Chapter 129: Shuangxi Town (Part Twenty-Three) The Abandoned

Qi Si had been buried alive once when he was sixteen.

A group of ‘righteous youths’ who discovered his calamitous nature dug a pit, placed the unconscious him inside, then poured cold soil over his face, covering it with straw and broken bricks.

They despised him as they would a rat or a cockroach.

For such a filthy creature, people didn’t want to get disgusting fluids on their hands or bodies; it was best to make him disappear quietly, without shedding blood.

As Qi Si was on the verge of death, a wingless god quietly descended, crouched by the pit, and said to him, ‘Pray to me, become my believer, and I can grant you one wish.’

At that time, Qi Si silently told Him, ‘I have no wish.’

The god said, ‘You are about to die.’

Qi Si asked Him, ‘You don’t want me to die?’

The god remained silent.

Qi Si asked again, ‘Then if I don’t pray to you or want to be your believer, can you dig me out?’

That day, Qi Si didn’t die and has stubbornly survived until now—though not particularly lucky, he isn’t utterly unfortunate either.

However, at this moment, it’s unlikely that a bored, well-meaning deity will descend again—he only has himself left.

In the darkness, everything would fade away, including sound, memory, and images.

Qi Si lost all sense of touch, as if floating in a sea of thick, swirling fog, enveloped by intangible things.

He could see nothing, yet he could feel a gaze, as if tangible, wandering deep within his soul, peering from the most exposed places, or rather… searching.

Yes, searching.

Qi Si felt like a pile of cotton wool with a pearl buried inside, and a hand was meticulously turning him inside out, strand by strand, searching for that pearl.

Of course, the hand wasn’t a conventional one; it was more like a tangled polymer of gaze, thought, consciousness, and other indescribable things—an imagined sensation of an unportrayable form.

Qi Si could only try to understand what he was and would experience through the chaotic fragments of scenes flashing in his mind.

He realized that this calamity probably befell him due to ‘bearing a treasure invites disaster,’ even if not entirely, there was likely some truth to it.

Considering he was already half-dead, he simply stayed still, focusing on playing the role of a lump of rotten flesh, letting the other diligently search.

Gradually, he grew annoyed by the disturbance and couldn’t help but ask, ‘What are you looking for? Tell me, I’ll help you search.’

The other seemed surprised by his kindness, the hand freezing for a moment before continuing the silent search.

Time passed second by second; Qi Si wanted to fall asleep, but under the gaze, he couldn’t… If only he had a blanket, or even a burial mat would do.

He thought aimlessly, when suddenly, jumbled memories surged uncontrollably.

From secretly killing the neighbor’s large dog at age twelve, gaining experience, then dealing with a ‘friend’ who had caused him much trouble.

To a few months before turning seventeen, sitting on a windowsill, chewing on a cold, hard pancake while watching a red-clothed vengeful ghost brutally murder his uncle and aunt.

Unimportant scenes fast-forwarded, mixing into mosaic-like color blocks due to the speed, with red, yellow, and blue pigments spilling before his eyes, then separating again into countable dots at some point, piecing together recognizable images.

Entering the Eerie Game, Rose Manor, Carnivore, Dialectical Game, Hopeless Sea… one instance after another flashed before his eyes; Qi Si realized the other was searching his memories.

No secrets remained; all experiences and thoughts were laid bare, unstoppable, unrefusable… Qi Si listlessly watched the scene freeze in Shuangxi Town, witnessing his own actions as a bystander in a haze of fog.

【This information is locked to you; you have no right to know】

A line of blood-red text jumped out, not on the system interface, but in a dark void.

This sentence was likely warning the entity searching his memories, as Qi Si felt the hand rummaging through him freeze.

Was this the rule stepping in out of fairness to stop it?

Qi Si thought with a hint of humor.

Sure enough, the next second, the memories abruptly stopped, all thoughts pointing to specific details scrambled, making it hard to piece together the full picture of events.

A sense of shock not his own transmitted through his soul; Qi Si felt like laughing.

He suddenly realized he wasn’t helpless.

The seemingly desperate, all-or-nothing plan he had devised earlier might have seemed too crazy and far-fetched at first, but at this moment, it seemed genuinely possible to succeed.

Though in the other’s domain and at a disadvantage in terms of items, experience, and trump cards, he had an absolute advantage in one area.

That was—information.

Yes, he entered the game thirty-six years late, lacking much intelligence and information, but he still knew some things the other didn’t, such as… the location of what the other was searching for.

The other certainly knew much more information overall, including secrets like the essence of the Eerie Game and the origin of rules, but in the urgent search for something, the value of information related to that thing could be maximized.

