Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 482 Weird
Perhaps they felt it wasn't something important, or perhaps they thought a child wouldn't be at risk, so they said it without any hesitation.

After thinking for a moment, Hanxuzi replied.

"About two more months."

Xuan Cheng frowned upon hearing this.

"Such a short time? Weren't you barely managing to stay afloat a while ago?"

Hanxuzi suddenly laughed.

However, compared to a normal expression, this smile was full of sarcasm and mockery.

"Given the level of pollution his uncle has endured, it's already quite remarkable that he's managed to hold on until now. After this trip ends and he returns to the mountains, he'll probably have to enter the Insect Forest."

Xuan Cheng paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"What a pity. If we hadn't been ambushed back then, things wouldn't have come to this."

Hanxuzi curled his lip.

"You don't need to pretend anymore. We don't even know who ambushed our martial uncle. Don't get angry with me. Everyone in the sect is a suspect. I didn't single you out."

Xuan Cheng was taken aback, but quickly he chuckled—his voice filled with blatant malice—then glanced at Han Xuzi a few times, and then grinned and said.

"Since that's the case, let's not dwell on it too much. Let's get this setup in place first?"

Time passed little by little.

Soon, the child who went out to relieve himself returned.

Because of Xuancheng's warning, no one dared to exceed the allotted time. After returning, they all huddled in their seats, not daring to speak or move an inch.

Xuancheng and Hanxuzi each took some miscellaneous magical artifacts and placed them in the corners of the granary. They then pasted several magical scrolls on the door, solemnly emphasized the three rules, and then left with Hanxuzi.

Finally, there was the sound of a lock being put on the warehouse door.

Soon, the last rays of sunlight disappeared on the horizon, and heavy night enveloped the entire village.

There was no lighting in the barn, only moonlight streaming in through the skylight.

Inside the warehouse.

Still, no one spoke.

Even though the regulators had long since left, their accumulated authority kept all the children silent, and no one dared to utter a single sound.

But that's it.
This principle does not apply to travel.

With a forceful movement of his hips, he slowly moved his body and, without disturbing anyone, used the afterglow of the moonlight to reach a corner of the barn.

—And the little girl I saw before was curled up here.

Zhou You just looked at her, then lowered his voice and greeted her.

"Hey."

The little girl suddenly looked up, and after seeing Zhou You's face clearly, she instantly showed a look of horror.

But she didn't say anything; instead, she started drawing with her hands—it took Zhou You quite a while to roughly understand what she meant.

—Why are you talking? Are you afraid you haven't been beaten enough?
She hesitated for a moment, then made a few more gestures.

—Besides, it's one thing for you to get hit, but why drag me into it?

Zhou You smiled, plopped down next to him, and then lowered his voice to whisper.

"Don't be so nervous. It's quite noisy outside, and in the current situation, no one will notice us here."

Unfortunately, this wasn't very convincing. The little girl first carefully tilted her head back, observed the area around her, and confirmed that Zhou You had said so. Then she tilted her ear to listen to the sounds outside—

The noise, the sounds of drinking and playing drinking games, laughter and commotion, all came instantly.

The village chief and several large houses were right next to the granary. Xuan Cheng and his group were clearly not following the rules and regulations. The aroma of food and wine wafted in on the wind, making the young girl, who hadn't eaten dinner yet, swallow hard.

Zhou You smiled and took the opportunity to hand over a piece of cake.

However, the little girl did not take it, but asked with a surprised look.

Where did you get this?

Zhou You answered very frankly.

"When I got off the bus, I saw a few satchels hanging on the side of the bus. I didn't see anyone paying attention, so I took a few from them. Oh, don't worry about it. I already gave one to Aqua. That kid won't be short of money. You can eat them without any guilt."

Unexpectedly, the little girl suddenly became agitated.

"Do you know what you're doing? You're stealing! If they find out, it won't just be a whipping; you'll be beaten to death!"

"If someone catches you, that's stealing; if no one catches you, it's just a perfectly legitimate way to get your dinner back—by the way, are you going to eat?"

