57 - Pen Fairy Game

Translated by rabbitrisu

“Zhang Xiaoqing and those three friends ran to the haunted abandoned building behind the high school when they were studying without a teacher on a school night. No one knew if it was haunted, but the building was very dilapidated. The door was made of old wood, so brittle that it could be broken down with a kick. So, in order to prevent students from running in and playing, the school changed it to a locked iron door.”

“The only boy among the four smashed the window on the first floor and took the three girls into the abandoned building when no one was paying attention. They found the most terrifying classroom from the legend and prepared to play the pen fairy game.”

“Most of the walls in the room had peeled off, and old and rusty sets of tables and chairs were scattered everywhere. There were all kinds of debris and illegible papers on the ground, like a scene from a horror movie.”

“They found two tables that seemed to be complete and put them together, then found four chairs to surround them. The girl who originally proposed the plan… let’s call her the school flower. The school flower had already prepared the pen for the pen fairy game, but happened to find another one to use on the classroom floor. After rubbing it against the ruined curtain, she decided to use that one to play.”

“To be honest, Zhang Xiaoqing was really scared at that time. If it wasn’t for the boy who invited her, she would never have stepped into the dilapidated building. The school flower and the other girl… let’s call her glasses girl. When the school flower and glasses girl asked her to hold the pen first, Zhang Xiaoqing was really unhappy.”

Xiaowan used ‘school flower’ and ‘glasses girl’ to describe the characters in the ghost story. Xu Yingying and Zhu Zhu were a little confused and unsettled, but the three people on the sofa didn’t dare move. They were afraid to miss some important clues from Xiaowan’s ghost story.

As Su Zimo sat across from Xiaowan, he observed her. Her expression and tone were very natural. Except for occasionally saying some confusing words, there was nothing strange.

But…

Su Zimo, sitting at the very edge of his seat, had been hearing some small movements in the hallway next to the living room the entire time. That is, the hallway where the female ‘person’ with loose hair had disappeared to, was making some easily overlooked noises.

Su Zimo quietly put his hand behind him, grabbed the metal pen from the side pocket of his backpack, and then continued to sit there while listening to Xiaowan’s ghost story with a smile on his face.

He knew that this kind of nightmare world with tasks in phases would have controlled difficulties. The first task was basically a refuge for the trainers, allowing them to understand the background and the setting of the nightmare world. So, before the story finishes, they were temporarily safe.

“Zhang Xiaoqing didn’t dare to hold the pen, but then the guy in the group of four said to her ‘If you hold the pen, I can hold your hand.’ Because very few people could refuse their crush when they said such things, Zhang Xiaoqing, like any other young girl, held the pen under the boy’s gaze, and then looked down. The boy’s hand wrapped around hers, and she felt a hint of joy in the terrifying environment.”

“Zhang Xiaoqing and the boy held the lower half of the pen, the school flower help the upper half of the pen, and the glasses girl held the school flower’s hand. The four people grabbed the same pen from four different directions and allowed it to stand upright on the white A3 paper they had prepared earlier. They took a deep breath to calm themselves.”

Su Zimo originally thought that Du Lei’s story was long, but listening to Xiaowan’s story, he didn’t expect it to be longer. Many details and verbal descriptions were added to her story, like she was at the scene when things happened.

Listening to Xiaowan’s story, Su Zimo’s mind seemed to be in a gloomy and abandoned classroom. Three high school seniors looking for excitement watched a timid, cowering girl, and urged her to be the first to hold the pen.

“The pen fairy games had always been similar, either successful or unsuccessful. But the game that Zhang Xiaoqing participated in should be successful, because she watched the pen draw circles along the white paper, but there was no force from her hand at all. The three friends around her asked each other blankly, and finally determined that there was a mysterious force pushing the pen.”

“Although they felt terrible, they had long known the taboo about playing the pen fairy game. They knew that once the pen fairy appeared, they couldn’t release their hands. Otherwise, worse things would happen. So although Zhang Xiaoqing felt her hand on the pen shaking, and even though her palms were sweating, she endured it with the boy’s comfort. After that, Zhang Xiaoqing’s three friends gathered around and asked some questions about their academic futures, but she was afraid and didn’t say a word.”

