Chapter 76 The Colorful City 5 What a perverted old man.
It was unknown whether the butlers of the fourteen players had already agreed on this. An Rao did not meet any other players along the way as he followed the butler to the restaurant. There were continuous corridors along the way, neatly hung with oil paintings of figures. The corridors were filled with various dolls. An Rao did not understand art and could not tell whether the paintings were good or not, but the frames were exquisite and gorgeous, and the figures were vivid, so they should be worth a lot of money.
"We're at the restaurant, please come in." A tall black and gold-painted door with fruit patterns appeared in front of An Rao. An Rao stood at the door and hesitated for a few seconds, then reached out and pushed the door open.
What was presented before An Rao was a medieval palace banquet hall that only appeared in movies. In the center of the equally magnificent hall was placed a long table covered with a black velvet tablecloth, with four candelabra and flower decorations placed alternately in the middle of the table. On both sides of the long table were fourteen high-backed chairs and corresponding silver tableware. At the end of the long table was a tall and spacious red velvet carved black wood high-back chair, which was obviously Papa's exclusive chair.
Some players had already arrived at the restaurant and were standing at the edge of the restaurant looking around. Before Papa arrived, no one dared to take a seat first.
An Rao saw that Shao Yun, who had claimed to be a beautiful anchor, had changed into a tight and hot blue cheongsam. She was obviously very satisfied with her new outfit and kept changing her standing posture to see which one could better display her charm.
But the blue high-slit tight short cheongsam made An Rao squint his eyes and always felt that it looked very familiar.
"Puchi!" Shao Yun couldn't help laughing when he saw An Rao who just came in, and then praised him in a sarcastic tone, "You are worthy of being a man who can be looked at differently by my brother Baichuan. It doesn't look out of place in women's clothes. It's a pity that your chest is too flat, otherwise I really would have to lift your skirt to see whether you are a man or a woman."
In just one sentence, he called himself neither male nor female, which was quite rude. An Rao clasped his fists and said, "Thank you for the compliment. It's my first time wearing women's clothes. I feel pretty good. Lolita is easy to control. It's more comfortable than twisting like a snake in a cheongsam."
"Who are you talking about breathing in and holding in the abdomen? I was born with such a good figure!" Shao Yun was so angry that she put her hands on her hips, and her plump chest rose and fell under the tight cheongsam. The scene was very inconsistent with this absolutely European-style luxury restaurant.
An Rao's heart was moved, and he was very confused. Why did Papa, who was such a particular person, choose a set of clothes for Shao Yun that didn't match the entire castle?
Several players nearby were attracted by the quarrel and looked over. Although everyone's clothes were different, the man in the Lolita skirt did look more special among them. One male player even whistled.
However, the frivolous whistle was cut off by the sound of the door opening before it was finished. An Rao looked over as if by telepathy. It was Bai Chuan. Bai Chuan came in.
Baichuan was not assigned a female doll - which made An Rao, who wanted to watch the fun, extremely disappointed - but instead he was assigned a set of light armor and black robe that was more conservative than his usual black shirt, trousers and black leather shoes. Except for the white feather by his ear, all the skin below his neck was covered by the cold silver-black armor, making him look even more stern and untouchable like a sharp icicle.
"Wow! Brother is so handsome!" Shao Yun exclaimed.
Baichuan seemed to be deaf, looking straight at Anrao.
For a moment, An Rao, wrapped in a soft and cute Lolita puffy skirt, felt very embarrassed when being stared at by Bai Chuan in silver armor and black robe. Then, when Bai Chuan walked towards her with a cold face, she involuntarily took a step back.
Baichuan was wearing a complete set of lightweight armor that medieval knights usually wore. He had no helmet on his head, and the metal belt cinched his waist neatly and beautifully. The leggings and long boots under the armor made Baichuan's already slender legs look full of power. He was wearing a black cloak over the silver armor. As he strode towards An Rao, the black cloak fluttered in the wind, as if a giant dragon emitting a biting cold air was walking towards the soft prey in front of him that looked like a green dumpling.
"I'm in the second room on the first floor." Time was running out, so Baichuan went straight to the point.
"I'm in the innermost room on the third floor." An Rao followed immediately.
