DLMSWSHH Chapter 25

TL: Hua

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Chapter 25: Madness

In the silent corridor, two figures stood, one above, one below the stairs, gazing at each other in a quiet standoff.

The grandfather clock in the hall emitted a steady tick-tock, tick-tock.

Standing before the door, Li Yizhi felt a wave of panic. To be honest, he felt like a husband caught by his wife while sneaking out at night to do something illicit, especially as he watched Zhong Ming slightly narrow those beautiful eyes. A cold sweat instantly broke out across his back.

“…What are you doing here?”

Li Yizhi asked subconsciously. The moment the words left his mouth, he realized they only made the situation sound more suspicious.

Zhong Ming glanced at him, paced slowly up the stairs, and stood before Li Yizhi. He looked toward the floor behind the man and, as expected, discovered a faint, shimmering powder on the door’s carpet. The traces were so minute that no one would have noticed them without looking specifically for them.

“What did you do?” Zhong Ming asked.

Hearing this, Li Yizhi pursed his lips as if trying to hide something and took a step to the right to cover the powder. Seeing this movement, Zhong Ming’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he continued: “You don’t want to say?” Zhong Ming said calmly. “Then let me guess.”

Most men would tense up upon hearing this. Saying this is giving you one last chance to be honest.

Li Yizhi immediately crumbled. His broad shoulders slumped slightly as he turned to Zhong Ming. “Wait! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

“I just wanted to change the carpet,” Li Yizhi said. “It’s no big deal.”

Zhong Ming stared at him fixedly for a while. Only when the smile on Li Yizhi’s lips began to turn stiff did he slowly speak: “You sprinkled a scented powder on it.”

Li Yizhi froze instantly. Zhong Ming lowered his eyes and continued: “I’ve always found it strange. Why didn’t the Spider Duchess attack the couple closest to her room? Instead, she skipped two middle rooms and went straight for the yellow-haired player on the far right.”

Sure enough, when he had inspected the rooms, he found suspicious traces on the carpets.

Zhong Ming had a very prominent trait: he might not be the most brilliant or well-spoken, but he was meticulously observant. He noticed the details everyone else ignored, and once he noticed them, he never forgot, whether it was in bookkeeping or anything else.

Zhong Ming looked up at the stiff-faced Li Yizhi. “I’m guessing the Spider Duchess is very fond of that scented powder, isn’t she?”

Since things had reached this point, what more was there for Li Yizhi to say? He let out a long breath, leaned back against the wall, and ran a hand through his hair.

“Fine, since you’ve already guessed it.” Li Yizhi shrugged and produced a small, empty glass jar from behind him, deftly flipping it between his fingers. “This is the Duchess’s favorite spice… just a little sprinkle and she’ll be lured right over.”

Zhong Ming understood. He then asked, “But wouldn’t the Duchess find it strange herself?”

A mocking smile touched Li Yizhi’s face.

“She may be called a Duchess, but in reality, she’s just a watchdog kept by the Duke.” Li Yizhi spun the jar in his hand. “She doesn’t have much of her own thoughts; she’s basically no different from an animal.”

At this, Zhong Ming lowered his eyes. This matched what he had heard from Joan. The true master of this mansion was the Duke. Perhaps Albert and Joan could barely be counted as well.

“Then, why did you do it?” Zhong Ming asked softly. “I remember Madam Mary saying we shouldn’t interfere with the players’ actions.”

Leaning against the wall, Li Yizhi tilted his chin up slightly, his phoenix eyes narrowing. “Yeah. Are you going to report me?”

Zhong Ming paused, looked at him, and said calmly, “That’s not what I meant.”

“I just want to know,” Zhong Ming said, looking at the powder Li Yizhi had sprinkled in front of the male college student’s door, “why do you hate them so much?”

Li Yizhi’s malice toward these players was practically overflowing.

Hearing this, Li Yizhi’s expression softened. He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you don’t hate them? Don’t tell me you didn’t hear the things they were saying behind your back on the first day.”

Zhong Ming froze, then looked surprised. “…Is that why you hate them?”

Saying this, Zhong Ming lowered his head, reflecting on how he felt at the time. “Now that you mention it, it was indeed quite annoying. Thank you.”

Li Yizhi was stunned. Apparently not expecting such a response, he turned his head away awkwardly and rubbed the back of his hair. “It’s not entirely because of that,” he said quickly. “…You’ll find out later. No one who participates in this game is a good person.”

Zhong Ming grew quiet. Just as he was about to speak, a bell suddenly tolled outside the window.

