Translator: Moonlit
Editor: Aiya-ge
Upon realizing that it was a female voice, all six people in the room felt their scalps tingle.
Even Gu WenCheng’s heart skipped a beat.
When did someone enter the room?
“Why aren’t they talking?” The little girl’s clear laughter continued. “Sister, why aren’t they talking?”
Another voice chimed in, surprisingly, the voices of these two little girls were identical. “Sister, they’re going to take us to school tomorrow. I don’t want to go to school. They’re so annoying.”
The Dream Team instantly assumed a defensive position and stared directly at the source of the voices.
The old, creaky bed made a groaning sound as they shifted, as though it were about to collapse at any second.
Standing at the bedside were two girls whose height had just surpassed the bed. They had double ponytails, wore bright red dresses, and had something smeared on their faces that made them unnaturally pale while their mouths and cheeks were as red as blood.
The Dream Team looked pained; if you can’t do makeup, then don’t.
“Haven’t you heard of men and women not getting too close?” Li ZouXing’s forehead veins were visibly pulsating. “What are you doing breaking into a man’s room in the middle of the night?”
The two little girls exchanged glances and actually walked towards the door.
It was only then that the team noticed the strange appearance of the girls. Their limbs and heads did not match properly,t was as if their heads were turned backward, with the front facing their backs and the back facing their chests1ya know, the typical horror scenes where the heads are turned backward.
“…”
Everyone simultaneously covered Xi Nan’s mouth. Xi Nan, whose mouth and nose were covered by several hands, struggled and almost rolled his eyes.
They only released Xi Nan after the two little girls had completely left the room. Xinan, shaken but at least not in tears, hugged himself and shivered. “Were those two children alive or dead just now?”
“Whether they’re alive or dead, we should treat them as if they’re alive.”
After Li ZouXing finished speaking, he jumped off the bed to check if the door had been properly closed by the little girls.
Gu WenCheng stepped off the bed ahead of him, closing the door completely. His expression was calm. “There’s nothing outside the door. Don’t be afraid.”
His brothers looked at him with admiration in their eyes. “WenCheng, you’re too manly and handsome!”
Li ZouXing followed a step behind and smiled as he watched him return. “Think about it carefully. This is just a virtual world, and everything inside is a simulated image created by data. Doesn’t that make it less scary?”
“Well, it helps a bit,” Ling Nian said. “The most helpful thing is thinking about what the other teams are going through.”
Even though they had their own share of troubles and challenges, thinking about the situations the other teams were facing made this group of people laugh at their own misfortune.
At least they had Li ZouXing, who was the first to tell the ghost stories, and the brave Gu WenCheng. When they looked at it that way, their team’s advantages were truly significant.
Fortunately, there were no live broadcasts in the virtual world, so they didn’t have to worry about their appearance. If they were scared, they were scared, and everyone around them who saw their ugly faces was part of the same team.
They didn’t sleep at all during the following night, staying vigilant against the unknown terror. By the end of the night, they felt more refreshed than if they had slept.
Without an accurate timekeeping tool, they only realized it was the second morning when the old woman knocked on their door again.
Once they completed the task of taking the little girls to school, they would be able to leave this world by the afternoon.
They were mentally prepared and stepped out of the room.
The old, run-down residential area still had a dim and gloomy atmosphere, with the old woman hiding in a corner. “It’s five o’clock now. Please take my two granddaughters to school.”
The sky remained overcast and dark. Si Wo Lin looked at the house without the scent of cooking and asked, “Don’t they eat?”
“I’m blind and can’t cook,” the old woman chuckled. “If you have a kind heart, you can buy them some candied hawthorns when you pass by the street market.”
The two little girls were already waiting outside. Their bodies had returned to normal as if what the Dream Team had seen last night didn’t match reality. When they heard they could have candied hawthorns, they giggled. “That’s great! We want candied hawthorns.”
Si Wo Lin asked, “What are candied hawthorns, and are they delicious?”
Li ZouXing suddenly remembered that he had mentioned candied hawthorns while telling ghost stories in the Daystar Meteor. The organizers were really resourceful.
“You’ve never had candied hawthorns?” The two little girls had synchronized expressions and tones, looking at Si Wo Lin sympathetically. “Well, you should buy some for yourself when the time comes.”
Li ZouXing had mentioned that they shouldn’t eat anything given by ghosts, and Si Wo Lin remembered it clearly. He politely declined, “No thanks, I won’t eat it.”
The little girls’ expressions immediately darkened, and they approached Si Wo Lin step by step. “Why don’t you want to eat candied hawthorns? They’re so delicious.”
Si Wo Lin, on the verge of tears from fear, stuttered, “We boys have a few days every month when we can’t eat sweets.”
The two little girls stopped in their tracks, looking at each other in confusion. “Sister, I think I’ve heard something like that before.”
The other little girl tilted her head. “Sister, that phrase sounds really familiar.”
“Well, forget about it then,” they both said in unison. “If that’s the case, you shouldn’t eat.”
Si Wo Lin breathed a sigh of relief and the Dream Team behind him also relaxed.
“The vehicles are over there,” the old woman’s voice echoed from inside the house. “Youngsters, there are two vehicles here. You must take my granddaughters to school. Remember, only four people can sit in one vehicle.”
This was the third time she had said this, and the teammates nodded solemnly.
Parked on either side of the gate were two vehicles resembling tricycles. Li ZouXing sat in the driver’s seat of one of the vehicles and immediately sat behind him was Gu WenCheng.
Si Wo Lin, with a gleam in his eye, agilely climbed on to join them, earning him an approving glance from Gu WenCheng. He was gradually finding joy in showing affection.
The other three people squeezed into the other vehicle.
