CH 1

The rain poured down in torrents and impinged through the night.

This was a self-built house in the countryside and it had been weathered through the years; the walls were stained with every kind of filth and there was a pile of rusty farming tools abandoned in a corner and it was emitting an unfathomable stench. 

A hanging lamp hung down from the ceiling in a constant sway and the light was flickering. In front of an old-fashioned television, people were seated in a circle on a shabby sofa.

Perhaps due to the lack of a signal, the television screen was flashing with black and white particles, and the noise of static it produced was harsh to the ears.

On the sofa sat a doughty and robust man wearing a gold chain necklace, a female high school student in her JK uniform and a gentle-looking office worker… who were obviously unrelated to each other but they were seated together.

No one spoke. 

Lightning was thundering outside the window, and the television black screened momentarily before it turned on again, but the static brought forth another high and hysterical female voice:

【 Welcome to Infinite Nightmare Game 】

【 You have entered the Novice level 】

【 Please attend Mr. A’s Funeral and find the murderer 】

After her words ended, only her neurotic laughter remained and it caused a shiver to run down people’s spines.

Finally, someone could no longer bear it as they stood up: “What the hell is happening? Can anyone please tell me?”

The person who spoke was a businessman in a suit and leather shoes, and he would look down at his wristwatch from time to time as if he was worried about losing his award for full attendance. However, his watch seemed to be broken because it was perpetually stuck at seven and it did not move any further.

His question was like a switch that sparked the emotions that the others had. 

The female student lowered her head and wept: “I want to go home…”

The office worker strode towards the door and tried to pull it open but the door remained tightly shut and it did not budge the slightest.

Gold Chain stood up to observe the entire room.

The windows were sealed shut with boards of wood nailed on top of it. Gold Chain picked up an axe from the pile of farming tools and chopped down hard, with every intention to smash open the window. 

Peng—

The axe fell and the wood splintered and cracks akin to a spiderweb appeared on the glass window.

Joy sprang in Gold Chain’s heart, “There’s hope.”

Saying that, he raised the axe, trying to shatter the glass directly. However, before the axe could fall, a bloody handprint impacted the window with a smacking noise.

Startled, the axe slipped out of his grip and fell to the ground with a dull thud. 

Pa Pa Pa—

Numerous bloody handprints smeared themselves on the window and it seemed to want to break the thin glass to enter. And the window trembled, as if it was going to give way any second.

Gold Chain took a step back and he swallowed: “What’s going on? Is there really a ghost?”

“What ghost? They’re just trying to deceive us!” The office worker was more irritable by comparison and picked up the axe that had fallen to the ground. “Move out of my way.” 

With one hand, he shoved Gold Chain away and raised the axe before he swung down heavily.

Just before it could land, the glass shattered with a sharp note.

The office worker’s movement ceased, and he watched as a pale hand emerged from the darkness outside the window and grabbed hold of his arm.

“What the hell is this thing!” Bewildered, the office worker tried to throw off its grip. 

But the strange bony hand had immense strength in spite of being as thin as firewood, and it dragged the office worker outside.

Finally understanding that this was not something a human could accomplish, the office worker yelled out in fear as he was about to be pulled out of the room: “Save me—”

Dea Xbiv Jtjlc tjv ibcu yffc rmjgfv rliis.

Ktf ofwjif tlut rmtbbi raevfca tjv rtgjcx tfgrfio lcab j yjii, cba vjglcu ab wbnf. 

Ccv atf batfgr tjv cb lcafcalbc bo ulnlcu eq atflg ilnfr obg atf rjxf bo batfgr.

Kter, atf boolmfg kbgxfg kjr qeiifv bea bo atf cjggbk jcv rwjii klcvbk, ybvs yfca lcab j aklrafv qbraegf yfobgf tf vlrjqqfjgfv lcab atf vjgxcfrr.

There was dead silence in the hall.

Save the noise of someone gnawing and gorging themselves on something. 

“You should be glad that you are an idiot less.” The person seated in the middle of the sofa crossed his legs with one poised in the air. “I’ll give you the first tip, don’t act on a whim. Over here, even a blade of grass or a flower might take your life.”

After going through the scenario just now, everyone was well-behaved, and hearing that person’s words was like finding a pillar and they all looked over.

The man was pleased by their response. “My surname is Chen, you can just call me Old Chen.”

Gold Chain was extremely direct; he walked over that instant and gave him a cigarette: “Old Chen, have you played this before?” 

Old Chen gave him an admiring glance as he took the cigarette. “I’ve played it twice. Novices tasks are relatively simpler; as long as you follow me obediently, there will be no problems.”

