DLMSWSHH Chapter 21

TL: Hua

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Chapter 21: New Players

By the next day, Zhong Ming was still somewhat dazed, as if he had been hit with a blunt object.

That was right. This was a horror game; naturally, there would be players.

His days in this game had been peaceful enough that Zhong Ming had completely forgotten he was supposed to be a horror game NPC.

The next day, after breakfast, the menservants gathered in the grand hall to welcome a new batch of players. Zhong Ming stood at the very end of the line. Glancing up slightly, he didn’t see Tao or Miss Joan among the crowd; it seemed the upper-level servants were not in attendance.

He felt a slight sense of relief. Recalling the scene he had witnessed in the chapel that day, he truly didn’t have the courage to face Joan just yet.

Madam Mary stood at the very front of the group, her posture as cold and haughty as ever. She looked over the crowd and spoke: “Guests are arriving today. Everyone, stay sharp.”

The “guests” she referred to were, of course, the players.

“Yes, Ma’am—”

Everyone answered in unison. Zhong Ming stole a glance and noticed that the expressions of those around him were normal; they didn’t seem nervous at all.

What do NPCs need to do once the players arrive? Zhong Ming wondered.

As if reading his confusion, Li Yizhi leaned down and whispered into his ear, “Don’t be nervous. You don’t have to do anything.” Li Yizhi’s voice, tinged with a smile, rang by his ear: “If anyone asks you a question, just say you don’t know.”

Zhong Ming looked at him and nodded.

Something flashed quickly through Li Yizhi’s eyes again, and the smile at the corners of his mouth deepened into something more serious. He looked at Zhong Ming solemnly and said, “Remember to stay away from the players. If you see them, try to take the long way around. Do you understand?”

Seeing that he was saying the exact same thing as the Duke, Zhong Ming’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. If they both said so, those players must indeed be dangerous. Zhong Ming replied, “I understand.”

Li Yizhi looked at him, and seeing Zhong Ming’s submissive and obedient manner, a wave of affection rose in his heart. He laughed and reached out to pat the top of Zhong Ming’s head. “Good boy.” Then, he hooked his arms around Zhong Ming’s neck in an intimate gesture and said, “Our Xiao Zhong just needs to manage the accounts. You don’t have to worry about anything; big brother will protect you.”

Zhong Ming didn’t know what kind of mood Li Yizhi was in now, but he was too lazy to struggle, allowing himself to be held like a large doll. He was unaware that the new clothes the Duke had ordered for him fit perfectly. The tailored lines tightly hugged his waist, and his legs looked long and straight. Yet, with his shirt buttoned all the way to the top, the intense contrast was enough to spark wild imaginations.

Li Yizhi held him, reluctant to let go. It wasn’t until his hand tried to wander toward that slim waist that Zhong Ming pushed him away. Li Yizhi teased, “Hey, maybe you really should find a place to hide.” His phoenix eyes curved as he said, “If those players catch a glimpse of you looking like this, they’ll want to eat you alive.”

Zhong Ming tidied up his messy collar and gave Li Yizhi a casual glance. He figured the players were there for the prize money; why would they be interested in an NPC?

As time passed, the giant clock in the hall ticked away. About fifteen minutes later, the orange sun above the forest slowly climbed toward the southeast.

With a “click,” Madam Mary opened her pocket watch, checked the time, and said softly, “It is time.”

She then began walking toward the main entrance. At her movement, the menservants moved with synchronized precision, automatically splitting into two rows to line the sides of the door.

Zhong Ming stood on the right side with Li Yizhi. He glanced at Archie beside him, then looked across the way, noticing a gap in the row; it was Jack’s spot.

Madam Mary raised her pale, withered hand and pressed it against the black wooden door. The mansion’s front doors were incredibly tall, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, carved with lifelike roses and intricate, thorny vines.

Zhong Ming stared at the vacancy for a moment before withdrawing his gaze and looking toward the outside.

Small and frail as she was, Madam Mary managed to push open the heavy-looking wooden door all by herself. With a low creak, beams of sunlight shot through the gap, illuminating the dust motes in the air.

Zhong Ming unconsciously held his breath.

As the double doors were fully pushed open, a thick white mist instantly surged in. Zhong Ming smelled the damp earth and leaves unique to the early morning.

Several silhouettes gradually emerged from within the dense fog.

“Damn, we finally made it out.”

