The Days I Clear Escape Games Pretending to be an NPCCh17 - Neighbourhood (1 and 2)

The Days I Clear Escape Games Pretending to be an NPCCh16 - Neighbourhood (1)

He reached out and picked up the paper on the coffee table. The few pen strokes on the piece of paper almost made Saman laugh, he couldn't help but say, "I thought he would be a little smarter. It turned out that in the end, he still buys and murders people."

"You've done so well for yourself from the outsider's point of view. Therefore, he just wants to live like you and he also believes that what he is doing is justified. Moreover, it doesn't matter if it was smart or not as long as it works. I'd like to think that this was the smartest decision he's ever made."

After taking a sip of water, he picked up a bag of green peas. Sun Qingxu ate snacks as he continued to ramble, "Looking at your outside reputation, if Tian Hong does not strike then Hong En would be as good as yours."

"Hong En? Is it even worth taking?" Saman put down the paper, "It may look like a bright and lavish castle, but the territory is expanding too fast and the workers are unreliable. It looks lively on the surface but the bottom was hollow, just a push would make it collapse."

Regrading Saman's remarks, Sun Qingxu did not deny them. In any case, he was just a person who would give his life to whoever paid him.

Kak kak, the roasted green peas were ground into powder by his teeth, Sun Qingxu sighed, "The Cape of Desolation has one good point, you can eat whatever you want and spoil your body however you want but you still can't get sick much less die. Anyways, back to our main topic, did you know that Dongfeng is backed by Tian Hong?"

Compared to Saman, Tian Hong was a hypocrite, so how exactly did they get hold of his weakness?

Hearing this, Saman just sneered, "There are no real secrets in this world."

No matter how thick the mask was, as long as he got to know them for a day and deduce their true emotions from their micro-expressions, there will be no more 'lies' with Saman. All the truth would be clearly written on the face and could be read at a glance.

The people who could get a foothold in the Cape of Desolation always have one aspect that is particularly outstanding, and Saman was particularly accurate at reading people.

Dongfeng seems to belong to Dong Feng, but in fact, Dongfeng had three people behind it and Tian Hong was one of them. Saman moving against Dongfeng was moving against their secret treasury, so no matter how much Tian Hong tried to endure, he could not hold on any longer.

That's right, it was Saman, who seemed to be pushed around by Tian Hong at every step, who was the real driving force of all the conflicts.

Sun Qingxu asked him, "When are you going to leave? I have stayed in this place long enough."

Reaching for a bottle of wine and a wine glass, Saman sat down on the sofa and poured a little for himself. The glass of wine in his hand swayed gently, and Saman's eyes were 'tinted' red by the wine.

"After entering the new instance tomorrow, I should be forced to leave. How about it?" He looked at Sun Qingxu and asked with a smile, "Why don't we take advantage of the fact that I've yet to become a drowning dog and open a back door for you?"

Sun Qingxu was so scared that he stopped chewing on the green peas and waved his hands repeatedly, "Don't, I want to live a few more years."

A drowning dog? Who would believe it?

"Seriously speaking, when you entered Hong En that day, you said that you wouldn't leave as long as Tian Hong still treats you as his junior brother. So why now are you guys having a fallout?"

Sun Qingxu stroked his chin and he muttered to himself, "Could it be that you are planning to let the person, who is entering the game to deal with you, admit that it was Tian Hong's doing?"

"How can the truth revealed by myself be the truth? I'm going to expose the identity of the killer, then find someone among the other players to help him clear the instance. After that person uploads the copy of the clearance, some will naturally explore the origin and goal of the killer."

Saman's words had a profound meaning, "The 'truth' that the audience discovers by themselves is the 'truth' that they were willing to believe."

Savouring the high-quality red wine, Saman's eyes pierced through the curtains and saw a part of the sky outside where the colourful space fish swam.

"The truth is not important, nor is the public's opinion. All I need is a reason."

They were all pawns on a chessboard, only those who were in the top ten of the star list would half be considered the chess players.