The tone of Xiaowan’s narration was apathetic. It was like holding a script and reading it without emotion.

“But then, the school flower suddenly asked, ‘Pen fairy, does Zhang Xiaoqing have someone she likes?’ At that time, Zhang Xiaoqing was stunned. She could only watch the pen being innocently pushed forward, and finally started to draw a circle near the ‘yes’ sign.”

“The school flower smiled and said, ‘I may know who it is.’ Then, just as Zhang Xiaoqing’s heart was about to leap into her throat, she asked again, “Pen fairy, the person Zhang Xiaoqing likes — Does he like her?”

“At that moment, Zhang Xiaoqing’s heart almost exploded. She suddenly pressed the pencil tightly with her hand, trying to use human power to stop the ‘Pen Fairy.’ Some people say that a large part of the joy in secret love comes from self-satisfaction. Rather than knowing that an answer is true or false, Zhang Xiaoqing would rather not know the answer.”

“Perhaps it was because Zhang Xiaoqing’s pressure was too hard, or perhaps because the abandoned pen had become brittle after so long in the classroom. In short, the pen held by the four people had broken right under their noses, and the entire pen was lifted from the white paper. They committed the pen fairy’s first major taboo.”

“At that moment, the air in the abandoned classroom was filled with silence. That atmosphere lasted several minutes. The girl in glasses suddenly screamed and shouted, ‘We’re going to die! We’ll die! If we don’t send the pen fairy away, we’ll all die!’ Then she released her hand that was holding the pen.”

“The girl who released her hand next was the school flower. The girl who had always seemed calm even hid her face and started crying. She said to herself, ‘I’m sorry, sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t have proposed playing with the pen fairy. I’m sorry!’”

“Then, even the boy released his hand and walked to the window in silence with his back to the other three girls.”

“On the other hand, Zhang Xiaoqing, who was left holding the pen at the end, was baffled. She felt that the performance of the three friends was… exaggerated. Yes, it was really exaggerated! Although the taboos of the pen fairy were widely known, most of them were, in fact, unreliable ghost stories. No one had ever dared to say that they would die if they broke the pen fairy taboo. Why couldn’t that help the two girls? Even the boy she had a crush on looked melancholy?”

“Zhang Xiaoqing couldn’t figure it out. After all, the ‘pen fairy’ they summoned didn’t even rampage like in those ghost stories, nor did it write the word ‘death’ a few times on the paper. Why did the glasses girl’s screams into her ear get worse and worse? Why were the cries of the school flower getting louder and louder?”

“Zhang Xiaoqing hadn’t clearly considered those things yet when a teacher heard the glasses girl’s screams coming from the abandoned building. He thought something bad happened to one of them, so he rushed in.”

“But the teacher who rushed into the abandoned classroom only saw a few students surrounding a piece of white paper, crying and screaming, and a girl sitting there stupidly holding a pen. He was completely unable to see what happened. When the teacher took Zhang Xiaoqing and the others away, the girl in glasses was still yelling, ‘Pen fairy, the pen fairy curse is wrapped around us, I saw it! It’ll kill us! It’ll kill us one by one in the order that we let go! We’re dead!’”

“Zhang Xiaoqing, who was sitting there stupidly, was also taken away by the teacher. When she left her seat, the pen in her hand fell to the white paper. It was lying there quietly without any mystery.”

“‘I’m sorry, but I’m really scared! Her eyes have seen strange things since she was a child. Maybe she really saw the pen fairy!’ Zhang Xiaoqing originally wanted to talk to the school flower, but the girl just leaned on her and cried for a while, saying that the glasses girl was psychic. If she saw the pen fairy, it must be real.”

“Up to that point, Zhang Xiaoqing still didn’t believe the school flower or the glasses girl. After all, if glasses girl was telling the truth, why would she be the first to release the pen?”

“Zhang Xiaoqing wanted to ask the boy she had a crush on, but for some reason, after leaving the abandoned building, he was walking with his head down, not looking at anyone or saying anything.”