A massive, dull tolling echoed through the air, coming from the direction of the chapel. Zhong Ming furrowed his brows in confusion. What was happening? It wasn’t on the hour, and it was the middle of the night. Who was ringing the bell?

“Not good,” Li Yizhi said abruptly. He sprang up and immediately pushed Zhong Ming toward the stairs. “Run, run! If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late!”

Zhong Ming was dragged along, bewildered. “What’s wrong?”

“No time to explain!” Li Yizhi looked as if he wanted to carry him and bolt. “If we don’t run, we’re going to run into them while they’re going mad!”

Going mad? Who’s going mad?

Zhong Ming was confused for a moment. However, as they ran down to the first floor, a bloody scene in the hall slammed into his vision.

“Aaaaaahhh—!!!”

A player’s blood-curdling scream rang out.

Zhong Ming’s eyes widened. In the hall, he saw the college student who had sat next to the yellow-haired youth on the first day. He was kneeling on the ground, his mangled, bloody back exposed directly to Zhong Ming.

He was wearing a loose hoodie, but the fabric on the back had been shredded as if by a sharp instrument, hanging in strips. The flesh beneath was flayed and raw, bright red blood oozing from the wounds and hitting the floor with a patter.

“Ah— nngh—”

The student was clearly in extreme agony. His face was pale, his temples beaded with cold sweat, and his veins were bulging. Painful whimpers escaped his throat, but he couldn’t scream properly.

Only then did Zhong Ming notice a wooden bit shoved into the man’s mouth. The rod-like object, usually used to control horses, was stuffed into his mouth and secured by a leather strap around the back of his head, making it impossible for him to cry out.

Standing beside him was a woman in a black dress.

Her back was straight, and she held a spiked whip about the length of two adult arms. The black leather was covered in blood. Amidst the player’s painful gasps, the woman raised her right hand high and brought the whip down directly onto his back.

“Aaaaahhh—!!!”

Another gut-wrenching scream. The whip tore across his back, ripping away a piece of bloody skin.

The scene, comparable to an American slasher film, caused Zhong Ming’s pupils to contract sharply, and he felt a wave of nausea.

“Damn, so messy.”

Li Yizhi immediately pulled him back half a step. “What bad luck; we still ran into it.”

Li Yizhi clicked his tongue in annoyance, retreating to a corner where the blood wouldn’t splatter. Zhong Ming took a deep breath, barely suppressing the urge to vomit, and asked: “Is that… Madam Mary?” He recognized her silhouette and whispered, “Why is she…?”

Li Yizhi lowered his voice as Madam Mary struck again. “Do you remember the first day? Those two players kept eating even after Madam Mary told them to stop.”

He gestured toward the kneeling player. “Him, and that yellow-haired guy. The yellow-haired one is already dead, so he has to take the rest of the punishment. Madam Mary is a Puritan; she won’t tolerate any ‘transgressions’ from players. Since the days of old Europe, Puritans have believed that flagellation is the best way to repent for one’s sins before God.”

As they spoke, Madam Mary struck once more. After a final scream, the player lost consciousness from the extreme pain.

Seeing this, Zhong Ming’s eyelashes trembled. He looked at the bloody whip in her hand and remembered the ruler Tao had used to hit him; compared to this, they weren’t even in the same league.

If he were hit with that thing, his hand would be ruined.

He thought of the horrific scars on Li Yizhi’s body. Were those from Mary?

A chill ran down Zhong Ming’s spine.

At that moment, Madam Mary seemed to notice the movement above. She turned around, her gaze piercing toward the top of the stairs.

“Zhong Ming?”

She saw Zhong Ming first, then Li Yizhi behind him. Her gaze flickered briefly over Li Yizhi before she frowned at Zhong Ming.

“Who allowed you to wander around at this time? Get back to your room, now!”

Her tone was stern, like she was scolding a disobedient child.

Zhong Ming flinched and immediately replied, “Yes.” Behind him, Li Yizhi also snapped a two-fingered salute. “Right away, Madam. I’ll take Xiao Zhong back now.”

They began to walk down the stairs together. Meanwhile, Madam Mary walked over to the unconscious player and raised her arm, lashing him again. Clearly, this person would be whipped to death.

The thick scent of blood filled the hall. Zhong Ming held his breath, trying his best not to look at the player on the floor who now resembled raw meat, and moved toward the bottom of the stairs.

However, just as he was about to step off the last stair, a rapid tapping sound suddenly came from behind.

Clack-clack-clack-clack—

It was the sound of sharp limbs striking the stairs, sounding as if something were approaching at high speed.

