(I want to go home)
Edited by Silver Wind
The Curly-haired Girl was overcome with regret in her heart.
After she heard the housekeeper explain the rules, she had assumed that she could borrow the housekeeperโs hands to kill Zhou Wenyan, but she did not expect that she would be rejected by the housekeeper in such an unexpected manner. And now that she had made her choices on her volition, she found it hard to dismount from the tiger she had climbed on.
Shen Dongqing had already casted his executionerโs vote on her.
She was completely bereft of choice and she could only cast the vote she had back at Shen Dongqing, or else she would be waiting for death from where she sat.
Now, it was up to Black Hatโs choice.
Curly-haired Girl stared at Black Hat tightly.
Half of Black Hatโs face was hidden in the shadow of his accessory. โHonestly speaking, there are no benefits in having contradictions among us.โ
This sentence gave rise to hope in Curly-haired Girl instantaneously.
She swallowed her saliva and said: โThe three of us are a group now and mutually slaughtering each other will only allow others to have it easier, if you are willing to retract your vote, I can alsoโฆโ
Black Hat issued the latter part of his sentence: โBut getting rid of unstable factors is indeed important.โ He lifted his eyelids and he gave Shen Dongqing a courteous smile, โI agree with your choice.โ
In the moment where Curly-haired Girl had yet to react, the housekeeper, who was itching to get on with it, announced: โThe executionerโs blade has finally fallen, blood is bound to flow like a river tonight.โ
Curly-haired Girl shrieked: โNo!โ
The darkness receded and death approached step by step.
Seized with panic, the Curly-haired Girl picked up a fork on the table and held it tightly in her hands, guarded as she watched Shen Dongqing who was seated opposite of her.
The housekeeper sighed softly, โDeath, executed.โ
Initially, Curly-haired Girl thought that someone would act against her, but when the curtain of night lifted, she was still sitting at the table whole and complete, as if the announcement of her death had been a hallucination.
โHuโโ The Curly-haired heaved out a breath, propping herself up on the table as she muttered to herself, โCould it really be just a gameโฆโ
Of course not.
The housekeeper revealed an unfathomable smile: โLast night, someone died, may the survivors present carry out your defences.โ
Black Hat pretended to look at everyone at the round table strangely as he asked: โWhoโs the deceased?โ
The housekeeper did not answer.
At that moment, the ringing of the clock shattered the silence in the large hall.
The players reflexively looked over only to see the Curly-haired Girlโs complexion go pale. Her entire body started sweating as she pointed the sharp end of her silver fork at herself and slowly brought it closer.
โNo, noโฆ.โ
Desperate, the Curly-Hair Girl shook her head, wanting to move the fork further away from herself but her limbs seemed to refuse to listen to her commands as she was continuously nailed and stuck to her chair. And slowly, like a stringed wooden puppet, she decisively stabbed the fork into her trachea.
Because of the excruciating pain, the Curly-haired Girl shook and she squeezed an agonising groan from her chest.
Thus, under the gazes of the players, the Curly-haired Girl suffocated herself to death.
And as if she was singing poetry, the housekeeper said: โThe executionerโs knife has already been stained with blood, the next oneโฆ who will it be?โ
Each and every one of them avoided the housekeeperโs gaze.
However, the housekeeper did not mind it in the slightest as she curtsied to them. โPlease begin defending yourselves.โ
The first one to speak was the lady with a broken arm.
After witnessing the previous scene, the encumbered lady was still a little unsettled and her opening sentence was: โItโs not me.โ
Then, after organising her thoughts, she added, โRight now, we have twelve people remaining and three of us are executioners, which signifies a one in four chance probability. Therefore, I think we can make a few blind conjectures first by pointing out the possible suspects and discussing them.โ
โI vote for Black Hat.โ
The second person who spoke was also a lady and she was the broken armed ladyโs companion. Needless to say, they would definitely be voting for Black Hat together.
The suspected Black Hat was not panicked at all. โWhen the deceased was being killed just now, I was constantly observing everyone and I noticed that one man appeared to be particularly flustered.โ
He raised his eyelids to look at the man wearing a white shirt.
