Chapter 149: Grand Performance (XII) ‘Dead Souls’ (Revised)

The game no longer held any suspense. One by one, the players handed their highest cards to Charlie and then stayed.

When it was Charlie’s turn, he cheerfully said, “Stay,” and looked around at everyone. “Now all of you have the same number of Chips; this is very fair! I believe there will be a wonderful performance tomorrow!”

He laughed loudly, and then the points were settled.

51 points. Charlie busted.

He was the only player to bust this round.

The last Chip in front of him turned into bloody water. Amidst his wild laughter, his body fell apart, wood fragments clattering to the floor. Within seconds, those fragments crumbled into even finer sawdust, scattering across the ground like a thin layer of sand.

Charlie, who had dominated the players for two acts, had been shattered to pieces just like that. Looking at the remains on the floor, everyone felt a strong sense of unreality.

“Is the game over?” He Hui asked timidly. “The main NPC is dead, so the dungeon should be close to being cleared, right?”

Cynthia shook her head. “The Charlie we saw might not be the main NPC of this dungeon. The script fragments mention the characters Playwright Charlie and his Puppet, yet we haven’t encountered this so-called Playwright, nor have we found the full script. To clear the dungeon, we might need to finish all three acts of the play or collect all the script fragments.”

The matter had come full circle, returning to the very first topic.

Qi Si spoke up at the right moment. “If I’m not mistaken, the script fragments are scattered throughout the various rooms. It’s still early; let’s start searching from Room 1 and see if we can find any clues.”

He Hui and Dong Xiwen had no objections, and Cynthia, bound by the contract, didn’t dare to have any.

Qi Si rose calmly and walked straight toward the door of Room 1.

He was basically certain that the monster formed from his sins was inside.

Hansen’s “Supporting Role Card” had given him a hunch: once a player obtained the Role Card corresponding to themselves, they could trigger specific identity effects.

It was known that Role Cards would drop from monsters after a player died, but getting them then was useless. They couldn’t exactly let a corpse clear the dungeon like in the Shuangxi Town instance.

Therefore, he was inclined to believe there must be another way to obtain a Role Card, such as… negotiating with the monster that corresponded to oneself.

Cynthia followed closely behind Qi Si. Without hesitation, she stepped forward boldly and opened the door.

Qi Si took an imperceptible step back, waiting for her to lead the way before following at a leisurely pace.

The moment he crossed the threshold, the vibrant blocks of red, yellow, and blue color surrounding him suddenly cracked. With a “crack” that echoed in his consciousness, the scene before his eyes shattered and collapsed like shards of glass.

A new scene emerged within the color blocks. Sketched and colored with new brushstrokes, the colors were no longer as intense as before—they looked like a faded photograph, yet felt more real.

The smell of blood, decay, and mold rushed into his nose. Qi Si found himself standing alone in a dimly lit warehouse. Thick spiderwebs hung from the wooden boards sealing the windows, indicating the place had been abandoned for a long time.

By the faint light leaking through the gaps in the boards, he could see accumulated dust and animal droppings on the floor. A filthy white cat lay in a corner, long dead, its flesh shriveled.

Qi Si hadn’t been to such a squalid place in years, to the point that his first reaction was to cover his nose and mouth with his hand, gagging.

But he soon realized that his nausea didn’t entirely stem from the environment; it was more of a reflex buried deep within his memories.

Yes, he had been here before. It was ten years ago, and the impression was vivid.

“We have a deal. I return the book to you, you return the toy to me, and we’ll have nothing to do with each other from now on.” A crisp voice sounded from outside the door, quite familiar.

“It’s a deal,” Qi Si replied, recalling the cause and effect almost instantly.

Yes, ten years ago, he had lured a “friend” to this warehouse and killed him with a pair of compasses.

The murderer ten years later narrowed his eyes, wondering somewhat blankly: what had his state of mind been back then?

Nervous, excited, or… because everything was planned out, had he detached himself from unnecessary emotions, remaining as cold and numb as a machine?

With his right hand holding the weapon hidden in his overly long sleeve, Qi Si said, “Come in. Don’t let them see you.”

A child in a blue and white school uniform walked into the warehouse. He was about 1.45 meters tall with some baby fat on his face, looking quite simple-minded.

