TL Note: The monster actually had double pupils in each eye(I think- don’t quote me), it’s been edited in the last chap, sorry about that~
Edited by RinRin~
After staring at the floating orbs in silence for a while, they realized that it was actually a pair of eyes. The “thing” in the cabinet had its neck tilted at a 90 degree angle, and their eyes were lined up vertically, staring at them from within the cabinet. The double pupils sat side by side in an “∞” shape, turbid and dead.
Those were the eyes of a corpse.
Shan Ziwei’s fingers grew numb and his heart beat like a drum. Before them was no longer a simple, ordinary cabinet door, but a door leading straight to hell. It was the only thing standing between their life and death. The party scrambled fearfully back to the door of the guest room, fearing that the “thing” in the display cabinet would burst out in the next second. As the last member, host, left the guest room, the shaking in the display cabinet slowly became smaller and smaller, finally stilling.
“……what was that?”
“Maybe…” Hyacinth said uncertainly, “Maybe it was Madam Wei?”
A figure whose neck had been broken by a heavy hammer flashed before Shan Ziwei’s thoughts. It was really very similar to the “thing” in the cabinet.
“It can’t get out. We still have two more cabinets left.” RoseBlood said, perhaps in an attempt to calm everyone’s mood——eg. don’t worry, if this one wasn’t the right one, there were other cupboards——but Shan Ziwei could only hear a foreseeable miserable conclusion.
Sure enough, the second cabinet was the same as the first one. As soon as someone tried to open the door of the cabinet, the “Madam Wei” inside would “bang bang bang” against the door, spewing out a floorful of murky blood while staring at them through the gap.
The players became more and more quiet as they walked towards the third room. As they passed between the second and third rooms, PearlMilkTea stopped. She stared at a painting hung behind a vase in the middle of the corridor, her fingernails digging into her palms.
Shan Ziwei sighed as he looked at a painting of SagoMilkTea who had been decapitated by the headless man. The girl in the picture had her head at an eerie angle underneath the axe, her head and body not yet completely separated due to a single shred of skin still holding the two together. The painting was fixed at that very moment, the dividing line between lingering attachment and total separation. The result was more soul stirring than the complete separation of her head. The painter clearly had a deep grasp of human empathy, and felt that the more uncomfortable it was for the viewer, the better.
Shan Ziwei turned his eyes and looked deeper into the corridor. Compared to these paintings depicting various death scenes, he was more concerned about the ink painting at the end of the hall. Unfortunately, the darkness seemed to swallow up all light there. Even when standing in front of the third guest room, Shan Ziwei could just barely see the outline of a picture frame, but the contents were unknown.
While Shan Ziwei and PearlMikeTea were still pondering about the pictures, RoseBlood and Hyacinth had already approached the display cabinet in the third guest room. The floor splattered with murky blood made the results evident.
Standing in the corridor, the group grew depressed as they faced the three identical guest rooms, each with the same display cabinet.
“There must be a doll in one of the cupboards.”
But the question was, which cabinet had the doll?
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.
Vtjc Ilkfl abbx bea atf Dflplcu Ufxlcu Yqfgj wjrx jcv nlfkfv atf oijrtyjmx yjmx jcv obgat klat atf batfgr j ofk wbgf alwfr, yea ralii vlvc’a vlrmbnfg jcs miefr.
EbrfDibbv xcfjvfv tfg cbrf yglvuf. “Ktlr xlcv bo weialqif mtblmf glvvif rfifmalbc wera tjnf rbwf xlcv bo alq atja kf wluta tjnf wlrrfv. Ofa’r ub ibbx obg la jujlc lc rbwf batfg qijmfr.”
Once they started, the search lasted an entire two hours, during which the phone rang twice and was answered by RoseBlood and Hyacinth respectively. As time passed, everyone began to get tired. They’d flipped the Manda Mansion upside down, searching from beginning to end such that even the bloody master bedroom and lounge were searched, yet they still couldn’t find any clues.
There used to be a very appropriate term that could be used to aptly describe their current situation: hardstuck.
Here, there was no searching Baidu(like Google) for the game strategy and no clearance tips from the game production team – everything depended on themselves. Although they did not encounter any ghosts or demons, there was something even scarier than ghosts, whittling them down bit by bit.
