The Days I Clear Escape Games Pretending to be an NPCCh8 - Funeral (8)

This era placed great importance on 'filial piety', especially when the deceased was such an elderly person with enough male offspring to support the family and was at the time in their life when they would have the most influence.

The family, however, killed her and hid the incident.

The old woman had died in a hurry and left many traces behind.

It was clear that this was indeed a planned murder, but not a murder with a long-term plan; it must have been caused by a sudden trigger.

"Something dishonourable had happened to you, something that could even destroy your previous handwork in supporting your family and the good merits that you had accomplished."

Strangulation results in a very undignified death: the face turning blue, bleeding eyes, occasional tongue sticking out and even incontinence.

The old woman's relatives who chose to let her die in such an embarrassing manner must have had another set of interests that overwhelmed the respect they had for their mother and what was left of their affection for one another.

Respect and law both held great importance. Thus, was it fear of the law, or fear of the matter of them dishonouring their family getting out, that led to them defacing the corpse of the elder?

Ren Yifei didn't think that Granny Chun Zhi's death had anything to do with losing something valuable, it wouldn't have led to such extreme actions.

"Why did you die?"

The corpse rolled its eyes, its grey glazed eyes looking at him as if to tell him something, but in the end, it only shed a single tear of blood.

A Jie and Ren Yifei returned to the poker table, not even a single game had been started yet.

As the crowd greeted them, A Jie re-entered the game.

Ren Yifei, on the other hand, looked at the mourning hall.

The lamps in front of the coffin were still burning, the white smoke of the incense swirled upward, the filial sons and grandchildren were kneeling on the ground burning paper money while the costly commissioned monks were still chanting scriptures non-stop.

The funeral was so nicely organised and no amount of money was spared in order to make it so. Anyone who saw it would have said that the deceased had a great filial son.

Who could have known the ugliness that went on behind the scenes.

If the 'ghost' was the deceased, was she willing to let things be?

Re Yifei suddenly smiled: If she was willing, how could she become a 'ghost'?

He had originally only wanted to lie down and be a salted fish until the end.

But at this moment, Ren Yifei only wanted the truth to come to light.

Because he was 'A Fei', the boy that was pampered by his elders.

He didn't care about any ghosts and he didn't care about the instance.

Granny Chun Zhi could not die in vain. For such a caring old woman who looked after the younger generation, she should not carry the humiliation and silently be consumed by this exploitive ritual.

The murderer also shouldn't be accepting praises in such a grandiose manner.

'Ren Yifei' would've minded his own business, but 'A Fei' was different.

Method actors can suffer from the after-effects of getting too deep into a scene, and Ren Yifei's case was especially bad; he will be deeply affected by the character's emotions as if he had become this person, from the way he thinks to the way he acts.

At this moment, it was no longer clear whether he was Ren Yifei or A Fei.

The further into the night, the more crowded the poker table got and the louder the never-ending cries and chants in the mourning hall became.

Ren Yifei went and borrowed three benches to lie on and gazed at the moon in the sky.

There were six people left. Excluding the three veteran players who came back on time, the rest were Xiao Mei, A Song and the sweeper. Who among them was the 'ghost'?

He already had a suspect in mind, he just had to verify it again. Thinking about it he closed his eyes.

As the pampered young man whose family's financial situation was not the best but was certainly treated the best, 'A Fei' couldn't endure the feeling of being wronged, and so, Ren Yifei made himself feel as comfortable as possible.

The previous three hours or so of emergency catch-up sleep hadn't been enough; he needed more sleep.

He fell asleep and a night-watchman passed by, "How old is he? He can't even take care of himself," he said as he put a coat over him.

Player Xiao Mei also passed by, making envious drooling noises.

"It's midnight, everything's safe and sound."

Somehow, the hoarse voice of the watchman scraped through his eardrums, and he woke up while the world suddenly became quiet.

The card refreshed with a new message:[The second night: The secret of the 'ghost' had been eaten by rats and ants, just like its heart.]

Ren Yifei's eyelashes were like the wind blowing across the water, trembling lightly before returning to a calm state: If the enemy is in the dark, so am I.

It's free time for players again.

"Sir, can I follow you? Let me do whatever you want!" Xiao Mei had realised that following the older players would give her more clues and a better chance at staying alive. tbuFAL

Looking around, the lamp trimmer was the most friendly to new players out there among the veteran players.

Xiao Mei's voice trembled slightly, she could drop her dignity and get down on her knees and pull on him to beg in order to survive.

"Suit yourself," The lamp trimmer gave her a sidelong glance and walked out the door, not saying anything else, but also did not drive her away. Xiao Mei had risked her life earlier to get the card for him, and this was when it finally paid off.

Xiao Mei understood tacitly, she was overjoyed and chased after him.

After the two left, the remaining 'sweeper' was inspired and was about to look for the other veteran players, but the eldest grandson and the eldest grandson's wife had already left the mourning hall one after the other. They were obviously not planning on bringing along new players.

The 'sweeper' looked at the 'monk' who had almost gone stupid, he shrank back his neck and said the A Song, "How about we work together?"

A Song smiled: "Sure."

Xiao Mei followed the lamp trimmer around, she ran back and forth, holding up the candlestick for the lamp trimmer.

The lamp trimmer inspected Granny Chun Zhi's room again. Aware that it was the deceased's room, he has a new suspicion.

Swiftly climbing up with his hands and feet braced against the pillar, sure enough, the lamp trimmer spotted two rope marks on the beams. Granny Chun Zhi had been strangled but was then disguised as a hanging, as had her second grandson with only one day in between the two incidences.

