The Tenth Chapter: A Round Object Came Rolling Out from Under the Black Cloth

Yu Xing wasn't sure if it was Yu Xing imagination, but the joy Ye Ting showed when she said those words seemed to go beyond the joy of forcing her older brother to "turn back from the wrong path," carrying a hint of barely perceptible schadenfreude.

Yu Xing glanced at Ye Ting again, took the things Ye Ting brought him, and his mind raced, coming up with many different possibilities.

There was one thing he hadn't overlooked: his older brother had become addicted to horror Yugi, dying repeatedly in the Yugi every day, seemingly only focused on beating the game, but...

Initially, the Yugi was in Ye Ting's hands, and it was Ye Ting who first played the horror Yugi whose content he didn't yet know.

If we look at it that way, shouldn't Ye Ting be the one most affected?

Her current state made Yu Xing wonder if Ye Ting's opposition to her older brother playing Yugi over the past few days stemmed from her disappointment in him as a younger sister, or from her feeling that something she possessed was being taken away.

This brings us to the nature of horror Yugi. If this horror Yugi is something beneficial to the ghosts, then Ye Ting and Ye Ming might fight over it.

If the Yugi is something harmful to humans, then Ye Ming can be seen as a victim. His consciousness is being eroded and occupied by the horror Yugi, and he may not even know what he is doing.

Ye Ting's stance is worth examining. Was she completely unaware, or did she know that something terrible would happen if an addicted person suddenly lost the Yugi, and therefore did it intentionally?

"What are you thinking about, Second Brother?" Ye Ting interrupted when she saw her lost in thought.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about how you're doing, brother... Yugi are really harmful." Yu Xing smiled inwardly and seized the opportunity to say, "Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever asked you what the Yugi is about. To make you so addicted, you must have been playing Yugi before, right?"

"Now it seems this Yugi isn't good for you, so even if your older brother quits it in the future, you should uninstall Yugi and never play it again." He put on his older brother's airs and said to Ye Ting in a righteous tone.

He needed to see Ye Ting's reaction to these words. If Ye Ting had the desire to protect the Yugi and not delete it, then Yu Xing would tend to believe that the Yugi was actually something that ghosts were fighting over, and Yu Wan's Yu Wan wanting the Yugi console might not be so simple.

"Yes, you're right. That Yugi is quite interesting, but it's also rather scary. And after what happened, I don't have a good impression of Yugi anymore." Ye Ting's answer was somewhat Yu Xing for Yu Xing. Not only that, Ye Ting also considered Ye Ming's feelings.

"Ever since my brother became addicted to the Yugi, I haven't touched Yugi again, but I haven't deleted it either. I'm afraid he'll get angry if I do." She frowned slightly, her body shrank a little, as if she was thinking of something bad. "Right now, my brother is just addicted to the Yugi; he hasn't done anything else outrageous. I remember once when we were little, I was too noisy and disturbed his studies. He scolded me several times, but I didn't listen, and then he yelled at me. It was terrifying."

"..." Yu Xing smiled and patted Ye Ting's head to comfort her.

According to Ye Ting, she was still in that noisy phase when her health was fine. It seems that Ye Ming's temper is quite strong, otherwise Ye Ting wouldn't have kept nagging him since childhood.

But is this Ye Ting's truth, or just an excuse to not delete the Yugi?

Yu Xing then probed, "It's okay, he won't get angry at you. I'm here for you. I'll have a good talk with him. As for you, you'd better delete that Yugi when you get back to your room, so that even if your brother finds Yugi, he can't play it right away."

"No problem." This time, Ye Ting agreed readily.

Yu Xing Ye Ting's expression, which seemed to indicate she truly had no attachment to the Yugi, Yu Xing asked from another angle, "By the way, I think there must be a reason why Big Brother is so addicted to Yugi. Tell me, what exactly is that Yugi about?"

"Yeah, it's a pixelated horror Yugi where you control a little character." Ye Ting, probably worried her studious second brother wouldn't understand, gestured with her hands. "The Yugi has buttons to control the character's movement and interaction buttons. Our character is inside a church, where there's a Female Ghost who likes to chop people up with an axe. Our character must find the Bible deep inside the church to help the Female Ghost pass on in order to complete the game."

"But that Female Ghost is very powerful. As long as the player interacts with the surrounding environment and searches for the Bible, the Female Ghost can hear the sound and chase after them. She is faster than the character we control, so if we don't immediately use obstacles to block their line of sight and get away, we will definitely be caught and killed."

After hearing Ye Ting's description, Yu Xing imagined what the Yugi would be like and found that, judging from the content, it was actually just a pixel-style mini- Yugi common in later generations, without even a plot. It was just a regular Yugi where you had to find a magical artifact to defeat the boss.

