Chapter 409: The Stretched Hide is Human Skin |
"Reverting to a child" was an abstract concept, but looking at Yu Su's behavior, the players found it was the only phrase that truly captured the situation.
Yu Su's condition had been off since the previous night. First, she'd been insolent toward Lu Li. Then, she'd inappropriately pointed out a problem with the rice. This morning, she was weeping over a companion's death. These were hardly the actions of a seasoned player.
A spot in the Final Instance was a rare prize. Every player here had been handpicked by the holders of the Identity Cards, making it inconceivable that someone as emotional as Yu Su would be among them.
Her behavior could only be attributed to a game mechanic within the instance, much like in the *Red Maple Boarding School*, where players suffered from amnesia and other symptoms due to the Insomnia condition.
Li Yunyang considered this for a moment before rising to her feet. "I can't figure out the trigger for this mechanic," she said.
"Before we arrived at the inn, Yu Su was with me the whole time. She sat beside me on the train and did nothing out of the ordinary, nor did we encounter anything unusual."
Fu Jue responded, "Random death traps don't have triggers, only probabilities. The moment we entered this instance, we all became the denominator. The numerator is the actual number of people who fall into the trap."
"Then what's the purpose?" Li Yunyang's brow furrowed. "To turn us back into children? And then what? To weaken our minds and make us act immature?"
"That's one way to look at it," Fu Jue said calmly. "But considering the instance's theme, it could also be a form of reincarnation. In the real world, studies on Alzheimer's show symptoms like memory loss, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, and impaired visuospatial skills. Abstract thought and calculation are also affected, often accompanied by personality and behavioral changes. Some scholars describe it as 'reverting to a child'."
The players fell into thoughtful silence. Li Yunyang's voice was grave. "I see. So, if this mechanic affects you, it means you can never leave this instance. Is that it?"
"No." Fu Jue shook his head. "If we clear this instance quickly enough, there might still be a chance."
Li Yunyang pressed her lips together, saying no more. She bent down and helped the still-sobbing Yu Su to her feet.
Lingering in the hallway was pointless; they weren't going to solve anything here. Faced with the pools of blood and the mangled corpse, a pall of dread and despair settled over the players.
The members of the Kyushu and Listening Wind guilds headed downstairs in a large group, but Qi Si had no intention of following. Naturally, Lu Li and Xu Yao remained behind, awaiting his next command.
Lu Li stared at the corpse's abdomen, where its intestines spilled out. "Xu Yao and I saw her last night," he recalled. "She was standing at our door, holding her own guts, and told us we were next. But I don't think this is an unavoidable death trap..."
"Of course it isn't for *you*," Xu Yao cut in, turning to Qi Si to clarify. "I'm the next target. Lu Li's a man; they can't use him to make a Human Skin Thangka."
Lu Li ignored his companion's retort and pressed on. "This instance may not have a time limit, but it's using these endless death traps to force our hand. Staying at the inn is a death sentence. We have to start exploring. What do you think, Qi Si?"
The answer was obvious. The Final Instance was designed for elimination and competition; it would never allow players to cower in an inn, waiting for others to walk into traps for them.
After all, the players in this instance were skilled enough that even if they couldn't solve the core mystery, they could easily survive for a long time simply by using their experience to evade the ghosts' attacks.
To prevent this contest of gods from devolving into a tedious game of endurance, it was essential to have mechanics that forced the players into action.
Qi Si pulled Chu Yining's diary from his pocket and handed it to Lu Li. "All the clues I have point toward the Snow Mountain. I suspect we'll have to start climbing by tonight at the latest. The other group, too, I'm sure."
Lu Li flipped through the diary. "You're right," he judged. "It seems all the death traps in this inn can be escaped by heading up the mountain. With temperatures below minus twenty degrees Celsius on the slopes, blood would freeze into crystals instantly, ruining the skin. I doubt the ghosts would bother killing people for their hides up there."
He handed the diary back to Qi Si, a wry smile touching his lips. "Let's spend the day exploring the town, gathering any clues and items we can find. In *Lost Horizon*, the travelers were trapped in Shangri-La because of the lamas' succession. We should probably follow that line of thinking."
"I know," Qi Si replied.
