Chapter 129: The Alter Ego Says He Loves Me (18)
Hearing this, the girl didn’t push it. She looked toward He Lei instead. “Big Brother…”
He Lei looked at Xiao Ji’s trio and nodded to the girl without saying anything.
Just then, one of the members of the slicked-back Chang-ge’s team suddenly let out a small “eh” as he looked at the teacups on the table. “There are only seventeen cups, but there are eighteen of us. Did that woman miscalculate?”
Hearing this, everyone first counted the cups on the table and then looked at the others in the room. As they counted, their hearts began to sink.
“Seventeen cups, eighteen people. The numbers indeed don’t match. If that woman didn’t make a mistake, it can only mean one thing.”
Chang-ge looked at everyone and narrowed his eyes. “This time is going to be a big trouble. From the very start, something else has mixed in with us.”
Everyone felt a prickling sensation on their scalps. As they looked at each other, the suspicion in their eyes was plain to see.
Xiao Yinnian, Xiao Ji, and Lin Chuan exchanged glances, but none of them spoke at this time.
He Lei suddenly spoke up, “Maybe she just miscounted the cups. It’s just the start; let’s not lose our courage yet. Didn’t she say we’d be eating soon? Let’s check the number of sets of cutlery they bring out before we decide.”
A woman who had been standing by the window and hadn’t spoken until now said, “I don’t have much of an appetite. You guys eat first. I want to go upstairs and rest for a bit.”
After she spoke, she was about to turn and leave when Chang-ge suddenly grabbed her, pinned her by the neck against the wall, and snarled, “We just said we need to check the number of cutlery sets, and you want to stage a prison break? What, do you have a guilty conscience?”
The woman was choked and couldn’t breathe, but she clearly wasn’t one to be pushed around. She kicked and punched at Chang-ge. As soon as she was released, she started cursing, “I’ll decide whether I eat or not! If my lack of cooperation means you all die, then you can all just go to hell! If you’re so capable, kill me then! See if I don’t turn into a ghost and haunt you to death!”
After saying that, she rubbed her neck, gave Chang-ge a fierce glare, and turned to leave.
The mission started with such a conflict, so no one’s mood was particularly good.
When everyone moved to the room next door and counted the seventeen sets of cutlery on the large round table, the atmosphere became even more somber.
Xiao Ji’s trio sat down together. Xiao Yinnian whispered, “We don’t know if these seventeen sets of cutlery are because that woman didn’t come, or if…”
He looked at Xiao Ji and didn’t finish the second half of his sentence.
But Xiao Ji understood Xiao Yinnian’s meaning.
Eighteen people, seventeen sets of cutlery.
Currently, no one could be sure if it was because of the Soul Splitting Card that the NPC failed to accurately identify Xiao Ji’s existence, or if one of the eighteen people truly wasn’t human.
But that woman’s lack of cooperation had clearly made things convenient for Xiao Ji.
Even if the problem truly lay with Xiao Ji, this coincidence had managed to keep him hidden.
Xiao Ji reached out and squeezed Xiao Yinnian’s ice-cold fingertips. “Don’t think too much. The answer will be revealed sooner or later.”
Feeling Xiao Ji’s touch, Xiao Yinnian’s fingertips felt a tingling, numbing sensation, like an electric current running straight into his heart. It felt strange.
But he didn’t pull away. He even calmly stroked Xiao Ji’s hand back and teased, “Tell me, if I touch you now, does it count as me touching myself?”
Xiao Ji pulled his hand back. “It doesn’t.”
Now wasn’t the time for conversation. Xiao Ji and Xiao Yinnian stopped their talk and shut their mouths.
The food on the table was still steaming.
It wasn’t a gourmet feast, but for a village like this, it was decent enough for entertaining guests.
Furthermore, from what they could see, the family hosting the wedding feast was considered a wealthy household in the village.
However, no one dared to be the first to pick up their chopsticks.
At this moment, Chang-ge, who had lost the aggression he’d shown while pinning the woman’s neck, smiled at everyone. “Rest assured, eating won’t be a death condition. No mission world kills everyone right at the start. As long as everyone eats, we’ll all be fine.”
As he spoke, he picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks and put it into the girl’s bowl next to him. He continued, “If eating will kill you, then not eating will kill you sooner or later anyway. I’d rather go out on a full stomach.”
After saying that, he told the girl, “Eat. I’m here.”
The girl trusted Chang-ge very much, so she obediently put the vegetable into her mouth.
Seeing her eat, Chang-ge also picked up his bowl and took a bite of the rice.
The people following him also began to use their chopsticks.
He Lei looked at the girl beside him and said, “He’s right. Let’s eat.”
Xiao Yinnian still looked at Xiao Ji.
Xiao Ji gave Xiao Yinnian a reassuring look and picked up his chopsticks to start eating.
During the meal, Lin Chuan whispered into Xiao Yinnian’s ear, “That Chang-ge is not a good person.”
Xiao Yinnian nodded, signaling for him to continue.
Lin Chuan went on, “I did a mission once before where there were also no clear rules. All the death conditions had to be figured out by ourselves.”
“In that world, the first person to eat every day would become the target to be killed.”
Xiao Yinnian pursed his lips. “But that kind of reason is too hard to guess. What if here, the last person to eat—or the one who doesn’t eat—is the one who dies?”
Lin Chuan shrugged. “Then there’s nothing we can do. In the mission world, those who bring newcomers are mostly ill-intentioned; they want them to serve as trial-and-error costs, the vanguards.”
Tonight, some people ate and some didn’t. As for what behavior would trigger the death condition, they would have a rough guess after tonight.
After dinner, everyone entered the backyard.
Xiao Ji looked up at the courtyard’s layout and couldn’t help but frown.
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Yinnian asked, seeing Xiao Ji’s expression.
Xiao Ji said calmly, “The Feng Shui of a courtyard mainly concerns water drainage. It should be placed on the eight stems—Jia, Geng, Bing, Ren, Yi, Xin, Ding, Gui—to ensure the master’s prosperity and long-lasting wealth. But that’s not the case here.”
He pointed to the two large pagoda trees in the courtyard. “The northeast and southwest of a courtyard are the Demon Gate and the Inner Demon Gate. Planting trees there is a major taboo.”
Before Xiao Yinnian could speak, Lin Chuan let out a “hai” and said, “Why talk about Feng Shui here? In the mission world, aren’t we all living in haunted houses anyway?”
Xiao Ji didn’t say anything more and simply nodded. “That’s true, I suppose.”
Despite saying that, Xiao Yinnian still felt faintly uneasy. When it came to choosing a room, he handed the right over to Xiao Ji, letting him “pick the tallest among the midgets.”
Xiao Ji chose a guest room on the south side of the second floor and pushed the door open.
It seemed they were prepared for their arrival; there were two large carved beds in the room, both with bed curtains.
In this situation, Lin Chuan certainly wouldn’t stay in a room alone. He had already tacitly accepted that Xiao Ji and Xiao Yinnian would share a bed.
So, he simply chose the bed on the right. Looking at the embroidered quilt laid flat on the bed, he was about to sit down when Xiao Ji suddenly grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Lin Chuan was stunned. “What’s wrong?”
Xiao Ji sniffed the air, then suddenly whipped back the quilt. Beneath the bedding lay a dead rat that had been disemboweled.
Translator’s Note: Feng Shui (風水) refers to the traditional Chinese system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation. The “Demon Gate” (Guǐmén) refers to the Northeast direction, which is traditionally considered unlucky or the direction from which spirits enter. “Picking the tallest among the midgets” is an idiom meaning to pick the best of a bad bunch.
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