Sure enough, that manโs complexion was slightly off.
He succeeded.
Black Hatโs face was concealed by the shadow of his hat, which made it difficult to scrutinise his emotions, thus he quirked his lips up and said the word โidiotโ coldly in his heart.
In this game, the probability of the executioners winning was too huge.
The executioners knew who the victims were, and under the circumstance where the information on both sides was not equal, the victims were like people who had their eyes covered, knocking into random objects, and their lives could be taken at any time.
Which left the executioners in the position where they could mislead anyone. Furthermore, with the condition that divulging their identities could lead to death, the two camps were completely opposed to each other and the possibility of cooperating did not exist.
Discreetly, Black Hatโs eyes swept across Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan.
Shen Dongqing seemed to have felt something as he furrowed his eyebrows slightly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Currently, there were two participants who were being suspected as the executioner.
One was Black Hat, and the other was White Shirt.
With targets in minds, all the players had to do next was determine which one was the correct choice.
The discussion reached White Shirt again, and he could not wait to explain himself: โIโm only reacting like this because I was afraid! Please, isnโt that person even more suspicious?โ
He pointed at Black Hat as he said that.
But evidently, it was not very convincing.
The votes were as such: three people had voted for Black Hat, seven were in favour of White Shirt and one of them chose to abstain, which left the twelfth vote remaining before the life and death of one person was announced.
White Shirt did not harbour any hopes; he sat on his chair, paralysed as he mumbled: โItโs not me, I donโt want to dieโฆโ
Housekeeper: โMay the last survivor defend himself.โ
All of the playersโ gazes gathered on the last person.
Zhou Wenyan did not defend himself nor analyse anything. Instead, he spoke to the housekeeper directly: โAs a housekeeper, you will satisfy requests of your guests, is that correct?โ
The housekeeperโs expression changed slightly but she masked it quickly by replying in a respectful tone: โThat is correct, guest.โ
Zhou Wenyan nodded.
The housekeeper urged: โPlease carry out your words of defence.โ
Zhou Wenyan said: โThis game lacks a very crucial role which makes it very difficult for us to find the executioner.โ
The seer.
Anyone who played Werewolf would know that the ability the seer had in the game was especially important.
The role of the seer in the game was to check one personโs true identity during every roundโs curtain of night, and later, guide the survivors through the voting process when the discussion of defences started.
However, they had no seer right now.
Hence, every personโs identity was hidden and they could only make blind guesses based on the one-fourth probability of being right. And in spite of the odds stacked against them, they had to deal with the executioner’s deception which could easily bring about mistaken killings.
Three against ten.
While the victimsโ numbers might seem bigger, the truth of the matter was that the executioners had always occupied the dominant position.
The housekeeper smiled and said: โItโs only the second round right now, thereโs no need to be discouraged.โ
Zhou Wenyan raised an eyebrow: โThereforeโฆ I want to stop playing.โ
The housekeeperโs expression deepened.
Meanwhile, the other players were afraid of the housekeeper turning hostile if they said the wrong thing, so they stayed quiet like chickens, not making a single utterance.
Only Shen Dongqing followed him in flipping the plate. โI want to stop playing too.โ
The housekeeper stared at them in a gloomy albeit serious manner, and she sounded like she was squeezing her voice from between clenched teeth. โAre you certain?โ
Shen Dongqing: โWeโre certain.โ
Zhou Wenyan fell backwards and leaned against the backrest. He stated, โThis is a guestโs request, end this game.โ
The large hall was extremely quiet, and the only sounds that could be heard was faint breathing overlapping one another.
The housekeeper had said: As a housekeeper, she will always satisfy the requests of her guests.
Thus, Zhou Wenyan brought up the request of ending the game.
There was no flaw in his logic.
But it hinged onโฆโฆ whether the housekeeper would fulfil the request.
Dingโ
In the silence, the abrupt noise of something clattering to the ground rang out, and it almost frightened one of the ladies into jumping out of her chair.
She twisted her head to look and noticed that the fork inserted into the Curly-haired Girlโs throat had fallen out.
They did not know when but two maids had glided over, and each of them took one of Curly-haired Girlโs arms and dragged her out, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.
