Chapter 46.3
Aside from their sudden appearance, these seven people look no different from ordinary tourists. They were dressed casually and comfortably, carrying large bags and small bags, and holding a map of the amus.e.m.e.nt park in their hands… Compared to them, Xiao Tangqiu and the other players looked more like outsiders who had unknowingly entered.
At this time, they also seemed to have noticed Xiao Tangqiu and the others, greeting them warmly, “Are you also players? What a coincidence! Let’s go together then!”
Xiao Tangqiu looked at these people silently. Tang Mianmian turned and smiled. “Yes! Have you played this game before? You’re so well prepared but we haven’t prepared anything! “
“No, but I’ve heard other people talking about it!” One of the men said, “You’re a little less prepared than we are. Although the game time is only six hours, you may get thirsty and hungry on the way. But it’s alright, we brought extra and can share some with you.”
“That’s great then!” Tang Mianmian turned his gaze on them again and continued to quietly spy on them. “We came too hastily and didn’t have time to understand anything. Can you tell us anything? How exactly is this game played?”
“Yes, no problem. Let’s talk as we walk!”
Before they all left, the handsome boy suddenly yelled out, “The gates have disappeared!”
Xiao Tangqiu looked back and sure enough, the gates that they came through had disappeared and turned into a wall. Even if they were afraid and wanted to go back to where they came from, it wasn’t possible.
The other group of people disagreed, grinning as they said, “Maybe it’s some kind of mechanism! Isn’t this kind of mechanism very common in amus.e.m.e.nt parks?”
“Why the big surprise? I heard that the facilities in this amus.e.m.e.nt park are very high-tech! You haven’t seen such a thing, have you?”
At the time, the air was filled with a happy atmosphere.
The handsome boy looked at the wall, then at Xiao Tangqiu and others, and finally closed his mouth wryly.
“The clown is gone!”
At this time, Tang Mianmian also cried out. They all turned to look over there. Sure enough, the carousel was still turning, but the clown was gone.
“The clown should be waiting for us at the first game!” A man with a map said, “Let’s not delay any more. Let’s go.”
Everyone cheered except Xiao Tangqiu and the players he came with.
“Let’s start quickly! I can’t wait!”
“This looks really exciting!”
“Let’s go! Our first stop seems like a haunted house!”
As the other six players cheered, Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked at each other. There wasn’t any doubt that these guys thought they were just playing a game, unaware that it would be a game of death.
“Do you think they are players like us?”
“Maybe they’re NPCs?”
The two men discussed in a low voice.
“But we’ve never met such NPCs before…”
NPCs that were “players”?
“Maybe there really is such an NPC?” Xiao Tangqiu speculated, “If they’re also players, they should come in from outside like us.”
“Forget it, whatever. It doesn’t have much impact on us anyway,” Tang Mianmian said. Rather than focus on the ident.i.ties of those people, finding a way to live was the most important thing. “Maybe they can provide us with some useful information.”
Anyways, at least those people had important props such as maps in their hands.
And they seemed to know where to go next.
Sure enough, under the guidance of the map in the hands of the group, they soon came to the so-called first game – a haunted house that looked extremely horrible and frightening from the outside.
But no matter how horrible it looked, it couldn’t change the fact that the haunted house had been abandoned for many years. The surrounding area was overgrown with weeds, and the walls were covered in cobwebs, dusty and dirty everywhere. This sense of desertion added a bit of gloominess and horror to the haunted house.
At first, Xiao Tangqiu wasn’t sure whether the haunted house was their destination, but he soon decided that it should be right because along the way, all the other game facilities except this haunted house were damaged beyond form and the wood on some of the facilities had been eroded by time.
Most importantly, at the door of this haunted house stood a sculpture of a clown, exactly like the clown they had seen before.
As Xiao Tangqiu and the other players gradually approached the haunted house, something magical happened – the deserted and dark haunted house suddenly lit up. Although the light was dim and flickering and looked like it would go out at any time, it seemed as if the originally “dead” haunted house had come alive in an instant.
That’s right, come alive.
At the same time, the clown sculpture at the entrance of the haunted house suddenly moved.
“f.u.c.k! It moved!”
“It’s moving! It’s moving!”
Compared with the uneasiness and fear of Xiao Tangqiu and the others, the other group sounded more and more excited. Under two completely different reactions from the 14 players, the clown sculpture came to life.
“Welcome to the haunted house!”
The clown said in an exaggerated tone, “This haunted house is very thrilling. You may even lose your life! Cowards had better not enter! But… it’s not up to you to choose! Because everything is fated!”
He took out a wooden box from G.o.d knows where. There was obviously something rolling in the wooden box, and there were quite a few of those things inside. His tone was bewitching, “Come on! Players, let’s draw lots and let fate decide!”
