Chapter 2

Mu Qin noticed that the three people in the office were all wearing the same clothing as him and Cheng Guoxu. They all wore the same grey shirt and grey pants, looking very uniform.

“I don’t have time to talk nonsense with you, newbie.” The big, tall man had a faded buzz cut and looked very capable. He spoke seriously and methodically, completely different from Cheng Guoxu’s hoarse voice.

The tall man spoke, “Right now, we are playing a game of death. Have you seen those novels or movies before? A group of people are trapped in a sealed environment to let them kill each other or to put a killer in their midst to hunt them… it’s this kind of plot.”

“Are you saying we’re filming was a horror film he had watched many years ago, and it had left a deep impression on him. Although he could barely remember the plot, he clearly remembered the conclusion. He remembered that the corpse lying on the ground crawled back up and shut the protagonist behind the door.

The tall man replied to Mu Qin, “That’s basically how it is. Now, we are also locked in a closed space. We must find the key to the exit in order to leave.”

“I don’t quite understand.” Mu Qin couldn’t process such a large amount of information in such a short amount of time. He said, “You mean, we got locked by people in a… this should be an orphanage? And we need to find the key to the door to leave?”

The tall man answered, “Exactly, you understood quickly.”

“Who locked us up here?” Mu Qin asked.

The tall man continued, “I don’t know. Perhaps it was a terrifying organization, or maybe it was a supernatural entity. In fact, it may have even been an alien for all we know.”

“Then who are you?” Mu Qin raised his head and looked at the tall man in front of him.

This man’s black eyes were bright and spirited. He looked powerful and reliable, and he had the aura of a decent person. However, he replied, “My name is Xu Fu, previously… I was a criminal in prison for murder.”

Xu Fu’s words caused the two people standing next to him unconsciously back away, but he didn’t seem to mind. He said, “We’re still missing people. We should have a total of six people, but that’s okay. Let me briefly explain the situation to you guys first.”

Xu Fu began to speak rapidly. He was pretty eloquent, and Mu Qin finally understood the basic situation after he explained.

In short, this is a killing game.

Similar to several trending online games, several players who may or may not know each other gather in a closed map. The game’s system will then place a “killer” amongst these players, and the players must find a way to identify the killer. While being hunted, the players must also find a way to exit the map.

Ktfrf jgf atf yjrlm geifr. Po atlr kfgf j mbwqeafg ujwf, la kbeiv yf gfjiis oec. Lbkfnfg, lo la aegcfv lcab gfjilas, la kbeiv yfmbwf j yla rmjgs.

“P atlcx sbe’gf pbxlcu.” Coafg We Me olclrtfv fzqijlclcu atf bnfgjii rlaejalbc, j kbwjc lc atf ugbeq bo olnf rqbxf.

Ktja’r gluta. Ktfgf kjr j kbwjc jwbcura atfw. Ktf ktbif alwf, rtf tjv yffc rajcvlcu yfrlvf We Me jcv ifjclcu jujlcra atf kjii rlifcais.

Mu Qin looked at her under the dim lighting of the office. She was an adult woman in her 30s or 40s. She had a slightly slimmer build. Her slightly curly hair was dyed a deep ash brown and reached her shoulders. She could be considered somewhat pretty with an egg-shaped face. However, her cheekbones were a bit too high, and her eyes slanted upwards, giving her a mean appearance.

“What killing game! This kind of fantasy, you’ve read too many fantasy novels!” This woman didn’t believe Xu Fu’s words, “This guy is definitely just spouting nonsense to deceive us. Before I arrived here, I only remember going to a student’s house for a home visit. After somehow losing consciousness, I ended up here. This is definitely a prank planned by that student and you guys!”

Apparently, this woman was a teacher.

Mu Qin had a general guess in mind after hearing the woman’s words.

This speculation was easy, and Xu Fu reasoned the same thing. He asked the woman, “You are a teacher. Do you teach middle school or a high school?”

The woman squinted at Xu Fu, “I am a middle school teacher. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, I definitely don’t have any objections. I just wanted to ask you, did your student do something to you when you were doing home visits and lost consciousness?” Xu Fu asked a seemingly insignificant question.

“I don’t want to answer the questions of a murderer.” The female teacher’s attitude was harsh.

Xu Fu answered his own question, “ Did he give you a drink such as tea, water, etc.? Did you start feeling sleepy after drinking it? Afterward, did you involuntarily fall asleep before waking up here?”

“Ha! I knew it! You were colluding with that student!” The female teacher was even more certain after hearing Xu Fu speak. She shoved her finger in his face and retorted, “After knocking me out with sleeping pills and moving me here, you even created an inexplicable game to deceive me. Don’t think I will be afraid of these boring little tactics. You guys are committing a crime! If you release me now, I won’t call the police, but there is no way I won’t tell your parents!”

Xu Fu turned a deaf ear to the accusations of the female teacher and coldly answered, “You don’t understand what I’m trying to say. This teacher… I’m simply guessing the scene of your death.”

This one sentence rendered the female teacher speechless, and she revealed a foolish expression. There was a hint of panic in the shock, but she quickly forced herself to calm down. She said forcefully, “Stop pretending to be mysterious. You think you can scare me!?”

Xu Fu no longer responded to the female teacher. Instead, he looked around at the other people around him. His gaze swept over Cheng Guoxu, Mu Qin, the female teacher, and the last person, a bespectacled man standing in the corner who had remained silent.

Xu Fu stated, “Everyone standing here, I want to tell you truthfully. You are all already dead.”