Zhong Ming’s feet stalled. He spun around, only to see the eight enlarged eyes of the Spider Duchess appearing before him.

It looked so much like a scene from a horror movie that Zhong Ming’s heart skipped a beat.

“Xiao Zhong—”

The slightly shrill female voice called his name. Green light flickered in the Duchess’s eight eyes. Then, with a crack of her jaw, she suddenly opened her mandibles toward the youth.

Inside her mouth, two sharp chelicerae were covered in blood. Thick strands of gore stretched between the fangs, snapping as she opened wide. At the same time, the venom glands beside her teeth were swollen and bulging, continuously secreting toxic fluid.

Zhong Ming’s eyes widened, and his pupils reflected what was wedged between the two venomous fangs—

It was a human leg bone.

“Xiao Zhong, Xiao Zhong!” the Duchess’s whining voice came through. She said aggrievedly, “My teeth are stuck! Help me!”

Zhong Ming stood frozen, his nose filled with the bloody stench from the Duchess’s mouth.

But before he could react, a terrified roar erupted.

Zhong Ming snapped his gaze away toward the area behind the Duchess. Several mercenaries suddenly burst out of the ground-floor rooms. Their faces were ashen, and their expressions were one of extreme terror, as if being chased by something horrific. Screaming, they ran toward the wide-open main doors and plunged headlong into the fog outside.

The dense mist quickly swallowed their silhouettes. Zhong Ming watched them in a daze, wondering why the mercenaries had suddenly gone mad.

Going outside right now seemed like a very bad idea, no matter how you looked at it.

In the next moment, the sound of high heels clicking on the floor rang out.

Clack. Clack.

A graceful figure in a royal blue dress slowly emerged from the shadows at the bottom of the stairs.

Joan’s smooth blonde hair was draped over her back, her beautiful appearance as pristine as ever. However, looking down, her slender, elegant hands were soaked in blood, as if she were wearing a pair of red gloves.

“So easily frightened?”

She curled her lips into a smile and tried to brush the hair away from her chest with her hand but stopped halfway when she realized her hand was covered in blood. She clicked her tongue in frustration and dropped her hand. Then, catching sight of Zhong Ming from the corner of her eye, she immediately turned back with delight.

“Xiao Zhong, you’re here.” She smiled sweetly and beckoned him with her hand stained with a player’s blood. “Come, help me tie my hair back.”

As she said this, muffled thuds of flesh being pierced continued to echo from the fog outside, accompanied by screams that sounded distant, as if through a layer of insulation. On the second floor, a series of loud bangs suddenly erupted from the couple’s room, as if someone were frantically pounding on the door. Meanwhile, on the hall floor, the bound player regained consciousness under another of Madam Mary’s lashes and let out a sudden shriek.

The entire mansion seemed to plunge into massive chaos in an instant.

The usual tranquility was completely shattered. This exquisite and magnificent mansion suddenly revealed its frantic side, truly turning into a haunted house amidst the rising screams of the players.

“Sigh.” Behind Zhong Ming, Li Yizhi let out a long sigh and said in a helpless voice, “Too late after all.”

He placed a hand on Zhong Ming’s right shoulder, patting it as if to comfort him: “The players have started going mad. It’s okay, it’ll be fine by morning.”

Zhong Ming stood silently on the stairs. This vantage point allowed him to see everything happening in the mansion.

“Hey, Xiao Zhong, come and help me.” The Spider Duchess urged him on, her voice sounding a bit slurred because of the bone. “My mouth feels so uncomfortable.” As she spoke, the metallic stench of blood continuously drifted through the air.

He heard Li Yizhi’s voice: “Mistress, look, Xiao Zhong is scared stiff. Let me help you.”

“You?” The Duchess’s tone was dismissive, and she seemed to shake her head. “I don’t want you. I want Xiao Zhong.”

“This—”

Li Yizhi had no choice; he let out a helpless sound. He glanced at Zhong Ming, wondering if he should just pick him up and carry him back to the dorms; at least there was a toilet there if he needed to throw up. If the kid truly had a breakdown, Li Yizhi figured he’d have to find a quiet place to properly coax him back to his senses.

But in the next instant, he saw Zhong Ming turn his head.

His face was slightly pale, but amidst the rising chorus of the players’ screams, he looked up at the Spider Duchess. His voice was calm: “Mistress, what did you just say? My apologies, I didn’t hear you just now.”

Seeing that Zhong Ming was willing to pay attention to her, the Spider Duchess perked up. She excitedly danced on her sixteen legs, pointing at her stuck mandibles: “Tooth… my tooth—”

“Ah, I see.”

