Chapter 84, Chapter Thirty-One: The Fantasy Mansion
At the foot of the Green Forest Building, a girl in a gray hoodie stood outside the door.
Two hours ago, [World] sent me the location here.
Shi found a familiar scent here, the scent that had appeared with the big yellow dog before.
That [liar's squire] is here.
This strange tale is about to collapse. The lord's power is waning, and she senses no living beings within it.
Thinking it was an empty shell, Shi was about to violently tear open the entrance when he was shocked to see a woman.
Is it human?
Shi was somewhat uncertain, and she distinguished between ghost stories and ordinary creatures by the [swindler's henchmen] and the smell of negative emotions.
[The Liar] has a rich, sweet flavor, while [The Liar's Squire] tastes similar to her. The lord has [Squire's Feathers] inside her body, and its flavor is also consistent with [Squire].
Following this logic, all smells similar to hers are ghost stories and their derivatives.
That woman exuded a strong aura of authority, making it difficult to discern her true identity.
She hesitated for a long time. If there were still beings from the [world] in the ghost stories, then she couldn't just violently crush them.
After hesitating for a moment, she finally took out the fruit knife.
Just as he was preparing to return to his old ways, a dark figure suddenly flew out of the ghost story.
The dark figure hovered in mid-air, shouting at the ghost story: "[Die, you madwoman! Just die in her arms! I was so mistaken! What a waste of my feather!]"
After the swallow finished cursing, it flew away in a huff.
It had given up all hope for Gong Baidie. It had originally wanted to find a madman that humans couldn't communicate with, but it had unexpectedly become a madman that it couldn't communicate with!
A madman is a madman; he goes mad when he hates, he goes mad when he loves, and he is at his madst when he both hates and loves.
He was already half-dead and bedridden, yet he kept trying to draw energy out of himself.
It said everything, good and bad, but nothing could compare to Wen Ting's smile.
What a pathetic and foolish thing; he'll die at that woman's hands sooner or later.
The swallow flew away angrily, but after flying for a while, it suddenly felt something following it.
Finding nothing behind it, the swallow circled suspiciously for a while, then, confirming there was nothing there, continued on its way.
He abandoned that weak ghost story.
She followed the swallow at a distance, intending to follow the [attendant] to find its master.
Without external intervention, the empty tales will disappear on their own; her priority is to eliminate the [liars] who steal energy.
...
After the major power outage, Gong Baidie's attitude changed.
He became more and more docile, more and more like "Gong Baidie", even his facial features were changing in the direction of Gong Baidie.
The changes within the ghost story were becoming increasingly significant. Wen Ting asked him several times, but he remained silent. She pretended to get angry and argued with him, deliberately being unreasonable, but he put on a smiling face and said, "I'm sorry, Wen Ting, I was wrong."
These words and that smiling face sent chills down Wen Ting's spine even more than when he grabbed her by the neck.
He was neither outwardly obedient but inwardly aloof like Gong Baidie, nor outwardly mad but inwardly fragile like Gong Feibai.
He drew upon the most tender aspects of both characters and blended them to create a new state.
This ambiguous state made Wen Ting feel as if she was facing not a person, but a pre-programmed AI, filled with the uncanny valley.
On the fifth day of the assessment, no monsters appeared.
The corpse monsters and human butterflies have all disappeared, and half of the furniture on the 13th floor is gone.
On the sixth assessment day, Wen Ting had not seen the sun for a week.
The view outside the window was empty and desolate, nothing but blackness; the water and electricity supply was extremely unstable, only available for two or three hours a day.
Gong Baidie was sleeping in her room all day. She took out the gun from the drawer and realized that she hadn't spoken to him for two days.
But the incense burner in the corner of the room was still emitting wisps of red smoke.
When did he add the incense?
The seventh assessment day.
The plants in the sunroom haven't grown because they haven't seen sunlight for so long.
It's strange, there's no light, so how come some of them are rotten and others are dried up?