“Although being able to stand here despite being dead is a bizarre and horrible matter, but you guys should all be able to remember how you died. Even if you can’t remember the scene of your death at the moment, it’s alright because you’ll be able to remember soon enough. The way you died may have been unusual. It may have been an accident, a homicide, or even a suicide, but no matter how you died, everyone must face reality… the reality of being dead.”

These remarks made by Xu Fu are particularly calm. Although he claimed to be a murderer, he looks mature and reliable, unlike someone who would do something extreme.

“You will all have different backgrounds and identities, but all of that is no longer important here.” Fu Xu slowly and calmly said, “Here, your only task is to escape. To escape from the killer, to escape from this sealed map, and to survive and find the exit is your only objective.”

Xu Fu continued, “I’m different from you guys. I’m not a newbie, but someone who has already experienced the ‘game’ once. In that round, the killer successfully hid until the end. Everyone around me was killed, and only I found the exit and escaped in the end.”

At this time, the bespectacled man who had yet to speak opened his mouth and spoke, “How can we believe that what you said is the truth? This kind of ridiculous, unbelievable matter, you should at least provide some proof, right?”

Mu Qin could not resist sneakily turning to look at the bespectacled man. This man was gloomy. Although he was a man, his hair was very long and very greasy, as if it has been a long time since he has groomed himself. On the bridge of his nose sat a pair of black-framed glasses that covered almost half of his face. His face looked pallid.

The man was thin and about 1.70 meters tall with a gloomy temperament both inside and out.

“I don’t have any evidence, and I won’t give any evidence.” Xu Fu said in a matter of fact tone, “Whether or not you believe is up to you. I am only responsible for explaining the situation… in fact, I didn’t even have to explain the situation to you. When I first arrived in this game, the “old players” of the game only told me the truth after three people had already died. The several people who entered with me, while still confused and clueless, were all killed by the killer.”

Mu Qin felt like he generally understood the situation and interjected, “Since you said ‘last game’, does that mean this is an endlessly looping killing game? Like the unlimited flow in some web novels, after escaping this map there is a next one?”

Xu Fu nodded, “That’s right. It’s like that, but there will be a buffer time after escaping from each map. The game system will send you to a safe house. What the safe house is like, you guys can experience it for yourselves after escaping.”

“Then who’s the killer?” The man with glasses suddenly asked this.

Xu Fu looked at the glasses guy. He almost could not see the eyes of the glasses man, blocked by the reflection of the huge, black-framed spectacles.

He replied, “The killer is amongst us. I don’t know who it is. It could be anyone.”

Glasses man seemed to be staring at Xu Fu, “That means the killer might be you, right?”

Xu Fu laughed. He was somewhat good looking, so he looked good when he laughed, “Yes. Of course, it could be me, or it could also be you. I advise you to not be so suspicious of each other so early on, or you’ll die faster.”

Glasses guy reached out and pushed his frames up, “The way you said this… it’s as if you already know when I’m going to die. Moreover, you just introduced yourself as a murderer, so doesn’t that make it even more likely?”

Xu Fu said, “You can continue guessing. I don’t mind.”

“Every round has six players, five of which are survivors and one of which is a killer. You guys can call him the killer, but I like to call him the “ghost” like the ghost in hide-and-seek that pretends to be human.

The time we can stay in each map is unlimited. Whether is being killed or escaping successfully, this game will not end as long as there are survivors still in the map.

“However, it’s better to not waste too much time.” Xu Fu continued, “Following, I’m going to begin looking for methods to escape this orphanage. Are any of you willing to come with me? As a reminder, don’t act alone. Either have everyone stay together, or only let one person leave.”

Glasses guy expressed his opinion first, “I will not act together with a murderer.”

“I also will not!” The female teacher seconded.

Therefore, Xu Fu looked towards Mu Qin and Cheng Guoxu.

Mu Qin felt a bit conflicted. On one hand, he felt that the guy named Xu Fu might be the person who understood the current situation the best, and Mu Qin wanted to gather more information from him. On the other hand, he felt that what glasses guy said was correct.

While Mu QIn was still struggling, Cheng Guoxu had already decided. This guy had very little opinions. He decided to follow the majority, so he stood next to the glasses guy and the female teacher.

Mu Qin became the only one left who had yet to pick a stance.

At this time, Xu Fu no longer gave him the chance to choose. He said, “Just now I said either we all stay together or one person acts alone.”

“Since none of you want to be with me, it’s still better for me to act alone.” It seemed like Xu Fu had already planned this and laughed, “I will go explore this orphanage by myself. You guys can also go explore, but I hope you guys absolutely won’t split up.”

“Lastly, there is still one of us missing. He may be dangerous, or he may harmless. Just judge for yourselves!”

After Xu Fu spoke to this point, it was like he had completed a task. He stood up and leisurely left this moderately sized office. Mu Qin watched his departing figure and felt some uneasiness. His intuition told him that following Xu Fu would be safer, but he could tell from Xu Fu’s previous performance that he didn’t want people to follow him.

Mu Qin also can’t go follow just to make a fool of himself, so he could only quietly remain in place. After Xu Fu left, the remaining people looked at each other in confusion with a feeling of not knowing what kind of expression to have. Finally, glasses man took the initiative to stand up and said, “Let’s introduce ourselves first.”

BunnyGod: sorry the wording is so repetitive with “glasses guy” and “female teacher” repeated every other sentence… that’s how the author wrote and I don’t know what else to call them