TANH Chapter 23 (Part Three), Guide 23.3 (End)

5TH FEB 2023~SV

A total of three (part three)

With Ji Yu’s departure, the bone-chilling coldness surrounding him gradually dissipated.

After an unknown amount of time, Wen Qing finally regained some strength. He flexed his fingers, slowly getting up from the ground.

“Bang——”

The door behind him was slammed hard again. The door frame slightly shook.

Wen Qing turned around to look. Only now did he realise that the wooden door had become a glass door.

Zhou Zhou, who was standing behind the glass door, must’ve clearly seen everything that had happened just now.

The corners of his lips were slightly lifted, as if he was smiling, but his eyes were entirely shrouded in gloom. In a low voice, he asked, “Qing Qing, are you alright?”

Wen Qing blinked and didn’t say anything.

Zhou Zhou laughed. “Qing Qing is so good, you got rid of that bad Ji Yu.”

After he finished speaking, he stretched out his bloody right hand. There was a 5-6 centimetre claw mark on his arm. It was very deep, and the flesh had been turned outwards, which was horrible to see.

Wen Qing was afraid of seeing such a horribly mutilated wound. He took a step back.

Zhou Zhou smiled. He placed his index finger on the glass door, and used the blood flowing from his fingertips to slowly draw a heart on it.

While he was drawing, the blood on the heart flowed down the glass, vertically and slowly, sparsely and especially horrifying.

“See you tonight.” Zhou Zhou’s eyes curved. He waved at him with a smile.

Wen Qing felt chills running down his back. He stumblingly ran forwards, and nearly fell down when he ran downstairs.

Running to the second floor, he panted and leaned on the wall. Slowly, he walked towards the study.

The door of the study wasn’t closed. Before he reached the door, Wen Qing spotted Yu Xing inside from a distance.

At the same time, Yu Xing also noticed his presence.

Yu Xing waved to him and smilingly said, “Qing Qing, come quickly, there’s an important clue.”

Wen Qing took two steps forward, then he heard Si Kong say, “Don’t come in.”

His footsteps paused. He stopped outside the study’s door.

He had a panoramic view of the study room. Yu Xing stood by the door, Si Kong sat on a chair, and there was also Li Si Wen crouched by a corner of a bookshelf.

Wen Qing side-eyed Si Kong. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask Li Si Wen what was going on.

Before he could utter a word, Yu Xing strode directly to the corner and lifted Li Si Wen to the door. He threw her to the ground and whined, “Qing Qing, it’s all her fault, she tricked us into coming into the study, and now we can’t go out.”

Hearing these words, Wen Qing immediately understood. Now, the study had become just like that bedroom.

The people inside couldn’t come out.

That was to say…… he was the only one who could freely move about in the villa now.

Wen Qing let out a long sigh in relief. He leaned his back against the wall and thought to himself, finally, something good happened.

His mouth wasn’t gnawed in vain.

Thinking of this, Wen Qing pursed his lips, and a tearing pain burst from his wound.

Ji Yu had bitten deeply. Now, his lips were still bleeding a little, and there was a bloody smell between his lips and teeth.

Wen Qing’s lips twisted and tightened. Yu Xing and Si Kong also saw his wound, and their expressions subtly changed.

Si Kong’s eyes went half-lidded. He looked up and down Wen Qing’s body, and after seeing that there were no other injuries, his furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Yu Xing’s gaze moved around Wen Qing’s lips. His eyes narrowed, and with a fake smile, he said, “Qing Qing is hurt.”

“It’s all because of you.” he sat on the chair with his legs crossed, and tapped on Li Si Wen’s back with his toes. “If it wasn’t because of you, I could’ve become the hero saving the beauty just now.”

“Then Qing Qing would’ve had to make a promise to me, but now……”

When he finished speaking, the corners of Yu Xing’s lips raised. He tilted his head and glanced at Wen Qing. “Qing Qing, why don’t we vote for her next time?”

Hearing about voting, Li Si Wen’s body shivered slightly. She lifted her head, revealing her face covered by her long hair. The right side of her face was still swollen. “You, you guys only have two votes, how could you vote for me?”

“Tomorrow, me, Zhou Zhou, and Si Kong, we have three votes altogether.” when she finished speaking, the corners of her lips were lifted with difficulty.

Yu Xing glanced at Si Kong. He swayed in his chair and lazily said, “You think you can live until the voting session?”

Li Si Wen’s face subtly changed. She casually said, “Zhou Zhou said you guys cannot harm humans.”

Yu Xing sneered. “You’ll just believe whatever Zhou Zhou says?”

Li Si Wen clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and said, “He didn’t trick me. Ji Yu already left alive.”

Yu Xing asked with a sneer, “So you just listen to Zhou Zhou’s words like that, and you come to trick us?”

“You wanted to make our Qing Qing die, did you think Zhou Zhou would let you go?”

