Chapter 156.1 The Horror Club
Wen Shi didn’t know how the shadow handled the corpse, but it didn’t matter as long as he buried it well without anyone finding out. He covered any bloodstained areas with soil.
Wen Shi’s current condition could be summed up as: Me, killer, cold-hearted.
“Come out,” he said calmly. “Do you find it interesting to watch me dig?”
After a few seconds, the scarecrow came out from the darkness.
It seemed like it understood its big mistake, that it shouldn’t have deliberately reminded of taboo matters such as altering history. Instead, it botched the whole thing.
“You made more than one mistake,” Wen Shi said, as if he knew what it was thinking. “By changing the way the game is played, you don’t have to lead the target into a specific type of suffering to get their soul. So, there was no need to go back to the old times.”
Li Nan had softly cleared his throat twice, reminding him to check if the straw demon had followed in the rewind.
The quest prompt indicated that the current City Lord had used the scarecrow for something. The demon intentionally stuck some straw outside the red candles. It was just trying to mislead his thoughts, making it look like its connection to the City Lord was about extending life.
【Clue Quest – The scarecrow’s challenge has been completed.】
【You have learned the secret of the straw demon. A killer from afar once used its ability to go back in time and assumed the identity of the City Lord.】
Wen Shi looked at the scarecrow. “Why did you help with the time travel?”
Players triggered the quest. There was no reason for the straw demon to rewind time for the shadow alone.
The truth was just three words, and the straw demon got straight to the point. “Couldn’t defeat it.”
“……”
This time rewind gave Wen Shi a better understanding of the shadow.
The shadow had no eyes, no heart, no limbs. It was all condensed darkness, but it could freely take on the appearance of others.
“The shadow and Jian Qingrong…” Before he could ponder how these two were privately connected, the world spun once again.
【Time rewind ends.】
After the cold mechanical voice finished its reminder, the lingering scent of blood in the air weakened. The scattered bits of flesh on the ground also began to blur. Wen Shi’s entire body floated in the pitch-black environment.
When he could finally see the world clearly again, the crescent moon in the sky had changed, becoming fuller. The blood mist that had floated overhead dispersed. When his field of vision finally cleared up, Xiao Hua’s face appeared before his eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You seem like you’ve lost your soul.”
Wen Shi waved his hand and took a deep breath.
It would be strange if he was in good shape after witnessing the thief being disemboweled and personally smearing the City Lord’s neck.
The terrifying scarecrow had disappeared, undoubtedly proving that the quest was completed. Xiao Hua patted Wen Shi on the shoulder. “Even though you were clueless about the betting game, you handled it well.”
“It was an open-book exam, after all,” Wen Shi couldn’t help but glance at his chest. The scale was gone, as if it had all been an illusion.
An open-book exam?
Before Xiao Hua could inquire further, Li Nan was only concerned about the betting game itself. “Did you find any important clues?”
Wen Shi nodded and went through everything again. Both Li Nan and Xiao Hua had been players in the Crimson Sunset Expedition, so there was no need to explain the matters related to the shadow to them.
“You both know that Song Yan is one of the true spirit’s incarnations. There should be a similar relationship between Jian Qingrong and the Lord of Terror.”
The electronic watch’s display was currently garbled. In discussions related to the betting game’s information, except for the bettors, ordinary monsters couldn’t see anything. Wen Shi also mentioned that Jian Qingrong was the boss guarding the Big Factory.
His voice was soft, but his words were exceptionally clear. He didn’t deliberately hide anything except for some extremely important clues, even providing detailed information.
This was also why some experienced players were willing to help.
Secrets were always a double-edged sword. For clever people, the deeper you hid them, the more they’d be on guard against you. Wen Shi’s unconventional behavior didn’t mean he wanted to go solo. Going through a 3S special instance alone and constantly guarding against skilled players’ ambushes was what’s truly suicidal.
“When I was at Frank Hospital, the game issued a task to delete File No. 82,” Wen Shi said slowly. “Powerful bosses rely on their incarnations to absorb negative energy. Now, trying to erase incarnations is the game’s way of hunting down the Lord of Terror.”
He intentionally slowed down his speech to give the listeners time to digest the information. Little did he know that after a brief astonishment, Xiao Hua sighed regretfully while holding her face. “Meeting in instances and mutually redeeming each other, what a pure feeling! But you two with such emotionally charged personalities didn’t try to torment each other to death. It’s really regrettable.”
“……” What are you regretting, exactly?
“Quick, give Big Sister a detailed account of your romantic story.”
As Wen Shi rubbed his temple, his peripheral vision collided with Xiao Hua’s eyes. He noticed the laziness was long gone, replaced by a sly look. It seemed like she had found something intriguing in the story he had just shared.
Surprisingly, even Li Nan showed curiosity, but he was only interested in one part of the story: when Wen Shi encountered the shadow at the bottom of the lake.
“Tell us about it.” The small vest outside the dealer’s uniform had no pockets. Li Nan lifted his arm and lightly rubbed his fingertips together, seemingly contemplating something.
When they heard about the shadow switching the scale between its left and right hand, allowing Wen Shi to guess which hand it was in, Li Nan waved his hand to indicate there was no need to continue.
The game’s will was everywhere, but Golden Plum Casino was an exception. Boss Mei dared to use the game for gambling, which meant its influence didn’t reach there. So, both Li Nan and Xiao Hua didn’t immediately get to the point. They planned to discuss the details when they returned to the casino.
Li Nan suddenly flashed a smile. “There’s one last thing we need to confirm.”
Wen Shi immediately felt the urge to back away, but it was too late. A small wooden plaque, about the size of a palm, was handed to him in advance.
“You probably won’t need it, but just in case,” Li Nan said. “This is a scapegoat item. Unless something unexpected happens, remember to give it back to me.”
After speaking, they intentionally made a commotion in the courtyard and vanished with acceleration items, Xiao Hua going first and Li Nan following.
“……”
【Grim Reaper: Tough luck. You have the little gadget I made, yet you have no painful memories for the straw demon to track down.】
When the comment from a notorious viewer appeared, Wen Shi’s wrist felt unusually cold. It was hard for him not to notice.
Ji Yuanzhi had mentioned that players with scapegoat items often had a rough fate in real life. The reason behind it was that these scapegoat items in the game were created by the Grim Reaper. They were drawn to each other, and those with weaker destinies couldn’t bear the consequences.
Li Nan was among the ones with an excessively tough fate.
There was commotion in the inner courtyard. Wen Shi quickly darted from the second door to the outer courtyard. The shadow couldn’t deliberately go easy on him. That would be provoking the game. If it were indeed the City Lord facing a player who had breached the second door, they would ruthlessly strike. So, the shadow had to kill as well.
Wen Shi could already sense a chilling presence surrounding him.
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