Smiling Woman

[Mission: Survive the night.]

When Fang Yuan opened his eyes again, he felt a familiar weakness in his body, and coupled with the system prompt in front of him, he realized that he had entered the simulation once again.

However, what was different from the last time was that this time, he was holding a small box of matches in his right hand.

"It works!", he thought secretly and afraid that he drop it, he put the box into his clothes.

Since he had already experienced the weakness of his body during the previous simulation, Fang Yuan didn't need to spend any time to adapt, nor did he need to digest the memories of this body again.

Knowing that time was tight, he didn't hesitate and started acting according to the previous plan.

Without saying anything to the beggars around him, he jumped to his two feet and then, he started running.

When the other beggars noticed his strange actions, they shook their heads and looked at him with pity in their eyes.

"Has Zhao Ergou gone crazy too?", one of these beggars whispered and his words betrayed the thoughts of the other beggars in the alley.

After they let out a collective sigh and felt that they had lost one more companion, they curled their bodies up and got closer to each other to resist the cold.

On the other side, Fang Yuan didn't know that the beggars thought that he had gone crazy, but even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

His legs moved and he stepped on the ground with all his strength, trying to leave the alley before the woman arrived.

Unfortunately, because of this body's bad physical condition, he struggled to move forward and he had to stop and take a few deep breaths from time to time.

Surprisingly, it took a few minutes for Fang Yuan to leave the alley and just when he was about to turn around the corner, a familiar sound reached his ears.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The sound was slow and seemed to contain a strange rhythm as if it was part of a music piece.

However, having gone through the previous simulation, Fang Yuan recognized what this sound was.

Obviously, the woman who murdered him and everyone else in the alley was coming!

Fang Yuan was originally planning to leave this place as soon as possible, but he found that he was unable to restrain his curiosity.

He wanted to see what the woman was going to do and most importantly, he wanted to find the reason behind her strange actions.

Moreover, Fang Yuan had a strong hunch that this woman would play a vital role in this simulation, and if he wanted to survive the night, he would have to discover her secrets.

Taking this into account, his steps paused and while he tried to make as little noise as possible, he pressed his weak body against the wall, before extending his head forward and peeking into the alley.

Although it was night, the red moonlight allowed Fang Yuan to see what was happening inside.

As he was holding his breath, the tapping sound became louder and louder, and soon, a familiar woman stepped into the alley from the other side.

She was still wearing a golden dress and had a gentle expression and a smile, while she was holding a small bag in her hand.

The smiling woman stepped closer and whispered a few words in a soft voice, while her hand reached into her bag and she took a few pieces of bread out.

While she was giving them to the beggars, Fang Yuan looked at the woman's face and found that her smile was slowly becoming more happy.

Even though she was smiling gently, the woman's appearance was quite strange, seemingly unnatural, and unlike how an ordinary human would act.

The words "uncanny valley" popped up in Fang Yuan's mind and he felt that this term was very apt for this situation.

Of course, having seen this woman kill people with a smile on her face, he wouldn't believe that she was an ordinary person.

"What a psychopath...", he muttered as he looked into the alley and found that the bodies of the beggars were twitching violently and slamming against the ground.

A few seconds later, these people's struggle stopped and silence spread in the dark alley.

Under Fang Yuan's eyes, the woman stared at the beggars on the ground and pulled a small item out of her sleeve.

The red moonlight fell on this item and allowed Fang Yuan to see what it was.

It was a small silver dagger, which was only a few centimeters long and had the thickness of about two human fingers.

Just when Fang Yuan had a guess about what she was going to do, the woman's next actions confirmed this guess.

Slowly, the woman leaned down in front of a beggar, and with a move of her hand, she swung the silver dagger towards their neck.

"Splash!"

Blood splattered on the wall behind the beggar and fell to the ground, creating a bloody scene that would shock any normal person.

Thankfully, because of the way the woman was standing, she was obstructing his view and Fang Yuan could only see the blood and not anything else.

However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the woman didn't stop.

With a gentle smile still on her face, she brought her face close to the beggar, her face practically touching their body.

"Damn it!", Fang Yuan couldn't help but curse and he quickly took his head back, unwilling to look any further.

In his mind, he regretted his previous decision to stay in this place.

"In the future, I'll make sure to restrain my curiosity!"

After he made this promise, he took a few steps forward and tried to leave this place while making as little sound as possible.

Although he moved away, Fang Yuan could still hear a faint noise coming from the dark alley.

"Splash! Splash! Splash!"

There was a few seconds of silence between each splashing sound and Fang Yuan subconsciously started counting their amount in his head.

"One...two...three."

When he finally reached the number ten, the sound suddenly stopped and no matter how much time passed, it didn't come again.

Instantly, Fang Yuan understood what this silence meant.

"Everyone is dead."

Just when he thought that the death of all these people meant that everything was over and was slightly relieved, a rhythmic tapping sound came from behind him.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

When Fang Yuan turned his head with difficulty, he found a blurry figure that was facing his direction standing outside the alley, its gaze seemingly landing on him.