"It should be the same building. There is a narrow stone staircase next to my room," Kashiwakawa replied quickly, his voice free of any emotion.
An Rao looked at Bai Chuan silently. After these several amusement projects and last night's terrifying circus night, Bai Chuan and himself had already reached a very high level of tacit understanding, but he did not expect it to be so high. He was the first person to enter, and Bai Chuan had to be the last. The first person could grasp all the first-hand information, while the last person could get the order of all the people. These two parts of information were indispensable. Even if An Rao did not have time to say it, Bai Chuan knew what to do and did it.
"Boss!" Su Ming interrupted their conversation. An Rao turned around and looked towards the entrance, and found that Su Ming, Shi Yirou and Shi Ge had also arrived. Su Ming was wearing a white robe and blue trousers, and a pair of wooden clogs on his feet. Shi Yirou was wearing a red silk suspender dress with high heels. When she walked, her black stockings could be seen through the high slit of the skirt, making her look very royal. Shi Ge was wearing a Mario outfit of blue overalls and a red short-sleeved shirt, but his short hair was permed into an exaggerated corn-like curl.
"Hey? Boss!" Su Ming ran towards An Rao, his clogs clanging as they were kicked on the ground. "You and Brother Bo standing together look like a princess and a knight!"
Princess and knight? An Rao was stunned for a moment and suddenly realized. No wonder everyone's clothes looked familiar. Shao Yun's blue cheongsam was Chun Li's battle suit in Street Fighter, Su Ming's clothes were the white dragon in Spirited Away, Shi Ge was Mario, and Shi Yirou's clothes were the classic suit of the heroine in Resident Evil.
Papa prepares clothes for everyone in the shape of characters from games or movies.
"Do you know what you are wearing?" An Rao asked Su Ming who was still looking around.
"I know! It's the Amber Lord from Spirited Away. This colorful city is so strange. Why do we have to cosplay in the castle?" Su Ming scratched the back of his head. "Look, almost all the big IPs are gathered here!"
"What is IP?" Baichuan suddenly interrupted.
"Uh...it turns out that Boss Bai also has blind spots in knowledge..." Su Ming blinked, "Suddenly I feel like we've gotten closer!"
"The IP that Su Ming mentioned is Intellectual Property, which is a character image with unique value created by people. The clothes we wear now are designed in the style of these unique and famous characters." An Rao explained.
"Is it just the image of the character?" Baichuan asked.
"Of course not! There is a complete story behind each of these characters! There's nothing special about individual characters," Su Ming began to talk endlessly, "For example, the image of Sister Yirou is the heroine in a very famous movie. She fought alone and bravely entered the zombie city. It was so amazing!"
"And me, I am--" Su Ming was interrupted by a robotic voice in the restaurant before he could finish his words: "Holy Father Papa has arrived at the restaurant. Please take your seats in the order in which you were checked by Holy Father Papa."
Baichuan was the last person to be checked, so after he sat down in order, he happened to be facing Anrao. After everyone was seated in their seats, Papa sat down gracefully at the top of the long table.
"Ding ding ding." Papa picked up a silver spoon and knocked on the crystal red wine glass in front of him. The whole restaurant immediately fell silent. The puppet waiter who appeared from nowhere began to pour water for everyone silently but in an orderly manner.
"First of all, congratulations on becoming apprentices of the Holy Light Castle. Welcome to live and study in the Holy Light Castle. The Holy Light Castle is the most sacred place in the Colorful City. Here, I have the responsibility to inform you of the apprentice rules of the Holy Light Castle."
An Rao raised his eyes inconspicuously and looked at Baichuan who was sitting opposite him. It turned out that the rules were here.
“First, cherish the priceless decorations in the castle. Second, study hard. Finally, don’t disobey Papa.” The rules Papa stated were very simple, which made the players in the seats breathe a sigh of relief.
But An Rao felt bad, very, very bad. The simplest rules are the hardest to enforce, just like the catch-all clauses in the law. Although there is no exact content, it can be interpreted to include all situations that the legislator did not expect. For example, how to cherish the priceless decorations in the castle? What does it mean to study hard? As for disobedience, it is an absolutely subjective judgment. If you ask me to eat vegetables and I insist on eating radishes, is it disobedience?