He'd read *Lost Horizon* back in middle school, trading the book back and forth with a classmate. They had even designed word puzzles for each other. But that was all in the past.
He was no longer a child, no longer easily moved by a few simple words. He wasn't satisfied with mere stories in books, and he certainly wouldn't let himself be trapped by pointless emotions.
Whether in his eons as a god or his twenty-two years as a human, childhood for Qi Si had never been a time of beauty and innocence. To him, it was synonymous with weakness, helplessness, and captivity.
He hated children, even the child he once was. Their low-value souls, their naive and foolish actions, their lingering, unrealistic fantasies about the world—any one of these things was enough to make him physically ill.
Qi Si lowered his gaze, concealing the malice in his eyes. "Let's split up then, just like before," he said coolly. "We'll stay in contact with the Teaming Rings and regroup at the inn once we have enough clues."
Lu Li nodded. "Alright. Xu Yao and I will search the area near the town gate."
After Lu Li and Xu Yao had gone, Qi Si turned his attention to Lin Chen, who stood silently beside him.
The guild president had been hiding behind him ever since they left the room. Only when everyone else was gone did he finally gasp for air, turn his back on the corpse, and bend over, retching.
Qi Si studied Lin Chen's pale face and asked out of the blue, "Lin Chen, how old are you?"
"Fourteen... no, wait, twenty." Lin Chen glanced around, then added awkwardly, "I was just lost in thought. I don't know why I said that... a slip of the tongue."
When caught off guard, people often blurt out the truth. A slip-up on a simple question like one's age was highly unlikely. This meant that, in his subconscious, Lin Chen truly believed he was fourteen years old.
Qi Si nodded knowingly, offering a placating response. "It's fine. It just means you're young at heart."
Silence stretched through the empty hallway. A slow-dawning horror washed over Lin Chen, and his already pale face turned ashen. "Qi-ge," he stammered, "did I... did I trigger one of the death traps? Like Yu Su...?"
His behavior today was completely off. He hadn't overslept in ages, and he'd long grown accustomed to gruesome scenes. Yet suddenly, he was struggling to get out of bed, suddenly filled with fear—
It was as if he had reverted overnight, becoming that useless, worthless kid he'd been so many years ago.
He sometimes missed the carefree days of his childhood, but he never wanted to revert to being a child like this. He didn't want to become a naive monster in an adult's body, didn't want to drag Qi Si down in this treacherous Final Instance... If he was doomed to become progressively stupider, perhaps the best thing to do was die quickly. Before he caused irreparable harm to his team...
Then again, maybe he wouldn't have to do it himself. The moment the mechanic activated, his fate was sealed...
"What's on your mind?" Qi Si's gaze met Lin Chen's, as if reading his thoughts. "Yu Su made it through the night," he comforted gently. "That means you won't die immediately. You'll at least live until tomorrow."
Lin Chen thought: *Thanks. That's not comforting at all.*
Still, he could tell Qi Si wasn't disgusted with him, and he found himself relaxing. It was true: triggering the mechanic wasn't his fault, but there was no reversing it now. At least he had a full day to prove his worth.
Then he heard Qi Si add, "Let's gather some clues before this becomes irreversible. Who knows? Maybe your luck will hold out, and you'll find a way to break the cycle before you regress completely."
"Right! Thank you, Qi-ge!"
...
Elsewhere, Dong Xiwen was jolted awake by a piercing scream.
Hearing the palpable terror in the cry, a single thought flashed through his mind: *Someone's dead.*
Zhang Yiyu shot up from her bed like a startled bird, then, remembering her resolve to "save Dad," she sidled up to Zhou Ke with a sycophantic grin. "Boss, sounds like trouble outside. Should we go take a look?"
Zhou Ke had been up all night, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window and fiddling with a recorder, yet he seemed remarkably energetic, showing no sign of fatigue.
He gave Zhang Yiyu a slight nod and chuckled. "It seems three to a room isn't one of the triggers. Can't trust everything that old man downstairs says, can we?"
His casual remark sent a chill down Dong Xiwen's spine.