He had always wanted to enjoy the scenery from a high place, but unfortunately, Tian Hong had been confused by the superficial prosperity and their philosophies no longer matched. It was only a matter of time before they go their separate ways.

"Then I wish everything goes smoothly for you," Sun Qingxu replaced the wine with water and did not forget to stuff a handful of roasted green peas into his mouth.

Saman drank the wine in one go: "Smoothly? Of course, everything will go smoothly."

***

'Tch, these players have actually established organisations?" Ren Yifei almost laughed, "Sure enough, where there are people, there are underworld organisations"

He was looking at the player forum, a large online community that seamlessly connected all seven districts.

He had originally thought that there would only be trading information, complaining, venting- but he didn't expect that there would also be hundreds of organisations with elaborate ways to recruit new people every day, at all times, like bubbles forming and popping.

These networks do not mean 'clean network', they all have limitations. What mankind's upper limits were, he does not know. But where the lower limit is, he has seen it.

Even in a place where they could only play games for a living, they still have so many tricks. Surprisingly, even the service industry and entertainment industry had been developed, not to mention the existence of killers, hitmen and the likes.

No unpleasant surprises and no pleasant surprises.

"Don't you like it?" The guide elf felt strange, many players would aspire to become the boss of an organisation.

Ren Yifei directly shook his head, "It's too tiring, it's better to just pull a few people to form a small team and play by ourselves."

"So, are you going to form your own team?" The guide elf asked again.

"I didn't say that," Ren Yifei denied, "After so much hard work, the final benefit is power and status. It's better to just eat than to use others. There's no point in doing so."

The guide elf did not understand this player at all, cough, even though it fought to grab them.

"So dear player, is there anything you find interesting? Whatever it is, I'm here to help you," if there was ambition, there was no need to be worried. Guide elves were most afraid of encountering someone who had no drive and would die at any minute.

It's a pity that its host had systemic PTSD and didn't sense the guide elf's enthusiasm at all, he replied coldly, "Maybe there is still a bit of fun in disguising as an NPC."

"The 'ghost' cannot harm the NPCs due to restrictions, so disguising as an NPC is also a very effective strategy," the guide elf complimented.

"No, I just like acting, so I can experience a different life."

Clear or no clear, he doesn't care.

So nonchalant, like a salted fish.

"Then, do you like games?"

"Not really," Ren Yifei shook his head, "I just needed a place to act."

The guide elf still doesn't understand, but it was a good thing that the player still wanted to play the games, "I can provide consulting services if you need them."

Ren Yifei 'oh'-ed but still did not turn to the elf, instead, he went online to search by himself.

The public posts on the player forum did not mention individual games, these seemed to be restrictions on discussions about the details. However, other topics such as the game ratings, prop restrictions, etc. all had special hot posts.

Background environment, ghost's ability and the number of participants are what the players believed to be the three factors that determined the difficulty of an instance. However, the official rating does not use this method, they would directly enter the instance to test it.

Before a new instance is opened, there would be internal beta testing. Officials would first set their own level, then randomly select players to experiment, and finally rank the new instance according to the clearance process and mortality rate.

This kind of instance with externally recruited testers is also referred to as a welfare instance.

Anyone could enter welfare instances as long as they meet certain conditions and the difficulty would depend on their character. However, there's a higher chance of a high rarity prop randomly being dropped and the number of shells rewarded would also be higher.

There was a link at the bottom of the post which led to the latest news on the official welfare instance.

With sharp eyes, Ren Yifei saw that it was a large instance with a group of a hundred participants and the conditions for entering was that all participants must have their own R-ranked Ghost Card.

The internal test time was ten days later.

Ren Yifei still found it strange, "The instances are updated so quickly?"

"Instances can get pushed aside, and on average, a low-tier instance usually doesn't last for more than three months. But occasionally there would be some exceptions. Those instances that stay for more than a year are the ones with the highest difficulty coefficient and some of the bosses would evolve by themselves."

