Chapter 45

(The Vanis.h.i.+ng Camp; The Departed Ghost amidst the snow)

An hour later. In the inspection team’s temporary camping grounds.

The three corpses were placed outside the tent in an orderly manner while the four players returned back inside the tent to rest.

Gu Liang downed half of his bottled mineral water and ate two energy bars.

Energy bars were mainly composed of carbohydrates and protein, and it provided an abundance of energy without the saturated fats that chocolates usually possessed.

The system had prepared a box of energy bars for the players early on, and Gu Liang had taken the opportunity to ask for another box during the Q&A segment.

Hence, one of the boxes were open while the other remained in pristine and sealed condition.

Gu Liang counted thirty energy bars in one paper box. Every person had to consume 5 bars every day, give or take a few, and 4 people would approximately consume 20 bars in total in a day. Therefore, the duration of this scenario’s script enactment should not be too long, and it would be slightly more than a day.

After eating a simple lunch and resting for a while, afternoon arrived.

Since they did not receive any new plot details for the time being, the four players decided to rummage through the belongings left behind by the three corpses.

The three corpses left behind four bags.

The bags were mainly filled with supplies like compressed biscuits and water.

Despite searching through two bags in succession, they did not find any items that clued them in on the corpses’ ident.i.ties.

Fortunately, they found a diary in the third bag.

The t.i.tle page of the diary wrote “Xiao Dong’s Heart Diary”, which succinctly conveyed that this diary was written by a person called “Xiao Dong”.

“12 August 2X13, I received the ‘I Am Super Intelligent’ university admission notice, I’m incredibly happy.”

“1 September 2X13, school started. I’m really looking forward to university life. When I reported to university today, I met an exceptionally attractive girl, she’s a senior student in our faculty, she’s in her second year this year. She is the campus flower of our university, her name is Xiao Hua.”

“12 October 2X13, after becoming aware of the fact that Xiao Hua xuejie was the leader of the adventure team, I also joined the adventure team today, and successfully pa.s.sed the test. Xiao Hua xuejie is both gentle and cute, I think I’ve fallen for her.”

“However… there are a lot of boys who like her in the adventure team. There’s a boy called Xiao Cao who likes her too. Xiao Cao is the most handsome boy in our university. After seeing Xiao Cao’s handsome visage, a mediocre person like me, would feel exceedingly inferior…”

……

“2 July 2X16, I’ve just finished my third year in university, whereas Xiao Hua xuejie is already in her fourth year. Xiao Hua xuejie’s mother was diagnosed with a serious illness, and she wants to help her mother find the legendary Rainbow Crystal and make a wish to the crystal for her mother’s good health.

“Thus, the guys in our adventure team discussed it, and decided to go to Huilong Snow Mountain to help her find the treasure.

“However, the truth of the matter is that the boys involved made a secret pact privately, which dictates that the first person to find the Rainbow Crystal has the right to chase Xiao Hua first. The first person who finds the crystal can confess to Xiao Hua, and before he is explicitly rejected, the other guys have to withdraw from the compet.i.tion temporarily.

“Although I sense that my chances of winning are not high, I hope I can find the crystal first.”

“10 August 2X16, me, Xiao Hua, Xiao Cao, and the vice-leader Xiao Yuan, arrived at Huilong Snow Mountain together. We found a mountain cave at 5 in the evening. Legend has it that the Rainbow Crystal is hidden inside a mountain cave. We were extremely excited. This might be the mountain cave where we can find the crystal we want.

“However, due to the fact that the skies were darkening, we had a brief discussion and decided to take the risk and enter the cave the next morning. Our meagre group found a comparatively level spot to safely pitch our tents near the midway point of the mountain, and we’re staying here for the time being.”

The diary abruptly cut off there.

It was not difficult to guess that on the second day, the quartet’s foray into the mountain cave in an attempt to find the Rainbow Crystal was met with an accident.

