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Chapter 6: Is This Man Mute?
The bread fell and landed on An Wujiu’s leg. He glanced down and then looked up at them.
Ueno didn’t comment on Liu Chengwei’s actions just now. He put on a smiling face and urged, “Take a bite.” But An Wujiu had no appetite at the moment and returned a smile to Ueno, saying, “No, thank you.”
Ueno Taisei didn’t respond and just glanced at Liu Chengwei. Liu Chengwei sighed impatiently, picked up the bread from An Wujiu’s leg, and suddenly grabbed An Wujiu’s chin with his other hand.
“What are you staring at?” Liu Chengwei kicked An Wujiu’s abdomen and used his leg to pin him down on the sofa, preventing him from escaping. He then shouted at Ueno, “Give me a hand.”
An Wujiu guessed that they didn’t simply come to give him food. But with Liu Chengwei pressing him down like this, with one leg’s knee directly pressing on his severely injured wrist, An Wujiu couldn’t resist at all. He struggled and looked at Ueno, who forcefully tried to stuff the dry and hard bread into his mouth. An Wujiu shook his head in resistance, but Liu Chengwei tightened his grip, almost crushing his face.
“Cough! Cough!” The bread almost choked him as An Wujiu had to swallow it down, coughing continuously.
“Should be enough now…” Ueno asked Liu Chengwei, “As long as he swallows it, the mission is considered successful.”
Mission…
It was indeed for the sake of completing his mission.
An Wujiu, with his head down and coughing, became red. These forcibly stuffed food items, along with the humiliation, made him suffocate.
Liu Chengwei laughed, “In that case, I can also snatch it? Let me try.”
“But you only have two chances.” Ueno tried to stop him, fearing he would suffer a loss.
Liu Chengwei ignored it completely. On one hand, he desperately wanted to make this so-called “strong” guy suffer and lose face so that he could derive great satisfaction from it. On the other hand, he believed in his own abilities and knew that he wouldn’t fall to the point of having no supplies.
“I’ll snatch it.”
He snatched the half-eaten bread that Ueno Taisei had “kindly” given, and the floating label on the bread instantly changed to the three characters “Liu Chengwei”.
Liu Chengwei burst into laughter. “It really works!”
Ueno tiptoed and looked, “Ah, it’s already yours so quickly.”
“What’s there to fear? Haven’t you already completed the task of sharing food? You only have tomorrow and the day after tomorrow left. By then, your supplies will double, and you’ll be much stronger than me.”
“That’s true.”
They left like that, chatting and laughing. Before leaving, Liu Chengwei kicked An Wujiu one last time, claiming that the bread he had spat out had dirtied his shoes.
Leaning against the sofa, feeling dejected, An Wujiu suddenly had a malicious idea, a strategy that could save himself.
But he quickly gave up, decisively extinguishing the thought like putting out a cigarette. He even doubted himself and found it strange that he could come up with such a method.
He sat quietly for a while, and when An Wujiu stood up, it was already past eleven o’clock. Thirst compelled him to move instinctively. He walked to the spot where Shen Ti had been standing earlier, but now he was nowhere to be found.
Finally, An Wujiu stopped in front of a low cabinet. Just for a moment, he picked up the bottle of wine that Shen Ti had abandoned and took a big sip from the bottle.
The taste wasn’t bad.
He wiped his mouth with his hand, picked up the bottle, and walked towards another door in the living room. It led to another long and winding corridor, a dim and eerie passageway with no visible end. There was a circular device installed on the wall every meter, but An Wujiu couldn’t make out what it was. Each time he passed one, it suddenly lit up. It was a lam in the shape of a young angel, but only the head.
They glowed one by one behind An Wujiu, then extinguished.
He proceeded slowly, only to realize that it wasn’t a straight corridor but one with corners.
There were voices, but they were very faint, and An Wujiu couldn’t make out the content. He immediately stopped before stepping past the next lamp, standing still in the darkness.