After listening to the guide elf speak, Ren Yifei wondered, "How long did Granny Chun Zhi's instance stay open?"

"A year and three months. It was the most difficult out of all the novice games and Granny Chun Zhi had evolved from an N-ranked card to an R-ranked card," the guide elf said, "But in low-end games, Happy Funeral was nothing. Neighbourhood, Lovers and Red Moon, these three instances had stayed open for two years."

"They are mid-end games that are listed as being low-end, if you are unfortunate enough to encounter these, please...stay calm, ensuring your safety is the most important. But of course, the probability is very low, Happy Funeral was difficult enough, you won't always be that unlucky."

Ren Yifei:...

Hard to say.

The guide elf only briefly mentioned mid-tier games, probably thinking that it was too difficult for him to manage. However, Ren Yifei didn't care much about the difficulty of the game, he was only concerned about the personas that he would have to interpret.

He doesn't know what kind of role would appear in the hundred man welfare instance. Would it be a pleasant surprise or an unpleasant surprise? Ren Yifei made a note of this matter, he will try it if he has the opportunity.

"Where does the instance come from? Does it really exist?"

After asking this question, the guide elf who had always answered his questions began to play dead. No matter how much he poked it, there was no response.

He went back to the forum, there were many threads discussing this topic with various speculations, but they never reach a consensus. They only know that the instance was due to the obsession of the 'ghost', so where did the 'ghost' come from?

He was really interested.

Next, he inquired about some other questions he had about the instance.

Ren Yifei was preparing for the next game. It was an ordinary low-end game for non-novice players.

The low-end game only allowed players to carry one auxiliary prop and banned the use of any active skills. He guessed that this was what they called the ability restriction of 'low-end games'.

He has three props available but it would be better if there was another choice. nopafV

Ren Yifei looked at the brass treasure chest.

"Does the store sell lucky koi?"

"Eh?"

Another game, another dawn that will repeat itself.

Light broke through the sleeping world.

A selected person opened their eyes, unaware of the dangers that are lurking in the dark and waiting to tear into its prey at any minute.

On the southeast corner of Chang street, there was a low-rise, closed U-shaped apartment building with a small garden in the centre and cars parked around it.

When it was first built, this was still the city centre and the apartment buildings were considered to be very high-end. Thirty years later, the city centre had moved, thus, this side had become a forgotten old city.

The walls of the apartment building were plastered with small advertisements and together with the fallen leaves of the sycamore trees, as well as the river full of garbage next to the building, it looked like a scene of decay from a distance.

A piece of paper drifted in the autumn breeze, it was a torn warrant with basic information about a wanted criminal.

"What do you have today?"

"The fish are good, two new baskets of saltwater fish arrived this morning, you can still pick a few good ones if you look now."

An elderly woman brushes past several other women on the road. She had woken up early to go grocery shopping and was preparing to return to her apartment building.

The owner of the breakfast store across the street called out to her, "It's already this late, why hasn't Xiao Song come out yet?"

"I'll go check, maybe he got up late."

The elderly woman entered the apartment building.

The apartment building had no elevators or separate toilets. It was a temporary place for the working class and lower class in this area. As long as they were not scared of the various kinds of tenants living here, the low rent of 500 yuan per month could still attract many shy tenants.

Shortly after, a well-mannered young man arrived at the door with his suitcase and was welcomed into the apartment by the administrator at the front door.

He was a decent looking young man. He wore a well-fitted suit along with counterfeit shoes that were polished to a shine. He was dragging a blue suitcase with one hand while occasionally raising his other hand to push the pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his face. All in all, he seemed like a social elite.

But since he had fallen to this side of the city, it was obvious that this decency was only superficial with no backing.

"Our apartment was also one of the best here in the past, don't look at the fact that it's old-fashioned, it can still last decades. Mr Gu, please follow me," the administrator had already memorised these lines and would repeat them every time a new tenant came.