He got down on the floor again and checked each corner that he might have missed.

The lamp trimmer found a pair of slippers in a blind spot. The upper portion was a patchwork of rags while the soles were uneven.

"What's wrong with these slippers?" Xiao Mei asked tentatively.

The lamp trimmer looked at the slippers and the corners of his mouth curled slightly, "Do you remember, there was a guy under the bamboo hut who walked with a limp?"

"The night-watchman?" Xiao Mei replied in a whisper.

The lamp trimmer hid the slippers, he won't leave any clues for the other two fellows. They were all players, but even more so, they were competitors.

"It's not entirely certain, but they could be a key suspect."

On the other side, the other two veteran players came out of the homeowner's room and grandchildren's room respectively. It does not seem as though they found any useful clues.

They were unable to concentrate due to their lack of sleep and hunger.

The eldest grandson's wife gasped as she clutched her heavy belly, "Why is this thing so heavy? Is all pregnancy this troublesome?"

A pregnant belly hindered the eldest grandson's wife's movements greatly, this body also had other problems such as swollen lower limbs and it frequently got hungry and sleepy. The hunger and fatigue caused her to not be able to think straight, she was at a loss on what to do in her present predicament.

The performance of the eldest grandson was not much better.

He had never thought that the greatest obstacle he would encounter in this newbie instance was actually food and sleep? The reduced daytime caused his mind to be in a constant state of high alert, going against reason to forgo rest.

The NPCs in this instance are very harsh on 'abnormalities'- no, it's already considered abuse at this point

The lamp trimmer came out with Xiao Mei and they walked straight towards the mourning hall, on the way, they met the eldest grandson's wife and the eldest grandson who were resting their legs.

The eldest grandson's wife was resting on the ground, when she saw them, she frowned and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Mourning hall, to sleep," the lamp trimmer glanced at her.

"Sleep?"

The lamp trimmer reached out and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Can you carry on without sleep? Those NPCs won't even give us a chance to rest."

The eldest grandson's wife was silent, she had even used her status as a pregnant woman to try and get a little benefit for herself, but those NPCs were simply insane, yelling at her for stealing even a little offering.

She's a pregnant woman, okay? Pregnant!

"Come on, what's with that expression? That's how it is in any game whenever the NPCs detect any abnormality," the lamp trimmer was too lazy to talk to the eldest grandson's wife and left for the mourning hall.

Xiao Mei followed inside and found that the monk, who had been sitting in the corner, had shrunk even further in with his back towards them.

"Monk," she called out but there was no response.

The lamp trimmer had already set up his 'small bed' with the stools and sneered at the sight, "Give up, he's useless. The fact that even the NPCs no longer care about him means that he has slowly fused with this instance."

"What will happen then?" Xiao Mei turned her head.

"He will become a part of this instance, live in it, dies in it. He'll become an NPC," the lamp trimmer shook his head, "You'll get used to it when you see more in the future, there will always be guys like him."

Seeing that he had laid down and was ready to sleep, Xiao Mei was also sleepy to the point of having a splitting headache. She asked the lamp trimmer with a bitter smile, "Sir, will we suddenly die if we don't eat, drink or sleep like this?"

The lamp trimmer narrowed his eyes, "Die? What do you think you are now? You've been a dead person ever since you entered this game."

"D-dead?"

Xiao Mei's eyes widened, resembling a red-eyed rabbit, but the lamp trimmer was already asleep with his eyes closed, and she didn't dare ask any more questions.

This veteran player was easier to talk to compared to the other two, but offending him would also be extremely scary.

Fortunately, Xiao Mei was a big-hearted person. She thought about it, if she felt that she was alive then she was alive, and leaned against the pillar before closing her eyes as well.

In front of insomnia, death was but a small matter.

The small courtyard was quiet as the eldest grandson's wife sat on the floor, leaning against a post and closed her eyes.

She wanted to sleep with her head buried in her knees since sleeping in a dimmer environment was more comfortable. However, the big belly prevented her from doing that.

Players won't die from not eating, drinking and sleeping, however, it was worst than death because of this.

Only the eldest grandson was still undeterred, he frowned as he glanced around the various rooms.

If the 'ghost' couldn't be caught quickly, they could only wait for the number of players to reduce one by one to increase the accuracy.

However, this was not a good method as the 'ghost' would become more and more difficult to deal with.

The eldest grandson was upset, he was no longer in control of the situation.

There were quite a few players who were collecting Ghost cards like him, the eldest grandson's wife and the lamp trimmer had also come for that purpose.

If he didn't succeed this time, he couldn't be sure that he would be able to find the next suitable instance within the time granted.

The eldest grandson player could hardly sit still at the thought of this.

He got to his feet and tried to return to battle but his body was like a salted fish, not willing to listen to him.

One foot was soft and the other was heavy, the eldest grandson player was exhausted as if he was a traveller walking through the desert. His feet were as heavy as lead while his heart and lungs burned and stung, he was ready to collapse at any given moment.

He passed by the bamboo hut and saw the night-watchman sleeping next to him, the enviable NPC had relaxed limbs, a serene sleeping face and a coat covering him, seeming to be content.

All kinds of emotions surged in his heart at that moment.

"It's nice to still be able to lie down and sleep," He kicked the bench hard.

It wasn't clear where he had kicked, but the long benches on the side trembled while the outermost bench toppled directly onto the ground. The NPC laying on top remained motionless with only a small portion of his body suspended in the air.

The eldest grandson spat and turned around to go elsewhere.