Was the water not applied correctly?
But she poured it according to the previous amount.
The floor was covered in hair and dust.
Wen Ting wanted to shift the blame to Gong Baidie, who had long hair, but after checking several places, she found that the hair on the ground was all her length.
It's not that she doesn't want to clean, it's just that she ran out of brooms and mops half a month ago.
One by one, the things around me disappeared.
The ghost story is clearly decaying, but will it recede naturally like the tide, or will it collapse and explode like a star being destroyed? If it's the latter, she must escape before it's destroyed.
How much time does she have left?
How long can this godforsaken place last?
Gong Baidie remained silent about her health decline, leaving Wen Ting unaware of the situation.
Now that things have come to this, why won't he tell her?
His attitude towards her got better and better, to the point that he was completely out of character.
Could it be that he intends to drag her down with him in a suicide pact?
So there's no need to talk to her about it!
Damn, that really fits the madman's thinking.
Wen Ting suddenly realized why he had killed all the humans who were being used as fuel.
He had long since become twisted and insane, and had no intention of living at all!
Given Gong Baidie's personality, it's impossible for her to live happily alone in this world.
Several times, Wen Ting held the pistol and couldn't help but pull back the barrel;
Each time, she suppressed her agitation and put the gun back at the end.
This gun can kill a human butterfly, but whether it can kill a palace white butterfly is completely unfounded.
But this was Wen Ting's only weapon.
The ghost stories were like a wrecked ship, making her feel the anxiety of a flood slowly rising up.
Wait a little longer, don't rush.
Let's wait a little longer and stall him a bit more.
Wait a little longer; her life cannot be ruined here.
The world without lights and without the sun is even darker than the nights back home, and Wen Ting can only rely on her mobile phone for light.
In the darkness, on days when there was nothing, she could only prolong her sleep.
She gets plenty of sleep, and sleeps a lot every day, so her sleep isn't deep.
On June 5th, she was awakened by crying.
Wen Ting opened her eyes, and it took her a while to vaguely realize that it wasn't crying, but the sound of an ocarina.
Startled to find no one beside her, she sat up in bed and discovered that Gong Baidie was sitting in the corner of the room.
He turned to her side, half-closing his eyelids as he played the ocarina.
On the small table in front of me, a desk lamp cast a dim yellow light, illuminating only a small area.
Under the lamp was another incense burner with intertwined branches, from which thick, crimson smoke rose, but Wen Ting could not smell any fragrance.
Did the scent simply "disappear"? Or did she stay in the room for too long and lose the ability to smell it?
Noticing that she had woken up, Gong Baidie put down the ocarina and turned to look at her.
In the dim yellow light, Wen Ting could see his face clearly. Under his left eye, there was a mark of Gong Baidie: a butterfly mark the size of a fingernail.
The vibrant peach color, unlike the pale white marks in the game, makes it easily recognizable even in low light.
He smiled at her, and Wen Ting became slightly lost in thought.
She felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity towards him, as if she hadn't seen him in a long time.
Gong Baidie put down the xun and walked towards her, her clothes disheveled and her long hair swaying behind her.
"Wen Ting," he leaned closer to her, inviting her with a smile, "how about I go with you to ride the carousel?"
Wen Ting stared intently at him.
They were so close that all he could see was her reflection.
“No, I’ve ridden it so many times while you were asleep,” she complained softly. “I want you to come with me on the roller coaster; it’s all covered in dust.”
Gong Baidie looked at her, and after a moment, grinned and said, "Okay."
The roller coaster on the lower level stopped long ago; its power was too great, and the entire building's energy was barely enough to start it.
Wen Ting swept the dust off the chair and looked expectantly at Gong Baidie, wanting him to demonstrate his magical power.
Gong Baidie stepped forward and placed her hand on the start button.
After a long time, the colored lights on the track slowly lit up, one after another, gradually illuminating from beginning to end, forming a dazzling curve in the four-story building, resembling the aurora borealis.