After reading the diary, Doctor Xu was the first to opine: “I did the markings, this bag was situated near the male corpse that was hugging the female, he should be the writer. Therefore, if there are no unforeseen circ.u.mstances, the lady in his arms must be Xiao Hua.”

Professor w.a.n.g could not resist saying: “If that’s the case, the boy who looks to be the most attractive, is mostly definitely Xiao Cao. Hey, the names given in this script are quite easy to remember: the school flower is Xiao Hua, the school gra.s.s is Xiao Cao.”

Gu Liang knitted his eyebrows together. “Xiao Cao was leaning against the rock wall as he died, while the writer of the diary Xiao Dong, died as he was lying on the ground and hugging Xiao Hua. The diary wrote that their adventure team also had a vice-leader by the name of Xiao Yuan. Where did Xiao Yuan go?”

“Wait… there’s a student identification!”

At the side, Doctor Xu had found an ident.i.ty proof from the fourth bag she was flipping through. She opened it and exclaimed in surprise: “It says Xiao Yuan here! But the photo is too blurry; it’s hard to make out the details.”

“This is interesting, four people came here for an adventure, three died, and the remaining Xiao Yuan… Could he be the murderer who killed them?”

Professor w.a.n.g thought about it and said, “All the three boys involved liked Xiao Hua. Perhaps Xiao Yuan only wanted to kill the other two male students, so he could have Xiao Hua to himself. However, he didn’t expect that he would cause Xiao Hua’s death as well.”

“Is it possible that…” Doctor Xu put down the student identification she was holding, her eyes sweeping past Professor w.a.n.g, Gu Liang and Scientist Li one by one, “That year, Xiao Yuan killed the other three? And right now, he is within our midst? Is Xiao Yuan the murderer we have to find this time around?”

Gu Liang contemplated it for a moment before he replied: “If that is truly the case, this script would be overly simple. Since you’re female, you can be eliminated first.

“The diary indicates that they made the trip to this snow mountain in 2016. It’s currently 2019, which means they came here three years ago. Three years ago, they were still university students, so Professor w.a.n.g can’t be Xiao Yuan because his age doesn’t match up, which puts him out of the running as well.

“That leaves me and Scientist Li as the possible choices.”

“Which is strange…” Doctor Xu had a puzzled expression, “I don’t have any other brain holes for the time being.”

Scientist Li regarded Gu Liang with dark eyes for a beat before he gave Doctor Xu a few consolatory words. “Don’t worry, it’s fine. We can take this slowly, the clues will eventually appear.”

The clues that they had received thus far were too little.

They discussed for an entire afternoon but they did not manage to reach any conclusions.

Nearing the end, Gu Liang found the cold unbearable, so he slipped into his sleeping bag and slept through the rest of the afternoon.

The four players only received a new plot when night descended.

“Due to the rumours about the snow mountain being haunted, all of you were a little unsettled and decided to have one person keep vigil at night. Through lot drawing, it was determined that Inspector Liu would be keeping night vigil.”

Hence, Gu Liang became the person keeping vigil once the night arrived.

While he was gratified by his own decision to take an afternoon nap, he pasted a few pieces of heating pads on himself, donned his down jacket and added another layer by wearing his waterproof and insulated outer jacket.

Despite the warmth he tried to instill, he still felt his arms and legs going numb from the cold.

But the night scenery was incredibly beautiful.

Countless stars were hanging in the vast, pitch-black night sky, and under the illumination of starlight, the entire expanse of snow mountains seemed to be imbued with beauty by the brilliant lights and vibrant colours.

As he viewed the snowy night and starlight, Gu Liang felt his heart slowly settle.

Since he was bored, he started ruminating over the script.

Now that he carefully thought about it, it was undeniable that there was some sense to Doctor Xu and Professor w.a.n.g’s brain hole.

Three years ago, four university students came here for an adventure. Three died, and the whereabouts of the fourth was unknown.

