Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 347 Overlap
Have I encountered a minotaur?
Looking at that arrogant and disdainful face, Zhou You didn't feel angry, but rather amused.

however.

Suddenly, a sigh came from beside his ear.

"This is my story. The first day was just a beautiful vision, but this is the real reality."

Is it finally out?

Zhou You turned his head to look, but saw nothing there, only a phantom shadow that vanished with the wind.

Russia.

The scenery before my eyes changed again.

This time it was a dirty room, which looked like a woodshed—Zhou You was no longer observing from Cangchuan's perspective, but rather from the viewpoint of a third party.

The boy, his face bruised and swollen, was bound by rope and hung from the rafters. In front of him stood a man dressed like a butler, his hands behind his back.

Unexpected
No, it was expected.

It was the face of the man who had just gone missing this morning.

The sorrow that had been on his face was gone; he held a whip in his hand and arrogantly raised Cangchuan's face.

"My master kindly spared your life a few days ago, and hey, you really don't know what's good for you. You've been beaten up like this, and you still dare to come looking for me?"

Cangchuan's condition was more serious than before; his eyes were almost closed, but he still spoke in a murmured voice.

"No, Ah Qing and I are in love. She doesn't want to marry into your Jiang family at all. You can't."

"Snapped!"

However, all that was gained was a scathing rebuke.

The man spat a mouthful of phlegm onto Cangchuan's face, then raised his foot and kicked him aside without any mercy.

"Bah! Mutual affection is nothing! My master has officially issued a marriage certificate. Even if she's just a concubine, she'll still be a concubine of the Jiang family. How dare you lay a finger on her! If you know what's good for you, fine. But if you don't, given my master's status in this mine, even if I beat you to death, it'll be for nothing!"

Cangchuan seemed to have fainted, his head hanging limply, offering no reply.

But the man ignored him and continued spitting as he spoke.

"However, my master is kind-hearted and can't stand seeing poor wretch like this. As long as you stop causing trouble and get far away, my master is willing to give you some money to help you recover. It's your choice: accept my master's charity or be beaten to death here?"

Cangchuan's body trembled, as if these words had finally awakened his dying instincts. He struggled to tilt his head back and said something through his blood-stained mouth.

The words were so muffled they were almost inaudible, but then a look of anger and embarrassment appeared on the man's face.

Then, in the dimly lit woodshed, the sound of a whip cracked loudly!
I do not know how long it has been.

The man had already left the woodshed, and in the torchlight, only the sound of dripping blood remained.

The boy was barely breathing and could die at any moment.

But just then, the door to the woodshed was suddenly pushed open.

A pretty girl walked in.

—It was Ruan Yuanqing.

The girl's clothes were much better than before; the white silk dress made her look even more beautiful.

In stark contrast, her beautiful face was filled with sorrow. She slowly walked up to Cangchuan and gently cupped his blood-stained face in her hands.

"Changyuan."

The boy remained motionless, as if he had exhausted all his strength.

Tears eventually flowed down my cheeks.

Ruan Yuanqing laboriously untied the boy's restraints, then took out a vermilion pill from her bosom and stuffed it into the boy's mouth.

He was probably still unconscious, and it took her several attempts to get Cangchuan to swallow it before she carefully placed him on the haystack.

"Changyuan."

Another call rang out, but still there was no response.

But this time, Ruan Yuanqing didn't make any unnecessary movements. She knelt beside the boy and whispered.

"Changyuan, give up. You'll really die if you continue like this. You have nothing to hold you back anyway, so leaving won't matter. With your strength and knowledge, you can live well anywhere."

Tears fell onto Cangchuan's face, but were immediately wiped away by the girl.

"So you must live on, you absolutely must live on. As for me, don't worry—Changyuan, do you still remember the vow I made? If I were to marry in this life, I would only ever marry you, so..."

"The Jiang family could indeed persuade my father, and they could even use money to get my aunt and uncle to sell me, but they are ultimately just ordinary people. Changyuan, you haven't forgotten the rules of our town, have you?"

"—The mountain god's bride, no one can possibly lay a finger on her."

I woke up again.

This time, Zhou You was shaken awake by someone.

"Young man, young man!"

I suddenly opened my eyes.

The first thing you see is Professor Zhang's flustered old face—and the little ghost girl desperately pulling at him from behind, but completely ignored.

"Professor Zhang? It shouldn't be time for you and me to keep watch yet, right? Why are you in such a hurry?"

To everyone's surprise, Professor Zhang became even more anxious upon hearing his words.

"Keep watch? Who dares to keep watch these days? Come out and take a look!"

After saying that, without waiting for his reply, she dragged him out.

The first people I met were Professor Zhang's students.

only one.

The male student collapsed to the ground, completely disoriented. At this moment, his face no longer showed the anger and irritability he had shown before; only extreme anxiety and fear remained.

"Is someone missing again?"

Professor Zhang spoke in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry.

"That's right! This kid had just finished his first shift and was looking for the next shift to switch with, but as soon as he entered the room, he found that the shift was over, and..."

At that moment, the male student suddenly shouted out.

"No, no, she was there when I came in, she even greeted me—but the moment I blinked, she vanished like smoke. And then I saw her, I saw her!"

Seeing the student who was terrified, Professor Zhang looked guilty, but in the end he shook his head helplessly and pulled Zhou You aside.

"Hey Zhou, do you remember the legend of Shengyuan Town that I told you about before?"

"The story of the mountain god suppressing the evil cat? I remember, what's wrong?" "I rushed to organize the information last night, only to find that I was wrong!" Professor Zhang slapped his thigh and sighed, "Didn't I tell you before that it was an evil spirit released during mining? Actually, it wasn't at all! Back then, the mines near this town were depleted, and it's true that someone made a deal with that evil god, but the people involved weren't just one or two officials, but the entire town!"

