Collecting All the Sacrifices

Zhu Yan didn’t care who the child had killed.

Because after making a wish before the Bodhisattva statue, the child was destined to become food for Ji Xiting anyway.

The stench of blood mingled with the reek of urine and feces, spreading through the air. Some of the younger players began retching loudly.

The girl who had spoken first backed into a corner, covering her mouth and nose with one hand as tears welled in her eyes. She swallowed her scream.

It seemed no one felt any sympathy for the dead man.

Several people studied the child who had made the first wish, trying to find some clue in him—including Zhu Yan.

The boy still had a bit of un-wiped snot beneath his nose. His lips were twisted into an eerie smile, and his expression held a cruelty that didn’t belong to a child.

“What are you looking at, big brothers and sisters?” he asked, tilting his head up innocently at the other players. His tone was childlike and guileless.

“Aren’t you going to make a wish? I told you, didn’t I? These wishes really work, and nothing happens at all…”

The boy’s eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly, and his words faltered slightly.

“…Nothing happens.”

After saying that, he actually turned around and, like Zhu Yan, found a place to lean against and sit down.

“I’m tired. I’m going to rest for a while,” the boy said. “Do as you please.”

Zhu Yan dissolved into a mass of [Mist] and silently drifted in front of the child.

The boy really did seem sleepy.

His eyes drooped until they were little slits. Seen from the front, he looked as though he had fallen asleep.

But [Mist] could see a sliver of eye through the gap between his eyelids.

His eyeballs had turned a solid, inky black. The darkness spread rapidly like a virus, reaching the roots of his lashes and the corners of his eyes. After only a few seconds, it withdrew.

The boy’s pitch-black eyes returned to normal with it.

More importantly…

Zhu Yan focused and listened.

The boy’s thoughts had vanished.

There was utter silence around his body, without the slightest trace of consciousness.

Oh? Interesting.

Zhu Yan made a silent comment to himself.

Had some higher existence possessed him… or had his soul been devoured?

“Is he asleep or dead?” asked the teenager who had climbed up with the fat man.

He had dyed his hair an awkward shade of blond and wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

He walked over and checked the child’s breathing, then reached out and lifted one of the boy’s eyelids.

Unfortunately, he discovered nothing.

“He’s really asleep,” the teenager announced. He gave the child a shove. “Hey, wake up!”

The child opened his eyes and slapped the teenager’s hand away.

“I told you,” he explained. “I’m really tired. My mom woke me up early this morning, and I just couldn’t take it!”

Seeing that the boy seemed perfectly normal, the teenager instead felt strangely reassured.

“Who’s going to make the second wish?” he asked. “Who’s next?”

A girl timidly raised her hand.

She entered the Guanyin Hall one halting step at a time, knelt and bowed properly, then hurried back out and let out a long sigh of relief.

“What did you wish for?” the teenager asked. “How do you feel?”

The girl glanced at the sleeping child and wiped away her sweat.

“I said I hoped I could leave the instance alive. If someone has to die, then let him die in my place.”

She pointed at the child in the corner and made a “shh” gesture.

“I suggest you all make the same wish. He already has a life on his hands. If the price has to be extracted from someone, then he deserves to pay it.”

Oh?

Zhu Yan watched with great interest.

What kind of people had Qiu Lingkai gathered?

Taken together, they were practically all villains. Not one of them seemed innocent.

The girl was even rather clever.

She had found a scapegoat for everyone, seized upon the others’ fear, and prevented the players from turning on one another and bringing harm upon themselves.

Her words successfully redirected the danger. Several of the younger players exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

The girl made another round, displaying her condition to everyone.

During that time, she lowered her head for a moment, and Zhu Yan keenly noticed that her eyes turned black for an instant.

“I’m fine,” she said. “So far, the two wishes made by the people who wished are both safe. One was a wish for someone else to die, and the other was for someone else to use their death to pay the price of the exchange.”

“I suggest you make the same kind of wish. It’s safe.”

Blondie observed the girl’s condition. Seeing that she truly seemed fine, he relaxed.

“Sure. I’ll be the third.”

He walked toward the Guanyin Hall. “Wait here.”

The girl returned to the group with her chin held high. A while later, Blondie emerged from the room, laughing like a madman.

“It worked! Hahahaha… I did it!”

“What did you wish for?” someone asked. “Why are you so happy?”

Blondie shook his head without answering.

Crouching off to one side, Zhu Yan read his mind clearly.

Blondie had wished to take the money in the child’s account for himself, and he had evidently already heard the woman’s voice announcing that the money had been deposited.

Behind the Guanyin statue, [Mist] activated [Mind Reading] and heard Qiu Lingfeng silently counting the people.

“Not counting the dead one, that makes three.”

“Now it’s four… five…”

“Ha. Damn it… This is exhausting.”

It seemed that Qiu Lingfeng’s ability, [Wish Fulfillment], consumed quite a bit of [Shivering Pleasure] as well.

Inside the cramped wooden chest, Qiu Lingfeng laboriously took out a second bottle of [Shivering Pleasure] and poured a small sip into his mouth.

“Six. Why can’t these people make some normal wishes?”

After swallowing the [Shivering Pleasure], Qiu Lingfeng’s spirits visibly improved.

He seemed to want to look outside through the gaps in the wooden chest, but managed to restrain himself.

“Damn it, why haven’t I heard anything from Hunter No. 1 yet?”

Hidden in the small space, [Mist] heard the thought clearly.

“That bastard isn’t trying to trick me, is he?”

“There are already seven people outside…”

Qiu Lingfeng’s thoughts shifted.

The silver card Zhu Yan had switched appeared in Qiu Lingfeng’s hand. He gripped it tightly, hesitating over whether to tear it and use it.

Just then, the eighth person making a wish entered the room, interrupting Qiu Lingfeng’s thoughts.

The final “sacrifice.”

Zhu Yan remained in [Stealth], waiting by the doorway.

The eighth person to make a wish was the girl who had first spoken up and analyzed the situation.

She seemed more cautious than the others and had spent most of the time observing everything from the corner.

Only after confirming that the players who had come out were indeed “fine” did the girl dare enter the Guanyin Hall.

What she didn’t know was that, apart from a girl who had little presence and had been shivering fearfully in the corner, there were probably no living people left outside.

At the very least, [Mind Reading] could hear nothing but faint, meaningless noise like the ebb and flow of the tide.

Zhu Yan leaned against the doorway with interest, holding a second [Deceiving Heaven and Crossing the Sea] talisman in his hand.

Qiu Lingfeng had helped him complete the [Hunter] mission. In return, he couldn’t keep the other man waiting too long.

Once he finished watching this girl make her wish, it would be his turn.

“I wish…”

The girl took a deep breath and spoke slowly and clearly. “I wish for my wish today to be voided—and for it not to incur any cost.”

【Mist】heard Qiu Lingfeng let out a soft laugh.

“This little girl is pretty clever.” His thoughts struck Zhu Yan’s ears. “What a pity. Voiding the wish and not incurring any cost are two separate wishes. I’ll grant only the first one. What’s the problem?”

“That makes eight.”

“The problem is... where’s my good buddy?”