Night Sounds

"Nothing." Xu Huo's gaze shifted from the corpse to the excessively high stack of firewood beside it and the freshly sharpened ax. He stood and looked around.

"I get it!" The short-haired female player held up a large pair and a small pair of rubber boots she'd found in the Wooden Cabin, looking excited. "There must have been two people living here, maybe even a married couple. The woman died first, then the man fell seriously ill. After burying her, he lost all hope and killed himself."

"Why did he have to die just as we came through the door?" Smoky Eye pouted.

The muscular man and the others searched inside and around the Wooden Cabin but found no useful clues. They had no choice but to put the corpse back inside and wait until morning to bury it.

The group retraced their steps, crossed the woods, and arrived at the Mountain Villa's main hall.

The courtyard was laid out in a square around a central space. The main entrance led to the hall, and corridors on either side led to the guest rooms. There were two rooms on each of three sides, each with its own hot spring. At the two rear corners, paths led out of the courtyard: one to the restaurant, the other to the Warehouse.

At a glance, the courtyard had paths leading in every direction and offered no privacy at all.

There was no one else in the Mountain Villa, but it was fairly clean, and the electricity worked. Perhaps because the place was damp and built entirely of wood, a musty smell permeated the interior.

"There are six rooms. How should we divide them up?" the rich heir asked.

"Two to a room would be perfect." The muscular man slapped his bicep. "But I'm not afraid to stay alone!"

"I think it'd be better if we stayed together," the long-haired female player suggested. "That way, we can look out for each other and handle anything that comes up."

"Have you all forgotten something?" the balding middle-aged man suddenly asked. "There could be a Cannibal Player among us. Who wants to share a room with one?"

"It's easy to identify a Cannibal Player. Their number is unique..." The cowboy hadn't finished speaking when the short-haired female player cut him off. "Wang Wei, easy for you to say. White Players are at a disadvantage. You want us to check numbers? We don't even know who'll kill us first!"

Xu Huo had noticed there was another kind of Player besides the red and black ones when he dealt with the ticketless Players at the Station. Players who had never eaten anyone or killed anyone were probably classified as White Players. Compared with the other two groups, White Players were indeed in a difficult position.

The cowboy, Wang Wei, shrugged. "Suit yourself. Staying separately is better anyway."

"Of course we should stay separately!" The short-haired female player took the long-haired woman by the arm. "You're staying with me!"

The long-haired woman opened her mouth, then nodded in agreement.

"Why don't we all stay separately?" The suit man glanced around at them. "Once we're in the game, everyone's on their own. It's only five days, anyway."

The Players came from different places and didn't know or trust one another. It was only natural that they'd each look after themselves.

Besides, this was a survival Dungeon. They only had to stay alive for five days.

"Brother Xu, can I share a room with you?" The other Players had no intention of teaming up with them, so Yuan Yao had no choice but to stick close to Xu Huo.

"Sure." Xu Huo chose the first room on the right. Before entering, he nodded toward the rooms ahead. Yuan Yao understood and immediately pretended to look for someone to room with as he followed the other Players.

He came back a while later, having figured out who was staying in each room.

"The long-haired beauty is Du Lanlan. She seems pretty easygoing. The short-haired one is Xia Guo. They're staying across from us."

"The woman with the rich heir is a streamer. She's nothing special-looking, and I don't know if her name is real, but she goes by Liu Yuanyuan."

"They're staying next to Huang Junjie and Zhang Xiong. Huang Junjie is the older guy in the suit."

"The bald guy is Wan Zhikang. Du Lanlan and Xia Guo arrived one after the other. When they first got here, Wan Zhikang ran over to suck up to them. They ignored him, so he got a grudge against them. He's staying with that foreigner, Abel, in the room right across from ours."

"Wang Wei took the room next door. That college student had nowhere to go, and when I came back, I saw Wang Wei invite him in."

After listening, Xu Huo nodded. "Which two Players had you never seen before?"

"Wang Wei and Huang Junjie." Yuan Yao relayed everything he'd learned from Du Lanlan in one breath. "Huang Junjie's impressive. When Wan Zhikang was bothering the women, he exposed the guy's whole story at a glance. Turns out the bald guy had been cuckolded, then had all his money taken by his lover. Now he resents beautiful women because he used to love them."

"Do they know each other?"

"No. That's what makes it impressive. Huang Junjie figured it out from the tiniest clues." Yuan Yao sounded envious. "Why couldn't I have an Ability that good?"

Xu Huo had finished checking every corner of the room. He drew the curtains. "Get some sleep."

Yuan Yao suddenly felt a little scared. He looked warily at the man, who'd been expressionless the whole time. "Um, Brother Xu, aren't you afraid I'm a Cannibal Player?"

Xu Huo stretched out on the bed. "Don't worry. I'm not a Cannibal Player."

Yuan Yao gave an awkward smile and lay down on the other bed.

The room was dimly lit. Outside, water flowed steadily through the courtyard's hot spring. Xu Huo felt the phone in his pocket and reviewed everything he knew about the Players.

He had paid attention to everyone. Most of them had arrived empty-handed, carrying only clothes and simple everyday items like lighters and earrings. None had phones, watches, or weapons. The game's definition of an item seemed to depend on how technologically advanced it was.

But he had come straight from the Station, and neither the phone nor the dagger he'd brought had disappeared.

The game's prompt had mentioned that the Dungeon's level was too low to allow non-game items, and that the Mountain Villa had once been popular with both Players and non-Players. This suggested that the Dungeon's location wasn't completely sealed off.

It was impossible to bring things in from outside the game. But if someone was already in the game world, they could bring things into the Dungeon, whether or not those things were game items. Likewise, anyone could enter the Dungeon's location, whether or not they were a Dungeon Player.

Besides, the game had never explicitly stated how many people were participating in the Dungeon.

Xu Huo rolled over. With his eyes open, he faced the person who'd silently appeared beside his bed. "What are you doing?"

Yuan Yao nearly cried out. Startled, he quickly explained, "I wasn't trying to hurt you. I just wanted to see the number on your back."

To prove he meant no harm, he lifted his own shirt first. "Really, I'm a White Player!"

Xu Huo sat up, leaned against the bed, and lit a cigarette. He watched Yuan Yao, who was still uneasy. "If you're so scared, why did you want to share a room with me?"

Seeing that Xu Huo had no intention of attacking him, Yuan Yao relaxed a little. "I'm really just a shut-in. I can't even lift anything heavy or do manual labor. You might not believe this, but on the Preliminary Train, I almost got beaten to death by a fifteen-year-old girl... You're different, Brother Xu. You're so calm, and you have long hair. You look like some kind of worldly master. I figured I'd cling to your coattails..."

Xu Huo raised a hand to stop him, then listened intently:

"Clang... clang... clang..."