Last night, when Sang Ji was assigning rooms, he'd hinted that they should stick to two people per room. Dong Xiwen had assumed it was a hidden rule. Then, in the middle of the night, Zhou Ke had waltzed in as if nothing was wrong, and Dong Xiwen had figured he'd been out wandering and found a new clue...
Only now did he realize the man had simply been testing the death traps, deliberately courting disaster. If something went wrong, he could just sacrifice one of his disposable pawns, right?
Dong Xiwen was speechless with exasperation. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to speak up. "Sir," he began, "I saw you last night, leading those ghosts around with the recorder. Did you find anything? Maybe you could give us a heads-up so we can coordinate later and not waste our lives unnecessarily."
He spoke in a confidential tone, like an employee trying to help his boss cut labor costs. Zhou Ke nodded slightly. "A discovery? Yes. The hymn attracts some of the guilty pilgrims, drawing them to its source. It creates quite a spectacle—very intimidating. It might be useful as a bargaining chip."
"Bargaining?" Dong Xiwen blinked. "You want to work with those other players?"
Last night, he, Zhou Ke, and Zhang Yiyu had sat in the main hall for a while, getting a look at all the players who had arrived before them. But given that their allegiances—and chances of survival—were unknown, they hadn't engaged further, heading upstairs without even staying for dinner.
He had caught a glimpse of "Yuan," but he couldn't tell if this version of Yuan was faking it or if something was wrong. Judging by his expression and behavior, he didn't recognize Dong Xiwen at all.
On closer inspection, he'd noticed this "Yuan" was much younger than the one he knew in reality. The beard aged him slightly, but he lacked the world-weary look of a man who had endured great hardship.
With so many suspicious details, choosing to cooperate would be a reckless gamble. One wrong move, and they'd be doomed.
Dong Xiwen whispered persuasively, "Honestly, Qi Si, I think we're strong enough to go it alone. We don't need to get involved with them..."
"It's not about cooperation," the young man interrupted, the corners of his mouth curling into a malicious smile. "I'm just curious about the legendary Ark Guild, the one that supposedly wants to save everyone. I want to see just how far they'll go to keep people alive. Oh, and by the way"—his tone shifted as he glanced at Dong Xiwen—"in this instance, especially in front of others, call me 'Zhou Ke,' not 'Qi Si.'"
"Right, right, I'll be careful. So, what's our next move?"
"First, let's go see what's happened."
The three of them filed out of the room and headed toward the source of the scream.
A sickening crimson scene spread out before them. In the middle of the hallway stood a flayed corpse, its raw flesh exposed and blood streaming from its wounds.
A pale-faced young woman sat in a wheelchair, her eyes fixed on the body. Dong Xiwen remembered her name was Chu Yining; she'd introduced herself when they first met, but no one had been sure who to trust, so they hadn't spoken for long.
Now, other players began to emerge from their rooms, gathering around the corpse with grim expressions.
Xiao Fengchao ran a comb through his hair, rattling off a stream of complaints. "This instance is a total mind game, isn't it? No rules, nothing. Someone just drops dead before you can even react. That's not how it's supposed to work! Don't they understand the concept of a fair warning?"
Chu Yining took a deep breath. "It's Vasilievna," she said. "I was with her the whole night. We were so careful... How could this have happened?"
Her voice was raw with grief, and she was clearly distraught. Sensing the shift in mood, Xiao Fengchao wisely fell silent.
Lin Jue adjusted his glasses. "It could be a random death trap," he assessed, "but we can't rule out a hidden rule. I searched the room I'm sharing with Zhang Hongbin last night and only found a statue of Mahakala. Nothing else out of the ordinary."
"Our room didn't have anything..." Chu Yining murmured, a thought striking her. "Could it be... because we didn't have a statue? Is that why it happened to her?"
"Not necessarily," Zhou Ke chimed in at the perfect moment. "Our room doesn't have a statue either. But there were three of us sharing it last night."
After the NPC had repeatedly implied they should stick to two per room, having three was a flagrant act of defiance. It meant they either had a death wish or plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
The other players' attention briefly focused on Zhou Ke. He chose that moment to flash an enticing smile. "There's too little information in this instance. The rules are completely different from what we're used to. One wrong move, and we could all be wiped out."
"So I think... perhaps we could cooperate more closely. Share what we find."