PSP Chapter 29: Skinning

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After learning from Lu Qi that the doors of the rooms could be opened from the outside, Shen Qingcheng deliberately moved the cabinet by his bedside to block the door when he was sleeping.

The next morning, as usual, he was woken from his dreams by a servant outside the door. He moved the cabinet back to its original position, and headed to the corridor to wake Lu Qi up for breakfast.

There were many people huddled around a singular room, and Lu Qi was there too.

Shen Qingcheng walked over, feeling a little strange. Had Lu Qi remembered the wrong room? He didn’t live there.

"Lu Qi." He called out to the man's back.

He didn’t know what was going on in the room, but a dozen or so players were all blocking the door. He craned his neck to get a better look.

Hearing his voice, Lu Qi's long legs moved slightly, blocking Shen Qingcheng's already-limited vision.

Shen Qingcheng: "???"

Lu Qi said, "Xiao Liu is dead."

"This is Xiao Liu's room?" Shen Qingcheng was stunned, "Why aren’t you letting me look?"

He was the type of person that wanted to do it when others didn’t let him, and that considered whether to do it or not when someone else asked him to do it. Lu Qi wouldn’t let him see it, so he was more curious about what was going on inside.

This time, Lu Qi didn't stop him, he just furrowed his brows and pursed his lips.

After he squeezed in and saw the situation in the room, Shen Qingcheng understood why Lu Qi had tried to stop him.

Xiao Liu's death was horrifying, although in a different way than Tong Yixue's dismemberment. Xiao Liu's body was well preserved.

She was lying on the bed with her hands folded neatly on her stomach. Her eyes were closed, and the corners of her lips were slightly raised, as if she was having a sweet dream.

The quilt on the bed was gone, and Xiaoliu's bare body was exposed to the air. The slender body that had once belonged to a young girl had been completely stripped of its skin.

The originally fair and delicate skin had been replaced with pitted flesh, red and textured.

There was a lot of blood in the room. Blood flowed from Xiao Liu's body, soaking the mattress, and then dripped onto the floor, blending with the dark blanket.

The skinned red body resembled the red ghost outside Xiao Liu's window.

Most of the players were blocking the door, and He Wei and Gao Shulin were in the room, checking if there were any clues left behind.

Gao Shulin had a bad personality, but she was really courageous. There were male players who didn’t dare to look inside the room, but she could examine Xiao Liu's body without changing her expression.

It was no wonder that the game could entice players from the very beginning.

Xiao Liu's mask was placed neatly beside her pillow. It was white with red feather marks at the corners of the eyes.

On the right wall hung an oil painting of a bird perched on a branch. It was unclear what species the bird was, but it had beautiful, colorful feathers.

While Shen Qingcheng was observing, Gao Shulin used a stick to pick up a piece of blood-soaked paper from Xiao Liu's abdomen.

There were traces of a drawing on the paper, but it had been saturated with blood so that it was completely unclear, and it would rip apart at the slightest touch.

They carefully put this piece of paper, which was soaked in blood, away in a notebook, and walked over to the other players tiredly.

He Wei said heavily, "Let's go down to eat first. We'll talk about it later."

He turned his head to look at Shen Qingcheng. "Are you frightened?" Then he pulled the corner of his mouth up, smiling reassuringly.

Shen Qingcheng's expression was filled with questions¹. He had only been frightened when He Wei started talking, okay?!

The players went downstairs one after another. Shen Qingcheng really didn't know if he could eat breakfast. He whispered to Lu Qi from behind, "Don’t you think that He Wei’s attitude towards me is a little strange?"

Could it be that he wanted to pull him in?

He didn’t believe in brainwashing cults.

He was muttering about things he didn’t understand. Lu Qi looked at him sideways. "Breakfast?"

Shen Qingcheng came back to his senses and said decisively, "Let’s eat!" He shouldn’t punish his stomach because of his eyes, his stomach was innocent.