The problem isn't with the plot; there aren't any depressing storylines that could brainwash people into going crazy. It seems the Yugi itself is cursed.

Speaking of Female Ghost in churches, how could Female Ghost possibly be in a church? Ghosts are usually most afraid of places with churches, unless the priest has fallen or the church has been taken over by demons.

Yu Xing was quite familiar with this kind of plot; all sorts of bizarre Yugi have featured it these days, and church chases are nothing new. But he felt it was necessary for him to know why a church appeared in this Yugi on the Yugi.

Furthermore, the Female Ghost was wielding an axe. The marks he found on Ye Ming's body in the bathroom were indeed made with an axe. Therefore, it wasn't Ye Qin who killed Ye Ming, but the Female Ghost?

"You beat that Yugi?" I suddenly remembered this. Part of the reason Ye Ming was so persistent was probably because he kept dying and never finished the game.

"No, after my little girl died more than thirty times in the church, I found it too difficult and stopped playing." Ye Ting shook her head. "Every time the character died, the Female Ghost's face would pop up, it was really scary. I still don't have Sister Yu Wan's strong heart."

Yu Xing: "I see." At least on the surface, Ye Ting doesn't seem to be addicted. Ye Ming, on the other hand, can't control his behavior when he's addicted. If Ye Ting is also addicted but can control herself to deceive others, it can only mean that Ye Ting's level is higher than Ye Ming's.

Wait, the little girl controlled by Ye Ting?

He remembered hearing Ye Ming playing the Yugi, and the main character was making male noises.

Ye Ming controls a male character, Ye Ting controls a female character?

Does this represent them personally?

Yu Xing didn't say anything else for the time being. He encouraged Ye Ting to hide the Yugi and delete the Yugi. Then he continued to pretend to be studying carefully. Ye Ting went out and closed the door for him.

Not long after, Yu Xing, as usual, lay down on the bed to go to sleep.

Actually, tonight should be different from the previous few nights. Every time Yu Xing went to sleep before, Ye Ming would hold onto his Yugi and wouldn't let go. Today, Ye Ming doesn't have his Yugi. If something bad really happens when he's separated from his Yugi console, then it should show up tonight.

Yu Xing tried not to fall asleep, hoping to see if anything unexpected would happen in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, in this simulation world, drowsiness could strike suddenly at any time, leaving him with no way to resist.

Even if he can hold out for half an hour, he will eventually fall asleep unconsciously.

So, when drowsiness came over her, Yu Xing didn't struggle much and fell asleep on her pillow.

In the middle of the night, Yu Xing was awakened by the urge to urinate.

He was a little groggy when he first got up, and it took a lot of effort to pull himself out of his daze. Once he was fully awake, he realized that he had unknowingly gotten up and was already standing by the door, just one step away from opening it to go to the toilet next door.

He decided to go along with the plot, so he opened the door and quietly stepped into the hallway outside.

Since it was nighttime, his field of vision should have been completely dark, but the faint red light that emanated from it instantly drew his attention to Ye Ting's room.

What's going on? Ye Ting's door was wide open.

The deep red glow, carrying a strong sense of foreboding, pierced the darkness. Moreover, Yu Xing vaguely heard a familiar voice—the sinister laughter of the Female Ghost from the Yugi.

Ye Ting playing Yugi in the middle of the night?

Did the Yugi only truly begin to function from the day Ye Ming lifted the black cloth, and whoever gets their Yugi it will be influenced and become addicted to Yugi?

With a vague guess in his mind, Yu Xing tiptoed to Ye Ting's door. The door was wide open, making it virtually impossible for him to peek inside without revealing himself. However, he had come out to use the restroom openly, and he stood at Ye Ting's door like an older brother who happened to be passing by and couldn't help but come in to ask about the red light.

He glanced inside and saw an empty desk and a clean but not exactly spotless floor. Several toys had fallen off the bed and were lying on the floor, and their owner hadn't picked them up.

The bed seemed empty.

Where the blankets should have been, the pink bedding had been replaced by black cloth. Underneath the black cloth was a small bulge, about the same size as Ye Ting's figure. The red PSP Yugi was now placed on the black cloth. No one had touched it, but Yu Xing could still tell from the changes in light and shadow that the characters inside were running on their own.

Even after his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could vaguely see the content on the screen. He saw a small pixelated character running on one side, against a backdrop of mahogany floors and various interactive, indescribable objects. On the other side, a black-haired Female Ghost, about twice the size of the protagonist, was chasing after him with a blood-dripping axe in her hand.

