Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 49

by Little Panda

Volume 3: Song of the Wanderer

Great Demon King 08

The Game of the Brave

After Yu Wanyan finished her line, she waited for the beautiful yet pale-faced woman to show fear, but half a minute passed, and the person before her remained thoughtful, showing no signs of fear at all.

Her smile stiffened – this wasn’t going according to plan. Why wasn’t this person afraid?

Xin Lan was searching through the original host’s memories for this content, but these memories were too fuzzy. While she could remember things from before coming here, the experiences within this place were unclear.

Therefore, Xin Lan couldn’t determine whether this scene existed in the original plot or not.

This brings us to explain the structure of the mission worlds.

These mission operators travel to various mission worlds to complete tasks, and these worlds exist as parallel reflections, sometimes containing multiple missions within one world.

For example, while she was participating in some kind of game in this villa, there might also be a 400-person school game happening in the same world. These different-scope missions don’t threaten each other, so they can coexist.

When her consciousness entered the original host’s body, she could access the host’s memories, but could only search through what the original host remembered. If the host’s memories were blocked, unclear, or lost, she wouldn’t be able to know what happened. The subsequent plot was captured from another important character’s perspective by the department.

For instance, while she was in the face-slapping section [a common Chinese web novel trope where the protagonist gets revenge], the other important character was the scumbag man. The subsequent plot would simply tell the mission operator what happened to the world from the scumbag’s perspective after the original host’s death. However, these plot points had capture nodes – once an important plot point passed, that node would end, and the mission operator had to leave the mission world before the next node arrived.

The first world’s mission node was leaving the school, the second world’s node was after the emperor’s establishment, and this world’s node was leaving this place.

While Xin Lan was deep in thought, Yu Wanyan was studying her.

Xin Lan felt a presence approach and looked up to see a beautiful face.

“What use is your violin?”

Xin Lan asked, thinking it would be dumb to play a violin during a fight – it would barely even serve as a weapon.

“When you play it, you can control the wind.”

Yu Wanyan’s fingers brushed over the violin’s body as her eyes roamed over Xin Lan.

“Can I choose not to take it?”

The person before her gave Xin Lan a strange feeling – not dangerous or threatening, but in this kind of game, the sudden appearance of someone helping her felt very eerie.

“You don’t want my violin?”

Yu Wanyan’s body floated in mid-air as she pondered what to do.

She had planned this with the others – each would choose one person, but if Xin Lan wouldn’t use her item, how would she survive?

“But you must have heard what I said earlier – only one person can reach the rooftop.”

This was a necessary elimination rule, and Yu Wanyan didn’t want her chosen prey to die so quickly.

“The others also have these gifted items, right?”

Yu Wanyan nodded, her gaze growing increasingly intrigued as she watched Xin Lan.

Xin Lan met her gaze, seeing something familiar in Yu Wanyan’s eyes.

It was the same look Ling Jiu had when seeing potato chips.

Yet this ghost gave her a pure feeling, pristine like moonlight, which made it contradictory.

If others had similar items, then they must also know the game’s rules by now.

Not only did they need to find keys, but they also had to eliminate people.

Plus, the activity area here was much smaller than the school.

After some thought, Xin Lan accepted the violin and bow.

This prop was really large and not convenient at all.

“I’ll follow you, so please persevere.”

Yu Wanyan’s eyes curved like crescents. She had originally wanted to choose someone stronger, as they usually lived longer, but from the first glance at this person, she decided she must choose her.

This unexplained impulse made Yu Wanyan’s excitement surge.

She must taste delicious.

The surrounding mist suddenly thickened again, and Xin Lan opened her eyes to find herself sitting on a sofa.

But she clearly remembered seeing the little girl at the bathroom door, then mysteriously appearing before a bright floor-to-ceiling window – she hadn’t seen any such window on this first floor.

Others also opened their eyes. This time, their expressions were no longer confused and fearful as before, but rather showed an indescribable complexity.

After looking around, Xin Lan noticed everyone was holding unusual items.

Apart from Ren Difei’s glasses and Moli’s necklace, Pi Tianzi held a lace parasol, Ke Xuguang had a walking stick, and Sheng Lifan surprisingly had a bottle of wine.

However, the most eye-catching was Qi Haolin’s item.

His was a hat – specifically, a green hat [cultural meaning: symbol of being cheated on by one’s spouse].

In this situation, Xin Lan’s violin didn’t seem so strange anymore.

Seeing the green hat, Xin Lan laughed inappropriately.

Everyone’s expressions were serious, making Xin Lan’s laughter particularly noticeable.

“It suits you well,” Xin Lan said complimentarily.

Whether Qi Haolin had cheated on the original host, Xin Lan didn’t know. She only knew the original host had loved deeply while the scumbag hadn’t taken it seriously.

Qi Haolin’s already unpleasant expression grew darker at Xin Lan’s words as he gripped the hat tightly.

