to B.”
Normally, this kind of fluctuation wouldn’t stop at the initial difficulty, but upon hearing the system announcement, a sinking feeling filled everyone’s hearts.
They still had to do what needed to be done. A group of people rushed into the most finely decorated room, pretending to be mournful. However, their expressions shattered for a moment due to the strong smell of blood and the stench of death.
Master Lin had died.
He died hastily, under the Wandering Corpse’s frequently used heart-ripping attack. Although he had only been dead for a few hours, his body already displayed significant signs of decay, as if he had been half-dead for a long time.
There was a hole in Master Lin’s chest, his mouth wide open, facing a portrait on the wall. His eyes held fear and regret, as if he believed his death was the work of something he had worshipped for a long time.
Because the death was so gruesome and clearly not a suicide, the first maid who discovered the body immediately reported it.
Wen Shi pretended to be sentimental. “You left so quickly, you didn’t even get to taste the medicine decoction prepared by some filial children for you.”
His tone was melancholic, but anyone could see the joy and ease in his eyes.
Those players with bandages on their hands or chests wished they could also dig out this person’s heart to examine it.
The police car arrived swiftly, its sirens surrounding the mansion. When the police appeared to take the body away, the expressions of the people in the room were varied. Seeing the police in a horror story was rare. Since there were procedures to follow after removing the body, someone had to go with them. With the possibility of the quest being updated at any time, no one wanted to do it.
Wen Shi would always step forward when others needed it most. He cleared his throat before saying, “I’ll go for a mere four hundred points of compensation.”
First, he needed to make up for the deficit caused by summoning the Wandering Corpse last night.
Four hundred points weren’t much, but no one wanted to pay it all themselves, making others benefit.
Wen Shi wasn’t in a hurry. Master Lin had left a will in the past, which the game would surely use as leverage. When the time came, these people would naturally feel the urgency.
After waiting for less than three minutes, the game issued a new notification tone.
【You’ve come to the villa after much effort, but unfortunately, the head of the household was murdered that very night. But there’s always a way. Master Lin had prepared to amend his will a long time ago.】
【Side Quest: The Bloody Will】
Quest Details: At seven o’clock in the evening, a lawyer will come to the mansion to notarize. Please find the hidden will in the mansion before that and confirm the true beneficiaries of the estate.
Quest Reward: Special Traceless Pen (The first person to find the will can use this pen to alter the will).】
As an honest player, Wen Shi didn’t take advantage of the situation to raise the price. Instead, he shrugged. “If no one wants to, I’ll start the quest.”
“Wait a moment.” The quest suddenly accelerated, diminishing the roles of both players and NPCs. Lin Tianci essentially revealed his player identity, “Let’s discuss this first.”
He could be sure that at least three people were players. Lin Tianci addressed them directly, “If you can’t identify anyone else, we’ll split the four hundred points evenly, one hundred each.”
The player, who was role-playing as the eldest son, first diverted his wife, then said coldly, “There’s a maid who’s been pulling her sleeves down, probably to hide an electronic watch.”
Human selfishness, willing to sacrifice the small for the greater gain, was evident. Wen Shi only spent a few points and already knew some of the hidden player identities.
After getting the points as desired, Wen Shi waved his hand gracefully and said, “Good luck with your search, everyone.”
Before leaving, he said a few words to Xiao Hua in a hushed voice, too low for others to hear the specifics. However, it was speculated that Wen Shi wanted to hitch a ride on a big shot’s coattail. If Xiao Hua successfully found the will, adding a name would be a simple matter.
As Wen Shi left, Xiao Hua wasted no time and began searching.
She first went to Master Lin’s study, where he often spent his time before his death. The others remained in the room still smelling of blood, not immediately taking action.
After a while, Lin Tianci broke the silence, “Getting the will means we can clear this short story. In this phase, human wave tactic has its advantages.”
The player who had been role-playing as the child all along disdainfully tossed aside the toys in his pocket and coldly added, “Xiao Hua is a famous madwoman. If she gets the will, none of us will make it.”
“Let’s cooperate in the search,” Lin Helan decisively said, “Use the contract item to sign an agreement. Regardless of who finds the will first, they must add the name of their collaborators.”
This proposal received unanimous approval.
However, when the players in the room selected their cooperation partners, it was clear that they were excluding Pei Hongxin.
He seemed like a newbie player, fumbling and hesitant, and had just scraped together some points. He stood silently in the corner.
Sensing he wasn’t welcomed to join the discussions, Pei Hongxin silently walked away from the murder scene.
Lin Tianci glanced at the disappearing figure in the corridor. “Do you think he might go and inform Xiao Hua?”
The butler grinned. “No problem. High-level players surely know we’d team up. However, they’re usually quite confident. Now it’s a matter of luck and speed.”