The child clenched his fingers, baring his teeth in a show of blustering bravado. “Don’t think you can sweet-talk me. I’m not making up with you!”

Qi Si suddenly felt like laughing, laughing at how his past self could have been stung by such childish hostility.

But it was undeniable that this was the beginning of his sin.

He quietly moved behind the child and raised the compasses high. Yes, now was the time. He aimed the needle at the back of the neck and stabbed down hard.

Warm blood soaked his cold fingertips. The humanoid monster’s childhood ended. The rift between past and present closed in an instant, churning with bloody foam and a foul stench.

Qi Si revealed a blood-stained smile, looking down at the slowly collapsing corpse. He casually tossed the compasses into a corner.

He closed the warehouse door and, relying on his memory, walked over to a pile of objects covered by black cloth. He dragged out a meat cleaver from underneath, then returned to the original spot and skillfully began dismembering the corpse’s limbs.

For a moment, he seemed to gain a God’s-eye view, looking down from above as the phantom of a child condensed beside the corpse. The child bowed his head and arched his back like a beast, letting out an unpleasant crying sound.

“Stop crying, you’re annoying,” Qi Si said coldly. “Be careful not to get it everywhere; it’ll be a hassle.”

As always, he hated children, especially himself.

He knew what an unlikable brat he had been—a good actor and a chronic liar who knew exactly how to cry and laugh to manipulate adults into giving him affection.

Of course, he wasn’t a “bad kid” anymore; his victims were now accustomed to calling him the “scum of society.”

“Just make the corpse come alive,” the child suddenly twisted his head 180 degrees and looked up at him. “Make the corpse come alive and dispose of itself. Then it won’t be a hassle.”

Qi Si saw the scarred corpse stand up tremulously. It picked up the knife and cut off its own flesh, as if it were demonstrating something, or rather… putting on a flamboyant performance.

“Clap, clap, clap.”

As a proper member of the audience, Qi Si gave three supportive claps.

He suppressed the disgust in his eyes and put on a friendly smile. “Little friend, that’s a wonderful idea—it seems you are my sin.”

“So, do you know where my Role Card is?”

The child before him abruptly transformed into a tall and slender young man. The school uniform on his body began to turn blood-red from the edges, its style changing from an ordinary uniform to an exquisite three-piece suit.

The youth in red gazed at Qi Si with crimson eyes, his smile full of malice. “Of course I know, but why should I tell you, my player self?”

Qi Si turned and walked away.

Two seconds later, a helpless sigh from the young man came from behind. “You didn’t fall for it. What a pity.”

A black card lay quietly at the warehouse door.

Qi Si chuckled and bent down to pick it up.

Lines of silver-white text appeared before his eyes.

【Congratulations, you have obtained your Role Card, becoming the second character in the entire play to learn their fate.】

【You will gain all the characteristics possessed by this character, including becoming the character itself.】

In the lower-right area of his upper vision, a small card with a black background shimmered into a phantom image. On the card, a young man in red suit trousers held a clown mask, laughing uncontrollably.

This was clearly an Identity Card, though it was unclear which major card it corresponded to, nor why it had been mutated into a 【Role Card】.

【Role Card – Villain】

【Description: He is cold and cruel, he is utterly wicked. He is the obstacle on the Protagonist’s path and the antithesis of justice. He walks in the shadows, destined to be a companion of darkness. Kindness and moral boundaries are his antonyms. He needs no sympathy and no redemption; he once bloomed in slaughter, and he shall ultimately perish in slaughter.】

【Effects: 1. “Preemptive Advantage” – At key plot points involving the Protagonist, you will be able to decide the order of voting (Only one chance per script);】

2. “I’ll Be Back” – Provided the Protagonist is still alive, you will be resurrected in a logical manner after suffering fatal damage (Only one chance per script).】

Qi Si had long expected his identity; that the Role Card would carry certain effects was also within his conjectures.

What surprised him was that he wasn’t actually the first person to find their Role Card.

The first person to find a Role Card must have been a lucky individual who happened to choose the room where their own sin resided.

Who could that be? Was it Dong Xiwen, or He Hui?

Qi Si tucked the Role Card into his pocket and crossed the threshold of the warehouse.

The red, yellow, and blue scene wove itself back together, and he was suddenly back inside Room 1.

