The Real Danger!

[Act Two identity: dead person]

Shen Niannian lowered her head.

She touched her chest.

She had a heartbeat.

Then she tried taking a breath.

She had breath.

(°ー°〃)

Good.

Aside from the play ticket considering her dead,

she was perfectly healthy from head to toe.

The three-minute intermission soon ended.

Boom-!

The ancestral hall doors opened again.

The players who had been scattered throughout the Chen household were also sent into a larger mourning hall by an invisible force.

Shen Niannian quickly glanced around.

After Act One ended,

Wu Lei was the only one missing out of the fifteen players.

[Players currently alive: 14]

Clearly, although the other branches had also been dangerous, everyone in them had made it through for now.

Ye Qinglan was not far away.

She visibly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Shen Niannian emerge intact.

But the next second,

she noticed the new play ticket in Shen Niannian's hand.

"What are you in Act Two?"

"A dead person."

Shen Niannian's face was expressionless.

Ye Qinglan: "..."

She looked at the lively Shen Niannian,

then at the play ticket.

In the end, she could only say,

"A very healthy dead person."

"Thank you."

(￣ー￣)

In the center of the mourning hall,

a pitch-black coffin slowly appeared.

White cloth.

Funeral money.

Seven deathly pale candles.

A huge character for "mourning" also hung on the wall.

Information about Act Two appeared as well.

[Act Two: "Keeping Vigil"]

[Plot summary: The sacrificial offering failed, and the Chen family's youngest daughter died suddenly that night. The Chen family sets up a mourning hall and keeps vigil until the hour of the rat.]

[Act Two rules]

[1. All actors must perform in accordance with their current roles at all times.]

[2. Within the mourning hall, living people must not initiate conversation with the dead.]

[3. When the funeral bell tolls, members of the Chen family must lower their heads and weep for the dead. Guests must remain quiet.]

[4. The seven Life Candles in the mourning hall must not all be extinguished, and only the "steward" may touch them.]

[5. The dead must not leave the mourning hall before the hour of the rat.]

There weren't many rules.

But after everyone read them,

the atmosphere grew even more tense.

This time,

"living" and "dead" were explicitly defined identities under the rules.

The play ticket in Shen Niannian's hand updated as well.

[Role: youngest daughter]

[Current identity: dead person]

[Role requirement: While being watched by the living, you must not exhibit obvious behavior of the living.]

Shen Niannian: "..."

(ΩДΩ)

Wait.

What counted as obvious behavior of the living?

Walking counted.

Talking counted.

Did breathing count too?!

Ye Qinglan had clearly noticed her growing a little stiff.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Niannian briefly explained the requirement.

Ye Qinglan frowned.

"You can't hold your breath the whole time."

"So the point probably isn't that you can't breathe."

Shen Niannian quickly realized something.

The rule said-

[While being watched by the living.]

As long as no one could see her,

whatever she did

wouldn't violate that line, at least for now.

Her gaze immediately fell on the white shroud beside the coffin.

"Sis."

Ye Qinglan looked over.

Shen Niannian said solemnly, "According to the plot, shouldn't you cover up your dead sister?"

Ye Qinglan understood at once.

"All right."

Her role was still the eldest daughter.

[Current identity: eldest sister keeping vigil]

Covering her sister with a shroud

was entirely in character.

Soon,

Shen Niannian lay back down in the coffin.

The white cloth covered her from head to toe.

On the livestream,

only a petite silhouette remained.

The livestream chat immediately came alive.

"You can do that?"

"If they can't see her breathing, it doesn't count as obvious behavior of the living?"

"The rule focuses on 'being watched by the living,' so Shen Niannian just covered herself up!"

"She really is quick-witted."

Lying beneath the white cloth,

Shen Niannian finally dared to breathe normally.

(つω｀)

Much better.

At least she didn't have to worry about holding her breath until she became a real dead person.

However,

Act Two clearly wasn't going to let them off so easily.