“Zhang Xiaoqing’s and the others’ homes were all nearby, so they all went home after the evening self-study period. Although Zhang Xiaoqing didn’t think that the pen fairy incident would result in anything, she couldn’t stop her heart from beating faster. After eleven o’clock, when Zhang Xiaoqing was about to fall asleep, the small group chat established for their glass received a message from the glasses girl.”

“The message said, ‘I saw it, it’s here, the pen fairy is here. I’ll be taken away!’ Zhang Xiaoqing and the other classmates used their phones to contact the glasses girl, but no one answered any of the calls. Zhang Xiaoqing had a very bad feeling in her heart.”

“The next day, the glasses girl didn’t come to school. The teacher actually received the news from her parents in advance. When Zhang Xiaoqing and her friends asked, he said that the glasses girl didn’t go home after school yesterday, and not a trace of her could be found up to now.”

“After hearing the news, Zhang Xiaoqing was stunned. She could only hear the unending cries of the school flower beside her.”

“She couldn’t figure it out. It’s just a game. Why did the glasses girl really disappear? Did she disappear, or did she really meet the pen fairy? Zhang Xiaoqing’s head was a mess. That’s when the school flower suddenly hugged her, and then cried into her ear, ‘Its true! It’s my turn next!’”

“Zhang Xiaoqing didn’t want to die. No one wants to die.”

“Zhang Xiaoqing’s three friends had very good family conditions. Their houses were in first-rate cities, unlike Zhang Xiaoqing’s family who could only rent a small, old place near the school in order to reduce her stress before entrance exams. She didn’t understand it at all. She worked hard to get admitted into this high school, and with Zhang Xiaoqing’s grades, she practically already had a university admissions book in her hands. She was even more unlikely to want to die.”

“After entering high school, the biggest change for Zhang Xiaoqing was that she met her three friends. While her other classmates said she was a ‘country girl,’ they were willing to smile and chat with her friends. Especially the boy that Zhang Xiaoqing had a crush on. He was not only the school grass, but he treated people very tenderly. He was always smiling, just like you sitting across from me.”

When Xiaowan said this, she suddenly mentioned Su Zimo who was sitting across from her.

“Actually, I’m also… a department grass.” Due Lei muttered.

“There aren’t a lot of boys there?” Xu Yingying also murmured, then looked at Su Zimo out of the corner of her eyes. “A-Yu’s face and yours are indeed not at the same level.”

“……”

Su Zimo found that Xu Yingying’s remotions were even more relaxed than when Du Lei told his ghost story before. This may be because the story Xiaowan told was longer, and it was a cliche pen fairy story that almost everyone had heard. Everyone who has watched a horror movie had heard several similar versions, so they weren’t really hearing anything new.

But Su Zimo, who had been listening attentively, felt that there were many suspicious things in Xiaowan’s story. Just like the story’s protagonist, ‘Zhang Xiaoqing,’ had said – they’ve experienced too many ordinary pen fairy games. The disappearance seemed inexplicable.

But if he thought about it in another way, Su Zimo felt that even though Zhang Xiaoqing was confused at first, she might panic after learning that the glasses girl was missing.

“In short, she learned to dress herself, learned to go to KTV to sing pop songs, and learned to save all the lunch money her parents gave her just to have a coffee with her friends. Just to be able to see the warm smile of the boy she likes. She was addicted to it and couldn’t give it up.”

“Zhang Xioqing originally planned to attend the same prestigious university as the boy after getting the admission notice. She would brush her hair until it shined, wear her best clothes, and then confess to him with the most beautiful smile. When Zhang Xiaoqing thought of the boy’s smile when as he looked at her, she felt that it may not be an unrequited crush. She felt that she would be able to confess successfully and achieve the counterattack she hoped for most in life.” ¹

“But the glasses girl was missing.”

“The boy kept his head down, stopped talking, and didn’t laugh anymore.”

“At that time, Zhang Xiaoqing hid her fear and continued comforting the school flower and the boy. But one was hiding her face and crying, and the other remained silent.”

