Inside Boss Qian's room, the lamplight flickered fitfully, casting the shadow of Boss Qian, seated on a stool, onto the wall and making it sway from side to side.
It was already 12:20 a.m., but Boss Qian still couldn't fall asleep.
He was restless.
As an old merchant, he no longer liked taking risks.
Nothing mattered more than proceeding steadily and knowing roughly how much he could earn before making a deal, even if it meant earning a little less.
He was shrewd and calculating.
He was in his forties. Though he couldn't be called old, he calculated every step.
Swish, swish, swish—!
At that moment, he sat before the table, which was piled high with money. Beside it was a pure-gold abacus.
His hands kept counting the money without pause.
He had too much on his mind to sleep. Only counting money could calm him down a little.
Before the game began, the money exchanged through the shop for a game was directly converted into twenty times that amount in reality.
Boss Qian had spent five points to exchange for one hundred thousand. Though it hurt a little to spend the points, he felt it was worthwhile.
"Damn this game! Would things have been better if I'd drawn the Werewolf card?"
"It's all Little Wang's fault. He insisted that crypto was incredibly popular and told me to study it too!"
"And now look at me—I studied my way into this place!!!"
"When I get back, I'm definitely settling the score with him!!!"
This wasn't Boss Qian's first game, but even so, whenever he got nervous in the game, he couldn't help muttering and cursing the accountant who had followed him for more than a decade.
He counted the money several more times and checked the system time. Feeling that the werewolves should have finished their actions, he finally let out a breath and prepared to lie down on the crude bed for a while.
Even if he couldn't sleep, closing his eyes for a bit would be fine.
"Ah, tonight should be safe..."
But just as he finished speaking, there was a ripping sound!
The wooden door to his room was suddenly torn apart by a claw. Startled, he shuddered and instinctively grabbed the golden abacus from the table, raising it high as if he meant to smash it down.
But he still couldn't bear to do it.
Crack—crack—!
Amid the sound of splintering wood and the fragments flying into the room came the werewolf's excited, slightly heavy breathing.
Old Qian Ben had already hidden himself in the corner of the room. His body trembled uncontrollably, his breathing quickened, and his blood pressure shot up. Feeling dizzy, he pressed a hand to his forehead and shouted toward the door, "Stop, stop, stop!!!"
"Don't come in!!!!"
"I'm the Hunter! I have the Hunter role!!!"
"If you come in and kill me, you'll die too!"
"You're like this right now—I don't know who you are!"
"You can go find someone else!"
"That Ferryman! He's definitely a God role! Go find him!"
At Boss Qian's shouts, the werewolves outside finally stopped attacking. They seemed to discuss something, and in less than twenty seconds, one of them kicked the battered door away. It slammed into the wall beside Boss Qian.
Bang—!
Old Qian Ben shrank farther into the corner and stared fearfully at the two werewolves who had entered the room, desperately explaining, "You have to believe me!!"
"That Siba Jungler said he was the Gunner, so he became everyone's focus!"
"I just wanted to earn everyone's trust first, then hide and pretend to be a useless Villager!"
"That way, no matter what, the knife wouldn't fall on me!"
"If the werewolves really went after Siba Jungler, he'd be a scapegoat too!!!"
"Please, believe me! I have plenty of money. I'll give it all to you!!"
Boss Qian was already somewhat confused, genuinely treating the money in his room as real.
But compared to life, the money in the game was utterly worthless.
The werewolves didn't hurry to attack. They scrutinized Boss Qian.
Werewolf A looked at Werewolf B. "I think what he said makes sense. What do you think?"
Werewolf B shook his head, then walked toward Boss Qian and looked down at him. "I say, Hunter, where's your gun?"
Boss Qian's face crumpled as he explained, "Big brother! I don't have a gun!"
"This damn Hunter Card is defective. There are no items at all, let alone a gun!!!"
"But believe me, I'm the Hunter!"
Before Werewolf B could respond, Werewolf A walked over laughing loudly. "Hahaha... Damn profiteer, do you think this is the outside world?"
"You think you can fool children?"
"We can all turn into werewolves at night, but you, a Hunter, don't have a gun?"
"Are you kidding me?!!"
