PFRG: Chapter 55

The two of them discussed it for a while, but couldn’t connect the contents of the three fairy tales. Taking into account the rules of the night, they went back to their rooms.

The night was filled with silence. Chi Ting stared at the ceiling and was distracted, just as he had been the night before. This was until another burst of frightened screams broke the tranquility.

Obviously, Wen Weng, who got the handkerchief today, also received the greeting from the ghosts.

Such a shrill voice seemed to permeate the night. Chi Ting listened to the close movement and remembered the person who lived in the room next to this uncle.

It could be seen that Wen Weng was indeed very timid. When Fei Ying was found the night before, he was already very scared and knocked over something. Now he seemed to have given up struggling and wasn’t running around. If it wasn’t for the continuous screams, one might think he had been frightened to the point of fainting by the ghost.

However, what surprised Chi Ting was that even though it wasn’t very obvious, he clearly heard the sound of something being overturned further away.

He didn’t know what was going on in someone else’s room.

During the whole process of rapid thinking, Chi Ting was still lying comfortably on the bed without moving up or down.

This was until he vaguely remembered something. He turned his head and looked over. However, this time, he didn’t see the shadow tentacles.

Chi Ting’s gaze fell on the crack of the door for a long time. This was until the sounds near and far finally fell silent. Then he retracted his gaze and turned off the light.

The surroundings fell into darkness.

Early the next morning, everyone came to the meeting room one after another for the breakfast provided by the instance.

Chi Ting entered through the door and saw Wen Weng, who was indeed very haggard. What surprised him was that after a night, in addition to the uncle, even Tu Shuhuai’s face didn’t look very good. Judging from the faintly bloodshot eyes, she probably didn’t sleep well the night before.

Tu Shuhuai noticed Chi Ting’s gaze and said, “Last night, my sheets turned pink with lace edges.”

Such a concise statement didn’t feel like it was the first time she answered this question. It was clear that someone else had already asked the same question before Chi Ting.

Chi Ting nodded, instantly understanding.

It seemed that every task yesterday afternoon had a hidden mystery.

From the attempted scares with the wardrobe, the wall, the bed, the doll, the recording of the children’s song at the game scene, and the replacement of Tu Shuhuai’s sheets on the bed after she changed them—the pranks really came one after another without the ghost getting tired of it.

Players already had their first task experience.

After breakfast this time, they looked a bit more vigilant as they followed Mr. Rabbit through the door.

By this time, the players were basically numb to the new doors that appeared one after another out of thin air. Now all they could think about was seeing what type of tricks today’s tasks would create to torture them.

Eventually, they arrived at a large picnic site.

In the past, they didn’t feel much when surrounded by walls. Then once they arrived at the outdoor scene, they realized that the place they were in was really like an independently constructed virtual space.

At the edge of this seemingly empty picnic site, an invisible barrier was raised that restricted their range of movement. From a distance, what fell into their eyes was the black space outside the barrier.

The place beneath their feet was like an island surrounded by darkness.

As he had done the day before, the rabbit gentleman stood at the door and looked at the players with red eyes. However, when his eyes were about to fall on Yue Ren, he instantly moved to the next person like he was afraid of stopping for even half a second.

He made a gesture of invitation. “Then I ask you to still take care of me today.”

What did this mean?

They cleaned an indoor room yesterday. Did they have to clean outdoors today?

Just as this thought flashed through their minds, the players saw the virtual interface appear in front of them again.

[Commission from Mr. Gentleman:

Please help collect the candies accidentally scattered during the picnic. There are a lot of candies. Greedy children can also eat them secretly, as long as they aren’t discovered by the gentleman! But I hope that everyone can help each other lovingly. Be sure to remember to collect ten of the same color and give them to the gentleman!

The kindness Mr. Gentleman feels when receiving the candy (0/7).]

So what they needed to do today was to look for candy in this picnic site?

Faced with this task that seemingly seemed simpler than the day before, no one could laugh for a while.

