PTYS Chapter 58

Shen Qingqiu frowned after listening, but she didn’t speak, appearing to be deep in thought. As Old Sang’s figure was about to disappear at the end of the corridor, Shen Qingqiu spoke up: “Follow him.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

Xiao Muyu evidently had the same thought. Without hesitation, she stood up and walked forward. Shen Qingqiu watched her slim, upright figure, feeling an inexplicable itch in her heart.

She quickened her pace to catch up, and as she got closer, she whispered, “Muyu, don’t you think we’re becoming more and more in sync? What I think, you also think. What I want to do, you also want to do.”

Xiao Muyu didn’t stop walking, but her expression showed a brief hint of surprise before it quickly vanished. She bluntly replied, “No.”

Shen Qingqiu softly muttered, “You don’t mean that.”

Xiao Muyu glanced at her, “I want you to shut up, but clearly, you don’t want to.”

Shen Qingqiu was once again at a loss for words. She couldn’t respond before Xiao Muyu’s retort hit her, leaving her with her mouth slightly open and eyes widened. For once, she didn’t look either strikingly beautiful or cold, but instead appeared innocently flustered, which made Xiao Muyu turn her head away, involuntarily curling her lips into a smile.

Trailing behind, Shen Qingqiu muttered to herself, “Business first,” giving herself an excuse to regain composure.

The two followed Old Sang until they reached the back wall of the orphanage. There, surprisingly, was an iron gate with a large, rusty lock on it. Additionally, there was a small house near the back door.

This was something Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu had not known about before. Now, they hid behind a tree, watching Old Sang and the small house.

“Thud, thud, thud!” Suddenly, a series of heavy thuds came from the silent small house, each thud louder than the last, as if someone were vigorously chopping something. The sound reverberated through the air, creating an eerie feeling.

Old Sang clearly heard it too, and Xiao Muyu could sense his fear. Yet, it was as if a giant hand was gripping his neck, dragging him step by step towards the small house like a helpless chick.

Xiao Muyu’s expression changed slightly, and she whispered, “Something’s wrong.”

Shen Qingqiu’s face grew solemn. She pulled out a dagger with her left hand and freed her right hand from the bandages, ready for action.

The next moment, the thudding sound abruptly stopped, and a figure burst through the wooden door of the small house.

The huge figure that appeared left Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu momentarily stunned. The person’s clothes were in tatters, with an apron hanging precariously at the waist. The rips in the clothes were not due to wear and tear but from being forcibly stretched, as this person was over thirteen feet tall.

At that moment, the figure was holding an unusually large cleaver, almost as tall as a person, and raised it to chop down on Old Sang’s head without a word!

Xiao Muyu didn’t hesitate and pressed the stopwatch in her hand. The giant cleaver paused, suspended above Old Sang’s head. Old Sang stood there woodenly, his face still stiff, but the terror in his eyes was unmistakably frozen in place.

Xiao Muyu wanted to rush over and pull him out from under the cleaver, but Shen Qingqiu was faster. Moving swiftly and lightly like a leopard, she leapt forward.

Shen Qingqiu dragged Old Sang away, stomped on the giant’s knee with her left foot, used the momentum to leap up, performed a backflip, and kicked the giant in the chin. The massive figure collapsed like a demolished building, and the enormous cleaver clattered heavily to the ground.

At the same time, Shen Qingqiu’s dagger plunged into the giant woman’s knee joint. Enlarged by the transformation, the joint was massive, and Shen Qingqiu had to use both hands to break it.

Knowing time was precious, she quickly withdrew the dagger and repeated the process on the other leg. As the fifteen seconds elapsed, the woman on the ground suddenly raised her upper body and let out a guttural roar. Foul-smelling saliva sprayed from her gaping mouth, nearly making Shen Qingqiu vomit.

The large face revealed was that of Aunt Jiang, who had supposedly been too injured to cook.

Despite losing the support of her legs and the weapon, the woman was still ferocious, clawing around with her elongated fingernails.

Xiao Muyu moved without hesitation, kicking Aunt Jiang in the chest, preventing her from sitting up.

The force of the kick sent Xiao Muyu tumbling, but she rolled to dissipate the impact. Meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu, having restrained Aunt Jiang, dislocated the other leg joint.

Without her legs and weapon, Aunt Jiang, now a thrice-enlarged giantess, could only flail around on the ground.

