Arrangements Once Again

When Xu Kai heard the sound, he was still holding the chess piece. In the blink of an eye, the world spun around him, and he returned to the crematorium entrance.

The chess piece in his hand turned into a car key, and the Funeral Car was parked right in front of Xu Kai. He checked the mission. The reward was an improvement in his Weird Energy Quality, and the penalty was still eradication.

Eradication was old news by now. Xu Kai felt that the game was like a merciless machine that valued worth above all else. Anyone who failed a mission was worthless and could simply be eradicated.

Now that Xu Kai was an experienced "evil" who had been through an instance, he was familiar with the Crematorium Instance's process. He walked up to the Funeral Car, opened the door, and sat inside, naturally picking up the photos, note, and map by the windshield.

This time, he had three players to pick up and drive: two men and one woman. One of the men had dyed yellow hair and was very young, looking as though he had only just turned eighteen. The other male player...

Xu Kai held up the remaining two photos in confusion. He could barely tell them apart.

One was a long-haired girl in a high school uniform. The other was a petite girl wearing stockings.

Did one of the people in these two photos really have to be a boy? What kind of game of Werewolf was this?

Xu Kai looked back and forth, but he really couldn't tell. He put the thought aside and simply memorized the players' faces.

Once he had memorized them, Xu Kai unfolded the map. It reflected the light from the car's interior lamp into his eyes, making him squint slightly.

Building 27, Longleaf Street. It was quite far away, in the north of Maple Town, while the crematorium was in the south. The planned route went almost all the way around the outside of Maple Town. Xu Kai refused to believe the Stone Statue Weird hadn't meddled with the mission's design.

He checked his watch. It was five in the afternoon, instance time. The round trip would probably take two hours, and that was if he sped the whole way.

It got dark quickly in this world. As soon as six o'clock came, it would be so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. This was probably another part of the Stone Statue Weird's scheme.

Beep, beep.

Without dwelling on it, Xu Kai started the engine and set off.

Building 27, Longleaf Street.

Three people appeared out of thin air: a yellow-haired boy, a short girl with short hair, and a long-haired girl wearing a high school JK uniform.

When they appeared, none of them understood what was going on. After looking around, the Short-Haired Woman spoke:

"Ahem. Are you newbies? Whether you are or not, I'm warning you: don't treat this like a game. There's no logout button here! This is the Horror World. Completing the mission means our lives; failing means death! Don't entertain even the slightest fantasy!"

The Short-Haired Woman had a youthful face and was very small, so her fierce tone came across as cute. She spoke sternly, as though she had learned her lesson many times. Every time she entered a world, the first thing she did was say those words. Unfortunately, her appearance wasn't very intimidating.

"Heh, who are you? Why so serious? This is just a game, right? I cleared the last one without even trying! Little sis, don't try to scare your Brother Dog!"

Yellow Hair was very annoyed by her lecturing tone. Unfortunately, he didn't have his skate shoes with him, or he would have taught the girl a lesson with one.

"Heh, listen or don't, but don't mess with me."

The Short-Haired Woman spoke coldly. She took a dagger from her side, waved it around, and put it back.

"Heh, playing with knives? Your Brother Dog is your ancestor!"

Yellow Hair waved his hand. A "biu" sounded, and the Short-Haired Woman froze. She realized her knife had been taken. When she looked up again, she saw it was in Yellow Hair's hand, even though the two of them were standing far apart.

"Heh, that's my talent as Yellow-haired Brother Dog! Awesome, right? What I See Is Mine!"

The Short-Haired Woman said nothing. She just fell silent, staring at Yellow Hair.

The atmosphere grew tense, but then the long-haired high schooler rattled off a few words and broke the standoff.

"Stop it! You said this is the Horror World, right? We still need to work together to complete the mission. Save any grudges until we get back!"

Those were just ordinary words meant to make peace. What broke the tension wasn't what JK said, but his voice. It was rough and deep, and the moment he opened his mouth, it shattered the illusion.

"Girl—no, dude, why do you sound like a man?"

Yellow Hair looked at the high school girl in disbelief. His face was fair, his features soft, and he wore a uniform with a black skirt. No matter how one looked at him, he was a cute girl with long, straight black hair.

"I am a man! What do you know? What I'm wearing is called JK. Besides, what's it to you what I wear? I like it!"

"Dude, you... you're awesome!"

Yellow Hair gave him a thumbs-up, then tossed the knife back. The Short-Haired Woman caught it and said nothing more.

After talking, they discovered that JK was the only newbie. Yellow Hair had been through one instance, and the Short-Haired Woman had been through two. That was why the two had made peace so quickly. They had simply tested each other's abilities, then used the opening JK gave them to make up.

"Let's talk about our missions. Mine is to work with you to get the deceased's ashes, then erect a gravestone and give them a proper burial. There's no time limit."

"Same. All the same."

Yellow Hair waved a hand. The instance he had been through had been incredibly easy. His mission had been to obtain a jade pendant, so he had activated his talent right away. Its name was "What I See Is Mine," and it could forcibly seize an item from a distance for a period of time, returning it afterward.