Cynthia stood by the bed and said calmly, “I already searched everywhere before I went to sleep last night and didn’t find any useful clues. However, I’m getting old and might have missed things; perhaps everyone can search again.”

Dong Xiwen looked around the room and remarked in a complaining tone, “Don’t you guys have a desk here? Why does my room have one? Could it be special treatment?”

None of the players noticed anything unusual about Qi Si. Everything that had just happened seemed to be a hallucination exclusive to him.

Qi Si curled his lips into a smile, walked to the wall, and followed the same method, using his fingernails to pick at the wallpaper and peel away the plaster.

The others had already gathered around the moment he started damaging the wall. Anyone with eyes could see that he had adapted to this dungeon better than anyone else; perhaps he really could discover something.

Dong Xiwen suddenly let out a “Holy crap!” In his line of sight, several pieces of Papyrus were stuck haphazardly to the scorched wall, revealing lines of text as the wallpaper was peeled away.

【The audience likes comedies. The core of a comedy is letting the Protagonist win.】

【When the final act ends, the back door of the stage opens, and the actors exit through it.】

【Let the Protagonist live; let the Villain die.】

【Good deeds are rewarded, and evil deeds are punished. An eye for an eye, blood for blood.】

There was no apparent logic between the sentences; they were likely notes the Playwright had jotted down.

Qi Si looked at the entries clearly targeting the “Villain,” and the smile on his face widened.

He was becoming more and more curious about what kind of existence this Playwright was—why someone who clearly held a pessimistic view of human nature was so obsessed with creating plays that the audience liked.

He was even more curious about how the Playwright would fix the plot if he insisted on killing the “Protagonist.”

Dong Xiwen pointed at the sentence “When the final act ends” and inferred, “Does this mean that as long as we finish the three acts, a ‘door’ to leave the dungeon will appear on the stage and we’ll have cleared it? But we still don’t know the background of this dungeon…”

Qi Si narrowed his eyes, his smiling mask fixed and unchanging as always. “There are five rooms left. We’ll eventually find all the clues, won’t we?”

He paused and asked seemingly casually, “What do these notes mean by ‘Protagonist’ and ‘Villain’? We’re all actors; is this talking about our roles?”

He Hui, suspecting nothing, said, “It should be. Yesterday I encountered my corresponding monster and picked up a Role Card.”

“What is your identity? Can I see it?”

He Hui hesitated for a second before saying, “I… I am a Supporting Role.”

With Qi Si’s demonstration in the first room, the efficiency of the search in the following rooms increased significantly. As soon as the group entered a room, they were like a swarm of locusts, stripping the wallpaper with all hands and feet, leaving nothing hidden.

On the walls of Room 2 was written:

【The gun that appears in the first act of a play must go off in the third act.】

【Do not easily kill off a character unless you have already squeezed out their last bit of value.】

【Set the stage well and let the characters move on their own. If things get out of control, then change the rules.】

There was nothing on the walls of Room 3. Facing Qi Si’s suspicious gaze, He Hui was at a loss for words, but Dong Xiwen spoke up to bail her out.

In Room 4, Qi Si simply handed over the script fragment he had found. Since the second act was already over, that information was considered expired anyway.

In Room 5, a new script fragment appeared.

【Charlie: The King has issued an ultimatum to shut down our theater! It’s all because of those bloody plays you wrote, causing us to lose the chance to perform even the simplest drama forever!】

【Puppet: Sir, you are still so naive! It was only a matter of time before the theater was shut down. The King only wants the people to know what they should know, and the things you write are destined not to be seen by too many. I merely accelerated the process; at least before the end arrived, you obtained the joy of the carnival.】

【Charlie: I don’t want a carnival. I just want to have a theater of my own, to be able to perform plays that express my own thoughts and emotions. Why must even such a simple wish be destroyed now?】

【Puppet (scornfully): Oh, thoughts! Have you never heard the saying: “Man thinks, God laughs.” Those thoughts of yours are worthless. What the Kingdom needs are puppets—Puppets like me!】

【The guards pound on the theater doors with a deafening roar. Charlie shouts, “Wait!” He rushes into his study, stuffs bundles of Papyrus into a leather suitcase, and throws it out the window. The guards break in with torches and begin searching every corner of the theater.】

…【Note】 “Dead Souls” is a novel written by the Russian author Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol-Yanovsky, telling the story of a businessman who specializes in scams.