Matryoshka Off-Limits Chapter 154 Part 3

Chapter 153.3 The Horror Club

Without hesitation, he summoned the Wandering Corpse. When Peng Lu was still alive, his skills seemed related to formations. Peng Lu could draw a complete demon-sealing formation to trap the blood bride all by himself. After the Wandering Corpse leveled up, it should have copied some memories related to the original’s formations.

Forced to work late into the night, the Wandering Corpse looked bewildered.

Wen Shi explained concisely, “Guide us to an exit.”

Even if the Wandering Corpse guided them by intuition, it was probably better than them wandering aimlessly.

The Wandering Corpse stared at the dark stones for a while and then surprisingly chose to walk forward with his eyes closed. One dared to lead, and the other dared to follow. Wen Shi trailed behind him, avoiding looking at the surroundings as much as possible.

The scent of blood in the air grew stronger. As the wind intensified, it felt like they had walked for a long time. Finally, the Wandering Corpse stopped.

They stood on a path with broken bricks, where ahead of them was a reddish-black wooden door. This should be the second gate the driver mentioned.

Wen Shi reached out and touched the door, then hesitated. “It’s not locked.”

This confirmed that the City Lord was indeed setting a trap.

He mustered the courage to push the door open and took a single step past the threshold. Just as he considered whether to enter fully, he suddenly noticed that the wind blowing from behind had disappeared, but he couldn’t pinpoint when it had ceased.

Wen Shi exchanged a quick glance with his companions, prepared himself mentally, and then turned around directly—

A face made of straw, riddled with gaps, abruptly came into view, harshly lit.

For a moment, Wen Shi’s breath caught, and his feeling was more astonishment than fear. He had encountered a similar straw demon back in Sealed Coffin Village, but this one was taller and had fewer bloody gashes on its face. Clearly, they were not the same.

Its empty, lifeless eyes were not controlled by the Big Eye, indicating it was a pure demon.

“This is a demon species from beyond the Ghost Gate,” Wen Shi took a step back and cautioned the others, “Absolutely do not make any deals with it.”

Just as Wen Shi was contemplating how to distance himself from the scarecrow creature, the game’s notification compelled him to make a completely opposite choice.

【You encountered a straw demon that had been wandering outside the Ghost Gate for a very long time.】

【The Horror Club’s livestream connection to the Ghost Gate is established.】

With an additional connection established, new viewers continued to pour in.

Just like last time, the straw demon spat out a piece of straw and didn’t make any immediate moves. It grinned slyly and asked, “Which one of you three wants to play a game with me?”

It strangely sniffed the air, its hollow eye sockets staring intently at Wen Shi. “I can sense the coppery scent of Boss Mei on you.”

Another notification from the game sounded:

“You’ve triggered a unique clue quest for having the advantage of making the first move.”

【Clue Quest: Scarecrow’s Challenge

Quest Objective: Where there’s a livestream, there’s a straw demon. They love to use time manipulation to lure people into soul transactions. Guard your soul!

Quest Reward: A secret.

The straw demon knows one of the City Lords’ secrets. The current City Lord once used it to accomplish unimaginable things. The secret will be shared with the quest completer.】

“I’ll do it,” Wen Shi said confidently.

The straw demon spoke a few targeted words to him, confirming its choice. Having experienced several rewinds, Wen Shi indeed had more experience in this area.

Seeing Wen Shi step forward with great confidence, Xiao Hua did not intervene.

The straw demon’s lips curled upward, appearing extremely eerie in the thin moonlight.

It couldn’t wait and inserted the straw into Wen Shi’s scalp. The straw transformed into a strand of hair, delving deep into his brain to search for painful memories.

The sensation of having one’s brain probed three feet deep wasn’t pleasant at all. Unfortunately, in this instance, the monsters had an absolute amount of information about the players, making it challenging to deceive them. Boss Mei was like that, and so was the straw demon.

Wen Shi’s【Come to My Place】ability was completely useless here.

“Huh?”

Surprisingly, the straw demon found traces of straw left by its kind inside the prey’s body. Following that piece of straw, it accessed the memories of the previous rewind.

It didn’t take long before the straw on its face exploded!

The live chat had already exploded, thanks to the new viewers from the underworld.

“Damn you, does the livestream have no memory? Isn’t this the idiot who sang about loving even in death!”

“I remember now, his foster parents wanted to hire someone to kill him, and he generously said he forgives them.”

“Straw Demon, is this what you want to show? Do you want to die?”

