全程露脸东北老女

Thank you OneDaalia for the kofi and sweet message The kind message meant a lot to me!

Fortunately, Sui Yuan’s innate acting ability prevented him from doing any unnecessary movements the moment his mind blanked. Very quickly, he saw Yang Yue, who had always been staring into space, relax. A smile revealed itself on his face.

...It was obvious that Yang Yue’s answer was correct.

Without even having to waste energy overthinking matters, Sui Yuan was able to understand just how this ’accident’ had come to be.

Clown could not change the riddle ordained by the plot for no reason. Since Sui Yuan hadn’t done anything, then the one that had caused this ending, apart from the Destroyer, was Zhao Xihe.

The probability that the Destroyer had caused this was very low because changing the riddle would not yield any benefits for him/her. Unlike them, these fellows would be too lazy to think of the answer because they already knew the answer. To the same extent, Yang Yue, who was enshrouded by the plot’s halo, would naturally rely on his own brain. Thus, no matter how one changed the riddle, he would probably be able to guess the correct answer in most cases. If he/she wanted to kill off the protagonists, he/she would change it to a much more difficult problem, or even just directly and personally try to kill them. He/she would never use such a roundabout method of borrowing Clown’s hand to kill them.

Then, the only answer could be ’Zhao Xihe’.

Zhao Xihe used some kind of method to change Clown’s riddle. Or, perhaps he was Clown? The Destroyer and Sui Yuan were the same: they both knew the answer beforehand. Thus, the Destroyer would also not have actually bothered to wrack their brains over this puzzle. As such, when he/she heard the protagonist shou’s answer, which was different from that in the plot, perhaps the Destroyer also lost himself/herself and gave himself/herself away because of this, as Sui Yuan had.

——It was truly such a pity that Sui Yuan completely missed a chance to observe the others’ reactions. After all, even he had almost been drawn out, ah!

This was most likely the result of bad communication....With each member of the team doing his own thing, there is a high possibility of dragging the other down. Luckily, he remained steady at a crucial moment. Otherwise, it would really be too crushing....

Sui Yuan inwardly made a sorrowful expression but kept himself from looking all around for some trace of Zhao Xihe. Although he hadn’t been able to catch sight of the other’s reaction, since Zhao Xihe had arranged this scene, it can be presumed that he did not miss the opportunity to watch their reactions to the answer. Furthermore, with this, he could more-or-less confirm that Zhao Xihe’s current identity was that of a non-human entity, and the Destroyer was one of the human comrades at his side.

His Creator had come up with a good plan. Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe were placed strategically, one on each side. No matter what, they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. Regardless if it was perception or familiarity with the Destroyer, the inexperienced Sui Yuan could not compare to Zhao Xihe. Most likely, he had already finished inspecting all of the non-human entities in the manor, determined that the possibility of them being the Destroyer was extremely low, and only then decided to turn his attention to the humans.

——This was understandable. If the Destroyer was a non-human entity, he/she would not have to be prudent in preserving the plot and could even directly kill off the protagonist gong and shou.

He did not alter the plot because he lacked the strength to. Perhaps before the Destroyer could rid himself/herself of the danger of his cannon fodder status provided by the plot, he could only maintain the plot, and by doing so, he would be able to more easily change his final cannon fodder ending at a crucial moment.

Sui Yuan also didn’t know if Zhao Xihe had achieved his goal with his actions this time. If he didn’t, then that would be terrible.

For the plot to change once could be considered a coincidence. However, for it to change two or three times would certainly signify that other intervening parties were involved. The Destroyer would have already confirmed his/her suspicion by now. Only, he/she would suspect the non-human entities, and not Sui Yuan, the human who was by his side, because Zhao Xihe had captured his attention. Thus, it was much safer for Sui Yuan now.

In all likelihood, the Destroyer certainly would never expect that he/she had encountered not one, but two Actors, ba?

——Or, perhaps Zhao Xihe had purposely exposed himself so as to screen Sui Yuan, thereby guaranteeing his safety? After all, Zhao Xihe was a non-human entity right now. His strength was formidable and he had many more defensive props. He was much more suitable to be the Destroyer’s target than Sui Yuan who was currently a mere ordinary human .

Sui Yuan bit his lips, feeling a bit unresigned. His gaze discreetly scanned the area, trying to find any hint of nervousness on the faces of his comrades.

——If the Destroyer was amongst them, then things would be much simpler. In any case, they were all cannon fodder. It was nothing to kill them off directly. However, before he ended up doing that, Sui Yuan still wanted to think of a way to first communicate with Zhao Xihe. In case they messed up and scared the enemy away, that would be too awful.

Fortunately, Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe were in the more advantageous position. They could act slowly—their safety came first. On the contrary, the one that ought to be anxious was the Destroyer.

While Sui Yuan was deep in his thoughts, Yang Yue had already obtained the green doll that contained the wedding rings from Clown. He felt a bit of a headache as he examined the doll, trying to find a way to open it up and get the wedding rings from within. However, it was very clear that he was lost on how to go about it.

