Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 18 Playing Games

The soup tasted very ordinary, no different from what you'd find at a regular street vendor's stall. But strangely, for some reason, it evoked a sense of nostalgia. At first, Zhou You only sipped it slowly with a spoon, but soon he couldn't help but wolf it down, and in the blink of an eye, the whole bowl of soup was gone.

At the same time, the mechanical female voice also rang in my ears.

"Congratulations to the player for completing the side quest: Drink Soup".

"Players receive a special reward: Warmth."

"Effect: Players recover stamina faster in this scenario and can remain full without consuming any other food."

"The player's relationship with the stall owner is: friendly, and the player can ask him for information about what will happen next."

"Players receive a green consumable item: Shop Sign."

"Effect: After use, you can temporarily summon the 'Stall Owner'. You cannot communicate with the Stall Owner, but can only ask it to help you block enemies. This item can only be used once in this scenario, and death will not reset the number of uses."

"Please note that due to the special limitations of this scenario, players can only ask the shop owner 3 questions."

Wait a minute, we've already established a friendly relationship, so why can we only ask three questions?

But before he could think it over, the stall owner suddenly spoke again.

"This is a recipe my mom taught me. It's not exactly gourmet food, but it suits the local tastes quite well. It's a pity we don't make it often now. We'll give you more when you come next time."

Seeing how quickly Zhou You ate, this person seemed quite happy, and even the wrinkles on their face seemed to have smoothed out considerably.

"I'll definitely come if I have the chance," Zhou You replied with a smile. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he continued, "By the way, excuse me, may I ask you a few questions?"

It was just a very ordinary sentence, but who would have thought that the stall owner's face would suddenly darken after hearing it.

Then, he suddenly closed his eyes, thought for a long time, and then spoke as if he had made up his mind.

"You've helped me so much, I can't possibly refuse. But please remember this: after you ask me, if I show any unusual behavior, run away immediately and never come back, understand?"

--Why.

The words were abruptly cut off before they could even be uttered.

Because the other person's eyes had already given the answer in advance.

—This is the only thing you shouldn't ask; if you do, both of us will die.

So Zhou You stopped talking and sat on the greasy stool, tapping his knees, pondering for a long time.

The other party didn't urge them at all, but just waited quietly.

After a long pause, he slowly uttered his first question.

"What solutions do you have for the difficulties I may encounter later?"

He didn't ask what dangers he might encounter, nor did he mention how many ghosts he might meet. Instead, he summarized most of the possibilities into one question, in order to minimize the number of questions he had to ask.

The stall owner understood this as well, and nodded in agreement before replying, "I'm not sure about the ones that are too far away, but there are some children in the alley ahead. You can play games with them, but remember two things: first, no matter what game you play, you must follow the nursery rhymes they sing; second, you absolutely cannot rush in, run away, or do anything to harm them—otherwise, you will die a much worse death than they do."

The moment the words left his mouth, the boss's face began to fester rapidly, and half of his face fell onto the cutting board with a 'splat'. Zhou You frowned, about to say something, when the boss simply waved his hand.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. At most, I won't be able to set up my stall for a while—which might actually be a good thing—so don't waste any more time, keep asking."

"Okay, the second question."

"What do you know about the world I patrol?"

"I'm not entirely sure either. All I know is that this world has been forcibly divided into two lines. People of the night cannot travel to the day, and people of the day cannot travel to the night, unless they are special beings like you, or they have obtained 'His' permission."

Is it impossible for day and night to communicate?
A face suddenly appeared before Zhou You's eyes, but he immediately banished it from his thoughts—the stall owner's body was rotting more and more, and his eyes were beginning to glow with an ominous, deep red blood, indicating that he wouldn't last much longer.

"One last question: I've seen a certain tycoon mentioned many times in the local newspaper. Is he a key figure in this world?"

Upon hearing this, a look of madness suddenly appeared in the stall owner's eyes, and he looked like he was about to go completely insane, but in the end he gritted his teeth and said it word by word.

"He's the one who started all of this. You can't see him now, and you should never go looking for him. For your own safety, remember to stay as far away from him as possible!"

When he uttered those last few words, he was almost roaring, but at that moment, a pair of hands suddenly reached out from the pot where the human heads were being boiled and grabbed the stall owner tightly.

The older brother's head floated to the surface of the pot, pulling at his out-of-control brother while his mouth opened and closed, silently reminding Zhou You.

—You've asked all the questions you could. Now, let's go!

After walking a long way, when Zhou You looked back, he found that the incandescent light on the stall had been quietly turned off, and that place had been completely plunged into darkness.

Although the system didn't give any notification at this time, Zhou You could roughly guess that even if he used the resurrection coin reset technique later, he probably wouldn't be able to see that light turn on again.

With a silent sigh, Zhou You could only turn on his flashlight and continue walking into the unknown.

After leaving the stall, not far away was Shanhuai Hutong. The place itself was not special, and its appearance was the same as that of other provinces, cities and counties across the country. The only difference was that the walls of the entire hutong were covered with dark black ash, as if it had been scorched by high temperatures. There was also a notice posted in front of the hutong.

The message roughly states that a fire occurred here a few years ago, the cause of which remains unknown. Although Mr. Liu, the richest man in the area, carried out repairs, the overall structure of the building has been damaged, so please detour through other blocks if you wish to proceed.

Although the whole thing was very brief, Zhou You still discovered something very strange.

"This richest man's surname is Liu? I remember the head of that sanitation company was also named Liu Shang. What's their relationship? Or are they simply the same person?"

Silently remembering this, Zhou You walked into the alley, but just as he took his first step, he felt his arm being suddenly grabbed.

Turning my head, I discovered that a small, charred face had suddenly emerged from the ashes.

This is not a description, but a fact.

All the skin and flesh on his face had been completely burned away, leaving only a layer of black carbonized tissue stuck to his face. His lips and eyelids were also destroyed, leaving only two bloodshot eyeballs that kept moving.

Then, the other person opened their mouth, revealing their completely blackened oral cavity and throat, and spoke in an innocent yet extremely cruel voice.

"Uncle, wanna play a game?"

(End of this chapter)