绝代双骄 林志颖

He raised his head and looked at the lit up residential building in the dark, his unshaven face was stained with a gloomy expression.

Seeing such a strange scene, the man and woman who seemed out of tune with others became more and more panicked. They subconsciously took two steps back, as if instinctively wishing to to stay farther away from the ominous building.

The girl in the long skirt was sobbing, she asked cautiously:

“Could it be, we, we are going… to go in?”

The man with the beard gave her a cold look: “Stay if you want to stay, I’m not responsible for what happens.”

Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes, staring at the collapsed residential building in front of him, and murmured thoughtfully:

“The game begins…”

He turned his head to look at the man standing aside: “Since it’s a game, what are the rules?”

The man looked at Ge Xiu upon hearing his voice.

Although he was already mentally prepared, when his eyes met his face, he still couldn’t help but blink slightly, and subconsciously softened his tone that was not very polite just now:

“…you’ll know when you go in”

After finishing speaking, the man withdrew his gaze and walked towards the residential building.

The rest of the people followed behind him and also walked inside one by one.

The two newcomers looked at each other tremblingly, took a deep breath and walked towards the residential building tremblingly behind everyone.

Ge Xiu looked up at the slightly tilted building again, and then walked in.

A damn smell of decay filled the narrow corridor and the old-fashioned light bulb above the head made a sizzling sound. After passing through the residential building’s corridor, there was a dimly lit hall. Under the flickering light, there could see mottled and covered with copper-red rust marks walls.

In the middle of the empty hall, there was a table.

There was a square red box on the table. The scarlet coating on it looked viscous and thick, with a very bright color, as if it hadn’t yet dried up. Even being so far away, one could smell clearly the pungent smell of blood.

Everyone exchanged looks and walked forward slowly.

That was a raffle box.

The man with the unshaven beard stepped forward first, and slowly stretched his hand into the box, a sound of metal colliding came from inside the box.

When he pulled out his palm, there was a brass key lying in the palm. At the end of the key was a piece of mottled iron, with a dull number printed on it:

301

The others also stepped forward one by one and took out a key with the room number from the box.

Ge Xiu stood at the end of the line and was the last one to take out the key from the box.

After he took out the last key, a line of words slowly appeared on the wall directly opposite the crowd:

“Find five special items from this residential building, the player who finds the item first will get a special reward. When the five props are collected, the game is over.”

“Players can only rest in their room number tonight.”

“I wish you a happy game.”

Immediately afterwards, the old clock hanging on the wall started working with a small click sound— according to the time displayed above, it should be eight o’clock in the morning.

Was it a hidden object game?

Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows and looked down at the key in his hand.

The same brass-colored key as the others, with a small iron plate hanging on the back, the three numbers engraved on it were very conspicuous:

502.

A building had five floors, that meant, one special item per floor.

Everyone looked at each other and one of them suggested: “Looking at the current situation, this game may last overnight. Why don’t we all introduce ourselves.”

The unshaven man started first, “My name is Chen Jian.”

Upon saying that, he fell silent.

The rest of the people also continued to introduce themselves. The two newcomers had gradually calmed down and were no longer panicked like before. The man was named Zhao Cheng and the girl was named Lin Xue.

Ge Xiu also followed:

“Wang Er*.”

*王二, super perfunctory name

Everyone: “…???”

Ge Xiu looked calm, not at all like he had lied.

They all couldn’t help but have some doubts in their hearts— although this name sounded like a fake name, but…

could it really be his name?

Obviously this person was outrageously good-looking, but why was the name…so…

ordinary?

Chen Jian came to his senses first and broke the silence: “Let’s go and search the first floor to see if we can find the first item.”

“Who has the key to the first floor?”

Two people raised their hands, the two of them took 101 and 104 respectively.

So everyone came to the door of 101 first.

The lights in the corridor were broken, only the small lights in front of their respective doors were still on, faintly illuminating the frame of the old peeling door. The person holding the 101 key inserted the key into the lock hole and turned it around, but the key got stuck as if something was inside the keyhole and it was impossible to turn it. The people behind didn’t believe in evil and they also tried to turn the key— but the result was the same. The door in front of them was like cast iron, without any intention of being unlocked.

Chen Jian frowned and said to the person holding the 104 key: “Go and try 104.”

After a few deafening door panel shakes, the man stood up from the other side of the corridor and shook his head at them.

It seemed that the doors corresponding to the keys drawn by the players couldn’t be opened during the day.

Everyone’s complexion became ugly.