"What is there to be conflicted over? Give that doll to me!" The bad boy snatched the doll from Yang Yue’s hands and with his other hand, he pulled out a Swiss Army knife from his pant’s pocket and flicked it open.

"You want to cut the doll open?" Yang Yue furrowed his brows, feeling rather uneasy.

"If not, what then?" The bad boy looked at him impatiently, "Do you have any other ideas?"

Yang Yue shook his head. He felt that the heavy, uncanny feeling inside of him was baffling and chose to remain silent in the end.

The blade of the Swiss Army Knife was not at all sharp. In order to slice through the doll’s stomach, the bad boy decided to use quite a lot of strength. Only, the bad boy underestimated the doll’s fragility. When he pressed the knife down, the knife unexpectedly inserted itself into the doll’s chest without any effort. Afterwards, the knife continued to slide downwards due to inertia, completely splitting the doll’s abdominal cavity into two. At the same time, a great volume of blood spurted out from the bad boy’s chest, splashing onto the quiet and gentle girl who stood in front of him.

"Ya——!!!" After the warmth and pungent smell of blood stunned the quiet and gentle girl for a moment, she fell apart, shrieking. At the same time, the shrill laugh of Clown, who had originally already disappeared, sounded in Yang Yue’s ear, "Haha! Did no one ever tell you guys that you should never casually mess with other people’s stuff, and definitely cannot casually destroy others’ things? Hahahaha—bad children deserve to be pu~nished~!"

The opening in the bad boy’s chest was identical to that of the doll in his hand. He lowered his head, blank, as if he didn’t register the pain. The doll and Swiss Army knife in his hand both dropped down into the pool of blood.

Like how the stuffing had come out of the doll, the organs within the bad boy rushed out, as if impatient. He tried sticking them back inside himself in a panic, but he was trembling too much. The harder he tried, the worse everything became.

At this time, everyone who had been stunned by this unforeseen accident came back to their senses one by one. The robust girl hugged the originally quiet and gentle girl who was now screeching, completely breaking down, and tried to comfort her while she, herself, shook. Meanwhile, Yang Yue and Ming Hai quickly supported the bad boy, cautiously helping him lay down. They did their best to help him stick his viscera back into his abdominal cavity, blocking his injury.

This bloody lesson was simply too frightening. At this time, there was already no one who dared touch anything in the room without permission. Ming Hai could only take off his jacket to cover the bad boy’s abdomen, using it as a bandage.

However, the bad boy’s injury was simply too grave. Even if he was rushed to the hospital, it would still probably be difficult to save him. Everyone’s efforts were in vain and they could only watch on with helplessness as his life slowly drained out of him.

The two girls had long since left the entertainment room, no longer able to keep watching the scene. The bespectacled youth stood in place rigidly, his whole body quivering. Meanwhile, Sui Yuan’s legs went soft and he dropped to his knees.

The bad boy seemed to want to say something, or perhaps he wanted to cry out in pain. However, no one was able to know why since he could only let out hoarse ’hehe’ sounds. His expression showed one of fierce suffering, and his fingers clenched Ming Hai’s lapel tightly, nearly tearing his shirt apart.

The moments before his death seemed excruciatingly long. No one knew if this was normal. The bad boy continued to breathe and fight on for a very long time. Right until the end, he was still alert. Even when he took his final breath, his eyes remained opened wide.

Ming Hai tightly hugged the gradually cooling corpse and slowly raised a hand to close the bad boy’s eyes. Yang Yue also covered his face, eyes red, "It’s my fault...just now I had clearly felt that something wasn’t right...I should have stopped him...."

"No one thought that things would become like this," Ming Hai placed the bad boy’s corpse onto the ground. He paused and then forcibly pulled the hand on his lapel off. Then, he pulled Yang Yue up and hugged him.

This was the first time the protagonist gong and shou had directly met with death. This was also the beginning of their transformation. As ordinary people, they needed some time to accept their friend’s death.

Sui Yuan wrapped his arms around himself, trembling. He lowered his head, not daring to look at the bloody scene not far from him. However, he was calm inside, without any ripples running through his heart.

Death had long since lost its power to rock Sui Yuan’s heart, even if this death was so cruel. Even if it occurred right before his eyes, he would still watch on coldly and indifferently. Only in this way could he succeed as an Actor.

Meanwhile, his brain was still able to calmly analyze what the bad boy’s death meant.

The possibility that the Destroyer was the bad boy was reduced by an extremely large margin. Although Sui Yuan did not eliminate the possibility that the Destroyer would try to turn into a non-human entity, he believed that if the Destroyer had even a speck of rationality, he/she would certainly not choose such a simple and coarse method of transforming.

Indeed, this manor was a paradise for ghosts. After dying here, the chance of turning into a ghost was really high. However, it was still just a possibility. Furthermore, even if he was lucky enough to successfully turn into a ghost, that did not mean that everything would be fine after.

