Chapter 131: The Alter Ego Says He Loves Me (20)
Xiao Yinnian didn’t dare to move.
At that moment, Xiao Ji pulled the quilt over Xiao Yinnian’s face, then sat up. He reached out a finger and poked the forehead of the face pressed against the gauze curtain, pushing it back.
He pulled back the curtain and looked at the child standing in the darkness. The child’s face was pale, with two bright red spots on its cheeks. Xiao Ji said calmly, “What toy? That dead rat?”
The child’s pitch-black eyes stared straight at Xiao Ji, and it asked again, “Did you throw away my toy?”
Xiao Ji denied it. “You left your toy on that bed over there. Why are you looking on this bed?”
Hearing this, the child’s already creepy grin widened even further. “As long as they’re dead, they’re all my toys.”
Xiao Ji remained expressionless. “Everyone who tried to make me a toy ended up dead.”
After saying that, he watched as the child tilted its head. “Are you a boy or a girl?”
The child mimicked Xiao Ji and tilted its head, but then its small head simply fell off its neck and rolled under the bed.
Xiao Ji sighed. He leaned over, reached under the bed, and pulled the head out. He placed it back on the child’s neck.
It wasn’t straight the first time, so he took it off and put it on again. Then he touched the child’s face and told it, “Your rat is right over there. We didn’t touch it. Go look in the other rooms.”
The smile on the child’s face vanished. It stared at Xiao Ji for a while, then told him, “I’m a girl.”
After saying that, she turned and walked to the other bed where the dead rat was. After seemingly confirming the rat was still on the bed, there was no more movement in the room.
After a long time, Xiao Yinnian poked his head out from under the covers. He sat up and looked at Xiao Ji, his heart still pounding. He said with lingering fear, “It’s a good thing we didn’t throw that rat away.”
Xiao Ji looked at Xiao Yinnian with a thoughtful expression and put a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence. He pointed toward the other bed.
Xiao Yinnian felt a chill run down his spine. In the darkness, he saw a small figure sitting on the other bed. She picked something up from the bed and clutched it to her chest.
Much later, the figure disappeared unnoticed from the room.
Xiao Yinnian didn’t dare to breathe heavily until Xiao Ji spoke to him. “Now, there’s one thing that might be a bit of a problem.”
Only then did Xiao Yinnian realize the child had left.
He let out a sigh of relief and frowned. “What is it?”
Xiao Ji said, “Last time in the sanatorium, the NPCs were at least living people who could be killed.”
“But that child just now was clearly already dead. If the ones holding the power over life and death in this world aren’t living things, then physical damage won’t be of much use against them.”
For example, that child just now; her head could be put back on after falling off. To completely make her vanish, they would have to find another way.
Xiao Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji’s calm expression, and the corner of his eye began to twitch.
He licked his lips and looked at the wall separating them from the next room, asking tentatively, “If the dead rat was that ghost’s toy, and throwing it away triggers the death condition… then that girl named Ling-zi…”
Xiao Ji also looked at the wall next door, then lay back down. “It has nothing to do with us. Everyone relies on their own luck.”
Xiao Yinnian understood the logic. In a place like this, not harming others was already rare. Minding other people’s business didn’t necessarily save them and was more likely to harm oneself.
He nodded and didn’t say anything more.
As expected, not long after his conversation with Xiao Ji ended, strange sounds came from next door.
There were no screams or pleas for help.
There was only a clear sound of chewing and swallowing.
It seemed something was feeding next door. From time to time, there were a few “crack, crack” sounds of something being crushed.
It made Xiao Yinnian’s hair stand on end.
Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, a shout erupted from next door, followed by the sound of a door being burst open.
“Chang-ge! Chang-ge!”
A man’s hurried footsteps and frantic knocking on a door sounded repeatedly.
Xiao Yinnian, who hadn’t slept all night, and Lin Chuan, who had slept well, both scrambled out of bed and poked Xiao Ji. “Go take a look.”
Xiao Ji opened his eyes, gathered his thoughts, got out of bed, and opened the door. “What happened?”
The man who was knocking on Chang-ge’s door suddenly spun around. He looked at Xiao Ji in terror. “Ling-zi… Ling-zi is dead!”
It was expected. Xiao Ji walked to the door of the room next door with a neutral expression. He saw that the bed where the dead rat had been found yesterday was now almost entirely red.
Lying on the bed was only a skeleton and some scattered scraps of flesh and blood.
Xiao Yinnian felt like he was going to throw up again.
He hid behind Xiao Ji, lowered his head, and pressed his forehead against Xiao Ji’s shoulder. He took a deep breath of the scent on Xiao Ji before he managed to suppress the urge to vomit.
Xiao Ji looked at the man. “Did you not hear any sound last night?”
The man shook his head frantically. “I fell asleep. I didn’t hear anything. As soon as I opened my eyes this morning, I saw… I saw…”
He couldn’t go on.
Just then, Chang-ge also happened to open his door.
The man quickly grabbed Chang-ge’s arm. “Chang-ge! Ling-zi is dead! When we came in, you said you’d protect us!”
He became more and more agitated. Before Chang-ge could answer, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Chang-ge’s throat, pinning him against the wall. “It was you! You did it on purpose! Ling-zi only threw that rat away because she listened to you yesterday! You killed her on purpose!”
Chang-ge was no pushover either. He kicked the man away and whipped out a dagger, pressing it against the man’s throat. “Don’t come shouting at me. She died because she had bad luck. Don’t go dumping every bucket of sh*t on my head.”
With the commotion, everyone else was woken up. They came out of their rooms to see what was happening.
At that moment, the woman who had received them yesterday appeared again in the courtyard downstairs. She stood in the center of the courtyard, looking up at everyone.
“Everyone, breakfast is ready. After you eat today, please head to the east side of the village. Our master has specifically set up an opera stage and invited an opera troupe. He wants everyone to watch a performance.”
“However, please maintain order. It’s best to remain quiet while watching the opera. Avoid shouting or making loud noises.”
After speaking, the woman left. Everyone once again arrived at the round table where they’d eaten dinner the previous night.
Today, even the woman who hadn’t eaten last night showed up. Except for the unrecognizable Ling-zi, there were currently seventeen people around the round table.
However, on the table, only sixteen sets of cutlery remained.
Translator’s Note: “Dumping a bucket of sh*t on someone’s head” (kòu shǐpénzi) is a Chinese idiom meaning to unfairly blame or frame someone.
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