Snuggling for Survival: A Quick Transmigration Tale - Chapter 7

Standing behind the heavy main gate, Li Yuan did not know why she was there at this moment.

She should have been lying back on her sickbed, waiting for the guests to arrive, ready to tell the story she knew by heart over and over again to the players. She was meant to toy with those adventurers, treasure hunters, and fortune seekers in the palm of her hand, orchestrating one accident after another.

She understood that she was not a “good person.” In the past, she had never felt a shred of guilt. Yet, the arrival of the little liar had sparked a brief moment of remorse within her. Perhaps, deep down, she simply did not want the girl to know what she was truly like.

“Are you trying to drive me away?” Pressed against the gate, Yu Yu could not open the heavy doors, but she felt intuitively that Li Yuan was right behind them. “Big liar, didn’t you say you wanted to stay with me forever?”

Yu Yu lowered her head. Out of both frustration and anger, a mist clouded her beautiful, dark almond eyes. After days of being well-fed and cared for, her fair little face was puffed out in a pout, looking quite adorable.

Reaching out through the air, Li Yuan made a pinching motion toward her, a smile spreading across her lips. Her mouth opened as if to speak, but in the end, she said nothing. She had made the little liar angry, and the girl was actually quite cute when she was cross.

But Li Yuan felt that she might never see that sight again. Before leaving, she took one last look at the person outside the gate. She felt this was their final goodbye.

[Host, the target has departed.]

Sitting on the ground in a huff, Yu Yu felt irritable. She could still sense that Li Yuan did not truly hate her; she just didn’t understand why the woman was so desperate to kick her out.

[Liu Liu, is there really no way for us to obtain the plot of this world?] She hated that she was only a marginal cannon fodder character, completely ignorant of the mansion’s secrets.

[The information we received isn’t the protagonist’s plot. Everything ends at the moment of your death. We have already absorbed so much energy; it would be better to leave this world and return to the Sea of Consciousness. We can use the energy to upgrade, so we get a better role in the next world,] the System suggested sincerely.

[You can upgrade first,] Yu Yu replied, grabbing a bun and taking a bite. [Since my plot in this world hasn’t ended yet, I feel there is still a chance to spend more time with Li Yuan.]

The System was silent for a moment. [During the upgrade, I won’t be able to monitor the Host’s actions. If you encounter a life-threatening danger, you will be forcibly extracted.]

[Mhm.]

Determined, she let the System begin its upgrade. After a long wait, well after dark, she finally heard voices approaching.

“How can a car break down halfway? After walking this far, I must have lost at least five pounds!”

“Oh, shut it. You never exercise. Even after fifty laps, you’d only lose two or three pounds. I think I see a roof up ahead, keep going.”

“The atmosphere here is a bit heavy. Everyone, be careful.”

“A-Yuan, stop trying to scare us.”

…

Yu Yu, who had been dozing off, snapped awake. This was the protagonist group of four!

When the group arrived at the gate with the housekeeper, Yu Yu was still holding a bun. Seeing the housekeeper acting as if he didn’t know her, she kept a straight face and said nothing.

“Are you here for the treasure too?” The chubby boy’s eyes lit up when he saw Yu Yu. Simply put, she was beautiful! Even with short hair and strange clothes, she was a pleasure to look at.

“Have you been here long?” Unlike the chubby boy’s friendliness, A-Yuan scrutinized her. She was human, but the ghostly aura clinging to her was excessively thick.

Yu Yu nodded. While they studied her, she studied them. She knew little, but the System had told her before the upgrade that the male and female leads were disciples of a Taoist priest. The other two were there for hostage drama and comic relief.

“Can I go in with you?” Tucking the money pouch into her pocket, Yu Yu walked up to the male lead.

The red-haired girl frowned. She simply didn’t like Yu Yu—why was she staring only at A-Yuan? She spoke with a hint of sarcasm, “The internet says this place is haunted. Aren’t you afraid?”

Yu Yu curled her lip. She had lived inside for nearly a week. “If you’re not afraid, why should I be?”

“You!”

