chapter 123
Some color finally returned to Gu Yu Chu’s face. Afraid he’d misheard, torn between hope and disbelief, he said, “It fell off in the room on the stairs. How could it just happen to end up with you…”
He muttered under his breath, “Is your luck really that good?”
“Yes.” Lu Li handed him the necklace. “I really did just pick it up.”
Once he opened the locket and confirmed the photo, Gu Yu Chu cradled the recovered necklace in both hands and slumped to the floor, all strength draining from his body.
Only after his heartbeat slowly steadied did he belatedly realize his wrist was still bleeding.
He put the necklace back on first, then exchanged for the cheapest Medicine to treat the wound. After bandaging himself, he thanked Lu Li earnestly. “Thank you, Lu Li.”
“If you’ve made up your mind,” he promised, “I’ll unlock the lock on your neck for free. No matter how hard it is.”
Lu Li avoided his gaze. Before he could say anything else, an arm hooked solidly around his shoulders from behind.
Luo Jia Bai’s voice cut in, “Free is nice and all, but you can’t strong-arm people into it. Just wait until our Brother Lu gives the word… Hey, what the hell!”
He jumped up, clutching his butt. “What’s stabbing me?”
“Steel spikes are growing horizontally out of the steps, and they’re coming toward us!” Sun Hai held down his equally panicked teammates, then glared at Gu Yu Chu. “Three cages, pick one. The hint was in the scene just now! One is a girl who hates and despises the Nightmare Holder, one is an old man who never stops complaining. Eliminate those two malicious choices.”
Sun Hai walked straight toward the cage being held by the Fat Boy.
“So we choose him.”
Sun Hai stepped into the cage, utterly sure of himself, and waved to the others. “You guys got flung around just now, couldn’t see a thing, right? I managed to see a bit of the room. Picking him is definitely right!”
Xia Le stared at the skirt-wearing “person.” From where the cocoon met the hem, dried branches jutted out, oozing white pus-as if a rotten, terrifying Monster were wrapped inside the chrysalis.
“We definitely can’t pick that cage!” The sight made his skin crawl. Xia Le hurriedly pulled Yan Xuan over to stand by Sun Hai.
“They’re inside, and nothing’s changed so far.” Pushed forward by the advancing steel spikes, Mirella watched the surroundings, unsure. “Did they pick the right one?”
Lu Li caught her arm. “No.”
“Don’t go over there.”
The steps kept sprouting steel spikes and sliding closer. If they didn’t choose a cage soon, the Players would be skewered through and through.
Lu Li changed direction and stepped into the cage held by the Monster “Human.”
He hadn’t yet had time to explain his reasoning or why this was his choice when he heard rustling footsteps behind him. Three people followed him into the cage.
Once all the Players were inside the cages-
“Clack!”
Every cage door slammed shut at once. The advancing staircase halted. Each NPC lifted the cage they were holding, stood up, and started up the stairs toward their respective rooms.
The Monster “Human” moved the slowest. Every step it took, heavy, thick, sticky breaths sounded from within the cocoon.
Lu Li looked at Gu Yu Chu, who had chosen this cage with him. “You’re not afraid I picked wrong?”
“Picking wrong isn’t that scary. In the Necromancer Game, it’s rare for a Player to make all the right choices from start to finish.” The necklace seemed to be Gu Yu Chu’s emotional stabilizer; he’d returned to his calm, composed self. “As long as you have Points, Items, and a brain, you can still clear the Instance.”
“If you don’t want the lock on your neck removed, that’s fine. I’ll help you in other ways.”
Gu Yu Chu did some quick calculations in his head and offered his greatest concession. “You can take Items worth fifty thousand Points from me. Before we leave this Instance, let’s add each other as friends. Even if we’re not in the same Instance in the future, we can still trade.”
When he learned that the fifty thousand Points were at cost price, Luo Jia Bai was stunned. “I’ll never call you a profiteer again. That’s a real loss-leader. A jump-off-the-building discount. Is that necklace really that important?”
“Extremely important,” Gu Yu Chu said.
It was also the reason he had entered the Necromancer Game in the first place.
The three NPCs entered their rooms one after another.
