The Trial Game of Life

Watching two ghosts sit down and play chess together was a really strange thing, especially in a cobweb-covered and dusty attic that had been abandoned for many years. 

A new corpse was lying on the bed in the attic. How new was it? Tang Cuo ignored the two ghosts’ gazes and walked over to touch the corpse. It was still warm.

He couldn’t help looking at the man sitting across from Yu Wangyue. Undoubtedly, this was the one lying on the bed and also the person who was locked up here ten years ago.

Ten years after the mansion was destroyed, he returned here and died in the attic that had trapped him for two years. Yu Wangyue’s ghost might have stood quietly by the bed and watched him die. When he died, his spirit got out of the body, then the two ghosts sat down together to play chess.

This was very, very weird.

The person in the attic had a peaceful expression when he died, with his hands clasping on his chest and no obvious wound on his body. How did he die? He obviously left Yu Mansion alive, so why did he come back again?

Faced with these kinds of questions, a warrior like Tang Cuo certainly chose to ask directly.

“Who are you? Why did you come back?” 

The ghost looked at him with a calm gaze, and just like Yu Wangyue, he had no intention to attack. But with all the ghosts in this mansion being as quiet as a lamb, the players could only dream of actually getting any clues from them.

What should they do about this?

Obviously, they should continue to look for clues.

In the abandoned attic, the two ghosts continued to play chess. Without them touching anything, the chess pieces just moved automatically. Amidst the sounds of “tap, tap”, the black and white sides almost came to a draw.

The two living men Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng went on to search around the attic, as if nothing unusual was happening. They walked back and forth casually, and Jin Cheng even occasionally stood by the chessboard and looked at the game with his arms folded, shaking his head.

Qi Hui felt that this scene was even weirder.

At this point, Tang Cuo pulled out a small iron box from the drawer beside the bed. The iron box must have been put in recently because there was no dust on it. Inside the box were two injection vials and a syringe, as well as some unrecognisable white pills and a small roll of bandage.

Tang Cuo picked up a vial and placed it under the light to examine carefully, and he saw an English word ― Herzmon.

“What kind of medicine is this?” Jin Cheng asked.

There was no way Tang Cuo would know. As for the little white pills, they looked even less familiar. But these could show them one thing: the person in this attic might have died of an illness.

He immediately remembered Zhou Dahai mentioned that in his dimension, the year 1923, Yu Wangyue seemed to be taking some medicine before he died. Zhou Dahai found a needle and medicine in the attic.

What was the cause of Yu Wangyue’s death?

There was no obvious wound on his corpse, and he didn’t look like he was killed by a ghost either. Was it all because of an illness?

Tang Cuo subconsciously walked past the two ghosts with similar faces. He had thought of something, but he felt that he still lacked proof. Regretfully, the definite proof might lie in Zhou Dahai’s dimension.

But it was already past midnight in Zhou Dahai’s time now, so they shouldn’t shift to his dimension unless it was an urgent situation.

Back in the living room on the first floor, the phone couldn’t get through. It seemed that all communication was one-way, specifically only from 1926.

“Do you suspect that they are brothers?” Jin Cheng asked.

“They were both taking medicine before they died, and they looked alike. The possibility of them being brothers and having a genetic disease is high.” Tang Cuo said as he walked into the kitchen: “An illegitimate child.”

An illegitimate child who was never welcomed got locked up in the attic. It sort of made sense, but Jin Cheng still didn’t give up the idea of a ‘doppelganger’, because he knew his instinct was always accurate.

As soon as he walked into the kitchen, Jin Cheng caught a glimpse of Yu Wangnian’s ghost, who had suddenly turned up at the bottom of the staircase. He stared in the direction of the second floor but didn’t go up.

Yu Wangnian’s ghosts didn’t appear very often. His behaviour right now certainly caught their attention.

“He doesn’t want to go up or can’t go up? Which one do you think it is?” Jin Cheng firmly leaned on the door, watching the show while hugging his arms.

“The lady is on the second floor.” Tang Cuo also walked out and took a look. Looking at Lin Wan’s hatred for Yu Wangnian, combined with the current situation, this was just like how the saying went: ‘Whether we live or die, we won’t meet again.’

Yu Wangnian listened to Lin Wan’s sobbing from the second floor every day but couldn’t go up. What would it feel like?

Meanwhile, his younger brother was coolly playing chess in the attic.

The appearance of Yu Wangnian also caused a commotion among other ghosts on the first floor. These ghosts didn’t seem to have much consciousness. They probably had lost their memory after being a ghost for such a long time and gradually become muddled. But it didn’t take long for them to recognise Yu Wangnian, and their ear-splitting screams soon shook off the dust on the ceiling.

The two female ghosts, the young servant and the middle-aged maid, both rushed towards Yu Wangnian at the bottom of the staircase with bloodshot eyes, as if they wanted to tear him apart.

Jin Cheng raised his hand to shield Tang Cuo. The butler also appeared and once again loyally stood guard over Yu Wangnian.

Yu Wangnian didn’t budge and just continued looking at the direction of the second floor, indifferent to everything around him. But the second floor was completely dark, with nothing to see or hear except for the intermittent sobs.

Qi Hui had retreated into the kitchen, only poking his head out to watch the fun ― he had only heard of living people acting as ghosts. He never expected that one day he would see ghosts acting out such an angsty love story.

“Aaahhh —“ The middle-aged maid opened her mouth wide, frantically clutching the butler’s hair and biting on his shoulders. It could be seen that people who didn’t know how to fight when they were alive could also resort to these crude tricks when they were dead.

With an angry expression, the butler tried to break free, but the maid stabbed her hairpin into the back of his head.

