The village chief wore a short jacket. His face was deathly pale, his cheeks bright red.
His outfit resembled that of a paper effigy buried with the dead at a funeral.
His scarlet lips stretched into a grin, and he spoke one word at a time, like some mountain spirit or wild monster that had only just learned to talk.
"You. Are. Here? Come. On. In. We've. Been. Waiting. For. You."
Perhaps everyone was frightened by the village chief's horrifying appearance, or perhaps they simply didn't want to answer, sticking to the principle that the less they said, the fewer mistakes they could make.
For a moment, no one replied.
The village chief repeated himself, only this time he spoke a little faster, and his mouth stretched even wider.
"You're here? Come on in. We've been waiting for you."
Yin Chao smiled and nodded. "Sure thing!"
The corners of the village chief's mouth, which had stretched all the way to his ears, drew back considerably.
He looked at Yin Chao, his eyes swiveling mechanically, visibly delighted. "Come on in. Don't catch a chill."
He spoke even faster this time, and there was even a hint of concern in his voice.
Yin Chao stepped through the courtyard gate first. The courtyard that had looked pitch-black from outside suddenly filled with voices and bustling activity.
"The banquet's all laid out. We've been waiting for you."
The village chief continued.
Yin Chao looked at the village chief by candlelight and discovered that, at some point, he had taken on the appearance of a normal person.
He urged everyone to sit down, saying the banquet was about to begin, then found himself a seat.
The courtyard wasn't large, but it was packed with tables.
A red candle as thick as a wrist burned on each table for light.
The flickering flames reflected on the villagers' faces, lending them an eerie quality that chilled people to the core.
The nine of them felt uneasy as they looked at the utterly silent villagers.
Every villager faced them, their dark eye sockets devoid of any sign of life.
Some had even turned their heads a full hundred and eighty degrees.
Eerie smiles hung on their faces, as though the nine people standing in the middle of the courtyard were the dishes being served.
"Wh-what do we do?" Yang Fan asked, cautiously hiding behind Fang Tang.
No one answered him.
Xu Zhou turned and exchanged a nod with Fang Tang, then the two headed straight toward a table with empty seats.
Each table seated eight, and that one happened to have two seats left.
Yang Fan followed close behind and took the nearest empty seat to them.
Seeing this, the others hurried to find empty seats of their own.
Yin Chao pursed his lips. He was standing farthest from the empty seats and wasn't as quick as the others. It looked like he wouldn't get one.
In fact, shortly after entering, he had noticed the empty seats and even counted them.
There had only been seven.
The village chief had just taken one, leaving six.
That meant three people would be left without seats.
Yin Chao was one of those three. The other two were Mo Nan and the girl with blunt bangs.
The girl with blunt bangs looked anxious. She searched around but couldn't find an empty seat.
Just then, the village chief repeated himself. "Hurry and sit down, everyone. We're waiting for you to start the feast."
His mouth stretched sideways, revealing sharp teeth scattered irregularly inside.
Yin Chao silently translated that in his head. It probably meant, If you don't find seats soon, we'll start the feast with you.
Sure enough, the moment the village chief finished speaking, the previously normal villagers all took on monstrous faces.
They stared at the three people still standing, drooling all over the ground.
"What do we do?"
The girl with blunt bangs asked Mo Nan.
Mo Nan gave her a slight bow, the classic gentleman's bow seen in foreign films.
"Don't worry, Miss Bai. I promised to keep you safe."
He said.
Then he produced a black, long-handled umbrella from somewhere, its metal tip gleaming coldly.
He swung the umbrella down on a player who was already seated.
With a muffled thud, the player's head separated from his body, and blood sprayed everywhere.
Mo Nan's expression didn't change at all. He slowly opened the umbrella to shield the girl with blunt bangs from the shower of blood.
The player's head landed on the table, where the villagers quickly devoured it, leaving only a few scraps of flesh with hair still attached.
When they were done, he turned toward another player seated at the same table.
Mo Nan's smile was like a specter's. To that player, he was even more terrifying than the monsters baring their fangs and claws.
The player stood up in terror to surrender his seat, shouting, "It's you, Smiling-Faced Thug! You're Smiling-Faced Thug! You lied to us!"
Mo Nan took out a pure white handkerchief and wiped the blood off the seat.
Then he straightened up and smiled. "Oh dear. It seems I have a bad reputation."
When the player shouted the name Smiling-Faced Thug, Yin Chao turned his gaze toward Xu Zhou and Fang Tang.
To his surprise, a flicker of astonishment crossed their faces as well.
It seemed Smiling-Faced Thug really did have a bad reputation.
Crack, crack.
The village chief's face brimmed with excitement, but he deliberately suppressed it, making his whole body tremble and crack.
He said, "Now that everyone is seated..."
Before he could finish, Yin Chao suddenly interrupted.
"Chief, you're the host, and I'm a guest. Since when does the host sit while his guest stands?"
The village chief seemed to freeze up. He tilted his neck, making two more cracking sounds, and asked, "What did you say?"
Yin Chao calmly walked up to him, bent down close to his horrifying face, and spoke clearly.
"I said, I'm your guest. You have to let me sit."
If the muscles in the village chief's face hadn't been so stiff, he would surely have been staring in confusion with one eye wider than the other. (O.o)
But he was a monster whose intelligence had only just awakened, incapable of such a vivid expression.
He merely stood up stiffly and yielded his seat to Yin Chao.
The instant Yin Chao sat down, every red candle on the tables went out.
The man from earlier screamed nearby, followed by crunching sounds.
The air filled with the heavy stench of blood. Though they couldn't see, everyone knew what had happened.
Yin Chao frowned, hoping only that the monsters would eat a little more neatly and not splash blood on him.
Suddenly, an icy hand grabbed Yin Chao's ankle.
He jolted, lowered his head, and lifted the tablecloth.
He found himself looking straight into a pair of milky-white eyes.
Even in darkness so thick he couldn't see his own hand, Yin Chao could still make out the figure's grayish-white skin and pupil-less eyes beneath the table.
It was a little girl. He couldn't tell her age. She was terribly thin, wore a red padded jacket, and had purple markings on her face that resembled livor mortis.
"What is it?" Yin Chao asked softly, showing none of the fear one might expect upon seeing a monster, as though the one grabbing his ankle was merely a mischievous child from next door.
The girl tilted her head, opened and closed her mouth, and spoke a single word.
"Kitchen."
Just as he was about to ask something else, the red candles on the tables lit up without warning.
The girl gradually retreated into the darkness and vanished.
Yin Chao looked up and saw blood all over the ground, along with two bright red skeletons.
One was headless. The other belonged to the player who hadn't managed to get a seat.
The monsters had already disappeared.
[Beep beep. Scenario two complete. All players, please wait until tomorrow morning to fulfill the bride's wish.]
Someone let out a long breath.
Before you continue