When the Fat Boy shut his door, Yan Xuan, who was leaning in one corner of the cage, widened her eyes. She lifted her head to stare at the fat hand gripping the cage handle, an icy chill creeping up her spine.
“Sun Hai, are you sure you really picked the right one?”
Xia Le also noticed something was wrong. “Why are we back in the very first room?”
Yan Xuan broke down. “On the floor… what’s on the floor? So many White Evil Spirit Bracelets! Limbs torn apart, all ripped‑to‑pieces Player Corpses!?”
–
The Monster “Human” staggered as it walked into the room and let its hands go slack. The cage fell to the ground and the door swung open.
The whole room was blanketed in cocoon‑like growths and strands like spiderwebs, wrapped around the doorknob, the windows, the bed, the table-every single object in the room.
“The ceiling’s covered too!” Luo Jia Bai looked up, about to trigger his trypophobia. “That Cocoon right above our heads is swaying. Is it about to fall?”
They had barely stepped out of the cage when a Cocoon dropped down.
The Cocoon slowly split open.
It was empty inside.
But the echo of a man and a woman arguing spilled out:
“The person’s no good, and the womb is no good! You ate so much sour stuff when you were pregnant, your face got dark and rough, and the ultrasound showed a boy-so why did you give birth to a girl? The hospital must’ve switched the babies! I don’t accept this! I’m going to sue this hospital!”
“Sue who, sue what? Mom! Don’t go out there embarrassing us like you don’t know the law! When are you going to change that mindset of yours? These days having a boy or a girl is the same! The kid’s mom and I took on a big project this month. If we screw it up it’s a major incident; we can’t leave. You and Dad help us take care of the kid first.”
“I only take care of grandsons! I won’t be able to show my face when I go back home! If she can’t give birth to a boy, she’s useless as a woman! You divorce that woman immediately. I told you long ago, only get the marriage certificate if the baby comes out a son, but you just wouldn’t listen!”
“Mom, you’re not allowed to say things like that in front of the kid ever again!”
The echoes were like needles. The closer you listened, the sharper and more bone‑chilling they became.
Another Cocoon dropped and cracked open, releasing a new echo-the same woman from the previous Cocoon, now ranting alone:
“Eat! I worked so hard to cook this, and you take two bites then throw up-what’s that supposed to mean? I say a few words and you pull a long face. If you don’t want to eat, then never eat again!”
“Waiting for your dad and mom to come back and back you up, is that it? You’re so spoiled it’s a problem. Let me tell you, they’re busy with work. They won’t be back for ten days, half a month at least! If you’re going to be that stubborn, then go hungry for half a month!”
“You’re only a few years old, what illness could you possibly have? You’re faking it! Back home I’ve never even heard of this kind of disease! I think it’s because you moved into the city, the environment’s too comfortable so you don’t know real hardship. You’re a girl-no matter how much you study it’s useless. If you can’t get into a university, then just get into a vocational college, hurry up and start working to earn some money! Your little brother’s about to be born! The family can’t afford to support two kids.”
“And your hair! Who told you to grow your hair out in secret again? Didn’t I tell you to cut it short like a boy’s? That way it’s easier for your mom to have a little brother!”
A third Cocoon split open, and the voices inside were bubbling with joy and celebration:
“We’re having a second child! This time we won’t get it wrong-it’ll be a boy!”
“It must be because of the little nickname Grandma gave you-Pan Di, ‘hoping for a little brother.’ We’ll change your formal name to that too! I finally have a grandson!”
A baby’s loud wail accompanied the words.
From the cracked Cocoon, thick white strands shot out, layering onto the Cocoon already wrapped around the Monster “Human”‘s head. Then, at the join between head and body, they wound around the Monster “Human”‘s neck ring after ring.
Lu Li let out a quiet sigh. “She’s not a Monster. She’s a girl.”
The white strands cinched tight around her, their ends sticking into the ceiling and hoisting her high into the air.
The girl’s legs hung calmly in midair.
The Cocoon on her head rose and fell faintly with her breathing.
She seemed to feel no pain at all, as if she’d been waiting for this near‑death agony for a long, long time.
As four thick, broad strands lifted the girl, four more strands snaked out to coil around the Players’ necks. Their loose ends shot toward the ceiling and, at the same speed, began to hoist the Players up.
This was how it intended to kill them.