Desperate survival

"I want to be a movie star. That's my dream. I have a husband who loves me, loves me very much, but he went off to war. There's nothing I can do about that. He can't support my dream, and my mother is even worse. She's a strict woman. She's the head of the household. Honestly, I feel like she hates me."

Pearl smiled as she spoke, grinding the cigarette butt in her hand hard against the door handle before warmly inviting Xie De inside to look around.

She seemed perfectly natural, like the girl next door talking about her troubles.

Xie De wasn't much of a talker, but to stay alive, he felt he needed to keep the girl in front of him calm.

So, forced to enter the house, he asked as though making idle conversation, "What about your father..."

His words stopped short.

The girl gave him an innocent smile. "Look, that's my father."

The stench of corpses hit him the moment he entered. Xie De's pupils contracted. Two corpses sat on opposite sides of the sort of long dining table common in Europe. They were neatly dressed, holding knives and forks as though about to eat, except both the man and the woman had rotting faces. The man's expression was contorted, and the woman's entire body was charred.

Seeing flies buzzing around them, Xie De nearly gagged.

Pearl said sweetly, "Oh, Mom, Dad, we have a guest. Mommy~ Don't make that sour face. Help me entertain our guest, okay?"

Oh my god!

"Host? Are you okay? Don't let any inappropriate expression show on your face. This girl really will kill us!" 455 said gravely.

Xie De closed his eyes and took a deep drag on his cigarette. When he opened them again, not a ripple disturbed his dark green eyes. He looked perfectly composed, as though facing a completely ordinary family.

Good. Don't panic. Time to put my acting to the test! Act well and live; fail and die. Life is only thirty thousand days anyway. Sooner or later, everyone dies. Who has ever escaped death? Sooner or later, everyone dies.

39 replied politely and evenly, "Don't trouble yourself. I'll just sit for a while, then leave."

A little worried about him, 455 extended its vast, jumbled data outward, cautiously traveling at light speed to somewhere far away.

"730, are you there? Could you do me a favor?"

The nebula-like mass of data cast a glance its way.

"Here's the thing. One of the players you pulled into your Instance is my host. I think this Instance of yours is a little too difficult. Could I give my host a backdoor?"

"I'm sorry, 455. I can't do that," the Instance Main System answered according to its programming. "I'm only responsible for activating Instances normally. Their operation and everything inside them are born entirely from resentment. None of that has anything to do with me."

"Isn't there any other way?"

"No."

455 pondered this. "So all Instances actually originate from resentment in the real world?"

"Yes."

"Then your cameos and guidance in the game are really all just to keep the Instances running normally?"

"Yes."

Pearl gazed at 39 with deep attachment. "Don't leave yet, don't leave yet. You know, two other people came here before you. They seemed to think I was a monster. They started screaming as soon as they arrived, which really upset me. Do you know them? I think they're crazy, so I locked them in the cattle pen. Let me take you to see them!"

Skipping along ahead of him, Pearl led him all the way to the cattle pen.

And he finally realized where the missing Qiu Shanyi and Liang Renhuai had gone.

They weren't dead, merely tied to posts inside the cattle pen. Qiu Shanyi's eyes were swollen and red from crying. Liang Renhuai was covered in blood, one arm chopped off, and looked to be on his last breath.

The moment Qiu Shanyi saw Xie De, she grew frantic. "Save us, save us! That woman is insane! She's insane!"

She spoke in Chinese, which Pearl couldn't understand. Smiling, Pearl said, "See? That's what they're like. Are they crazy? Are they mentally ill? Why do they start shouting and making a scene whenever they see me? Am I ugly?"

Xie De remained expressionless, improving rapidly under the threat of death. He answered her in fluent German, "Of course not. They're the crazy ones. You're beautiful."

"Being complimented by a gentleman like you is the greatest honor!" Pearl's cheeks instantly flushed, and she looked as shy as any ordinary girl.

But her next actions still proved she was an absolute lunatic.

She climbed over the railing, raised the pitchfork in her hands, and drove it viciously into Liang Renhuai. Again and again, she stabbed him, dragging out his organs. Jolted awake by the pain, Liang Renhuai let out his final scream and died.

Beside him, Qiu Shanyi could no longer scream. Her voice was hoarse, and both eyes brimmed with tears.

Once Pearl finished, she let out a long sigh of relief and hopped back to Xie De's side. "You know, they're crazy, so their minds are suffering. Look, they keep crying and screaming. God won't like that. I left one for you. Go kill her!"

Pearl held up the pitchfork, her face full of tender smiles, but her eyes remained fixed on Xie De without so much as a blink.

Xie De silently met her gaze. He could clearly see that deep within those seemingly smiling eyes lay nothing but cold madness and malice. She was a murderous maniac, utterly divorced from the girl in the movie who killed because her dreams had been shattered!

Now, she treated murder as art.

To her, lives were nothing but a herd of timid livestock she could slaughter at will-unless she considered you one of her own.

Do I do it or not?

Inside the pen, Qiu Shanyi gasped for breath, her eyes filled with despair. "Save me, save me, save me..."

"Vulgar," 39 said calmly.

"?"

Pearl stared at him with wide eyes.

"All you can do is derive pleasure from torturing others to death, madam." The man casually tapped the cigarette held between two fingers, disdain lurking in his words. "That isn't art, nor is it particularly frightening."

The eyes with which Pearl had been gazing at him so sweetly grew increasingly dark and cruel. "Then what do you suggest?"

But instead of telling her how to resolve the matter of killing, the man curled his lips into a smile.

It was a brazen smile of certain victory, nonchalant and cold-blooded, like a powerful veteran looking down on some arrogant fool who had just left the beginner village. His gaze held a trace of ill intent, yet also a more complicated fond indulgence.

"Can you play the violin?"

"No, I can't."

"I remember you said you liked dancing."

"Yes." Pearl tucked her hair behind her ear, at a loss. "What are you planning to do?"

"Don't be nervous. I saw a violin in your house," 39 said with impeccable courtesy. "Wouldn't you like to give another stunning dance performance?"

Pearl asked modestly, "Yes, that's my mother's violin. Of course I'd like to, but what does one have to do with the other?"

Yet no sooner had she asked than she seemed to grasp some connection, suddenly saying excitedly, "You're right! Every time I finish dancing, I feel incredibly exhilarated. Absolute exhilaration is the best state to kill in! My darling, could you play a violin piece for me? I'll fetch it right away. How about we perform right here? Once I finish dancing, we'll kill her together!"

"Gladly."

Pearl cheered and hurried back to the house, her figure receding into the distance.

Xie De felt cold sweat breaking out across his back. Yes, everything he'd just said had been nonsense he'd made up through 455's translation mechanism. He had no idea what he was saying!

All he knew was that looking at Liang Renhuai's tortured corpse made him want to vomit!

Even the smell of cigarette smoke couldn't suppress that urge.

455 came online at the crucial moment. "Host? That was fantastic! Your acting just now deserved an Oscar!"

Xie De's head ached. "Forget the Oscar for now. Just tell me, is there any way out of this situation?"

455 nodded rapidly. "Yes! I just ran an analysis and discovered this is a movie. Right now, the movie is still playing out, so although you're temporarily at someone else's mercy, once it ends, you can unleash your skills and take that boss down with one shot! Your main priority now is to hold on. I feel like this X Rating movie, despite being called the hardest, is actually the easiest. It all comes down to your acting!"

"As long as you hold on until the ending, when the heroine's husband comes home, you'll have cleared it!"