【Scenario 5: You feel very tired and your energy is being consumed at a rapid rate.】
【
【Scenario 6: Your nerves are strained, making your mind fragile and susceptible to emotions.】
Due to these debuffs, even when walking, their MP decreased like they were running, and once they actually started to run, the consumption rate doubled. Their Clubs SP (Sorrow) also fell easily now. If things went on like this, they didn’t even have to think about clearing the game, they’d be directly killed off by the system.
Everything came to a dead end.
“Have we made a mistake…… Perhaps we were supposed to start with ‘touch the wall’ and ‘fairy pen’? ……but the study room and study were still locked…… The key can’t be found…” Hyacinth couldn’t help muttering, the long and fruitless search made her exceedingly anxious, “Could it be that we really just need to gamble on a cabinet? “
There was a 1/3 probability… If they failed to pick the one with the doll, and released something strange… Hahaha, just imagine how exciting that would be.
“It’s impossible, it goes against the nature of this type of mystery chessboard to rely purely on luck.” Although RoseBlood said so, her voice was missing it’s previous conviction.
Shan Ziwei looked at the two floorplans again, especially paying attention to the torn area in the middle. He firmly believed that there must be something hidden here. Shan Ziwei aligned the layout of the two houses horizontally, and there was a long and narrow space in the lower part of the second floor that was unlabelled.
Perhaps… was there a secret room at the bottom of the second floor, near the end of the corridor?
All of a sudden, an image flashed through Shan Ziwei’s mind. He was frightened by the image, but also very surprised.
“——do you guys still remember?”
RoseBlood and others turn to look at Shan Ziwei. The white haired youth held out the second floor layout and circled an area near the bottom.
“Just before we entered the Manda Mansion, I was frightened by something behind the curtains on the second floor.”
“Mmm, yeah I looked too, but only saw a row of windows……” RoseBlood widened her eyes slightly and exclaimed, “windows!”
“Yes, from the outside, there is an entire row of windows on the south side of the second floor.” Shan Ziwei pointed to the end of the corridor, “But we didn’t see a window there, which means there must be a long and narrow room with windows behind that wall.”
“Let’s check it again.” RoseBlood quickly made a decision and walked further into the corridor.
The group of people came to the end of the corridor, and the ink painting that gave Shan Ziwei a chill earlier occupied everyone’s view. In the ink painting, there was still black rain covering the entire scene, but the person holding an umbrella in the rain was gone. It was unclear if it was due to having more people around, or the fact that the person in the painting was no longer there, but Shan Ziwei no longer had an eerie feeling about the painting.
The players began to grope around, trying to find the mechanism to open the hidden room. Shan Ziwei avoided the ink painting and laid against the wall beside it, listening for movement on the other side. It was just a momentary impulse of his, and he didn’t really expect to get anything out of it. However, just as Shan Ziwei was about to remove his ear, a light “Tak” broke through the concrete and penetrated into his eardrum.
Tak, Tak, Tak……
Shan Ziwei listened attentively. The string of ‘tak, tak’ sounds seemed to be a series of footsteps, slow, but full of weight. Shan Ziwei suddenly realized that this was not an ordinary set of footsteps. Ordinary people wouldn’t use so much force when walking, only when they go up or down the stairs would they step so forcefully.
This meant that at the other end of the wall, there were stairs!
What were stairs used for? They were used for travelling between floors. Shan Ziwei was about to explode. There was no connecting staircase at the spot on the first floor, which meant that the staircase opposite the wall led to a higher level——Manda’s Mansion wasn’t two stories at all, but three stories!
Three floors, then, wasn’t this even more similar to the horror decryption game he had played in the past?
Wait, it was like……
Fuck, it couldn’t be, right……?
The explosions within Shan Ziwei’s brain had not even settled before another wave hit. He realized that the Manda Mansion of this chessboard was like a copy of the horror decryption game in the past, and the layout of the two were nearly identical——yes, nearly identical. He didn’t know which cabinet of the chessboard had the dolls, but he knew which cabinet in the horror decryption game had dolls!
