The Days I Clear Escape Games Pretending to be an NPCCh21 - Neighbourhood (6)

T/N: The time when the information on the card update is very confusing, maybe the author forgot or maybe it's my understanding that is off. But from here on out, the rules (that we know of right now) are:

The card updates at 11 pm (before it was 2 am).

Time pause is only for novice instances.

The ghost can not harm NPCs, but other NPCs can harm each other.

The ghost is only able to kill a player from 11 pm to the end of 1 am. The players with their identity expose (have the golden words) will be at the top of the ghost's kill list.

To clear the game, the player must state the true identity of the ghost. To get the Ghost Card, the player must win a fight against the ghost.

The player can be OOC, but only to a certain extent and as long as it does not go against the restriction of that specific instance

Ren Yifei did not have a pleasant sleep. He couldn't shake off this sort of cold and damp feeling- it was as if he was not lying in bed, but rather, in the nest of some cold-blooded animal that was filled with a slimy fishy stench. 4zUM8N

Fine beads of sweat emerged and dampened his bangs. When he woke up in a daze, he seemed to spot a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

He recalled seeing the same pairs of eyes when he went to visit a particular zoo to see the 'man-eating tiger'.

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It does not seem like it was looking at something unfamiliar, nor did it seem to not understand- it was a gaze that lacked any curiosity.

The gaze was one that only held hunger and lust for food. ThvrWU

Cold air broke into the quilt and he became fully awake.

Just ten centimetres away from his face was a black silhouette; it was so close that he could feel the greed coming off of this figure.

"..."

Because it took him a few seconds to react, Ren Yifei was past the point of being alarmed.

D56Fih

This allowed him to save some face. He calmed down and slowed his breathing as if he was just dazedly opening his eyes and sleepily closing them again.

Is this a burglary?

In fact, the room had two layers of thick curtains drawn so the room was too dark for him to see anything clearly. He only had the feeling of being watched and was barely able to make out a silhouette.

The other party was very careful, the sound of their breathing couldn't be detected despite being so close, and he also could not feel the heat coming from their breath. zBc1WH

If this was a burglary, pretending to be ignorant was the best way to protect yourself.

For several minutes, the intruder stayed close to him and observed him with a sort of perverse obsession.

If this was not an unexpected intrusion, then the alternative would be...

A stalker. Zelcqj

Aside from anxiety and fear, Ren Yifei was familiar with this kind of thing.

A stalker, a strange sort of person who would steal, install monitoring and listening devices, use drones to film outside the windows of their target and track cars ....

Their abilities rivalled that of first-class detectives.

In comparison, those kinds of things might be better than encountering this stalker. After all, the guide elf said that the boss can not harm NPCs but the stalker might ( since this restriction only applies to the boss, not NPCs.) XigJ Q

Ren Yifei closed his eyes, his breathing became more even and he seemed to have fallen back to sleep.

"You're back," the voice in the room was hoarse and low. It hardly sounded like a human voice as the tone was one of desperately suppressed fervour, "I've waited a long time, finally."

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Ren Yifei broke out in goosebumps because of this voice.

However, he was still breathing evenly as if he was deep asleep. xDdqon

"You are more beautiful than I remember."

As if to touch him, the dark figure hovered his fingers a centimetre above his eyelids.

Ren Yifei's hand tensed up for a moment as his fingertips clenched onto the Ghost Card.

But after that, the other party no longer moved, he merely stared at him from a close distance.

The black shadow lurked in the room for a long time. Ren Yifei placed a finger on his wrist and counted the number of pulses to calculate the time.

About ten minutes later, the door opened before closing.

The room was silent.

Ren Yifei remained motionless on the bed. 5FIfiO

If he had opened his eyes at this moment, he would have been in for a huge surprise. The black shadow did not leave at all, he had opened the door but then turned back silently— the few seconds when Ren Yifei woke up had made him suspicious.

But unfortunately, the sleeping person did not open his eyes and his breathing remained the same.

After another ten minutes, the door opened and closed again.

This time, the shadow really left. KWRiEd

Then ten minutes after that, the card heats up, indicating the death of a player.

Ren Yifei opened his eyes, his body already drenched in cold sweat.

He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, being careful not to make too much noise. A few moments later, Ren Yifei calmed down and looked down at the card, there were two new pieces of information on it.