"At first I thought I was seeing things, but when I looked up the official population statistics from that year, I found that in the second year of the Yuan Dynasty, the population of this town had inexplicably decreased by one-sixth. Their explanation to the authorities was that there was a plague, which caused many deaths and injuries. But I have some knowledge of history, and I clearly remember that there was no major epidemic that year."

"And most importantly, all those who died were children and women."

Zhou You remained silent for a while, then spoke.

"Sacrifice?"

Professor Zhang shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but judging from the situation, it's quite similar. Also, based on the information I just looked up, the things painted outside now are extremely similar to the original sacrificial ritual."

The words were not finished, but the meaning was already clear.

According to Professor Zhang, the whole story can be connected.

In an effort to revive the mining industry, the town of Shengyuan sacrificed the vast majority of its women and children, only to summon a powerful evil spirit far exceeding their expectations. Just as the entire town was on the verge of annihilation, a mountain god intervened and saved it. From that day forward, no one in the town was allowed to discuss anything related to the evil spirit's form—a cat.

The reason why the townspeople were so indifferent was also explained—for some reason, these people wanted to hold this ritual of sacrificing to the unclean god again, and to them, Zhou You and his group were at most foolish sacrifices who happened to come along by chance, so naturally they wouldn't give them a good look.

But for some reason, Zhou You felt there was something wrong with those words.

How to put it, it's like
Before the two could continue their discussion, there was a knock on the hotel door.

—Is the innkeeper back?
Just then, the male student who had been slumped over to the side suddenly let out a scream.

"No, no, they're here! They're coming soon! Don't let them in! No, no, help me, help me!!"

"Wenbin, what's wrong?"

Professor Zhang rushed over to comfort his student, but the boy just held his head and mumbled incoherently.

Zhou You glanced at the two of them, then frowned, walked over, and peered through the peephole in the crack of the door.

It's not the boss, it's just one person.

Or rather, something that resembles a person.

The thing was normal below the neck, but above the neck it was twisted to an unbelievable angle. Its eyes were crooked and trying to peer into the room, and its mouth was wide open—but inside it was a black hole, empty of anything.

Is something from a dream that has come into reality?

The moment this thought flashed through my mind, the thing outside seemed to finally lose its patience. It abruptly stopped knocking, then raised its hand high and slammed it against the door—

"Bang!"

The door, which wasn't very sturdy to begin with, exploded!

Professor Zhang inside also saw the thing at the same time. He let out a shriller screech than his student, rolled his eyes, and almost collapsed.

In this situation, according to the normal horror movie formula, the end credits should be rolling at this point, but...
His travels are no joke!
With a kick, he sent the monster flying three or four meters. Then, he instinctively tried to summon the Demon Slayer Sword—but after grasping at empty air several times, he remembered that his sword was still being nurtured.

—But it doesn't matter, it doesn't mean I can't kill people even without a sword.

The thing had barely managed to get up when Zhou You was already close enough to it. He first elbowed it back to the ground, then took out a talisman from his pocket, rolled it up, and stuffed it into its mouth.

The monster tried to struggle, but the voices were far faster than its years of work.

"Duh!"

A burst of fire erupted, smashing his head to pieces.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Professor Zhang had just twitched twice and hadn't even fallen yet when he saw the monster transform into the headless senior student. He stood there, frozen in place, unsure of what to do.

After a long while, he finally managed to stammer out a sentence.

"Brother Zhou, no, sir, which faction do you belong to?"

Zhou You had just brushed the residue off his body when he heard this and looked up with some curiosity.

You know these things?

Professor Zhang swallowed.

"Those of us in this line of work have heard of it, but we've never actually seen it with our own eyes."

"If that's the case, then things will be much easier."

Zhou You took a deep breath and then told him.

“I saw that this hotel has a cellar. It’s quite well hidden. You take this kid in there and hide for a while. These things shouldn’t be able to find you for a while.”

Professor Zhang nodded instinctively, but then he realized what he was doing and asked Zhou You a question.

"Then where are you going?"

The person just smiled and then said.

"Since you say that it was the townspeople who did this, then I naturally have to go and ask them."

The night was still deep.

Outside, the decorations were still there, and the walls were still covered with strange symbols.

just.

—Not a single person could be seen.

Along the way, they did see a few monsters, but the once busy villagers seemed to have vanished into thin air. The road was deserted, and the entire town was deathly silent. Combined with the light of the big red lanterns, everything seemed exceptionally strange.

Before long, Zhou You arrived at the village chief's house.

Similarly, it was also empty inside—but the scenery was completely different.

Originally, this house was just an ordinary old house. Although it was old, the interior had long been renovated into a modern style. But now...
The right side of the house still features tiled appliances, and an old television is playing even older videos. However, the right side now has wooden pillars and beams, clearly resembling something from ancient times.

"Is this... the dream beginning to overlap with reality?"

Zhou You frowned and waved his hand inside, a silky feeling swirling in his hand—he could still feel reality, but for some reason, he always had a sense of unreality.

But just then, a shadow suddenly entered his field of vision.

The thing was furry, entirely black, with the shadow of golden pupils.

Similarly, it was something I had never seen before in this small town.
Cat.

At that moment, the cat was staring at him without moving or making a sound—and after watching for a while, it suddenly turned around and jumped into the crevice behind it.

The two sides only met briefly, but Zhou You saw something very human in those cat eyes.

—It is making itself catch up.

Zhou You paused for a few seconds, but remembering the purpose of his trip, he shook his head and followed the little thing.

(End of this chapter)