CHAPTER 29: RULES ANALYSIS

Hearing Shen Mu’s words, Xie You reached a tacit understanding: “Senior, have you encountered the second player who was eliminated before?”

Shen Mu nodded, lightly resting his chin on his left hand: “It was an older sister that I didn’t recognise. She probably didn’t know where the meeting place was so she mounted a sneak attack on me in order to reduce the number of competitors.”

Xie You nodded, before glancing at Shen Mu a couple times with a strange expression on his face. Shen Mu felt that her gaze was very familiar, yet he couldn’t remember it. His heart gave a thump. Xie You twisted the cuff of her sleeve, while glancing at Shen Mu with a mysterious look. Her voice carried a faint sense of expectation: “Senior, you just said that you have a friend who was with you in the last round, is the friend that you just mentioned An Yu?”

Shen Mu stared blankly: “Do you know An Yu?”

“Eh!” Xie You’s eyes seemed to slightly brighten when she heard the name “An Yu”. Her eyes swivelled around as she said, “En… we live in the same unit in the neighbourhood. When we were young, my mother often made food for brother An Yu so I know him.”

Shen Mu: Why do I feel like I’ve heard the same words recently…

When people lie, their eyes usually shift to the right whereas when they are recalling memories, they look towards their left or lower left. Seeing that Xie You’s eyes had flashed toward her right, he recalled when his own sister, Shen Xin, had told him “we are neighbors in the same unit”. Shen Mu’s eyelids twitched as he asked, “You guys aren’t siblings?”

“Ei?” Not expecting Shen Mu to say such a thing, Xie You had a very large reaction. She looked at Shen Mu for a while, causing Shen Mu to feel itchy in his heart, “We could be called siblings, but why does senior ask?” While saying this sentence, Xie You’s tone contained a profound mood, along with some unconcealable expectations. Shen Mu was slightly stunned for a moment.

“Ah, I was too presumptuous.” Seeing that Shen Mu was slightly stupefied, Xie You smiled and turned away from the topic. Her eyes restored their glistening look that Shen Mu found so familiar, and there was a touch of excitement in her tone, “Senior, did you see the school forum before you came?”

“No.” Shen Mu finally remembered where he’d seen Xie You’s gaze——this was the gaze of the fujoshi* Bai Luo and her close friend at Lu Ying’s birthday party! Shen Mu suddenly had a bad feeling…

*T/N: fujoshi, a Japanese term for female fans who enjoy all novels and artworks that depict romantic relationships between men. E.g. BL, yaoi etc.

Sure enough, although Xie You tried to calm her voice, her excitement could no longer be hidden: “Senior, did you know? The video of your kiss with brother An Yu and where you united against those vicious male side characters was posted on the forum. Within an hour there were over twenty pages of comments… “

“Wait, what is a vicious male side character!” Erkang hand*.

*T/N: popular meme from the drama ‘My fair Princess’

“That’s not important, not important! You and brother An Yu along with Senior Su’s scene of bloody slaughter where Xu Zijin played the role of flower protector*! Whether there was a shift in affection, hate born from love or another ulterior motive! Actually senior, I know,” Seeing that Shen Mu appeared as though he wanted to say something, Xie You said firmly, “You and Brother An Yu are in true love! Those who ship Shen Su** are all evil cults! And what the hell is that Xu An*** thing?! I will firmly stand on senior’s side, you can rest assured. Just wait for me to go to the forum anonymously and battle them for 300 rounds!”

*T/N: Flower protector – refers to a person who protects the person they like and in Xu Zijin’s case, it’s Lin Huiru

**T/N: Shen Su – Shen Mu and Su Xingchen’s ship name

***T/N: Xu An – Xu Zijin and An Yu’s ship name

“Thank you … is it an anonymous forum?”

“There’s an anonymous section, didn’t you know that, senior?” Xie You looked at Shen Mu somewhat doubtfully, “You’re already in your third year of uni and you still haven’t visited the forum?”

“I’ve visited it before, but it’s been a while so I don’t remember it clearly.” Shen Mu said with a smile, yet his heart tightened.

Whilst talking with junior sister Xie You, Shen Mu unconsciously relaxed and felt at ease, unwittingly forgetting to conceal his memory loss. Although the situation in the first round was different from the preliminary round’s, the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light. Shen Mu had successfully returned to reality and understood his past. It was fine to let other players know that he had amnesia, because Shen Mu could now prove with confidence that his amnesia had been caused by real circumstances, and not the supernatural power of the Suspended Life Game. There was no difference between himself and other players so if Xie You really asked, Shen Mu wouldn’t hide it.

