Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 43
by Little PandaVolume 3: Song of the Wanderer
Great Demon King 02
The Game of the Brave
Xin Lan asked Ling Jiu to tell her about the subsequent plot, and she understood the general situation.
Ling Jiu: This time we can’t steal his woman
Because such a woman doesn’t exist.
Xin Lan: Even better, anyway, for someone like him, emotions can’t hurt him.
While the scumbags from the previous two worlds still had lingering affection for others, this one is completely psychologically twisted – he loves no one, not even himself, only money.
Looking at his experiences, this person is a gambler through and through.
His psychology isn’t quite normal, but he tries hard to pretend to be normal.
He has a special obsession with money, but he’s not a miser [wretchedly unhappy or uncomfortable]. Whenever he gets money, he spends it, usually on gambling.
But he’s different from ordinary gamblers – he never owes money, and sometimes he can win quite a lot. After living extravagantly, he keeps some money to continue gambling.
Xin Lan thought that when this kind of person first noticed the original host, it was probably because of the host’s pure and fragile nature, but after a while, he grew tired of it.
After all, sometimes purity is another kind of blandness – too easy to see through, tasteless.
This game that the scumbag deliberately initiated is also about money.
But in this game, he isn’t the leader, he’s just a participant.
One day, he received an electronic invitation letter, inviting him to participate in a game called the 《Game of the Brave》 [this is also the Chinese title of “Jumanji”], where the winner could receive a reward of 100 million yuan.
Most people would delete it as spam, but the scumbag was moved.
He didn’t know who initiated this game, nor what dangers it might hold, but he was addicted to the thrill and heart-pounding sensation of staking everything on one throw without knowing the future, so he signed up without hesitation.
The email said he needed to gather seven people within a specified time. Only when there were enough people would the game location be sent, and the game would only begin when all seven people arrived at the venue.
The scumbag had the right to tell other participants about the game’s reward, but how could he be willing to let others know and get a piece of the pie, so he didn’t look for any acquaintances, but instead posted online about organizing a tourist group.
Five people came, making six including the scumbag. Time was running out, so he turned his attention to the original host, inviting her to join a short breakup trip.
When the original host nodded in agreement, a message was sent to the scumbag’s phone, which made him even more certain this was no ordinary 《Game of the Brave》.
The subsequent plot that Xin Lan saw was actually quite simple: except for the scumbag, the other six people all died, he survived and took the hundred million.
Xin Lan lowered her head, turning the silver ring on her hand, her hanging hair hiding the smile at the corner of her mouth.
Interesting.
“How much longer until we arrive? We’ve been driving almost all day, I’m exhausted.”
A coquettish voice came from the back seat, so affected [嗲, diǎ, overly sweet and feminine manner of speaking] that it gave Xin Lan goosebumps.
“Probably not far now,” said the driver, focusing on the road ahead.
“The road has made my bottom hurt, brother, you’ll have to make it up to me properly later!”
“Alright, I’ll compensate you however you want.”
“That’s more like it.”
Ling Jiu: Ugh, such nauseating dialogue.
Indeed, it’s quite sickening, especially that girl’s deliberately affected sweet voice, making one physically uncomfortable.
Ling Jiu scanned everyone’s information in the car and gave the statistics to Xin Lan.
As the organizer of this tour group, the driver was naturally the scumbag himself, named Qi Haolin.
His online post claimed he had a small courtyard by the mountains and waters, planning to develop it for business, but wasn’t sure about the situation, so he wanted to organize a small group to check it out. It was a seven-day trip with low fees including pickup and drop-off service, which attracted people to sign up.
Qi Haolin wasn’t bad-looking, could even be called handsome, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, not looking like a bad person at all.
But in fact, he wasn’t just a bad person, but also shamelessly eating soft rice [meaning: a man who lives off women] and a twisted murderer.
As they say, you can know someone’s face but not their heart.
The girl speaking in that affected manner was called Moli. Qi Haolin picked her up last, and as soon as she got in, the van was filled with perfume. She talked the most during the journey, but mainly chatted with Qi Haolin, constantly dropping hints.
Seven people in total, four men and three women – excluding Xin Lan and Qi Haolin, there were three men and two women.
Moli was flirtatious but not cute, wearing a white dress with straight black hair and canvas shoes. From behind she looked like an innocent college student, but her demeanor was like a compensated dating student [euphemism for prostitution], and when she acted coy, she seemed like an experienced “diver” [metaphor for entering illegal/questionable professions].
The other girl was the cute type, with a cute name too – Pi Tianzi. She wore a Lolita [Japanese fashion style] dress covered in cherry blossoms, with chestnut-colored hair, a ribbon headband, and makeup. She looked young, around eighteen.
Notably, Ling Jiu’s scan showed her bone age was twenty-eight.
Moli, who looked much more mature than this Lolita girl, was actually only twenty-six.
As for the remaining three men, their styles were distinctly different.
The youngest-looking among them was called Ren Difei, who appeared perpetually sleepy with dark circles under his eyes. He fell asleep as soon as he got in the car. Records showed he was a gossip entertainment reporter.
