Chapter 1
The woman’s body slammed heavily onto the stage, kicking up dust mixed with the nauseating, damp, and rotten smell of the wooden beams. Even the audience watching from below couldn’t help but take two steps back.
But the opera was not yet over. A young maid entered, weeping, her expression filled with grief. “My lady has died of a sickness brought on by the sorrow of spring, a terrible blow to my master and mistress. Oh, esteemed audience, what is to be done! Allow me to cry for her a while.”
Her voice faded, the stage went dark, and the lights came up.
A female student looked around uneasily and asked anxiously, “The play is over. This prank should be finished now, right?”
As she spoke, she rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and couldn’t help but complain, “If I find out who did this, I won’t let them get away with it!”
The young man with yellow hair behind her was already impatient, shouting viciously at the stage, “Damn it, is this ever going to end…?”
Before he could finish, the curtain was silently drawn open before everyone’s eyes. The old-fashioned electric lights flickered erratically. The moment they saw the stage clearly, the female student let out a terrified scream.
There was no sign of the expected curtain call on the stage. There was only the Female Lead Role, still in her costume, lying in a pool of blood. The fresh blood created a stark, tragic contrast with her pale makeup. Her empty, lifeless eyes remained wide open, as if she had died with a grievance, staring straight at the audience below.
Drip… Drip…
Thick blood dripped from the stage, thudding softly onto the old wooden floor. Only then did the female student realize this was no prank.
***
Half an hour ago, Jiang Liu had stretched and gotten out of bed as usual. Rubbing her stomach, she went to find food, but when she pushed open the door, she didn’t see her roommate. Instead, seven strangers were staring at her in bewilderment.
She immediately grew wary, frowning as she sized them up for a moment. “Breaking and entering? A gang job?”
But this gang seemed a bit too casual, didn’t they?
The one in the lead was a refined-looking Man with Glasses who seemed frail and weak; she wondered if he could even take one of her kicks. Beside him were two young men and two young women who didn’t look very old, their faces still holding the innocence of students. Looking further back, she saw a Man in a Suit and a yellow-haired punk, a combination that just didn’t feel right.
The Man in a Suit was also sizing her up, his tone unfriendly. “Who sent you? I’m not backing down from this deal. Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it.”
Jiang Liu rolled her eyes on the spot. “And who might you be? You think you’re in the right, trespassing in a private residence?”
These people were causing her trouble first thing in the morning. Jiang Liu couldn’t be bothered to waste her breath and threw a punch.
But before her fist could connect with the Man in a Suit’s face, it was stopped by an invisible force. Her eyes widened, a rare hint of confusion appearing in them.
Before she could react, the daylight around them suddenly dimmed, and a fierce wind rose. A strange voice echoed out of nowhere: “Welcome to the Lost Way Game—”
The synthesized doll-like voice, accompanied by a strange static, echoed in the ears of all eight people.
[The owner of the Curtain Dream Theater is old, and her only regret is not being able to hear a performance of The Peony Pavilion one last time. As disciples of the opera troupe she personally trained, players are requested to cooperate in rehearsals to fulfill Granny Chen’s wish.]
[Main Quest: Successfully perform The Peony Pavilion.]
[Upon completion of the quest, rewards and punishments will be determined by your Level Score. Players, please proceed with caution.]
[Finally, we wish all players a pleasant game.]
The voice stopped abruptly. When the wind died down, the eight of them found themselves in a theater garden. On the stage, figures swayed as the opera began with its melodic tunes, while they were confined to their seats, unable to move.
And that led to the current scene.
The play hadn’t even ended, and someone was already dead.
Jiang Liu felt the restraints on her body gradually loosen. Just as she was about to check the situation, the Man in a Suit beside her pushed her, causing her to stumble. She heard him curse, “It’s just a little trick to scare people. Only kids like you would fall for it.”
He clearly didn’t believe what he was seeing and still thought it was all a farce. He pushed his chair back and turned to leave.
Yellow Hair, who had spoken earlier, frowned. He had always despised the arrogant faces of these so-called elites. Before Jiang Liu could say anything, he shot to his feet, no longer trembling, and pointed at the Man in a Suit’s nose, cursing, “Are you fucking brainless? What kind of prank gets someone killed?”