"That's easy. I can do it!" A player sitting in the middle expressed his opinion immediately, but soon he could not continue. His hands were throbbing with veins bulging as he strangled his throat. His whole face was red and his eyeballs were bulging. After a messy sound of tables, chairs and plates colliding and breaking, the player fell off the table with a "thump". After struggling on the ground for a while, he stopped moving.
Everyone was silent. No one dared to leave the table to check or even turn their heads to look at the partner lying on the ground. But there was no doubt that the player was dead. The incontinence caused by fear made the whole restaurant smell extremely bad. Papa frowned, took out the silk handkerchief on his chest to cover his mouth and nose, and waved nonchalantly to the butler behind him. The servant puppets scattered around the walls of the restaurant opened the windows for ventilation, moved the corpse and cleaned the floor in an orderly manner. Soon, the restaurant became as clean as before. The servants politely apologized and replaced the broken plates. Soon, the number of chairs on both sides of the long table in the restaurant increased from fourteen to thirteen.
The panic spread wildly in the restaurant, like black sea water drowning the players, and Papa seemed to enjoy this state very much. If An Rao was not mistaken, he even felt that Papa took a deep breath in ecstasy.
"It is very rude to interrupt others when they are speaking. I hope you can remember this." After Papa finished speaking, he elegantly picked up a snow-white handkerchief at hand and washed his hands slowly and leisurely. He was a true aristocrat, dignified, elegant, and unchallengeable.
Papa held the used handkerchief between his two fingers and gently waved it backwards. Immediately, a servant puppet leaned forward and took the handkerchief from Papa's hand. Papa had no expression on his face, as if the man he had just killed was not a serious accident. He continued, "In addition, you must have dinner with Papa every night, pray before meals, and no communication is allowed during meals."
An Rao sat on the left hand side closest to Papa, and could only look at the crystal clear wine glass in front of him expressionlessly, but his mind was full of questions. These fragmented rules seemed to be playing house, as if they had entered a clumsy medieval cosplay game, where characters from another dimension entered the palace and were constantly punished for not understanding the red tape in the palace. Most importantly, Papa could kill people before he said the rule of not talking during meals. He was like the patriarch of the castle with absolute authority, and had the absolute right to punish these humble apprentices at will.
Moreover, no communication is allowed during the meal. If the word "communication" is understood literally, it at least means that you cannot talk to each other. Considering that Papa has arranged a dedicated butler for each player, it is obvious that he does not want players to communicate with each other, or he wants to control and monitor the communication and whereabouts of the players.
What an old pervert.
But what is the purpose of Holy Light Castle and Papa controlling everyone in this way?
An Rao stared at the red wine glass in front of him in a daze. So, how can he convey information at any time?
Suddenly, a shadow reflected by the tall crystal cup filled with water moved. The silver and black shadow was Kashiwa's armor. He was such a genius!
He saw Baichuan casually extend a finger.
An Rao remembered that the hand gesture they had agreed upon when they first entered the city actually came in handy at this moment! So while the waiter was serving the food, An Rao pretended to drink from the wine glass, and then he also stretched out a finger and placed it on the wall of the wine glass.
——"Stay put and listen to Papa."
——"Well, keep your troops in place."
An Rao believed that Su Ming, Shi Yirou and Shi Ge must have also seen their hints.
"Well, let's start our meal." Papa finished speaking, and the violinist who had been waiting in the corner of the restaurant for a long time put his bow on the strings. White rosin powder floated in the air, and beautiful violin music sounded. Cold language and beautiful music, stiff corpses and soft food, extreme control and abundant material, they were in an incomparable luxurious castle, but they did not have the freedom of penniless beggars who had to eat and sleep in the open air.
About half an hour later, Papa elegantly put the knife and fork in his hand together and placed them on the plate. He then gently wiped the corners of his mouth, which were not stained, with a napkin and said, "The meal is over."
Everyone quickly put down their knives and forks and sat up straight - like well-trained soldiers.
Papa nodded with satisfaction and smiled: "The last point, and the most important one, is that only one apprentice can eventually complete his studies and become a puppet master on par with me."
What does that mean? Does this game require players to kill each other? If the mode is to kill each other, then why can Papa also participate in killing?
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