"Birthday Taboo" Died Again

Xu Xi didn't know why he had returned to the beginning again, or whether he would get another chance after his next death.

He had died so suddenly that he didn't even know what death rule he had triggered.

He would have been lying if he said he wasn't panicking. The joy of coming back to life was nowhere near enough to mask his terror of an unknown death.

What if... I die again this time?

There was no guarantee he would get another chance to start over.

Xu Xi admitted that this death had left a deep shadow over him. For now, he didn't dare wander around, so he could only search the child's bedroom first.

After a quick search, he found a sketchbook under the pillow.

Everything in the sketchbook was normal at first, mostly a child's fanciful ideas. But when Xu Xi saw the final scribbled picture, a chill ran down his back.

At the center of the picture was a red-faced man with a sinister grin. In the upper right corner was a hanging stick figure, and beneath it all was a line of childish writing: "Daddy, thanks for working so hard. Mommy will be back soon."

The whole picture was strange and incongruous.

[Holy shit, that picture is creepy. Did a kid really draw it?]

[What does this picture mean? I don't really get it.]

[Let me guess. The one hanging might be the mom. She hanged herself, so the dad lied to the kid and said she'd be back soon. But she's dead, so there's no way she's coming back.]

[An expert has appeared upstairs!]

[Wow, expert, please accept my kneeling worship!]

Although Xu Xi couldn't see the barrage, his guess was much the same.

He thought of the birthday cake on the dining table. It was probably the child's ninth birthday.

For the moment, though, he still hadn't figured out how these clues were connected to the instance.

After putting the sketchbook away, Xu Xi looked around and found a homework book on the messy desk. The name Tong Binbin was written on it.

At last, he knew the child's name.

[This newbie's pretty impressive. He's gathered so much information already.]

[He's still nowhere near the veteran players, okay?]

[It's already impressive for a newbie to keep his composure like this. Didn't all those veteran players start out as newbies too?]

For some reason, the barrage broke into an argument. Some thought Xu Xi had a lot of potential, while others thought everything he had done so far was ordinary.

Xu Xi knew nothing about any of it.

He had finished searching the bedroom and couldn't find any more useful information.

He hesitated over whether to go out and explore some more.

But whenever he thought of how inexplicably he had died, he felt a faint resistance deep down.

Dying was a terrible experience. He didn't want to go through it again at all.

But he couldn't stay in the room forever, either.

Xu Xi didn't think the instance would let him keep avoiding it like this.

He took a deep breath and chose to open the bedroom door after all. Sure enough, the sound of the television disappeared right on cue, just as before.

Looking down at his slightly trembling hands, Xu Xi gave a bitter laugh.

Sure enough, his body's reaction didn't lie. He was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.

At worst, I'll stay away from that ceiling fan this time, Xu Xi thought silently, encouraging himself.

Everything was exactly as it had been the first time, without the slightest change, except that the wall clock now read 8:18.

That was perfectly normal, since he had spent quite a while searching the room.

Xu Xi didn't want to go near the living room for now. He glanced around, and his gaze settled on the front door nearby.

Clinging to a sliver of hope, Xu Xi headed straight for it.

He opened the door with ease, but beyond it was not a narrow hallway, only darkness.

The darkness was so complete he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. It was like a man-eating beast, and staring at it for too long filled him with fear.

Though he had expected it, Xu Xi couldn't help feeling rather disappointed.

[Tsk, tsk. There's always a newbie getting his hopes up.]

[That's normal. I'd have to try it myself before giving up.]

[Speaking of which, does this instance really not have a single NPC?]

[It doesn't look particularly dangerous. Seems pretty easy.]

[Yeah, this newbie's really lucky.]

[You're underestimating this game way too much. The only difference between these instances is whether they're hard or even harder.]

This time, Xu Xi heard no strange noises. The ceiling fan above the coffee table remained firmly in place, showing no sign of falling.

Even so, Xu Xi had no intention of going near it.

With no particular destination, he set his sights on the kitchen.

The only places he hadn't explored yet were the kitchen, the master bedroom, and the bathroom.

Compared with the master bedroom, where someone might be, or the bathroom, where supernatural events were most likely to occur, the kitchen looked safer.

Xu Xi went around the dining table and entered the kitchen, moving with considerable caution.

He had to be careful. He was afraid something else would come along and kill him while he wasn't paying attention.

The kitchen was clean. The knives, bowls, and plates in the cabinets were all neatly arranged, and even the trash can had a fresh bag in it.

Xu Xi carefully opened the refrigerator at the side. Inside was nothing but a tightly covered stewpot.

After hesitating for a while, he reached out and lifted the lid. The icy touch of the handle made his fingertips flinch.

As soon as the lid came up, a pungent stench hit him before he could see what was inside.

Holy fuck!!!

The smell was like rotten meat that had been boiled to mush and left so long it was crawling with maggots. Xu Xi was so disgusted that he retched several times.

He hurriedly put the lid back on and slammed the refrigerator door shut. It was a long while before he finally felt able to breathe again.

[Does it really stink that badly?]

[Good thing I can't smell it through the screen hahaha.]

[Did you guys get a good look at what was stewing in there?]

[It looked like meat. I don't know what kind, but those lumps were pretty nauseating to look at.]

It had to be said that the dozen or so viewers in the livestream were all very curious about this instance.

There had been no overt attacks by ghosts or monsters, nor was there anything particularly bizarre about the place. It was so uneventful that it hardly seemed like a game instance.

But it was precisely that lack of activity that made them feel something was off.

Not long after Xu Xi recovered his breath, just as he pulled himself together and prepared to keep looking for clues, the sound of something being chopped suddenly rang out behind him.

Seriously?! Again?!

Xu Xi lowered his head and glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye. Just like with the ceiling fan, he still saw nothing. The sound seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

The familiar scene played out once more, and the sensation of being crushed to death swept through his body again. Cold sweat even broke out on Xu Xi's back. He struggled to control his darting gaze, pretended not to hear anything, and slowly turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

He hadn't forgotten how he had died before. It might have been because he turned his head.

But just as Xu Xi stepped out of the kitchen and thought he could finally avoid death this time, his vision suddenly spun three hundred and sixty degrees.

His gaze finally came to rest on the headless body in front of him.

Xu Xi couldn't see it from his angle, but the viewers in the livestream saw it clearly.

It was as if an invisible blade had sliced clean through the new player's neck without the slightest pause the moment he stepped out of the kitchen.