“Holy shit, nobody told me the haunted house was this far away.”

“I’m dead tired… is this path even meant for humans?”

Along with the sound of branches being pushed aside, several blurred figures stepped out of the black forest. Zhong Ming subtly lifted his eyes, his gaze quickly scanning over each person.

There were nine in total, eight men and one woman.

The four men leading the group were tall and muscular, wearing identical military uniforms. From their movements to their expressions, they radiated an intense aura of danger. Following behind them were three young men dressed in casual clothes, chatting and playing around as they walked; they looked like college students out on an excursion.

One of the students kept trying to strike up a conversation with the men in front: “Hey bro, those uniforms are awesome. Where’d you buy them?”

The leader in front glanced back, raised an eyebrow, and said something.

He spoke in English. The young man dressed like a college student froze, then quickly pulled a translator from his bag and put it on. Only then did he hear the words through his earpiece: “Back off, little chick.”

The male college student’s face immediately darkened, and he muttered under his breath, “What’s with the attitude?” He then turned to talk to his companion, ignoring the tall Westerners in front of him.

At the very back of the group trailed a man and a woman who appeared to be a couple. They huddled close together as they walked, their expressions filled with wariness.

Taking in the dynamics of the group, Zhong Ming withdrew his gaze and looked down at his toes. Just then, Li Yizhi leaned down and whispered in his ear, “The ones at the front are mercenaries.”

Zhong Ming realized with a start. He stole another look at the men in military uniforms; the dangerous aura they emitted now made perfect sense.

Within the group, a blonde Caucasian male standing nearly 190 cm tall was the first to step out of the mist. His face was cold and stern, his eyes deep-set. His gaze lingered briefly on Madam Mary standing in the center of the doorway before he raised his right hand and made a gesture.

The mercenaries behind him stopped in perfect unison. It was immediately clear who the leader was.

The students behind them also stopped. Their postures and expressions were far more casual than the mercenaries as they poked their heads around to look at the mansion emerging from the forest.

“Damn, this is a haunted house? It’s pretty awesome.”

One of them exclaimed, his eyes scanning the towering building before him.

His companion replied, “The game company is loaded; the modeling was bound to be top-tier.”

The last one joined in: “They spent all the money on this but couldn’t be bothered to level the road. I almost tripped and ate dirt just now.”

They laughed and joked, showing none of the tension one might expect upon entering a horror game, as if they were just heading to an internet cafe with friends. The mercenaries ahead watched their antics with undisguised contempt but made no move to stop them. At the very front, the blonde leader looked down, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it, exhaling a puff of smoke into the damp morning air.

Then, he glanced back at his men, his voice slightly raspy: “This is the fucking boss Level. Stay sharp.”

His tone wasn’t heavy, yet the remaining mercenaries instantly dropped their mocking expressions. Their faces hardened, and the atmosphere around them turned as cold and sharp as a blade.

The blonde man’s words were directed at his own crew, but when the college students heard them, the mood around them chilled as well. They muttered a few curses but fell silent.

The couple stood a bit further away and watched the blonde man warily. They had clearly sensed the danger he posed, and a hint of terror crept into their expressions.

Madam Mary watched everything unfold with cold eyes, her expression unchanging. Once everyone had fallen silent, she bowed slightly and spoke slowly: “Welcome to the Haunted house.”

Those few words caused a faint stir among the players; a weak gasp could be heard from within the group.

Zhong Ming looked up and was momentarily stunned.

From the mercenaries in the front to the students in the back, everyone’s eyes were shimmering with a green light, the kind an animal has when looking at its prey.

Even the ordinary-looking couple’s eyes lit up, their expressions revealing a touch of excitement. The fanatical zeal displayed by everyone in unison was almost eerie.

Is beating this game really that important to them? Zhong Ming wondered. At the same time, he heard a sneer from Li Yizhi beside him. He turned his head and saw Li Yizhi looking at the players with icy eyes, a trace of a mocking smile appearing on his lips.

It seemed this man truly disliked players.

Zhong Ming thought to himself.

By the time all the players had entered the mansion, it was already noon.

The college students had been shouting in awe the whole way. After entering, they nearly strained their necks looking up at the exaggeratedly high ceilings of the mansion’s interior.