Finally, the housekeeper opened her mouth to speak. โNaturally, that is possible since it is just a small request. As long as it is the guestโs request, I can satisfy all of them.โ
โThereforeโฆ. The game has ended.โ
Her voice fell.
The other players were still a little dumbfounded.
A game that demanded for their lives, which caused them to incessantly analyse for a long time, where they clung onto the notion that they could be killed any time, how did it manage to end just by requesting for its end?
Black Hat was the quickest to come back to himself: โCan we meet Her Majesty the Queen then?โ
The housekeeper was somewhat unwilling but she still replied, โOf course, you can.โ
After experiencing three rounds of terrifying games, they finally had the honour of seeing Her Majesty the Queen.
However, the housekeeper said that Her Majesty the Queen was in the midst of her preparation, and she would only appear when the clock rang seven times.
Hence, the group of players were merely sitting around in the large hall.
The broken-armed Lady asked: โCan Her Majesty the Queen really help us break away from this game?โ
Black Hat hummed twice: โMaybe.โ
The other people continued to ask: โWhat do you mean by maybe?โ
Black Hat: โIโve only heard of it, but Iโve never personally seen it.โ
White Shirt, who had just avoided a disaster, looked more relaxed, and he said: โOf course you wouldnโt be able to see people that have left! The dog shit game, it tortures people, I really donโt want to stay here any longer!โ
His words attracted a sympathetic response from the other players and everyone started throwing insults at the game happily.
Feeling sleepy, Shen Dongqing yawned and leaned on Zhou Wenyan as he murmured softly, โThey said we can leave, hey.โ
Zhou Wenyan held his partnerโs shoulder and said indifferently, โI donโt believe it.โ
Dang dangโ
When the pendulum clock on the wall struck seven times, the heavy and tall doors were slowly pushed open.
Taking the lead to enter were two servants: one of them walked in front to open up the way and the other was cautiously supporting a lady.
That should be Her Majesty the Queen herself.
While the title of โHer Majesty the Queenโ made her sound old, she was only a young girl in her teens in actuality, and her slender figure was clad in a gorgeous formal dress that was adorned with lavish laces and precious gems.
Black Hat stood up, placing his right hand over his heart and bowed in greeting, โYour Majesty the Queen.โ
Her Majesty the Queen nodded slightly in acknowledgement before she walked past him to stand at the centre of the hall.
She did not sit amongst the players, rather, she meandered up two flights of steps and sat down on a pure white throne.
โDreamland has always been hospitable to its good guests, are you satisfied with the games you played before?โ
The players exchanged looks.
Satisfied?
When they started, there were a total of thirty-six of them, but only twelve of them remained now so the death toll was more than half. Had it not been for the two big bosses, they were afraid that not even one of them would be left.
Her Majesty the Queen waited for them to answer.
Thus, the players could only laugh dryly, โSatisfied, we are very satisfied.โ
Her Majesty the Queen said smilingly, โThatโs fantastic. In order to thank each and every one of you for keeping to your appointment, I can fulfil one of your heartโs wishes.โ
She gave a pause before she added another line: โAnything is acceptable.โ
The excitement lighting up in the players was apparent to the eye.
What โanything is acceptableโ meant was that they could wish to leave the game.
White Shirt could not wait any longer and he stood up to say, โI donโt want to play this game anymore, I want to go home.โ
Everyone else stared at the Queen keenly as if they were afraid that she would reject this request.
Rather than rejecting it, Her Majesty the Queen responded to him in an effortless manner: โOf course.โ
Then, they only saw Her Majesty the Queen wave her hand, and a maid walked over to White Shirtโs side and said courteously, โMay the guest follow me.โ
White Shirt was essentially giddy with joy and did not pose a single question before he followed the maid away.
His footsteps were light and quick like he was looking forward to going home.
When White Shirtโs figure eventually disappeared, a prompt โ one that had not been given in a long time โ sounded in their ears.
ใ Player White Shirt has broken away from his identity as a player and regained freedom ใ
Originally, there were players who were fearful that this was another one of the gameโs pits, but now with the system certifying it, all of their apprehensions fled in an instant, and each of them stared at Her Majesty the Queen with heated eyes.
