I Struggle to Survive in a Girl Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 38

There are a total of 7 NPCs in the small town.

Excluding the youngest, Nancy, and Cole, who was unwilling to cooperate, the remaining five formed a team to participate, including Christine, Beth, Shirley, Rosa, and Arthur. Christine served as the team captain.

Wen Ling’s side was the Red Team, while Christine’s side was the Blue Team.

There were 500 game cards in total,

each with a different word written on it. The two team captains randomly drew 25 cards each,

arranging them into a 5×5 grid on the table. Using pre-marked 5×5 random prop cards labeled “Red Team,” “Blue Team,” “Bystander,” and “Assassin,” the words belonging to the Red Team and Blue Team were determined.

The prop cards faced the captains,

meaning only the two captains knew the identities of the 25 cards on the table. This allowed them to give hints to their teammates,

helping them guess as many of their team’s words as possible.

The two captains set up the cards, inserted the prop cards facing themselves into the plastic grooves provided with the board game.

The others split into two groups and sat down across the table.

At this point, Wen Ling asked, “Shall we start?”

Christine nodded, “Alright, let’s begin.”

This round, Wen Ling’s Red Team would guess first. Among the 25 cards, there were 9 Red Team words, 8 Blue Team words, 7 bystander words, and 1 assassin word.

Wen Ling lowered her gaze, scanned the words on the table, and then made a startling statement.

“Rain After Azure, 5 words.”

Shen Siqi couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud.

As expected of the captain, always thinking about promoting CPs to boost popularity, even if it meant shipping her own teammates. What vision!

There were rumors online that Wen Ling was a fan of the “Rain After Azure” CP. Could it actually be true?

An Qing: “…”

She suddenly recalled one of the tips from the book Wen Ling had given her, 108 Tricks for Shipping CPs”Teammates as Divine Wingmen.”

The Blue Team was even more surprised.

Although they didn’t know what “Rain After Azure” meant, why would the calm and composed Wen Ling announce such a large number? Could her teammates even make the connections?

In this word-guessing game, a larger number wasn’t necessarily better. If the captain gave too high a number, it could easily lead the teammates to overthink and force unrelated words into the association, confusing the correct words and causing mistakes. It also increased the risk of guessing the assassin word, which would result in the entire team being eliminated.

Arthur couldn’t help but speak up, “Are you sure about 5 words?”

Wen Ling remained calm, “It’s fine, a bit conservative even.”

Arthur: “…”

He said, “Then go ahead and guess.”

Shen Siqi was the first to raise her hand and say, “I know, I guess ‘Crown’.”

She vividly remembered the feat of “Rain After Azure” on their debut night, so when she saw the word “Crown” among the 25 words, she felt absolutely confident.

Wen Ling smiled, “Correct.”

She elegantly raised her hand and placed the red marker card representing the Red Team over the card with “Crown,” indicating that the word had been guessed.

Yi Zhuo pondered, “Then I’ll guess ‘Forest’.”

In the fifth performance of Sweetie 101, Yu Tingbai and An Qing performed the song “Bloodthirsty Forest.” It was after this performance that the “Rain After Azure” CP began to rise in popularity.

Wen Ling said, “Correct.”

Then she urged, “Tingbai, An Qing, join in.”

Wen Ling was a competent captain, whether on stage or in shows, she made sure not to overlook anyone.

Yu Tingbai looked at An Qing and asked her, “You go first.”

An Qing read the words on the table once more, hesitated for a moment, and tentatively said, “Kiss?”

Wen Ling: “Correct!”

An Qing recalled that accidental kiss from before, and her ears instantly grew hot.

And yesterday, in a place unknown to her teammates, she had been secretly kissed again. How fortunate she felt a bit sorry for all the single people!!

As if trying to hide something, she reached out and nudged Yu Tingbai: “Your turn.”

By now, the Blue Team was stunned. What exactly was “After the Rain, the Sky Clears”? How could it be so widely connected to so many words, and without a single mistake?

“Crown,” “Forest,” “Kiss”, what exactly was the relationship between these three words?

Among the 25 words on the table, three had already been covered with the Red Team’s marker.

Yu Tingbai leisurely raised her hand and pointed to one of the cards: “Princess.”

Then she pointed to another: “Love.”

She smiled playfully at Wen Ling and asked, “Right?”

Wen Ling smiled back: “Of course.”

An Qing: !!!

If this segment aired, wouldn’t the CP fans go absolutely wild?

She suddenly felt that “After the Rain, the Sky Clears” finally had a chance to climb to the top of the CP supertopic rankings.

Blue Team: ???

The Red Team only needed to guess nine words, and they had already guessed five in the first round? Was there even a point in continuing the game?

Christine, however, didn’t show any surprise. Calmly, she led her teammates through a round of guessing, but unfortunately crashed and burned by the third word, only managing to guess two correctly.

She smiled at Wen Ling and said, “Go ahead.”

Wen Ling replied, “Then I won’t hold back.”

Wen Ling looked at the words on the table, thought for a moment, and said, “Drunk, four words.”

Blue Team: Again???

