Sorry… omg… I can’t believe I forgot to upload a chapter last week…… there will be another chapter this week! But afterwards me and Iz are gonna have to take a break QWQ tests and dissertation are coming up. The break will probably last around a month or so? Hopefully not any longer than that. Thank you for your understanding guys!
Unedited
There were three switches downstairs which corresponded to the three lamps upstairs… and they only had one chance to go up and check?
The shadow’s last few sentences caught Shan Ziwei’s attention. Just as he was attempting to figure things out in his head, SagoMilkTea couldn’t help but let slip a slight chuckle. Shan Ziwei paused in surprise, seeing how everyone around him seemed to relax simultaneously. They all knew something that didn’t need to be said.
“This riddle… they’re basically giving us this for free.”
“It’s this problem huh….”
“How nostalgic, it reminds me of my childhood.”
The girls all began to chat amongst themselves and Shan Ziwei felt his brain fill with question marks. Was there something deeper to the riddle that he was missing?
Hyacinth was the first to notice Shan Ziwei’s confusion, and it was his confusion that shocked her. Fingers against her glasses, she blurted out, “Did you forget? This is that problem talked about in Basic Knowledge!”
Shan Ziwei immediately understood. The education in 83 Terra had already completely changed. No longer was it divided into subjects like Chinese literature, English language, maths, etc., but into three levels: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Basic level was like elementary to middle school education, and the teaching material it used was Basic Knowledge. Any citizen of the Alliance who had gone to school before would know the questions in it.
But not Shan Ziwei. The two-hundred and thirty-three Old Man Shan only had academic degrees from two hundred years ago. Here, he hadn’t even graduated from basic level. All he had passed was a common knowledge test on the level of kindergarteners.
Antique Shan, from two hundred years ago, stuttered out, “I-I don’t really remember.”
Seeing that Shan Ziwei’s confusion seemed genuine, Hyacinth glanced at RoseBlood and then quickly explained it to him.
“If you want to figure out which switch corresponds to which light, you just have to turn on two random switches. After ten minutes, turn one off. Then go upstairs. If the light is on, then it clearly corresponds with the switch that’s been on the entire time. If the light is off, then you just have to go and feel the lightbulb and you can determine which is which by the temperature of the lightbulb.” Hyacinth pushed her glasses up out of habit. “It’s content from Basic Knowledge, Volume Two, Chapter Three, Section Four. You really didn’t pay enough attention in class.”
Shan Ziwei kept to himself: it wasn’t that he didn’t pay enough attention, but that he never learned it.
“The only issue is… who do we send to do it?” RoseBlood brought up lightly, “I hear the room is pitch black.”
SagoMilkTea was originally raring to go but she froze upon hearing RoseBlood’s words. That’s right… this was a paranormal chessboard. Never mind the stress of feeling for a light in the darkness, what if you ended up disturbing something that shouldn’t exist? Like an ice cold hand, sticky liquid with the tang of iron, warm and trembling organs, stiff cold bodies… The more SagoMilkTea thought about it, the further her fear rose. This was just a test of the durability of one’s Diamonds SP (Fear).
Everyone fell silent. RoseBlood quietly gazed at host and Shan Ziwei. Though she didn’t say anything, there was a hint of impatient expectancy to it.
Shan Ziwei scratched his cheek. Originally, he hadn’t wanted to say anything since Hyacinth’s method worked fine, but getting all this pushed onto them all the time… even a clay person would get annoyed.
“Actually,” Shan Ziwei pointed at the shadow, its face split into a smile, “there’s no rule saying it has to be completed by a single person.”
All the girls were taken aback. Speechless, they all realised that he… really did seem to be right. Why did something like this happen? Because in that question in Basic Knowledge, it was about a single person. They were all far too familiar with it, so when they heard something similar, they all recited the answer and didn’t consider it further.
“At first I thought it was a single person task as well, but then I realised that it was never specified that only one person was allowed to participate.” Shan Ziwei calmly explained, “With so many people. we can split into two groups: one group can go upstairs to check and the other stays here to flick the switches one after the other. The group upstairs just has to remember the order and come down to confirm with the people downstairs.”
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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That’s right, what….kind of lamp was upstairs?
Were they wall lights that were at hands reach, or incandescent ceiling lights, or electroluminescent lights that didn’t emit heat?
They didn’t dare continue down that path of thought, soon all agreeing to Shan Ziwei’s plan of action.
With a plan, it made the following task much easier. Shan Ziwei and the MilkTea sisters went up to check while host and The Mysterious Garden would stay in the lighting control room to flick the switches. Originally, Shan Ziwei hadn’t wanted to go up. He didn’t really want to be near that painting on the second floor any time soon. However, he couldn’t make host do anything, and the other girls weren’t familiar with the second floor, so in the end Shan Ziwei gave in and lead the party upstairs.
It was as they were on their way that something happened. The three of them all paused at the base of the stairs. Ever since the noh mask, they were all uncomfortable when passing by that crossed hammer and axe decor.
Yet, humans were strange like that. The more they tried to keep it out of mind, the more they thought about it. PearlMilkTea couldn’t help but glance at it several times and then suddenly gasped.
