Chapter 24: Second Copy: Masquerade

In the winter, Daxiong¹ Ridge was entirely covered in snow. There were many towering giant trees growing on the mountain, their trunks straight and smooth, and their leaves heavily blanketed with snow as well.

Snow had fallen the night before, and it accumulated all night, completely blocking the mountain path leading to Daxiong Forest Castle².

Shen Qingcheng dragged his suitcase, walking with difficulty over the snow-covered path. The weather was frigid. He was wearing a high-necked sweater and knee-length thermal boots, and had wrapped himself in a thick down jacket.

As he lowered each foot, the brown thermal boots sank deep into the snow, and when he lifted them up again, the brown on the boots had darkened, and were obviously a little wet.

“Lu-dage, where are you?“ He paused and took a breath, shaking the stiffness from dragging the suitcase out of his arms, “if you don't show up soon, your Beauty will be taken away by a bear!“

Shen Qingcheng and Lu Qi had entered the copy as a team, but just like the precious copy, had not been placed in the same location. Shen Qingcheng didn’t know where Lu Qi was, but he himself had entered the copy on the outskirts of Daxiong Ridge.

How far out was he?

He and his suitcase stood alone at the fork of a road. The left side led to the foot of the mountain, where houses tucked into the edges of the forest were vaguely visible, smoke rising from them. The right side led into the forest, which was eerily silent, without so much as a chirping bird.

There were two ways to go, but anyone with a brain knew which path to choose. Shen Qingcheng, who didn't really want to vacation in the mountains in the winter, naturally picked up his suitcase and headed down the mountain immediately.

As for the result: if he had successfully descended the mountain, he wouldn’t still be there. Even though he knew that the game wouldn't let a player go down the mountain without completing the mission, he wouldn't give up without trying.

Now that he had tried it, his hope had completely died.

“Ah,“ he sighed, “I wouldn't have wasted my energy if I’d known.“ He’d wandered around the outskirts for a long time, wasting a lot of energy, and he hadn't entered the forest at all yet.

He raised his head. The sky, divided into pieces by the tree branches, was becoming more and more gloomy. Based on the current weather, it would snow later, and it was getting dark. He didn’t even have any way to contact Lu Qi.

Thinking of this, Shen Qingcheng wanted to scold the dogshit game company: it was just a simulation, it wasn’t real, so why did the low temperatures feel so realistic?!

After resting enough, he continued to walk forward, dragging the suitcase. Suddenly, it snagged on something, and even when he yanked it hard it didn’t move. Shen Qingcheng turned his head to look. A bluish-white object was protruding out of the snow and clutching the wheel of the suitcase.

“Daxiongdi,“ he shook the handle, “excuse me, I'm busy.“

It didn’t move at all.

Shen Qingcheng had no choice but to raise his right foot and kick over at it. “Huh--“

Shen Qingcheng had seen a lot of lonely ghosts like this who had died in the wilderness. He had only wanted to kick the corpse away, but hadn’t expected to reveal the part that was hidden underneath the snow. It was a broken piece of a body.

Fractured at the elbow, the wound was irregular, and there were traces of beast bites.

Shen Qingcheng frowned.

Squeak. A squirrel chittered and hopped up and down on a nearby tree, kicking down sprays of snow, and with a pop, something fell in front of Shen Qingcheng.

It was a plush brown teddy bear. The outermost plush fabric of the teddy bear had been cut open by something sharp, but the inside was not white stuffing, but a lump of red, sticky, bloody looking material…

The atmosphere inexplicably turned eerie. Shen Qingcheng shuddered, and let out a visible breath of air, “Hu³, so cold.“

“Shen Meiren?“

Shen Qingcheng, who hadn’t been frightened by the body or the teddy bear, was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Lu Qi's voice. He was startled, and looked around, asking tentatively, “Lu Qi?“

Crunch, crunch.