According to the rules of the game as explained by the clown at the beginning, not everyone needed to play in every event. Only the players who drew the red ball would be in trouble. The red b.a.l.l.s and the black b.a.l.l.s are equally divided. In other words, only half of them had to enter this haunted house.
Everyone looked at the box in the clown’s arms with rapt attention. Some of their gazes were filled with expectation and others were full of resistance. Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked at each other and smiled bitterly at the same time. If they could choose, of course, they were willing to give the opportunity of “exploring” to the other team. However, as the clown said, they couldn’t choose. Everything was up to fate.
The seven “players” rushed up to the clown and couldn’t wait to draw lots. The clown smiled and handed the wooden box to the first one.
“It’s a red ball!”
“Why is it a black ball…”
The people who drew the red ball were in high spirits. The people who drew the black ball were depressed. Soon, the seven players were done drawing lots. Three of them drew the red ball and the other four drew the black ball. Soon, it was Xiao Tangqiu’s turn.
They all looked at each other. n.o.body wanted to be the first to draw lots. Xiao Tangqiu sighed and decided to take the lead.
He calmly walked up to the clown and put his hand into the wooden box. There were still a few b.a.l.l.s left in the wooden box. He touched them one by one. Each ball felt almost the same. They were cold and didn’t seem to have any difference.
His luck had always been quite bad and he had only won several prizes since he was young. Just as he was hesitating about which ball to take, he suddenly met the clown’s gaze. The clown was staring straight at him; his painted face seemed to be smiling very eerily.
Xiao Tangqiu paused, subconsciously letting go of the ball he was holding and picking up the ball next to that one.
The clown’s eyes gleamed coldly again.
Xiao Tangqiu loosened his hand once more… The clown seemed to laugh again.
So he grabbed the ball without any hesitation.
Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t wait to take out the ball and look at it. He was a little surprised but the result wasn’t unexpected – it was a black ball.
The clown looked coldly at Xiao Tangqiu’s black ball and seemed a little unwilling.
Tang Mianmian was the next one to draw lots after Xiao Tangqiu. He felt around in the wooden box for a long time like Xiao Tangqiu did, touching this ball and that ball. He looked at the clown’s expression from time to time and finally he made up his mind, picking out his ball.
It was also a black ball.
Tang Mianmian immediately breathed a sigh of relief and ran to stand beside. Xiao Tangqiu.
The remaining few people were trembling with fear. Those who drew the black ball all breathed a sigh of relief. Those who drew the red ball all looked chagrined. The chubby geek was second to last. He didn’t fight with the others to draw lots, obviously very confident in his luck.
He walked over confidently to the clown. After touching a red ball, he instantly showed an expression of disbelief.
“How…… how is this possible? ！”
Now there was only one ball left. Seven red b.a.l.l.s and six black b.a.l.l.s had been drawn. The result was self-evident.
The handsome boy who had been afraid to draw lots cheered and rushed forward to grab the last ball. Sure enough, it was a black ball.
“It’s a black ball! Great!”
The geek still looked incredulous. “How is that possible? My luck has always been very good! This is impossible!”
Tang Mianmian squinted at the geek and said gloatingly to Xiao Tangqiu. “It seems that even kings of luck also has bad luck sometimes. Us jinxes also have a day when we overturn the king of luck ah!”
Xiao Tangqiu didn’t even have the time to breathe a sigh of relief for their luck because in the next second, he subconsciously felt that something was wrong. The geek was so confident about his own luck and his confidence level in his luck wasn’t that which could be cultivated by striking it a few times in “one more bottle.” In contrast, his luck had always been quite bad and Tang Mianmian, who had finally gotten a proper role after playing characters with only a few lines for so many years, only to be forced to play this unlucky game of life and death had even worse luck. It was possible for the king of luck to descend into the fate of a jinx but what was the likelihood of two jinxes successfully overturning the king of luck at the same time?
Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t help saying, “I don’t know why, I suddenly have a…”
Tang Mianmian quickly put his hand over Xiao Tangqiu’s mouth. “f.u.c.k! Shut up! Don’t you dare say it!”
Just then, the clown burst out laughing, “Congratulations to the players who got the black ball! You get a lucky chance to enter the haunted house!”
Everyone froze at the same time. f.u.c.k! Wasn’t this different from what was agreed?!
Tang Mianmian blurted out, “f.u.c.k! You lied to us? Didn’t you just say that whoever got the red ball would enter the haunted house?!”
The clown smiled at Tang Mianmian. His colorful, painted face looked strange and eerie and under the light from the haunted house. “I did say that! But I also said just now… don’t believe the clown!”