The sudden gasp startled SagoMilkTea. She asked, “What’s wrong?”
PearlMilkTea pointed at the decor, but she wasn’t pointing to the hammer.
“That ax…looks really familiar.” She contemplated for a moment and then said, uncertain, “Isn’t it the one that the headless person was holding?”
“Hey, you’re right!” SagoMilkTea confirmed, surprised.
Shan Ziwei was surprised too. Girls were usually better at noticing details. Just now, they hadn’t been given many views of the headless person in the mirror, and the axe in the headless person’s hand had been mostly covered with blood, yet PearlMilkTea had managed to recognise the axe from broken views of the patterns on the axe.
With that knowledge, this expensive, elegant decor was even more terrifying. Shan Ziwei felt his heart thud. They knew how “mom” died, but what about “dad”? And what about the “child” that had killed “mom”?
“Let’s hurry and go, RoseBlood and the others are still waiting for us.” SagoMilkTea rushed them, not willing to stay any longer.
The three of them went upstairs together. The second floor was no different from when Shan Ziwei had left. The lighting still dragged across the corridor weakly. Shan Ziwei glanced towards the end of the corridor but wasn’t able to see anything through the shadows. He wasn’t sure if this made him feel better or worse.
When Shan Ziwei turned his head, he immediately saw Sago and Pearl standing next to the first vase on the right of the corridor, staring in terrified shock at the painting on the wall.
Shan Ziwei followed their gaze, confused, and instantly went pale. Before, the painting had just been an expanse of black, empty of content, but now it was like it had been given content painted by an impressionist artist: amidst the black background, a young lady sat in front of a vanity mirror, a person with a twisted neck and limp shoulders behind her like a shadow. The expression of the girl in the mirror was frozen in despair.
“Th-that’s… NightLily, right…..” SagoMilkTea’s voice trembled, “And the one with the twi-twisted neck is ‘mother’…..?”
Shan Ziwei whipped around. The painting opposite had also been updated with new content: a young lady sat amidst chunks of flesh and blood, tears of blood dripping from her empty holes of eyes and her lips stretched open up to her ears as she opened up her own abdomen. It wasn’t clear if the organs scattered around were her own or the organs of other people.
A chill crawled up his spine, and Shan Ziwei tried to hold his wavering Diamonds SP (Fear) steady — What the hell was this? Painting out their “deaths”?
Shan Ziwei was angry, but also terrified. There were a total of six paintings in the corridors, opposite to one another, as if hinting at the final fate of this “Paranormal Research Club” of theirs. If this chessboard was designed to scare them, then it had succeeded. These paintings weren’t of monsters or ghosts, but their dead companions, the companions who had been alive not long ago, the companions they had personally witnessed the cruel and violent deaths of!
——They had lost two companions to terrible fates… was the next one… going to be him?
Just as their fear began to spread throughout their bodies, the second room to the right lit up. Shan Ziwei pulled himself together and comforted Sago and Pearl before walking forwards and looking into the room. Though they only needed to memorise the order of the lights, they could also use this chance to check the room itself and see if there were any suitable for playing those paranormal games.
With one look, Shan Ziwei’s Diamonds SP faltered again.
The room was a very normal guest room with a very standard bed, closet and bedside table. Yet amidst this homely decor, there was something that didn’t fit in at all.
It was the lamp that lit up — it was made out of a human head!
No wonder the shadow said that they would become its “lamps” if they failed… this was what that shadow had meant!
It was a head suspended from the ceiling, its hair tangled along the electric wire and light spilling from its empty eye sockets. It wasn’t hard to figure out that the human head light took inspiration from jack-o’-lanterns, with the lightbulb placed inside the skull.
PearlMilkTea felt the hairs on her neck stand up and SagoMilkTea felt drenched in cold sweat. If they had followed their original solution, then no matter who it was that came up would have to face the human head lamps. Though they wouldn’ necessarily fail, they would have to brave the darkness and open up the “lampshade” to touch the lightbulb inside!
The more they thought about the more they wanted to throw up, as if they could feel the cold, smooth human leather against their hand. Sago seemed to be at her limit and quickly pulled Pearl back, putting their heads together and whispering. It seemed that they were restoring their Diamonds SP through a Relationship Scenario.
Shan Ziwei suppressed his discomfort and looked over the rest of the room. Apart from the closet, there was nothing hidden and no clues to be found.
That was when the first room on the right lit up.
Shan Ziwei went over and took a look inside. It was the same decor, the same human head lamp. Seeing it for the second time wasn’t as shocking, and Shan Ziwei felt like he could almost snark through his fear. This was also a guest room, set up the exact same way as the second room. It was clear from this how the third room on the right would look.
Shan Ziwei’s expression twisted a little. Was it just him or did the set up of this room look kind of… familiar?
Shan Ziwei decided to be cautious and wait for the third room to light up before heading down with the MilkTea sisters. It was only after reuniting with host and co that Shan Ziwei truly relaxed and let out a long breath of relief.