Lu Qi emerged from the right side of the forest, parting the grass with a knife. He was wrapped in a white coat, and seemed to blend with the snow. Seeing that Shen Qingcheng's hair and eyebrows were covered in snow, he frowned and said solemnly, “ Why so slow.“

How could Shen Qingcheng dare to say that he had tried to go down the mountain and failed? Wouldn’t that make it obvious that he had forgotten about Lu Qi? He laughed and said innocently, “I got lost.“ He looked very pitiful.

Lu Qi was silent for a moment, then without saying anything, he took Shen Qingcheng's suitcase.

“Let's go.“

Glancing at the teddy bear on the ground “baring“ its internal organs, he walked ahead and asked, “Did you encounter an accident?“

Shen Qingcheng followed with difficulty. He first shook his head, then when he remembered that Lu Qi couldn't see, said, “No, a squirrel got it from somewhere. I also saw a damaged body, very fresh, but it looked like a wild beast had bitten into it. Was it a player?“

Lu Qi: “It’s unclear. There are beasts in the mountains, and they are ferocious, especially when they can't find food during the winter.“

Shen Qingcheng: “So this time, we must not only guard against ghosts and players, but also against animals?“

Lu Qi, who already knew that Shen Meiren was the rookie king “Alluring Beauty“, was not surprised that he had asked such a basic question. He replied, “To be precise, you must guard against everything that could kill you.“

That sounded so difficult, he just wanted to relax in his old age, why was he being treated like this? Shen Qingcheng retreated within himself.

Lu Qi walked away, but stopped to wait for him when he heard Shen Meiren lagging behind.

“The initial difficulty of this copy is about A, and the clearance task is the same as before: either survive the duration of the copy or solve the story line. The task location is the forest castle, and there are four main NPCs in it.“

“Wait, wait, how are the difficulties calculated? What was the difficulty of the last copy?“ Shen Qingcheng rushed to catch up.

Lu Qi: “It depends on the task time and the number of players. A copy with high difficulty has a short time limit and a large number of players, and copies with low difficulty are the opposite. The difficulty of the last copy was B-.“

Before, Zhou An'an had described the difficulty slightly differently from Lu Qi.

Shen Qingcheng: “The more difficult copies have a shorter clearance time?“

“It’s not like you’ll definitely be able to solve the storyline if you have enough time,“ Lu Qi said. “If the storyline cannot be solved, then the longer the mission requires, the more dangerous it is. Generally speaking, the storylines of more difficult copies won’t be too complicated.“

Shen Qingcheng understood, nodded and asked, “How many players are there this time?“ He checked the mission time: half a month.

Lu Qi: “There are 14 players who have exited the forest and reached the castle.“

There were players who had already walked out of the forest to the castle, and naturally there were also players who hadn’t gotten out of the forest. Shen Qingcheng remembered those remains, and he didn't ask what would happen if he couldn't get out of the forest. “With me, there’ll be 15?“

“En,“ Lu Qi nodded and extended his right hand. Seeing his doubt, he said lightly, “You are too slow.“

When the sky had completely darkened, the two saw their destination, located deep in the forest. Yellow light overflowed from the windows of the old castle, emitting an indescribable ancient charm.

Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and Shen Qingcheng was dragged by Lu Qi to the door, his whole body leaning on Lu Qi's.

He was very grateful for Lu Qi's great physical strength.

“It's getting dark and Lu Qi hasn't come back yet. Shouldn’t we stop waiting for him?“

“Didn't he say he was going out for a walk? He shouldn't have gone too far.“

“Wait a little longer. If he comes back and finds that we didn't wait for him, everyone will be very embarrassed.“

“What's there to be embarrassed about; this is a horror game! Every second of delay is a second of danger, and no one is obliged to help him.“

“Tch, do you really think he's embarrassed? He's afraid that Lu Qi will find something out and keep it from him.“

“Okay, everyone, stop arguing, let’s wait another ten minutes. If Lu Qi hasn't come back in ten minutes, we'll go to the castle owner to arrange our rooms.“

Squeak... The door was pushed open, and the cold wind blew in, carrying snowflakes with it.

Lu Qi, who everyone was talking about, had appeared at the gate. When he had gone out, his hands had been empty; when he came back, he had one more suitcase on his left and one more person on his right.