The originally lively room regained its tranquility, and Xiao Liu’s body lay quietly on the bed. After a while, there was a faint rustling sound in the room, but unfortunately the players had walked away, and could not hear it.

When the two made it downstairs, breakfast had already been placed on the table. Each player had a cup of warm milk and a set of shiny tableware. Additionally, in the center of the table was a fragrant roasted suckling pig.

There was only the suckling pig. Even if the players didn’t want to eat it, they had to. Still, roasted meat was a bit heavy to eat in the morning.

Shen Qingcheng glanced left and right. The little girl who had come out to sing the every meal time was not there, nor was the man who had been following her.

Shen Qingcheng was quite happy that he finally didn't have to think of an excuse for not eating.

He dragged Lu Qi straight to the forest, and ate fresh nuts and berries picked from the bushes. Thinking of the players in the castle, who had to eat roast suckling pig in the early morning, the berries in their mouths tasted even sweeter.

When they returned to the castle, the players had finished their breakfast, and the leftovers had already been cleaned up by the servants. One player burped while rubbing his belly, which was bulging slightly.

"The taste of this roast suckling pig is really very good. The meat is just so tender! I thought I wouldn’t be able to stomach any, but unexpectedly I ate a lot."

Someone next to him echoed, "I felt the same way! I was ready to be hungry all morning after seeing that disgusting scene, but as soon as the meat came into my mouth, my face was slapped²."

Remembering the roast suckling pig on the first night, they said, "It's a pity that I didn't eat that night because of my doubts."

What doubts? Naturally, the ones that arose because of Shen Meiren, that troublemaker³ who refused to eat.

Everyone turned their attention to Shen Qingcheng, who had just returned.

"My new dress is so pretty~ My new dress is so pretty~"

The familiar shrill singing came, and the expressions of the players changed suddenly.

The little girl who was late for breakfast and skipped into the hall with the man.

Sure enough, she was wearing a new dress. It was still colorful, but the fabric was brighter and embellished with flowers and gems, like a luxurious upgrade from the previous one.

The woman named Hu Lili had said the day before that it would be her turn soon, and the little girl really did put on a new dress today.

She danced around the hall with her skirt in hand, occasionally turning to the players and asking, "Isn’t it pretty? Isn’t it pretty?"

No one answered her.

The little girl danced for a while, and then stopped when she had had her fun. She seemed to be in a good mood, and generously addressed the players, "I'm going to show Tu-gege my new dress. I don't have time to take care of you today, so make sure to be good~"

Lu Qi said that there were four NPCs in this copy: the little girl Ying Ying, the man Da Xiong, the woman Hu Lili, and now the fourth NPC, whose surname was Tu.

After leaving these words, the little girl led the man out of the hall. Shen Qingcheng watched them for a while, and found that they disappeared in the same direction as the two-storied building in the depths of the ancient castle grounds.

With the departure of the little girl and the man, the servants who stayed in the hall also disappeared one after another. Sure enough, no one came to inform them of the next arrangements for them.

He Wei said, "This is a good thing--we’ll have plenty of time to collect clues, maybe all day."

The sluggish atmosphere from the two successive deaths suddenly improved. Hong Ganglie said bluntly: "Wei-ge, tell me, what should we do?"

He Wei: "Have you searched the upper floors?"

Luo Ming, one of the players who had left yesterday, said, "I searched it all, and only found that piece of drawing paper."

"Okay," He Shi nodded, "Shulin and I already discussed earlier: we’re still going to follow the original plan, with groups of two in charge of each building."

Gao Shulin: "We have plenty of time this time, so don't rush, and remember to act together at all times, otherwise there’ll be no one to help you if something happens."

Someone asked, "These teams only have one person now, what do we do about the person who’s left alone?" No one wanted to be the one left over.

After thinking for a moment, He Wei said, "For safety's sake, the remaining people should form a group together."

The rules for team formation had changed. Rather than He Wei and Gao Shulin’s groups each contributing one person, both sides quickly formed teams by themselves. He Wei and Gao Shulin created groups for those who had no teammates.

