Chapter 7

It was starting to get dark so Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian hastily looked for the restroom. When they finally located it, they mentally prepared themselves to face that awful, primitive toilet. They both pinched their noses, tried to block out any disgusting odors and charged into the restroom.

These pit latrines were extremely basic and crude. They were made out of a few planks of wood that were arranged over the pit, and there were several holes between the planks that covered the septic tank below. These holes were spaced out from each other, essentially creating the makeshift ‘“squat toilets” that were separated from each other by wooden boards.

Xiao Tangqiu hesitated for a bit before picking the innermost stall that had a window, hoping that there would be better circulation in that stall.

But even then, he couldn’t stop the terrible stench that assailed his nostrils. He quickly finished up and left without giving Tang Mianmian the chance to speak to him.

Nearby the restroom was a well, which seemed to be used for washing hands. By the side of the well, there was a small wooden bucket which was half-filled with water that didn’t look very clean.

Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly; according to his experience, it didn’t matter whether it was a horror movie or a video game, wells were definitely a no-no. It was almost as if he could see a Flag standing tall and waving high.

Thus, he decided to use the water in the small bucket. Although it looked a bit turbid, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it, right?

Xiao Tangqiu was washing his hands when he suddenly heard an earth-shattering scream.

“AH! AH! AH!”

His hearing acuity was only average, which was why he was previously unable to recognize right off the bat, this good friend of his, with whom he had played countless of games with.

Right now, it also took him a moment before he reacted – wasn’t that Tang Mianmian’s voice?

Had something happened to Tang Mianmian?!

Xiao Tangqiu stood up and turned around; he saw Tang Mianmian stumbling out of the restroom. As soon as Tang Mianmian saw Xiao Tangqiu, he immediately shouted, “Ah! Ah! Ah! There are ghosts! Let’s go! We need to run away!”

Hearing that, Xiao Tangqiu didn’t care about anything else and quickly followed, running after Tang Mianmian. The both of them ran in a frenzy, sprinting as fast as their legs could carry them. After running a distance, Xiao Tangqiu finally stopped, gasping for breath as he cried, “Can’t…. Run…. Anymore…..”

“Why is your stamina so bad?! We barely ran!” Tang Mianmian appeared to have been scared out of his wits; his face was pale, devoid of any color. Seeing how Xiao Tangqiu could run no further, Tang Mianmian gritted his teeth, threw Xiao Tangqiu over his shoulder and bolted off.

Xiao Tangqiu………………..

What the fuck! This rascal clearly had the face of a cute shou, how in the world did he have so much strength?! Why was his stamina so good?! This was definitely illogical! Was he one of those violent shota types?!

Didn’t they agree to be weak, fatass geeks together? Why did he secretly get fit on his own ah?!

Tang Mianmian carried Xiao Tangqiu all the way to the village chief’s house, although he didn’t actually know that it was the village chief’s house. He picked the biggest house in the village on a whim, guessing that the village chief lived there, but didn’t expect to be correct.

There were a few other players waiting outside the village chief’s door. They were also here to obtain more information.

The others were shocked upon seeing the weary state of Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Miamian. “What the fuck happened?! Is he dead?

Tang Mianmian immediately put down Xiao Tangqiu, his face revealing an expression that said, “We’re saved!” when he noticed the other players.

Xiao Tangqiu was dizzy after being carried over Tang Mianmian’s shoulder for so long. It took him a while to respond, “…….. My friend here said that he saw a ghost in the restroom earlier.”

“Ghost?” shouted the man called Zeng Jinping, whose expression suddenly changed. “There really are ghosts in this god-forsaken place?!”

Just then, Luo Mansu swaggered out of the village chief’s house. He laughed at their reactions, “This mission is called ‘Fishing Village’s Haunted House.’ Of course, there’ll be ghosts.”

The twin sisters in Luo Mansu’s team were frightened out of their minds. Older sister Ding Tiantian’s face was white as a sheet, “There really are ghosts? Will the ghosts harm us? Will they kill us? Will you protect us?”

“It depends on the circumstances. Some ghosts may not have any malicious intent, but given this game’s setting, I can guarantee these ghosts will definitely kill you.” Luo Mansu flashed the twin sisters a wicked smile. “It all depends on your performance. I only want teammates who are helpful. If the both of you aren’t of any use, why should I help you?”

The color drained from both twin sisters’ faces. Younger sister Ding Mimi timidly asked Tang Mianmian, “Can you tell us more about the situation when you encountered that ghost?”

“Yeah, we should try our best to avoid it!” Zeng Jinping chimed in.

