Chapter 30: First Night

After opening the “Identity Implementation” function, there was still some time before 10 o’clock and so the profile pictures of all 12 players remained gray. Within a single glance, Shen Mu pinpointed a particular image at the end of the third row showing a girl with two small, slightly curled pigtails——that was his sister, Shen Xin.

No. 9… Since his sister was there, Cupid’s ability would have to be used——only this way could he ensure that both him and his sister would be in the same camp.

Shen Mu had already decided earlier that he wouldn’t create a couple unless his sister was there. It was stated in the game rules that if the Cupid didn’t link a couple, they would become a god card on the good side. Although it had no function, it was still considered a god. Doing so would reduce the confusion that Cupid’s added complication of roles would create. After all, there was already the Robber card whose identity was unpredictable, and only Cupid would know whether there was a couple. By having this information, it could be used to exploit and make use of when necessary.

But with his sister here, his primary concern was ensuring that his sister was on the same side as himself. He could directly link his sister to him, and that way,  if his sister was in the wolf camp, the two of them would form a third party. However the difficulty facing a third party was already very high, and by having a group of two, they would be in an even more disadvantageous position. Moreover, if one member of the couple died, the other party must follow, directly failing the round… therefore he needed to connect his sister to another person.

Shen Mu’s gaze swept across the gray avatars of all 12 players in turn.

Among the people he knew, Lin Huiru was No. 5, Su Yingxing was No. 11, and Tang Youchen was No. 12.

No. 1 was the delicate girl with short hair that he’d just seen.

Number 4 was a handsome young man with glasses who appeared to be smiling. The avatar was too small, Shen Mu narrowed his eyes slightly, the expression didn’t look very honest… In any case, even from looking at the two faced man with glasses, he felt a need for caution…

No. 6 was a handsome young man with slightly long hair, his slender eyes both confident and contemptuous.

No. 7 was a young man who, even looking from his avatar, seemed very tall. He appeared to be in his early 20s, and based on his hair which was long and puffy, and his eyes which were squinted, he seemed very much like a lazy lion.

No. 8 was a girl whose age he was unable to determine. With her big fluffy braids, large eyes and slender eyebrows, she seemed exceptionally lovable.

No. 10 was another female with an indeterminate age. Her medium long hair was tied in a ponytail, giving her a very energetic appearance at first glance, similar to the air of a girl in her 20’s. However when looking carefully, there was a hint of maturity between her brows, leaving the possibility of her being nearly 30.

While he was pondering, 10:00 had already arrived. The originally grey avatars became colourful in an instant.

It was only now that Shen Mu noticed several players whose hair colors were very unique——No. 6’s was dark purple. It seemed that it had just been dyed recently, and the roots had yet to turn black. With his slender, raised eyes, his entire form became slightly more handsome, also adding an aura of wickedness.

No. 7’s hair was dark red, causing him to seem even more like a lion.

The lovable girl No. 8 had light chestnut hair. Her skin tone was also very pale and with her light coloured hair, she looked like a delicate doll.

Player No. 10 was the one with the ponytail, and had dark brown hair.

Shen Mu shifted his gaze away from his phone. Would they form a lucky third party, or would the couple both be in the same team?

Both scenarios, also viewable as three scenarios, all had their own difficulties and excitement for the lovers and Cupid.

If the lovers that he roped together were both good guys, when one person was eliminated, the other would follow because of their link. This round of the game also had the rule of slaughtering a side. If either the god cards or the civilian cards were completely eliminated, then the town side would lose the game. The damage would be relatively minimal if he linked an unimportant god with a civilian, such as… the Idiot being eliminated and bringing the civilian with them. However, if both lovers were simultaneously gods or civilians, and the team was ignorant of precisely which identity card the Robber had discarded, the elimination of the couple would heavily impact the good side, and may even result in the town’s failure.

The same logic applied if the couple were both wolves. There were three werewolves in total, so if two were eliminated while linked, the wolf team would be impacted even more significantly than  the good team. It would be a spectacle too horrible to endure.

But…

Shen Mu had seen another rule just now.

‘Whether Cupid becomes part of the gods, wolves or forms a third party, the Seer will still see Cupid’s identity as a good person. If the couple forms a third party, lovers who were originally good players will continue to be registered as good players.’

In the case that there weren’t any powerful players, by receiving golden water*, no matter how bad their speech was, a player would still be able to persist to the end.

*T/N: golden water is referring to the cheat or immunity that comes from the Seer identifying the player as good, meaning few would doubt them.

However, it was impossible for there to be no powerful players… Shen Mu’s eyes flashed with a trace of light and the corners of his mouth rising slightly——he’d just have to remove the threatening players first!

Shen Mu clicked on Shen Xin’s avatar and it was immediately marked with a white light. Shen Mu then clicked on Xie You’s avatar. After a moment, all the remaining avatars became grey, with only No. 3 and No. 9 emitting a faint white light. 

For a moment, the world seemed to have become silent. Shen Mu only heard his quickening heartbeat, one second, two seconds…

It appeared that his junior schoolmate and his sister were on the same side.

That was also good. Shen Mu was confident that after listening to their speech, he would be able to determine whether the couple was on the good team or the wolf team. Once he determined their identities, he would know how to plan their next course of action.

Suddenly, new information appeared in Shen Mu’s mind!

‘No. 3 and No. 9 formed a couple. A third party camp has been established.’

Shen Mu: …? ? ?

Ok then, a third party… Shen Mu flipped over to lean against the headboard, his eyes narrowing. The third party… Who had the wolf card?