"Oh, this Yugi's been changed to fully automatic now," Yu Xing thought to herself, while glancing at the black cloth again.

Yes, getting up to use the restroom at this time does constitute nighttime wandering, but the seven-day period following the death of the elderly neighbor has passed. Even if he were wandering at night, it wouldn't be considered taboo. So how could he have seen such a black cloth again?

Could it be that someone else has died nearby?

Yu Xing suddenly thought of her brother who didn't have Yugi. If the characters in the Yugi represented Ye Ming and Ye Ting themselves, Ye Ming had died so many times in the Yugi and nothing happened, but today he couldn't play the Yugi. Could that be the reason for the accident?

Is Ye Ming still alive?

Yu Xing had a very bad feeling. He turned to look at Ye Ming's room. Ye Ming's door was closed tightly, and he didn't know what was going on inside.

Just then, the sound of scooping water came from the toilet. Due to the limitations of the times, flush toilets were still quite precious. Even the Ye Qin family, who owned a two-and-a-half-story house, placed two round plastic buckets under the faucet and turned the faucet on to an almost imperceptible angle. This way, a drop of water would leak out of the faucet every now and then. After a while, there would be a lot of usable water left. They would use a plastic ladle to scoop a few scoops of water to flush the toilet.

It sounds like someone's using the restroom. Is it Ye Ming or Ye Ting?

"Second brother, what are you doing standing at my door?" The person who came out of the toilet was Ye Ting. She was sleepy-eyed and walked slowly out of the darkness. Her hair was messy, but her nightgown was relatively neat. Especially when she saw Yu Xing, she pulled the hem of her dress down even more.

"It's nothing." Yu Xing had only uttered three words when his ears twitched, keenly hearing other sounds coming from Ye Ting's room.

He turned his head and saw something under the black cloth, seemingly wriggling and wriggling until it reached the edge of the bed and suddenly fell down.

A round ball rolled down from under the black cloth to the ground, then rolled from the bed to a spot not far from Yu Xing's feet.

The black substance on the sphere had strong friction, making it roll unevenly and bounce twice on the ground. When it stopped, the front of the sphere was directly in Yu Xing's line of sight.

That's... Ye Ting's head.

Her black hair was wrapped in a ball, but Ye Ting's pale face was visible through the gaps. Her large eyes were open, and her unfocused gaze was staring blankly ahead.

"What fell down?" Ye Ting, who had just finished using the restroom, was completely unaware and continued walking this way.

Yu Xing's heart suddenly stopped for a moment. It was an extremely powerful Spiritual Sense that he absolutely could not let Ye Ting, who was walking back into the room, see the head on the ground.

It's best to keep her from even seeing the Yugi.

He quickly snapped out of it and said casually, "It's nothing, something just rolled off your desk."

As he spoke, he walked into Ye Ting's room with unusual ease, bent down, and acted as if he were just a brother casually picking up something from the floor for his sister. While he appeared to be picking something up, he actually kicked the human head under Ye Ting's bed.

Ye Ting's room was decorated differently from Ye Qin's. The pink bed was placed against the corner of the two walls, which made her feel very safe. Similarly, the things under the bed would not be discovered unless you deliberately searched for them.

He then grabbed the Yugi from the bed. Before the coldness of the Yugi could spread from his palm to his body, he hesitated for a second before decisively shoving Yugi under the black cloth.

The moment he touched the Yugi, he pressed the power button, but found that turning it off had no effect; the screen was still lit, and the Female Ghost inside was still chasing the pixelated little girl.

This Yugi has both light and sound, making it extremely difficult to hide. Perhaps only a mysterious black cloth can conceal it.

Of course, Yu Xing knew the danger of the black cloth, but at this moment his intuition told him that if Ye Ting saw the head and the Yugi, the danger that followed might not be any less than the danger caused by removing the black cloth. Moreover, he was just stuffing it into the black cloth without making any move to remove it. He thought that even if there was danger, it would be greatly reduced for him.

Not everyone has this kind of Spiritual Sense, but no matter how you look at it, letting Ye Ting see his head fall to the ground is an extremely unwise act.

If Ye Ting deliberately disguised herself as a harmless ghost, bound by some cursed rule and unable to directly harm the diviner, then this would be a perfect opportunity to attack. Her head is already on the ground, seen by everyone; wouldn't that be a reason for the ghost to break off relations?

If Ye Ting is a ghost who has forgotten that she is dead, then the strategist should also use such behavior to delay the time it takes for her to remember her identity, in order to ensure the strategist's greater safety.

