Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 21 Dead End
—I knew I was unlucky.

—When I play Dou Dizhu with my classmates, I'm always the only one who gets covered in stickers.

So it's normal to choose the wrong path from the start.
Zhou You took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. But he still wanted to put up a last-ditch effort.

He stayed close to the edge, intending to try to avoid the woman like he would avoid a witch, but what happened next was completely unexpected—she didn't pay any attention to him at all and just let him walk past.

"Has the system finally shown some mercy? It's actually planning to let me off so easily?"

Zhou You looked up, but before he could even smile, his expression froze.

Right in front of him, a woman in white was squatting down.

He turned his neck and looked behind him.

There, too, was a woman dressed in white who looked exactly the same.

Undeterred, Zhou You went around in circles again, but the result was the same.

The entire street seemed to be folded into a special space, and no matter where he went, he would inevitably encounter this white anomaly.

"Okay, I knew it."

Zhou You sighed helplessly, then, with a sense of self-abandonment, he simply walked up and patted the woman on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss, is there anything I can help you with?"

The other party did not move, but spoke in a slippery, strange, snake-like voice.

"I've lost something, can you help me find it?"

Zhou You was already mentally prepared to die at any moment, so he simply went along with it and answered.

"So, miss, what did you lose?"

The woman in white slowly raised her head upon hearing this. Then...
It revealed a face covered in blood, devoid of skin.

It opened its mouth and spoke softly.

My father lost my face. Can you help me find it?

The next moment, Zhou You felt a sharp pain in his face.

He subconsciously raised his hand and slowly touched it, but what he felt was not the normal texture of skin, but a thicker and rougher feeling, like the texture of blood and muscle.

Looking up, I realized that, without my noticing, my face had been put on the female ghost's head.

His limbs gradually stiffened, and then darkness enveloped his vision.

"you are dead."

"It's more worthwhile to die."

"Your remaining resurrection attempts are: 13."

"You're halfway through your journey, and victory is just around the corner. Keep up the good work and clear the level soon."

Hearing that familiar female voice, Zhou You didn't feel much sadness about his bad luck, but went back in immediately.

This time he chose the right side.

Unlike the road on the left, this road was much darker. The already dim lights were nearly half broken, and the road was full of potholes, as if it hadn't been maintained for many years.

Under these road conditions, Zhou You's pace naturally slowed down considerably, but fortunately he didn't encounter any ferocious ghosts or monsters. However, he didn't feel at ease at all; on the contrary, his expression grew increasingly grim as he walked.

There is no other reason.

This road is too long!
Based on the route map he had encountered before, even if he slowed down, he should have been able to get out of this place in ten minutes or so. But now he had been walking for at least thirty minutes and still hadn't seen the exit.

Moreover, from beginning to end, he had a feeling of being 'watched'.

It was as if something was always following him, ready to strike without hesitation the moment he turned around.

The conclusion is quite clear: he has once again made the wrong bet.

"I knew I was unlucky, but I still managed to guess wrong twice in a row with a one-third chance," Zhou You sighed, then turned away in despair.

Then, he saw an eye suddenly emerge from the shadows.

A bloodshot eye.

Then, more and more eyes appeared, covering the entire space within seconds—

The next moment, a sharp pain shot through his eyes.

Everything was plunged into darkness at the same time.

"you are dead."

"It's a worthless death."

"Your remaining resurrection attempts are: 12."

"You're halfway through your journey, and victory is just around the corner. Keep up the good work and clear the level soon."

He was probably sent back as soon as he went out, so the system's evaluation of Zhou You changed to 'worthless'. Even the mechanical voice carried a hint of sarcasm. Zhou You didn't think about retaliating. After all, he had figured out that arguing with the system would only make him uncomfortable. So he just rolled his eyes and went in again.

This time he chose the middle one.

Unlike the paths on the left and right, the middle path was much more normal. There were no ghostly figures or eyes in the shadows; everything was going smoothly. But just as he was about to reach the end, he suddenly saw—

An incredibly thin old man was squatting there, and when Zhou You saw him, he saw Zhou You in return.

Then, he grinned.

A certain glib and smooth-talking voice then rang out.

"I can see you, so I can touch you too."

"Now that I've touched you, I can kill you too."

"Your eyes can be thrown into the fog, your face can be given to a woman, your head can be used to build a wall, and your flesh and blood can be used to make a good soup."

"Three paths, three seals, but there's no way you can get through them!"

The moment the sound faded, Zhou You's vision was suddenly reversed.

The last thing he saw was his own headless body, lying completely flat on the ground.

Hmm? This scene seems familiar.
-
"you are dead."

"It's a worthless death."

"Your remaining resurrection attempts are: 11."

"You're halfway through your journey, and victory is just around the corner. Keep up the good work and clear the level soon."

Ignoring the mocking voices, Zhou You sat down cross-legged facing the book.

Contrary to his guess, this was not a 3-choice gamble, but rather three dead ends, each with a strange creature with an instant-death effect waiting for him.

Most importantly, unlike the previous stall owner and the child in the alley, none of these three strange creatures gave any tasks.

"In other words, I can't address any one of these points—or to put it another way, I could potentially pass all three."
"But there are no clues left at night, so the solution to this puzzle should be the same as the stall owner's, which is during the daytime."

Zhou You's eyes gradually brightened.

"—Four days and five nights. Now it seems that the nights were used to hinder me with various traps, while the days were the solution I found when I encountered situations that I could not make any progress."

"Furthermore, the plot progresses every day, and if we go into the daytime, perhaps we can find the key point that connects the clues?"

With that in mind, he didn't hesitate to choose the other option.

"The player has entered the daytime of the third day."

"Game progress will be saved automatically."

(End of this chapter)