It was also possible that the person who had killed the other adventurers for various reasons that year, ended up mixing into their inspection team three years later to visit his old haunt.

It was just that his reason for doing this was indecipherable.

Under such circ.u.mstances, perhaps they needed to figure out who “Xiao Yuan” was in their four-person inspection team first before they could find the real murderer in this case.

At this moment, Gu Liang abruptly thought of the words that Yang Ye had said prior.

“Your language teachers should have imparted to you that when you’re incapable of answering the question because you can’t understand the pa.s.sage in your reading comprehension, you should start with the pa.s.sage t.i.tle first. It’s called tips and tricks to solve a question.”

The corners of Gu Liang’s lips raised unconsciously. Then, he took out his plot card and his gaze landed on the script t.i.tle—《 The Fifth Person 》.

If the previous brain hole that the players conceived was tenable, this script should be called “The Fourth Person”, not “The Fifth Person”.

Because there were four adventurers and three of them died, and Xiao Yuan was the “fourth” university student that they needed to find.

If that was the case, why was the script t.i.tled as such?

Raising the card, his gaze continued to move down as he read through the given plot again— Why did the beginning of the plot go through such great lengths to explicate a ghost story? At first glance, the ghost story did not seem to share much connection with the plot?

Or should he say, was the plot hinting at the fact that there was actually a ghost in this story?

Four university students, four inspection team members, who was a real person? Who was a ghost?

As Gu Liang sat against the tent puzzling over the plot, the wind suddenly kicked up, causing his face to go a little numb from the cold air.

Gu Liang put his hood and covered half of his face with it.

After some time, he felt his eyelids growing heavier, and he fell asleep without being conscious of it.

When he woke up again, the snowy scenery was the same; it was just that the moon had risen to the middle of the sky and it was unknown how much time had pa.s.sed.

Gu Liang sneezed. In his sleep-heavy and hazy eyes, he suddenly noticed something gliding across the snow-covered ground.

He sat up straight, casting a doubtful look in that particular direction and saw a man in white robes walking over on the snow-covered ground.

His face… Gu Liang was extremely familiar with it.

His appearance was the same as Xiao Cao from this script, and it was also a facsimile of his senior high cla.s.smate Ming Yue.

Additionally, the three complete corpses placed on the ground in an orderly fas.h.i.+on was right in front of Gu Liang, and one of them belonged to Xiao Cao.

So if Xiao Cao was lying on the ground, who was the white robed man standing before him?

The opening of the script did mention that Huilong Snow Mountain was haunted, and that explorers would often meet a ghost who would ask them questions that went along the lines of ‘why didn’t you believe me’.

— Was it possible that the person before him was not actually human, but a ghost? And it was also Xiao Cao’s spirit?

When that thought occurred to him, Gu Liang subconsciously looked towards his feet.

His white robes were very long and they were dragging along the ground directly, making it difficult to see his feet.

But his movements looked ridiculously lithe, like he was really floating along the snow-covered ground.

He was getting closer to Gu Liang bit by bit. Perhaps due to the fact that he was walking on the snow-covered ground which was p.r.o.ne to heavy refraction, his figure appeared partially translucent, which gave the impression that he was a genuine, departed spirit.

Although the apparition was getting closer, Gu Liang did not receive any new plot prompts so he could only act based on his instincts.

Gu Liang’s first reaction was to go back to the tent to find the rest of his inspection team members, thus he stood up hastily and turned around.

A belated and strange realisation struck him— the camp had disappeared.

The tent, equipment, teammates… all of it was gone.

He was originally sitting on a waterproof mat and leaning against the tent when he fell asleep.

The waterproof mat underneath him was still present but the scene behind him was only a white expanse, and he could not perceive anything.

Did this scenario really have supernatural elements like the existence of ghosts?

At the juncture, that ghost was already standing behind Gu Liang.