Sitting next to him was a white-collar worker named Sheng Lifan, refined in manner, wearing casual clothes, but looking rather worn out.
Sitting in the back next to Pi Tianzi was a tall middle-aged man around 1.8 meters, bald and fierce-looking, named Ke Xuguang. Records showed he was a divorced truck driver.
This was all the basic information Ling Jiu had collected, and Xin Lan memorized each detail.
The road below became smoother, and the car stopped bumping.
Xin Lan glanced at the sky outside, where the last light seemed to be disappearing on the horizon. It would probably be dark soon.
Soothing music played in the car, with a female singer’s deep voice carrying a hint of suppressed sadness.
“When the nights, nightmares will, they whisper behind their backs and see the devil you want to avoid…”
Xin Lan thought the melody was quite pleasant and hummed along quietly in her heart.
When night falls, nightmares will descend, they whisper behind their backs, when you meet the demon king, you must avoid…
Who would be the demon king?
Of course, it would be her.
After about ten minutes, the sky indeed darkened.
Qi Haolin turned on the car lights, patiently advancing toward his destination.
“I’m saying, isn’t this place too far? We’ve been driving all day, we must have crossed provinces by now, right?”
Ke Xuguang spoke up, estimating they had traveled quite far.
“Yeah, when are we actually going to arrive?”
Pi Tianzi fidgeted with the small bow on her clothes, thinking that if she were alone, she would probably suspect being trafficked, but having a car full of people made her feel somewhat more at ease.
“Handsome, we’re not going to spend the night in the car, are we? That would be so uncomfortable, let’s hurry up. The weather forecast said there would be rain these days, it won’t be good if it starts raining.”
Moli said worriedly, and just as her words fell, a thunderclap sounded from outside.
The car fell silent for a moment, everyone’s gaze focusing on Moli.
“The weather forecast is quite accurate, huh.”
Moli said with an embarrassed smile.
That thunder seemed to be just the beginning, as rumbling sounds came from the horizon. Lightning illuminated the dark sky as if it would tear the heavens and earth apart.
The rain quickly started falling, beating against the car windows.
The car continued forward as Qi Haolin narrowed his eyes, seeing lights not far ahead.
This should be the place.
This downpour was a perfect excuse to stop, after all, that so-called courtyard by the mountains and waters was just a lie he made up.
“Looks like we can’t make it today. With such heavy rain, there seems to be a house with lights on ahead. Why don’t we knock and ask to stay for the night, then continue tomorrow morning?”
Qi Haolin said while turning the steering wheel, seeming to consult with the people in back, but his tone carried an undeniable finality.
“Sure, I definitely don’t want to spend the night cramped in this car.”
Moli immediately agreed.
Xin Lan remained silent, sat up straight, tied her long hair into a low ponytail with a hair tie, and held onto her bag.
“A tour group, stormy weather, a lit house by the road – it’s really got all the horror story essentials.”
Ren Difei had woken up at some point and spoke lazily.
After he said this, everyone suddenly felt something was off.
“So are you not getting out?”
Qi Haolin drove the car closer, stepped on the brakes, and turned off the engine.
“Of course I’m going. It would be more fun if it really were a horror story.”
“Hey, are you sick? Why curse yourself like that? Cursing yourself is one thing, but why drag us into it?”
Moli rolled her eyes and complained dissatisfied, though even her complaints were delivered in that affected sweet voice – someone might mistake it for flirting if they didn’t know better.
“Based on my experience, people like you usually die first.”
Ren Difei looked at Moli and said with a serious face.
“You!”
“Alright, stop arguing, hurry up and open the door.”
Pi Tianzi urged Moli, who was sitting by the car door. Moli gave a light snort and pulled the door open.
The rain was heavy. Everyone grabbed their luggage from the trunk and quickly ran under the eaves.
Qi Haolin knocked on the door several times, but no one answered.
“Could there be no one here?”
“Would the lights be on if no one was home?”
“Try pushing it open?”
Qi Haolin pushed the door – it wasn’t locked and opened immediately.
The interior was lit, looking warm and bright. First visible was the living room, which was spacious with paintings on the walls and European-style decor that created an atmospheric feeling.
Qi Haolin walked in first, followed by Xin Lan, then Moli, with Sheng Lifan last, closing the main door.
“Is anybody here?”
Moli called out loudly, but the air remained completely silent with no response.
“Is the owner home?”
Moli asked again.
“Stop calling out, there’s probably no one here.”
Ren Difei stood in front of the wall paintings, examining them before speaking to Moli.
“How do you know? What if the owner is just upstairs?”
Ren Difei shrugged and went to the entrance.
He tried to pull open the main door, but no matter how much force he used, it wouldn’t budge.
“Some bad news – the door seems to be stuck.”
He dusted off his palms and turned to tell his companions.
“Stop messing with us, okay?”
“If you don’t believe me, try it yourselves.”
Moli ran forward and pulled hard on the door which hadn’t been locked, but just as Ren Difei said, it didn’t move an inch.
LP: Re-translated on January 07, 2025
This author really thinks up different worlds then most QT authors.