Dong-!

The funeral bell tolled for the first time.

The members of the Chen family immediately lowered their heads.

The madam.

The master.

The eldest daughter.

Including the servants and the steward,

they all began weeping for the dead in accordance with their roles.

The three players acting as guests all remained silent.

No one dared make any unnecessary moves.

The seven Life Candles burned dimly.

Everything was normal for the moment.

Until-

Whoosh.

A gust of cold wind blew from somewhere.

The candle on the far left

went out.

The second followed.

Then the third!

The player acting as the steward's expression changed.

Rule four!

All seven couldn't go out.

Only he could touch them!

He immediately rushed over to relight them.

But just then,

a soft sound suddenly came from inside the coffin.

Thud.

Everyone paused for a moment.

Shen Niannian froze too.

She hadn't moved!

The next second,

thud.

There it was again.

The sound had come from beneath her coffin!

As though something

were knocking upward against the bottom of the coffin.

Shen Niannian's scalp instantly went numb.

(ΩДΩ)

Wait.

She was a dead person, so under her...

Why was there another dead person?!

The third knock.

Thud!

The coffin shook violently.

One corner of the white cloth covering Shen Niannian's face slipped off.

She instinctively opened her eyes.

Just in time.

She met the eyes of a guest player standing beside the coffin.

The man went rigid.

Inside the coffin.

The "youngest daughter," who should have been dead.

Opened her eyes.

More terrifying still.

The knocking kept coming from beneath the coffin.

The man's face turned white.

He clearly thought the corpse had undergone some kind of transformation.

To warn the other players.

He shouted almost instinctively:

"She's not dead! Shen Niannian is still alive!"

As soon as he spoke.

The entire funeral hall-

Fell silent.

The crying stopped.

The wind stopped too.

All seven candles suddenly produced green flames more than a foot long.

The expression froze on the man's face.

Ye Qinglan's pupils abruptly contracted.

"Something's wrong!"

But it was already too late.

Blood slowly seeped from the funeral inscription on the wall.

[Detected an actor denying the identity of a core character in the second act.]

[Character error.]

The guest player finally realized what had happened.

"Wait, I meant the actor! I know she isn't dead in real life. I was just trying to warn you that the corpse opened its-"

Pffft!

Before he could finish.

His tongue suddenly dropped out of his mouth.

Growing longer.

And longer.

Until it dragged on the floor.

The man clutched his throat in terror.

The next second.

His tongue suddenly wrapped around his neck.

And tightened hard!

Crack!

His neck snapped on the spot.

His body fell heavily to the floor.

[Player Fang Kai has died.]

[Players currently alive: 13]

Inside the funeral hall.

There was dead silence.

After a brief pause, the livestream chat erupted.

"He's dead!"

"Just because he said Shen Niannian was still alive?!"

"I get it! Shen Niannian the actor really is alive, but her character is already dead!"

"The instance doesn't recognize the actors' real-life states at all!"

"The actor can be alive, but the character has to be dead!"

"Fang Kai wasn't being stupid. He saw the corpse in the coffin suddenly open its eyes and wanted to warn his teammates, but he ended up denying the character's identity!"

Ye Qinglan stared fixedly at Fang Kai's corpse.

For the first time, her expression turned truly grim.

"From now on, everyone needs to remember one thing."

"Don't judge the other players by what you see with your own eyes anymore."

She looked at Shen Niannian in the coffin.

"In this scene, she's dead."

Even if she breathed.

Even if she blinked.

Even if she really climbed out of the coffin.

As long as the theater ticket hadn't changed-

She was dead.

Shen Niannian understood too.

This was what made the Dead Men's Theater truly terrifying.

It was forcing the players to abandon real-world common sense.

And accept the reality of the play!

But the problem still wasn't solved.

Thump!

Another knock came from the bottom of the coffin.

This time.

It was louder.

At the same time.

The player serving as steward suddenly turned deathly pale.

