Breaking the Game (5)

I had mentally prepared myself to fall heavily from the rooftop.

Yet, after a rapid sense of falling, I landed on something half the height of the house.

The object had many protrusions, which dug into Zheng Wuyou's back and waist, hurting her so much that she frowned.

It felt like lying directly on a large fingerboard.

"Big Sister!" Wansi, perched on the edge of the eaves, watched Zheng Wuyou fall with worry.

Seeing that she hadn't fallen directly to the ground, Wansi breathed a sigh of relief.

Zheng Wuyou got up and looked beneath her body, discovering it was a neatly stacked pile of firewood covered with rags by the woodshed door!

Fortunately, this provided a buffer; otherwise, a direct fall might have resulted in a mild concussion.

Zheng Wuyou carefully jumped down from the pile and, after confirming it was safe, signaled for the others to follow.

But as she reached out her hands to catch Wansi, her peripheral vision caught sight of intense flames suddenly erupting on the second floor to her right.

It was the wooden house!

Zheng Wuyou stood frozen in shock. All the ghosts and monsters on the second floor had vanished.

Except for the woman standing by the window.

She stood with her back to the flames, her expression unreadable to everyone. They watched as she slowly raised her left hand, forming a fist as if gripping something, then abruptly swung it towards her own neck.

The woman mechanically repeated this action until the flames consumed her entirely.

The orange glow of the fire instantly illuminated half the sky...

The moon itself seemed to be tinged with red at that moment.

The wooden second floor couldn't withstand the heat of the flames and began to shed burning firewood, which landed at Zheng Wuyou's feet.

No, this is the woodshed!

As Zheng Wuyou dodged, she glanced back and noticed that the fire didn't seem to be spreading from the second floor to the first, but it was uncertain if it would spread from outside the house!

So, she hurried them down.

When the four of them reached the main hall on the first floor and were rushing towards the outside without stopping.

They found a stout body curled into a ball lying on the cold floor of the hall.

It was Guo Mu...

His eyes, facing outwards, were wide open, and his face looked deathly pale.

It seemed he had experienced something terrifying before dying.

Blood flowed across the wooden floor through the gaps, and his limbs were twisted and contorted, clinging to his shoulders, folded into a ball.

Wen Dian was stunned by this, momentarily unsure how to describe his feelings.

The flames behind them began to consume the woodshed, spreading towards the wooden house with terrifying speed.

Thick black smoke instantly engulfed the backyard.

If they didn't escape now, they would either be burned to death or choked to death!

Seeing Wen Dian frozen in place, Zheng Wuyou immediately turned back, grabbed his hand, and dragged him out, "Stop looking!"

As soon as they escaped the wooden house, Zheng Wuyou saw in the candlelight of the white wax that the remaining two stood by the door of the room assigned to Sun Wu, each lost in their own thoughts.

"You're alright! You scared me to death!" Uncle Cai clapped his hands, watching these people emerge from the flames, too excited to know how to act.

"Your houses are gone, where will you go now?" Hu Yu clearly avoided the topic of Guo Mu inside.

"Guo Mu..."

Wen Dian muttered softly, his voice lost amidst the crackling of burning firewood.

But everyone still heard him.

Uncle Cai shook his head regretfully, "It's all my fault. When I ran downstairs earlier, I encountered that monster in the room and pushed him in my haste..."

"...Uncle Cai..." Hu Yu swallowed her words back.

"I will bear the consequences of my actions. Just tell me how you plan to punish me." Uncle Cai sat on the ground with a worried expression, looking as if he were waiting to be arrested.

This action, however, left the others at a loss.

"He's already dead, and your daughter is waiting for you to live." Zheng Wuyou was the first to reach out her hand to Uncle Cai on the ground.

Blaming him in this situation seemed pointless.

Uncle Cai looked at the outstretched hand and sighed with deep emotion.

Seeing that no one intended to pursue the matter, he then took Zheng Wuyou's hand and stood up.

"It looks like there won't be a peaceful sleep tonight."

Zheng Wuyou led the way on the stone path, tearing down a spiderweb in front of her. She noticed that every door, tightly shut during the day, now had a slight gap, open to the wind.

"Whoever doesn't let us sleep, we'll find them."

Miao Laisheng's words were very clear.

Zhu Li is the center of this farce; he must still be coexisting somewhere.

Without any hesitation, he bent down to pick up the yellow paper fluttering on the ground, rubbing it thoughtfully in his hands.

"You mean Zhu Li? No... he's dead, where would we find him? I don't want to be digging up soil in the middle of the night..." Hu Yu was clearly still traumatized by what happened yesterday afternoon and immediately rejected his suggestion.

Where else would a dead person be but in the graveyard on the mountainside?

"He's a rule enforcer, so naturally, he'd hide himself somewhere both close to the rules and safe," Zheng Wuyou looked up, the night sky half-empty was dyed a fiery orange, possessing a unique charm.

The wind, carrying embers from the fire, made the air feel even hotter.

"With the fire this big, if I were them, I'd definitely find something with a shell to wrap myself in, like... an egg!" Wansi's eyes reflected the candlelight from the white wax. It was the first time she had spoken so proactively.

"An egg? Chick... en..." Zheng Wuyou, reminded, lowered her head and looked at her feet. She suddenly remembered the chicken that always appeared at the most inconvenient times. "Find the chicken! Go catch Old Zhu's chicken."

Hu Yu was bewildered and quickly stopped her as she rushed out, asking, "What does this have to do with a chicken?"

Zheng Wuyou, her sleeve being pulled by Hu Yu, patiently turned her head and retorted, "Have you seen any other living creatures in Zhu Family Village?"

Seeing Hu Yu shake her head like a rattle.

She added, "That's the strange part. Even if that chicken isn't useful, it must have value!"

The rooster crows three times, and the desolate village returns to its daytime appearance.

Its existence is the switch that toggles between day and night.

"So, we're going to catch Old Zhu's chicken?" Uncle Cai also remembered that Old Zhu's family always had a chicken and looked skeptically towards the opposite side.

At this moment, the door of Old Zhu's house was ajar, and candlelight spilled through the gap, scattering everywhere.

But the latter half of the house remained submerged in shadow and darkness.

Perhaps they never imagined they would be catching a chicken in their dreams.

Zheng Wuyou and Wansi, one on each side, worked together to corner the seemingly clever chicken.

But the chicken acted as if it had mastered evasion skills, causing chaos in Old Zhu's small courtyard.

It skillfully dodged every attempt to corner it.

The dim environment only made things worse.

Chicken feathers flew everywhere in the small courtyard.

Zheng Wuyou spat, turning her head to spit out the feather that had flown into her mouth.

Before, everyone had barely paid any attention to the feathers on this chicken.

This time, in the darkness, illuminated by the flickering firelight, they noticed that every feather on the flapping chicken looked like it had a human face.

"This won't work!"

Hu Yu stood with her hands on her hips, panting, on the right side of the small courtyard.

She had just missed again, and her elbow had an abrasion from the sharp stones on the ground.

Who the hell thought of catching a chicken!

Everyone present agreed with this sentiment.

It was too chicken-hearted!