His footsteps might be silent but when he breathed out, that cold exhale brushed against Gu Liang’s ear, causing the back of his neck to chill.

“Are you afraid of me?”

— This was the faint voice issued by the ghost.

Spurred by his childhood psychological shadow, Gu Liang started running.

Honestly speaking, he was a little scared and a layer of sweat was starting to gather in his palms.

Of course, despite the fear in his heart, Gu Liang’s intellect was still functioning.

As he was running, he turned on his head lamp and watched his steps carefully.

The path that Gu Liang took to get to the cave in the morning was not chosen by him; since the cave was close to a precipice, there was a high likelihood of him falling if he was not cautious.

Hence, he ran in the other direction.

And slowly, another mountain cave appeared before his eyes.

Instead of entering the cave, however, he chose to manoeuvre around it and run towards the rear.

There was a small path behind the cave and there were erected stone walls on both sides.

Gu Liang ducked into the structure, leaning against the rock wall as he panted for breath.

When he raised his head to have a look, there was a gap between the top of the two wall ramparts which nearly formed a straight line; a silver of the night sky. The moon could not be seen, but there were countless stars.

“Oh, you’re afraid of me? You’re actually afraid of me.”

It was that ghost’s voice.

He’s here.

He caught up!

Gu Liang’s back was against the wall. He did not know if his subconscious mind was up to some mischief but he fumbled for his Request for Help Card from the pocket of his insulated outer jacket and tapped on Yang Ye’s head portrait swiftly before he pressed the confirm b.u.t.ton, all of which was done within a s.p.a.ce of a breath.

What followed in Gu Liang’s perspective was a slow and long wait.

Eventually, a familiar voice transmitted over: “h.e.l.lo? Gu Liang? What’s wrong?”

At long last, the air that was lodged in his heart escaped from his throat softly.

* * *

On the other end, Yang Ye was currently in a scenario that was infested with zombies.

Holding onto a M4, he dealt with a zombie with practiced ease before he turned and ducked into a factory at the side.

Daylight was arriving soon; he would be safe once he managed to survive through the night.

After checking the traps he set up at the door, Yang Ye closed it, going up to the second-floor landing to find a position close to the window to rest.

The trap was not complicated since it was just a burglar alarm hidden by the door. If zombies were to approach and step on it, the alarm would ring, thus notifying Yang Ye that there were enemies close by.

Furthermore, the second-floor window that Yang Ye was resting next to allowed him to see the situation around the door.

With his set-up, he could immediately raise his gun and annihilate the zombie once he was awoken by the burglar alarm.

Just as he sat down with his back facing the window in an attempt to rest, Yang Ye’s card started vibrating.

His initial a.s.sumption was that he received some kind of story prompt, but the following words were beyond his expectations and caused him great surprise.

“Player [Gu Liang] has used the [Request for Help Card] to ask you for help. The current card can be used three times within the same scenario, and it is restricted to only one designated and a.s.sisting partner, which cannot be changed halfway through. Each request for help has a time limit of 20 minutes. Press [Confirm] to accept the request for help; press [Decline] to reject the request for help, and the current card will be written off immediately. Please confirm if you would like to accept or reject his request for help?”

Gu Liang’s head portrait was pulsing below the paragraph, which made it seem like he was actually making a call.

Yang Ye smiled, but that smile was quick to disappear. His entire body tensed up.

The only reason why Yang Ye smiled in the beginning was because Gu Liang “telephoned” him on his own accord, which signified that he trusted him immensely.

However, he had tensed up immediately because a realisation had hit him: logically speaking, Gu Liang’s script should not have made much headway either, and with his intelligence, it did not make sense for him to request for a.s.sistance this early on.

Could it be that his script was particularly difficult? Or perhaps, did he encounter something that was particularly troublesome?

Or else… Did he draw the Deceased Card?

Yang Ye pressed the confirm b.u.t.ton immediately.