“After school that day, the school flower stopped Zhang Xiaoqing and said she wanted to have a chat with her. When the two sat down by the lake in the park, the school flower told Zhang Xiaoqing that she was really scared because she grew up with the glasses girl. She knew the glasses girl could really see ghosts, and the pen fairy really had come to kill her, and that she was the second person who would disappear.”

“Amidst the school flower’s sobbing, Zhang Xiaoqing spoke and comforted her for over half an hour, and then she gradually calmed down. She leaned on Zhang Xiaoqing’s shoulder and said, “People are about to die, but those words are good. In fact, I’m really fortunate to have a friend like you right now. Although I don’t really talk about it during the weke, you’re really the angel out of the four of us. You’ve helped us a lot…’”

“Zhang Xiaoqing always felt that the relationship between herself and the school flower wasn’t very close. They had never had a heart to heart talk, so when she suddenly heard her say that, she was really moved.”

“Immediately afterwards, Zhang Xiaoqing heard the school flower say, ‘From today on, until I disappear, we’re best friends. If I can see the sun tomorrow, I’ll invite you to drink a year of coffee, good or not!’ While feeling warmth in her heart, Zhang Xiaoqing comforted the school flower for a long time, then heard her say, “Since we’re good friends, I’ll tell you a secret. In fact, the person you like has always liked you.’”

“When Zhang Xiaoqing heard the news, she was stunned.”

“He actually doesn’t express himself very much, but he secretly told me earlier that if this thing is true, then his biggest regret would be that he can’t do anything, even one step ahead of you.’ After the school flower said those things, she leaned on Zhang Xiaoqing and fell asleep for a while as if she was exhausted.”

“Zhang Xiaoqing stared dazedly at the lake in the night for a long, long time, and thought of many, many things in her heart. It took a long time for her to come back to her senses, wake up the school flower who was leaning on her, and then help her home without a word. In the neighborhood, she didn’t turn around until she saw the school flower walk through the door to her apartment building. At that time, Zhang Xiaoqing’s heart couldn’t calm down.”

“What made her unable to calm down was…”

“The next day, the school flower disappeared. Everyone who knew about it gossiped that the school flower and glasses girl weren’t missing, but were taken by the pen fairy! The story of the pen fairy is true! There are real ghosts in the world!”

“That time, Zhang Xiaoqing couldn’t help crying. Because she lost the girl who said they were best friends last night, because she regretted not sending the school flower into her apartment last night, and watching her walk into her bedroom.”

“What Zhng Xiaoqing needed to come to terms with most was that since everything was true, then the person who would disappear that night… was the boy she was deeply in love with.”

“Now, Zhang Xiaoqing’s only life-saving thread was that shortly after she sent the school flower home, she received a message from the school flower on her phone. The school flower said that there was actually a way to break the pen fairy’s curse, but the method required someone to take the initiative to break the order of death so that those who are still alive can survive. The school flower also said that this method was sent to her by the glasses girl before she disappeared. If she herself was not the second target, she would definitely save Zhang Xiaoqing.”

“Hiding on the roof of the school and watching the news, Zhang Xiaoqing cried even more heartbrokenly. The pen fairy’s targets were disappearing one by one in the order they let go. First the glasses girl, then the school flower, then the boy she has a crush on, and finally herself.”

“According to the school flower, if breaking the order of ‘death’ could save people, then the only way she could save the boy is to ‘die’ first.”

“Just as Zhang Xiaoqing was gradually breaking down, a call suddenly came from her phone. The caller… was the boy she had a crush on. This was the first time he had called Zhang Xiaoqing. If the timing or atmosphere was different, maybe she would feel ecstatic from the call.”

“Zhang Xiaoqing picked up the phone, and the boy’s anxious voice came through the other end. Although the boy was gentle with her and the people around her during the week, when Zhang Xiaoqing heard his anxious tone, she suddenly felt that the distance between them had grown closer. She heard the boy say through the phone, ‘Zhang Xiaoqing, where are you? I have something very important for you. I’m outside the teaching building. Come out right now, I have something very important to say to you! Don’t bring other people with you, just come out by yourself. Only you can know about this!”