—Even enough to decide the outcome.

‘Tell me the location of the Contract authority; it is a fate not meant for you.’ A voice rose from the depths of his mind, like a divine decree, carrying threat and command.

Qi Si finally knew what He was looking for.

【Soul Contract】, a skill involving rules, an authority only gods should possess, yet granted to a newcomer who had just entered the Eerie Game.

And this newcomer acted alone, isolated and unaided, with no ability to contend with gods, even unaware of many dangers.

Putting himself in that position, Qi Si felt it would be a shame not to take advantage.

Great profits often mean great risks, but if the profit is substantial enough, it’s worth betting one’s life on.

Qi Si laughed, ‘It seems you, as a god, aren’t all-knowing and all-powerful. What benefit do I get if I tell you the location of the Contract authority?’

The unfamiliar Evil God said, ‘You can leave alive, and I will allow you to believe in me and respond to your prayers.’

A condescending tone, fitting the image of a god in monotheistic religions.

Unfortunately, there is more than one god in the Eerie Game.

Qi Si thought for a moment and said, ‘How about you bid against Contract? Whoever offers more, I’ll listen to. Contract gave me the 【Soul Contract】 skill; what higher-value thing can you give me?’

“…”

The space suddenly shook violently; a pair of golden eyes abruptly opened in the darkness, casting their gaze.

In that instant, Qi Si was overwhelmed by a deep, soul-rending fear, as if those were the eyes of a cat and he was a rat living in the gutter.

Excruciating pain, as if countless knives stabbed into his flesh from all angles, twisted and stirred before pulling out blood vessels… pain nerves crushed with needles, repeatedly pierced and prodded… wave after wave of endless pain, yet a voice coaxingly told him that as long as he revealed the location of the Contract authority, he would be freed.

At the peak of pain, Qi Si instead laughed out loud.

If he had been passive from the start, now the initiative had returned to him, and the success rate of his plan rose from 1% to 99%.

The other had no more effective means to deal with him, resorting only to the most primitive interrogation methods.

And though he feared pain, he was also adept at enduring it, especially knowing it could greatly displease the other; he would rather harm himself eightfold than let the other have their way.

The gloom that had accumulated since entering this instance was swept away in an instant, like a peppermint candy coated with pepper—after all the spicy flavors faded, the tip of the tongue finally tasted sweetness.

Qi Si’s laughter grew increasingly unrestrained, gradually turning into uproarious guffaws.

When asked the same question once again.

He uttered two words with immense pleasure: “Guess.”

…Shang Qingbei had a dream, a dream of darkness, with only a yellowed page floating before his eyes.

On the page were written words belonging to no known country, yet their meaning became clear the moment his gaze touched them.

【side quest: Ruin Xier’s Happy Event】

This was what was written on the page. In the lower right corner of the text, Shang Qingbei saw his own signature—his real name.

This reminded him that on the first night, he had made a deal with some entity in a series of dreams.

That entity had helped him wake from the nightmare, and in return, he had to complete the side quest.

However, the way this side quest was completed clearly contradicted that entity’s requirements. Did this count as breaking his promise?

Now, trapped in a dream once more, was that entity coming to settle accounts after the fact?

Shang Qingbei broke out in a cold sweat instantly, and then he saw the page before him change.

The side with the side quest was peeled away, dissipating into the void; beneath it, there was another page, clearly bearing entirely different words:

【Kill Qi Si】

His signature was also in the lower right corner.

The deal actually had two clauses. Shang Qingbei suddenly realized that in last night’s dream, that entity had never explicitly told him what he needed to do.

So this was the trap… Saving Xier wasn’t part of the deal at all, just a misleading trick formed through wordplay!

Shang Qingbei gasped in shock, but felt no anger at being deceived.

Given that the other party held absolute dominance, likely with high authority, arguing with them would yield no benefit.

Instead, he felt relieved. The task of saving Xier, which he had messed up, wasn’t important, so he wouldn’t be held accountable for it.

At this moment, Shang Qingbei’s gaze returned to the Contract terms.

【Kill Qi Si】. Who was “Qi Si”?

Undoubtedly, this was the real name of one of the players.

Shang Qingbei recalled various details from the beginning of the instance, including Du Xiaoyu and “Qi Wen’s” behavior.

It was certain that “Qi Wen” had the surname “Qi”… A portrait emerged in the darkness, confirming Shang Qingbei’s judgment.

The next second, he felt someone push his back.

Stumbling, he abruptly sat up from the bed, seeing the dark sky outside the window.