To welcome the “guests,” Zhong Ming and the other menservants had been busy all morning setting up a massive dining table in the center of the hall. It was covered with a snow-white tablecloth and lined with steaming food: baskets of freshly baked bread, a large platter of smoked meats, vegetable salads, and various fruits.

The menservants stood in two rows against the walls, positioned neatly on either side of the long table.

At the table, the students’ eyes glazed over at the sight of the food. They immediately reached for bread and placed it on their plates. Across from them, however, the mercenaries didn’t move so easily. The tall blonde man leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, twirling a fork in his right hand as he scrutinized the food.

After a moment, he suddenly tilted his head back, his grey eyes landing on Zhong Ming, who happened to be standing directly behind him.

“Hey.” He poked the food with his fork and asked Zhong Ming, “Is this edible? It’s not poisoned, is it?”

The moment he said this, the student who had already finished half a piece of bread froze, his face turning pale instantly. He cursed, “Motherfucker,” and threw the bread back onto the table.

Zhong Ming’s eyelashes fluttered imperceptibly. He didn’t know if the food was poisoned. At the same time, remembering Li Yizhi’s instructions, he remained silent and offered no answer.

The blonde man’s gaze swept up and down his fair, expressionless face. He frowned and muttered under his breath, “…No self-awareness?”

Zhong Ming: “…”

Forget it, let it be. Zhong Ming gave up and relaxed every muscle in his face.

Seeing no reaction, the blonde man dropped his fork with a “clatter” and announced loudly, “Eat up.”

At his command, the other mercenaries finally picked up their utensils and began devouring the food like beasts that hadn’t eaten in days. The students had varying reactions. The one who had reacted most strongly by throwing his bread looked the worst. Feeling like he had lost face, he suddenly slammed his hand on the table and stood up, glaring fiercely at the blonde man: “Hey.”

His hair was bleached and dyed yellow, and one of his eyebrows was scarred; he looked like the type of delinquent found hanging around school gates. He stared wide-eyed at the mercenary:

“Are you looking for a fucking fight?”

A hush fell over the dining table. The couple sitting at the very edge of the table were stunned, staring wide-eyed at the yellow-haired student, wondering why he had the audacity to provoke the man who looked so ominous, especially in a horror game.

This retarded move stunned even his two companions, who quickly reached out to tug on his sleeve. But before they could utter a word of caution, the four mercenaries lined up opposite them stopped eating simultaneously. They all looked up, their gazes fixed on the yellow-haired student in unison.

It was the look one gives a dead man. The yellow-haired student froze instantly, backing away a few steps as he was terrified by the horrifying aura they emitted. The muscles in his cheeks twitched. His companion seized the chance to urge him: “Just sit down, don’t lower yourself to their level.”

With that opening, the yellow-haired student was all too eager to back down. He sat back in his chair, muttering a few more curses under his breath.

Seeing this, the blonde man retracted his gaze and tapped his fingers twice on the table. The other mercenaries immediately looked away and returned to their food.

Silence returned to the table, save for the clinking of cutlery.

The couple breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at the blonde man at the head of the table, and continued eating.

By now, a hierarchy had unconsciously formed among the players, with the blonde man leading the mercenaries at the top.

The three college students were restless. They clearly harbored hostility toward the mercenaries but didn’t dare face them directly. Instead, they leaned in close and continued whispering, trying to find some sense of strength in their huddle: “Hey… look over there, behind that guy.”

“…What a nice perky ass.”

“That waist is so thin.”

“Is that a guy or a girl? The skin is so white.”

Fragments of their excited conversation drifted into Zhong Ming’s ears. His brow twitched slightly, but he restrained the urge to look up, feeling several blunt, intense gazes lingering on his body.

The rustling whispers continued, and the topic veered further off track: “That’s a girl, right? Look how pointed that chin is.”

“I think that’s a guy. He’s wearing trousers. Didn’t you see they’re all male servants?”

“Damn… maybe the game developers like this type?”

“Why don’t you go ask him? Hmm?”

A few players pushed and shoved each other, their voices growing louder. Meanwhile, standing at the other end of the dining table, Li Yizhi slowly raised his eyes. His phoenix eyes were cold as his gaze fell behind the group.

Unaware, the group continued to joke around.

Right then, a sharp clink echoed from the head of the long table.

Madam Mary tilted her chin slightly, holding a dinner fork in her right hand, tapping it against the glass held in her left.