Ten pairs of eyes looked at Shen Qingcheng. Shen Qingcheng raised his hands and waved, taking the initiative to greet, “Hello, everyone.“

A man who was seated in front of the fireplace was the first to respond. His gaze flickered between Lu Qi and Shen Qingcheng, then he got up and took two steps forward, and asked with a smile, “Lu Qi, who is this?“

Lu Qi took off his fur coat, “Someone I picked up.“

Shen Qingcheng nodded obediently, “My name is Shen Meiren.“

“Shen Meiren?” The man repeated, looking at Shen Qingcheng again, “Meiren? Good name. I’m called He Wei.”

He turned to the side to reveal the fireplace behind him, a smile on his handsome face. he said gently to Shen Qingcheng, “It's freezing, come over and warm up by the fire.“

“Lu Qi, there’s an empty space here,” a tall, beautiful woman called from the other side.

The players here were obviously divided into two groups. One group was headed by a man called He Wei, and the other group seemed to be led by the woman who had just spoken. The number of players in the two groups was pretty much equal, and each was guarding a fireplace.

If there was a different setup, would the player automatically divide into different groups? Shen Qingcheng considered it. Before he could decide whether to go or not, footsteps sounded overhead.

Leather boots were making a dull sound as they stepped across the thickly carpeted wooden floor, and everyone’s eyes followed the sound. A woman in a gorgeous court dress appeared on the stairs leading to the second floor of the castle.

The woman had a coquettish face, heavy makeup, and a red fox fur shawl that looked very warm. She stopped when she was eight steps away from the ground, raised her chin and smiled at everyone below her.

“Welcome to the Forest Castle. The masquerade will officially start soon. For now, as the hostess of the castle, you must fully obey my arrangements.“

As soon as the woman opened her mouth, the players could not help but frown secretly. The voice of the woman who looked indescribably beautiful was unexpectedly sharp and very harsh.

Another reason for their frowns was the information revealed by the woman's words. They must fully obey her?

After the woman finished speaking, He Wei took on the responsibility of inquiry, and he asked politely, “Beautiful lady, do you know anything about the castle that we should pay attention to?“

The woman didn't have a good attitude towards him despite the compliment. She clapped lightly, and suddenly a group of servants dressed in uniform black and white clothes and holding silver trays appeared on the left and right sides of the hall.

There were 15 players present, and 15 servants each walked over to one player, holding their trays out.

Shen Qingcheng glanced over and saw that there were masks upside down in the tray. All the servants looked numb, like stiff marionettes that only acted on their master's orders--no matter what the players asked, there was no response.

The woman stood on the stairs and watched them silently.

An impatient male player picked up a mask from the tray. The mask was red all over, except for a small white mark like a cat's paw print at the corner of the left eye.

“Masks? What are they for?” The male player examined it from several different angles.

Seeing that the man was fine, a curious female player also picked up the mask in front of her. “Ah, it's not the same.“ Her mask was the exact opposite of the male player’s, with an all white body and a small red feather imprint in the corner of her right eye.

Two people in a row took the masks and they hadn’t been hurt, which gave the other players confidence. They stretched their hands out one after another. Shen Qingcheng also grabbed the mask in front of him.

After a quick assessment, it seemed there were only two types of masks. Shen Qingcheng's had a red background with a white paw print, and Lu Qi's had a white background with a red feather.

Now, the woman who had been silent for several minutes said, “Very good, these are the masks you will use at the dance.” An excited smile appeared on her overly-white face.

TLN:

¹ (大熊岭) Literally “Big Bear Ridge“. Personally I thought the pinyin sounded better, but LMK what you guys think.

² Technically raws say 大熊岭森林古堡, or Big Bear Ridge Forest Castle. Obviously, that sounded unnecessarily verbose, so it’s been shortened.

³ (呼) Breathing onomatopoeia.

Ugh, just realized that apparently my punctuation marks are?? not consistent?? (""/ “”)

Next update may or may not be on time.