This round seemed to have considerably fewer people than the previous two—around a dozen or so. Qi Yang didn’t count precisely; anyway, by the end there wouldn’t be many left alive, so there was no point in remembering exactly who was there.

Du Yong and Yuan Yuan arrived before Qi Yang and told him some game-related things. The game hadn’t started yet; no one knew when it would begin. Some people had even been there for four or five days.

There were servants in the villa who cooked for everyone. The estate was spacious and had every kind of leisure and entertainment facility imaginable. At first the players expected the game to start as soon as they arrived, but all they got was a steady trickle of new players each day and no game. Gradually most people relaxed: eat when you need to, drink when you need to. Since nothing was starting, nobody bothered to keep themselves on edge and scare themselves.

Qi Yang learned the basics from Du Yong’s explanation: Du Yong had come with Yuan Yuan, and the two of them were no longer completely on edge. Especially after seeing Qi Yang arrive, they felt that no matter how difficult the upcoming game was, with Qi Yang’s intelligence he would surely breeze through it.

Seeing how confident Du Yong and the others were about him, Qi Yang just smiled.

The villa had many rooms; most people paired up to share a room so they could look out for each other, while only a few stayed alone.

Du Yong invited Qi Yang to room with him, but Qi Yang declined, citing Du Yong’s habit of sometimes talking in his sleep and snoring at night. In truth, Qi Yang knew of some of his own particularities, so it was better for him to stay alone.

Du Yong saw that Qi Yang’s attitude was not something that could be easily changed, so he didn’t say much. But in order to get closer to Qi Yang, he recommended the room next to his.

The bedding in that room hadn’t been laid out yet, but not long after the two of them went in a servant appeared outside the door carrying quilts and the like.

The servant came in to make the bed; Du Yong and Qi Yang stepped back. Before leaving, Du Yong glanced at the sheets — no matter how he looked at it, the material was far better than what they had in their room. Du Yong was only a little puzzled; he didn’t overthink it. These bedclothes were prepared specifically for Qi Yang alone.

Yuan Yuan was downstairs. Over the past two days she had quickly become close with a player — a girl whose appearance was somewhat similar to Kang Lian. The girl had originally been living alone, but after getting close to Yuan Yuan the two girls ended up living together.

Du Yong gave Qi Yang a warning: this villa can only be entered, not exited. Previously a player had gone out; the moment he stepped past the gate, the snow outside suddenly turned soft, and that player was swallowed amid his screams

His body fell into the snow and vanished entirely; they tried probing outside with the wooden pole from the house, but the spot where the player disappeared wasn’t soft.

But after that incident no one dared go outside; everyone believed it was a hidden rule of the game — you couldn’t step out of the house a single step without clearing it.

Fortunately, aside from that death, no other casualties occurred.

Qi Yang stayed in his ear, but it didn’t really get under his skin; he knew that if he truly wanted to go out, nothing would happen to him. Still, he wouldn’t go out casually.

The players here got along quite harmoniously; there weren’t any conflicts, and everyone seemed to look out for one another.

Qi Yang quickly sensed this after being here a short while. Looking at everyone so happily at ease, he had a premonition that this so-called peace would soon be broken.

On the second day after Qi Yang arrived, two more players walked into the villa through the swirling snow. They were twins, strikingly handsome with warm smiles, and the moment they entered the villa they drew everyone’s attention.

In real life people of course had seen twins before, but in the game it was clearly the first time, so everyone was a bit curious about the two of them; many players gathered around and asked about their game progress.

The two of them answered whatever people asked, seeming very friendly.

Qi Yang wasn’t usually very curious about other people’s affairs; when he saw the two of them he didn’t go over. Everyone was talking, interrupting each other, a bit noisy, so Qi Yang went upstairs first while Du Yong stayed downstairs. Curiosity aside, he also wanted to learn more, to get to know the players better—after all, everyone was staying in the same villa. If the game started later and something happened, it would be helpful to be more familiar with one another.

Useful information Du Yong wrote down; useless information he ignored.

A few hours after the twins arrived, another tall man came to the villa. He was handsome, like a movie star, his aura seeming even more extraordinary than those celebrities.

He pushed the door open and walked straight into the room. As he entered, the gust of cold wind that followed him swept inside. Everyone in the living room heard the door and turned toward it, only to see the man standing there covered in wind and snow.

The man’s gaze swept over the players. When it landed on Du Yong and Yuan Yuan, his eyes shifted slightly, though Du Yong and the others didn’t notice.

Qi Yang wasn’t in the living room, but Nan Sheng knew he had come; he guessed Qi Yang was probably upstairs.

Nan Sheng walked into the living room. The others, seeing his tall stature and imposing presence, guessed he wasn’t an ordinary person.

And no matter how you looked at his expression, it was calm—so calm that it seemed as if this villa were his home and he its owner.