There were only nine words in total, and they had already guessed five in the previous round, were they trying to sweep the board now?

Even more surprised was Yi Zhuo. She glanced incredulously at the remaining words on the table, then at Wen Ling, her voice carrying a barely noticeable tremor.

“Captain, you…”

Wen Ling’s eyes darkened: “I want to win.”

Yi Zhuo:

Why did she have to be so competitive in such a strange situation?

“Captain, I’ll guess ‘Finals,’ right?”

Shen Siqi was already focused on answering. They had all drunk quite a bit on the night of the finals, so it definitely had to be connected to “drunk.” Besides, that was the only time they had gotten drunk recently.

She had wanted to guess a few more, but after scanning the table, she couldn’t find any other related words and had to give up.

Wen Ling nodded: “Correct.”

As she spoke, she reached out and covered the card with “Finals” written on it with the Red Team’s marker.

Then she urged the other three: “Hurry, there are three more.”

“What should I do? I don’t think I can guess any.”

Yu Tingbai rested her chin on her hand, her gaze shifting, her tone genuinely puzzled.

An Qing, who was also struggling, immediately chimed in: “I can’t guess either. What’s going on?”

She had already looked over the remaining words three times but still couldn’t find any more related to “drunk.” Without confidence, she didn’t dare to take a risk. What if she guessed the killer word and caused a team wipe?

Yi Zhuo’s lips twitched: “I’ll do it.”

As if steeling herself, she squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: “Strawberry, right?”

Wen Ling said, “Correct, continue.”

An Qing suddenly understood.

That day, Yi Zhuo and Wen Ling had been sitting together the whole time they must have both drunk strawberry-flavored champagne.

But why blush over something as simple as strawberry, hmm?

A faint pink tinged the tips of Yi Zhuo’s ears, but she feigned calmness in her tone: “Next, I guess ‘lace.'”

Wen Ling: “Correct.”

The others: ???

What lace? That’s seriously unsettling to think about!

Shen Siqi whispered to Yi Zhuo, “Hehe, it’s the curtains, right? I remember the hotel curtains had lace trim that day!”

Yi Zhuo:

Do you know there are many other things in this world that have lace trim?

Wen Ling looked at Yi Zhuo with an encouraging gaze and said, “One more to go, you can do it.”

If they guessed the last one correctly, their team would win!

Yi Zhuo gritted her teeth and finally spoke the answer Wen Ling wanted: “The last one, I guess ‘dog.'”

Wen Ling was very pleased: “I knew you could do it!”

Yi Zhuo held her forehead, not daring to meet her eyes.

Shen Siqi was completely baffled. If the first two words could be somewhat connected to “drunkenness” with a stretch of imagination, what did “dog” have to do with anything?

Unable to figure it out, she tugged at Yi Zhuo’s sleeve and asked, “What dog? Where did a dog come from?”

Recalling her earlier bold declaration, “I’d be a dog if I went back to bed with you,” Yi Zhuo felt a headache coming on. She vaguely brushed Shen Siqi off: “You’ll understand later.”

Although a bit confused, winning the game was still something to celebrate.

Kristen, as if she had expected this outcome all along, shrugged and said, “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Wen Ling replied politely. “What about the item we wanted?”

Kristen reached into her pocket and pulled out two small, neatly folded newspaper clippings, handing them to Wen Ling.

“Well, until we meet again.”

After all the NPCs had left, the group sat back down at the table, unfolded the newspaper clippings, and pieced them together with the incomplete newspaper on the table, reading carefully.

“This is so different from what Shirley told us!”

Halfway through reading, Shen Siqi couldn’t help but complain to her companions.

In Shirley’s story, Rosa and Arthur were a couple who each got what they wanted she had the wealth, he had the looks. But the newspaper’s account was completely different.

Rosa came from a wealthy family, but Arthur’s family assets were no less impressive than hers, perhaps even more so. He married Rosa largely because of their mutual intellectual and spiritual connection. They overcame societal obstacles to be together and, after three years of dating, gained their families’ approval and married smoothly. Their love story was celebrated locally.

Moreover, in a small adjacent section of the same report, there was a mention of another couple’s wedding surprisingly, it was Kristen and Beth.

The details here also differed greatly from what they had previously uncovered. Kristen was a well-known local psychic, often consulted by people for various matters. Beth was her passionately beloved partner. They had registered their marriage on Valentine’s Day and were holding a grand wedding ceremony that day.

So Christine and Beth weren’t just bed partners at all, but openly acknowledged lovers. As for the claims about “possessing dark arts and being promiscuous,” those were likely false too.

Shen Siqi rested her chin in her hands, her expression growing increasingly troubled. “Earlier you said that Shirley’s account of ‘the incident’ didn’t contradict the newspaper reports, but these two later stories conflict with both the newspaper records and what we’ve seen. How do we explain this? I feel even more confused now.”

“Then let’s approach it from a different angle.”

Yu Tingbai lowered her gaze, pulling several sheets from the messy pile of newspapers on the table and arranging them in order.

After studying the photographs for a while, she said thoughtfully, “I think I’ve figured out who the deceased is.”