Sago and Pearl relayed what had happened upstairs together and RoseBlood nodded as she listened before taking a while to comfort the two and then looking towards Hyacinth.
Hyacinth had already reported the rooms and corresponding switches to the shadow. The shadow’s smile faltered for a moment before it returned.
“Very well, as we agreed earlier, here is your payment.”
Clink. A key fell to the ground. Shan Ziwei, who was the closest to it, picked it up.
“This is the key to the entertainment room, the second room on the left of the second floor.” The shadow slowly started fading, but that malicious smile only grew clearer. “Didn’t you guys want to play games? That’s the best place for it…”
The shadow disappeared, leaving the players to exchange looks. Though the shadow was full of useless bull, they didn’t have any other choice. There were only sixty-five minutes until seven PM and there was no response from the kitchen. Everyone decided to head to the entertainment room.
Though they had heard the MilkTea sisters’ explanation already, RoseBlood and Hyacinth’s eyes still went red when they saw the paintings on the second floor. The human head lamps, on the other hand, didn’t manage to elicit such a strong reaction from them. They arrived at the second door on the left. Since Shan Ziwei had the key this time, so it was him who went to open the door.
Click.
The entertainment room door opened. Shan Ziwei felt for the switch next to the doorway and flicked it on.
Purplish red light flooded their vision, uncomfortably blinding. As the shadow had said, the entertainment room was very large. There was a pool table in the corner opposite the door and a bar table in the corner diagonal to it. The middle seemed to be used for dancing, barren except for the disco ball above. There was no other furniture.
“Can we play any games here?” SagoMilkTea stretched up on her tiptoes, looking in from behind Shan Ziwei. “Ghost in the mirror? Or touch the wall?”
Shan Ziwei quickly moved aside, letting the girls in. Just now, SagoMilkTea’s breath had ghosted over his skin, but the lighting hid his blush.
“There’s stuff in the corners. That’ll disrupt touch the wall, but the middle is wide and empty enough, very suitable for ghost in the mirror.” Shan Ziwei rubbed his burning cheeks, wanting to make a run for it. “I’ll go get the mirror-”
Halfway out the door, host caught Shan Ziwei by the collar. A feeling of foreboding began to rise in Shan Ziwei’s heart. Under everyone’s gazes, the black-haired young man slipped his hand under the white-haired young man’s collar, fingers trialing from one side to other as if wiping away something dirty.
A certain hypersexual’s face exploded into red. He was about to erupt, when he saw host turn to stare at Sago.
“You’re too close to him.”
SagoMilkTea wore an expression of shock.
“There won’t be a next time.”
He didn’t know what expression host made, but SagoMilkTea sprang up and darted behind PearlMilkTea like a startled deer. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, it wasn’t on purpose! I really didn’t do it on purpose!!”
Shan Ziwei, whose Diamonds SP had just gotten restored: “…”
The others, who felt like they were going blind from PDA: “…”
Ten thousand words wouldn’t be enough to fully describe the conflict of emotions Shan Ziwei was experiencing right now. The fact that he had forgotten that host’s hand was still inside his clothes was a very clear indicator of the magnitude of shock the hypersexual was inflicted with.
Though he knew such a time would be inevitable ever since “Ace of Diamonds – Monopolise (Passive)” was used, but still oh my god this was so embarrassing kill him now let him disappear aaaahhh….
Shan Ziwei had no right to blame host. After all, the other was just helping him restore Diamonds SP. So all he could do was stare at the others, feeling like he had died with a million regrets, each of his words bleeding.
“You guys get it, right.”
——This was a shameless, humiliating game with a bunch of shameless, humiliating relationship mechanics.
PearlMilkTea made a hesitant noise, looking at host as if carefully trying to figure out what the other wanted. She nodded cautiously, “I get it….”
Even RoseBlood and Hyacinth both nodded towards host.
Shan Ziwei was struck dumb.
What do you get? Get what?
I don’t think we’re on the same wavelength here???
thanks for the chapter! ♡ we can wait for you !
these women are probably thinking something verry rotten, especially with host’s word being so ambiguous~
And I strongly agree too!
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
Thank you for another chapter! Good luck with the tests and dissertation, I’m sure you’ll do well
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️
Lol Ziwei only you don’t get it🤣
Lmao all of them isn’t just in the same wavelength it’s so funny XD
Thank you for your great translation!! Goodluck on your exam! Pls don’t tire yourself too much, stay healthy and stay sfae
*safe lol XD
Thank you for the chapter!!!
Yeah we get it. He’s yours!!
waaah! (≧∀≦)
Here I thought the simplest method on solving this is by Team A going upstairs while counting upto 2-3 mins (I guess thats enough time for them to reach the rooms or count outloud/ make a signal so theyll know when theyre ready) then Team B will switch the lights one by one with like 1-2 min apart or enough time gap in between, so the people upstairs can just memorize the corresponding order and report back.. but I guess touching the lamp works too 🤣
Nevermind 😅
Oofft I pressed [post comment] by accident lol I was going to edit it XD now it would seem like I commented too soon 🤣
Lololol that last part tho 😆😆
Yes, they get it 😉 XD
He’s so clueless, I love it!!