Li Si Wen’s eyes dimmed. Right… Zhou Zhou liked Wen Qing……

“But- but I’ve already apologised……”

Yu Xing slowed down his speech and slowly asked, “If he wasn’t preparing to deal with you, why did he ask you to trick us? Why didn’t he do it himself?”

His voice was deep, and seemed to have a strange rhythm, which lead people to believe the situation in his words. “I think he wants to lend a knife to kill. He’ll lend a knife to me to kill you.”

Li Si Wen’s eyes gradually lost focus. The emotions on her face became more and more obvious. Panic, fear, anger and other emotions were intertwined on her bruised face, which seemed all the more abnormal.

“You- you’re lying to me……”

“You know I’m not.” Yu Xing said.

Li Si Wen’s expression twisted. She muttered to herself, “It’s all because of Zhou Zhou… it’s all because of him… even Wen Qing……”

All of a sudden, she burst into shrill laughter. “Hahaha, even Wen Qing, all of you want me to go to hell.”

Seeing this, Yu Xing shrugged and looked at Wen Qing innocently. He whined, “Qing Qing, you look at this lunatic.”

Wen Qing stared at this scene blankly. Having the perspective of a bystander made him finally realise why he had a sudden emotional outburst a few days ago.

Ji Yu and Yu Xing’s words, or their own existences, will bring out everyone’s negative emotions.

Chen Yiyi, Gong Yunyun, Zhou Zhou…… now Li Si Wen…

They didn’t become like this because of the villa, but rather because of Ji Yu or Yu Xing.

The difficulty of this game shouldn’t lie in finding the guide, but in living in the same house as Ji Yu and Yu Xing, and still remain clear-headed and not fall apart.

Only after a while did Wen Qing come back to his senses.

He pursed his lips, licked away the blood on them, and turned around to leave.

Wen Qing went straight into Zhou Zhou’s room. He searched all the corners, and found the entirely white book under the pillows.

He sat on the bed, turned a page, and was stunned.

The first page was entirely blank.

The second page was also entirely blank.

The third page, the fourth page……

It was only until Wen Qing flipped to the middle did words finally appear.

It was the two pages Si Kong had spread out before.

【 God favours young humans the most. They are pure and clean, and they see the world in a beautiful light. 】

【 However, good things are always fleeting. With the passage of time, the evil desires that harm intelligence will gradually infect young humans. In order of severity, from the most serious to the least serious, they are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust, and depression…… 】

【 Humans are just one of thousands of creatures, but being loved by gods is not a good thing, because humans are easily corrupted by evil intentions. Some gods are keen to appreciate the fall of human beings, while others are on the side of human beings. 】

【 And some gods want to play a simple game with humans. 】

Wen Qing continued to flip through the book. There was not a single word in the second half of the book.

He closed the book and stared at the entirely white cover absentmindedly.

So this was a simple game……

The prompts in this book, the system’s reminders, they only needed a simple understanding of the literal meaning.

In an instant, Wen Qing suddenly figured it out.

The system had been reminding them from the very beginning.

The nursery rhyme of finding a friend wasn’t nonsense nor intimidation, it was telling them that the guide was a good friend of the players, not in the opposite camp of the players. From the beginning, they had gone the wrong way, or the system was misleading them.

The identity cards of the human players were all related to themselves in order to make them familiar with each other.

The difficulty laid in the fact that there were two gods and this villa that could fulfil people’s specific desires, luring them into corruption and making them go crazy.

Only Si Kong, a god, helped human beings, but he also had many restrictions, couldn’t do this, couldn’t say that.

Wen Qing hugged the book and blankly sat on the bed. Finally, he understood how to leave this instance.

Him, Zhou Zhou, Li Si Wen…… any ordinary human being could become the guide.

This was the game the gods wanted to play. The guide should be chosen by the gods.

*****

Time passed by. It wasn’t until an hour before the voting session that Wen Qing slowly sat up, washed his hair and took a shower, before heading downstairs with reddened eyes.

Five minutes before the voting session, the sound of a door being kicked open rang out from the second floor.

Wen Qing leaned against the back of his chair, staring firmly at the staircase.

Si Kong and Yu Xing came downstairs at the same time. One on the left, one on the right, they sat in the two empty spaces beside Wen Qing.

Watching the chairs on both sides being pulled out, Wen Qing slowly opened his mouth and asked, “The guide is chosen by you gods, right?”

Yu Xing’s actions paused. He leaned in front of him and blinked. “Qing Qing, what did you just say?”

Wen Qing tilted his head and met Yu Xing’s dark eyes.

He was somewhat unsure at first, but Yu Xing pretending not to hear him made him confirm this.

This was a simple game, so the use of gods was also the simplest.

They had never found it, because the usage was so simple that nobody thought it would be the usage of gods.

Voting.

Just needed to vote……

In a low voice, Wen Qing asked, “Does the equivalent exchange you mentioned still count?”