[The first night: Dragon's Back Mountain. ] bDAyMm

[One of the players has died, one-eight of the 'ghost' seal is unlocked. ]

The second line was understandable, it indicated that the power of the 'ghost' would increase when a player dies.

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But the first line, Dragon's Back Mountain? What does this have to do with the death?

After thinking for a long time, he still made no progress in understanding this line and was very tired. He stayed awake for a little longer but there were no more movements. Ren Yifei simply turned the card over: let's wait for someone to scream tomorrow... kiCdDU

In the early morning, before the sun rose, there were no clouds in the bluish-purple sky and birds were lined up on the telephone poles...

"Ahhh—"

A sharp voice pierced through the sky and broke the tranquillity of the morning.

The peaceful apartment building was shaken and the birds were startled; it sounded like a sudden spike in pitch had erupted. RZYCDw

"What's the matter?" The NPCs rubbed their sleepy eyes as they walked out the door.

"Here we go again," the players in the different rooms opened their eyes in unison, put on their clothes and rushed out.

Ren Yifei mixed into the group of NPCs. He was neither early nor late, neither at the front nor at the very back.

"What happened?" He asked the people around him. But in fact, the scene of the first murder was right in front of him. dOlgxm

It was the public toilet in the corner of the first floor, the one who discovered the body was an uncle who had come to use the toilet and was now passed out from the fright.

Under the pale light of the public toilet, they could make out a woman in pink pyjamas lying in a pool of blood near the sink.

She was only wearing one slipper while her permed curly hair draped over her face and neck with parts of it stained with blood.

She was stabbed several times in the back, dying her pyjama red with coagulated blood. a2xYh1

The walls of the public toilets were all covered with tiles and because they are regularly cleaned by someone, they looked relatively clean despite being a little yellow. But at that moment, these tiles were plastered with bloody fingerprints and handprints with beautiful lips painted on top before being crossed out.

There were also traces of blood on the ground as if the deceased had been chased here and struggled a bit before finally succumbing to her death.

Most people just glanced at the scene and their legs would already be too weak to stand up straight.

The strong smell of blood permeated through the air. 9mr5pM

It was the player from yesterday, the mother of the two bear children. Ren Yifei recognised her.

The players noticed the gold words that appeared above the deceased's head: Tenant No. XX.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

The appearance of the gold words indicated that she broke a certain rule and became the boss's primary target.

What did she do? 5pgW6H

"Honey A man cried out while rushing forward, "What's going on? Who did this?"

"Is it you? Just because my child called you a prostitute? Are you not a prostitute? Are you afraid of what other people say? And you, always so gloomy, did you retaliate against my wife because I reported you? Yes, yes, and you, you're no good either, always having affairs."

The man jumped up around like he was crazy, cursing at anyone he caught sight of.

The administrator tried to stop him, "You should calm down." gz7rEF

The NPCs erupted into chaos while the players crouch down and start inspecting; time is precious and cannot be wasted.

"The mouth was scratched," they whispered.

"This player was a housewife with two children."

These players were not afraid of revealing their player identities. Unlike quivering newcomers, they had a kind of confidence and could calmly face the boss if it ever came knocking on their door. aYNmqZ

The game was like a stage for natural evolution. It was where some people developed camouflaging skills while others developed keen perception and escape speed. Or they could also develop sharp claws and teeth, defensive armour and a 'take it or leave it' attitude.

Ren Yifei belongs to the former, and these people probably belonged to the latter.

In addition, he could clearly feel that the players squatting there were divided into several groups. There were teams that came in together and there were solo players.

The player who saved him yesterday was with a young man that has a nervous expression on his face and the others seemed to be acting alone; this could be inferred from their mannerism. PZ9fFu

The student named Xiao Shi was examining the body with steady and skilful movements.

The hunched old man was looking at the red lips on the wall.

The deliveryman was also there. He looked like a frightened newcomer and was frequently looking to others for help.

There were still two people mixed into the crowd while pretending to be NPCs, but they had a lot of flaws. Glbimr

The 'ghost' was hidden within the players and perhaps the 'ghost' was among these people; the identity of the hunter and the hunted could switch at any moment.

Ren Yifei thought of the gaze he felt yesterday morning and the fright he received last night.

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Does this have something to do with the 'ghost'?