He was extremely worried but he did not want to add on Gu Liang’s anxiety so he feigned a teasing tone that was far from proper as he said: “Tsk, missed me so soon?”

Gu Liang’s end remained silent for three full seconds. Then, a nearly inaudible, laughter tinged sound transmitted over.

Although Yang Ye could neither see Gu Liang nor grasp the situation on his end, he could sense that the fraught and terrifying atmosphere had eased up by a fair bit with his laugh.

It was without a doubt that Gu Liang’s voice had become a lot lighter.

“And here I was thinking that you wouldn’t miss the chance to mock me for asking you for help so early in the game.”

Mn, it seems like the situation isn’t that dire.

Yang Ye relaxed as well. While he stared at the forest outside his window for movement, he asked Gu Liang: “What’s happening on your side?”

Gu Liang returned his question: “What about your side? Is everything okay? Can you talk to me? Will it affect you?”

“Everything is fine on my end, it’s incredibly calm. I was even planning to sleep.”

Yang Ye continued to stare outside his window— Yeah, there were no zombies near him currently.

“What character did you draw?” Gu Liang tossed out another question.

Yang Ye: “Detective. It’s detective again.”

Gu Liang: “It must be G.o.d’s will.”

Yang Ye chuckled: “It’s probably because I’m a good person who did too many good deeds.”

Gu Liang continued to ask: “Is your scenario difficult?”

Yang Ye: “I can’t tell what the difficulty level is right now. Did you give me a call because you encountered a difficult problem on your end?”

“I… It’s nothing. My plot hasn’t really developed, I can’t say much about it either.”

Gu Liang paused before he added: “There’s a NPC that wants to talk to me. You just have to listen to it. Once the 20 minute mark is reached, the card will cut off the call automatically.”

Having said that, Gu Liang tucked the card back into his insulated jacket’s pocket which was the closest to his chest. He pulled up the zipper, released a soft exhale, and then turned around.

That ghost had already floated to the front of Gu Liang, but he maintained a certain distance.

If the enemy does not move, I will not move.

This was merely part of the script enactment process; nervousness was completely unnecessary.

Gu Liang raised his hand to pat his chest pocket subconsciously before he allowed it to drop to his side slowly.

At this moment, he had already regained his usual composure as he met the ghost’s gaze.

A round moon hung in the sky, the entire snow mountain was sheeted white.

This ghost was snow-white from head to toe and his facial features were absolutely exquisite. He observed Gu Liang quietly for a moment before he smiled and sat on the ground, gaze as innocent as a child’s.

In that instant, Gu Liang became a little disoriented.

In this scenario, the ghost before him was Xiao Cao’s spirit.

He had died in the mountain cave for undisclosed reasons three years ago, and his soul had been floating around and lingering on this snow mountain ever since.

Outside of this scenario, the person acting as this ghost was Gu Liang’s cla.s.smate.

If they discounted the funeral affair, the two of them had not seen each other for almost ten years.

Their reunion, however, had occurred at such a baffling and strange location, and Gu Liang could not describe what he was feeling in the moment.

Subsequently, Xiao Cao’s spirit opened his mouth, staring into Gu Liang’s eyes as he voiced his question: “Why didn’t you believe me? Between me and them, you would still choose them in the end, right?”

Gu Liang knew that he was reading the scripted lines.

His cla.s.smate used to be shy and reserved and he would blush under their cla.s.smates’ rowdy jeering.

But now that he had turned into NPC, his acting felt too natural; his demeanour looked a little obsessed and insane, and he did not possess the slightest resemblance to his old cla.s.smate Ming Yue.

Gu Liang could not help but think— After turning into a NPC, does he still remember his old past, and does he recognise his old cla.s.smate?

“Speak. I want you to answer me. Do you believe them, and not believe me?”

Stretching out a pale hand that shared a similar colouration with the snow, the ghost held onto the clothes in front of Gu Liang’s chest, and his voice became increasingly bizarre. “Answer my question.”