Aunt Jiang was dead; this giant woman was merely her corpse, manipulated to grow three times its original size. Thus, she hadn’t lost her corporeal form and was struggling under Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu’s efforts.

Old Sang had regained his senses. His eyes were red as he watched the frenzied corpse of Aunt Jiang and croaked, “Please release her from this torment. She’s suffered enough.”

Xiao Muyu hesitated and noticed something amiss on Aunt Jiang’s head. She pointed and shouted, “There’s something on her head.”

Shen Qingqiu glanced at it while dodging, indeed spotting a protrusion in Aunt Jiang’s messy hair, oozing a milky white liquid.

Shen Qingqiu swiftly moved behind Aunt Jiang, avoiding her flailing arms, and called out, “Muyu, hold one of her hands.”

Xiao Muyu removed her jacket, rolling on the ground to wrap it around Aunt Jiang’s left hand, pulling it taut. Meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu grabbed Aunt Jiang’s right hand and stepped down hard, breaking it with a loud crack.

The screams echoed again, making Shen Qingqiu’s head spin. She steadied herself and used her dagger to pry at the protrusion on Aunt Jiang’s head, pulling out a twenty-centimeter wooden stake covered in thorns—a branch from a locust tree.

Despite feeling nauseous, Shen Qingqiu discarded the stake and watched as the enormous body deflated, shrinking back to a normal human size, now wrinkled and grotesque.

Unable to bear the sight, Shen Qingqiu turned away and confronted Old Sang, the dagger gleaming as she pointed it at him. “Care to explain?”

Old Sang’s lips trembled, and after several attempts to speak, he shook his head and muttered, “I can’t say. They escaped… they escaped.”

Seeing him verge on a breakdown, Shen Qingqiu looked questioningly at Xiao Muyu.

Just as Xiao Muyu was about to speak, Old Sang suddenly shoved Shen Qingqiu and reached for the dagger. Xiao Muyu swiftly grabbed the dagger with her left hand and struck the back of Old Sang’s neck with her right hand, knocking him out.

Shen Qingqiu, surprised, raised an eyebrow playfully. “So ruthless?”

Xiao Muyu tossed her the dagger and stood up. “In his state, he won’t say much. Besides, if he spills everything now, it would spoil the game.”

“So, what now?” Shen Qingqiu agreed with her reasoning and glanced at Old Sang.

“Something wants him dead. We take him with us, or the 1 will turn to 0,” Xiao Muyu said, summarizing the situation.

Shen Qingqiu pouted, “Carrying a man like him all by myself is quite unfair, isn’t it?”

Xiao Muyu glanced at the shrunken corpse. “You took down a three-meter giant. A man less than 1.7 meters should be a piece of cake.”

Shen Qingqiu didn’t argue, rummaged through Old Sang’s pockets, and tossed a key to Xiao Muyu, not caring if she caught it.

Then she grabbed Old Sang by the collar and dragged him along like a sack, following Xiao Muyu’s lead.

Xiao Muyu caught the key and, upon hearing the commotion, turned her head to see Shen Qingqiu dragging Old Sang across the ground. Her eyelid twitched slightly, acknowledging that it was impractical for Shen Qingqiu to carry him.

“By the way, how did you determine that only one person was alive and that it was Old Sang?” Shen Qingqiu asked, not having discussed this matter with Xiao Muyu before.

Xiao Muyu didn’t turn around and replied flatly, “You told me.”

“Hmm?” Shen Qingqiu was puzzled.

“The eleven people in the orphanage—Aunt Jiang was clearly not human, at least not to the players. The eight children, you could guess after the game started, were all substitutes. Living people don’t need substitutes. Besides, if eight people died in an orphanage, involving people with identities, someone would have noticed. Under such circumstances, it’s impossible for a few children to remain here without official caretakers, which is clearly not the case here.”

Shen Qingqiu nodded, “Indeed, the others must have known the children weren’t human either. But what about Qu Muxi and Old Sang? How did you determine their statuses?”

“I mentioned it earlier, Old Sang’s reactions in the cafeteria when you threw the dagger were human reactions. If he were a ghost, avoiding your dagger would have been easy. The ghosts in this scenario aren’t particularly powerful; they don’t often hide their physical forms. It’s unlikely he could fake such a reaction so realistically, including getting his hair cut and skin bleeding. Moreover, his words and actions indicated he was alive. Aunt Jiang’s attempt to kill him confirmed this. As for Qu Muxi… how did you figure her out?”