Once he said those words, the gazes that everyone looked at him with grew hotter.

“However…” Old Chen flicked away some of the soot as he went on another tangent, “There’s no such thing as a free pie falling from the sky.”

A thin and weak man with shaggy yellow hair asked: “How much do you want?” 

Old Chen hooked up his lips in a fit of irony, “While you are here, money is essentially wastepaper. I want the points you receive after passing through clearance.”

The female high school student asked weakly: “What can the points be used for?”

“Good question,” said Old Chen. “Points can be exchanged for some life-saving items but the mall only opens after you have completed the novice task. Therefore, unless you survive the novice task, you have no use for the points.”

Yellow Hair, who had read many web novels, thought: “It’s like the horror games written in the novels.” 

“Hmm…” Old Chen exhaled a puff of smoke, “It’s similar but don’t think you’re the protagonist. Everyone here are unfortunate people who have to struggle at death’s door because of this game, who can only leave this bad luck game after clearing ten games.”

Gold Chain thought further and asked, “Can you guarantee our safety?”

Old Chen did not answer him directly but said, “As long as you don’t go courting death.”

The man with shaggy yellow hair and the female high school student were simpler by virtue of their age, and they immediately agreed to Old Chen’s conditions because they wanted to preserve their lives. After seeing them agree, Gold Chain could only go with the flow. 

Old Chen calculated how many points he would be credited and his face lit up with a smile. “Do you still have any questions? I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Excuse me…”

Just then, someone seated at the corner of the sofa raised their hand.

Everyone looked over. 

There was a young man sitting in a corner, and probably because he had yet to utter a word, he was without a sense of existence. He had a pair of distinctive, almond-shaped eyes that glimmered for knowledge, and it made him appear very obedient and cute. And when he smiled, he even revealed a small tiger tooth.

Unconcerned, Old Chen said, “You may ask.”

The young man raised his phone and asked with visible distress: “Why can’t we play Fight the Landlord here?”

Other people: …… 

The female high school student whispered: “There’s no signal here.”

Prior to this, she had tried to call the police but it seemed like all the electronic facilities had failed and there were virtually no contact with the outside world.

“Oh.”

The young man kept his phone in frustration. 

Old Chen: Is this person a fool? Why was he still thinking about Fighting the Landlord in a dangerous place like this?

Despite his suspicions that the young man might be abnormal, it did not prevent him from trying to earn some points. Hence, he put on a kind appearance: “What’s your name?”

The young man was unprepared: “Shen Dongqing.”

Old Chen smiled, “If you promise to give me your points, I’ll take your through clearance.” 

Shen Dongqing raised his eyelids to give him a glance. “No need.”

Old Chen’s smile stiffened and it became a few degrees colder. With a tone deep with meaning, he said, “This world is very dangerous. Didn’t you see what happened to the office worker just now? If you are not careful, even you can’t keep your life. And compared to life, are points that important?”

His words was teeming with veiled threats.

Shen Dongqing: “Oh.” 

His smile disappeared completely. With a gloomy expression, Old Chen said, “Young people have always loved flaunting their superiority. But what they don’t know is that sometimes flaunting comes with a terrible price.”

Old Chen wanted to scare him.

The people here were all novices. While novice tasks were not difficult, the points being rewarded were very high. And for Old Chen, every fleece had to be sheared.

But he did not expect that after he finished speaking, the boy was still unmoved. 

Shen Dongqing had been fiddling with his phone, and he only reacted after he raised his head to realise that Old Chen was glaring at him with dead eyes. “You were talking to me?”

He thought about his words before he politely replied, “Thank you for your reminder, but I’m not a young man anymore.”

Shen Dongqing was actually a millennial-old ghost who consistently failed at reincarnating, and he had been living on earth in a muddled and ignorant state until he suddenly came into possession of a body one day.

However, before he had the time to enjoy high-tech products like mobile phones and computers, he had been dragged into this world. And while he had felt the presence of several ghosts in the house, he was more concerned about the games he could not play on his phone. 

Old Chen almost crushed the cigarette in his hands: Who the hell was trying to remind you? I was threatening you!

He was about to give this boy a lesson when footsteps sounded near the door.

Everyone present looked towards the door nervously, save Shen Dongqing who chose to lower his head to study his phone carefully. He was trying to find a game he could play that did not require a signal.

Creak— 

A gap opened at the door and a woman in a black long-sleeved dress with a black fabric hanging on her arm peeked through the gap. Her face was bloodless and she was wearing a mourning expression.