They all knew that obtaining the so-called special item couldn’t be that simple.

But if that item was enclosed in the room corresponding to the key the player gets— one couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of possibly spending the night with that “special item”.

At the back of the crowd, Ge Xiu looked around the surrounding environment with great interest.

This was the first time he had experienced such a world, it felt very novel to him.

The newcomer girl named Lin Xue came over. She glanced at Ge Xiu’s face in embarrassment, and then suddenly looked away as if she had been burned. She lowered her voice and stammered, asking: ” Um, Wang…you, is this your real name?”

She didn’t have the nerve to tell fully say Ge Xiu’s nonsense alias.

Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows: “You don’t think so?”

Lin Xue shook her head quickly: “No, no, that’s not what I meant.”

“Yes, I’m sorry, I’m just a little curious…” She took a deep breath and continued to ask with some embarrassment: “You, are you a famous star? The clothes you are wearing are quite unique… and…”

You are a bit too good-looking…

Lin Xue’s ears were stained with a blush, in the end she didn’t finish the question.

Ge Xiu glanced at her with a half-smile and said ambiguously:

“Almost.”

——Anyway, it’s not like he hadn’t been a star before.

After a brief conversation, Ge Xiu got to know the girl’s identity and background—22 years old, with both parents, a happy family, just graduated from university this year, she suddenly became dizzy while looking for a job and when she opened her eyes, she realized that she had appeared in such a strange place. It could be described as an unexpected disaster.

It seemed that the player selection of this game was not very picky.

Ge Xiu stroked his chin, trying to figure it out its mechanics.

At this time, everyone was already heading towards 102—different from 101 and 104, the door of 102 opened as soon as it was pushed and a smell of decay mixed with heavy dust escaped from the open door, making the leading players cough a few times.

The room wasn’t big, being a very simple two-bedroom and one-living room apartment. Although the furniture was old, it was very complete. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere and three out of four lamps were out of order, with the remaining one still flickering, as if it would go out in the next second.

A few daring players walked in and then carefully rummaged through the room.

Ge Xiu took a few steps forward slowly, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked around the place.

After the chat just now, Lin Xue seemed to have gained a sense of safety with Ge Xiu, and hurriedly followed a few steps forward, gazing inside the room through the door. She turned her head to look at Ge Xiu, and lowered her voice to ask: “You, do you want to go in and search?”

Ge Xiu shook his head: “No.”

“Don’t you want that special reward?”

Ge Xiu shrugged: “It’s not here anyways.”

After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked towards 103 in the deep corridor, Lin Xue froze in place, frowning and thinking for a long time, but she couldn’t figure out what the other’s meaning was, were these words playing tricks on her or did he really know where the props were…?

Ge Xiu pushed open the door of Room 103 and glanced casually around the almost identical layout.

Then, as if he noticed something, his eyes paused slightly in a certain point.

Ge Xiu walked straight into the room.

He bypassed the lifeless living room and came to the kitchen.

The kitchen was very small, with cabinets and stoves crammed into an area of seven or eight square meters, kitchen utensils and chopping boards hung on the wall beside it.

Ge Xiu opened the drawer and pulled out a table knife.

The knife was shining coldly, the blade reflecting his face.

At this moment, Ge Xiu heard regular “thud” “thud” “thud” coming from behind. It was dull and regular, very clear and scary in the small kitchen.

He narrowed his eyes and turned to look behind him.

A woman stood in front of the stove that was empty now.

With her back to Ge Xiu, her right arm moved up and down mechanically. The chopping board hanging on the wall beside her had been taken down. The dull hitting sounds made the stove vibrate, and sticky black-red blood overflowed over the edge of the chopping board, dripped down the stove and gathered in a pool of blood on the floor.

She was muttering something under her nose.

Ge Xiu frowned and listened for a few seconds before discerning some words:

“Where is my knife… Where is my knife…”

The woman stopped suddenly.

There was a “click” sound from her neck and she twisted her upper body little by little, but her lower body stopped in place and showed no sign of moving.

A blue-white dead face looked straight at Ge Xiu, the cloudy eyeballs did not blink:

“…have you seen my knife?”

Ge Xiu smiled kindly, shaking the kitchen knife in his hand:

“This one?”

The woman’s face suddenly became ferocious and her eyes that suddenly started moving were fixed on Ge Xiu’s face.

In the next second, a shy expression suddenly appeared on that distorted, paper-white face:

“…Yes, thank you handsome guy.”

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