“It seems everyone is very satisfied with the food.” She set down the glass and said indifferently, “That is wonderful.”

Despite her words, her tone was frigid, as if she were merely going through the motions; the statement served only to mark the end of lunch.

The moment she finished speaking, the mercenaries led by the blonde man immediately dropped their cutlery. The young couple hesitated for a moment before also stopping. However, the college students had been so busy talking that they hadn’t eaten their fill; upon hearing her, they didn’t stop, but instead frantically began stuffing food into their mouths.

Seeing this, Zhong Ming’s heart skipped a beat. Looking at the students who stood out so starkly from the rest, he glanced thoughtfully at Madam Mary. He saw that the woman’s face remained as cold and detached as ever, seemingly unbothered by the players’ rude behavior.

She leaned forward with elegant grace and said in a calm voice: “Please enjoy your time in the Haunted house.”

Leaving it at that, Madam Mary turned to leave. Seeing this, the blonde man, who had remained composed until now, had a twitch in his brow and suddenly looked up. “What is the mission?”

Madam Mary paused and turned her head, her grey eyes landing on the blonde man’s face.

The man’s gaze was sharp as he repeated: “What is the mission for this dungeon?”

Madam Mary’s expression didn’t flicker. “There is no mission.”

Her voice was cold as she repeated her previous words: “Please, guests, enjoy your time here.”

With that, regardless of how those behind her reacted, Madam Mary turned and left the scene.

Once she was gone, the remaining players were dumbfounded. The couple’s eyes widened, and they stared at each other in confusion, their faces turning pale as paper.

One of the mercenaries suddenly stood up and kicked his chair over.

Bang!

The solid wood chair crashed backward onto the floor with a loud thud.

“…Dammit, what the hell?!” A brown-haired mercenary looked furious and kicked the chair again. “No mission? How can there be a world without a mission?!”

The college students were startled. The yellow-haired student, with bits of bacon still stuck to the corner of his mouth, looked at the erupting mercenary with bewilderment. “What are you guys going crazy for?”

His companion frowned and agreed, “Yeah, so what if there’s no mission? Let’s just play and see.”

Their tone was light, as if they were truly playing a horror game through a computer screen. One of the youths, black-haired, wearing a white hoodie, and looking more timid than the yellow-haired one, suggested: “Exactly, don’t we have three lives? What’s there to be afraid of? If anything happens, we can all sit down and talk it over.”

Hearing this, Zhong Ming, who had been eavesdropping nearby, felt his brow twitch. Three lives? This was the first time he had heard of this.

The raging mercenary panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at the student who spoke. He looked terrifying. The timid black-haired youth didn’t dare meet his gaze and looked down in fear.

“That’s enough.”

The blonde man had been quietly watching his subordinate lose it. Only now did he take the cigarette from his mouth, crush it out on the tablecloth, and say, “Sit down. Don’t panic.”

The brown-haired mercenary paused. Though still furious, he followed the order and sat back down.

After Madam Mary left, the two rows of menservants standing by the table stepped forward in unison, approaching the players to clear the food and soiled linens.

Zhong Ming walked to the blonde mercenary’s side. Looking down at the black hole burned into the pristine white tablecloth by the cigarette, he subconsciously frowned.

He remembered that this tablecloth wasn’t cheap; it cost 300 yuan.

Zhong Ming felt a momentary pang of heartache for the fabric as he reached out to pick up the dirty plates.

But at that moment, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Startled, Zhong Ming looked up and met the blonde man’s grey-blue eyes.

The blonde man pulled his lips back into a standard eight-toothed smile, but there was no warmth in his eyes. Zhong Ming felt a vague sense of familiarity from his expression, though he couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.

“Hello,” the blonde man said in a relatively calm, polite tone. “Do you happen to know what the mission here is?”

Naturally, Zhong Ming had no idea, so he shook his head.

“…I see.” The blonde man didn’t persist and let go.

Zhong Ming successfully cleared the dirty dishes. As he walked through the corridor toward the kitchen with the other servants, Li Yizhi silently came up from behind and draped a hand over his shoulder.

“What did that guy just say to you?”

“He asked me what the mission was,” Zhong Ming replied, adding curiously, “Do you know what it is?”

“Mission?” Li Yizhi tossed his dirty plates into the sink and sneered. “There is no mission here.”

Zhong Ming blinked, stunned. “No mission? Then how do you clear the game?”

