Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 46

Volume 3: Song of the Wanderer

Great Demon King 05

The Game of the Brave

Xin Lan looked at Ren Difei’s terrified expression with some interest.

Logically speaking, everyone was just a character in the play, but he had stepped outside the story, placing himself in a third-person perspective, making more accurate guesses than others.

Ren Difei met those black eyes and resisted the urge to run away.

He wasn’t wrong after all – this horrifying feeling!

“I… I didn’t see anything.”

Ren Difei stuttered.

Xin Lan turned around, no longer looking at him, and instead tested the cleaver by cutting the meat on the chopping board.

A putrid smell wafted over, making one feel nauseous.

Ren Difei covered his nose, but his eyes remained fixed on Xin Lan.

“Keep staring at me, and I’ll gouge your eyes out.”

Xin Lan said without turning around as she put down the knife.

Ren Difei immediately shifted his gaze to examine different parts of the kitchen.

The kitchen’s trash bin had no garbage in it, completely clean.

Besides the rotting piece of meat on the chopping board, there was a bag of vegetables nearby, suggesting someone had gone shopping to prepare a feast.

This formed a stark contrast with the situation at the dining table.

After finishing her inspection of the kitchen, Xin Lan went to the room on the right.

Moli and Qi Haolin were standing inside. As soon as Xin Lan entered, Moli gave her white eyes [a common Chinese expression for showing disdain].

Xin Lan returned a cold stare, and Moli immediately averted her gaze.

This was a bedroom, and upon entering, one could see a wedding photo hanging above the large bed.

However, the faces in the wedding photo had been scribbled over with what appeared to be watercolors, making the original features indistinguishable.

This was clearly a child’s handiwork, and Xin Lan thought of the little demon from last night, who was obviously not a quiet child.

In the original host’s memories, Xin Lan found only a few useful clues.

The original host only remembered they had reached the third floor, and that reaching each floor required a key, which was hidden in the secrets of the floor below.

Simply put, whether this information existed or not made no difference – Xin Lan would have to rely on herself.

The bedroom’s furnishings were very simple: a large bed, wardrobe, desk, and such – nothing special.

Besides the wedding photo, nothing seemed strange.

No, wait, there was something else.

Xin Lan wrinkled her nose, detecting a faint burnt odor.

There must have been a fire here before; otherwise, there wouldn’t be this smell, along with that suffocating smoke the little ghost produced yesterday.

“You finished looking so quickly? Was there nothing in the kitchen?”

The flirty one seemed to have calmed down, her voice returning to its affected sweetness with a heavy Taiwanese accent.

“Let’s discuss it together when we go out.”

Ren Difei quickly responded, seeing that Xin Lan had no intention of speaking.

Qi Haolin had already walked into the second bedroom, with Moli hurrying after him.

The second bedroom had been converted into a walk-in closet, containing both men’s and women’s clothing.

Qi Haolin touched around a few times but found nothing unusual.

With his back to everyone, his expression grew anxious. The game rules stated that the time limit was seven days and seven nights, with only one winner allowed.

The others had no idea what was going on here, completely confused, but even though he knew, that prerequisite knowledge was useless – what exactly was he supposed to do now?

This was called the 《Game of the Brave》 – was it simply about exploration?

“These clothes are so expensive!”

Moli noticed an uncut price tag on a coat, and the price made her envious.

“Your focus is really strange.”

Ren Difei muttered.

“It’s a woman’s nature to like bags and clothes, okay?”

Moli rolled her eyes and began looking through other clothes.

Xin Lan had no comment on this; she had no particular passion for bags and clothes.

“There seems to be something in this pocket.”

Moli appeared to feel something and pulled out what looked like a photograph from a clothing pocket.

Before she could get a look at it, the photograph spontaneously combusted in the air.

Moli let out a scream and quickly let go.

The photograph quickly turned to ashes, with the dust falling to the ground.

Moli: “What the hell was that thing? It scared me to death!”

Ren Difei: “It must have been a photograph.”

Qi Haolin: “Did you manage to see what it looked like?”

Moli: “It caught fire as soon as I took it out, how could I have had time to look?”

Xin Lan continued to play the invisible person. Although she preferred being in a leadership position, she had no desire to lead a plate of loose sand [meaning: a disorganized group]. At times like this, she didn’t want to stand out, content just watching these people.

She wasn’t in a hurry; there were others more anxious than her.

Suddenly, a scream came from outside – it was Pi Tianzi.

Xin Lan, being closest to the door, walked out.

Ke Xuguang was supporting Pi Tianzi, who appeared badly shaken.

Ren Difei: “What happened? What’s going on?”

“We had just finished looking at this room and were preparing to go upstairs. They both said not to go up, but I was curious and decided to take a look at the stairway.”

Pi Tianzi swallowed hard, her expression still panicked as she gripped Ke Xuguang’s hand tightly.

“What did you see?”

Qi Haolin quickly asked.