The little girl hesitated for a while, but unable to bear the hunger in her stomach, she reluctantly accepted the pancake.

After all, no matter how mature she appears or how rational she speaks, she is still just an eleven or twelve-year-old girl.

Only after the other person had carefully finished gnawing on the food like a hamster did Zhou You reach out his hand and say with a smile.

"Let's get acquainted formally. My surname is Zhou, my given name is You, and I'm known in the martial arts world as Master Zhou. What's your name?"

However, the little girl did not take it. Instead, she looked at Zhou You with a strange gaze for a while before speaking.

"You were only unconscious for a few days, how did you end up like this? Okay, consider this a thank you for the pancake. My surname is Lin, and my name is Yun Shao, but don't tell anyone."

Zhou You was taken aback for a moment, then began to rub his chin with great interest.

These children were all recruited from the countryside. Based on previous casual conversations, their names were a mixed bag, but due to the limited education levels of ancient times, they were mostly names like "Er Gou Gou," "Sheng Ni Zi," "Hu Wa," and "Hei Niu." More elegant names like this...
Well, it's not that you can't see them, but it would cost a lot of money to hire a tutor to teach them, and it was limited to the male members of the family. Unless you were a wealthy family, no one would waste money on girls.

In addition, his previous words and responses, which were far beyond his years and appeared remarkably mature, were also quite impressive.
This girl seems quite interesting?
However, Zhou You did not delve into his identity, but continued speaking.

"Junior Sister Yunshao"

"Add Lin."

"Alright, Junior Sister Lin Yunshao, I have something I'd like to ask you."

The little girl initially didn't want to talk to Zhou You, but after looking at the crumbs of the pancake in her hand, she sighed and said something.

"Go ahead and ask, but speak first. I don't know much either, and this is also to repay a favor to you."

Zhou You didn't seem to mind and continued to laugh.

"Then I'll get straight to the point—Junior Sister Lin, how much do you know about the Five Aggregates Contemplation?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I've heard my father mention before that this sect was quite a large one in Fengzhou. Unfortunately, like other sects, they did all sorts of bad things."

The young girl named Lin Yunshao was still quite young and not very wary, so Zhou You easily managed to get her to talk.

Although the Five Aggregates Temple is a temple, it is quite large in scale, even enclosing several mountains as its base. However, its reputation does not seem to be very good. Over the years, it has been said that the temple has been constantly recruiting children as disciples, but it has never been seen that many of them have come down from the mountains alive.

But that wasn't what Zhou You was primarily concerned with.

According to the little girl, not only this Five Aggregates View, but there are basically no good sects in the world—in fact, the ones she knows are all bad in reputation.

"Hiss, this world seems incredibly sinister. But that doesn't make sense. Normally, no matter how severe the pollution, there would always be some sects that try to purify their methods, like Maoshan and Shangqing. It sounds like all the righteous sects in this world have died out."

However, just as Zhou You was deep in thought, the light in the barn suddenly dimmed.

Looking up, I realized that dark clouds had filled the sky, obscuring the moonlight.

Of course, this is a perfectly normal situation, after all, the weather is unpredictable, and the moon waxes and wanes; it can't always be a sunny day. However...

Just as the barn plunged into darkness.

sudden.

All the sounds disappeared at once.

The noise outside, the drunken shouts of the Taoist priests—no, not only that, even the cawing of crows and the buzzing of mosquitoes—had all vanished without a trace.

In this pitch-black darkness, all I could hear was the sound of my own heart pounding wildly.

--what happened?
This was the first thought that flashed through Zhou You's mind.

—Is there an enemy?
This was the second idea that suddenly came to mind.

He instinctively wanted to draw his sword, but stopped abruptly just as his hand touched his waist.

Not only did he remember that all his belongings were now sealed in the Diancang Ring, but at the very moment he made a move, he suddenly felt 'something' lying on his back.

Zhou You didn't see what it was in the darkness, but he felt a chill that came from the bottom of his heart and went deep into his bones.

It wasn't some kind of ghost or monster, but rather a more thorough or purer form of malice.