Wen Shi could only see these comments. Most of the other comments were too vulgar and had been censored with asterisks.

The original viewers in the livestream wanted to say something, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the angry underworld creatures flooding the chat.

“Pah.” After reading all the memories, the straw demon tore the straw off Wen Shi’s head and even spat at him.

Trying to read the saved game data and replay the previous scenario, it was just too dirty!

“……” Wen Shi felt a bit embarrassed, as he didn’t expect the other side to see the previous rewind experience as well. He had noted that he wanted to exploit the bug to replay the scenario. After all, the rewind always stayed at the most painful moment, and he could almost always overcome it.

Clutching the straw, the scarecrow looked at the other two and asked maliciously, “Wanna play a game?”

Li Nan gestured to Wen Shi, who reluctantly stepped back.

After Li Nan stepped forward, the same piece of straw was inserted into his head, turning into hair once more.

The night breeze was chilly tonight.

One minute passed, then two… Gradually, Wen Shi went from nervous to losing track of time altogether. Surprisingly, Li Nan was still standing there, showing no sign of undergoing a rewind.

Xiao Hua let out a yawn, feeling like she was going to grow grass on her head. “What’s going on with him?”

Just as Wen Shi was about to shake his head in confusion, he noticed that the Mirror God’s red name remained above the livestream chat. Suddenly, he remembered that Li Nan had been personally certified as ‘ordinary’ by the true spirit. Did he really have any so-called painful moment?

The straw demon always played the same game, luring its prey into making a deal during their most painful moment.

At around the eighteenth minute mark, the scarecrow wordlessly removed the straw from Li Nan’s head.

Li Nan showed rare signs of confusion. “You…”

“Pah.” Even on a mostly expressionless face, it was evident that the demon found him unlucky and spat at him in return.

With such an ordinary existence, what face did he have to keep living in this world?!

Following in Wen Shi’s footsteps, Li Nan also made a hasty exit.

Watching both of them seemingly not meeting the task’s conditions, a sigh escaped into the night. Xiao Hua shook her head. “Useless men.”

She took the initiative to stand in front of the straw demon.

Today, the straw had moved for the third time, landing on Xiao Hua’s head.

The straw creature, now looking somewhat pleased, awaited the next volunteer. At least this woman appeared relatively normal.

With eager anticipation, another quarter of an hour passed.

Wen Shi and Li Nan crouched in a corner, chatting quietly. Wen Shi said, “Xiao Hua’s personality… She must have gone through a lot.”

Li Nan nodded in agreement.

If it wasn’t ingrained in her nature, she must have faced significant challenges in her past. Subjecting her to the straw demon’s rewind would be a dangerous affair, to say the least.

As they started to grow slightly concerned about Xiao Hua’s safety, the straw demon’s two hole-like eyes widened a bit. It couldn’t find any painful source in this woman’s memories. Almost everything was Xiao Hua causing pain to others. Her life seemed to be in a perpetual state of dominance.

Xiao Hua, being impatient by nature, felt something stirring in her mind but wasn’t experiencing the expected flashback. She grew a bit agitated. “Are you even capable?”

She began to doubt the straw demon’s abilities.

The scarecrow glared at her fiercely and spat twice this time. “Shut up, you sicko.”

“?”

Xiao Hua lowered her head, her collar now stained with straw dust from the spitting. She became furious. Li Nan and Wen Shi noticed something was wrong. They quickly grabbed her arms, one on each side.

Wen Shi: “Calm down!”

Without the straw demon, the clue quest wouldn’t be completed.

If her arms weren’t held back, Xiao Hua would have definitely pointed at the straw demon’s nose and cursed, “With his level of expertise, what can he even do?”

Wen Shi cleared his throat and, before things spiraled out of control, politely asked the scarecrow, “Do you think he can do it?”

While saying this, he pushed the Wandering Corpse forward.

The Wandering Corpse’s most painful memory was related to the seeds of a mutant pomegranate flower, but he would never make a deal with the demon for it. Sending the Wandering Corpse to complete the quest came with a guarantee.

The straw demon, who had dealt with souls all its life, glanced at the Wandering Corpse, considering it not even worth counting as a person, and remained indifferent.

As a war general, the Wandering Corpse had already signed a contract with Wen Shi for his soul, and the demon couldn’t take it away.

Wen Shi, still determined to exploit a bug, continued his pitch, “Are you really sure? He…”

The straw demon coldly interrupted, “Don’t make me slap you.”

“……”

***
Aaaaaaah, now I know why Xiao Hua and Li Nan were here >w<

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