He sat for a while, pulling away from the confusion of the dream, gradually calming down.

Dreams are creations of the subconscious, capable of stirring human instincts.

In dreams, killing might seem justified, but in reality, one ultimately cannot abandon morality.

There was no light in the room, only dim enough to see vague outlines.

Shang Qingbei glanced sideways at the figure lying on the middle bed, his expression somewhat complex.

It was true he didn’t have much fondness for “Qi Wen” or Qi Si, perhaps because the latter always liked to verbally provoke him, or because both were players skilled at solving puzzles yet held differing views… But none of this warranted a life-or-death struggle.

Under the “guaranteed death count” mechanism, Shang Qingbei might secretly rejoice at a companion’s death, but he would never personally harm another player.

After all, everyone was human, with the greatest enemy being the Ghosts, requiring unity to face them.

Moreover, he was just a high school student. If he killed someone, could he ever return to his former life?

As he hesitated, he saw “Qi Si” sit up from the bed without warning, turning on the LED light of a makeup mirror under the pillow.

Thus, the room had light—though just a small source, not bright, it was enough to see each other clearly.

Shang Qingbei saw the young man stagger to the wall, waking Xu Yao, who was sleeping in her clothes.

As if waking from a dream, he glanced at Du Xiaoyu drooling on the pillow beside him, somewhat disgustedly moved closer, and poked the latter’s back with the English dictionary in his hand.

Du Xiaoyu sprang up from the bed, his expression not great, but he was instantly awake, realizing they were in an instance. Before sleeping, they had agreed to go out at night to explore the “Ghost Gate” mentioned in the rules.

Once they investigated the Ghost Gate and found the way out, they could clear the instance… In the silent night, the players rustled as they dressed under the makeup mirror’s light, heading out one by one.

“Qi Si” held the makeup mirror at the front.

In the courtyard, the darkness of sky and earth merged into one. The makeup mirror’s light was like a drop of water falling into an inkwell, unable to dispel much darkness, instead making the scattered paper scraps on the ground cast shifting shadows, evoking more eerie associations.

Shang Qingbei unconsciously moved closer to the young man holding the light source, only to feel a chilling cold emanating from there, causing him to shiver.

Was Qi Si transformed from a refrigerator? Or had he frozen through after going down the well?

Shang Qingbei grumbled inwardly, but his steps didn’t stop, following the young man out of the courtyard.

On the first night, he had resisted going out to explore at night, but now he held a positive attitude.

On one hand, the hope of clearance was within reach, and he needed to seize the time to improve his performance score; on the other, everyone acting together gave him a sense of safety in numbers.

The young man ahead pushed open the wooden door, and a piercing cold wind rushed in, carrying away almost all warmth.

Outside, mist filled the air, tiny water droplets suspended reflecting the LED light, painting everything before them in a white haze.

Shang Qingbei inexplicably recalled the scene from his dream on the first night, when he had stood here with a Ghost wearing Qi Si’s face.

Thinking of this, he scrutinized the young man up and down, seeing the bracelet and watch on his wrist, and the pendant around his neck.

—All the items were there, confirming that this Qi Si was human.

The young man seemed oblivious to Shang Qingbei’s probing gaze, looking left and right: “We don’t know the Ghost Gate’s location. Tonight, we might need to prepare to find nothing.”

Shang Qingbei agreed with this judgment and continued: “Let’s split into two teams. One goes left, turning left at every fork; the other goes right, turning right at every fork. Tonight, we’ll just locate the Ghost Gate first.”

Remembering the words 【Kill Qi Si】 from the dream page, he softly added: “Qi Wen and I will take the left team. We’ll try to explore as many places as possible.”

He had a trump card item that could kill anyone, but he still couldn’t bring himself to actively harm another player—even if they had conflicts, even if they weren’t good… However, as long as he stuck close to Qi Si, the initiative to kill or not kill Qi Si was in his hands. He could play it by ear and decide later.

Xu Yao had no objections to Shang Qingbei’s arrangement.

Du Xiaoyu thought of something and looked at the young man holding the makeup mirror: “Brother Qi, let’s share the lighting item. Otherwise, we can’t see the path clearly. I remember that phone full of fake clues was quite bright when turned on.”

“Left it down the well.” The young man’s face was half-lit, half-shadowed under the LED light, cold and aloof. “If you can’t see, walk slower.”

“I was just asking. Do you have to be like that?” Du Xiaoyu finally couldn’t hold back his temper, cursing under his breath.

But the young man acted as if it were none of his concern, turning to walk down the left path.

In the distance, the sound of a Suona echoed, like ghostly whispers, eerie and mournful.