As the owner of the apartment building, he seemed to not have been able to forget its former glory, nor could he come out of his past complacency.

"Where do I live?" the new tenant asked.

"On the second floor, the one at the head of the stairway which is very convenient, but it's a bit far from the toilet. On your right is a guy with bad eyesight- he's very quiet, and on your left is a young couple- they won't be a hindrance. Don't worry, our apartment ah, the neighbours are harmonious and never quarrel."

The administrator lifted his trousers, causing the keys to jingle.

He guided the new tenant inside. He had only stepped through the gate and turned right when he caught a glimpse of a blurry silhouette of someone slipping on the open-air stairs from of the corner of his eyes.

There are many old men and women among the tenants so the apartment was jointly and severally liable for any accident.

"Ah!" The administrator turned pale and shouted as he ran, "Be careful!"

But before he could even react, a figure had already rushed forward faster than him.

-------------

The Days I Clear Escape Games Pretending to be an NPCCh17 - Neighbourhood (2)

Ren Yifei opened his eyes.

He was sitting on the edge of a bed in a small room. All of the necessary furnitures are in front of him while the balcony was behind him.

This time, he was a blind and soft-tempered person who was not much of a threat to anyone; even a child could bully him.

The reason why he knew the original owner's character setting was because of the two bear children, who he has yet to meet, planning a 'surprise' for him outside the door of his apartment.

The two children were not loud, it was only that Ren Yifei's ears are better.

Before entering this game, he had opened the brass treasure chest and obtained a 'hearing enhancement' skill.

The system said that this enhancement skill was a bit useless, but Ren Yifei felt that it was much more useful than the others.

After experiencing two games, Ren Yifei had discovered that although he was using someone else's body, all the player's abilities were their own. That was why his eyes still worked and his hearing was better than ordinary people's.

As for the information on the card, it was pretty much the same as last time, except that the role became 'Tenant no. XX' and the keyword became 'Neighbourhood'.

En, Neighbourhood.

He'll complain when he gets back, what lucky koi? Lies.

"A Wen, is it okay for us to do this?"

"Why does it matter, it's just a fall from the second floor, it won't kill him. He's blind and can't see, who will know that it was us? Besides, so what if he knows? Mum won't let him hit us."

The two bear children on the other side of the door got together and lowered their voices as they discussed the plan of their prank.

The red string on Ren Yifei's wrist lit up, he stretched out a hand and tapped it, "In your dreams, I won't unlock the seal, especially not to deal with these bear children."

The red string dimmed and no longer lit up.

Ren Yifei laughed and then looked at the surrounding environment.

He went to the balcony first. There was a water tank, a large sink with a mirror embedded into the wall so that you could also wash you face and brush your teeth in addition to washing your clothes. There were also a few pieces of garments hung on a low clothesline. The overall environment was very tidy, there were no smelly socks to be washed in the basin nor cobwebs hanging in the corners.

The original owner was a meticulous person.

The mirror reflected a delicate and pretty face. However, only the eyes were particularly outstanding and unforgettable.

Ren Yifei, for the first time, saw eyes as innocent as a baby's on an adult's face. They were clear watery black eyes that seems to be untainted by all the filth in the world.

He could see the beauty of the world through these eyes.

Ren Yifei couldn't help but look at it a few more times before turning back to his residence.

His residence was a rectangular space that was separated into two sides by a low cabinet.

The bedroom was on the inside. It had a wardrobe that leaned against a single bed, and a home recording studio next to the bed that consisted of a computer, a desk and various recording equipment.

The living room was on the outside. There was nothing special about the living room except for a bookshelf.

All the furniture here all had one similarity, it was that they all had rounded corners. There was almost no sharp objects seen and nothing that could cause someone to trip.

A blind person, a blind young man whose work might be related to sound.

He closed his eyes and moved his feet inch by inch, carefully measuring every single thing in the room.