However, there had been a loophole in that instance's wording. It had only said he needed to hold the jade pendant in his hand, so Yellow Hair had cleared it instantly, without encountering any real trouble.

The Short-Haired Woman nodded. Her mission was the same, but afterward, she looked around and saw that they were standing in front of Building 27. A person lay off to the side, covered with a white sheet, and there was an empty coffin nearby.

"Do you think that person is dead? Are their ashes the ones we need to get?"

The yellow-haired boy looked where the short-haired girl was pointing, nodded, and said:

"Definitely. Why else would there be a coffin and a corpse lying around in broad daylight?"

The short-haired girl was somewhat doubtful and puzzled. If it was this body's ashes they needed, why was it at Building 27? Why was there no one there to see the deceased off? Perhaps she was overthinking it. After all, there were plenty of things in instances that didn't make sense.

After a brief discussion, they decided to put the corpse in the coffin and close the lid. Otherwise, there was no explaining why a coffin and a corpse were here, as if waiting for them to put the two together.

Once they were done, a Funeral Car drove up and stopped in front of them. A young man stepped out, dressed in black mourning clothes. He stood tall and straight, but his eyes looked old, as if they didn't belong to someone his age. The young man was Xu Kai. He looked around and said:

"Did you call? You wanted me to pick up a body for cremation?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, yes, we did!"

Yellow Hair stared blankly for a moment. When he heard about cremating a body, he realized it was related to the mission and immediately agreed.

"Hmm..."

Xu Kai checked the note from the mission: Building 27, three people. It matched the mission, confirming that these three were the players he was supposed to pick up.

He looked up from the note, feeling that it had been too easy.

He hadn't encountered any of the risks he had imagined along the way. He suspected the Stone Statue Weird wanted him to lower his guard, using the long drive to dull his attention, then catch them all in one fell swoop after Xu Kai picked up the players.

"But my boss told me there'd be two men and one woman..."

"That's right. Driver, you couldn't tell with my buddy here, could you? I was startled too when I first—"

Yellow Hair pointed at JK and scratched his head with a laugh. Unfortunately, before he could finish, the Short-Haired Woman jabbed him with her elbow.

"Hey, little sis, I haven't settled things with you yet..."

Yellow Hair wanted to say more, but JK covered his mouth with one hand. Then JK changed his voice to sound like a sweet young girl who had just graduated from high school and spoke softly to Xu Kai:

"The three of us siblings like to joke around. We often pretend we're strangers who don't know each other! Sorry you had to see that, sir!"

Xu Kai pretended to scratch his head. He still couldn't tell who the man was, and the game of Werewolf was still going. But judging by Yellow Hair's expression and movements, JK was most likely the man. The instant JK spoke, Yellow Hair's eyes went wide, as if something had sprung back to life.

Xu Kai remained impassive, taking it all in. He checked his watch and said:

"Hey, siblings have to treat each other like strangers to get along. That's normal! It's getting late, and it's already half dark. Shall we load up first?"

"Sure."

The four of them worked together to lift the coffin into the vehicle. Even with the Short-Haired Woman helping, they only just managed to get it in.

"Whoa, this coffin's pretty heavy."

After closing the rear compartment, Xu Kai was just about to get into the driver's seat when the Short-Haired Woman suddenly stopped him. Smiling, she said:

"Sir, we'd like to drive ourselves. Is that okay?"

"Drive yourselves? Well, I'm afraid that might be against the rules..."

"Oh, we're not trying to make you leave, sir, and it's not that we don't trust your driving. It's just that the departed was very good to us, so we'd like to drive ourselves."

The Short-Haired Woman took a banknote from her pocket. Xu Kai looked at it and saw that it was a hundred yuan. He considered the mission the game had assigned him. It hadn't said he had to drive himself, and besides, the players had brought it up of their own accord. Presumably they had something to rely on. If things really went wrong, he could just die once and see what the players were capable of.

So Xu Kai decided to take the money. He said politely:

"Since that's what you want, you can drive. I'll sit in the back. This vehicle's got decent power."

Xu Kai gave up the wheel and sat in the back. The Funeral Car could seat four people at most: two in the front and two in the back. Behind them was a refrigerated compartment for the body.

After Xu Kai stepped aside, Yellow Hair and JK looked at each other, having no idea what the short-haired girl was trying to do.

The short-haired girl simply walked over, rose on tiptoe, and patted JK on the shoulder.

"Bro... sis, you drive. You're a steady driver."

JK had many questions. He did have a driver's license and had driven this type of vehicle before, but how did the short-haired girl know? As he was wondering, she turned sideways and mouthed something where Xu Kai couldn't see. JK read her lips.

"My talent gives me three suggestions per instance. I just used one. We can't let the driver drive. You have to do it."

JK froze when he heard that. Thinking of his own talent, he felt a flicker of understanding.

So that's it.

JK mouthed something back to the short-haired girl, who let out a long sigh of relief.

JK's talent was Gui Resistance, a passive talent that allowed him to withstand the impact of low-level Weird Energy.