Was it possible? Shan Ziwei was a little uncertain. To use another game to solve this game? Then, if there was no one who had played that other game before, then wouldn’t this become an unsolvable puzzle?! This was the new, holographic game format. There was no “s.a.v.e / load” option that allowed players to attempt a level multiple times. Once killed, you were dead for real.
Shan Ziwei laid on the wall with his mind in turmoil. He didn’t notice that the footstep on the other side of the wall was getting closer and closer, finally stopping opposite him.
Shan Ziwei’s chest suddenly chilled and his entire body froze. A pale white hand came out of the wall and gently covered his chest.
Apart from the pale color, the hand could be said to be beautiful. The pinky and ring finger of the hand were encased in jade-inlaid purple-gold nail-coverings. The skin on the hand was even smoother than the jade nail-coverings. Although it was beautiful, it was clearly a man’s hand. Shan Ziwei suddenly recalled something he’d read in the past: in ancient times, women with high-status were not the only ones who took care of their fingernails and wore nail-casings. Young masters with high status also wore them, not only to show that they did not need to work, but also as a sign of strength and status.
“……！”
Shan Ziwei lost his voice. He could only watch silently as the hand moved slowly towards his chest, and his clothing did not appear to hinder its movement at all. Logically, since the hand could pass through the wall and clothes, it should be a spiritual manifestation with no physical presence, but Shan Ziwei could feel the sliding of the hand against his skin. Especially when it appeared to be unsatisfied with just touching the surface and gradually began to enter his body.
Shan Ziwei’s soul was shaking. The feeling of being entered was exceedingly clear. His body was so cold that he could not move. Even his body’s panting and groaning reactions were suppressed within his frozen body.
So cold, so hot——
The icy cold hand caresses the blazing hot heart, making Shan Ziwei’s eyes turn red. He didn’t know whether it was due to his hypersexuality acting up, or because the heart was inherently a sensitive organ. There was no other person alive who had been touched on the heart by a ghost like this, and then being caressed by that same hand.
Shan Ziwei was really about to be driven crazy. That hand on his heart did not exert any force either, just gently caressing the undulating veins on his heart. The hard touch was from the nail-casings, while the soft touch belonged to the three gentle fingers. Using different strokes, the five fingers combined to meticulously sketch out the outline of his entire heart.
So painful, so uncomfortable……
There was a sigh in his ear. Someone seemed to gently ask:
Is it really painful?
Is it really…….uncomfortable?
The white-haired young man fell deeper into a mental haze. He repeatedly uttered that it’s painful and it’s uncomfortable in his brain like a mantra to escape the voice, finding the most suitable explanation for the agitation of his whole body.
As if it had no way to coax the stubborn Shan Ziwei, at last, the hand did not continue to stroke and touch. It opened its five fingers and held his heart in its palm without force. The gorgeous nail-covering extended over the heart like a cage, allowing the scarlet vital organ to beat within its palm.
All of a sudden, Shan Ziwei became really, truly uncomfortable.
‘It’ held his heart, holding it, as if to control his emotions, his feelings and desires, the very source of his life. Controlling everything.
Iz: O_O
Iz: I used to make like, paper version of those covering things, thinking I was like the coolest kid in class. 
Oooh it kinda looks like those nail things were made with origami. Also thank you for the chapter, this feels kinda like we’re hitting the climax of the arc!!
Guess what: You absolutely were the coolest kid in class.
Thanks for the chapter! ♡
I used to make those nail with origami too and I felt I was badass when I wore it, so yeah, we rock!
Also thank chu so much for the translation!!
i always wanted to e able to make those!
imao true i also used to make those ‘claws’ as we called it.
this chapter send a shiver down my spine. damn this poor hypersexual boy
the nails always used to remind me of soi fon from bleach
O-O…. what about his last scene is making my spine tingle in need?! Excuse me?!!! Why does a ghost hand holding onto the LITERAL HEART of the main character makes me shiver?!!!!! And iz, I tried that before too. They’re cool, but a pain in the ass to take care of.😅 becasue they’re made of paper, they also disintegrate quickly as well, which was always sad….
Those nail coverings look so cool, even the paper ones!
That scene though, gave me full on chills 😭