Although Su Zimo didnât have any elderly family members with dementia when he was young, he knew that when grandpa stepped into old age, he learned about computers and niche languages from the beginning like a young man in hopes of avoiding Alzheimerâs disease. He hoped that he would be sober until his last moments. It was a very important point.
Itâs precisely because of this that Su Zimo knew how terrible Alzheimerâs would become after entering its late stages.
The old man felt that his memory had obviously diminished because of his illness. Yesterdayâs things would be forgotten today. He canât remember it anymore. Even if he watched people who have been around for over ten years, or even decades, he would start to shake within his mind.
Alongside the decline in memory, the old manâs judgement and comprehension also began to decline. He couldnât keep up with what others said, and he often forgot what to do for his daily life. He became bored and pessimistic about his hobbies and interests that he had enjoyed all his life⌠In this way, the sick old man would make outsiders dumbfounded, as if they had suddenly become silly.
But compared to the forgetfulness and dementia, the most terrible thing about Alzheimerâs is that patients have very large mood swings. They may be drinking tea very calmly one moment, but they canât control themselves and cry because of some small thing in the next moment. Sometimes, patients who were originally optimistic and peaceful will become very angry. It isnât surprising that theyâre caught in anger because of some sesame green beans. <sup>1</sup>
In short, taking care of such elderly people isnât a simple matter for any family.
Even if they were looking for a doctor⌠Ordinary medications have little effect on patients with advanced Alzheimerâs Disease. They can try using expensive trial drugs, but the effect will only be mediocre. Itâs better to let the elderly enjoy their old age in an environment where their children and grandchildren are all around.
But it seems that the Bai family who lived in this villa didnât think so. They shut the old man inside the luxurious villa. In order to make it not look like a gilded cage, they arranged many servants and hired a dedicated family doctor to stay and take care of the old man who couldnât care for himself due to his illness. They were responsible for managing the elderâs expenses and the various drugs used by the family doctor.
The Bai family didnât expect that the family doctor and housekeeper would go so far as to act in collusion, and all the money that should have been used for the elder was used by them.
Of course, the reason why the Bai family didnât find out might be because they didnât keep the money in their minds. In other words, it took the money to reassure them until the housekeeper asked for an advance on an out-of-pocket expenditure. Then, the Bai family finally began to refuse.
However, before the Bai family could discover anything else, the housekeeper must have stopped his fraud involving the light and dark account books, and instead sold all of the old manâs precious books without resistance, leaving only empty shells to deceive an audience.
âBut the old man didnât seem to care about these complicated facts.â Su Zimo listened to Jin Leiâs speculations quietly, then looked at the messy main hall and said, âHe just wanted to complete this unfinished banquet. Iâm afraid that itâs only on May 15th of every year that the old man can see his granddaughter.â
Even from just a few lines of âGushan Notes,â Su Zimo could feel the kind of love a grandfather has for his grandchildren. It was no less that Su Zimoâs previous relationship with his grandfather.
âWhat should we do?â The madman spread his hands and looked at Su Zimo. âIs this the so-called lifeline? Is it so simple as completing an unfinished banquet?â
âDonât we still have our own identities?â Su Zimo waved the âHousekeeperâs Self-Cultivationâ book in his hand. Perhaps because the snake event happened too suddenly, everyone seemed to forget that they had just finished a role-playing task.
You know, the snake that was asleep over there was still wearing that tight-fitting maid costume.
âIs this the purpose of role-playing?!â The madman facepalmed. âHow stubborn is that old man. At this time, he has to urge us to cosplay and be the people to prepare for the banquet? Every time I woke up in a room, I encountered the malicious spirit. It couldnât be that the old man thought we were neglecting our duties, so he ran over to hurry us up?â
âMaybe thatâs the truth.â Su Zimo said, and asked the madman, âMr. Madman, you seem to know something about the banquet. Could you please tell us what to do?â
The madman didnât refuse. He just looked around for four weeks and said, âThe most important thing now should be to clean up the hall and rearrange the dining table? I remember that the dirty tableware was piled up in the corner over there. Now, if you sort it out, it should be barely usable. If you need food⌠just use the supplies we carried with us. Anyway, malicious spirits canât really eat.â
âThereâs a broom in the maidsâ room!â Qi Xiaomin hurried to the room and took the dustpan and broom from inside, grasping them in her arms and stuffing it directly into Du Xinâs hands.
Liu Xu, dressed in a chefâs costume, didnât say a word, but walked silently to the pile of discarded plates in the corner.
Everyone was wearing the clothing of their corresponding characters. Everyone joined in to prepare for the banquet. Everyone was convinced that as long as the unfinished banquet was completed, they could pass through this nightmare world!
But Su Zimo, who was standing there holding the professional housekeeperâs book, suddenly had a very bad feeling. He felt that something hadnât been taken into consideration, and that very important clues hadnât been discovered yet.
Su Zimo couldnât help but but hold on to the fact that he wasnât a trainer. Why should he take on the role of a trainer with a âmanagerâ position? Was it really not a problem?