His footsteps were almost inaudible, so the other party didn’t notice him. Based on his memory of the voices, he vaguely recognized that it was Yang Ming and Ueno.
Although he couldn’t hear the details, An Wujiu noticed something different. Unlike Yang Ming’s previous attitude of wanting to control everything, this time it seemed that Ueno, who was usually timid, was doing most of the talking, while Yang Ming was just responding without saying much.
To hear clearly, he would have to get closer, but An Wujiu didn’t want to take the risk.
Soon, the voices of the conversation diminished and eventually disappeared. An Wujiu heard the footsteps of two people scattering in different directions.
He stood silently in the corridor for a while before walking further inside.
The interior was more complex. At the end of the corridor was a small square porch with four or five doors, one of which was a Baroque-style circular arch with exquisite angel sculptures. A suspended projection above the arch displayed the words “Resting Room.” The originally white arch was supposed to evoke a delicate and sacred artistic sense, but perhaps it was still morning and the lights were off, making the eerie green projection the only source of light in the dim porch. Even the holy angel relief on the arch became strangely eerie.
An Wujiu turned his head and noticed that the other doors projected the labels “Piano Room,” “Reading Room,” “Resource Room,” and “Meeting Room.” Behind the doors were long and winding corridors.
The structure of this bunker seemed well-suited for secret meetings.
Behind the door of the “Resting Room” was another porch. As soon as An Wujiu pushed the door open, he saw the back of Zhong Yirou.
The porch was wider and slightly brighter than the previous one, with eight different carved arches, each labeled with a number and a name.
[1 Yang Ming], [2 Zhong Yirou], [3 Ueno Taisei], [4 Wu You], [5 An Wujiu], [6 Lao Yu], [7 Shen Ti], [8 Liu Chengwei].
“It’s not arranged solely based on survival value, right?” Zhong Yirou didn’t turn around and said directly.
An Wujiu didn’t pretend and softly replied, “Mhm.”
She turned her head and smiled at An Wujiu. “You walk silently.”
“How did you notice then?” An Wujiu asked.
Zhong Yirou raised an eyebrow. “Female intuition.” She then showed a slightly apologetic expression. “What should we do? You’re completely targeted now.”
An Wujiu didn’t say anything. He was trying to judge the woman’s current attitude.
“I’ll be straightforward,” Zhong Yirou raised her hands slightly. “For now, I can’t help you.”
She accessed her own stats, and immediately, a fluorescent green health bar appeared above her head. “My combat power is the lowest. Even if I use both chances to heal myself, I’ll only have three health bars. If we really engage in combat, I can’t guarantee my own safety.”
Hearing her straightforwardness, An Wujiu actually felt relieved. He thought of something and asked slowly, “What happens if we die?”
“Didn’t the holy voice mention it? Brain death.” She pointed to her temple. “Aren’t we all in the game pod in reality? Those things are like capsules. If we really die and 24 hours pass without a false death confirmation, the devices in the capsules automatically send us to the processing plant and recycle us as fertilizer.” She made a disgusted expression. “This kind of death is not elegant at all.”
“How do you know?” An Wujiu asked.
Zhong Yirou paused, and her usually radiant and charming face rarely showed a dim expression.
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
She frowned slightly but quickly relaxed, returning to her open-minded demeanor. “When I entered the capsule, my sister was next to me. We had planned to come out together, but she… went ahead.”
Hearing this, An Wujiu was somewhat moved. His mind was already starting to think of comforting words, but his mouth couldn’t keep up as Zhong Yirou spoke first.
“That’s why,” she didn’t mince her words, “to survive, I might even join Yang Ming’s side.”
An Wujiu nodded without saying a word.
His obedient and sensible appearance made Zhong Yirou even more suspicious of Yang Ming’s persuasion. She kindly provided a strategy, “In that case, you might as well build a good relationship with Ueno or Liu Chengwei. One can duplicate resources, and the other can snatch them. Maybe they will share some with you when the time comes.”
