Helper

The furnishings inside the Wooden House were not as white as the exterior. Instead, it had the normal structure of a wooden house.

Directly opposite the main entrance in the Main Hall stood an antique wooden table and two rattan chairs. The table held meager offerings and White Candles, while a time-worn portrait of a single person hung on the wall, its features impossible to make out.

By the weak candlelight, the group could only vaguely see the person in the portrait sitting somewhere in a strange posture.

A curtained wooden door stood half a meter beyond each of the two rattan chairs.

The doors were tightly shut, and they were the only way to reach the Backyard.

Perhaps because rain was imminent, the air inside was damp and stifling.

This Main Hall, barely over a dozen square meters, was crammed with strangers who did not know one another.

Everyone tactfully kept their distance, watching each other with a trace of wariness in their eyes.

The room was already damp, stuffy, and cramped. With everyone packed together, their hair soon became sticky and clung to their foreheads.

Zheng Wuyou smoothed her shoulder-length bob tucked behind her ears. The humid discomfort, coupled with the choking smell of smoke, made her feel as if she were about to be deprived of breath.

The old man seated in the place of honor set down his Smoking Pipe. His cloudy eyes swept over everyone present before he clicked his tongue in disdain.

The old man's face was as pale as paper, and his hunched body was wracked by violent coughing from time to time, as though he wanted to cough all the foul air from his lungs.

"Cough, cough... Didn't you agree with your master a few days ago that you'd come early? Hosting a wedding feast... cough... takes time. If you dawdle like this and delay the auspicious hour, can you afford to take responsibility?!"

His bony, sinewy hand suddenly shot up and slammed heavily onto the old wooden table.

With a deafening bang, the entire tabletop shuddered, and even the offerings on it trembled slightly.

Everyone jumped at his sudden action. Not understanding what he meant, they exchanged confused looks.

But because of the pressure Chi Ao Chi Yin had imposed earlier, no one dared to be the first to ask.

All they knew was that, like themselves, the people around them had inexplicably appeared here and entered this village.

So how had they become hired hands for a banquet?

"A bunch of useless trash! Cough, cough... You took the goods and won't do the work!" The old man looked furious, his wrinkled face full of frustration.

He rose shakily, gripped his cane, and forcefully planted it on the ground. With his back bent and one hand behind him, he walked to the open doorway.

After looking up at the dense dark clouds beyond the eaves, he let out a long sigh and returned to his seat.

Everyone's gazes followed his movements back and forth, turning from side to side with him.

"Ah, forget it. The things for the helpers have already been left at Old Zhu's family. Once this rain stops, go over there." He continued smoking his pipe and waved his hand helplessly. The already poorly ventilated Main Hall became even more choking.

Little Girl still hid fearfully behind Zheng Wuyou. The old man seated in the place of honor frightened her.

A light patter of rain began outside. As it struck the long-parched ground, it released a distinctive muddy smell.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, until Zheng Wuyou could no longer hear the sounds around her.

She could only hear the blended symphony of rain striking the eaves, the leaves, and the earth.

"Ah! Xiao Wan!"

Just as everyone was boredly trying to find some clue that did not belong here, a piercing cry suddenly came from the direction of the door, cutting through the roar of the rain.

It made everyone turn in confusion to look outside through the curtain of rain.

The short girl who had been holding and comforting the frail woman was now leaning weakly against the doorframe, not daring to take even half a step outside.

And Xiao Wan, the person she had called out to, seemed to be the woman she had comforted earlier.

Curious about what had happened, Zheng Wuyou slowly led Little Girl through the equally curious crowd and got a clear view of the scene outside from the front.

Dark clouds swept over the mountainside village alongside raging winds.

The willow branches on Willow Tree were blown upward, like a high braid sticking straight into the sky.

As for Xiao Wan, Zheng Wuyou could no longer make out what she looked like amid the dense downpour...

She...

Had melted.

Through the rain curtain, Zheng Wuyou could see a blurry figure half a person's height slowly vanishing, flowing toward the ground with the rainwater.

The body's head had long since disappeared. Only the body, having lost all strength, remained kneeling in the rain as it slowly dissolved.

In the end, it mixed into the rainwater and mud.

"Why was she outside?" Zheng Wuyou was once again shocked. Her subconscious told her that this was not a game, nor was it a television drama.

It was...

Real death.

"Xiao Wan... Xiao Wan said just now that she couldn't stand the smoke. It was too... too thick, so she wanted to go outside for a breath of air! Who knew it would suddenly start raining! And then..." The short girl trembled all over. On the verge of collapse from panic and fear, she was already stammering.

"And then what?" The man in dark blue pajamas, who had been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, opened his indifferent eyes, his arms folded.

His voice carried not the slightest ripple as it crossed the terrified crowd.

It seemed that a scene like this did not frighten him in the least.

"Then... then Xiao Wan's head suddenly came off! It wasn't eaten by something! It really just came off! Really! This rain... this rain can't be touched!" The short girl was completely panic-stricken, her voice nearly hysterical. Afraid that no one would believe her, she hurriedly repeated herself several times.

At the same time, she desperately drew her feet farther into the room, afraid that even a drop of rain splashing in beneath the eaves would touch them.

[Friendly Reminder: Failure to clear the stage will result in death. Death corresponds to reality.]

Was this the punishment for the countdown ending?

Zheng Wuyou looked at the red-and-yellow watermarks that had completely melted into and flowed through the mud. She recalled what that Chi Ao Chi Yin had said: once the countdown ended, or if their score did not reach the designated number, they would fail to clear the stage. Failure meant being erased.

What a vicious dream.

No concept of time had been given, nor had there been any task.

Yet someone had still been killed.

But if it were merely about killing people, there was no need to go through so much trouble. Chi Ao Chi Yin could have simply chased after them and eaten them one by one.

Why design this additional step?

"Cough... The rain will stop soon... cough, cough... Take your own List and divide up the work." The old man behind them seemed displeased that this group had shifted all their attention outside. He picked up the thin sheets of paper beside him.

With a look of disdain, he handed them to the dark blue pajama man nearest to him.

A List?

The old man's words drew everyone's attention.

Other than the short woman, who was still sitting on the ground trembling, everyone shifted their attention in terror from the rain to those yellowed sheets of paper.

Something had been scrawled crookedly on the Yellow Paper in black ink. In the dim Main Hall—

All they could see were black words on yellow paper.

Zheng Wuyou understood in that instant...

So the List was the task.

No wonder she had felt as if a step were missing. When the old man first began speaking, no one responded to advance the plot, which meant they had failed to obtain the task-bearing List right away!

Without knowing the task, they had triggered the first punishment.

And it had been a random punishment...