113 A Feast of a Hundred Devious Tales (7)
You are the team leader I found for the squad.
"Rose...Rose killed someone!!"
One player dodged the flower branch that had just attacked in an instant, retreating with a look of terror in his eyes. Even though he was still holding the tool, he almost dropped it because he was trembling with fear.
"What are you yelling for? You're not new to this game." A player nearby, who was also awkwardly dodging, shouted impatiently.
The castle is very large, with courtyards, gardens, fountains, and rooms that are up to four stories high.
Besides the original hall, there are rose vines everywhere.
The hundreds of ghosts and players were scattered throughout the ancient castle, yet it did not appear crowded or densely packed.
At least here, there are only the three of them.
The two had already communicated via the game, while the other person remained engrossed in cleaning the roses.
The two players, who had just confirmed their identities through conversation, exchanged a glance. Under the light of the swaying lantern prop, they launched the first attack on each other.
Here, besides players, there are only monsters—hundreds of monsters. If players want to survive until dawn, the only way is to cooperate in killing the monsters; there's basically no other way.
But their attack missed.
The person who was busy clearing the flower vines looked up and smiled faintly at them.
The mask covering the real face slowly twisted and changed under their gazes—
Finally, he transformed into the appearance of one of the players when they first entered the instance and took the initiative to absorb all of that player's attacks.
"Holy crap! What the hell is going on?!" The player was horrified, goosebumps rising all over his body. The experience of watching someone else grow a face just like his was even more terrifying than seeing a ghost on the spot!
"Watch out!" Another player tugged at him, saying in a low voice, "This monster probably wants to take your place. We can't hold back anymore; we must kill it with all our might, otherwise it'll get away..."
At this point, the player whose face had changed shuddered and immediately cooperated with the player next to him, fiercely engaging in the attack, determined to quickly kill their opponent.
We absolutely cannot let this monster escape while still in my appearance!
He gritted his teeth and used all his trump cards, constantly adapting to the prompts from the players around him as he faced his enemies.
But he still fell into the warm pool of his own blood.
He did not die at the hands of that evil spirit.
He died at the hands of another cunning man.
His newly acknowledged player companion, clutching his pounding, bloody heart, tossed it without hesitation to the stopped monster.
Finally, in his incredulous yet feeble struggle, he bent down and casually kicked his body with his toes, wiping the blood and mud from his feet onto his clothes.
"Want to ask me why?" The player noticed his resentful gaze, raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Of course it's because you're stupid. After being a player for so long, you still haven't learned not to easily trust your companions, let alone strangers."
"So stupid, who else but you deserves to die?"
"Only when all the fools like you die, the more people die, the greater my chance of survival will be."
"..."
He was still talking, but the player lying in a pool of blood could no longer hear him.
Those eyes stared unblinkingly at the dark sky, their light no longer reflecting even a glimmer of brightness amidst the swaying of the lantern prop.
Rose killed someone.
The monster ate people.
Even their own companions had to step over the corpses of their own kind to fight for survival.
Perhaps, as that player said, someone as stupid as him deserves to die.
Even if they don't die now, they'll die at some point in the future, in some other instance, or on some unknown day.
As long as he remains trapped in this bizarre game, a fool like him will always die unexpectedly and predictably.
No one will pity him, no one will even sigh or sympathize with him; as his life ends, he will only hear the same mockery from the "clever" crowd.
"Let's go, time to hunt the next one." The player, his hands stained with the blood of his companion, calmly took down the lantern and, with a sinister laugh, headed towards his next prey.
As for roses?
As Lambeau said, the night is still very long, so long that these players have never seen the dawn of the castle.
After they left, a slender figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
She walked to the dead player, looked down to examine the empty chest cavity, then half-squatted beside the corpse and touched and measured the flesh and bones of the body.
Qin Fu'an sat by the window, taking in the entire scene from beginning to end.
Upon seeing the female player appear, Qin Fu'an raised an eyebrow slightly.
In his green pupils, a soul shimmering with a faint golden light was reflected.
Ordinary people, yet they have accumulated enough merit in this lifetime.
Besides the merits she had accumulated, the woman also possessed an lingering aura of yin energy.
Unlike the ghostly aura surrounding Xie Yunhuai, the yin energy seemed to have accumulated from being in an extremely yin place for a long time, day after day.
But women are inherently yin, and they live in places where yin energy gathers for a long time...
Qin Fu'an guessed that if she hadn't accidentally entered the game, the yin energy on this woman's body would probably already be transitioning into death energy.
But because she entered the game, after completing dungeon after dungeon, she had enough attribute points to strengthen her weak body, so she was able to continue living, and as long as she didn't die, she could live healthier and healthier.
Perhaps because Qin Fu'an's gaze lingered on the other person for too long, the woman who was groping the corpse finally frowned and looked over.
"A corpse driver?" Qin Fu'an stood up and asked through the window.