The players were very cooperative.

Shen Qingcheng was stunned. Although cooperation was indeed the most efficient way, the brainwashing skills of these two people were just too deep--had they really turned the players so obedient in just a few days?

He watched the play with great enthusiasm, until He Wei called him suddenly.

He Wei: "Shen Meiren, group with me?"

Gao Shulin followed, "Lu Qi, let’s group together."

What was going on with those two? Could it be that he hadn't been obvious enough these couple of days? Why did they separate him from Lu-dage?

The one named He Wei--did he have Lu Qi's ability to quickly and cleanly nip danger in the bud?

The one named Gao Shulin--was she as lively and cute as him? Could she adjust the atmosphere and blow rainbow farts?

He refused. "No, I want to go with Lu Qi."

He Wei smiled. "Are you worried about danger? Don't worry, the props I bought can protect you." He directly revealed that the props he had exchanged for were defensive.

Shen Qingcheng shook his head in denial. No, no way, he didn’t want it.

He wrapped his arms around the waist of the man beside him, seemingly about to weep, "Are you going to be cruel to separate me from Lu-dage? When I got lost in the forest, Lu-dage rescued me from the ice and snow. I truly cannot repay him enough for saving my life."

He could only be a little brother who could blow rainbow farts.

He Wei’s smile froze on his face, and Gao Shulin’s face turned blue⁴ with anger when she saw that Lu Qi didn't express his opinion, but let Shen Meiren say whatever.

Pulling He Wei with her, she left at once. "Just stop, can’t you see they don’t respect you?"

Hong Ganglie yelled, "Damn it, f*ggots!"

After everyone had left, Shen Qingcheng relaxed his exaggerated expression. He frowned and asked, "How did I attract He Wei’s attention?" So far, he hadn’t done anything special, other than not eating.

As for Lu Qi… He raised his head, wanting to say that Gao Shulin seemed to be have her eye on him. Those two were very strange, one focusing on him and the other on Lu Qi.

Before he could speak, he was stunned by Lu Qi's eyes.

He subconsciously relaxed and straightened up, "What's wrong? Just now, I..."

Lu Qi: "It's so she doesn’t have to team up with He Wei."

"Yes, there’s no other meaning, you might as well ignore it." His words and actions just now were a bit misleading. He had forgotten that it would probably be uncomfortable for a straight man… Why was he still looking? Shen Qingcheng touched his face. "What's wrong?"

Lu Qi paused, glanced at his slender fingers touching his face, and withdrew his gaze. "It's nothing, let's go."

Lu Qi said it was fine, so the big-hearted Shen Qingcheng let it go. The two picked a building that no one had gone to.

It seemed to be a toy room specially prepared by the former owner of the old castle for children. Rich people really were different--an entire building was set aside just for a children's playroom.

On the first floor, there were toy cars that you could sit in and drive, and a set of train tracks that took up half of the room. The other half was dress-up Barbies for girls, and several small wardrobes stuffed with clothes.

The second floor was a piano room, with pianos, violins, and even a zither⁵.

The third floor was an art and Lego room. They found many childish paintings in the studio’s discard piles.

Most of the paintings were messy, like a child had randomly scribbled on the paper with various colors.

Shen Qingcheng picked up a clearer one, and he asked Lu Qi, "If there was only black and red, would you say that the red lines look like a person?"

TLN:

¹ Literally “black person asking questions expression” (黑人问号脸) which I’m fairly certain refers to this specific meme:

Source

² Means he was proven wrong (especially when applied to something he was previously confident about).

³ He actually says SMR was “being a yao” (作妖) which basically means he was causing trouble on purpose, like a demon would.

⁴ Basically she’s so angry that her face has gone beyond just reddening, and has turned blue (脸都气青).

⁵ AKA a guzheng (古筝), which is a 64-inch long plucked zither that generally has 21, 25, or 26 strings.

Source

I hope Hong Ganglie dies soon.