Standing at the door, she said softly, “It must have been really hard for all of you to come such a long way, and we would like to invite you to stay here for a while. In accordance to our customs, we have to keep the coffin in temporary shelter for three days before we hold the funeral procession and see my husband for the last time.”

No one dared to speak.

But Old Chen said, “It wasn’t hard.” 

Mr. A’s widow glanced at Old Chen and whispered: “Your rooms are on the second floor. Please rest for the night first; you can casually stroll around tomorrow, but you are forbidden from going to the last room on the third floor. Additionally, the people in the village are considerably older, and they do not like being disturbed at night.”

Once she finished speaking, the widow left and closed the door on her way out.

At that moment, the people in the hall saw two rows of wreaths arranged outside, along with all sorts of paper dolls which made the scene look chilling.

Yellow Hair was slightly moved: “Was she a NPC?” 

Old Chen gave him a glance before he looked away, “Or she could be a ferocious ghost that wants your life. You should listen to her, in the game, the best words to follow are the NPC’s.”

Thirsting for more knowledge, Yellow Hair asked: “What if you don’t listen?”

Old Chen’s answer was demoralising, “The ones who didn’t listen are all dead.”

The self-constructed house in the countryside was very spacious. There was a long corridor on the second floor, and when it was cold and without light, it seemed like there was no end to it. It was only after the lights were turned on that a row of closed doors from start to end could be seen. 

The female high school student raised a very important question: “What if an accident occurs when we split up at night?”

She was the only girl here.

Old Chen: “In any case, this task will have a duration of three days. The four of us squeezing in the same room is nothing. We’ll stay in this room, if anything happens, it’ll be easier to escape.”

He pointed at the room that was closest to the corridor. 

The female student calmed down. But as she was walking into the room, she suddenly thought of a question: “Four?”

She, Old Chen, Yellow Hair and Gold Chain were four people, but they had another person, no?

Old Chen sneered when he heard her question: “If someone wants to seek death, is that our fault? Since he’s alone, he can attract the ghost’s attention too, isn’t that great?”

Gold Chain was an adult. Naturally, he had no opinions. And upon further consideration, if the youth did not die, then the person who would end up dying might be them. 

The female high school student was a little embarrassed but she did not have any other choice. Thus, she chose to keep quiet.

Shen Dongqing did not mind being squeezed out. He fell behind the group and slowly trudged up the stairs, expressing worry in the scrunch of his delicate and pretty eyebrows.

Old Chen crossed his arms and looked at him. “Are you afraid? It’s not too late to regret it now.”

Shen Dongqing did not understand why this person was showing constant concern for him. When he was a ghost, it had been cold and lonely, and he did not expect that after becoming a human, he could even feel the warmth that interpersonal relations brought. 

But Shen Dongqing was used to being indifferent and he did not know how to reply, and he could only say stiffly, “I’m not afraid.”

Old Chen laughed coldly, “Dead ducks have hard mouths; I advise you to get off your high horse and obediently admit to your faults and give your points to me and I might help you keep your life.”

Shen Dongqing said seriously, “Thank you for your concern, but I’m really not afraid. I was just wondering why I couldn’t play a single game on my phone.”

Old Chen: ? I’m concerned about your points and you’re being concerned about the games on your phone? 

After Shen Dongqing said his piece, he was afraid that Old Chen would try to continue the conversation and he immediately opened the door that was next to him and walked in before Old Chen could speak.

Peng—

The door closed.

Old Chen looked at the door of the room, and only felt that he had been looked down upon by an audacious novice. He sneered: “There will come a time where you regret it.” 

*

Shen Dongqing walked into the room.

There was a bed and a cabinet in the room and it was furnished with its own personal bathroom. All in all, it looked very simple. However, the only exception to the simplicity was the black and white portrait of the deceased hanging on the wall.

The man in the portrait was a male in his thirties, and he looked like a gentleman. He stared at the person who had walked in with vicious eyes, and he was more like a living creature rather than a photograph. 

Shen Dongqing stood rooted the ground as if he had been scared silly.

The black and white portrait was extremely satisfied with his response as his eyes rolled back and he started to bleed two stream of blood tears. His arms raised as if he wanted to break free from the constraints of the frame and grab the person in front of him.

Cry, scream in fear…

As long as you break the rules, I can openly kill you… 

The black and white portrait held onto the photo frame with one hand while the other was like a noodle as it elongated and reached towards the person in the room. It was about to touch Shen Dongqing when—

Shen Dongqing recalled the interpersonal communication between human beings and he raised his hand to hold that ice cold appendage.

“Hello.” He even shook his hand sincerely, “I’ll be staying here for three days, I’ll be troubling you.”