The scene when he was talking to Xie You flashed across Shen Mu’s eyes.

“There is an anonymous section, don’t you know that, senior?”

Was it his junior sister… either way it didn’t matter if she’d unconsciously asked or if she was really testing him. Shen Mu thought of those intelligent eyes. He believed that Xie You would be a smart and reliable teammate.

He hoped that the person who’d received the wolf card was his schoolmate. His younger sister was too young, and would inevitably be nervous after becoming part of a third party. The wolf team was also familiar with the rules, and they would definitely be wary of the third party. Even with their own teammates, they wouldn’t trust each other easily. His sister lacked experience, and would likely be ousted.

The third party… If the rule of victory was only slaughtering one side or another, it would be possible to cooperate with the wolf team. After all, there were only three wolves, and they needed to kill half of the good guys under the premise that they’d guessed their identities correctly, hence they were also relatively disadvantaged.

However in this case the rules clearly stated that once a third party had been formed, any side wanting to obtain victory, on top of the original conditions, must also ensure that all third party members were eliminated. There was no way of easing the situation between the three parties on the field.

Given the current situation, it was best for his junior schoolmate to get the Wolf card, and for his younger sister to get either the Idiot card or the Civilian card.

There was no use in getting one of the other God cards, because the wolves would definitely jump out with the same identity, so it wouldn’t be particularly useful to be a Seer. Instead, she’d be voted out of the game earlier, and the couple would both be eliminated.

The Witch card was a very powerful card. In a round without the Guard, the Witch’s Antidote was the only chance of saving a life. However, it was precisely because of its power that the Witch card was one of the first that the Werewolves would try to kill. If his younger sister received that card and wasn’t able to control her expressions and mood, If noticed by the wolves, she’d likely be knifed that very night. Since the witch was unable to save herself except for during the first night, if she was knifed, the couple would be eliminated.

The Hunter card also wasn’t bad. Although the risk of being knifed was similarly high, generally no wolf would jump out as a hunter, so her identity wouldn’t be doubted.

The Idiot card, although it too was a God card, due its weak ability*, its safety index was higher. Additionally, the Idiot could prove its identity after being voted out so there was hardly anyone who’d try and vote the Idiot out since that would reveal their own identity. Hence, the chance of being voted out was fairly small.

*T/N: Weak ability: if the Idiot is voted out, they are able to return to the game once but they lose their opportunity to vote.

Of course, if she was a Civilian, the safety index was even higher. Although when slaughtering a side, the wolves could kill either the gods or the civilians, but due to the abilities of the God cards, the wolves would definitely choose to kill the gods.

Shen Mu didn’t want his sister to get a powerful God card as it was difficult to play and she would easily become a target. Based on his impression of the players participating in this round when he’d arrived, and by looking at the avatars, a few people aroused Shen Mu’s attention.

Contemplating the matter, Shen Mu lay down on the bed, habitually picking up his phone, wanting to note a time.

…Where was the alarm clock? ? ?

The identity implementation only had one page, with the 12 avatars, but this time there was nowhere to scroll to. He also couldn’t find an alarm function in the rest of the phone.

That’s right, Shen Mu lightly knocked against the headboard. The difficulty of the game was gradually increasing and this was the Suspended Life Game… It was child’s play to get up relying on the alarm clock.

They entered the night phase at 9 o’clock in the evening, and started the meeting at 9 a.m. the following morning. Surviving players must be present during the meeting and if they weren’t present it was counted as a violation of the rules. Civilians could sleep until dawn, and normal people certainly couldn’t sleep that long. Before the identity card exercised its ability, they wouldn’t dare to sleep. The last player to complete their action would be the Witch whose period of operation lasted from 2am to 3am… It was quite late. Fortunately, the players were all fairly young, so even if they stayed up late, it shouldn’t be visible.

…Yes, the majority of the players in the Suspended Life Game seemed to be young. Adults in their twenties, youths in their teens… People any older or younger, were quite rare. Was there any basis for this?

A pair of calm eyes flashed in front of Shen Mu’s line of sight.

An Yu may know the answer to that question. When he went back he would ask him.

……

In the haze, Shen Mu felt a light flashing before his eyes, and blearily opened them, only to find that it was already dawn. At night, there was pitch blackness outside the windows, yet it wasn’t the abnormal black colour from the preliminaries. It was completely pitch black and the windows also couldn’t be unfasted. Even with the curtains open, it was difficult to see outside.

However, it was impossible for the wolf team to leave their rooms to discuss at night …right?

Shen Mu looked at the time, 5:35 a.m. He’d slept the night away. The mattress was quite hard and Shen Mu felt stiffness in his back. After getting up for some exercise, there was little time before the identity of the player who’d been killed would be announced.

Although he was a player with abilities, Shen Mu wasn’t very nervous——if his sister was a wolf, he definitely wouldn’t die tonight. The junior sister… it was hard to say whether she was a pure wolf, but since she was linked to a third party, her perspective when considering the issue would change, so the possibility of killing him first was very small.

6:00 a.m.

Sure enough, he hadn’t been killed. Shen Mu laughed softly, and suddenly a new message appeared in his mind, scaring Shen Mu.

‘The rules of the game-voting section have been updated.’

Shen Mu grabbed his phone. Voting rules? During the preliminaries, the voting rules were only announced during the meeting at 9:00. This time, it was announced a few hours in advance… Shen Mu blinked, clicking open player status first.

Eleven icons were lit, one had already dimmed. The first one to be eliminated turned out to be No. 5, Lin Huiru.

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