Scream Queen: Chapter 14

Li Li choked at that statement. What Zhu Yang said made sense, but who would want to offend a potential vengeful ghost for no reason? 

“Did you think that doing something like this could change their fate? Let me tell you that those little tricks won’t work. How would there be such an obvious loophole to be taken advantage of? Did you think that you were the only one who thought about doing this?” 

“I’ve heard of situations where the players sent their NPCs to another country to prevent them from being killed in order to reduce the number of ghosts. However, no matter what, once the time limit is up, the plotline will remain unchanged.” 

“This game is all about how we fight against those ghosts. No matter how much we try to deviate from the original plot or how far we’ve run from this house, we would still end up back here on the seventh night.” 

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yang was not surprised at this information. She shrugged, “Of course I know that. How could this messed up game show any compassion or goodwill towards the players?” 

If it was, then it wouldn’t have casually killed off Zhu LiNa to intimidate her—an outsider—into joining the game. 

Zhu Yang had already guessed why this game chose her even though she doesn’t meet the selection criteria. Her actions were unpredictable, which meant that she was more entertaining to watch. 

Zhu Yang didn’t need to be humble about this. Her ability to torment others was a self-taught skill she had perfected since childhood. It was quite impossible for anyone to defend themselves against her. 

Thus, to be able to easily force her hand meant that this game was quite vicious. 

She continued on, “Since nothing will change, then why should I be cautious?” 

LiLi and the others had to disagree with her. Although these tenants were still living humans, the players had already viewed them as vengeful spirits. 

Therefore, it was better to keep a low profile and avoid them. If one of the players caused a scene, then those ghosts would go after that person first!

But why should Zhu Yang care about the logic of ordinary people? In her opinion, the other players’ idea of safety and security should be sneered at. 

For a person with such a willful personality, her leadership style was extremely aggressive and risky. Her actions always took her out of her comfort zone. 

The group was naturally displeased, but since it was late, they had to return back to their rooms to rest. 

Zhu Yang felt distressed over her broken laptop. Earlier, she wasn’t thinking too clearly and rushed in. There were so many other objects around she could have used to beat someone up. 

Tea trays, stools, decorative wood statues. 　

Fortunately, she still had her phone. Zhu Yang checked the amount left in her bank account and immediately decided to go clothes shopping tomorrow. Whatever was in the suitcase shouldn’t even be considered as clothing. 

That night, as she drifted between consciousness, Zhu Yang heard footsteps coming from the corridor.  

The house was old. The wooden floor creaks when walked upon, so most residents try to walk as softly as possible when they’re out at night. 

But these footsteps were heavier  and sounded as if they were dragging something— giving  off an eerie feeling. 

However, Zhu Yang was not alarmed. It was probably because she had gotten used to all those jump scares from the female ghost. 

But Wang Bei, who was laying on the neighboring bed, wasn’t doing so well. She meant  to fall asleep, but once she heard the footsteps, she wrapped  the quilt tightly around herself and panicked. 

The next morning, Wang Bei woke up early with heavy, dark circles under her eyes. She was clearly not in good spirits.

Upon seeing Zhu Yang’s refreshed appearance, she felt that life was truly heartless. 

Zhu Yang took her toiletries and walked towards the restroom on the second floor to freshen up. Mrs. Qiu and her son were there too. 

Teacher Qiu saw Zhu Yang approaching and quickly moved to the side, giving her room to pass through. Noticing that the younger girl didn’t pay attention to her, she felt slightly resentful. 

As Zhu Yang finished washing up and turned to leave, she felt a slight tug on her clothes. 

Looking down, she saw it was Teacher Qiu’s son. 

The child was quite handsome and his face wasn’t as mediocre as his father’s. Even though he was at a grade school age, he seemed thinner and weaker than the other children his age. 

The child didn’t speak but handed over a boiled egg, not daring to look directly at Zhu Yang. 

Zhu Yang arched an eyebrow and finally accepted it. Then the child hurriedly hid behind his mother. 

With this interaction, Teacher Qiu finally found a chance to speak. 

Slightly embarrassed, she said, “About yesterday… thank you.” 

“His dad goes crazy once he’s drunk and wouldn’t listen to anyone at all. I-”

Before Teacher Qiu could finish speaking, Zhu Yang interrupted her, “I have no interest in listening to your incompetency. Those words are enough for you to hypnotize yourself into complacency. What does that have to do with me?” 

Sneering, she also added, “I smacked him because he was arguing with me. Don’t think about it too much. You are still a perfect and happy family of three. Keep up the good work and don’t cause any trouble to others.” 

Teacher Qiu had suffered from domestic abuse for a long time and often showed up to school with injuries. Most of her colleagues and friends persuaded her to make peace with her husband, while her parents disapproved of her thoughts of divorce.

While most people would subtly hint for Mrs. Qiu to work out her problems with her husbands, this Miss Zhu didn’t hold back. Her words made Teacher Qiu feel like she was slapped in the face. 