In addition to that tone of voice, what does 'waited a long time for you' mean? It was difficult for Ren Yifei's thoughts to not go askew. iFd Hy

He just wants to be a salted fish, lie down until the game is over and quietly be a cute NPC. However, there are always such unpleasant surprises.

Ren Yifei almost thought that the instance was aimed at him, only then would such a targeted role be arranged for him.

But who could a soft-hearted and harmless blind man offend?

"It's time to wake the children." DauOqY

"It's time to go to work."

As the body began to disappear, the NPCs yawned and walked back home. The angry man also stopped and even the unconscious first witness got up. Only the bloodstains on the wall and floor remained, but even then, the NPCs were unresponsive.

The players were still squatting in place, seeming to be analysing the situation and discussing countermeasures.

Including the person on the ground, a total of six players appeared at the scene with three more in hiding. b6LQdk

Saman also carefully observed the six people. The young woman was dead and he already knew all the information about the person who came with him. It was Tian Hong who had set the other up to cause mischief for him; perhaps they had already contacted the killer in the crowd.

In order to kill him, Tian Hong had invested a lot of money.

As for the remaining three people, one was wearing a sky blue delivery uniform whom he had already met the day before. They seemed to be a newcomer who had some experience, however, the look in their eyes was not right. He does not know if they were a veteran player pretending to be a newcomer, or if there was more to the story.

The other was an old man wearing a danyi, he was seen mingling with a group of elders who were sunbathing yesterday, prodding for information. TboxU6

There was also a young man dressed as a student. He did not speak much, he only kept his eyes on the wounds and blood on the wall. He may have some forensic knowledge and was trying to profile the murderer.

As for the players pretending to be NPCs, although they had tried very hard to synchronise with the NPCs, he found them at a glance.

Out of the two, one was a young man wearing a floral shirt, judging by their outfit, hands full of tattoos and nose studs, they looked like a non-mainstream youth. However, their eyes were sharp and would deliberately avoid looking at him.

The other was an older woman in her 50s or 60s who walks very restrainedly and resembled a young woman. jPJ1mw

There was also another one, but he couldn't find them. He doesn't know if they didn't come, or if they disguised themselves too well so he didn't notice them.

In the crowd, he spotted the blind NPC he had eaten with yesterday. The other was walking unhurriedly in the crowd and each step he took was the same length.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Yesterday, he noticed that the youth used his steps to measure the distance he travelled and determine where he was. This was a good method, he may not be able to see but there was probably a complete map in his brain, enabling him to know where he is.

Saman wondered why he paid attention to him. Was it because the other party's eyes were soft and bright, unlike that of a blind person? 5XKTo1

Finally, the sky was lit up by a golden thread that appeared over the horizon. The aroma of breakfast wafted from the apartment building and all the grandparents began to go out.

It was really morning this time.

Ren Yifei was neatly dressed, ready to go out for breakfast.

Next door, Saman was also dressed in his suit, clutching a file folder and ready to go out. Gix9ac

When the surveillance video filmed from six different locations was played at six times the speed, a black figure appeared in two frames, wearing a black shirt with a black hat covering their face and was about 1.7 to 1.8 metres tall. They looked to be male judging from their body shape, but the possibility of a female in disguise could not be excluded.

Closing his laptop and putting it in his bag, Saman went out the door. He only had one day off and had to go to work today as usual.

As Ren Yifei had guessed at the beginning, the players could only drop their persona to a certain extent, however, they still had to go to work. If they completely dropped their persona, they would be rewarded with the golden words.

Whether the players liked it or not, they all have to go to work or to school. bL9DEv

Oh, except for the ones who were originally squatting at home.

The aunt next door came back from her grocery shopping, as usual, she and Ren Yifei greeted each other cordially. The two bear children were chasing each other and playing in the hallway, they almost bumped into him but they only pulled a face and mocked him for being blind before running away.

The NPCs had no memories of the murder, no memories of going out at that time and none of these two bear children's mother.

Ren Yifei went downstairs more cautiously, he pointed his toes at the steps to make sure it was safe before he continued walking. F1Dbdw

"No need to worry," a clear male voice sounded accompanied by the aroma of a bakery, "There are no foreign objects today. En, no bear children either."

Then there was the sound of orderly footsteps hurriedly passing by Ren Yifei and gradually disappearing.

"Mr Lin?" Ren Yifei raised his voice slightly, but no one responded.

He was already gone, only a bit of the warm fragrance remained. qLwbC