Chapter 32: Return of the Dead (1/2)

His fingertip silently hovered over Option C for a few seconds, but ultimately, Bai Yan breathed out a sigh and pressed Option B.

He wanted to violently swing a hammer on the snake-neck monster and hit it to death. However, the incident with the ghost baby showed that these monsters can’t be killed.

After choosing Option B, Bai Yan watched himself shake Wu Jingang with all his might. But seeing that he didn’t wake up at all, Bai Yan slowly raised his hands to the sides of Wu Jingang’s face and powerfully slapped both sides.

After a long pause, Wu Jingang was finally able to arouse from his blanked state, and his long neck was able to steadily return to its normal length. Bai Yan could hear himself ask in a trembling manner, “Jingang, is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me. What’s wrong, Yanyan? Did you have another nightmare again?”

“You don’t remember what just happened to your neck?” Bai Yan saw that he made a gesture with his hands, “Your neck unexpectedly became creepily long, which was scarier than what happened yesterday night. Your neck was even elongated and twisted until you were right in front of my face. It was extremely intimidating!”

“Jingang, I’m really not messing with you. You were surely possessed by a ghost!”

After two consecutive nights of these complaints, Wu Jingang also started becoming skeptical of the situation. He was puzzled as he touched his neck but felt that his neck was still a normal one, absolutely different from his wife’s previous motions that indicated that it was as long as a goose’s neck.

The next day, Wu Jingang woke up early in the morning and prepared to take Bai Yan to a psychiatrist.

However, as he was exiting the door, he suddenly received a notice from his company that he needed to work overtime again.

Bai Yan was well aware that he didn’t have any mental problems and that going to the hospital was simply a waste of time. Besides that, he had something to do this morning, so he drove Wu Jingang to work overtime.

Once Wu Jingang went off to work, it wasn’t long before Bai Yan also went out.

Before the clock struck 10, Bai Yan rushed towards the easy-to-find cafe in the neighborhood.

Yesterday afternoon, he printed out a stack of search notices, which implied that he had information about the game, and posted them all over the place to find the other players. If the others who entered the game at the same time as he did saw these, they would be waiting at the cafe right now and meet up with him.

Looking at the time, it was still too early to be 10 AM.

Bai Yan entered the cafe and surveyed the area. On the four-person table, he saw a woman dressed in red sitting. She was wearing a fiery red dress with black stockings, while sporting a red pair of shoes that matched her dress, appearing spirited as a person.

But what attracted Bai Yan to her wasn’t her eye-catching dress, it was the three neatly-arranged identical cups of coffee laid out on top of the table. Moreover, the contents of the coffee haven’t been consumed yet, as if they had just been served a moment ago.

Across the woman in red was a high school student dressed in a school uniform.

The high school student held a gel pen and played with it as he was busy answering some test papers, but like the woman in red, he was also surrounded by three identical cups of coffee. All in all, there were six cups of coffee on the table, and compared to the other tables inside, that one was particularly conspicuous, only needing a glance to differentiate it from the rest.

Finally, Bai Yan slowly walked over to them and casually asked the two, “Are you guys the players for this level of the game?”

Seeing the two silently nod their heads, Bai Yan pulled out a chair beside the high school student and sat down.

The three players had finally assembled, and the woman in red opened her mouth, saying, “I saw you around the neighborhood before. I was with a child that day, do you still remember?”

“I remember. The kid you were with was making a ruckus to play with the dog.” Bai Yan said bluntly, “We don’t have much time. Two days had already passed in the game. From here on out, things will get more and more difficult, so we should all share the information we have gathered so far. This was also one of my goals when I looked for you two.”

“Okay.” The high school student spoke up, “My name is Li Ming, which is the name of the character assigned to me by the game. I am a first year high school student. My parents are busy working, so I was raised by my grandparents. Half a month ago, my grandma died and a few days before, my grandpa fell ill and was immediately hospitalized. Currently, I live at home alone.”

“Li Ming, that’s in his first year.” Bai Yan promptly responded, “Don’t you live at 303?”

“Yes.” Li Ming remained calm as he added, “Do you know what happened to my family?”

“I’ve seen your grandma.” Bai Yan smiled, “It seems like your grandmother likes using ritual money for your dumplings, and I’m not sure if you’ve heard the sounds of meat chopping at night.”