Playing Games

The soup tasted ordinary, no different from what you'd get at any street vendor's stall. Yet, somehow, it stirred an inexplicable sense of nostalgia. At first, Zhou You only took small sips from his spoon, but soon he couldn't help wolfing it down. In the blink of an eye, he'd drained the entire bowl.

At the same time, the mechanical female voice rang in his ears.

"Congratulations, player, on completing the side quest: Drink Soup."

"Player has received a special reward: Warmth."

"Effect: The player's stamina will recover faster in this scenario, and the player will remain full without needing to eat any other food."

"Your relationship with the Sinister Stall Owner is: Friendly. You may ask him for information."

"Player has received a green consumable: Shop Sign."

"Effect: When used, it temporarily summons 'Sinister Object: Stall Owner.' You cannot communicate with this Sinister Object, but can only have him block enemies for you. This item can only be used once in this scenario. Dying will not reset its usage."

"Please note: Due to the special restrictions of this scenario, the number of questions the player may ask the shopkeeper is limited to: 3."

...Wait a minute. Their relationship was Friendly now, so why was he still only allowed to ask three questions?

Before he could think it through, the stall owner suddenly spoke again.

"This recipe was taught to me by my mother. It's nothing fancy, but it suits the local taste. I don't make much these days, though. Next time you come by, I'll give you a bigger bowl."

Perhaps seeing how quickly Zhou You had eaten, the owner seemed delighted. Even the deep wrinkles on his face had eased.

"I'll be sure to stop by if I get the chance," Zhou You replied with a smile. After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "By the way, I'm sorry for the trouble, but could I ask you a few questions?"

It was an ordinary question. Who would have thought that the stall owner's expression would slowly darken as soon as he heard it?

Then he closed his eyes and sat in thought for a long while. At last, as though he'd made up his mind, he said, "You've done me such a big favor. I can't exactly refuse you. But remember this: after you've asked your questions, if anything seems wrong with me, run. And don't ever come back. Understand?"

Why?

The question never made it past his lips. He stopped himself just in time.

The other man's eyes had already given him the answer.

Don't ask that. If you do, we'll both die.

So Zhou You fell silent. He sat on the greasy stool, tapping his knee as he thought it over for a long time.

The stall owner didn't hurry him. He simply waited in silence.

After a while, Zhou You finally asked his first question.

"What can I do to deal with the difficulties I'll face from here on?"

He didn't ask what dangers awaited him or how many ghosts he'd encounter. Instead, he folded most of the possibilities into a single question, trying to conserve his limited chances to ask.

The stall owner understood and nodded in approval before answering. "I don't know much about what lies farther ahead, but there are some children in the alley up ahead. You can just play games with them. But remember two things: no matter what game you play, follow the nursery rhyme they sing, and absolutely do not cheat or run away. Don't hurt them, either—or you'll die even more horribly than they will."

The moment he finished speaking, the owner's face began to rapidly rot. Half the skin peeled away and landed on the chopping board with a wet smack.

Zhou You frowned and was about to say something, but the owner waved a hand at him.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. At most, I won't be able to run the stall for a while. That might even be a good thing. So don't waste time—go ahead and ask."

"...All right. Second question."

"What do you know about this world I'm patrolling?"

"...I don't know much. I only know that this world has been forcibly divided into two realms. Those in the night can't go to the day, and those in the day can't go to the night—unless they're an... unusual existence like you, or they've received 'His' permission."

The day and night couldn't cross over into each other?

A face suddenly surfaced in Zhou You's mind, but he quickly pushed it away. The stall owner's body was rotting faster and faster, and an ominous, deep red glint had begun to show in his eyes. He didn't look as though he could hold on much longer.

"One last question. I've seen a wealthy man mentioned several times in the local newspaper. Is he a key figure in this world?"

At those words, a crazed look suddenly appeared in the stall owner's eyes. He seemed on the verge of completely losing control, but in the end he clenched his teeth and forced the words out one by one.

"He's the one who set all of this in motion. You can't possibly meet him now, but don't ever go looking for him, either. For your own safety... remember, the farther you stay from him, the better!"

By the final words, he was practically roaring. Just then, a pair of hands reached out from the pot where the human heads were being boiled and grabbed the stall owner, holding him fast.

The older brother's head rose from the pot. As he dragged back his out-of-control younger brother, he mouthed a silent warning to Zhou You.

You've asked all the questions you can. Now... get out of here!

..

After he'd walked a long way, Zhou You looked back. The stall's fluorescent light had quietly gone out, and the place had fallen completely into darkness.

The system hadn't notified him, but Zhou You could more or less guess that even if he used the Resurrection Coin to reset everything later, he'd probably never see that light come on again.

He let out a silent sigh, switched on his flashlight, and continued toward the unknown ahead.

Beyond the stall was Shan Huai Hutong. There was nothing unusual about the place itself. It looked like any other alley in any city or county across the country. The only difference was that its walls were covered in deep black ash, as though they'd once been scorched by intense heat. A notice was posted at the entrance.

It said that a fire had broken out there a few years earlier, and its cause remained unknown. Although the local richest man, Mr. Liu, had paid to have the place repaired, the structure of the buildings had been damaged. Anyone heading farther in was advised to take another route through the neighboring streets.

The notice was brief, but Zhou You still noticed something strange.

"The richest man... his surname is Liu? I remember the head of the sanitation company was called Liu Shang, too. Are they connected? Or... are they actually the same person?"

He made a mental note of it and walked into the alley. But the moment he took his first step, he felt a hand grab his arm.

He turned around and saw a charred little face suddenly emerge from the ash.

That wasn't a figure of speech. It was exactly what it looked like.

All the flesh on the face had been burned away, leaving only a layer of blackened tissue clinging to the skull. The lips and eyelids had been destroyed, too; only two bloodshot eyeballs remained, rolling restlessly in their sockets.

Then the other party opened its mouth, revealing a throat and oral cavity completely blackened by smoke, and spoke in a voice that sounded innocent yet unbearably cruel.

"Uncle, want to play a game?"