A Survival Game Where You Have to Fall in Love with a Madman - Chapter 27
The metal walls gleamed with a cold light under the illumination of the incandescent bulbs overhead.
You Yan tapped his knuckles against the wall, eliciting a dull, hollow echo. He came to a halt; on the ground ahead lay a pool of dark red stains.
He Yanqing squatted down and dipped his finger into it. “It’s still fresh.” He licked his lips an action that caused a wave of disgust to wash over You Yan.
Suddenly, a cackling laugh echoed from above, prompting You Yan to instinctively press his left hand against the hilt of his dagger.
“Hehehehe…”
Looking up, three crow-masked figures hung upside down from the pipes on the ceiling, their black robes draping down like congealed asphalt. What made them truly bizarre was that despite clearly lacking any physical thickness, they floated seamlessly in mid-air resembling two-dimensional paper cutouts that had been forcibly crammed into a three-dimensional space.
He Yanqing suddenly pressed down on You Yan’s shoulder.
As the first figure slowly turned its head, You Yan caught sight of Zhang Wei’s face or rather, the face that had once belonged to Zhang Wei. His skin sagged like a melting wax sculpture, yet his lips were stretched into a painted, greasepaint smile identical to the crow people’s.
“Run…” one of the crow figures suddenly spoke, utilizing Zhang Wei’s voice. “They are… inside the walls…”
A sudden chill crept up You Yan’s spine.
“Finally, things are getting interesting.”
He Yanqing spun his short blade between his fingers, tracing a crimson arc of light. Beneath his moonlight-blue hair, the tear mole beside his eye trembled slightly alongside his twisted smile. He looked as ecstatic as a shark catching the scent of blood, entirely failing to notice that a strange fluid was dripping from the hem of the crow figures’ robes, corroding the ground below into tiny, hissing bubbles.
Ding-dong! The system’s friendly reminder chimed in:
[1. Prolonged exposure to the black mist will lead to bodily decay and mental collapse.] [2. Do not trust any voices or figures unless you can confirm with 100% certainty that the other party is human.] [3. The maze resets. Every time someone enters, the internal structure alters completely. Advancing by relying on memory or maps is impossible.] [The clear rate for this dungeon is 60%. Good luck to all our disobedient players.]
“Welcome to…” all the “people” spoke simultaneously, their voices layering over one another like an echo effect, “…the eternal maze.”
As the three dark silhouettes lunged forward together, You Yan sidestepped to evade the initial strike.
A clear rate of 60%?
This wasn’t a standard survival rate for an A-rank dungeon, unless…
He Yanqing’s short blade had already plunged into the throat of the first attacker, but You Yan noticed that his knife-wielding hand was trembling not out of fear, but from a sort of morbid excitement. Those eyes, which usually held a manic amusement, were completely dark now, reflecting the sheer number of silhouettes emerging from the black mist.
[Livestream Chat System: Real-Time Log] [Dungeon Name: Black Mist Maze (Rank A)] [Viewers: 14,972]
- [ID: He-God’s Tear Mole] Holy crap! What on earth are those things? Two-dimensional organisms?
- [ID: Newbie Workhorse] An A-rank dungeon is just this? Honestly, it feels inferior to the last S-rank dungeon, “Late Night Livestream Room”…
- [ID: Belial] Don’t raise death flags, person above me! A 60% clear rate in this dungeon definitely means there’s a catch!
- [ID: Flying Fish] He Yanqing licking the blood, I’m dead!! I am absolutely devouring this crazy, beautiful maniac!!
- [ID: I Am A Great Hero] Mr. NPC (referring to You Yan) is slacking off as usual, lmao.
The instant his dagger left its sheath, You Yan realized something was wrong these entities could transition seamlessly between a physical state and a two-dimensional form. Every time a blade was about to connect, they dissolved into the walls and vanished, only to manifest abruptly on the opposite side.
“A war of attrition,” You Yan cursed under his breath.
The crow people were clearly well-versed in this tactic, taking turns to harass them without engaging in direct, head-on combat.
“You lunatic!” You Yan uncharacteristically called the man by his new nickname, holding his scalpel horizontally across his chest to block. “Look at the ground.”
The black mist was currently crawling up He Yanqing’s ankles, leaving fine, detailed patterns of crow feathers wherever it passed. The system’s very first warning was actively validating itself right now: Prolonged exposure to the black mist will lead to bodily decay and mental collapse.
The most terrifying part was that those being eroded remained entirely oblivious to their own mutations.