Yu Xing restrained his smile. His eyes were narrow and long, and when he wasn’t smiling, his sharp facial features made people feel a kind of gloomy chill.

Wen Qing hesitated for a moment. He mustered up his courage, raised his chin, and quickly pecked Yu Xing’s face.

Then, he leaned close to his ear and softly said, “Vote for me.”

The warmth and softness on his cheek was fleeting. Yu Xing lowered his eyelids and asked, “What if I don’t vote?”

Wen Qing was a little stunned.

Yu Xing continued to ask, “What will you do?”

Wen Qing thought about it, and truthfully said, “Then I’ll probably immediately go crazy.”

Yu Xing didn’t say anything. There was no sort of expression on his face either.

Wen Qing didn’t know whether it was agreement or rejection, he pursed his lips tightly, the scabbed wound opened again, he had no time to care about the wound, and said slowly: “I, I don’t want to play anymore.”

Wen Qing didn’t know if that was an agreement or a rejection. He pursed his lips tightly, and the scabbed wound opened again. He had no time to care about the wound, and slowly said, “I- I don’t want to keep playing.”

In fact, there was another way. During this round of voting, vote Yu Xing out. Wait for the next voting session, when there was only Si Kong with a god card left, they would clear the instance.

But Wen Qing couldn’t bear the thought of staying in this place for another 24 hours.

He softly called Yu Xing’s name. “Yu Xing.”

“Can you vote for me?”

“Or tell me who I should vote for……”

Wen Qing quietly said, “I’ll kiss you.”

The originally clear voice of the teenager became a little hoarse due to staying up late. Yu Xing could hardly hear the tone of his request as being coquettish.

Yu Xing stared at Wen Qing. Compared to the first day when he saw him, he had lost a lot of weight.

His cheeks were pale, his lips were extremely red due to the wound, and his eyes were also red, which made him look pitiful.

Yu Xing stared at him quietly. The two words “Not good” were suddenly changed to one word, “Okay.”

Wen Qing turned to look at Si Kong.

Si Kong’s gaze swept across his lips. He quickly withdrew his gaze and said, “I know.”

One minute before the voting session, Li Si Wen and Zhou Zhou appeared on the second and third floors.

Zhou Zhou’s complexion was pale and his hands were wrapped in bandages. After he spotted Wen Qing, his eyes lit up, and he quickened his pace downstairs.

He sat directly opposite Wen Qing. His eyes curved and he smiled, a bright, beautiful and clean big boy.

Wen Qing lowered his eyes, not saying anything.

“Tick tock.” the second hand of the clock struck nine o’clock.

Wen Qing lifted the pen. One by one, he wrote down his own name on the paper.

【 Voting has ended. The votes will now be counted. 】

【 Player Yu Xing, two votes. 】

Hearing the number of votes for Yu Xing, Zhou Zhou realised something was wrong.

【 Player Wen Qing, three votes. 】

Zhou Zhou raised his head. He stared deeply at Wen Qing, and the corners of his lips rose. “Does Qing Qing already know?”

Wen Qing didn’t say anything, didn’t look at him, and slowly stood up.

【 May player Wen Qing open the door. 】

Although he knew how to clear, when he wanted to open the door, he still felt a little uneasy.

Wen Qing walked to the door and stared at the round metal knocker.

Wen Qing took a deep breath. Slowly, he raised his hand, grasped the cold metal door knocker, and gently pushed it forwards.

“Da.”

The door opened.

Wen Qing stared at the thick white mist outside the door, and felt a little lost.

Finally, it was over.

He hadn’t begun walking when Li Si Wen’s strange laughter suddenly rang out behind him. “Hahaha, the door has opened, the door has opened, we’ve cleared it now.”

She frantically bumped Wen Qing away and rushed out the door. The next second, she stopped, abruptly turned around, and forcefully pushed the door with both hands, trying to close the door.

Li Si Wen stared at Zhou Zhou and Wen Qing coldly, with a ferocious expression on her face. “All of you should go to hell!”

“Go to hell!”

Wen Qing immediately wanted to stop her from closing the door and pushed outwards, but soon realised that he didn’t feel anyone pushing the door.

Even if Li Si Wen tried her best, she didn’t even push the door back a centimetre. Instead, her body gradually began to turn red, and cracks appeared. More and more cracks began to appear. In the blink of an eye, they had spread all over her body. White light seeped through the cracks on her body. Her whole body seemed to be tearing apart.

“AAAAAH——”

The moment the sharp screech sounded, Wen Qing’s eyes were covered by a large palm.

Si Kong’s voice sounded above his head, “Go.”

“Goodbye.”

After those words fell, he felt something gently brushing against his hair.

Immediately after, the system’s emotionless voice sounded in his ears:

【 Congratulations to player Wen Qing for successfully clearing the god-level instance Guide. 】

【 May player Wen Qing proceed to the human world. 】