At this moment, Yang Ye’s voice exploded from Gu Liang’s card abruptly: “f.u.c.k!”

Gu Liang took out his card instantaneously. Before he could ask anything, fired gunshots could already be heard from Yang Ye’s end.

And when the gunshots travelled over from that scenario to their current location, it pierced through the boundless night sky and echoed amidst the snow-covered ground for a long time.

Gu Liang held onto the card tightly, nervousness apparent from the wrinkles between his brows. “Yang Ye? What happened?”

The clattering noise of a window shutting and a door closing was transmitted over. Then, someone went up and down the stairs audibly, before more banging and cras.h.i.+ng noises ensued.

Yang Ye gasped slightly, and said: “It’s nothing, just a few zombies. They’ve been dealt with.”

Zombies?

There are zombies over there, and there’s a ghost here.

Tch, that is stimulating.

Gu Liang asked another question: “What’s the situation like now? Are you still in danger?”

Yang Ye’s voice reverted back to normal. “Everything has been settled. There probably won’t be more zombies coming over tonight. It’s going to be daylight here soon. What time is it there? Have you resolved your issue?”

“There’s scarcely anything on my end, it’s just a ghost—”

As Gu Liang finished saying those words, it happened to be the 20-minute mark so the call was cut off.

When he kept his card again, Gu Liang sensed a gaze that was constantly watching him.

Upon turning his head back, Gu Liang saw Ming Yue resting his chin on his hand, smiling at him. Or should he say, Xiao Cao’s spirit?

It was just that the gaze that the spirit of Xiao Cao was regarding him was gradually becoming more and more mournful.

“Why didn’t you believe me? Clearly, I’m the person who’s the closest to you…”

“Are you Xiao Cao?”

Although Gu Liang asked him that, he did not hear him reply.

Subsequently after, a gust of cold wind blew past.

Gu Liang’s face went numb, then cold, and he felt his head becoming heavier and heavier.

He slumped back against the wall and his entire body slowly slid to the ground.

He did not know if it was his delusion but, there was an audible whisper before he fell asleep.

“Sleep, Brother Liang.”

* * *

When Gu Liang woke up again, his head was threatening to split.

Pressing his head, he sat up, and discovered that he was climbing out a sleeping bag.

Someone was offering him a bowl of hot water. It was Doctor Xu.

As Gu Liang thanked her and sipped on the hot water, he realised that he did not know when or how he returned back to the tent.

Doctor Xu asked him: “What happened to you last night? When the three of us woke up, we found you outside the tent, pa.s.sed out. Scientist Li and Professor w.a.n.g were the ones who brought you inside the tent.”

Fainted outside the tent?

Was everything he witnessed last night a dream?

Gu Liang took out the Request for Help Card from his chest pocket which displayed “Number of Requests for Help, two chances remaining” on the screen.

This allowed Gu Liang to conclude that it was not a dream. Hence, he opened his mouth to say: “When I was keeping vigil last night, I was afraid and thought I encountered a ghost. There’s nothing worth noting apart from that.”

Gu Liang decided to conceal the plot he had encountered for the time being, since he wanted to see if anyone had seen something last night before fessing up.

How could he have known that once he finished saying those words, he would hear Professor w.a.n.g’s voice come from outside the tent, sounding like a warbled mix of a ghost’s wail and a wolf’s howl.

“Oh my G.o.d! There are ghosts in this scenario!”

“Do you still remember that Xiao Cao? I’m referring to that exceptionally attractive male corpse! He… He became a ghost! When I turned around after using the toilet, I saw him! He looked translucent! Either way… In any case, he’s a ghost!”

“He even asked me a question, he asked why I didn’t trust him!”

“How the f.u.c.k would I know what he means, I ran back here immediately.”

The translator’s lament: We were ROBBED of an apocalyptic scenario, ROBBED I tell you :’))