Li Yizhi turned on the faucet. While washing his own plates, he gestured for Zhong Ming to put his in as well. Zhong Ming obeyed, watching him use a sponge to scrub the greasy utensils. Suddenly, Li Yizhi spoke abruptly: “Nobody clears it.”

Zhong Ming froze and looked up reflexively. “What?”

“No one has ever cleared it.” Li Yizhi turned his head. His handsome face was uncharacteristically expressionless as he stared fixedly at Zhong Ming. “The clear rate for this dungeon is zero.”

Zhong Ming’s eyes widened, his pupils shrinking in shock.

In front of the kitchen sink were several large windows. It was afternoon, and the warm sunlight from the forest poured through the glass; the blue sky and white clouds looked exceptionally peaceful.

Yet, Zhong Ming felt a chill crawl from his spine to the back of his neck.

A game that no one clears… which meant every previous player had died here?

Zhong Ming’s lower lip trembled. As if reading his mind, Li Yizhi placed a hand comfortingly on Zhong Ming’s arm and softened his voice: “It’s not that everyone dies,” he said. “The veteran players usually have some life-saving items on them; some manage to escape the dungeon. The rest… just die.”

Zhong Ming managed to steady his nerves slightly and asked, “Not a single person cleared it? Then why do these players keep coming?”

Li Yizhi looked down at him, the corners of his mouth curling up, his phoenix eyes narrowing slightly. “Want to guess?”

Zhong Ming: “…” Is this the time for jokes? He couldn’t help but look frustrated.

Li Yizhi was amused by the expression, his smile deepening. He held up his hand, forming a circle with his thumb and index finger, and said with a grin: “Because of money, of course.”

“Since the ‘Haunted house’ dungeon opened, not a single player has cleared it. The payout odds have skyrocketed from 1 to 100 million.”

Li Yizhi traced a circle in the air with his right hand and looked at Zhong Ming with a smile: “US dollars.”

Zhong Ming’s eyes widened slightly.

“How could those greedy corporations miss an opportunity like this?”

Li Yizhi laughed lazily, grabbing a towel from the rack and handing it to Zhong Ming to dry his hands.

“If the profit exceeds 200%, capitalists will flout the law; if there is 300% profit, they will trample upon everything in this world.”

“After all, even for a company on the brink of bankruptcy, if just one person they hire clears the game, their assets are instantly revived. That’s why these fellows keep lining up to throw their lives away. How cheap is a human life? They can always find someone willing to die for money.”

Li Yizhi curled his lip mockingly, his tone full of disdain as he defined the players of this game: “A bunch of gambling dogs.”

Hearing this, Zhong Ming suddenly thought of the looks in those players’ eyes and sucked in a cold breath.

It was true; given enough profit, humans really could disregard everything.

Meanwhile, Li Yizhi stopped talking and turned to Zhong Ming with an instruction: “Anyway, remember to stay away from those players. No one who ends up in this game is a good person.”

Zhong Ming nodded obediently, then remembered something and asked, “Oh right, those players said they have three lives. What does that mean?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Li Yizhi replied. He gave a cold laugh and led Zhong Ming out of the kitchen, adding, “But in this game, it doesn’t matter how many lives you have.”

He arched an eyebrow at Zhong Ming, as if hinting at something. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

–

The first night after the new players arrived was very quiet. The mansion had enough rooms for everyone. When night fell, Zhong Ming followed Madam Mary’s orders to lead a player to their room.

The player assigned to him was the college student in the white hoodie.

Perhaps to welcome the “guests,” the central marble staircase of the mansion had been covered with a thick carpet; the leather shoes on Zhong Ming’s feet made almost no sound.

Outside, the sun had already set. Darkness enveloped the entire valley, leaving the haunted house as the only place in the forest with light.

Zhong Ming held a candelabra. As he climbed the stairs, the flames atop the candles flickered slightly, illuminating the list in his hand.

He swept a quick glance at the name on the paper, pretending not to notice the lingering gaze from behind him. He stopped in front of a room at the corner of the second floor.

Zhong Ming stepped aside to clear the doorway and looked up at the youth in the white hoodie. “Your room is here.”

The candlelight wavered slightly with his breath, casting a dim, yellowish glow over Zhong Ming’s face.

As the saying goes, a beauty looks even more beautiful under a lamp.