His words earned nods from the others.
Pei Hongxin went straight to the study.
He opened the hidden door and looked at the shrine inside, slowly making up his mind.
Living a charmed life in the real world for too long, Pei Hongxin was unable to accept the current setback. Now was a rare opportunity. All he needed to do was find the will to permanently eliminate the threat that had plagued him.
“Why should I be hated?”
Pei Hongxin sneered coldly. If he hadn’t acted the way he did back then, he would have faced bankruptcy. With heavy debts, Pei Wenwei not only would have had a miserable childhood, but would also have been trapped in endless debt repayment and labor as an adult.
Besides, during the years he adopted that child, he had treated him generously. Now, it was time for the child to repay him.
Staring at the blurred black statue in the shrine, Pei Hongxin was prepared to sell his soul to the devil.
Master Lin had worshiped for so long, but apart from his health and family, it seemed he hadn’t paid any additional price. Despite looking older than his peers, if it weren’t for last night’s accident, he could have easily lived for more than a decade more, judging by his appetite for meat at dinner and the force with which he had thrown the newspaper in front of Pei Wenwei.
“Even ants can swallow an elephant…”
As soon as things got out of control, Pei Hongxin would immediately search for demon viewers in the live chat to make deals to temporarily fend off the wolves.
The difficulty of the instance had now risen to level B. During the search for the will, it would definitely trigger a series of quests, otherwise, it wouldn’t be called the【Bloody Will】. With his personal strength alone, he was far from being able to come out unscathed.
Pei Hongxin lit a stick of incense he had stolen from the shrine yesterday. The green smoke from the incense spiraled upwards without interruption.
He didn’t know the standard procedure for this kind of thing, but he figured that lighting incense and offering sincere prayers should be enough.
As the wisps of smoke were all absorbed by the shrine, the blurred face of the statue cleared slightly. Those long, slender eyes, the opposite of sandalwood, flickered for a moment. In a place he couldn’t see, black liquid began to seep through the cracks in the staircase, and the air turned foul and putrid.
Although the study lacked windows, a tiny bit of incense ash mysteriously made its way into the tiger’s mouth without the aid of any breeze. Pei Hongxin flinched from the heat but remained reverent. “Please tell me, what price must I pay to know where the will is hidden?”
A terrifying murmur, mixed with a chilling breeze, sounded in his ear. Pei Hongxin clenched his fist and made up his mind. “Okay.”
His self-directed cruelty seemed to appeal to the monsters watching. Many of them began to cheer for him. Some even went over to Wen Shi’s side, ready to witness his fate from a god’s perspective.
After Pei Hongxin’s performance, it seemed like Wen Shi had gone to great lengths last night to send the Wandering Corpse to kill the key NPC for someone else’s benefit.
……
Compared to the decayed air inside the Lin family mansion, the weather outside, having just rained, was quite pleasant. Wen Shi breathed in the natural breeze and even chatted briefly with the police along the way.
After getting out of the car, he cooperated in filling out paperwork and gave a statement. Once everything was settled, Wen Shi went to stroll around the street, first going to a boutique to pick a gift for A’Yu, then heading to the park to join in square dancing.
“The sky’s so blue, the land’s so wide~”
The small speaker blared loudly, and Wen Shi, with perfect posture, danced along with the elderly people in front.
After half an hour of exercise, he seemed to finally remember the live stream. He glanced at his electronic watch, where a barrage of comments asked why he wasn’t searching for the will and was dancing instead. Was he perhaps crazy?
“Search for what will?” Wen Shi asked in confusion. “…Wait until they’ve beaten each other to a pulp. When the lawyer arrives tonight, the ultimate victor will surely triumphantly produce the will. By then, I’ll carry Master Lin’s body back…
“My godmother is a spiritualist. I’ll have her directly summon the spirit back, and we’ll expose the fraud on the spot.”
Daring to actually tamper with someone else’s will, really audacious!
If his godmother couldn’t bring the spirit back, he would activate【Feigned Corpse】himself.
Wen Shi pretended to wipe away his tears as he said, “Indeed, it seems I’m the only one in this family who truly cares about the old man’s life or death. Huhuhu…”
He kept up the act for three seconds, but he couldn’t hold it any longer. In the blink of an eye, he burst into hearty laughter, “Hahaha…”
The infectious song of the square dance continued, with the aunties and uncles spinning in circles. Wen Shi joined in for a spin.
Doing a daily run and clearing instances below S-rank was so much fun!
【Live Chat：……】
Wen Shi: “By the way, how long is the sentence for tampering with a will?”
He would definitely have to report this to the police later. He couldn’t allow such corrupt practices to thrive.
【Live Chat：……】
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Thank you for the chapter!!
This is so good!