He finished speaking, rubbed his wolf claws, and looked at Werewolf B. "Well? Did we misjudge him?"
"All you figured out was that he's a Hunter without a gun. I'm telling you... you're not that impressive either."
Werewolf B fell into thought, sensing that something was suspicious.
But in the end, he nodded.
With Werewolf B's confirmation, Werewolf A stopped holding back and walked toward Boss Qian.
What about Boss Qian?
His face was already covered in sweat, panic written all over it. When Werewolf A came within a meter of him, he gritted his teeth, suddenly hurled the golden abacus at Werewolf A, and pushed off hard with his feet, intending to flee through the doorway.
The sky had already darkened. There were no lamps or candle flames.
If he could get out that door, then...
Then...
Then even if there was only the slightest chance, he could hide and hold out until daybreak!
Then...
Could he survive?
Boss Qian poured all his strength into running desperately outside.
But—
"Rip—!"
With the sound of flesh tearing, he suddenly lost all feeling in his lower body. A searing pain erupted across his back.
Bang—
He crashed straight to the ground!
Werewolf A had torn through his spine from behind with his claws. Blood now splattered across the entire room.
Boss Qian's head spun as he stared at the darkness outside the door. The doorframe swayed back and forth, back and forth...
He clawed at the floor with both hands, seemingly trying to crawl out, but he had no strength left and couldn't drag his body, which weighed more than 170 pounds.
He could feel one werewolf continuously tearing at his body, as if trying to hollow him out completely.
The other werewolf, who hadn't attacked, had already begun walking toward the door.
Boss Qian's open eyes had lost all light. He could no longer feel the pain in his body; numbness had begun to set in.
Over all these years, he had made a great deal of money, and not a small portion of it had been earned against his conscience.
Was this... his retribution?
As memories flashed past like scenes from a lantern show, Boss Qian's consciousness grew increasingly hazy.
Who were the werewolves...? Why... had they chosen me...?
At the very end, hatred surged endlessly through his heart.
He recalled everything that had happened today.
"It's... it's you..."
"It must be you!!!"
"Whether the Witch saves me or not..."
"I'll... do whatever it takes to get you eliminated..."
Boss Qian wanted to roar those words, but unfortunately, he could no longer speak.
He simply kept his eyes open and watched Werewolf B outside the door as he died.
.
Werewolf A, wanting only to vent his frustration, completely tore Boss Qian's corpse apart with his current werewolf claws. Covered in blood, he came out with a look of excitement and happily said to Werewolf B, who was standing there with his head lowered in thought, "Hahaha, being a werewolf is awesome!"
Werewolf B rubbed his chin and pursed his lips. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "I feel like... we chose the wrong person..."
"He probably knows who I am now..."
Werewolf A laughed. "What's there to fear?"
"Even if the Witch saves him, he won't remember anything."
"Think carefully about whom we should try to get eliminated tomorrow. Let's both talk as little as possible so we won't arouse suspicion."
Hearing that, Werewolf B shook his head. "That's all we can do. Sigh!"
But as he looked at Boss Qian's corpse, he felt inexplicably panicked.
.
.
At five in the morning the next day, Yimo was awakened by his electronic watch.
Because he had slept inside a cabinet, his entire body was sore. He rubbed his neck.
He checked the system time, then checked for new game prompts. Seeing none, he quickly climbed out of the cabinet.
He had something to confirm today.
He didn't know what time he would be allowed to leave, but he still hurried toward the door.
He pushed it, and it really opened!
Seeing this, Yimo couldn't help shaking his head helplessly. "If I'd known, I would have set the alarm for 4:30..."
"I thought I wouldn't be able to leave until six or seven!"
However, just as Yimo muttered to himself and prepared to go out, he suddenly noticed someone running very carefully—but not slowly—past a thatched hut across the way.
Startled, Yimo hurriedly closed the door, unsure whether the other person had noticed him.
"Ordinary Girl... What is she doing up so early?"
Yimo had originally planned to do something else, but Ordinary Girl's actions piqued his interest. He had to find out what she was up to, so he secretly followed her out.
What Yimo didn't know was that just as he secretly followed Ordinary Girl, someone opened a narrow crack in a door and happened to see him.
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