She lowered her eyes as Zhu Yang left, no longer interested in talking anymore. 

After all four of the players woke up, they went downstairs to have breakfast. 

Coincidentally, they ran into another tenant living on the second floor who they didn’t have a chance to meet the day before. He would eventually hang himself in his room seven days later. 

Upon meeting the other person, it was quite evident that he lived a rough life. 

The boy was around sixteen or seventeen, but he was thin and frail. His school uniform hung loosely on his figure and it seemed like a gust of wind could blow him over. 

 The teenager’s surname is Wu and he had a wound on his forehead that had already scabbed over. He also walked around with a limp unbeknownst to others  whether it was from an illness or a new injury. 

When he saw the four new tenants, he didn’t offer a greeting, but rather passed by them indifferently.

The group didn’t care either. They left the house and out the alley to find a good place to eat breakfast. 

Generally, most local popular restaurants have similar dishes. However, Zhu Yang was always wary of the cleanliness of  these places so she rarely ate there. 

As soon as she sat down, she noticed the greasy table and scowledin disgust. As she was about to wipe the table  down with a paper towel, Lu Xin had started to do it for her. 

When Zhu Yang saw him do so, she bluntly commented, “You got quite some observation skills, how much do you know about me?” 

From yesterday’s luggage situation, to her food preferences, and now to her hygiene, only a fool would believe it was all a coincidence. 

Surprisingly, Lu Xin didn’t seem to have any intention to deflect. He smiled shyly and answered, “You are quite a celebrity at school. All of your basic information is listed on the school forum. I’m just one of your numerous fans.” 

His explanation made sense. Her forum profile page listed her basic information like her height, birthday constellation, and favorite food. 

It seemed that Lu Xin was one of her many admirers from school. But she had so many admirers, and only a few of them were qualified to approach her social circle. 

Naturally, ordinary boys wouldn’t even have the qualifications to confess to her. During her freshman year, there was a diaosi*, with an overinflated ego, who had dared to interact with her.

(T/N: mediocre men who have no skills or talents or wealth (aka a loser)) 

Even without her interference, a bunch of the boys from the school’s fraternity drove them away for her. 

With Zhu Yang’s personality, she would never pay attention to plain boys like Lu Xin, but the game world was a bit more personal. His obedience to her would make completing their tasks easier. 

She tossed the egg over, “Fine, from now on, you listen to me. This is your reward.” 

Li Li and Wang Bei were normal people who only experienced normal experiences. They have never seen someone act so arrogantly before. Using an egg can determine a person’s position. 

It was all thanks to Zhu Yang’s beauty. If anyone else acted like this, they’d be beaten silly.

But Lu Xin was all smiles. His ordinary face transformed into something exceptionally beautiful. His eyes twinkled like stars in the night sky, exuding an unbelievable charm. It was like his joy was being emitted from deep within the soul and it shone through his physical body. 

Wang Bei, who was only a few years older than the two, wouldn’t normally be affected by some college student drama. However this time, her cheeks reddened and her heart hammered at the sight. 

Lu Xin shook his head, carefully peeling the egg before handing it back, “You should eat it. A NPC’s token of gratitude is a good thing.”

“Is that so?” Zhu Yang hesitantly took the egg. 

After eating the egg, she felt no different, which was natural since it was just an egg. If there was no special effect, then there was no effect—she’ll just take it as eating breakfast. 

After a short while, everything the group ordered was ready: two baskets of soup dumplings, two baskets of steamed dumplings, two bowls of porridge, two bows of soymilk, and a few fried dough sticks. 

Unsurprisingly, the dishes were delicious.

After the meal, it was time to discuss their mission. Even though their roles were agreed upon yesterday, most of the tenants had not left the house. So Li Li and Wang Bei thought about getting some information out of the landlord first. 

Zhu Yang and Lu Xin also headed back to retrieve some items. Lu Xin had a camera in his bag, which they planned to take with them. 　　

As a result, they ran into Miss Cui, the tenant from the first floor, whom they met the day before. 

It seemed  like she had just got off work. She looked  exhausted from working all night. Even without her makeup, she still had a beautiful appearance—very much resembling an abandoned, and lost beauty. 

However, she was not alone in the hall. There was a man behind her—ranting about something incomprehensible. Upon seeing Miss Cui’s disgusted and impatient expression, the man would probably be the same man who would enter her room and commit unspeakable crimes in seven days. 

Like Miss Cui, the man was also in his early twenties. He had an average appearance, aside from his small potbelly- something odd for someone so young. He was even wearing a tight t-shirt. His hair was unkempt, his clothes were sloppy. At first glance, it was obvious that this diaosi lacked all kinds of personal hygiene. 