Even if he turned into a ghost, he would have to abide by this world’s regulations. The majority of apparitions were extremely weak and when they appeared, they were extremely easy to dissipate. Or, they would be devoured by other stronger ghosts as nourishment. What was even more important was that when he turned into a ghost, his spirit would inevitably incur damage. This was the reason why the majority of ghosts had a hard time clearly remembering their life when they were alive.

If the Destroyer lost his/her ’ego’ when he/she turned into a ghost, then he/she would only be able to stay in this world and become a genuine part of it.

Thus, even if the Destroyer wanted to become a ghost, he/she needed to find an appropriate and stable way to do so. He/she had to proceed with great caution and absolutely could not welcome death this easily.

After a long time, Yang Yue was finally able to calm down under Ming Hai’s comforting. Inwardly, he felt rather remorseful that he had been so engrossed in his own pain that he had forgotten that Xiao Xiao probably had an even more difficult time accepting this matter. Such a timid fellow, he must have been really frightened during such a horrifying time, ba?

Yang Yue walked to Xiao Xiao’s side and knelt on one knee, pulling him into his arms, "Xiao Xiao?"

Xiao Xiao did not respond. He only abruptly threw himself into his chest and tightly clung onto his collar. From time to time, he would emit little, scattered whimpers.

Yang Yue stroked Xiao Xiao’s back. From his mouth came an unceasing stream of gentle, comforting coaxes. When Ming Hai saw Yang Yue consoling Xiao Xiao, he hesitated for a moment but did not walk over. He only squatted down in front of the doll lying in the pool of blood and slowly reached out with resolution, looking for the wedding rings in the doll’s stomach.

——Ming Hai, being the most stable in the group, did not forget what they had come here to do. One of them had already died for these rings. It is more imperative now that they do not give up on these hard-to-obtain rings.

As Ming Hai searched, the bad boy’s corpse also seemed to emit some sloshing noises, as if someone was digging through them. When Xiao Xiao heard these sounds, he shook even more intensely. Yang Yue could only cover up his ears, trying to block him from listening.

Fortunately, Ming Hai found the pair of wedding rings from within the blood-stained cotton very quickly. The golden wedding rings were also stained with blood, making it obvious as to what had just occurred.

Ming Hai stood up and looked at Sui Yuan and Yang Yue, "...It’s already late. We ought to leave."

"...Then...what do we do about him? Do we leave him here?" Yang Yue asked with hesitation as he helped Sui Yuan up, half-supporting him as they walked towards the door leading out of the entertainment room.

"If not, then what?!" The quiet and gentle girl shrieked from outside. It was obvious that although she looked calm, she had received quite a shock, "Are we supposed to drag a corpse around?!"

The robust girl who was supporting her up, lowered her gaze. She didn’t say a thing. However, it could be seen that she felt the same.

"...There’s no helping it," The bespectacled youth’s face was pale, his voice trembling and weak, "We also don’t want to do this but right now...it’s already difficult enough protecting ourselves. We have no way to help...take his corpse home."

Yang Yue fell silent. He had no way to refute. Ming Hai silently patted his shoulder. Yang Yue laughed bitterly, nodded, and then helped Sui Yuan out of the entertainment room.

The trip back to the kitchen was even more silent. If before, they were in high spirits after finding out they could communicate with the ghosts, right now, what lingered in their hearts was nothing but the feeling of depression and the danger of death.

The golden rings were still dyed with blood, however, no one mentioned washing them. If they were to mess with a tap without permission, who knew what would wait for them, ne?

In the kitchen, the sound of chopping was as spry and rhythmical as before. However, because their mood was different, how they perceived it turned completely different.

The two women refused to enter the kitchen that housed a ghost and chose to wait outside. Meanwhile, it was the four men who entered, and naturally, the one in charge of dealing with the apparition was Yang Yue.

Yang Yue took the blood-dyed golden rings from Ming Hai’s hands before slowly approaching the counter. He handed the wedding rings over, "...Sorry, because something happened, we didn’t have time to wash them. Please forgive us."

Evidently, the spirit within the kitchen did not care about this bloodstain. It was extremely happy to have his wedding rings back. It even spoke with ridicule and interest upon seeing the bloodstains, "It seems that Clown played a prank on you guys, ba? Hahaha, were you scared out of your skin? He was always one to have wicked thoughts!"

Yang Yue’s face paled. At this moment, he no longer felt that the kitchen ghost was a friendly spirit.

A prank? This kind of cruel matter was unexpectedly nothing but a mere prank? The tone the ghost used to speak about Clown was amiable and cheerful, as if he was only teasingly reproaching a mischievous child. When contrasted with the image of the bad boy’s death, it made him feel his blood run even colder.

——Was this what the ghosts’ world was like? Was this the attitude all the ghosts had towards death? Just what kind of place did they arrive in? Can they still leave, safe and sound?

Yang Yue’s heart felt ice-cold.

The author has something to say:

One of the candidates for the Destroyer has been eliminated. The ladies who suspected the bad boy can now suspect another. ╮(╯▽╰)╭

Wuxian: Is it mean of me that I can’t take seriously the death of someone who’s just called "bad boy"?