The two quickly started arguing. Others tried to break them up or just stood by watching, creating a chaotic scene that gradually dispelled some of the earlier fear.
While everyone was in an uproar, Jiang Liu quietly slipped away from the crowd. She placed her hands on the stage, using the leverage to vault herself up, and walked straight toward the corpse.
By the time everyone noticed, she was already crouching beside the body, examining something in her hands.
The Man with Glasses approached curiously. “Did you find something?”
Jiang Liu looked up and scanned the group, suddenly asking, “You all heard that voice too, right?”
She was referring to the strange electronic voice. As expected, everyone nodded in unison. Even the Man in a Suit stubbornly grunted in affirmation.
Jiang Liu shook the object in her hand. It was a scroll from beside the corpse. The paper felt delicate and was mounted on a scroll, giving it a substantial weight. It was spattered with fresh blood that hadn’t yet dried. She didn’t open it rashly, instead beginning to explain to the others.
“The Peony Pavilion is a play written by Tang Xianzu during the Ming Dynasty. It’s mainly about Du Liniang coming back to life after death. This woman is dressed in the costume of a Young Maiden Role, so her attire is clearly that of an unmarried young lady. Combined with the lyrics from just now, she must have been playing Du Liniang.”
“And this,” she continued, “is the self-portrait she painted before she died, Spring Countenance. It’s also an important prop in the play.”
Her hands were stained with blood from examining the corpse, yet she was now calmly explaining the play’s plot. The scene was indescribably bizarre.
Seeing that a young girl like her was so composed, the Man in a Suit, who had been arguing red-faced just moments ago, felt a loss of face and couldn’t help but snort coldly. “So what are you trying to say? That she’s going to come back to life?”
Jiang Liu gave him a faint, sidelong glance. Her eyes were clearly smiling, yet the Man in a Suit felt an overwhelming sense of pressure. He broke out in a cold sweat and quickly looked away, saying no more.
How could a brat, barely in her twenties at most, exude such pressure?
“So… what exactly is going on?”
The female student swallowed nervously, staring at the corpse, not daring to get closer as she stammered out the question.
No one could answer her.
Jiang Liu put down the scroll, casually grabbed the curtain to wipe her hands, and walked quickly to the room backstage. As expected, the other characters were long gone. All that remained on the dressing tables were a few new opera costumes, likely prepared for them.
“Main Quest: Successfully perform The Peony Pavilion.”
She repeated the sentence softly to herself, already having an idea of what was happening. After thoroughly searching the room once more, she returned to the stage. To her surprise, in just that short time, they had started fighting again, even coming to blows.
Listening closely, she learned that the Man in a Suit wanted to leave, but Yellow Hair was afraid his impulsive action would endanger everyone, so he had physically tried to stop him.
Seeing the Man in a Suit grow angry from embarrassment, he raised a chair to smash it wildly, nearly hitting the female student. Jiang Liu frowned and swiftly kicked Yellow Hair’s calf. The force was perfectly controlled, and the pain made him instinctively bend over, thus dodging the falling wooden chair.
Yellow Hair ignored the pain and glared at Jiang Liu, exasperated. “What’s wrong with you? He was just cursing at you, and now you’re helping him? Don’t you know who’s on your side?”
Jiang Liu didn’t answer, merely watching as the Man in a Suit scrambled to his feet and ran, cursing as he went. “I’m not staying in this godforsaken place for another minute! If you all want to die, go ahead, but don’t drag me down with you!”
The theater wasn’t large. Besides the stage, there were no more than a dozen tables. The exit was easy to find, but it was currently shut tight, not letting in a sliver of light.
Jiang Liu didn’t stop him, just watched as he pushed the door. With a soft creak, the seemingly rusted iron door actually budged.
The Man in a Suit’s face lit up with joy. He pushed harder, opened a crack, and squeezed through with a final curse, as if escaping.
The others who had been watching were ecstatic and rushed to follow. To them, the world outside that door represented the hope of survival.
The next second, something unexpected happened.
A blood-curdling scream echoed through the air. Outside the door, there was a faint rustling sound. Before anyone could go and check, a pair of bloody hands gripped the top of the doorframe. It seemed to struggle with great effort for a moment before falling limply to the ground, landing right in front of the female student.