Tang Mianmian was about to open his mouth to speak when Xiao Tangqiu held him back. He raised an eyebrow, “If you want us to talk about it, you’ll need to give us some information too.”

The others looked a bit surprised at his words, but then turned to look at each other in dismay. Luo Mansu eyed Xiao Tangqiu, rubbing his bald head as he laughed.

“It’s not that we don’t want to exchange information,” Zeng JinPing smiled bitterly at Xiao Tangqiu. He seemed to have been temporarily assigned leadership among his teammates and took the initiative to speak on their behalf. “The truth is we haven’t been able to find anything. This fishing village really has nothing of interest. We’ve searched through all the houses and still came up with nothing. We don’t even know what we should be looking for.”

Ding Tiantian and Ding Mimi merely looked at Luo Mansu, who shrugged, “We got nothing as well. That’s why we came to see the village chief. We were hoping to get some information from him but he won’t talk.”

The couple and the quiet trio weren’t around, and it didn’t look like they could get any information from the players here. Xiao Tangqiu rubbed his chin and indicated for Tang Mianmian to start talking. He was also curious to know what Tang Mianmian had experienced earlier.

Tang Mianmian gulped and slowly narrated what happened. “Just now, Xiao Tangqiu and I went to the restroom together. After I was done, I realized I hadn’t any toilet paper with me; so, I called out to Xiao Tangqiu. At first, there wasn’t any movement in the next stall. But after a few seconds, a hand stretched out from a small crack in the wooden partition.”

Tang Mianmian looked like he was about to cry as he continued, “I thought it was Xiao Tangqiu, so I took it without thinking. But the texture just didn’t feel right, so I took a closer look. It wasn’t toilet paper! It was fucking paper money that’s used to burn for the dead! I immediately felt a chill up my spine and ran the hell out of there.”

“So you didn’t see what that ghost looked like?” Luo Mansu asked.

Tang Mianmian’s small face had turned completely pale, “I was almost frightened to death! Do you think I’d still go and find out what that ghost looked like?”

Yellow Hair frowned and asked, “How can we avoid that ghost then? Don’t go to the restroom?”

“That makes sense, we’ll try to avoid the restroom,” said the man wearing glasses.

The man in the suit looked repulsed, “What are we supposed to do if we need to use the toilet? Don’t tell me you’re planning to do it in the bushes! How disgusting and unhygienic is that?!”

Luo Mansu sniggered, “Is cleanliness more important than staying alive? If you’re dead, you won’t even have the chance to complain about cleanliness.”

The girls looked rather uncomfortable. But they were more afraid of the ghost in the restroom and didn’t express any objections.

Xiao Tangqiu asked Tang Mianmian, “So, did you use it?”

Tang Mianmian was confused, “Use what?”

Xiao Tangqiu replied, “The paper money.”

“………. I did.”

“Ha!” Luo Mansu’s laughter was a little strange, “How did it feel?”

“It was a bit rough but I’d already taken it and I didn’t have any toilet paper either……..” Tang Mianmian turned red.

Xiao Tangqiu suddenly took a step back, a look of disapproval on his face. “Wait a minute, you didn’t wash your hands, did you?”

Tang Mianmian blushed in embarrassment, “It was an emergency! Are you still going to harp on whether or not I washed my hands?”

“Well, it’s safe now and there’s water here. Quickly wash your hands.”

Tang Mianmian looked like a puppy that had been wronged, but he still walked over to the side of the village chief’s house. There was a bucket of water, which he used to wash his hands.

Xiao Tangqiu looked up at the sky and noticed that it had turned dark. There weren’t any villagers out on the streets, and there weren’t any lights either. The darkness seemed to announce the presence of the unknown. “Shouldn’t we be heading back now? It’s already getting dark.”

Luo Mansu nodded, “Let’s go back.”

Xiao Tangqiu looked inside the house and saw the old village chief sitting on a stool. He was completely motionless and resembled a statue. If it wasn’t for the fact that he still blinked, Xiao Tangqiu would’ve been convinced that the old man was dead. But the abnormality in his lack of movement only served to paint a more disturbing picture.

There was a dirty table in front of the old village chief. A faint yellow light radiated from the diesel lantern on the table. It was very dim and looked like it could die out at any moment, but against the swirling darkness of the night, this light seemed to be the only glow left in the pitch-black fishing village.

They all left the old village chief’s house and headed back to their temporary accommodation.

After taking a few steps, Xiao Tangqiu turned around to look at the village chief’s house. Without them noticing, the door had already been closed quietly.

Soon after, the lights inside the house went out.