"So beautiful—" Wen Ting exclaimed from behind Gong Baidie.
Gong Baidie coughed twice and stepped onto the chair.
He turned around and reached out to her. Wen Ting grabbed his hand and, with his help, sat down on him.
The car started, and Wen Ting fastened her seatbelt, noticing two wisps of gray smoke still clinging to her waist.
Her hand was held by Gong Baidie.
He held her tightly, as if afraid she would fall.
The car started slowly, and from late winter to early summer, the wind was no longer biting, but rather felt exceptionally comfortable on my body.
As she reached the highest point, Wen Ting heard a voice beside her: "Are you happy?"
She paused, then beamed, "Happy."
Gong Baidie turned to look at her: "Really?"
She lifted their intertwined hands and kissed his ring finger: "Xiaobai, this is the most expensive private car I've ever ridden in."
The gentle wind suddenly turned swift, and the car slid from its highest point, plunging towards the bottom of the valley.
Wen Ting grabbed the handrail and screamed. She shouted with delight, and after sitting down once, she shook Gong Baidie's arm, wanting to sit down a second and a third time...
She only reluctantly ended the session when her throat was hoarse and she was so thirsty and swollen.
With unsteady steps, Wen Ting grabbed the frame to steady herself, the colorful lights on the frame shining like stars beneath her.
The intense dizziness, amplified by the lights, made her turn around abruptly with a bright smile. "Guess what I'm going to say now!"
Gong Baidie stepped out of the car. "What?"
"Guess, guess."
She held her disheveled hair back, her eyes bright, her cheeks flushed, looking more vibrant and energetic than ever before, not at all like the elite team leader of Green Forest.
Gong Baidie stared intently at the scene, then tilted her head. "Hungry?"
"..."
"want to?"
Wen Ting covered his mouth, her eyes moist and hot, "I want to tell you, I want to tell you, in this life, only you are the one I willingly want to marry."
Gong Baidie was stunned.
Her palms were a little itchy. Under the dazzling lights of the roller coaster, Wen Ting saw him smile with his eyebrows raised and eyes curved, as he smiled in her palm.
She had never seen such a pure smile, like a flower blooming in early spring.
...
The day after the eighth assessment day.
Bang--
She pulled the trigger against the wall, and the bullet left the barrel smoothly.
All the furniture was gone, but the gun was still functional.
Wen Ting unfastened the safety latch and went to the bedroom.
In the pitch-black bedroom, Gong Baidie lay on their bed.
He had been asleep for three days. She called him more than ten times but couldn't wake him. Even so, Wen Ting tried her best to walk quietly, hoping not to wake him.
The red butterfly pattern under his eyes has never disappeared; even in this dark room, its outline is still faintly visible.
Wen Ting walked to his side, glanced at him briefly, and without saying a word or touching him, simply pressed the muzzle of the gun against his temple.
Bang, bang bang bang—
He fired five shots in a row, from the head to the heart.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Wen Ting, panting, confirmed the bullet holes with her own eyes.
Having been beaten like that, there's no chance of survival.
If he really doesn't die... then there's nothing she can do.
The air was thick with the stench of blood; the smell was so strong that Wen Ting took a half-step back.
Suddenly, the gun barrel encountered resistance.
Her breath hitched. To her astonishment, she saw a hand gripping the barrel of her gun.
Gong Baidie, whose head was half smashed, slowly got up.
He sat up in bed, like a corpse floating on water, exuding a damp and chilling aura.
His pale hand gripped the gun barrel, his thumb blocking the muzzle. He grinned and said to Wen Ting, "Good morning."
Thud...
A bullet fell out of the bullet hole in his chest, the metal falling to the ground and rolling to Wen Ting's feet.
He asked her, "My lady, did you wake me up because you were hungry?"
Wen Ting gritted her teeth, pulled the trigger, and fired another shot.
-----------------------
Author's note: Wen Ting: No, this time I want to be you.
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