Chapter 077: The Girl with an Imaginative Mind

A chilling atmosphere, like an icy wind that pierces to the bone, seeped inch by inch into the pores of everyone present. In the living room, the members of the photography club stared in stunned horror as Akihito Yamada issued the king’s command, and Tomoko Matsumura, smiling serenely, took a fruit knife and slit her own throat. Not a soul reacted in time to wrest the knife from her hand.

Blood spurted from her neck, splattering across the cards laid before her. Su Cheng was the first to react, lunging forward in an attempt to restrain Tomoko’s wrist. Yet, as if possessed by some desperate strength, she broke free and, as though terrified of not dying, slashed her throat again with the fruit knife.

Bang!

Tomoko’s head struck the table heavily, deep red blood dripping from its edge, spreading across the floor in a gruesome bloom.

“Ah!”

A terrified scream echoed through the living room. Two girls seated beside Tomoko witnessed her suicide and trembled in terror, their faces contorted with fear.

“Is Tomoko... is she dead?” Yoshizawa and Daisuke Miyazaki, bolder than the others, still recoiled from the bizarre, bloody scene, unable to approach her.

Su Cheng, who had faced zombies before, was naturally unafraid of ordinary corpses. He gently laid Tomoko’s body flat on the floor and carefully examined her wound.

“The cut is deep, the windpipe completely severed. There’s no saving her.”

Strangely, despite her brutal suicide, Tomoko’s face bore neither terror nor pain, but rather a peculiar smile.

Su Cheng noticed a tiny, worm-like black creature, no larger than a fingernail, wriggling between her brows. When he tried to look closer, he found the sinister black worm, seemingly formed from coagulated blood, had vanished.

“Call the police, quickly!”

A death had occurred during a game, and instinctively, everyone reached for their phones. Soon, they realized all their devices had lost signal—emergency calls couldn’t go through.

“There’s no signal here. I remember there’s a phone booth beside the house. I’ll go out and call.” With that, Yoshizawa threw on a coat and rushed out of the living room.

“What happened? Why are you all staring at me?” Akihito Yamada seemed to have forgotten what had just transpired. He scratched his head in confusion, utterly bewildered.

“You bastard, you killed Tomoko, and now you’re pretending you don’t know anything!”

A furious shout rang out. A tall man from the club lunged at Yamada in a rage, grappling with him.

The man landed a heavy punch on Yamada’s face, causing blood to gush from his nose as he struggled desperately.

“Are you insane, Oshima? When did I kill Tomoko?”

Yamada, slight of build, was no match for Oshima’s strength. Pinned down, he was pummeled relentlessly, almost beaten senseless.

“Tomoko’s death is odd. Let’s hear what Yamada has to say first,” Su Cheng intervened, pulling the enraged Oshima away to prevent him from killing Yamada in a fit of rage.

To their surprise, Su Cheng, though not visibly strong, managed to restrain the burly Oshima with ease.

Following Su Cheng’s suggestion, they temporarily confined Yamada.

“Akihito, do you remember what happened just now?” Su Cheng composed himself and looked Yamada in the eye.

“Are you seriously interrogating me as a suspect? I did nothing! Tomoko’s death has nothing to do with me,” Yamada insisted, his gaze evasive, adamantly denying any involvement.

“Then why did you give Tomoko that command?”

Yamada paused, recalling the events of the game. A flicker of fear crossed his eyes.

“I remember now—when I drew the card, I heard a voice whispering in my ear. I felt groggy, and somehow I just said it. I never thought Tomoko would actually kill herself; I wouldn’t have given such an order otherwise.”

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His expression didn’t look like he was lying.

The most crucial mystery, however, was why Tomoko obeyed Yamada’s command and slit her own throat. Unless she had suffered some mental breakdown, no sane person would accept such an order.

At that moment, Yamada’s girlfriend seemed to recall something and, in a chilling tone, said, “Do you remember the case that happened here three years ago? The victims also died by suicide. Could it be...”

Natsumi left her sentence unfinished, but everyone understood her implication.

The events from three years ago were repeating themselves—and this time, they were the victims.

“Impossible, Natsumi, you don’t need to defend Yamada. Tomoko’s death is definitely connected to him. Maybe he used some hypnotic psychological suggestion to kill her,” insisted Sayaka, a beautiful girl from the club, convinced Yamada was the culprit.

“I didn’t!”

Yamada suddenly grew agitated, adamantly denying any responsibility.

Hypnosis?

Su Cheng’s eyes glimmered. If Yamada was telling the truth, then perhaps both he and Tomoko had been hypnotized.