The two little girls each took a seat with Xi Nan in the driver’s seat of the other vehicle He mimicked Li ZouXing’s posture as he controlled the vehicle, determined to ride side by side with him.
“Don’t be afraid,” Li ZouXing said, seeing Xi Nan’s anxious look. “Are you still from the Chengyang Military Academy?”
Gu WenCheng added casually, “Xi Nan, my darling, do you need to come to Daddy’s arms for comfort?”
Si Wo Lin covered his mouth, afraid to laugh out loud.
Li ZouXing, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, looked at Gu WenCheng. “You called him ‘darling,’ so what am I?”
Gu WenCheng was clearly taken aback, then he started fumbling, “No, no, I was just joking with him. You are, of course, my one and only darling.”
“But this term isn’t unique,” Li ZouXing glanced at the road ahead, sounding melancholic. “I’m not the only one.”
Gu WenCheng panicked and hugged his neck from behind. “ZouXing…”
Si Wo Lin didn’t miss any of their actions, his face tinged with a slight blush.
‘They really are in love, aren’t they?’
The two little girls stared without blinking, vigorously nodding their heads, unable to take their eyes off the scene.
Li ZouXing was being hugged. Gu WenCheng’s fair and supple arms wrapped around his neck.
If you ignored the background of this world and the tricycle they were on, it would be a scene of luxury cars and beautiful people having a great time.
A smile tugged at his lips, but he quickly concealed it, responding in a sulking tone, “Hmm?”
“Xing Xing,” Gu WenCheng’s voice lowered, his tone drawn out, demonstrating a hardcore form of coquettishness. “Xing Xing.”
The Dream Team of tough guys shivered, their skin covered in goosebumps.
Unable to resist, they cast strange glances at Gu WenCheng, wondering how they hadn’t noticed this hobby of his before.
Li ZouXing couldn’t help but laugh, and as soon as the laughter escaped, Gu WenCheng’s face darkened. He bit Li ZouXing’s ear and asked, “Are you teasing me?”
He gently nibbled, using his teeth to tease. Si Wo Lin and the two little girls watched with wide eyes, utterly fascinated.
Ji Yu nudged Ling Nian, indicating for him to check on the little girls in the other vehicle.
Deep in thought, Ling Nian nodded in response.
The little girls guided them along the way. Halfway there, a fog rolled in, and within the fog, shadowy figures began calling out. Despite the road being empty apart from them, the atmosphere became bustling with noisy voices.
“Oh, our candied hawthorns!”
The two little girls jumped out of the car and ran into the dense fog. “We’re going to buy candied hawthorns!”
The fog looked ominous, and the Dream Team unanimously stopped in their tracks. Shortly after, one of the little girls returned with candied hawthorns and hopped onto Xi Nan’s vehicle. “Let’s go, let’s go.”
Xi Nan started pedaling instinctively. “What about the other kid?”
The little girl in the vehicle replied, “She’s back there.”
Li ZouXing and the others were still standing there when they suddenly felt that something was very wrong. They shouted loudly to the people ahead, “Xi Nan—stop!”
Xi Nan slammed on the brakes and looked back in confusion.
The little girl in the vehicle urged, “Drive quickly, I’ll be late. Please hurry and take me to register.”
Ji Yu and Ling Nian looked at her and didn’t think anything was amiss. However, when they looked back again, they suddenly saw the two girls who had just emerged from the fog while holding candied hawthorns.
Their pupils contracted, and they quickly turned their heads. But the little girl in the vehicle was gone as if there had never been a fourth person sitting there.
They were speechless.
Cold sweat began to form on their foreheads.
If they had simply continued on, with only four people allowed in one vehicle, and they had taken another little girl with them, what would have happened to the one they left behind? Would there have been consequences?
Xi Nan turned the car around, and Ji Yu, Li ZouXing, and the others who had stayed exchanged glances, feeling a sense of unease.
“Is this real?” Ji Yu couldn’t help but ask the little girl who had climbed into the vehicle. “Are you real?”
The little girl’s dark eyes swirled, and she giggled. “Guess!”
Ling Nian jumped out of the vehicle, held the heads of Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng, and made them kiss each other.
“Ah!” The two little girls covered their faces in excitement and then peeked openly through their fingers.
“It’s true,” Ling Nian let out a sigh of relief, looking up at the sky. “It’s been about half an hour since we left. Let’s hurry.”
Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng, who were forced to kiss: “…”.
Fortunately, the rest of the journey didn’t have any surprises. Before long, they arrived at the gate of a primary school with the words “Xinxing” written on it.
The gate was dilapidated, the iron gate was rusty, moss grew in the damp corners, and there were several conspicuous bloodstains.
“We’ve arrived,” the little girl got out of the vehicle, took out two flashy bills, and handed them to the group. “This is our school fee. Once you help us pay the tuition, you can leave!”
They accepted the money, and the two little girls, holding hands, looked them up and down, their gaze fixing on Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng.
Li ZouXing and Gu WenCheng had a sinking feeling.
“You promise us one request,” the little girls spoke in unison, “and we’ll tell you a secret.”
Li ZouXing took a deep breath, understanding the intentions of these fangirls, and decided not to speak at the moment.
Gu WenCheng, unable to contain himself, asked, “What’s the request?”
The two little girls looked at each other and cracked a big smile, blood dripping from the corners of their lips, “We want to see you kiss and cuddle without your clothes on!”
Author’s note:
Li ZouXing: I knew it (￣-￣)
Gu WenCheng: We’re an emotionless ghost-testing machine.
Translator’s corner:
Moonlit: Ling Nian’s method of checking reality got me HAHAHHAHAHHA. Instead of pinching himself, he got ZouXing and WenCheng to kiss HAHAHHAHAHHAH.