“Hearing what the boy said on the phone and thinking about what the school flower said before, Zhang Xiaoqing fell into the self-satisfaction of her crush again. She felt that she knew what that person was going to say, and she knew it might be the last conversation between them. But instead of both of them disappearing from the world, Zhang Xiaoqing still hopes that the gently boy could live well.”

“So Zhang Xiaoqing hung up the phone… and closed her eyes, smiling, and jumped off the roof.”

“The moment she was about to land, she seemed to see illusions in front of her eyes. She saw the boy, and even the school flower and the glasses girl. She felt that the two of them had come to pick her up.”

“But why were their expressions so shocked and scared?”

“……”

“This is my story.” Xiaowan ended the long story, still sitting calmly on the loveseat.

Xiaowan’s story was very immersive and detailed. But if you could sum it up with some simple words, it was that four high school students played pen fairy together, and they committed a taboo. In order of their violation, they disappeared one by one.

The high school student named Zhang Xiaoqing was supposed to be the last ‘dead’ person, but in order to save the boy who was the third target, she took the initiative to jump from the roof and commit suicide, breaking the order of ‘death’ by the pen fairy. The ‘dead’ boy survived.

That was Su Zimo’s simply summary of the story.

“I never thought…” Du Lei couldn’t help his feeling, “that someone could tell such an old story in such a long way…”

“Hey!” Xu Yingying couldn’t help but nudge Du Lei with her arm, telling him not to speak nonsense. While doing so, she also looked at her left arm. She probably wanted to know how the first task was progressing. Then she continued to sit, waiting for the next ghost story.

“Ding!”

When the atmosphere was silent, Su Zimo suddenly saw the tablet screen on the coffee table light up again. It seemed that someone had sent another message in the group that had only one chat bubble.

Su Zimo still remembered that the last message seemed to be–

[Tonight, you’ll come to my house to play at the ghost story assembly, right? I’ll have snacks ready and waiting for you!]

And now another message popped out and said: [What time is it? I was asleep when I saw the message. Let’s talk about it next time.]

The sender was Wen Xiaoyu.

Su Zimo thought that the ‘Hua Xiaowan’ sitting opposite him would lean over to reutrn the message, but he didn’t expect… The tablet’s information prompt unexpectedly popped up with a message from ‘Hua Xiaowan’ saying: [I’ve also gone back to my room to sleep. I’m lying in bed now and playing on my phone.]

Gone back to her room to sleep?

Playing on her phone?

Hua Xiaowan?

Su Zimo’s body suddenly stiffened. He remembered the person who they regarded as a female ghost when she was sitting on the balcony. If the person who had just returned to their room from the balcony to sleep was ‘Hua Xiaowan’……

Then who was this ‘Xiaowan’ sitting across from him now?

“Ding!”

Wen Xiaoyu: [It’s not your style to go to bed so early. Did you go on a date with that handsome Lin Zhe again today?]

Hua Xiaowan: [Forget about him. I feel a little scared now, I keep feeling like there are sounds outside the door.]

Wen Xiaoyu: [Stop talking. After said that we wouldn’t talk about this kind of thing, I fell asleep too.]

Hua Xiaowan: [En.]

The messages on the tablet popped up one after another, and the three trainers sitting to the side began to feel a little strange. It’s just that they didn’t seem to analyze things as fast as Su Zimo, so only Xu Yingying asked in a low voice, “Well, don’t you need to reply?”

“No, I’m not in the group anyway.” Xiaowan’s face, which had been looking straight ahead, suddenly looked at Xu Yingying, squinting her eyes and smiling.

“……”

“By the way, do you think the story I told was horrible?” ‘Xiaowan’ turned to look back at Su Zimo and asked with a smile.

“Terrible.” Su Zimo nodded sternly.

“Really? Can you tell me where the horror is?” ‘Xiaowan’ seemed to be very interested in this. “I don’t think other people think this story is terrifying.”

Indeed, when Su Zimo said the word ‘terrible,’ the doubts in Du Lei’s eyes overflowed. From Du Lei’s long ghost story, it could be seen that deep in his heart he had a desire to show off, so he couldn’t understand the horror of the previous pen fairy story.