In his acting career of more than ten years, he had played a disabled person, a deaf person and a blind person. In addition, he had experienced the life of a blind person because of the 'Big Bad System', so it was not as bad this time around.

Ren Yifei felt his way around the low cabinet.

There were some carved pieces on the low cabinet. Some were jade while others were wood, they were warm to the touch and seemed like something precious that was often fiddled with.

He opened the drawer below, it contained some knick-knacks such as chargers, feature phones, radios, a braille writer, an e-book reader that you could listen to and even a seal engraved with 'Song Bozhi's seal'.

There was also a 'Blind Person's Certificate' in the drawer, which is also owned by Song Bozhi.

Ren Yifei turned on the feature phone and took a look. It was currently early autumn and the weather was sunny.

There were more than a dozen numbers in the contact information, such as older sister, brother-in-law and editor. There were no parents and no specifically marked friends. He looked at the recent calls and all of them were from takeaways or communications operators.

It seems that the original owner's social circle was not wide; this was a good thing.

Walking past the low cabinet, he reached a row of bookshelves and further out was a small sofa set with a small coffee table.

There were many books on the shelves, among these books, the collections of poetry were the most read, followed by proses and then novels. The least read books were tool manuals.

The strange thing was that there are a lot of newspapers in the bag next to the bookshelf.

Since the owner was blind, what were these newspapers for? Who brought them? Would that person read it to him?

Ren Yifei pulled out the newspaper and opened it. The ink smell was still new so it should be the most recent newspaper, he briefly looked at it. It read 'XX Weekly', below were some news, advertisements and obituaries.

Comparing with the date on the phone, this weekly newspaper should be from a week ago.

"A Wen, A Wu, what are you guys doing here?" An old women's voice came from the other side of the door.

"No-nothing," The two children replied weakly.

Then came the sound of the children running away; they were soft and fragmented.

"Huh? It's already this late, why hasn't Xiao Song come out yet?" The voice stopped in front of the door, muttering to herself.

Ren Yifei, who was behind the door, did not move nor did the voice outside. It seemed that if Ren Yifei didn't come out, they wouldn't leave either.

What a strange way to start.

He rolled up the newspaper and put it back. He looked around again and found a white cane on the hook by the door but he didn't find any sunglasses.

After he examined both hands again and confirmed that he was right-handed before hanging the strap of the white cane around his right hand. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

The cold air from outside blew in along with the wind, causing Ren Yifei to shiver.

The outside was slightly brighter than inside causing him to subconsciously want to squint, but he resisted this urge.

After a blind person loses their vision, to 'compensate', their other sensory organs would become more sensitive than ordinary people. Thus, he promptly sensed that someone was nearby and tentatively asked, "Excuse me?"

"Xiao Song came out?" The old woman greeted with a smile.

She was holding a basket containing cabbage and carrots which still had a bit of dew on them; it seemed that she had just bought them.

Only after she spoke did Ren Yifei seem relieved. With his head slightly tilted to the side, he smiled and said, "Good morning."

Seeing that nothing was wrong, the old woman's suspicion dispersed like morning fog, "It's not morning anymore, I just saw who's moving in next door. By the way, A Du from the steamed bun store downstairs asked about you, why did you get up so late today?"

"The alarm clock died."

"In that case, you should hurry to go eat."

The old woman finished speaking and left, she went into the next unit on the left. The two children were hiding on the stairs, covering their mouths as they looked at Ren Yifei with a strange expression on their faces.

Ren Yifei 'didn't see' them. He turned around to close the door and gently pulled on it to confirm that it was locked before picking up his cane. He took two steps, then fumbled to find the stairs railing and began to slowly walk downstairs.

In the front left of his house was an open-air spiral staircase made of cement and coated with a layer of non-slip rubber. Judging by its colour, it seems to be new; when he stepped on it, it felt soft and also very sturdy.

At that moment, the older child's eyes motioned to the younger one. The younger one nodded and immediately took out a handful of round glass marbles.

Hsss...Ren Yifei's heart jumped.