—If I move, I will die immediately.

Although there was no warning, the Heavenly Dragon bloodline frantically offered this explanation.

Zhou You remained silent for a few seconds, then stopped what he was doing.

Damn it, I've only just entered the dungeon and you've already given me a scripted death?

However, just as he was stiffening, a candle suddenly lit up in the corner.

It was none other than what Xuan Cheng and the other person had set up before they left.

The candlelight was not bright, in fact, it was quite faint, but even this small amount of light made the lingering, bone-deep feeling disappear instantly, and also made the tense body relax abruptly.

Then more candles were lit, quickly providing more light to the barn.

Only then did a wail sound.

If Zhou You felt this way, then the children who were just ordinary people were even worse off. It was already considered good if they could cry out loud; the vast majority of them fainted without even uttering a sound.

—And that's not all.

In that short span of a few dozen breaths, as Zhou You perceived it, the number of breaths in the barn suddenly decreased.

They were scared to death!

Lin Yunshao, who was standing next to him, was also terrified and at a loss. He could only hold on to Zhou You's arm tightly and stammered.

"A ghost is coming. It looks like a ghost is coming!!!"

What is that?
Zhou You paused for a moment, then immediately asked.

"What is a ghost?"

However, Lin Yunshao just kept shaking his head in despair.

Only after Zhou You pressed her repeatedly did she finally speak through tears.

"I... I only heard my grandfather say that they were ghosts from outside the city, and that I shouldn't run around recklessly, because if I got caught, I would surely die."

It feels like the chaos and turmoil within an abyss?
—No, from an instinctive warning perspective, this thing is more dangerous than evil spirits!
Zhou You frowned, but remained motionless.

—After all, although we don’t know what kind of magic Xuancheng and the other two used, judging from what we just saw, it should be able to block out this thing outside the barn to some extent.

It's best to be cautious when you don't know the full extent of the problem.

And so, the situation reached a stalemate.

Inside the warehouse, the crying continued, but although the children were emotionally distraught, they still remembered Xuan Cheng's strict orders, and none of them dared to try to run outside.

As for outside the warehouse
There was no sound outside the warehouse.

There wasn't even the sound of the monster moving around; there was only a deathly silence.

But in Zhou You's, or perhaps in everyone's, perception, that 'thing' was still outside the door, silently waiting and trying to figure out how to get in.

Russian qing.

Suddenly, Zhou You felt something pressing against his back again.

The same applies to the other children in the barn.

Right beside him, Lin Yunshao finally couldn't overcome her fear and wanted to turn around to see what was behind her—but she was stopped by a sharp voice as soon as she moved.

"Don't look!"

Then, another shout echoed throughout the entire barn.

"Don't turn your heads, don't look at that thing!"

Unfortunately.

The suggestion came a little too late.

Several children had already turned their heads—and unsurprisingly, their view was empty.

However, they did not turn their heads back as expected.

On those small faces, the expression changed from astonishment to blankness, and then from blankness to extreme fear.

Finally, the neck made a movement.

But it didn't turn back.

Instead, they continued to twist clockwise, and with the sound of tearing neck muscles, sharp bones burst out of their bodies, and their heads turned back to face forward.

—In a bizarre, grotesque, and incredibly cruel way.

Seeing this scene, the other children finally couldn't bear the fear in their hearts and started running around like crazy. Zhou You called out several times, but still couldn't stop them.

Even Lin Yunshao, who was standing next to him, started screaming as if he was about to collapse.

Left with no other option, Zhou You could only furrow his brows and forcefully activate the blood within his body.

The next moment, an invisible aura swept through the barn, and in the blink of an eye, the remaining children fainted.

then.

All that remained was Zhou You and 'that thing' in a silent standoff.

However, the other party ultimately showed no intention of letting them go.

Soon, a rustling sound began outside the barn.

It was like insects climbing on thatch, or like someone rubbing their body against the floor. It wasn't big, but it was incredibly creepy.

then.

Right in front of Zhou You.

Those candles that provide light.
Suddenly, one of them went out.

(End of this chapter)