The college student’s eyes glazed over as he watched the warm yellow light hit the servant’s porcelain-fine skin. He saw the youth’s eyelashes, thicker than a girl’s, tremble, casting a charming shadow at the corner of his eye.

The beautiful NPC spoke to him in a soft voice: “I hope you have a pleasant evening.”

“Ah… yeah.”

The student’s face instantly flushed. He thought to himself that the game’s dialogue was written quite cheesily, but the voice acting was better than any streamer he’d heard online.

Seeing the NPC nod and prepare to walk past him with the candelabra, he instinctively turned his head. His hand at his side twitched, but in the end, he didn’t have the courage to stop the NPC.

Watching the youth’s slender back recede into the distance, the student looked down, feeling a bit dejected. He suddenly thought of his childhood friend, who had been bold enough to block the class beauty in the hallway since they were kids.

The three of them were childhood friends, born in the same county town, in the same class from elementary through high school. But he was the only one with a quick mind and good grades; he had gotten into a top-tier university after graduation. Of the other two, one went to a vocational college, and the other didn’t even make it that far, entering a factory right after graduation.

When he returned home for summer break after his first year of university, he saw his two friends again. One had dyed his hair yellow and gotten new tattoos, bragging about powerful bosses he’d met at dinners, looking every bit like a street-smart hoodlum.

But their relationship was still good. The student watched Zhong Ming’s figure disappear around the corner and pursed his lips. He thought that if it were his friend here, he probably would have stopped that NPC.

Maybe he would have even teased him a little and touched the NPC’s hand.

Thinking this, the student lowered his head, pushed open the door, and entered the room.

On the other side, Zhong Ming couldn’t care less about what was going through that college student’s head. After seeing the player off, he still had to accompany Albert to finish dinner. Having finished a full day’s work, Zhong Ming was dead tired; he dragged his exhausted body back to the servants’ quarters, and the moment his head hit the pillow and his eyes closed, he drifted off to sleep.

That night, Zhong Ming slept exceptionally deeply. However, in his dreams, he vaguely heard a muffled thud. But he was simply too exhausted; he barely flickered his eyelids before falling back into a deep slumber.

Early the next morning, just as Zhong Ming walked upstairs, he was met with the sight of a massive bloodstain on the staircase carpet.

Below the first step, a large patch of liquid had spread across the rug. The reason it was instantly recognizable as blood rather than water was that the thick fluid had matted all the fibers together; having hardened over time, they now stood upright in small, stiff clumps.

Li Yizhi and Archie were holding the two ends of the carpet, appearing ready to take it out and throw it away.

Hearing footsteps, Li Yizhi glanced up at him and then shooed him away like a puppy: “Move aside; don’t block the way.”

Zhong Ming paused and stepped back to clear a path. As the two carried the heavy rug past him, a pungent, metallic stench of blood hit him full in the face.

Caught off guard, Zhong Ming covered his nose and staggered back a step.

“Told you to stay far away.” Seeing his reaction, Li Yizhi curled his lip into a smile and moved further away with the rug. “The mixture of the Spider Duchess’s saliva and blood is exceptionally foul.”

At this, Zhong Ming froze. He looked toward the rug and indeed saw fragments of what appeared to be human bone amidst the bloodstains.

His train of thought stalled; he found this scene strangely familiar.

It’s likely that a player, like him on the first day, went out at night and somehow encountered the spider duchess and tumbled down the stairs and hit their head, which is why there was a bloodstain on the carpet, exactly in the same spot as the bloodstain when Zhong Ming fell.

The difference was that the spider duchess had actually eaten them.

Zhong Ming’s eyelashes fluttered as he realized why a carpet had suddenly been laid on the stairs: it was simply easier to handle the remains left after the mistress’s feedings.

He just didn’t know which player had been eaten.

With questions in mind, Zhong Ming arrived at the hall. The long dining table was just as it had been yesterday, with steaming breakfast laid out on the white cloth and a large bouquet of roses in the central vase, so fresh that dewdrops still clung to the petals.

Zhong Ming scanned the room inconspicuously. The young couple sat huddled together; the mercenaries were lined up on either side of the blonde man as they were the day before.

One of the college students was missing.

Having confirmed his suspicions, Zhong Ming withdrew his gaze.