“I was just at the corner of the stairs, hadn’t gone up yet. It was very dark up there and I couldn’t see clearly. As I was about to continue forward, a little girl holding a doll appeared in front of me and made a grotesque face.”

Pi Tianzi was so frightened she fell down the stairs, but Ke Xuguang’s quick reflexes allowed him to catch her, preventing any injury.

Ren Difei: “Was it the little girl from the photo album?”

Pi Tianzi: “Yes, and that face… it was a real ghost face.”

Pi Tianzi paused before saying the last “ghost face,” as if seeing again the image of the little girl pulling her mouth wide apart and grinning with an elongated tongue.

“So… this place really is haunted.”

Sheng Lifan looked extremely troubled; he had just managed to accept the possibility that there might not be ghosts here, only to encounter this.

“Let’s stop discussing whether there are ghosts or not. Let’s go to the living room, share what information we have, and then discuss our approach together.”

Qi Haolin, having no time for others’ fears, spoke up after Sheng Lifan finished.

Everyone gathered in the living room. Looking outside from here, it still seemed to be an ink-black night.

Xin Lan remained silent, continuing to play her role as the invisible person on the sofa.

Ren Difei sat in the spot closest to her, carefully glancing at her. Seeing no reaction from her, he began speaking as representative.

“We found unfinished fast food packaging on the dining table, takeout boxes in the trash bin beside the table, half-cut meat on the kitchen counter, along with a large bag of vegetables, and nothing in the kitchen trash bin.”

After finishing, Ren Difei glanced at Xin Lan from the corner of his eye. Xin Lan nodded, confirming his account.

Ren Difei felt relieved. Normal ghost stories always ended in death – how could anyone survive unless they had some special fortune, like Buddhist beads or jade pendants [traditional protective talismans] around their neck? But he didn’t have anything like that. To survive, or at least be the last to die, Ren Difei decided to stick close to the boss lady, living as long as possible.

“We went into the bedroom, where the faces in the wedding photo above the bed had been scribbled over, probably by that little girl. Then we went to the second bedroom, which had been converted into a walk-in closet containing both men’s and women’s clothing. Moli found something like a photograph in the clothes, but as soon as she took it out, it spontaneously combusted.”

“We went into the little girl’s room, which was messy with dolls scattered everywhere and trash from leftover snacks. We found her diary and sketchbook.”

Sheng Lifan said, placing the notebook and sketchbook on the coffee table.

The sketchbook was opened, each drawing filled with childlike innocence – flowers, sun, houses, puppies, and one picture of two adults holding hands with a little girl with pigtails. This drawing was done with the most care, using both watercolors and crayons. At the top was the drawing’s title, and at the bottom was a name written neatly in childish handwriting that showed careful attention.

“My Family, Feng Xinyu.”

However, the later drawings changed dramatically, becoming large patches of chaotic black scribbles and irregular lines.

Until the last page of the sketchbook, which was entirely covered in red watercolor marks.

Pi Tianzi: “The child who scared me at the stairs was Feng Xinyu.”

Moli: “She must still be in this house.”

Pi Tianzi: “Isn’t that stating the obvious? Where else could she go?”

Pi Tianzi coldly retorted, her displeasure with Moli quite apparent.

Moli: “Oh, you’re so great, everything you say is so profound, how impressive!”

Ke Xuguang: “That’s enough. Is this really the time to be arguing?”

Moli: “She started insulting me first! I didn’t want to argue like this, who knows what this middle-aged woman pretending to be young is trying to do.”

Though Pi Tianzi’s makeup was well done, she couldn’t fool Moli’s eyes. She particularly despised those who put on airs while criticizing her – if they were both pretending to be young, why should she be looked down upon?

Pi Tianzi: “I won’t waste words on someone ‘going to sea’ [euphemism for entering sex work]. Playing the innocent college student? Acting superior about selling yourself – don’t you know what you really are?”

Moli: “Who are you calling a prostitute? That’s probably your profession. How does wearing a white dress make me fake being a college student? Can’t I just naturally look young? You’re the one who’s sick in the head, wearing a kawaii pink dress at your age!”

As they say, “three women make a drama” [Chinese saying meaning women tend to create drama]. Xin Lan didn’t need to get involved; these two could quarrel perfectly well on their own.

“Keep arguing if you want to die.”

Qi Haolin, irritated by their bickering, said coldly.

Moli fell silent, while Pi Tianzi responded with a cold smirk.

Qi Haolin thought women were troublesome with their constant chattering, preferring the one who always quietly accompanied him.

He couldn’t help looking at Xin Lan, who met his gaze and mouthed one word.

Idiot.

Xin Lan despised this Qi Haolin, considering him worse than the previous two.

The first had played with emotions and abandoned someone in danger, the second had used and discarded someone with added humiliation, but this one combined both traits.

He first played with emotions, then instead of breaking up when he lost interest, he let the original host support him, living off her completely. Then he kicked her aside, took all her savings, brought her to this place to die, and finally tortured her to death.

He was truly the worst of human garbage.

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LP: Re-translated on January 10, 2025

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