Having players like this clearing the game together made some people feel that the chances of success had just increased quite a bit.

With a formidable figure appearing, of course people immediately flocked over, introducing the situation here to Nan Sheng while trying to pry out some personal information about him.

Most of what Nan Sheng said was lies, but none of the people here could tell the difference.

Nan Sheng asked if these were all the players here; the man hurriedly replied that they were not, that there were more people resting upstairs.

“Rest? Not feeling well?” Nan Sheng’s gaze darkened.

“It shouldn’t be that—probably they simply don’t want it too noisy,” the man said with a smile.

As long as he wasn’t unwell. If Qi Yang were feeling ill, Nan Sheng would have rushed upstairs immediately.

Nan Sheng chatted with them a while longer, and casually mentioned he wanted to look around the villa. Someone immediately volunteered to show him around, and Nan Sheng didn’t refuse, politely thanking them.

Nan Sheng walked upstairs and met the villa’s servants in the corridor—more than one. There were several: cleaners, cooks, all different people.

When the servant saw Nan Sheng appear, he sensed a powerful oppressive aura emanating from him and immediately lowered his head, looking very respectful.

After the guide had explained the general layout of the villa to Nan Sheng, he led him to a room and told him he could stay there if he wished.

Nan Sheng walked in to take a look; the room had excellent lighting, which he didn’t particularly like.

Nan Sheng found another room. That room had very small windows; the players who saw it at the door immediately turned and walked away. The player leading them was baffled that Nan Sheng had chosen this room.

“My sleep quality isn’t very good; I prefer smaller windows.” Nan Sheng lied without hesitation. As a ghostly boss, Nan Sheng simply didn’t need to sleep.

The player readily accepted that excuse. Then Nan Sheng said he wanted to rest for a bit; the player nodded and left the room, and on the way out casually closed the door behind Nan Sheng.

As soon as the door closed, the ghost that had been encountered in the corridor before entered through the window. Nan Sheng immediately spoke up: “Which room is Qi Yang in?”

The ghastly servant cast his eyes downward, avoiding Nan Sheng’s gaze. He said Qi Yang was upstairs in the room on the right side of the corridor.

“Is he okay?” Nan Sheng asked again.

“No, Qi Yang came yesterday, and there haven’t been any problems up to today,” the ghost recited everything exactly.

“Then you can go down.” Nan Sheng waved, signaling the ghost to leave.

When the ghost left, his expression was somewhat hesitant, as if about to say something, but in the end he chose to say nothing.

He didn’t speak, but Nan Sheng could see it; the ghost had already learned about the space’s problem through other means, which was also why he had come here.

As for those players, they were, one could say, deliberately set up by Nan Sheng as bait.

Of course, excluding Qi Yang—Qi Yang will be personally protected by Nan Sheng.

Qi Yang didn’t lie down when he returned to his room; his body wasn’t so weak that he couldn’t go out to watch the snow. He sat by the window instead. The room had heating and was warm throughout; Qi Yang opened the window a little. Outside, white snow drifted down, the whole world wrapped in silver and white, and the scene looked quite beautiful.

Even knowing this was a world of ghosts and monsters, Qi Yang no longer felt any worry. Others might face life-threatening danger at any time, but he absolutely would not.

Qi Yang gently rested his hand on his belly. Time in his body hadn’t stopped in the game, so the child inside was slowly growing—Qi Yang could vaguely feel it. It wasn’t far along yet, and his stomach still hadn’t shown, but he thought that even if it did bulge, given this game environment where everyone wore thick layers rather than thin clothes, outsiders probably wouldn’t notice even if he looked pregnant.

Qi Yang didn’t know what kind of rules this game’s settings might have here. Although it hadn’t started yet, he had reason to believe it would be thrilling—just as intense as the previous two rounds.

That night when Qi Yang went downstairs to eat, Du Yong was going up the stairs intending to call him. Seeing Qi Yang go downstairs, he stopped climbing and waited at the stairwell. Qi Yang’s room was on the third floor; Du Yong waited on the second. Someone walked down the second-floor corridor—Du Yong recognized the man who had come in that afternoon; he hadn’t been here long.

Du Yong greeted the man. The man smiled, but there was something odd about the smile. Du Yong watched for a few more seconds and thought maybe he had just misseen it.

The man reached the top of the stairs, heard the sounds from above and turned to look up; when he saw Qi Yang’s downcast eyes, the smile on his lips suddenly deepened.

Seeing Nan Sheng here — someone he had once thought dead — didn’t surprise Qi Yang much, because he’d already guessed some things, and they might even be the truth. As for whether to seek the man out and ask him to confirm it, Qi Yang wasn’t in any hurry.

Because he suddenly wanted to see what excuse this person planned to use to explain it.