At the table, no one mentioned the missing person. The couple had melancholy eyes and cast several glances toward the students, but because the blonde man didn’t speak, whatever they wanted to say was swallowed back down. The youth in the white hoodie exchanged a glance with his childhood friend, both seeing the other’s pale face. In this situation, neither had an appetite; they hurriedly stuffed a couple of bites into their mouths before leaving the table to head upstairs.

When Zhong Ming finished attending Albert’s breakfast and was on his way to the archives, he heard a roar coming from the second floor.

It sounded like two students trying to persuade someone hiding in a bedroom to come out. Through the heavy wooden door, sharp and unpleasant shrieks continued to ring out.

“Get lost! Get the hell away! Just leave me alone!!”

Zhong Ming recognized it as the voice of the yellow-haired youth.

Outside, his friends were still trying to reason with him: “Calm down. Don’t you still have two lives left? At least come out and eat something.”

“Yeah, aren’t you physically fine? Stop crying… we’ll figure something out together.”

However, his friends’ persuasion failed to calm him. The sound of something being thrown and shattered echoed from within the room; the two friends outside were startled by the noise and froze.

The yellow-haired youth’s voice, bordering on a total breakdown, drifted from behind the door again: “You guys don’t understand at all…”

His breathing was incredibly heavy, sounding like the growl of a wild beast: “I was fucking eaten! I was eaten by a spider, do you understand?! It started eating from my stomach, then my intestines, chewing on my leg bones! I was conscious the whole time! I was still conscious when it was fucking licking my brain!!”

His voice was so loud it was deafening even through the thick wood. By the end, his voice broke into a sob, followed by the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. The yellow-haired youth collapsed and began to wail.

Hearing such a horrific description, the two outside could no longer bring themselves to continue their persuasion.

Zhong Ming watched the two walk down the stairs, their faces looking grim.

Will he be the first one out of the game? Zhong Ming wondered silently.

Just then, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. Zhong Ming gave a violent shudder, feeling his heart skip a beat.

“What’s wrong?” Two hands gripped Zhong Ming’s shoulders and spun him around. Tao’s face entered his field of vision. Seeing Zhong Ming’s pale complexion, Tao chuckled and arched his thick, dark brow: “Did I scare you?”

Zhong Ming slowly exhaled and looked at Tao, his lips pressing downward: “Why do you walk without making a sound?”

He sounded slightly resentful, as if he truly had been frightened. The smile on Tao’s face grew wider as he lowered his head to look at the wide-eyed Zhong Ming: “Alright, my bad. What were you looking at so intently?”

With that, he glanced behind Zhong Ming, just in time to see the two students walking down from the second floor. He withdrew his gaze after a single look and said with utter contempt: “Oh, they’re at it again.”

Tao clearly didn’t care about the players at all; he likely didn’t even know when the new batch had arrived. He reached out an arm, draping it over Zhong Ming’s shoulder from behind, guiding him toward the archives in a protective stance while whispering: “My dear, you don’t need to worry about those people.”

The tall and handsome Tao was meticulously groomed from his hair to his shoes today. With a naturally haughty attitude, he comforted his little assistant intimately: “Your little head only needs to worry about doing your job well for me.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Ming gave him a nonchalant glance and nodded. This was the third person to tell him to stay away from the players.

Aside from the matter of the players, today was a very ordinary day for Zhong Ming. He finished his work in the archives. At dinner, the yellow-haired player still didn’t appear. In fact, throughout the entire day while the other players searched the mansion for clues, he had remained locked in his room without showing himself once.

“That kind of person won’t last long in this game,” Li Yizhi whispered to him. “His mental state is too poor.”

Zhong Ming looked down, thinking that if he had been eaten alive by a spider, his mental state would probably collapse too.

In the evening, Madam Mary ordered Jack, who was responsible for the yellow-haired guest, to deliver the man’s dinner. Jack gave a “tsk” and agreed very reluctantly.

Zhong Ming went about his routine, delivering tea and snacks to the Duke’s study. Today’s dessert was crème brûlée; as Zhong Ming left the study, a sweet taste still lingered on his lips.

However, just as Zhong Ming turned a corner, he nearly collided with someone.

A tall shadow was cast in front of the oil lamp at the corner. Zhong Ming looked up at the tall figure blocking his way, and his expression immediately turned cold.

“Finished delivering the tea?”

