Shao Lan and Qin Ning ran through the darkness.
The mountain path was pitch-black, lined with jagged rocks. Only after he was certain no one could find them here did Shao Lan stop.
"Qin Ning, I want to make a deal with you."
"Another trade for information?"
"Yes," Shao Lan said. "This time, there's something specific I need you to do."
"What is it?"
"Find Zhang Fang, then kill him."
Silence.
Qin Ning neither refused nor asked why. She simply said slowly, "For something like that, my price will be high."
"I believe I can afford it," Shao Lan said. "I'll tell you everything I've learned so far."
Because if he waited any longer, it would be too late.
Qin Ning gazed into the distance. Moonlight gathered on her lashes like a layer of cold frost.
After a long while, she nodded. "Deal."
Shao Lan said, "I'll start with Mother Ming."
"Mother Ming is the deity the people of Xu Family Village worship. But clearly, what Mother Ming has given the village isn't love. It's a curse."
"All the children in Xu Family Village are born without eyes, and they grow weaker as they get older. They have to obtain eyes before they turn eighteen, or they'll die."
"You already know all of that."
Shao Lan looked at Qin Ning, and she nodded.
He continued, "So that raises the question-how exactly do the children obtain eyes?"
"The answer is sacrifices."
"You've probably guessed already." Shao Lan looked into Qin Ning's eyes. "The sacrifices are us [outsiders]."
"A sacrifice has to swallow Blind Fish Seeds first, then be thrown into the sea. Once the Nether God accepts the sacrifice, a child without eyes goes into the deep sea, and the Nether God grants that child the sacrifice's eyes."
"And the sacrifice turns into a Blind Fish," Shao Lan said. "The kind of thing you just saw attacking Xu Nan."
"In this instance, the players were divided into two factions from the start. Xu Nan, Xu Jiawei, Xu Jiaojiao, and Xu Zijian were assigned identities as people from Xu Family Village. Their goal aligns with the village's: to offer sacrifices."
"The four of us-you, me, Zhang Fang, and Song Liru-are sacrifices who knew nothing. We have to survive in this village and find a way out."
"I have to admit, the Xu faction had an overwhelming head start. Before our side knew anything was happening, we'd already lost two people."
"Zhang Fang was the first to fall victim. At first, I suspected the contamination spread through bites from those children. But it later turned out that the children were just ordinary humans, so the problem must have been the medicine the Health Station applied to Zhang Fang."
"Like the tea and rice noodle soup the Village Chief gave us, that medicine contained Blind Fish Fry... The fry entered through Zhang Fang's wounds, making him a suitable sacrifice."
"After the fry invaded his body, Zhang Fang began losing his mind. When he ate everyone's 'rice noodle soup' in one go, the amount of fry inside him exceeded the limit. He went completely insane and believed he was a fish."
"Compared with Zhang Fang, Song Liru was probably treated far more brutally by Xu Jiaojiao and Xu Zijian."
"I think the most likely scenario is that Xu Jiaojiao lured Song Liru somewhere secluded, where Xu Zijian knocked her unconscious. Then they immediately forced a large quantity of Blind Fish Fry down her throat, making Song Liru the first sacrifice to die."
"Those were their two successes. I was the one they targeted but failed to take out," Shao Lan said. "Since wary people like you and me clearly wouldn't swallow Blind Fish Fry, they chose to use the Sacrificial Song."
"Besides Zhang Fang, there was also the song-and-dance performance the Village Chief said he'd arranged for us. That was probably meant to make us hear the Sacrificial Song, too."
"If I hadn't cut myself in time, I would have gradually lost my mind just like Zhang Fang. By then, feeding me Blind Fish Fry would have been easy."
"Fortunately, my hallucinations weren't severe. Inflicting pain on myself was enough to keep me lucid."
Qin Ning was silent for a moment before asking, "Then Xu Jiawei... why did he put himself at risk?"
Two people had hallucinated after hearing the Sacrificial Song: Shao Lan and Xu Jiawei.
Why had Xu Jiawei let himself fall victim, too? Had he been certain Shao Lan would save him?
Shao Lan said coldly, "The Sacrificial Song doesn't affect people from Xu Family Village. Otherwise, how do you think Xu Jiaojiao dared to keep living with Zhang Fang?"
Qin Ning's eyes widened slightly. At that moment, she realized how frightening Xu Jiawei was.
The Sacrificial Song had no effect on the Xu faction, so everything Xu Jiawei had done that morning had been an act.
Even his argument with Xu Nan now seemed to have been scripted in advance.
"Yes." Shao Lan nodded. "Xu Jiawei is the Xu Family Village faction's MVP, and our greatest opponent."
"After I cut myself, he realized he couldn't get rid of me right away. To win my trust and delay my discovery of the truth, he put on an elaborate act, pretending that the Sacrificial Song had affected him and made him hallucinate, too."
"I have to admit, he's a good actor. He really did throw off my thinking. Even after I figured out that Xu Jiaojiao and Xu Zijian were working together, I didn't immediately connect Xu Jiawei to them-because he'd influenced my subconscious, planting the idea that 'Xu Jiawei is a victim, too.'"
Qin Ning's gaze grew intent.
Anyone who saw Xu Jiawei would initially take him for a sexy, alluring man who loved to flirt and tease.
But that was merely his camouflage.
In reality, he had intelligence, acting talent, and leadership skills.
The other three players in the Xu Family Village faction revolved entirely around him, coordinating with his strategy.
"What we just discussed isn't actually Xu Jiawei's cleverest move." Shao Lan's gaze was icy. "Do you know when his scheming began?"
"The answer is: when we checked in."
"Remember how troubled I was in your room when I learned that the 'Jian' in Xu Zijian's name was the character meaning 'build'?"
Qin Ning nodded.
Of course she remembered.
She had been puzzled at the time, too. It was only a difference of one character. Why did it matter so much?
"The reason I kept asking you to confirm that you hadn't written it wrong was that, if you were right, then the inscription by the door was wrong."
"But why would the inscription be wrong?" Shao Lan asked. "Wasn't it part of the rules?"
Qin Ning suddenly felt a chill run up her back.
Exactly. The inscriptions were part of the rules.
From the moment they entered the Guesthouse, they had assumed that staying in a room inscribed with their own name was a rule of this instance.
But the instance... the instance was all-knowing and all-powerful. It knew every detail about every player and automatically generated everything related to them.
Like that photograph in the vehicle at the beginning, showing Shao Lan and Xu Jiawei kissing at Disney.
Like the photos on the phone showing that Shao Lan and Xu Jiawei were a couple.
Or the credit cards each of them used.
If all that information was correct, how could it have gotten Xu Zijian's name wrong?
Shao Lan said quietly, "When I first saw the inscriptions by the doors, I thought they were a little strange. What hotel carves its guests' names into the walls?"
"But there are so many strange things in instances that I didn't dwell on it."
"It wasn't until I discovered that Xu Zijian's name was wrong that I realized the instance wouldn't make that mistake. A player would. One of us."
"And while we were drinking tea before going upstairs, Xu Jiawei was the only one who left, using the bathroom as an excuse."
"He carved all those names."
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