But how had they been hypnotized?

Su Cheng suddenly recalled a detail.

“Akihito, what happened to the joker you drew earlier?”

The joker? Yamada’s face took on a strange expression, puzzled by the question. “Huh? That card was just in my hand—now it’s gone.”

“Maybe it fell during your fight with Oshima. Su Cheng, why are you asking about it?” Daisuke Miyazaki inquired, curious about Su Cheng’s unusually calm reaction, as if he’d experienced such events before.

Su Cheng chose his words carefully, speculating, “That joker might be a hypnotic tool. Yamada and Tomoko could have been unknowingly hypnotized.”

In truth, Su Cheng suspected the joker was more than a mere hypnotic tool—it was a haunted object.

But even if he said so, nobody would believe him, so he phrased it in a way they could accept.

“Does anyone remember who brought this deck of cards?” he asked.

Everyone exchanged bewildered looks; no one seemed to recall who had brought the deck. Or perhaps someone had deliberately caused them to forget.

“You mean the killer is among us?” Natsumi’s face changed, incredulous.

Su Cheng neither confirmed nor denied, replying calmly, “It’s just my speculation.”

This scenario was riddled with strangeness; so far, there were no clear clues as to whether the murders were committed by a ghost or a human.

“Unfortunately, in puzzle mode, items and skills are sealed to increase difficulty. Otherwise, I could just fight my way through and clear it.” Fortunately, Su Cheng’s Ghostly Hand seemed not to be sealed—a small but useful bug.

Suddenly, a piercing scream interrupted his thoughts.

“What happened?”

Sayaka appeared to have encountered something terrifying, her face filled with panic.

“Tomoko’s body is gone.”

What?

Only now did everyone realize that Tomoko’s corpse had vanished without a trace.

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A seed of fear began to spread in everyone’s heart.

“Strange, no one touched the body except me. Could Tomoko have come back to life and left the living room herself?” Su Cheng was unfazed by the idea of a corpse reanimating—he’d seen zombies before.

“No way, her throat was cut open. There’s no way she could come back to life. We’re not in a horror movie,” Natsumi managed a strained smile, trying to comfort herself.

True, it wasn’t a horror film—it was a horror game.

The tricks in horror games run deep; anything, from monsters to ghosts, could appear.

Su Cheng silently complained to himself.

“Do you think there’s a murderer hiding in this guesthouse? Maybe the incident three years ago was also their doing,” Daisuke Miyazaki analyzed, pushing up his black-framed glasses.

“That’s possible,” Oshima nodded seriously, though he still hadn’t fully absolved Yamada. Until the real culprit was revealed, Yamada remained the prime suspect.

“Strange, Yoshizawa has been gone so long. Could something have happened to him?”

Su Cheng doubted Yoshizawa could really summon the police. He suspected the guesthouse had been cut off from reality by some mysterious force—until the game ended, contact with the outside world was impossible.

“The killer could still be in the house. To be safe, we should stay here tonight and not wander off.”

The living room fell silent. The oppressive atmosphere didn’t ease; instead, it grew even more intense.

After a while, Sayaka’s expression shifted uncomfortably. She pressed her legs together, her face awkward. “Um, I need to use the bathroom. Anyone want to come with me?”

She glanced at the other girls, but they were all too frightened by the earlier events to accompany her.

“I need to go, too. I’ll come with you,” Su Cheng volunteered. He needed an excuse to leave and search for clues to solve the mystery. Besides, staying in the living room with the others might not be safe.

Sayaka looked at Su Cheng gratefully, a shy blush flashing across her face, perhaps misunderstanding his intentions.

The guesthouse’s bathroom was at the end of the corridor—a fair distance from the living room. For some reason, the corridor lights seemed broken, rendering it pitch-black.

Su Cheng stayed calm, flashlight in hand, walking steadily toward the bathroom.

Sayaka, gripped by fear, felt her heart race as she unconsciously moved closer, nearly pressing herself against him.

The bridge effect worked its magic, and inexplicable feelings sprouted in Sayaka’s heart.

“Looking closely, Su Cheng is quite handsome. He’s got a strong build, seems capable.”

“And he’s gentle and considerate, accompanying me to the bathroom because he knows I’m scared. There aren’t many guys like that these days.”

“If he confesses to me later, what should I do? Should I think about it first or just say yes? If I say yes right away, will it seem too forward?”

Sayaka’s imagination ran wild—she even began planning where their future children would go to school...

She didn’t notice the pair of blood-soaked eyes on the ceiling watching them.

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