An Wujiu remained silent and had no intention of telling Zhong Yirou about what had just happened. However, Zhong Yirou was too clever and kept staring at his reddened cheeks.
The feeling of being scrutinized was uncomfortable, and An Wujiu tried to walk away. He noticed a thick book fixed to the wall next to the door labeled “8.” He walked toward it.
“You’re not really planning to let everyone survive peacefully, are you?” Zhong Yirou followed him and stood in front of the book.
“Do you think… I’m lying?” An Wujiu reached out to touch the book.
The book seemed old, and the page he tried to turn couldn’t be opened, as if it had been frozen for a long time, covered in a thick layer of dust.
“Yang Ming’s words sound so plausible, but when you said those things, my heart was slightly moved. It’s been a long time since I encountered a good person on the Holy Altar, even if it’s someone pretending to be one,” Zhong Yirou said, smiling, without turning around.
An Wujiu smiled back but remained silent.
“Idealists here tend to die young.”
Seeing him open the book, Zhong Yirou approached as well, blowing away the dust and reading the contents of the two pages aloud. There were many blanks, and few words were written, seemingly consisting of requirements.
“1. All players must enter their personal resting rooms at night. After midnight, a hypnotic gas will be released throughout, forcing players to fall asleep (except for employees using the ‘staying up late’ skill). Once asleep, players will not wake up until the effects of the gas completely dissipate by 6 a.m.
2. Before midnight on the first night, players can enter the adjacent room next to theirs, either to the left or right. Entering other rooms or forcibly entering rooms is considered a violation (except for wanderers using skills), resulting in the deduction of half the energy value.
3. If the player stayed in another room on the first night, they must enter the next room on the second night by following the path of the first night. If they haven’t stayed in another room, they can choose either path, left or right, and so on.
4. A player can stay in other people’s rooms without fouling.”
After reading it, Zhong Yirou fell into contemplation.
“What a strange set of rules, like playing chess.” She turned to look at An Wujiu, as if seeking affirmation of her own opinion.
To satisfy her, An Wujiu nodded.
“So, for example,” She stood in front of the door labeled “5,” “if you don’t want to go to your own room tonight, you can only go to room 4 or 6. And the next night…”
“Go to room 3 or 7.” An Wujiu continued.
“Exactly.” Zhong Yirou stood in front of the door labeled “5” and pondered. “But according to the rules, once it reaches midnight, we will be forcibly put to sleep. Even if we go to someone else’s room, what can we do? Are we supposed to do some ‘indescribable’ things?”
Although it could be considered a dirty joke, An Wujiu’s expression showed no ripples at all. His eyes even looked innocent. He repeated Zhong Yirou’s words with a slightly questioning tone, “Indescribable…”
As soon as he finished speaking those words, the door labeled “7” suddenly opened with a bang.
It was Shen Ti.
Shen Ti walked out wearing a red headphones, shaking his head.
Zhong Yirou was startled by his sudden appearance. “What are you doing here?”
Shen Ti pointed to the number “7” on the door and his name, then gestured by opening and closing his own door. He then walked to the door labeled “5” and attempted to twist the doorknob, but couldn’t open it. He turned around to face the two of them, crossing his arms in front of his chest and making a “no” gesture.
Narrowing her eyes, Zhong Yirou turned to An Wujiu and spoke softly. “…Is this guy mute?”
An Wujiu shook his head and exposed the truth directly. “He… just spoke.”
Shen Ti, wearing a face mask, tilted his head, crossed his hands on his waist, and expressed his dissatisfaction.
Zhong Yirou simply ignored his actions and continued asking, “What did he say?”
An Wujiu paused for two seconds as if hesitating, but in the end, he took a deep breath, put the bottle of alcohol he was holding on the ground, and covered his mouth with his hand.
“Ah.”
The author has something to say:
Shen Ti, you really know how to make an entrance.
Shen Ti: I wanted to go to my wife’s room, but I got caught.
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