“I’ll just tell my story.” Su Zimo shook his head, not wanting to speak too much and disrupt the pace of the trainers’ tasks. “My ghost story is very short. It’s about an abandoned hotel full of mirrors…”

“No, I would rather hear what you think about the horror in the pen fairy story!” ‘Xiaowan’s’ tone became sharp, then softened again. “Just use that instead of the ghost story you want to tell. After you finish, the ghost story can end.”

“A-Yu, you can talk about it.” When she heard ‘Xiaowan,’ even Xu Yingying urged him. A trainer’s ultimate goal was to clear a task, so Xu Yingying felt that only by meeting this NPC’s requirements could they clear the first task in this nightmare world.

Su Zimo thought for a second, then sighed secretly before looking at ‘Xiaowan’ across from him. “The horror in this story is that only one person died in the whole story.”

“One person?” Du Lei corrected blankly. “A-Yu, three are dead, aren’t they? The glasses girl, school flower, and Zhang Xiaoqing?”

“No, only one died.” Su Zimo shook his head. “The glasses girl and school flower are still alive. Only Zhang Xiaoqing is dead. This is the horror of the story, because the whole pen fairy story was fake. Only Zhang Xiaoqing’s death was real.”

“At the beginning of the story, a few friends agreed to do something exciting before the entrance exams. I think the so-called exciting thing wasn’t playing ‘pen fairy,’ but a few rebellious students who ran away from their families and school using the fabled ‘pen fairy.’ Along the way, they could also fake die to scare the girl named Zhang Xiaoqing. They played a ‘prank’ that got her killed.”

“During the time when the glasses girl and the school flower disappeared, they may have hidden somewhere to rest, or they may have gone to another place to play. Anyway, they’re alive and well. They were just so capable that even their parents, school, and relevant departments couldn’t find them. That’s all.”

Su Zimo had no habit of speaking nonsense, so he just briefly summarized his guess.

After hearing what Su Zimo said, the three trainers who had subconsciously regarded the ‘pen fairy’ story as cliche suddenly understood was was wrong in Xiaowan’s story!

Why was the pen fairy game in the ghost story so peaceful? Obviously nothing happened, so why did the glasses girl suddenly scream so loudly and attract the teacher?

Because the whole pen fairy game was fake, it may have been a scene where the school flower, glasses girl, and the boy collaborated to perform together! Their intent was to deceive! The purpose was to seek excitement before entrance exams! The goal was to pull a prank!

“What else do you know?” Xiaowan gradually lowered her head and her tone deepened slowly.

“All this was a bad prank, but before Zhang Xiaoqing jumped off the rooftop, she received a call from the boy.” Su Zimo was already holding the metal pen in his hand. “I guess that guy didn’t intend to confess to Zhang Xiaoqing, but wanted to tell her the truth about the prank. To tell her everything was a lie, and to not take the prank seriously. It’s a pity he was still too late by just one step.”

“How could that be?” Zhu Zhu, who had been sitting there in silence, took off her glasses to wipe them, then said in a discomforted tone, “Why didn’t the boy tell Zhang Xiaoqing the truth about the matter over the phone? Then, Zhang Xiaoqing wouldn’t have done something stupid!”

“Maybe it was the idea of the school flower and the glasses girl?” Su Zimo also sighed. “At the end of the story, Zhang Xiaoqing seemed to see the boy, school glower, and glasses girl in an illusion. But I think it wasn’t Zhang Xiaoqing’s hallucination. It was the school flower and glasses girl who came to Zhang Xiaoqing with the boy, wanting to witness her shocked expression when she saw them alive, right?

“that’s also the reason why they didn’t let the boy clarify things on the phone.” Su Zimo said, looking at ‘Xiaowan.’ “Am I right?”

Xiaowan didn’t speak.

But after hearing the truth of the story, Du Lei suddenly pricked up and said, “Although it sounds terrible, isn’t that not a ghost story? Is that not in accordance with the rules?”

As soon as Du Lei finished speaking, a strange smile appeared on the face of ‘Xiaowan,’ sitting there with her head down.

Footnotes

<ol>Counterattack here means she hopes the boy will reciprocate her feelings.</ol>