Some stood up and requested to break away from the game.
Her Majesty the Queenโ agreed to all of them.
The system notification sounded one after another and the players left like flowing waters.
In a momentโs work, only four people were left, namely Shen Dongqing, Zhou Wenyan, Black Hat and the lady who had acted as Little Mermaid before.
In all honesty, the lady wanted to go home too but her subconsciousness told her that she should follow the big bossesโ footsteps and only leave after they had done so. After all, they were not in a rush.
Her Majesty the Queenโs eyelashes fluttered as her gaze landed on the people below. โIs there a wish that your heart makes?โ
Black Hat had initially come here with the intention of meeting the Queen, but he had lingered around until now.
He looked at the remaining people before he finally took a step forward: โYour Majesty the Queen, can I ask if your wishes can really allow the players to break away from the Infinite Nightmare Gameโs control?โ
After hearing his entire question, Her Majesty the Queenโs lips quirked up slightly: โOf course, I have always been generous.โ
Black Hatโs heart settled slightly and he brought up a request that was more refined than those who came before him. โI want to leave the Infinite Nightmare Gameโs control, break away from the identity of a player and return back to the real world.โ
Her Majesty the Queen set herself high above the masses; no matter what request someone below her brought up, she would magnanimously agree to them.
โI allow it,โ she said as she stared fixedly at Black Hat.
Black Hat heaved out a sigh of relief and followed the maid out.
There were only three people left in the large hall.
The lady asked softly, โBig bosses, arenโt you going to make a wish?โ
Zhou Wenyan raised his head to look at the Queen and asked: โWhat will happen if we donโt make a wish?โ
The Queen seemed a little uncertain. โMy invitation letter is incredibly precious. I reckon no one would want to miss out on the opportunity.โ
Zhou Wenyan did not hesitate in the slightest: โI would.โ
Her Majesty the Queen choked for a moment but she still managed to maintain her elegant demeanour. โIf you do not make a wishโฆ after you are done touring Dreamland, I will send you back.โ
Zhou Wenyan rose to his feet: โWeโll go for the tour then.โ
Shen Dongqing followed him closely.
The lady said in surprise: โAre you really not going to make a wish?โ
Zhou Wenyan: โI donโt need it.โ Then, he added another line for her benefit, โI suggest that you donโt make a wish either.โ
After all, he had played so many games and he could not be clearer about the quintessence of this SB of a game.
The game was particularly fond of word games, and each Chinese character in a sentence can possess numerous meanings. For example, who said breaking away from the identity as a player was equivalent to leaving the game?
Zhou Wenyan did not remind those players because before they even broke away from the game, they had already given into the temptations set by a demon, and they would not believe him even if he said it.
Since they were in a game of death, some people were willing to try even if the chance of leaving was a single percent.
The lady felt conflicted about her two choices.
Truthfully speaking, she did not want to forsake this rare chance.
In her final analysis, this game was not a playhouse; it really wanted human lives and she had relied on good luck to drag her ignoble existence to this point, but it did not change the fact that she had a brush with death numerous times.
Who didnโt want to leave?
Lady: โBut, not making a wish would be too regrettableโฆโ
Shen Dongqing gave her a sidelong glance. โNo one is stopping you from making a wish, ah.โ
The lady wavered.
Her Majesty the Queen gazed at the lady kindly and her voice was brimming with sweet temptation: โCome, no matter what you request for, I can fulfil it. What do you want?โ
The lady seemed to have fallen for her entrancement. โIโฆ. I wantโฆโ
Her Majesty the Queen: โGood child, speak.โ
Even though she struggled for a moment, the lady still decided to allow herself to indulge in her dreamland: โI want to go homeโฆโ
Her Majesty the Queen walked down from her throne slowly and held the ladyโs hand, bringing her to the corridor outside of the large hall. Her voice was gentle and warm: โGood child, in the future, Dreamland will be your home.โ
In her trance, the lady seemed to see the parents that she hadnโt seen for a long time standing in the distance.