He pestered Miss Cui endlessly, “Why are you working at that place again? The men there aren’t any good. They specialize in taking in young girls like you. The women there aren’t good people either- they’re all pomisicious and have had abortions before. Who knows what kind of diseases they carry! Aren’t you afraid of eating at the same table with them?” 

Miss Qiu, who was already on edge before, exploded at those statements, “Do you even know them? You’re just spraying shit here! What kind of relationship do we have for you to be nagging about my life?” 

She then snapped at the landlord, “Aren’t you bothered that a person just runs around here, harassing your tenants?” 

The landlord was sitting behind the counter, drinking soy milk and eating a fried dough stick. He flashed a dopey smile and cheekily said, “Youngsters ah, don’t have such a fiery temper. Couples should talk it out in their own rooms. It’s not good to abandon yourselves to your emotions.” 

“Who’s a couple with him?” Miss Cui almost cried from anger. 

Her appearance was naturally charming, and she was more filled out than her peers. Since she was naturally very attractive to men, she was ostracized by her fellow female students since junior high. 

Furthermore, because her family conditions weren’t good, it wasn’t easy for her to study abroad for university. Her tuition and living expenses were all paid by herself. 

She had once thought that her university classmates would be more mature. Who knew that they still made all sorts of snide and nasty rumors about her, which consequently caused her to be harassed often by perverts. 

This boy who had been pestering her for quite some while is called Zhang Hua. Not only does he stalk her, but he also spreads rumors that they were dating. At school, girls would often see him following her around. The promiscuous wretch and low* man. A match made in heaven. Naturally the other girls were delighted by this sight and loved the pairing and believed in his words. 

(T/N: ‘low’ was already written in English)

If she refuted their claims, people would accuse  her of playing with his feelings and using him as a spare tire. She even tried reporting the incident to the police, but with Zhang Hua and her classmates testifying against her, there was nothing she could do. 

The landlord wasn’t a good person either. The two bastards were cut from the same cloth. If it weren’t for her contract, she would have moved out already. 

She hadn’t even started crying, and Zhang Hua started his accusatory act. 

He shouted angrily, “You just hate the fact that I’m poor! I’ve treated you so well for so long. I even almost gauged my heart out for you.” 

“You women are all the same. All gold-diggers! You disdain the men who hold sincere affections to you and would rather act like a dog for the rich. You act all arrogant in front of me, but aren’t you kneeling in the streets, wagging your tail around, and begging for money?” 

After ranting, he fell to the ground on his knees and repeatedly slapped himself in the face. They were real slaps, the impact sound ringing loudly through the room. 

As he slapped himself, he sobbed, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said those words to you. Please forgive me! Let’s stop fighting okay?” 

Miss Cui paled in fright. She had always thought that this man had some sort of mental problems. He’d always be talking to himself, cursing for one second, then kneeling and crying the next. In the past, he’d act out in public, making himself the laughingstock in front of the whole school. 

However, the landlord was quite emotional, and tried to persuade the girl, “Oh! Xiao Cui, look, Brother Zhang is already like this, you should-” 

Before he could finish, a “tch” was heard by the side. 

The sound wasn’t loud, but the ridicule contained within it was very obvious, as if the person could see through the obvious ploy. 

The three turned their heads and saw that it was just the new tenants from yesterday. It seemed that the very beautiful girl in the group was the one who had scoffed.

Even Zhang Hua, who chased Cui Yuan so enthusiastically, was captivated by the girl’s appearance. 

However, what she said the next moment was not as pleasing as her appearance. 　　

Zhu Yang sneered, “People these days are so shameless. They’d claim they’re poor, but wouldn’t admit that they’re actually poor, ugly, lazy, and fat. Naturally, a toad couldn’t eat a swan. But the toad dares to roll around complaining at the swan for not letting it eat. So shameless, why don’t you just point to the heavens and scold them for not raining down meat pancakes.” 

Then she turned to Miss Cui, “Sister, you’re also in the wrong. Dealing with this sort of trash, the best way is to break his third leg. You even let him know where you live! If any of the girls in my sorority were this useless, I would’ve tossed them out. 

Then she snapped her fingers and called for Lu Xin, “Throw him out!” 

Lu Xi didn’t know why he felt unhappy, but he still obeyed her command. 

Without even taking a single step, he dragged the man up and threw him out the gate as if he was a bag of trash.

Zhu Yang inwardly scrutinized his actions. Indeed, Lu Xin was a player who had strengthened his physique. Although the diaosi was an absolute  waste of space, he was still an obese adult male who probably weighed over 160 kilograms. 

 However, Lu Xin had effortlessly lifted that chicken with only one hand. She doesn’t know what she could achieve after strengthening her physical stats by 20 points. 

Seeing Miss Cui’s stunned expression at their neat and efficient execution, Zhu Yang decided to not ponder any further. 

She shouted, “Landlord, mop the floors! The air around the area where the idiot knelt feels uncomfortable.”  　

Then she turned and arrogantly walked up the stairs.

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