“Alright,” the housekeeper interrupted before a fight could break out. “The game is about to begin. Find the correct answer and you win a prize of 5 million. The item is inside the mansion. Once you enter this gate, you cannot leave until you find it. If you fail, you must stay in the Li Family Mansion. Those are the rules.”

Yu Yu stared at the housekeeper. These rules confused her. What was the secret of this place?

In this game, Yu Yu was an extra person. Her serious listening face gave the housekeeper a headache. But since the Eldest Miss had not come out to stop it, he had to follow the script. He opened the gate, his face as pale as ever. “You can still reconsider. If you don’t want to play, you can go down the mountain now.”

“We’re already here, why turn back?” A-Yuan smiled, gripping his girlfriend’s hand. “Right, Lin Yu?”

“Mhm.” Lin Yu nodded and glanced at Yu Yu. “You can come with us, but we can’t be responsible for your safety. I’m telling you, it’s dangerous. You should go home.”

Yu Yu nodded, thinking to herself that the mansion was her home. She had married in and bowed to the heavens with Miss Li, after all.

The housekeeper looked at Yu Yu meaningfully. He didn’t understand why she was so stubborn. He had sent her out safely, yet she insisted on coming back in?

“It’s normal for the Li Family Mansion to be haunted. You might find that you are the only humans inside. If you’re faint-hearted, don’t enter.” He added this pointedly. Usually, he never gave such hints; he felt he was being obvious enough for Yu Yu.

Yet the girl seemed determined. She wasn’t afraid and followed the group straight through the gates.

As the doors slammed shut, the housekeeper sighed. He couldn’t control a human who insisted on entering. They had to follow the rules; they could drive someone out, but they couldn’t refuse a “guest.” “Once the game starts, it cannot be ended.”

A-Yuan had been observing Yu Yu. Her ghostly aura was heavy, but she seemed unaware of it. He also noticed the housekeeper’s strange attitude toward her—he clearly didn’t want her there.

A-Yuan asked, “How much do you know about this place?”

“Nothing at all.” Yu Yu was honest. By her count, it was now the early morning of the seventh day. At this point, she should have died and been tossed out soaked in water. But nothing had happened. Her original “plot” seemed to have vanished, and she didn’t know if that was good or bad.

The four looked at her suspiciously.

“Oh no, oh no! The Groom has drowned!” Lai Fu’s voice echoed from the other end of the gallery.

Before the words had even settled, Lai Fu appeared before them, huffing and puffing as he faked wiping sweat from his brow. “It’s terrible! The Groom has drowned!”

Yu Yu bit her lip, her brow furrowed. The Groom was dead? Was there someone else besides her? She had so much to say, but looking around, she held her tongue.

Lai Fu was surprised to see Yu Yu there, but he performed his role dutifully. He couldn’t produce real tears, so he just wailed, “Come and see! Boohoo! The Groom only married in a few days ago! Why would he jump into the well!”

“Let’s go look.”

Knowing the game had officially begun, the group followed Lai Fu. They watched as several servants dragged a body through the doorway. The body was soaking wet, its features blurred.

A-Yuan took one look and realized something was wrong. He pulled a yellow talisman from his robe and slapped it onto the body. The “corpse” instantly transformed into a crude paper effigy.

Yu Yu’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Lai Fu: “…” That took me two hours to make! It was meant to replace the girl! How did he see through it so fast?

The housekeeper narrowed his eyes. It seemed these guests came prepared. He smiled, “You must have done your research on the Li Family before coming. For the rest of the time, feel free to explore. You may stay in any room except the middle one on the east side. As for food—well, we ghosts don’t eat, so you’ll have to handle that yourselves.”

He didn’t hide their identities at all. He looked calm, but he was frantically wondering how to tell the Eldest Miss that the little girl had come back in.

Watching the housekeeper and Lai Fu vanish before her eyes, Yu Yu turned her gaze to the four protagonists. The System couldn’t give her the plot, but these four surely knew it.

Licking her lips, Yu Yu asked, “What is this ‘game’ you were talking about?”

The protagonist group looked at her with sudden interest. “You didn’t even know what this place was, yet you ran all the way here?”