Zhong Ming nodded calmly, as if filtering out everything else around him. He turned, stepped right past Li Yizhi, and climbed a few stairs to stand before the Spider Duchess.

Li Yizhi was a bit surprised. He moved aside a few steps, his gaze glued to Zhong Ming’s pale profile. The youth looked a little unwell, but his movements were steady and controlled; he was clearly nowhere near a breakdown.

Meanwhile, Zhong Ming had already reached his hand into the spider’s mouth. With a slight force, he pulled out the fragment of a leg bone.

Clack.

With a crisp sound, the bone fragment belonging to some unknown player was tossed onto the floor by Zhong Ming. Then, he turned and looked down at Joan in the hall.

“Miss Joan, did you say something earlier?”

Hearing this, Joan pouted discontentedly. “Honestly, you never listen to a word I say.”

That said, she glanced at Zhong Ming’s filthy hands and said with disgust, “Go wash those dirty hands first.”

“Yes.” Zhong Ming complied. He turned and went to the back kitchen to wash up, then returned to help Joan braid her hip-length blonde hair, pinning it into a bun on top of her head.

“Wow, it actually looks pretty good.”

Joan was clearly satisfied with his handiwork, preening in front of the mirror.

Since everything had already begun and it was obvious they couldn’t leave, Madam Mary glanced at Zhong Ming several times. Seeing that he was quite efficient with his chores, she began to order him around as well.

“Xiao Zhong.” She summoned him and handed him the whip, which was matted with blood and flesh. “Go wash this whip for me. Be careful not to damage it.”

Zhong Ming nodded. “Yes, Madam.”

So he turned again and headed toward the back kitchen. As he walked through the corridor, the screams from outside finally grew a bit fainter. He took the whip to the kitchen sink.

Because it was night, the lights in the kitchen weren’t on. Only a sliver of moonlight shone through the window, shimmering on the edge of the basin. Zhong Ming paused, then reached out and gently turned the faucet.

Water flowed out, pouring over the filthy whip. Blood mixed with bits of shredded meat washed away, flowing into the sink. However, because the sink was square, some of the debris didn’t wash down and instead settled at the bottom.

Looking at those bits of flesh, Zhong Ming suddenly felt a surge of nausea.

He let go of the whip and braced his hands on either side of the sink, lowering his head to take a deep breath.

“How are you holding up?” Li Yizhi’s voice rang out behind him. Zhong Ming shot him a sideways glance, then lowered his head to continue cleaning the whip. “I’m fine.”

Li Yizhi leaned against the wall, peeking at Zhong Ming’s expression. Seeing that he was indeed very calm and showed no signs of collapsing, Li Yizhi narrowed his eyes. “…Your reaction is better than I imagined.”

Li Yizhi asked, “Don’t you find it disgusting to look at all this?”

Finishing his work, Zhong Ming wiped the whip clean. Without looking up, he replied, “It is indeed quite disgusting.” He dried the whip with a towel, then suddenly turned to Li Yizhi.

“Do you have a cigarette?”

“Huh?” Li Yizhi was stunned. He hesitated before pulling a pack from his pocket. “I do… you want one?”

Without a word, Zhong Ming took it and put it to his lips. He looked up at Li Yizhi. “Got a light?”

Li Yizhi hadn’t expected him to actually smoke. He fumbled a bit to produce a lighter and lit the cigarette for him.

The orange glow of the lighter flickered across Zhong Ming’s face. Li Yizhi watched him hold the cigarette between his slender fingers. Zhong Ming lowered his eyelashes, took a quiet drag, and slowly exhaled. The smoke drifted out, blurring his features.

Li Yizhi watched him with a look that was half-admiration and half-surprise. It felt like being back in school and seeing the class beauty or the top student suddenly smoking. It was surprising, yet he felt a secret delight in this “rebellion,” because it made it easier for bastards like him to approach someone like that.

Li Yizhi lit one for himself as well. He whispered, “I didn’t know you smoked.”

“Occasionally,” Zhong Ming paused. “Usually only when I’m under a lot of pressure.”

Li Yizhi looked at Zhong Ming through the smoke, gradually feeling that this person had a strange aura. When they first met, he thought Zhong Ming was quiet and obedient, perhaps even a bit cowardly. Only after spending time together did he realize the startling steadiness beneath that fragile exterior.

Li Yizhi watched him with interest. Zhong Ming smoked quietly, his eyelashes fluttering before he suddenly looked up and spoke: “I think I know what they want.”

Zhong Ming looked at Li Yizhi and said softly: “They want fear, don’t they?”

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