Phantom Skeleton Painting

T/N: Hey guys. I know I said that I would try to post two chapters today for my birthday, but I just can’t… I’m sorry to disappoint everyone but I am absolutely exhausted. Next week I plan to take a break, so don’t expect any chapters for the week. However, I will post again on the 27th of November.

 

Chapter 44.1: Throwing the Handkerchief

Zhao Yuanrui was confused and didn’t understand what was happening. He was about to ask questions when he suddenly heard Shen Qingyi on the Ferris wheel screaming: “The time is almost up.”

Time? What time? Zhao Yuanrui didn’t understand what she meant.

Although he didn’t understand, Lin Banxia had already reacted. He grabbed the handkerchief stuffed in Zhao Yuanrui’s pocket and chased after Han Hefeng who had escaped. Han Hefeng also heard the footsteps and angry roars coming from behind, but how could he stop? He gritted his teeth and used all of his strength yet couldn’t help wishing that he could grow a pair of wings to fly away from there. Lin Banxia had good physical strength and followed closely. The two of them chased each other in the empty amusement park.

“Hurry and catch him.” Behind them, Shen Qingyi, who was on the Ferris wheel, shouted in despair, “He’s going to die!! Handkerchief!! The handkerchief!! Don’t keep it on you!”

Even without Shen Qingyi shouting, Lin Banxia knew very well that the handkerchief in his hand was a time bomb that could explode at any time. Lin Banxia knew that Han Hefeng was aware that as long as he got rid of the monitor behind him, he could successfully survive. So, the two of them chased each other, and the atmosphere became more and more anxious.

“Before one-thirty…Before one-thirty, you must hand over the handkerchief…” Shen Qingyi’s voice was extremely hoarse. She held on to the door frame of the cabin and cried with tears all over her face. She said with the last words He had the strength to speak out his guess.

Lin Banxia heard her voice and raised his hand to look at his watch. It would be half past one in two minutes. He tried hard to close the distance with Han Hefeng, but he still failed to catch up with him. Seeing that Han Hefeng was turning the corner of a garden and was about to disappear from his sight, Lin Banxia had a bad premonition in his heart. He squeezed the blood-stained handkerchief in his hand. The handkerchief was soaked in blood, and the bright red liquid dripped down his fingers and hit the ground drop by drop. It seemed too worthless to die like this. As soon as Lin Banxia had this idea in his mind, he heard Han Hefeng’s scream from not far away.

Lin Banxia rushed over quickly, and after turning the corner, he saw Han Hefeng being held by someone. That person was none other than Song Qingluo, who had been separated from Lin Banxia for a long time!

When Han Hefeng saw Lin Banxia chasing after him, his face suddenly turned pale and he begged for mercy: “Please, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.”

Lin Banxia panted and walked up to him, looked at the handkerchief, and then at Han Hefeng, feeling very complicated. However, remembering that the time Shen Qingyi said was coming soon, Lin Banxia took a deep breath, apologized to Han Hefeng, and stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket. When Han Hefeng saw this, he screamed as if he was on the verge of death. He reached out and grabbed the handkerchief, trying to throw it back to Lin Banxia, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he was held tightly by the person behind him. Han Hefeng turned around and saw a beautiful but indifferent face. The owner of the face had half-lowered black eyes, and there was a cold gaze in them. He passed the handkerchief from Han Hefeng’s hand, Han Hefeng had no time to show his joy. The next moment, his chin was forced open, and the scarlet handkerchief was forcefully stuffed into his mouth.

The strong smell of blood spread in Han Hefeng’s mouth, and he reflexively wanted to struggle. However, after struggling for less than a moment, he suddenly seemed to have been suspended in time, and his whole body froze in place. Lin Banxia clearly saw red lines appearing on Han Hefeng’s cheeks. At first glance, they looked like someone had drawn them on his cheeks with a pen. They were straight and bright red, full of ominous atmosphere.

Song Qingluo let go.

Lin Banxia said: “How is this…” He was only halfway through his words when he suddenly stopped talking. Lin Banxia saw something fall from Han Hefeng’s head. Then came the second and third pieces. The situation were so absurd that Lin Banxia suspected that he was hallucinating. He watched helplessly as Han Hefeng fell to the ground like broken building blocks, and his body was divided into countless small squares. Bright red blood spread quickly, and the air was filled with the disgusting smell of blood.

Han Hefeng died in front of Lin Banxia.

Song Qingluo raised his hand and glanced at his watch and said calmly: “One thirty.” The time mentioned by Shen Qingyi was exactly the same.

Lin Banxia was still standing there, looking at Han Hefeng’s fragmented body, without saying anything for a long time. Survival was everyone’s instinct. He understood Han Hefeng’s despair but could not agree with his actions. Seeing him die like this in front of him, Lin Banxia Banxia’s mood was extremely complicated. He took a deep breath, threw away the distracting thoughts in his mind, looked up at Song Qingluo, and thanked him: “Fortunately you came, otherwise, I really wouldn’t be able to catch up with him.”