Ghosts had no blood and no real body. Deprived of the colours of the world of the living, the fight between the two ghosts looked disturbingly spooky and dreary.

Their bodies were constantly twisting together, their sharp roars and ghostly cries piercing through the entire floor, so much so that all the dust started trembling and the few remaining lights started flashing on and off, looking as though they would explode any time now.

Qi Hui’s felt a tingling pain sweep through his head and goose bumps popping on his arms. At this moment, Yu Wangnian finally turned around and moved silently towards the basement.

After his figure disappeared behind the closet, the fight finally subsided. The bloodshot eyes of the young servant and the maid gradually came back to normal, then they continued to wander aimlessly in their respective areas. The butler sat down listlessly on the ground with the hairpin still stuck at the back of his head, his arm almost broken and many wounds scattering all over his body.

By now, it had become clear which ghosts occupied which of the four areas of this mansion, namely the basement, the first floor, the second floor and the attic.

“This family is really interesting.” Jin Cheng commented.

At this time, only one chandelier was still working in the living room on the first floor. The door to the living room was tightly closed and entirely blocking the moonlight from outside, making Yu Mansion look even more like a cage.

Jin Cheng looked back at Tang Cuo. Under the dim light, Tang Cuo’s eyes were the brightest existence in this chaotic place. Those eyes made him unable to hold back the urge to keenly explore them, where he could only sink in deeper and deeper.

Tang Cuo had no idea for what reason Jin Cheng was staring at him again. It was so dark here; what could he even see?

“Where is your glass lamp?” He asked.

“Here.” Jin Cheng came back to his senses, took out the glass lamp and lit it up. Tang Cuo asked again: “What were you looking at?”

Jin Cheng was stunned for a second, then he smiled and lifted the lamp to shine on Tang Cuo’s face.

He took a closer look and said: “Uhm, it really looks better under the light than in the darkness.”

He leaned forward slightly, lowered his head and got very close.

Tang Cuo didn’t try to hide either. He casually put up a nonchalant facade, determined to not lose out to Jin Cheng. However, this actually made Jin Cheng wonder if Tang Cuo would still remain this calm if he kissed Tang Cuo right now.

But Tang Cuo was sure that his reaction had made it obvious ― he let Jin Cheng get so close and stare at him so bluntly. Beside the fact that Tang Cuo had a thing for him, could there be any other explanation?

As for blushing, it was impossible. After all, Tang Cuo was a warrior.

He only felt a bit nervous, his body became a little stiff and his heart beat a tad faster. In short, it could only be that ― his burning soul was trembling violently inside his cold body.

This made his eyes even brighter, so he had to lower his gaze slightly to prevent his emotions from showing too much. This wasn’t like him.

With this very tiny movement, Jin Cheng finally found something that pleased his heart. He smiled and said nothing, but he truly couldn’t be any more contented.

Qi Hui watched everything. The big bosses still had a mind to woo each other under such a situation. Wasn’t this lacking some respect for a haunted house? But he didn’t dare to utter a word.

At this moment, a ray of light swept across Qi Hui’s eyes. He subconsciously stretched out his hand to block it, but the moment the light was blocked, he suddenly thought of a serious issue ― where did the light come from?

It was 9.30 in the evening. There was no other light source except for the remaining chandelier on the first floor and Jin Cheng’s glass lamp.

Thinking of this, Qi Hui suddenly looked out the window. The living room had a large floor-to-ceiling window, but it was covered by a ragged curtain, allowing only a bit of moonlight to shine through the holes.

“Outside! It’s the light from outside!” Qi Hui exclaimed excitedly.

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didn’t need any reminder. Before Qi Hui even finished speaking, they already walked to the window. The moment the curtain was opened, the dust fell down and the ray of light just now appeared again, brightly illuminating the dust that flew all over the air.

Everything became slow motion. As the dust drifted slowly, a girl in a red dress standing in a courtyard enveloped in weeds also slowly turned around.

She had beautiful eyes that looked just like Lin Wan’s and was clad in a red dress and black leather shoes, her long hair slightly curly.

“The young miss!” Qi Hui exclaimed again. His eyes intuitively moved to her feet and widened at once: “Shadow, she has a shadow, she’s alive!!!”

The only living NPC in the dungeon [Before Dawn] had appeared.

Tang Cuo frowned.

If a dead person suddenly appeared in a group of living people, it usually meant something bad. If a living person suddenly appeared in a group of dead people, it wouldn’t mean anything good either.

To make matters worse, the young miss was carrying a large plastic bucket in her hand. The light came from her flashlight. She didn’t seem to see them in the house at all. She walked to the wall with the bucket, opened the lid and started to pour out the liquid inside.

Through the window and under the bleak moonlight, Tang Cuo couldn’t see what was in the bucket, but this wouldn’t stop him from making use of his basic imagination.

“Isn’t she pouring oil? Is she going to set this mansion on fire?” Qi Hui also guessed the same thing. With such a sudden death threat, he subconsciously took a step back.

But no one answered his questions.

Jin Cheng’s sharp eye spotted what was hanging around the young miss’ waist and he immediately frowned: “Is that a key?”

Tang Cuo nodded.

A key that appeared on the only living NPC must be very important. It had to be the key to either the main door or the piano room.

At this time, the young miss was moving steadily along the wall. She seemed to really want to sprinkle oil at every corner of this mansion and burn down the whole place.

Tang Cuo thought of Rong Yi again.

In this year of 1936, more than an hour had passed, meanwhile, several hours had also passed since they entered the dungeon. Rong Yi must have seen the young miss and knew that she was going to burn the mansion. He could manipulate time to avoid the fire, but the others couldn’t.

Damn, we’ve lost this round.

The translator has something to say:

Qi Hui: Am I here to solve a horror dungeon or to eat dog food? (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