"Only two left!"

Everyone turned sharply.

Of the Life Candles that had been going out one after another.

Only the last two were still burning!

The steward was frantically relighting them.

But every time he lit one.

Two more immediately went out on the other side.

Whoosh!

Another went out.

[Current Life Candles: 1/7]

Most of the funeral hall plunged into darkness.

Only one deathly pale flame remained.

At the same time.

The thing beneath the coffin-

Stopped knocking.

But Shen Niannian grew even more uneasy.

The next second.

An icy, pale hand.

Suddenly reached up through the bottom of the coffin.

And seized her ankle!

"!"

Shen Niannian nearly cried out.

She forced herself to bite her lip.

She was dead now.

The living were still watching!

She couldn't shout!

The hand was dragging her toward the bottom of the coffin, bit by bit.

And the last Life Candle.

Also began to flicker violently.

The livestream chat instantly went wild with panic.

"Holy shit! Something's grabbed her!"

"Shen Niannian can't speak!"

"The steward can barely hold on either!"

"Things are going wrong on both sides at once!"

"What'll happen when the last candle goes out?!"

Ye Qinglan had already drawn her blade.

But she had no idea which side to help first.

Just when everyone thought the situation was about to spiral completely out of control.

Shen Niannian suddenly looked at the seven Life Candles.

Then looked down.

At the hand gripping her.

In front of her.

The Identity Archive suddenly popped up.

[Target: Corpse Ghoul Beneath the Coffin]

[Danger level: B]

[Identity: Funeral hall corpse thief]

[Current status: Stealing the dead]

The next second.

Additional information appeared.

[Environment-related information: The fewer Life Candles there are, the weaker the funeral hall's protection of "the dead."]

Shen Niannian's eyes lit up.

So that's it!

The greatest threat right now wasn't the ghost in the coffin at all.

It was-

The candles!

As long as the Life Candles were relit.

This thing might not dare grab her anymore!

She couldn't speak.

But the rules didn't say-

The dead couldn't do anything else.

Especially when-

No one could see her.

Shen Niannian pulled the white cloth back over herself.

Completely vanishing from the sight of all the living.

The next second.

A muffled sound came from inside the coffin.

Bang!

The corner of Ye Qinglan's eye twitched sharply.

Then everyone saw-

A foot wearing a small black leather shoe.

Kick out viciously from beneath the white cloth.

And strike the pale ghostly hand squarely!

The livestream chat:

"?????"

Shen Niannian gritted her teeth.

And struggled wildly beneath the white cloth.

(╬￣皿￣)

The dead could not move around in front of the living.

But now-

They couldn't see!

"Steward!"

Ye Qinglan reacted at once. Instead of speaking to Shen Niannian, she shouted directly at the player in charge of the Life Candles:

"Don't worry about how long they've been out. Start with the one closest to you and light them one by one. Don't run back and forth!"

The steward suddenly realized.

Right!

He had been chasing after the candles as they kept going out.

When one went out on the left, he ran left.

When one went out on the right, he ran right.

As a result, he hadn't managed to keep a single one lit.

He immediately started from the far right.

The first candle.

Lit!

The second!

The third!

[Current Life Candles: 3/7]

The ghostly hand beneath the coffin grew noticeably weaker.

The fourth!

The fifth!

[Current Life Candles: 5/7]

The hand abruptly released Shen Niannian's ankle.

Whoosh!

It vanished back beneath the coffin in an instant.

Shen Niannian collapsed inside.

She let out a long sigh of relief.

(╥﹏╥)

That was close.

She had almost been stolen away by a dead person!

And as the seventh Life Candle lit up again,

all the strange noises in the mourning hall

vanished at once.

[Seven Life Candles restored.]

[Keeping Vigil continues.]

But none of them dared relax.

Because there were still-

a full forty minutes until midnight.

Shen Niannian pulled the white cloth back over herself.

She had only one thought.

This second act...

had only just begun.