The Creatures That We Are

Gao Yang’s heart sank. He felt a strange, unfamiliar energy quickly converge around them. He would like to teleport out of the room at once, but he wouldn’t be able to take his friends and companions with him. The hesitation robbed him of the chance to escape altogether.

He looked at Vermilion Bird and Can. The timidness was immediately gone from Vermilion Bird. Her gaze sharpened as she sensed some sort of energy surrounding them.

Can didn’t have the sharpest senses, but she could vaguely tell that something was wrong.

Since there were quite a few monsters around them, the three didn’t let their thoughts show. Face dark, Gao Yang walked up to the door that should’ve been the exit, discreetly pushing it with power that exceeded a regular human.

But the door stayed firm.

There wasn’t even a little give. Indeed, it must be some sort of barrier.

“Haha, I knew we hadn’t gotten to the end.” Oblivious to the real situation, Qiu Qiu still looked excited. Although the second room was terrifying, it was thrilling when he remembered it. More importantly, the scares had brought him and Zhou Jing closer together. It was worth him taking everyone here.

“There’s gonna be another jump scare for sure. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” Lin Dajian raised his voice for Vermilion Bird’s benefit.

“Hello, can you hear me?” Edmond continued to talk into the walkie-talkie, trying to contact the moderator.

Meanwhile, Ke Yo held her hands tightly into fists with her head lowered, looking scared.

Rumble.

They all felt a sudden hit of discomfort, and they staggered, almost losing their balance. It was the sort of weightlessness one would feel the moment the elevator started.

Then the room lit up.

More precisely, the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered by a translucent multi-colored energy like the rainbow-colored reflection of a bubble.

“Watch out!” Gao Yang shouted in warning. He couldn’t afford to be hesitant now. “It’s gonna be dangerous!”

“Welcome to the Strange Realm.”

A trembling, modulated voice that didn’t sound like a man or a woman echoed around them like it was coming from a surround sound system. Gao Yang was hit with a sense of familiarity. Back when Sir Zuo held the Werewolf game with Pride Realm, his voice had sounded like this.

“Ha? Strange Realm?” Qiu Qiu was still befuddled. He grabbed the walkie-talkie from Edmond. “Hey, moderator, have you gotten your stories mixed up?”

“That doesn’t seem to be the voice of the moderator,” Mi Shi said, feeling ominous.

“The game for this round is: Strange Word Chain.”

“Runtime: 3 minutes.”

Following the voice, a strange pixelated rainbow-colored light appeared in the room, at complete odds with everything around it.

Whoosh! The pixelated multicolored light flew toward Vermilion Bird, shrouding her like a magical barrier.

Vermilion Bird was experienced enough to not fight it. Warily, she tried to tap into her energy, but failed to draw anything.

She cursed inwardly, ****! It’s a rule-based realm again!

“Starting from you. Please say the starter word.” The voice started playing the moderator.

Vermilion Bird hesitated.

“Five, four, three...” The voice counted down, quietly threatening.

“Do it!” Gao Yang shouted.

Although he wasn’t sure what was going on, his instinct and experience told him that it was best to play along when trapped in a rule-based realm.

Catching on, Vermilion Bird blurted out, “Milk Tea.[1]”

Boom.

Suddenly, a puff of colorful pixelated smoke burst under Vermilion Bird’s feet. Once it dissipated, a cute cup of milk tea was revealed—it was cute since it was a pixelated drawing, too.

At the same time, the rainbow light flew toward Qiu Qiu, shrouding him instead.

Stunned, Qiu Qiu’s mind blanked. What’s going on? Am I dreaming?

“Five...” The countdown started.

“Follow up with the next word!” Gao Yang shouted.

“Four, three, two...”

“Tea...teeeeea oil!” Qiu Qiu finally thought of something.

Boom!

A barrel of yellow tea oil appeared on the floor. Again, it was pixel art.

Then the rainbow light flew toward Can.

“Oil paint!” Can shouted without hesitation.

Boom!

An oil painting appeared on a wall, portraying Can with an exaggerated blond wig that was half a meter tall while dressed in a palace dress that cinched at the waist and emphasized the breast. The face was pale like a zombie.

The rainbow light only stayed on Can for a short moment before moving to Zhou Jing.

Zhou Jing didn’t understand what was going on, either. “What...what is this? Can I stop playing...”

“Five, four, three, two...”

“The next word!” Qiu Qiu shouted.

“Paint...painter (hua jia)!” Zhou Jing cried out.

Boom!

A puff of smoke emerged at the center of the room. Then a pixelated man appeared after it dissipated. He was sitting on a small stool with a paint brush and a palette, making an oil painting on a canvas, portraying Zhou Jing, in yoga outfit, doing exercises to lose weight.

“Ahhh ghost!”

Zhou Jing screamed and stumbled, falling to the ground.

Qiu Qiu immediately went up to help her up, trying to convince himself. “Don’t be scared! It must be holograms. It’s just a prank...”

The game continued. The rainbow light moved from Zhou Jing to Lin Dajian.

Lin Dajian was terrified, too, but he didn’t dare to not follow the rule, and he shouted, “Furniture (jia ju)!”

Boom!

A pixelated lounge sofa appeared, making the room that wasn’t that big to start with even more cramped.

Then it was Mi Shi’s turn.

“Furniture...furniture...” Mi Shi’s brain stuttered to a half. The others panickedly tried to come up with a word for him, too, but the more anxious they were, the more difficult it was for them to think of anything.

“Five, four, three, two, one...”

“Concrete (ju ti)!” Gao Yang finally thought of something for Mi Shi.

But it was too late.

Boom! Mi Shi burst into a puff of white smoke. Once it dissipated, Mi Shi had already exploded into pixels of different colors like a pile of small lego blocks.

“Ah!”

Zhou Jing screamed again.

Qiu Qiu and Lin Dajian were also scared witless. Edmond and Ke Yo paled too.

Now, they finally realized how dangerous things were like Gao Yang, Vermilion Bird, and Can.

“Countdown restarted. Three minutes.”

The moderator of the realm spoke again. This time, the rainbow light went to Edmond first.

“You’re going first. A word, please.”

“Say something small!” Gao Yang reminded him before Edmond could speak.

Edmond paused, catching on immediately.

1. I tried to come up with word chains in English while keeping the meaning, but it gets impossible going further with the meaning of the words being crucial to the story, and I don’t actually want to rewrite the whole thing. So I opted to stick to the original words in the raw and add the pronunciation in parentheses when I think it’s needed. ☜

This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om