It was still very early at this time and it was not yet very bright. Many people had not woken yet so only three of them were at the scene at that moment.

Those round, glistening, crystal-like glass marbles were laid in the middle of Ren Yifei's only route, shining beautifully.

Because of the characteristics of the rubber, when the marbles were placed down, they make almost no sound.

The two children looked at each other and smiled triumphantly at the impending success of the prank, they dashed down to the bottom of the stairs and looked up.

"Once I step on these marbles, what's the most I can do to protect myself so I won't get hurt while rolling down the stairs?"

Ren Yifei thought about this question, with a slight smile on his face, he held onto the railing with one hand as he slowly walked down the stairs.

"No, perhaps I shouldn't immediately protect myself, humans have a delayed response time when they are frightened. If I took immediate action to protect myself, it may seem like I was prepared. That won't do."

He was only three steps away from the marbles and the kids hiding under the stairs couldn't help but laugh.

Ren Yifei heard it and a slightly doubtful expression appeared on his face as his head tilted sideways, wanting to listen more carefully.

As soon as he did this, the two children below immediately stopped laughing.

They covered each other's mouths, staring at him with a pair of eyes, wanting to laugh but afraid of exposing themselves. Their expressions were distorted into a sinister form; both naive and cruel.

Ren Yifei was holding onto the rails of the stairs, with the blue sky and white clouds above his head and a bottomless abyss below his feet.

Maybe he could pretend that he didn't step on it, or maybe, he could pretend to touch the marble and stop because he felt that something was wrong. tP sIA

But then, the scene would be flawed.

Ren Yifei extended one leg and slowly made his way towards the stage.

His shadow glided on the stairs, silently, just like his footsteps.

There seemed to be two people entering through the gate and his hand, which was tightly gripping onto the handrail, once again loosened.

It was only a three-metre-high spiral staircase with a layer of rubber-coated on the cement, therefore, he probably won't die from the fall...

With this in mind, he lowered his foot, just a few centimetres away from the glass marbles.

The eyes of the two children lit up.

Ren Yifei remained calm. His movements were careful and gentle but every muscle in his body was tense.

A person's body would instinctively avoid getting hurt and every signal being received was telling him to quickly move away.

Instinct...

There is an invisible game between human instinct and human will.

"When you are immersed in the act, every movement of your bones, every muscle tremor and even every micro-expression on your face, are part of the act. It's not just one or two people watching you, it's hundreds of millions of people that are watching you. The slightest flaw will be magnified on the screen."

The glass marbles were scatted under his feet, when he was about to step on them, the air suddenly became a little strained.

No one knows what will happen next.

Maybe he'll be lucky and stop halfway. Maybe he would be unlucky and continue rolling.

What is acting?

He suddenly remembered a question his teacher asked him.

Ren Yifei's feet slowly stepped on the glass marbles.

The sensation of the marbles was different from the flat surface and doubts appeared on his face. However, his foot had already stepped on it.

The round balls could not resist this kind of tilting force. As his balance was disrupted and he tilted forward, his face appeared dismayed and alarmed. He subconsciously tried to curl up and raised his hands to try to cover his head.

However, his head slammed onto the steps. The cement steps shook him, causing a spell of dizziness and he blanked out.

He had only rolled down once before a hand caught him and another hooked under his knees to pick him up.

His centre of gravity shifted again. Ren Yifei had never been picked up like this by someone before and he grabbed onto the other person's clothes helplessly. His hands as well as his legs were warmed by the other's body heat and he could smell a hint of a burnt bitter aroma.

It smells so good, like the scent of a bakery.

Ren Yifei turned his ear to the side and stretched out his hand to carefully feel around, touching the warm and gentle skin, "Thank you?"

The person holding him spoke in a clear voice, "Are you okay?"

Because of the close proximity, his chest seems to be resonating as well.

"O-okay."

What is acting? Acting was the art of deceiving even your own body.

If it's not crazy, it's not living.