All eyes were looking at the boy in the corner. A strong sense of uneasiness was fermenting crazily.

Tan Haobo felt these distinct gazes and gently pushed up his glasses.

He looked at them from behind the lens and showed a subtle smile to the people on his left and right.

The expressions of the other players suddenly became worse.

The tasks on the first day were generally completed smoothly, but this was largely due to the fact that the ghosts hiding among them didn’t want to reveal their identities before the first round of voting.

Now it was different. After Yu Gao was voted out, Tan Haobo was revealed and was no longer willing to pretend. Knowing that he would be voted out tonight, he probably wouldn’t cooperate with them to successfully complete today’s task.

The seven kindness happened to be the target of the remaining seven players in the instance.

So was the kindness demand based on the share that each of them had to pay, or was it just that a total of seven sets of candies had to be submitted?

Everyone hoped it was the latter, but it was clear that the probability of such a setting in this instance was almost zero.

Fei Ying had been paying attention to Tan Haobo, and saw that he had already found a chair to sit on. She looked at Tu Shuhuai anxiously, “Sister Tu, what should we do now?”

Tu Shuhuai naturally also found out that the ghost had made up his mind not to cooperate. She became more and more irritable since she hadn’t slept well.

She glared in Tan Haobo’s direction, thought for a moment, and gritted her teeth. “Look for the candy first! No matter what, finish your share. Then see if there are any other ways!”

Yes, no matter how they looked at it, the words ‘focus on participation’ was the most suitable for them at this moment.

The probability was unlikely, but what if it happened? What if it was really only necessary to submit a total of seven sets of candies? Or what if someone could make the rabbit feel double the kindness?

Tu Shuhuai never procrastinated when it came to doing things. She would set off after making a decision. She thought about what happened during the task the day before and didn’t forget to remind them, “When looking for sweets, everyone should try to act within each other’s field of view. I don’t know what will happen today and if we will encounter anything. No matter what, it isn’t wrong to ensure that someone can respond at any time. In particular, it is likely to be dangerous in a forest with poor vision, so it is best not to…”

Her words ended abruptly. Suddenly, she realized. “Why are there only five people left? Where did the other two go?”

Fei Ying pointed at the forest that had just been assessed as potentially dangerous. “…They went in together the moment we received the task. Before going, they specially told me not to follow them.”

“……”

Tu Shuhuai endured it. In the end, she still couldn’t control her loud cursing.

Sneeze!

Suddenly, Chi Ting sneezed, and he almost lost his grip on the candy he just picked up.

He slowly rubbed the tip of his nose. “I don’t know who is talking about me.”

“Those people outside.” Yue Ren also found a candy in the grass beside the tree. Hearing the sneeze, he looked over with a smile. “I told them when we first set off and made a special emphasis on them not disturbing our two person world.”

“……” Chi Ting thought for a moment. “I can understand that you are worried they will be in danger when they enter here.”

Yue Ren blinked slowly. “You can understand that I am worried that if they are in danger, you will waste time and energy to save them.”

Chi Ting was puzzled. “What is the difference?”

Yue Ren smiled at this confused look. “That’s right. There is no difference.”

He threw the newly picked up candies into his pocket and looked around. “But maybe I am making a fuss for nothing. This forest isn’t too big. I don’t feel any danger, but there are quite a lot of candies.”

“It is indeed a fruitful harvest.” Chi Ting opened his palms and looked at the handful of colorful candies in his hands. There was no expression of joy at all. “It is just that the colors are a bit too mixed.”

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. This picnic site really had candies of all colors. It was too miscellaneous.

However, the task required them to collect ten of the same color before they were allowed to turn them in.

“Are you going to collect pink ones?”

Chi Ting replied, “Probably not. I currently have the most blue ones in my hand.”

The moment he finished speaking, Yue Ren’s voice entered his ears again. “Open your mouth. Ah—!”

There was no context to the sentence but it was accompanied by a final rising tone. It revealed an indescribable temptation.