As for the Yugi, Ye Ting has already stated that she is not addicted to that Yugi, and even promised to hide the Yugi properly and delete the Yugi. However, the Yugi is currently running, and Yugi is running automatically without Ye Ting's control. Logically speaking, the most likely explanation is that Ye Ting is unaware that the Yugi is currently on her bed.

The appearance of the black cloth was inexplicable. Yu Xing still leaned towards the idea that someone had died, but this dead person should not be Ye Ting, because Ye Ting, when she went to the toilet, was just like Ye Ming in his normal state, still moving around in a human manner.

Even if the human head represents that Ye Ting is already dead, it is the same as Ye Ming's corpse, possibly belonging to the "inner world." It is best not to bring the appearance of that world into normal time, as this can easily confuse people about the rules.

These thoughts flashed through Yu Xing's mind in an instant. He acted decisively, his hand already reaching under the black cloth with the Yugi. He put the Yugi down and was about to pull his hand out when suddenly a slender hand grabbed Yu Xing's wrist from under the black cloth.

The hand was cold and stiff, just like the one on Ye Ming's corpse. Yu Xing's eyes narrowed slightly. She wanted to pull her hand back without making a sound, but the hand inside was gripping her too tightly. Even without her usual strength advantage, Yu Xing couldn't break free as easily as before.

He gave a silent, cold laugh, ignoring the excruciating pain of his dislocated wrist, and forcefully pulled his hand out. Without the light of the Yugi, the surroundings became dim, and he couldn't see what the skin on his wrist looked like. He only knew that his hand was now completely powerless and in a broken state.

But Yu Xing had long since developed an immunity to this level of pain; he had also suffered a fractured skull before, and he hadn't uttered a sound then either.

Just then, Ye Ting walked in. Yu Xing turned around naturally and said to Ye Ting, "I've put your things away for you. I was just about to go to the bathroom. You should go to bed early."

"Oh, thank you, brother!" Ye Ting responded obediently, pushed aside her pink blanket, and lay down on the bed.

It's still summer, and even though it's not hot at night, Ye Ting still tries to stay cool, only covering her stomach with a corner of the blanket.

Yu Xing bent down, saying, "Don't be greedy for cold, don't you know you're not in good health?" Then, taking the opportunity to tidy up Ye Ting's blanket, she glanced at the color of the blanket again.

Before Ye Ting entered the room, the blanket was a black cloth, but the moment it lost the light from the PSP Yugi, it turned back into a pink blanket.

It seems that many of the connections between paranormal phenomena and the normal world in this deduction are made through darkness?

Yu Xing pondered for a moment, patted Ye Ting's head, and then left her room to go to the bathroom.

As soon as he stepped out of Ye Ting's room, he paused, remembering what Ye Ting had told him a week ago.

On that night of power outage when the cable broke, Ye Ting and he were separated by a candle. At that time Ye Ting pleaded with him in a tone she had never used before, asking him never to leave her alone in the dark, because she was afraid of the dark.

Yu Xing immediately sensed something else in that tone—was it a sigh, a plea, or sadness?

Those things aren't important right now. What's important is that when he saw Ye Ting come out of the restroom, Ye Ting strolled leisurely in the darkness.

Neither the toilet light nor the room light was on.

This is completely different from Ye Ting, who told him in front of the candle that she was afraid of the dark!

Yu Xing's eyes lit up. Pretending not to have noticed anything, she went to the bathroom, turned on the light, took care of her business, then turned off the light and returned to her room.

That makes sense. Ye Ting, as the first person to come into contact with the Yugi, did change, but her changes were different from Ye Ming's, who initially loved studying but later became addicted to Yugi. Her changes were more subtle and harder to detect.

She was afraid of the dark, but after a few weeks, she wasn't anymore.

It wasn't because she suddenly overcame her fear, but because she and Ye Ming had probably been switched!

Perhaps the real them are experiencing being hacked and killed again and again in that Yugi?

The corpse in the bathroom, covered in blood from being hacked with an axe, was probably the real Ye Ming; the head that had just fallen out from under the black cloth was probably the real Ye Ting.

Yu Xing, who had been unable to find a definite way to explain a person's two states, suddenly gathered together the chaotic clues in his mind and found the most likely truth.

This world was likely formed from vengeful spirits after the death of the subject of this deduction. Their cause of death was certainly not an ordinary horror Yugi; in this world, the Yugi is merely a personification of something else.

The thing that caused Ye Ting's death first, followed by Ye Ming's, was that Female Ghost.

What does Female Ghost symbolize?

In the darkness, Yu Xing revealed a somewhat crazed smile.

If the Female Ghost symbolizes the mother who has never been seen in this house... then that's interesting.