The young woman finally couldn’t take the shock. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted, collapsing to the ground with a thud. The dull sound was like a clap of thunder in everyone’s hearts, and they all froze in place.
The crack in the door, just a step away, now looked like a path to hell. Just looking at it made their hearts pound, rendering them unable to move.
Jiang Liu narrowed her eyes, quickly stepped forward, and grabbed the bloody hands. Without any fear, she pulled them inside. Her practiced movements stunned everyone, even Yellow Hair, who had been so brave earlier, stared with wide eyes.
The weight is wrong… Jiang Liu frowned slightly.
As the full form of the thing was revealed, everyone took a horrified step back. Some even squatted on the ground and started to dry heave.
It was a complete Skeleton, still clad in the once-tidy brand-name suit, which was now stained with dark red blood and some unknown rotten substance, crumpled and limp.
An eyeball that had not yet disappeared was still hanging from the skull. As everyone watched, it slowly blinked, then dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling bloody water, splattering onto the Man with Glasses’ pant leg with a soft splat.
He let out a retch and quickly turned away, gasping for air, his forehead already covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.
Everyone was still in shock. It was only a dozen steps from the stage to the door. What could have possibly happened in such a short time?
Recalling that particularly chilling scream, Yellow Hair staggered and sat on the floor, a wet patch spreading across his pants.
But at this moment, no one was laughing at him. Everyone’s legs were trembling, and they stood in silence.
What kind of world were they facing?
Having witnessed a living person die in such a manner and turn to bloody water in an instant, a tense atmosphere spread through the room. Someone swallowed hard and proposed, “Why don’t we… introduce ourselves first.”
This time, the group was surprisingly united, clearly realizing that this was no ordinary prank.
Another creak sounded.
Jiang Liu closed the door again and found a place to sit.
Although the immediate crisis had brought them together, the distance between them still revealed some divisions. The students huddled closely together, with the Man with Glasses and Yellow Hair in the middle. Only the seat next to Jiang Liu was left empty, deliberately isolating her.
Yellow Hair rubbed his bruised calf, trying to read something on Jiang Liu’s face. But from beginning to end, Jiang Liu had been exceptionally calm. Whether examining the corpse or nonchalantly carrying the skeleton to close the door, her actions were in stark contrast to her appearance.
The girl was strikingly beautiful, more radiant than any of the young starlets on TV, especially her smiling eyes, which were very endearing. Who would have thought she had such a personality? It was truly unbelievable.
No wonder the old folks said beautiful women were trouble. There was some truth to it after all.
While he was lost in thought, the students had already begun to introduce themselves.
Besides the one who had fainted, the other three were of similar age, two sophomores and one freshman. They were discussing their current situation. Yellow Hair looked at them, then glanced sideways at the Man with Glasses. “Hey, what’s your name?”
The young man with glasses seemed a bit dull, answering dryly, “My name is Xu Shu. I was pulling an all-nighter to meet a deadline when I suddenly ended up here.”
Yellow Hair tutted. “I’m Zhang Xiaochen. I got lost during my night shift, and when I woke up, I was here.”
He spat again. “I told you that place wasn’t safe. There are three cemeteries around it. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have taken the job for that little bit of money!”
Xu Shu didn’t know how to respond, so he just smiled awkwardly, his gaze shifting to Jiang Liu, hesitant to speak.
Jiang Liu took the initiative and smiled. “Just call me Jiang Liu. The situation is unclear right now. To avoid any more trouble, it’s best we do as that voice said.”
Yellow Hair’s face fell. “I don’t know anything about opera or plays. If I can’t learn this, won’t I just starve to death here?”
Although he seemed ill-tempered, his personality wasn’t all that bad. His comment made everyone find the situation a little funny, and they started to complain along with him. Only Jiang Liu rubbed her temples.
She didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t rested well recently or if this damn place was affecting her, but she always felt a bit drowsy. Even several cups of tea to wake herself up had no effect.
Just then, a series of footsteps approached, accompanied by a soft creak. Everyone froze in place.
The door was being opened from the outside.