Chi Ting instinctively opened his mouth. He saw Yue Ren suddenly appear in front of him and smile at him.

In the next second, something entered his mouth. A strong sweetness spread the moment it melted.

Chi Ting stopped for a moment before reacting. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The rules said that ‘children’ were allowed to eat candies secretly, but this person actually ate them secretly?

“How about it? It is a strawberry flavor. Is it sweet or not?” Yue Ren smiled. In the blink of an eye, he also opened another pink candy and put it in his mouth. He was obviously very satisfied with the feeling of eating candy secretly. His mood was happy.

“It is very sweet,” Chi Ting responded while looking at the pink candy wrapper. He suddenly glanced at Yue Ren’s head.

He didn’t know why, but the pink color and strawberry taste reminded him of the person in the lobby on the first floor of the Love Apartment when the pink favorability bar instantly jumped up.

It just so happened that the walls of the Love Apartment were the same color.

“What are you looking at?” Yue Ren was stared at by Chi Ting and instinctively fixed his hairstyle.

“It’s nothing.” Chi Ting smiled silently. He looked at the area around him and was about to ask Yue Ren to go back together. Suddenly, he noticed something and looked back suddenly.

He reacted almost immediately, but what came into view was still a calm forest.

His field of view was too far away. He couldn’t even catch sight of another figure.

Chi Ting looked at Yue Ren in a questioning manner.

The latter nodded and gave him a very definite answer. “Something is watching us.”

Chi Ting’s brow furrowed slowly.

He always had absolute confidence in his sensitivity of perception. The clear sense of gaze was definitely not his illusion, not to mention that Yue Ren obviously also noticed it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the source of this gaze.

He raised his eyes. Chi Ting could see countless shadows emerging from under Yue Ren’s feet. In an instant, they moved densely through every corner of the forest.

It was like a net laid by prey hidden in the shadows, but nothing was found.

There was silence.

Vaguely, it seemed that only the occasional sound of the wind brushed past their ears.

It couldn’t be found, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist.

There was something he couldn’t see.

Chi Ting remembered the recording that was played during the game session last night.

Among the bustling voices, there was a child’s voice that none of them had heard at that time.

Was it that child?

Was she standing not far away from them, but her presence couldn’t be felt?

Such a thought flashed through his mind. Chi Ting’s gaze calmly swept over every swaying leaf.

In the process, his eyes might’ve fallen on the girl in red, or maybe the girl was standing not far away on the other side, calmly watching them looking for her.

Chi Ting lowered his eyes and extended his hand toward Yue Ren. “You haven’t thrown away the candy wrapper, right? Lend it to me.”

Yue Ren glanced at him and handed over the candy wrapper.

Chi Ting took it and squatted down.

Soon, there was a pink paper crane with fluorescent lights in his hand.

He gently placed the paper crane on the grass before standing up again. “Let’s go back.”

Yue Ren glanced at him, put his hands in his pocket and took a step forward. He walked side by side with Chi Ting, his tone slightly emotional. “I can’t tell that you actually have such a skill. You are quite versatile.”

Chi Ting thought of the orphan rescue stations he had passed by during rescues and smiled slightly. “There is no way. Life forced me.”

As the two of them slowly walked away from the forest, the wind around them suddenly fell silent.

In a scene that looked like the pause button had been pressed, the paper crane on the ground moved slightly.

Then it slowly floated into the air silently and ‘flew’ in the direction that the two tall figures had left in.

On the other side, the first thing Chi Ting did after leaving the forest was to take a quick look around. He finally caught sight of the familiar thin figure. He patted Yue Ren’s shoulder and motioned for him to follow. He had already moved toward the thin figure.

During the time when the two of them were in the forest, the players outside weren’t idle.

Wen Weng had found a lot of candies. However, he was thinking about other things, so his efficiency was obviously much lower than that of others.

After the second round of voting ended tonight, it would be his turn to choose who to deliver the handkerchief to.