âSu Zimo, what are you doing there?â Dr. Jin just found a stethoscope in an upstairs room and patted Su Zimoâs shoulder as she passed by.
âMr. Su is a housekeeper, after all. Just watch us do this.â Qi Xiaomin fanned the dust in front of her nose while continuing to clean the broken floor, coughing from time to time.
âNo, I just feel like thereâs something weâre ignoring.â
âOops!â
Almost the same instant his words ended, Su Zimo felt the dizziness strike again, meaning that the trainers were about to usher in the fourth night!
The survival time assigned for this nightmare world was five days. If the trainers fall into a deep sleep again this time, the remaining time will be the last day!
And the day may be much shorter than 24 hours.
âŚ..
âWhatâs wrong?â Qi Xiaomin and Du Xin pulled the still-sleeping snake from the maidsâ room back to the main hall, and found that the other trainers had also come out of their respective rooms and sat around the log dining table.
âThe old man appeared in the darkness just now. In order to urge us to arrange the banquet, he almost broke my hand!â Du Xin was part of a relatively weak group of people. He was lying in the same room as Qi Xiaomin and the sleeping snake, who were also weak, so the ghost attack from that room was the most serious.
Everyone could see that Du Xin had a large purple bruise on his hand, and he couldnât move his arm up until then. If Liu Xu, who had left the chefâs room, hadnât rushed and punched away the malicious spirit who could âsplitâ themselves among multiple places at once, Du Xinâs state would be much worse.
Su Zimo also held the metal pen tightly in his hand. Every time he woke up, the malicious spirit in the room would become more violent. If it wasnât because the trainers needed to look for the lifeline, maybe it wouldnât be necessary for them to cosplay, and they could all quit their jobs as soon as they woke up.
âRelax, as long as you can clear the task, everything will be fine.â Although the trainers continued comforting themselves, they could see that everyone was worried and didnât even care about the main hall that was only half-way clean.
âDid we make a mistake?â Even Dr. Jin began to hesitate. âIs the lifeline really just preparing for the banquet?â
âAll the clues led to this path, didnât they?â Su Zimo put the metal pen away. âThereâs only one loophole I can think of.â
âLoophole?â Hearing those two words, the other trainersâ eyes focus on him again.
âThese are the roles we play now.â Su Zimo looked at Du Xin wearing a completely unfit maid costume, and Liu Xu wearing a sack-like chef uniform. âAre they right for you?â
âWrong?â The other trainers were stunned.
âAh!â Dr. Jin suddenly seemed to remember something, and said clearly. âOur current role-playing identity is determined by the room where I woke up the second time, but⌠that room also seems to be assigned randomly due to the old manâs Alzheimerâs disease? At first, I felt vengeful and encouraged Cheng Yun to wear a maidâs outfit, but there seemed to be something wrong.â
âYeah, no one has ever said that the roles weâre playing now are correct.â Su Zimo bowed and thought, âI think that the roles we need to play were determined when we entered this nightmare world. After all, there are ten roles to play, and you are exactly ten⌠peopleâŚâ
Su Zimo said, and his voice fell.
After all, he was the eleventh outsider.
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However, the other trainers didnât seem to pay attention to the mistakes and omissions in Su Zimoâs argument, and just said with annoyance, âThen how can we know the correct identities? The old man may not be able to throw us into the right room after a lifetime!â
âNote the mirrorâŚâ
At that time, the silent hall suddenly heard a timid voice that hadnât been heard before. It held the feeling that they were suppressing the voice and didnât dare to communicate with other people. It was Wan Ling, the girl who had the âGhost Severerâ garden shears.
âThe task says to note the mirror.â When everyoneâs eyes came together, Wan Ling couldnât help closing her eyes so she was able to fluently speak.
Su Zimo walked alone in front of the covered decorative mirror. Considering the angle, he ripped the large tablecloth off at a very fast speed, then took a few steps back.
The strange thing is that Su Zimo didnât see the ghosts that Xiao Huo saw in the mirror before. What he saw was that he looked tired after several days of battle.
There were no abnormalities.
After thinking for a while, Su Zimo glanced at the movable bracket underneath the large mirror and turned it toward the side of the long dining table so he could see the other trainers sitting there through the mirror.
At that moment, everyoneâs bodies were completely stiff. They turned their heads to look at the reflection in the mirror, but many of their faces turned pale with fear. Even veterans like the madman also tightened the muscles on their whole body and whispered, âHandsome Su, what are you doing⌠what a good deedâŚâ
Su Zimo, who had moved the mirror, knew what they must have seen inside, so carefully walked away from the side of the mirror and returned to the position with the other trainers near the dining table.
He looked up and stared into the mirror in front of himâŚ
There werenât ten trainers sitting in the mirror!
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There were clearly ten malicious spirits in blood-soaked uniforms sitting there. When the ghosts suddenly turned their heads and the trainers stared at them, they rushed to the table and toward the people outside the mirror!
Translatorâs Notes:
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SZ: There are ten trainers here.
Everyone else:
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Footnotes
<ol>Sesame green beans mean something simple and unproblematic.</ol>