Jack leaned half his body against the wall, his blonde hair receding into the shadows. Seeing Zhong Ming, he straightened up and threw his glowing cigarette butt to the floor, crushing it.

His terrifying blue eyes landed on Zhong Ming, and he suddenly laughed: “Who are you making that face for?” Jack stepped forward, looking down at the wary Zhong Ming: “Surprised to see me?”

It had indeed been a long time since Zhong Ming had faced Jack directly. But to be honest… he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t believe for a second that the blatant targeting he faced among the lower-level servants hadn’t been orchestrated by Jack.

Zhong Ming had long anticipated this day; he just hadn’t expected Jack to corner him out in the open rather than in the servants’ quarters.

Zhong Ming inconspicuously glanced at the study door behind him. Is he betting that the Duke won’t interfere?

Under that gaze, Zhong Ming took a half-step back and asked softly: “…Do you need something?”

Jack’s foot was still on the cigarette butt, his shoe grinding hard into the carpet. His eyes remained fixed on Zhong Ming throughout, creating an inexplicably intense pressure.

“Nothing.”

After a moment of staring, Jack stepped forward again, using his large frame to pin Zhong Ming into the corner. He lowered his head, cracking his neck: “I just feel like you’ve been acting pretty smug lately.” He curled his lip, glancing at the closed study door, smiling like a stereotypical street bully: “What did the guy in there say, hmm? Let’s hear it.”

Though he posed it as a question, his physical movements suggested no room for inquiry. Zhong Ming had nowhere to retreat, his back pressed tight against the wall. Looking at the Caucasian man’s face, which was clearly suppressing rage, he pursed his lips and suddenly understood the reason for Jack’s sudden provocation.

It was likely because the Duke’s “special treatment” of him had given Jack and the other lower-level servants he represented a sense of crisis. Thus, Jack had chosen this moment to test him, and more importantly, to test the Duke’s attitude toward him.

Zhong Ming lowered his eyes.

The bird that sticks its head out gets shot. It seemed this proverb applied to workplaces across all times and cultures.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly looked up.

At night, half the oil lamps in the corridor were extinguished, while the other half remained lit. The dim yellow light hit Zhong Ming’s face, illuminating skin so fine that no pores were visible. Zhong Ming looked up, his thick eyelashes fluttering, the corners of his mouth curving into a faint, almost imperceptible arc. He parted his lips slightly, met Jack’s gaze, and said: “He said…”

Zhong Ming’s expression in the lamplight was almost ambiguous. He looked at Jack and whispered: “He said you aren’t allowed to bully me.”

Jack stared down at him, his mouth twitching violently. Suddenly, the muscles in his arms tensed; his grizzly-bear-like frame lunged forward, and he abruptly reached out, shoving Zhong Ming hard against the wall!

Zhong Ming’s back struck the wall heavily, causing a burst of dull pain. He raised a hand to clutch his throbbing shoulder and looked up at Jack. Veins bulged on the white man’s forehead; his pupils were constricted in his blue eyes as he stared at him with a gaze of utter disdain and resentment. Two words squeezed through his teeth: “You bitch.”

Zhong Ming’s eyelashes trembled. He instinctively shrank into the shadows, lowering his head to avoid the man’s gaze. His avoidant stance seemed to prove his cowardice, further fueling the aggressor’s rage.

Jack stared at the fair, exquisite profile of the young Asian man, a surge of contempt and malice swelling uncontrollably in his heart. In the past, slender and beautiful servants like this would usually seek his protection in the game. With just a little intimidation, a minor injury, and a bit of sweet-talking afterward, those boys would become completely submissive to him.

Zhong Ming was the first person to make all his tactics fail completely.

Furthermore, this person actually used this fragile appearance to seduce upper-level servants and even managed to get close to the Duke. Rationally, Jack felt nothing but contempt for someone who served others with their looks; emotionally, however, the more something was unattainable, the more he wanted it. Seeing someone else have it only made the fires of desire burn hotter.

Men, when driven by desire, often forget who they are.

Jack’s entire body was tense with muscle. He suddenly stepped forward another half-step, his right hand snapping out like an iron claw to seize Zhong Ming’s right arm: “The Duke never leaves his study.”

Jack’s voice was deep and rough, his reddened eyes fixed on Zhong Ming, whose eyes had suddenly widened. He lowered his head, bringing his head close to the young man’s warm neck.

“Say, if I fucked you right here, would he come out?”

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