If the next vote could successfully get rid of the second ghost, the person who received the handkerchief this time would only have one layer of mark stacked on them. Basically, there would be no great danger to their lives.

Even so, it still made Wen Weng feel hesitant.

Needless to say, if he followed the survival logic mentioned by Fei Ying, there was only one person among the remaining players who he could outrun. This meant there was only one way for him to choose. It was to return the handkerchief to Fei Ying again.

Wei Weng was naturally very resentful of Fei Ying giving the handkerchief to him, not to mention that he hadn’t seen the other party repenting at all. This gave him an absolute reason to take the opportunity to get revenge.

However, Tu Shuhuai also chatted with him today. It made sense when carefully thinking about the content.

It was because players needed to have a vote advantage later to facilitate voting. It was best not to have too many grudges between players but to focus on the overall situation. According to Tu Shuhuai, in order to prevent too many players from being eliminated, it was better to give priority to players with fewer marks when passing the handkerchief. This way, the safety of all players could be ensured to the maximum extent.

Everyone might understand the truth, but it might not be so simple to implement.

Even if he cooperated in doing so, what if the person he gave the handkerchief to regretted it and caught him out of a survival instinct like Fei Ying.

In this way, the one who received two stacks would be him!

Wei Weng felt extremely conflicted in his heart. After much deliberation, he still felt that Fei Ying would be the most safest choice. He might not be able to win if the opponent was prepared, but at least there was still room to try.

As for the interests of the team, wasn’t this what the girl surnamed Fei said herself? Survive first. Then they could have a future!

Wen Weng was thinking this when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, startling him.

Once he saw it clearly, he realized it was Chi Ting, who had disappeared for a long time.

“Ah, you are back from the forest?” Wen Weng was stunned for a moment. “Do you have a problem with me?”

Chi Ting nodded. “It isn’t a big deal. I just want to confirm something. You should’ve seen a ghost last night. Can you give me a general idea of the specific situation?”

Wen Weng thought about the bad experience last night, and his face suddenly paled. He instinctively glanced at the door and found that Mr. Rabbit had moved his eyes away because Yue Ren was standing in this direction. He lowered his voice and said, “In fact, I don’t have many clues. I am timid. When I realized something was wrong, I kept my eyes closed the whole time and didn’t dare to open them. I know that the ghost is very cold. When it passed by my neck, the cold feeling almost made me wonder if it had been cut open… Later, it lay on top of me for a while. I really didn’t dare to look at it. I don’t remember when the light touch on my body disappeared.”

Chi Ting caught the key point. “Did it lie on top of you?”

“Huh?” Wen Weng inexplicably heard a hint of vague expectations from such a sentence. He looked up a bit blankly and saw a faint light in Chi Ting’s eyes.

He heard the man in front of him ask again, “In this case, you were able to touch it, right?”

Wen Weng suddenly remembered that this person seemed to have asked Fei Ying the same question at that time. He was a bit confused about why this man was so persistent on this matter. “Yes… it should be possible?”

Under such a doubtful gaze, Chi Ting showed a warm and harmless smile. “Uncle, you must be worried about who to give the handkerchief to tonight, right? In this way, I have a very good candidate here.”

Wen Weng was asked about his innermost feelings. He couldn’t help blurting out, “To whom?”

Chi Ting smiled. “Me.”

“Huh?”

Chi Ting told him, “Pass me the handkerchief, and I promise not to get up to chase you when the time comes.”

Wen Weng obviously failed to keep up with such a development for a while. He uttered in a low voice, “…Huh?”

“Really. Don’t worry, and pass it to me.” Chi Ting was still thinking about the little girl who was most likely a ghost. He comforted Wen Weng very kindly. “There is no need to feel any mental burden. I just suddenly became curious and wanted to see the ghost and what it looks like.”

This time, Wen Weng really wondered if he was having an auditory hallucination. “……??”

It was the first time in his life that he had heard such a request!