“How beautiful…” He Yanqing caressed the newly grown feathers on his neck, his tone terrifyingly tender. “We could become the deities of this place…”
You Yan suddenly ripped the silver stud from his left earlobe and drove it ruthlessly into the man’s arm.
Amid He Yanqing’s muffled groan, a non-human shriek blended into the air, and the black mist receded from his wound like an ebbing tide.
“Stay conscious,” You Yan snapped, pressing the earring into He Yanqing’s palm. The data etched onto its sterling silver surface was burning hot. “Next time, I’m stabbing your eyeball directly.”
He Yanqing panted, letting out a loud laugh as the clarity gradually returned to his eyes.
An hour slipped past, and sweat had thoroughly drenched his back. He Yanqing’s offensive grew increasingly ferocious, but his physical stamina was draining at an equally alarming rate.
“Catch.” You Yan tossed a bottle of energy water over, downing the other bottle himself.
As the liquid slid down his throat, it brought a chilly, stinging sensation that instantly alleviated a great deal of his muscle soreness. This effect was unnaturally potent; it was likely premium goods that Lin Xiaoyu had spent a massive amount of points to acquire.
“Thanks, Theoretician,” He Yanqing chuckled, catching it. With a casual swipe against his exquisite collarbone, the bottle cap popped right off. He tilted his head back and gulped down several mouthfuls, the water trickling from the corner of his mouth to his jawline, sliding past his moving Adam’s apple before disappearing into his loosely buttoned shirt.
When the crow people struck again, they brought a new trick.
Aside from Zhang Wei’s voice, the remaining two began to mimic the agonizing screams of various genders and ages.
“Help!” “The walls are eating people!”
They called out alternately, their vocal inflections accurate to a hair-raising degree. You Yan noted that whenever a voice echoed, He Yanqing’s movements suffered a half-second delay these monsters were exploiting human instinctual reactions.
You Yan reached his right hand into his pocket, where an oval, solid object rested. It was the flashlight Lin Xiaoyu had given them; he didn’t know if it would have any effect on these entities.
The moment the flashlight’s beam pierced through the gloom, the crow people let out high-pitched screams. They retreated like scalded bats, the greasepaint smiles painted onto their masks twisting out of shape under the intense glare.
You Yan narrowed his eyes to observe: where the light struck, their perimeters exhibited a subtle, pixelated flickering. However, it failed to inflict any substantive damage, merely forcing them back temporarily.
“Got a light?” You Yan asked suddenly.
He Yanqing raised an eyebrow and tossed a lighter over. “Want to burn this hellhole down? I dig it.”
You Yan leisurely took a cigarette pack out of his pocket. The moment the cigarette was lit, the livestream chat exploded.
- [ID: The NPC’s Little Fangirl] What kind of timing is this to smoke a cigarette?!
- [ID: I Am An Idiot] This move has completely bewildered me… Has You Yan given up?
- [ID: Pei-Dog’s Glasses Frame] Don’t talk nonsense, person above! He definitely has a trump card!
- [ID: He-God’s Bowtie] The way He Yanqing is looking at him is so doting, I totally ship it!
- [ID: Yun An-an-an-an-an] Crow People: This batch of players isn’t right.
Ignoring the words like seeking death and showing off drifting across the virtual screen, You Yan took a deep drag.
The nicotine, which he hadn’t touched in two years, burned his lungs, reminding him of the smell of rain on the day he had gone to work. The white smoke enveloped his sculpted features. Looking at his profile, He Yanqing dazed out for a split second.
The three-crow people tilted their heads in confusion, their two-dimensional bodies fluctuating slightly within the smoke.
In the next second, the burning cigarette butt accurately struck the center of the middle entity’s crow mask.
Fire erupted instantly, precisely as anticipated. Their paper-like bodies served as the ultimate kindling, and amidst agonizing shrieks, the crow person curled inward, turning into blackened ash.
The remaining two fled into the walls in a panic, only to be cornered right in the middle of the surface by the flashlights’ beams. You Yan calmly arranged the light sources at intersecting angles without pointing them directly at the entities, watching them tremble in terror, pinned to the wall like taxidermy specimens.
He silently calculated the time that had elapsed since they entered the maze. It should be around three o’clock in the afternoon.
There was still plenty of time left. He could afford to take a nap.
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fatimazahra
Unfortunately, I really wanted to acquire it, but I don’t have the money. Thank you for your translation; it’s truly excellent.