Shen Qingqiu shrugged nonchalantly, “The children relied on her heavily. Plus, the information Zhāng Yángfēng and the others found mentioned a beautiful sister who repeatedly appeared in critical evidence within the game. It made sense to guess she was Qu Muxi. A young woman visiting the children and then becoming the director was illogical in itself.

“Another critical point is the timeline of the deaths of the eight men and children, and when Qu Muxi became the director. If you think through the sequence, it becomes clear.”

Xiao Muyu smiled slightly, acknowledging that Shen Qingqiu often reached the same conclusions as she did. The timeline was indeed the key.

Firstly, the state of the eight men’s bodies clearly wasn’t caused by humans. It had to be a ghost, either Qu Muxi or one of the children who turned into a vengeful spirit and killed them.

Secondly, the children should have died before the eight scoundrels. If any children had died afterward, they wouldn’t have stayed in the orphanage and would have escaped. The same logic applied to Qu Muxi. A person wouldn’t mysteriously die without reason. Additionally, unless the original director died, Qu Muxi wouldn’t have become the director.

This presents a paradox: if the director died and the children were gone, how did Qu Muxi become the director? And if she didn’t die, she wouldn’t be trapped here, claiming to be the director unless something extraordinary happened.

“I still don’t know why Qu Muxi got involved, but I suspect she remained at the orphanage after her death and eventually became the director in the eyes of the ghost children,” Shen Qingqiu concluded.

“Yes, which is why the children call her sister instead of director,” Xiao Muyu agreed, glancing around. Despite the commotion, no one appeared, indicating they were unaware of the situation here.

“By the way, I mentioned I didn’t remember why I got injured when we first arrived. I just recalled that it was her—Aunt Jiang. When I first arrived, she ambushed me, throwing me into the backyard,” Shen Qingqiu explained.

Xiao Muyu was surprised, “Then there should be something in the backyard as well. But we need to handle things one at a time. Let’s open the cabinet first.”

They reached Old Sang’s room without further incidents. Using the key they found on him, Shen Qingqiu unlocked the door, revealing rows of hanging keys on the wall.

Each key was unique, with faded labels. Among them, they found keys for various rooms in the orphanage, including the storage room, office, and finally, the classroom. There was indeed a small key hanging there.

Xiao Muyu considered and then took the keys for the dormitory building. The third floor, where the children’s rooms were, had keys.

Shen Qingqiu noticed an old-fashioned key on the wall, now rare. She hesitated but then took it down, recalling something.

Xiao Muyu glanced at it and said, “Is that the key for the back door lock?”

“Hmm, it should be.”

Old Sang seemed to be waking up. Given the risky nature of their actions, Xiao Muyu decided not to take any chances. They quickly locked the door and secured Old Sang before hurrying to rejoin Zhāng Yángfēng and the others.

“Got it?”

“Yes.”

For some reason, the group felt particularly tense. Xiao Muyu warned them, “Qu Muxi is suspicious. The upcoming danger won’t just be the caged bird game with the eight children.”

Hóu Liàng and the others were unsettled, still unsure of what exactly had transpired.

They rushed back to the classroom and tried the small key on the cabinet. With a click, it opened.

Inside the cabinet, they found a stack of exercise books left by the children.

The thick stack, judging by the materials, contained recent entries as well as older ones, estimated to be fifty to sixty books, each with a different name.

“Are these from the previous children?” Huáng Jùnfēng asked in surprise.

The top eight books belonged to the eight children they had encountered.

Xiao Muyu opened the first one, belonging to Xiao Méi. On the latest page, a line was written with force: “I wish I could be a hero like in the novels, with a sword and martial arts, to kill them!”

Authors note:

Now the main plot of the story is pretty much complete, with just some details left to fill in. Once those are taken care of, the story’s progress will be finalized. Next up is the issue of survival.

Details that need to be resolved:

• Qu Mu Xi’s strange behavior—allowing the three to discover the corpses and the smell of smoke on her.
• Xiao Qiu is a key point, which has been mentioned before.
• The situation in the backyard, the origin of the crow meat, the locked washroom on the second floor.
• The choice of stand-ins and their corresponding dolls.
• Lao Sang’s occasional weirdness and normalcy.
• Xiao Mei’s sentence—