He didn’t respond, so Xin Lan naturally fell silent as well.

Everyone was extremely quiet, even Ren Difei, who had been the most active since entering, didn’t say a word.

Looking at Xin Lan’s continued composure, his internal judgment wavered again.

He had started to think she was the behind-the-scenes boss, but this wasn’t just a simple supernatural story – it was a survival game with ghost-assisted elimination.

They wouldn’t be killed by ghosts, but would die at the hands of their own kind or kill their own kind.

He didn’t know if this was good news or bad news.

If this was that kind of game, how could Xin Lan be the boss?

Yet she could still laugh, showing no sign of fear.

But regardless, only one person could make it out alive.

“Why aren’t any of you moving?”

Yu Wanyan appeared silently beside Xin Lan, looking puzzled at these motionless people.

Xin Lan didn’t respond; she watched the others, who seemed neither to see nor hear Yu Wanyan.

Xin Lan stood up, took her violin, and walked to the right.

Her movements were unhurried, as if she wasn’t in a life-or-death situation but rather preparing for a performance.

“Does everyone else have a ghost beside them?”

“Of course not, they’re all hidden in the items they were given. They can only come out when the items are used.”

Yu Wanyan smiled with ill intent, while Xin Lan gave her a bland look and leaned against the stairwell wall.

Seeing Xin Lan fall silent again, Yu Wanyan felt somewhat dejected.

How could this person have so little curiosity? It didn’t even give her a chance to show off properly.

Xin Lan looked at the pitch-black second floor, narrowing her eyes.

She could determine that the ghost beside her must be quite powerful, otherwise it wouldn’t say that other ghosts couldn’t come out – implying that she could.

Xin Lan gripped the violin tightly, considering the possibility of using it as a weapon to hit people.

How could these ghosts be so kind as to lend their items to humans, and in such a one-per-person manner? It could only mean that using power that didn’t belong to you would come at a price.

“Those who go up without a key will be killed,” Yu Wanyan kindly reminded.

“Killed by whom?”

“The rules.”

“Do you want me to make it out alive?”

“Of course.”

Xin Lan met her gaze, her eyes seeming to pierce into her heart.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Yu Wanyan couldn’t help but reach out her hand to cover Xin Lan’s eyes.

When these people looked at her this way, it made her want to eat them even more.

As the ice-cold hand covered her eyes, Xin Lan grabbed her wrist and lowered her hand.

That warm feeling was involuntarily addictive, and Yu Wanyan drew closer, sniffing Xin Lan’s neck before involuntarily extending her tongue for a lick.

The cold, sticky sensation swept across her neck, and Xin Lan tightened her grip on the wrist she was holding, pulling away from Yu Wanyan.

“Stay away from me.”

Xin Lan released Yu Wanyan’s wrist and wiped the spot that had been licked.

If Xin Lan hadn’t restrained herself, she would have already swung the violin at Yu Wanyan.

The sensation lingered on her neck, making Xin Lan wipe it again unconsciously.

Yu Wanyan became unhappy seeing her actions – it was just a lick, she hadn’t even bitten down yet.

“How can one get the key?”

“You’ll have to ask that little ghost.”

Yu Wanyan shrugged, indicating she didn’t know.

“Do you know what the others’ items do?”

While Xin Lan could barely understand the necklace and glasses, she wondered about the parasol and walking stick, and the wine bottle and green hat were even stranger.

“The walking stick belongs to Grandfather. He loves to lecture people. Don’t let his stick hit your head – it causes dementia for at least an hour. The parasol belongs to the Doll, I don’t know what it does, but she loves dolls, and those she chooses are quite suitable to become doll puppets.”

“Flora is a strange witch, her necklace has the power to bewitch people. She loves beautiful people and collects their flayed skin as treasures. She originally wanted to choose you, but I claimed you first.”

The girl spoke as if describing something to be proud of, though the content was rather unpleasant.

“The Detective has a pair of glasses that supposedly lets you see through to the essence of things, though I don’t quite understand it.”

“The Witch loves drinking. Her wine creates illusions. She likes to use people as vessels for brewing wine, though I don’t know how she does it.”

“Lastly, there’s Zhen Zhen. She’s the ghost second only to me in power – you should be careful.”

“The green hat?”

Xin Lan raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. When Zhen Zhen was alive, she kept getting cheated on. Every boyfriend cheated on her. After being cheated on by ten boyfriends in a row, something happened to her, so she especially hates scumbag men.”

That girl’s experience sounded quite tragic.

“What’s her ability?”

“She can summon various female ghosts.”

“Isn’t that actually the most powerful?”

Compared to this, all the previous ones seemed weak.

“Not really, mine is more powerful. If he gets eliminated, all those summoned female ghosts, including Zhen Zhen herself, will come out and eat him.”

At that moment, a scream of agony came from the living room.

LP: Re-translated on January 14, 2025