However the fact that he’d unwittingly forgotten to be on guard, unconsciously speaking about his own secrets… showed that he’d really been too careless. Although it was just a junior sister this time, Shen Mu wasn’t in a friendly university campus right now, but in the crisis-filled Suspended Life Game. Even if Xie You was trustworthy, there was no guarantee that people weren’t listening in with their ears pressed against the wall, nor that any potential evesdroppers would have no ulterior motives.

Has she found the loophole in his words? Shen Mu looked at Xie You’s sparkling eyes and thought that it was he was probably over examining the situation.

Shen Mu reached out seeming to want to pat Xie You’s shoulder, but halfway there, he realized that it wouldn’t be quite appropriate——it would appear too intimate with a girl her age that he wasn’t particularly familiar with. Instead, he scratched his own hair, earnestly saying: “Junior sister, I am optimistic about you! Your ship is the true ship! You have great vision, so you mustn’t be unfaithful, follow the ship and you’ll have food to eat*. Remember Shen An**, don’t stand on the wrong side.” At the end, he couldn’t help laughing.

*T/N: Not literal …. probably dog food, aka the self pity of single people (often humorously referred to as ‘single dogs’).

**T/N: Shen An, Shen Mu’s self-appointed ship name for him and An Yu.

“Have you guys slept together?” Xie You’s eyes that had just calmed down suddenly brightened.

Shen Mu gave an elegant and mysterious smile.

“You’re so annoying, I’ll ask Brother An Yu!” Being kept in suspense was the most maddening thing…

“So what is your relationship with him?” Shen Mu remembered the topic that had just been set aside.

“Well… this question is a bit complicated…” Judging by Xie You’s eyes, she was genuinely thinking about what to say, rather than deliberately stalling for time in an attempt to conceal it, “You might as well ask Brother An Yu directly!” Having failed to think of anything, Xie You gave the pot* away.

*gave the pot away, literally ‘handed her problem to another’.

“Okay.” Shen Mu nodded, “It’s getting late junior sister, you should go back earlier!” It was almost eight o’clock. Since An Yu wasn’t there, he was no in a hurry to see the other players. Although he was worried about his younger sister, Shen Xin, it was impossible for his younger sister to appear here since there were no operations tonight, so she couldn’t be killed. If his sister was here, he would see her tomorrow.

Bidding Xie You farewell, Shen Mu returned to his room. Following a short rest, it was 8:00 p.m.

Turning on the silvery-white mobile phone that didn’t match the dingy building environment. Shen Mu saw that the three icons that he was familiar with had become four. Regardless of the change, Shen Mu clicked on “identity check” first.

‘Identity of player No. 2 is Cupid.’

‘Please unite the lovers together during the specified time on the first night.’

“Wow.” Shen Mu subconsciously exclaimed, Cupid… good

This identity was quite interesting.

Opening the newly updated game rules, Shen Mu carefully looked through them. The rules weren’t particularly different from the Cupid and Robber version of the Werewolf game that existed in the outside world, and after reading them, Shen Mu fell deep into thought.

‘A total of 12 players. 14 identity cards consisting of 1 Witch card, 1 Seer card, 1 Idiot card, 1 Hunter card, 1 Cupid card, 1 Robber card, 3 Werewolf cards, and 5 Civilian cards’

Shen Mu knocked on the head of his bed… this game had the rule of ‘victory upon the elimination of a side’. That was, if the gods or civilians cards of the town side were wiped out, the good side would lose. The choice of the Robber and Cupid on the first night could be said to lay the foundation for the entire game.

The first to take action was the Robber. The player who’d drawn the Robber card would choose one of the two additional cards to take as his own identity. The two cards could be any card aside from the robber and Cupid card. The Robber would then select which to assume the identity of, and the other card would be “buried”, so that there would no longer be any such card in the game, and no such identity.

It was worth mentioning that because there were only three Werewolves. If, among the two cards that the robber had been randomly assigned, there was a Werewolf, the Werewolf card would be automatically selected in order to ensure that the game was fair to the wolf team. For example, if the robber received the options of a Werewolf and a Seer, the Robber would become a Werewolf and the  Seer would vanish from this round of the game. Other players wouldn’t be aware of the Robber’s assimilated identity. Thus only the Robber himself would know for sure which card was discarded.

In other words, if the Robber who’d become a werewolf in the aforementioned scenario declared themselves a Seer, they would be the only Seer in the game. Therefore, in the case that the Robber buried the Seer card, if a Seer appeared during the  game, they wouldn’t necessarily be a Seer at all and might be a Werewolf in disguise, creating an unfavourable scenario. 

By the same logic, if the two cards that the Robber received were the Seer and the Witch, then they could only pick one of the two,  leaving one to be missing from that round of the game. Of course, the Robber could also receive two civilian cards, which wouldn’t affect the situation all that much.