Song Qingluo nodded: “I happened to be nearby and heard the little girl’s cry, so I came over to take a look.”

While the two were talking, there were footsteps behind them. Lin Banxia turned around and saw a panting Zhao Yuanrui and a tearful Shen Qingyi. Shen Qingyi glanced at the horrific corpse on the ground and winced. Zhao Yuanrui reacted more quickly than she did. He reflexively wanted to scream, but Shen Qingyi reacted very quickly and covered his mouth.

“Huh…?” Zhao Yuanrui was a little confused.

“Don’t scream, don’t scream.” Shen Qingyi said nervously, “If you scream, you will die…”

When Song Qingluo heard this, he raised her eyebrows and half-smiled: “The little girl knows quite a lot.”

Shen Qingyi glanced at Song Qingluo timidly and did not dare to say anything.

Lin Banxia had come to appreciate it now. He glanced at the huge and bright Ferris wheel in the distance and sighed: “I was cheated. I shouldn’t have come here.”

Zhao Yuanrui felt that he was not in the same brainwave line as this group of people. He couldn’t understand what the others said, so he could only scratch his head: “What do you mean?”

“Do you know how to gather bugs?” Lin Banxia said, “As long as you light a lamp in the dark, the bugs will gather there naturally. And only when the bugs come will boring games become interesting.”

Shen Qingyi bit her lip. Indeed, she was also attracted by the light of the Ferris wheel. Only when she got here did she realize that this place was not as she imagined. The slowly moving behemoth in front of her, rising like this, was like a huge monster that wanted to devour everyone who came.

“What do we do next?” It had to be said that after seeing Song Qingluo, Lin Banxia felt a lot more relaxed. This was almost a kind of inertia. He said, “Are we going to wait for others here? Or go somewhere else.”

Song Qingluo glanced at Shen Qingyi and said calmly: “Let’s exchange information first.”

Lin Banxia thought so too. This little girl named Shen Qingyi seemed to know a lot of things, and even knew the time when it would happen. She could get more information by herself than any of the monitors could.

Lin Banxia looked at Shen Qingyi and said, “Little girl, would you mind telling us the information you know?”

Shen Qingyi said: “Of course I don’t mind.” She seemed a little afraid of Song Qingluo, turning her body sideways and avoiding his eyes, “The following are all my guesses, they may not be correct…the rules of throwing handkerchiefs, is all clear, but there are loopholes in this rule.”

“What loophole?” Zhao Yuanrui felt that he was confused from beginning to end.

Lin Banxia thought about it and said thoughtfully: “There is indeed a loophole. The prerequisite for throwing the handkerchief is that it must be continuous. If the person who gets the handkerchief dies, the game cannot continue.”

“That’s right.” Shen Qingyi continued, “So I guessed based on some clues that when the person who got the handkerchief dies, there will be other rules to allow the game to continue, and there are trigger conditions for this rule.”

“What conditions?” Lin Banxia was a little impressed by the little girl Shen Qingyi.

“Screaming.” Shen Qingyi said, “I guess it was screaming.”

“Screaming?” Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuanrui suddenly realized that the most noticeable thing he did here tonight was scream. If this was the triggering condition, then wouldn’t he have no choice but to wait for death?

“No way, then why is it still okay after I screamed so many times?” Zhao Yuanrui didn’t believe it.

“A game naturally has rules, otherwise you students wouldn’t be able to survive till now.” Song Qingluo, who had been silent, spoke in his usual soft voice. In the night, his hair was as black as a crow and his skin looked even whiter. Looking at it this way, he almost looked as delicate and fragile as a porcelain doll.

Logically speaking, such a handsome man should be very popular with girls, but for some reason, Shen Qingyi always felt that Song Qingluo was a little scary, so that from the beginning to the end, she did not dare to look directly into his eyes, and instead lowered her head, and whispered: “Yes, that’s what I guessed too, because after entering the park, almost everyone screamed, but only a few died…so I thought maybe we were all safe until the last person who got the handkerchief died.”

Lin Banxia thought about it: “What about time? How did you derive the time?”

“This…” Shen Qingyi bit her lip and spoke a little vaguely, “Because I saw two dead people, and they died at a very coincidental time, one at half past nine and the other at half past eleven. So, I guessed that at every hour, death would come – no matter who the handkerchief was placed on.” This was just her conjectures before, but Han Hefeng’s death perfectly verified her reasoning.

“Smart.” Lin Banxia almost wanted to applaud this little girl’s wisdom.

Although Shen Qingyi was praised, she did not show a trace of joy. Instead, she lowered her head and tugged at the corner of her clothes, looking a little uneasy.

“It’s half past one, and someone else will probably come later.” Lin Banxia said, “Should we wait here?”

Song Qingluo glanced at his watch: “Wait for half an hour. If no one comes within half an hour, we will leave here. You wait here while I go to the entrance to have a look.”

“Okay.” Lin Banxia also agreed to this plan. Half an hour was enough for other survivors to gather there from other places in the amusement park. Of course, this behavior also had certain risks, because they were not sure who those people would be. Would the same situation as Han Hefeng happen to them?

***

 

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