"...You know?" The woman's eyes widened in surprise. Her mask features weren't particularly striking, but her eyes and brows were pure and ethereal. If one had to describe her aura, she would probably resemble...a college student nearing graduation.
Qin Fu'an nodded to her: "I guessed something from your method of preparing the body for burial."
"Technique?" Xi Ya looked down at her hands, turning them over and over, but didn't think there was anything special about her technique.
However, she didn't dwell on that. Instead, she looked up and asked Qin Fu'an inside the room, "Are you a player too? Are you a new player? I don't think I've seen anyone like you in the last batch of players."
He revealed all his secrets in one sentence.
Qin Fu'an was a little curious about how she managed to survive in this game for so long.
"Yes, a newcomer."
He nodded and chatted with the other person through the window, as if this were not some bizarre and dangerous game instance, but a university classroom without any danger.
"Oh, oh." Xi Ya nodded, smiled at him, and kindly advised, "Then you have to be careful. Don't get too close to the veteran players. Many of them are hunters who cooperate with monsters and specialize in deceiving unsuspecting new players like you."
Strangely, the way she said those words made it sound somewhat amusing.
It's like a harmless rabbit warning a snake to be careful of a more ferocious fox.
"And what about you?" Qin Fu'an asked her, "You're also a veteran player, how did you survive their hunts?"
Xi Ya gave him a wary look, then shook her head: "Don't try to trick me into saying anything more. I'm not stupid. If it weren't for the fact that you're a newcomer and a bit dangerous, I wouldn't be so kind as to tell you all this."
After muttering to herself, she turned around and continued working on the corpse.
Qin Fu'an stared at her back, and a general guess gradually formed in his mind.
So, just as Xi Ya was using some unknown means to slowly raise the recently deceased corpse from the ground and prepare to leave, Qin Fu'an called her back again.
“I have a squad.”
His eyes curved slightly as he said slowly, "Our team is called Funeral Service. Currently, there are only two of us, including myself. One of us is responsible for killing, and the other is responsible for locking souls. We're looking for a teammate who can make good use of corpses. I wonder if you'd be interested?"
“…” Xi Ya doubted her ears.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she pressed, "What did you just say your team's name was?"
Qin Fu'an: "Yes, you heard right. It's called a one-stop funeral service, which takes care of killing, burying, and even sending people to hell."
Xi Ya: "..."
Oh no, I'm starting to feel tempted.
It sounds like they not only have a clear division of labor, but also that it's very, very sophisticated.
The round-faced girl hesitated for a few seconds, then asked cautiously, "What do I need to contribute after joining the team?"
All four major guilds have membership requirements and member contribution rankings. Xi Ya had never teamed up with anyone before, so she was both tempted and hesitant.
But Qin Fu'an's words dispelled her hesitation.
The man, leisurely leaning against the windowsill chatting with her about the shop sign, smiled and said casually yet arrogantly, "There aren't any special requirements. The only thing to be careful about is that you'll make a lot of enemies, and you'll have to deal with a lot of corpses..."
"Okay!" A resounding answer interrupted Qin Fu'an's introduction. Xi Ya looked at him with sparkling eyes and exclaimed excitedly, "I agree! I'll team up with you!!"
Qin Fu'an: "..."
The audience on both sides: "..."
Great, now anyone with a brain knows exactly what you're interested in.
It's nothing but corpses...
[No wonder our ducks always like to run to the battlegrounds where there are the most dead.]
[Duck, the new-era expert at picking up corpses!]
[Hilarious! Isn't this a perfect match for Duck's major? Funeral Services – who was the brilliant mind to come up with this team name?]
[Go, ducks! Let's go big, strong, and create new glories! With you around, the game developers can probably cut back on the number of crematoriums!]
[Upstairs, there are no crematoriums in the Ghost Realm. Corpses are food, and no ghost would have the heart to put food in a state of spoilage for burning.]
[Duck, be careful of this guy. He seems really dangerous. I even looked up his other teammate, and he's also a crazy killer. Neither of them are good people. If you team up with them, be careful not to get led astray.]
Xi Ya caught a glimpse of this comment out of the corner of her eye and curiously looked at Qin Fu'an.
"Who's the captain of our team?" she asked in a low voice as she leaned closer.
They're acting all mysterious, clearly up to no good, yet their whole demeanor screams "come quick and be fooled!"
Qin Fu'an met her gaze for a second, then decisively said, "You."
"Who???" Xi Ya began to doubt her ears again.
Not only that, she also suspected that the temporarily added team wasn't as impressive as they claimed.
It doesn't seem very reliable.
But the person in front of her nodded firmly and said in a deep voice, "That's right, it's you. You're the captain I found for the team."
Xi Ya secretly took two steps back: "...I...Is it too late for me to back out now?"
In response, Qin Fu'an shook his head with a smile: "It's too late, Captain."
Xi Ya: "..."
If I'm not mistaken... I think I sold myself?
[Author's Note]
Xi Ya: I, the duck, have finally cooked myself and flown into someone else's mouth!
New teammates, a triangle is the only stable shape!
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