It was just that… if the Robber actually said that he’d received two civilian cards … Shen Mu’s thoughts turned dark, he wouldn’t believe it. 

Then there was his identity card, the Cupid.

The Cupid’s choice could have a disruptive effect on the entire situation.

If the two players roped together by Cupid on the first night were both good guys, and both were gods, then Cupid would also become a good guy and a god. If Cupid connected two civilian cards together on the first day, then Cupid would still be a good guy, but part of the civilians.

Linking together two Werewolves or two good guys, the biggest problem was that Cupid wouldn’t receive a notification from his own faction. He wouldn’t know if he was part of the gods, civilians or wolves. He could only guess as to what his own faction was based on the actions of the linked couple. If he couldn’t determine his faction, then he could only follow the actions of his couple in order to avoid standing with the wrong team. However, if Cupid became one of the Werewolves, then when all the other members of the Werewolf team were eliminated, Cupid would receive a new notice that night, and could open his eyes to kill and take over the work of the wolves.

That itself wasn’t a major issue.

However, to further complicate matters, if the two players that Cupid connected were from two different factions, with one being a werewolf and the other being a good person, then Cupid and the couple would form a third party faction, with the condition for their victory being the elimination of all other players. The third party faction couldn’t kill people while the Werewolf team was still alive. If the Werewolf faction had somehow already been wiped out and there was only the good side and the third-party faction left, Cupid could also kill at night.

No matter which camp the couple was in, if one of the couple died in any way, the other person would follow, and the linked player couldn’t activate any skills.

‘If the Hunter is poisoned by the Witch, the Hunter can’t shoot after being killed’

‘The Witch’s two types of medicine can only be used in the evening, and the two bottles of medicine cannot be used simultaneously on the same night. Once the antidote is used, the Witch will no longer know any information regarding the target that is knifed every night. Other than during the first night, the Witch cannot save themselves.’

‘Every night from 9:00－10:00, the Robber may take action; from 10:00－11:00,  Cupid may take action. After Cupid connects the couple, the couple will be notified, but they cannot leave the room to meet each other and speak. They cannot exchange identities; 11: 00－12: 00, the Seer may take action; 12: 00－2: 00, the werewolves may take action; 2: 00－3: 00, the witch may take action.’

‘Every morning at 6:00 am, the previous night’s deaths will be announced. At 9:00 in the morning, head to the conference hall on the second floor for a discussion and vote for the person you suppose is the Werewolf.’

‘Except for the Werewolf team who are able to exit their rooms and discuss their target at night, the other identity cards are to complete their actions in their own rooms. Players must not leave their rooms between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am the following day.’

Shen Mu focused on the special blue coloured rule on the last page.

‘In this round of the Cupid and Robber version of the Werewolf game, due to the multiple changes, the difficulty will be equal for all parties. Therefore, once any single party achieves victory, all players of the winning party who were eliminated during the process of the game will also be judged as having successfully passed the first round of the Suspended Life Game; the rest of the surviving players will be given the opportunity to turn the ‘penalty turntable’, determining the degree of their punishment (degrees 0-5). Players from defeated sides who were eliminated during the game will be judged as having failed the round.’

However,  despite that being said, for the third party to achieve victory, they must kill everyone else. In other words, if the third party won, there would be no other surviving players on the field. By the same logic, the good guys must kill the Werewolves and all third-party players. Only when the werewolf team won would it be possible to have players remaining.

The other special rules were the same as they’d been in the preliminaries, and the food refreshed daily after voting had been completed.

Shen Mu, who’d received the Cupid role, spun the phone around with two fingers. Whether or not he’d rope together a couple and make the situation more confusing, Shen Mu had already decided, merely waiting for ten o’clock to arrive.

Although he was still worried about An Yu in his heart, he’d already determined that he wasn’t in this round of the game so it would be useless to waste time thinking needlessly on the subject. If things really developed in the worst direction…

——At least I will win and bring you back.

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NEW: Releases are now on Sundays!

Translator’s Corner:

Salted Fish: Big news everyone! I am now the only translator for the project since I swapped my other project with Lin. Because of this, there is only going to be one chapter released every week for Suspended Life Game on Sundays. Our schedule has already been updated on the SLG home page and SLG Reader Announcements page.

Kitty (kitcat): I’m still the editor, slow and steady wins the race ah!  ^ v ^ 

Salted Fish: Yes ah, not only does our editor edit, my translation speed has also greatly improved with her around!

Kitty (kitcat): Aww! (Shh, it’s because she’s a fish! … a nice … tasty … salted fish ah! Can a poor, starving kitty be blamed? It’s just a nibble!)

If a chapter is late and we haven’t informed you in advance, please check our SLG Reader Announcements page here. This page shows any changes to our schedule, including estimates for the release of delayed chapters.

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