Her father was wearing a strict expression but it could be observed that his eyes were slightly red, and her mother grasped her hand and talked ceaselessly, โNan Nan, you came back for a meal at last? Mom made your favourite cola chicken wingsโฆ.โ
The lady hugged her mother tightly and cried tears of joy.
Dreamland.
Where peopleโs dreams came true.
Her Majesty the Queen released her hand and the movement of the girl beside her gradually became rigid. Her skin and muscles became wooden and her arms lengthened then sprouted before it became a beauty of a tree.
She passed away in her beautiful dreams.
โThereโs still two more,โ said Her Majesty the Queen.
The housekeeper lowered her head deferentially and said: โThose two, are comparablyโฆ hard to deal with.โ
Her Majesty the Queen unfolded her feather fan to cover her lips.
โNo one would willingly leave Dreamland.โ
T/N: Honestly speaking, a death in Dreamland sounds a lot better than the rest of the deaths weโve seen thus far…
You sure about that queen?
‘cuz i have a hunch they might burn it down to the ground…or worse
That… sounds about right. ๐ ๐ ๐
+1
+1 ๐
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+100000000
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She would drive them away first.
of course, the girl could have wished for OP powers to clear the games to give her a higher chance of finding the real way home.
but i don’t blame her choice, going home would be a wish for everyone. at least she got peace at the end
Here’s the thing though, I sure almost all wishes would lead to the same result. Because the ‘Dreamland’ is just that, a hallucination. The Queen probably doesn’t even have powers that influence the Nightmare World out of her domain.
Chesire is right on that count~!
Dreamland is but a hallucination, and most people fall at the Queen’s stage because they tend to wish along those lines, wherein they do “break away from the identity of a Player” and the jurisdiction of the System, but become a part of the Dreamland which technically fulfills the criteria. It’s a terrible wordplay.
thank you for the chapter!
the two intersections (plague city and dreamland) have the same method of killing (hallucinations) don’t they?
Thank you for the chapter~
Be careful what you wish for~ :3
Thx for the ch (ใ หใ ห)
Many thanks for the update!
Yikes this system is really trickyyyy! Tbh I half expected the two big bosses to wish for something mundane, like more food or something lol.
Thanks for the chapter!!
I low key thought SDQ might wish for food.
Thanks for the great translation โฅ๏ธ
The death in dreamland is relatively milder than all other gruesome deaths. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind dying in dreamland if it meant going in peace and technically leaving the Infinite Nightmare.
Hghh at least they died thinking their wishes are fulfilled ๐ฅบ but I still want this Dreamland destroyed just like what our big bosses did to every game copies ๐ค
Thank you for the chapter โค
+1
Thanks for the update
Thank you for translating! <3
I thought Black Hat would be more troublesome to deal with, but it turns out he overestimated himself thinking he was smarter than all the others.
Well, at least they died peacefully.
Thanks for the chapter ~๐ธ
Yes, โNo one would willingly leave Dreamland.โ ๐๐๐๐๐๐คฃ๐คฃ
The end result does not sound bad but still a psychological blow though.
I bet the queen will be feed with dog food ๐คฃ
Thank you for the update!
*will be fed…damn self
I’m just wondering how fun xiao lan would have had here he could have finally got his much desired 5 million debt… If only… Sigh
I was sitting her wondering if there was a way that you could phrase your wish in a clear enough way not to get monkey pawed before I suddenly realized that I was just getting caught in the same trap they are. Even if you outright said as part of your wish that it not be a dream you’d just get a dream that you’d escaped and it wasn’t a dream, because the wishes themselves were a lie from the start.
Thank you for translating!!
I’m disappointed that other people weren’t smart enough to just leave. I think if it was written more realistically, and the writing was more complex, some characters would know that any easy way out is a deathtrap.
Yeah, I had high hopes for mermaid lady and broken arm lesbians.
MC and ML don’t have a heavy heart in not choosing to go home because there’s nothing that bind them in real world…
Sounds like a nice way to go.
I thought Shen Dongqing is gonna wish the Carlisle Castle’s chef to be given to him. It seems I wrong. ๐๐๐
Agree with you t/n.