Chapter 93: Speak of the Devil

"The quality of your dormitory walls is questionable; even a toothpick can poke right through," the Elder remarked, shifting his arm and swaying to the other corner of the game board.

"Cut the nonsense. I'm asking you if you'll keep your mouth shut. You chatter all day, my ears are about to grow calluses," Chen Fan retorted, grabbing a few more toothpicks to further confine the Elder's movements.

The Elder stuck out his tongue, saying, "An old man won't stoop to your level. Do you want me to mimic Jesus nailed to the cross? I can do a perfect imitation." With that, he pressed his hands together, and the card pinned to the wall slipped out in a flash, leaving only a few lonely toothpicks stuck in the surface.

"Hmph, I'll let you off just this once," Chen Fan grumbled, swallowing his displeasure and pulling out each toothpick.

"Ouch, I'm a good person too, you know. Everyone thinks I'm the wolf in this spot—a grown man bullying a little girl, oh! Number Six, please come rescue me," came a coquettish voice, sending tingles down Chen Fan's spine. The exaggerated tone was more over-the-top than the squeak from a rubber duck.

"Fan, what kind of game is this? Why are there such weird voices?" Xu Changhui asked, emerging from the bathroom wrapped in steam, a thick white towel around his head and nothing but red shorts on—frankly, a bit inappropriate for kids.

"Werewolf is a speaking game, you know? You have to talk when you play. The voices you heard are other players speaking," Chen Fan explained briefly, then buried his head back in the game.

Xu Changhui pondered for a moment, climbed onto his bed, grabbed his phone, and silently downloaded the game.

Chen Fan was absorbed in his game, oblivious to the fact that his roommate's mind had wandered off.

After some tussling with the Elder and being distracted by Xu Changhui, Chen Fan barely caught any statements from the previous round. Aside from his rear position, where a punk player claimed to be the Seer, the two girls kept insisting they were good people, and he knew nothing else.

"Number Seven is elected Sheriff."

Chen Fan checked the voting pattern; except for one abstention, the punk Seer had received all the votes, suggesting there was only one Seer in play.

"Number Two, eliminated."

"Oh, a timid wolf game and the Seer isn't dead? This is getting interesting," Chen Fan finally paid attention to the board—it was the classic setup of Seer, Witch, Hunter, and Villager, and the eliminated player was the Barbie girl who just spoke.

"See? Now you can trust me—I’m genuinely innocent, purer than water itself! I’m just a plain villager, leaving quietly. Number Six, good luck, mwah!" The drama from Number Two was intense; she spoke with misty eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks like a faucet left running.

Looking at her ID, Chen Fan realized she was a SlowHand streamer, and suddenly everything made sense.

Chen Fan marveled at how useful the hybrid role card was for fostering personal fandom. He imagined, in the near future, a radiant new star would rise over the Abyssal Earth, and fans would add another name to their idol gift packages—that person would be...

"Eh? It's my turn to speak now?" Chen Fan's awkwardness was laid bare in front of the webcam; he hurriedly snapped out of his reverie and feigned confusion.

"I didn't hear the Sheriff’s speech earlier, and the first statement gave no clues. Judging from the votes, Number Seven got almost all of them. If it's a timid wolf game, just follow the badge flow to prevent wolves from self-destructing and blocking information. That's all I have to say—pass."

"BOOM~"

Just as Chen Fan finished speaking, before he could pass the mic, Number Five exploded, and the game instantly went to night.

"Hey, Fan, what did you use to register for Werewolf? How do you play?" Xu Changhui suddenly called out.

"Huh? You're playing this too? You can register with your phone or QQ or WeChat," Chen Fan replied.

Xu Changhui chuckled, "Nothing much, just keeping up with the times. Always watching others play games—I figured I might as well try it myself."

"Oh, right. With a new account, you can only enter beginner lobbies," Chen Fan said, as the night phase was halfway through, leaving him as a clueless Hunter unable to do anything.

Xu Changhui asked, "Is there a difference between the lobbies?"

"Other than skill levels, they're pretty much the same," Chen Fan answered.

"Good, then," Xu Changhui nodded, eagerly completing his registration.

As Chen Fan expected, the night was peaceful; the punk Seer was probably targeted, but the Witch saved them.

"Hurry and pass the mic, or the wolves might self-destruct again and take another victim tonight," Chen Fan said, pressing the pass button halfway through his sentence.

"BOOM~"

A bomb dropped on Number Four’s avatar, sending the game into night once more.

"Damn, every prediction comes true. Now the Seer will be silenced—hopefully, we get a confirmed good guy," Chen Fan muttered, flipping off his phone screen.

When dawn broke, the punk Seer was gone and had passed the Sheriff badge to Number Eight...

Chen Fan forced a smile; Number Eight, the cute girl, was his confirmed good guy from day one, which meant the punk Seer had found wolves both nights, but who they checked... well, who knew?

At least it was finally his turn to speak from the bottom slot, and he wouldn't have to jinx anyone.

As expected, after a round of speeches, there were no clues; streamers from every platform were busy putting on awkward performances. If Chen Fan weren’t keeping his wits, he would have thought he'd stumbled into an online talent show.

"You all claim to be villagers—my goodness, with such a good guy advantage, we might as well play openly. Just follow the Sheriff's votes; I'm a card that’ll survive to the finals."

"Listen to my Number Six prince—and you, Number Two, stop fighting me. You're an old woman with so many tricks; let's vote out Number One," the loli Sheriff whipped the corpse and casually targeted Number One.

"Hmm? That works..." Chen Fan waited for the next daytime, while Xu Changhui's side was already in a noisy uproar.

"What’s going on over there? Why so loud?"

Xu Changhui pointed at his screen, "Ugh, don't ask. A bunch of elementary schoolers, playing and cursing each other out, tracing family trees back eighteen generations. I’m so scared I don’t dare speak."

"Pfft~" Chen Fan nearly choked on his own saliva but managed to swallow it back.

"Eh? How did I die?" When Chen Fan looked at his screen, he realized he'd been stabbed. In confusion, he fired a random shot.

"Since we can't win, I'm counting on you guys."

"Game over. The good guys win."

"Huh? How did that happen..."

"Bro, double-tap 666 for you! Sending flowers and gifts!"

"Prince, you’re amazing!"

"(*@ο@*) Wow~ Take my knees, king!"

While Chen Fan was still basking in the praise, Xu Changhui had already deleted the game he just downloaded.

"What happened? Quitting so soon?"

Xu Changhui murmured, "It's not what I imagined..."