(T/N: Warning, mild incest. Mild. I will give warning and explanation on the end so just skip the bold [] if you are uncomfortable with that)
Fang Daichuan sat cross-legged on the bed, the notes he wrote spreading in front. He was currently thinking about them, unable to sleep.
Even after thinking about it multiple times, he still couldn’t understand why someone did it. He even started to doubt himself: “Did I really vote for Zhao Chu this morning? What if I remember it wrong? I originally doubted Du Chaosheng because Li Sinian asked me to vote for Zhao Chu so I voted for Zhao Chu in the end. Is it possible, because of my psychological suggestion, that I subconsciously voted for Du Chaosheng?”
The more Fang Daichuan thought about it, the more it seemed plausible. In the first place Du Chaosheng would definitely not vote for himself; Li Sinian had targeted Zhao Chu and wouldn’t vote for Du Chaosheng without reason; Sister Ding Zihui was a villager, and in this case, she was not a liar. Then only old lady Song and Liu Xin left. The old lady Song was the first few to speak but she did not have to vote who she said. Even if she voted for Du Chaosheng, there wasn’t any problem and everyone would understand her; Liu Xin was the last one to speak during the first voting. No matter how you looked at it, lying at that time would just make him marked as a wolf, and he didn’t look like a fool either. Fang Daichuan pulled off almost half of his forehead hair, he was frustrated so much that he wanted to end himself by drinking poison.
All those myriad thoughts gave Fang Daichuan a big headache. He pulled his hair for a while, then jumped out of bed before opening the door and sneaked out. There was wine in Li Sinian’s room, Fang Daichuan thought to himself, he would ask him for a glass to help sleeping.
The second floor was very quiet, there was no sound. Fang Daichuan could clearly hear his footsteps echoing in the corridor. There were mural blankets hanging on both sides of the corridor, which Fang Daichuan had not paid attention to before. Fang Daichuan had seen this kind of blanket in some adventure crews, and this was how the crew built the tomb passage scenes. What a bad taste, Fang Daichuan thought, regardless of whether it is a Chinese or Western-style building, it is understandable to hang picture frames and wallpaper on the walls, but to make murals on two walls is like you are living inside a tomb.
There was something strange about the two murals. During the day, Fang Daichuan didn’t notice any clues. At this moment, because of the lightning flashing from time to time outside the window, Fang Daichuan suddenly discovered that the blankets were wet with water and a faint painting appeared. He leaned closer to look carefully at the walls on both sides.
(T/N: Alright I feel like I am obliged to say this, but this novel is full of religious references, but only resembling a certain religion, so there might be some difference. To fully convey the author’s work, I didn’t make any attempt to correct them, so if you see something off, please understand that translation isn’t wrong.)
The scenery on the left mural was clouds and golden light, with all the characters wearing white robes. They all looked up toward the ceiling, with the expressions somewhat solemn and sorrowful. For the first time, Fang Daichuan looked up at the corridor ceiling, where it was built into a dome shape. There, carved with thick ink and heavy colour, was a picture of a battle between God and Demon.
The God with white wings on his back fought with a black winged Demon.
The God was holding a weapon, but it was so dark that he could barely see, it somehow looked like an axe with a wooden handle. The devil’s wings were fleshy, and he held a sceptre in his hand. There was a plump woman standing under the battle between the two. She was blindfolded, holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other hand. She was wearing a white robe, but there were black bat wings that symbolized the devil growing on her back.
That is weird. Fang Daichuan didn’t know much about Western religion and theology. He doesn’t know who these characters represent. Theoretically, the goddess holding scales should be Lady Justice*. But why did the devil’s wings grow on her back? These sculptures could not have appeared out of thin air. They should have been on the ceiling from the beginning, just that no one noticed it before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Justice
The painting that showed up on the other mural depicted a picture of hell. The picture was full of fire, ice and a two-headed dog* guarding the door of hell. Then the picture on the left should be heaven, Fang Daichuan thought. Fang Daichuan carefully counted the characters in the hell picture. There were 12* characters in total.
(T/N: Yes it is supposed to be 3, but the author wrote 2 so this is why I said there will be a difference, so again, no, I do not translate it wrong. Also, 12 is written like that in raw)
This number made Fang Daichuan feel a little uncomfortable. He turned his head and counted the characters on the heavens on the left mural, which were also 12. Everyone’s position in heaven was facing the people in hell. Fang Daichuan looked carefully at the position of the two-headed dog in the hell, and found that there was a snake slithering on the ground with an apple in his mouth.
Could this be a metaphor? Fang Daichuan thought to himself. He and Li Sinian replaced Ol’ Chen and the unknown man who was shot down. There were originally 12 adults and one child in this game. If the snake lying on the ground and the two-headed dog represent the children, then the rest of them can be matched one by one.
He went through the genders of all people in his mind and found that it was the right match.
Then, he raised his head and stared at the two people fighting on the dome. Do these two people represent himself and Li Sinian? But they are obviously on the same side, so what does the goddess represent? The boss who secretly observes everything?
I don’t understand. Fang Daichuan felt his head hurt again.
The window in the corner was closed and the curtain was half wet. He stood quietly in front of the window and felt a little nervous. He hesitated for a while before opening the curtains. There was no one else on the floor, so Fang Daichuan opened the window.
The rain hit his face with the damp fishy smell, and the wet curtains behind him were blown to the wall by the wind, making a rustling sound. Fang Daichuan glanced outside.
A white shadow flashed by on the edge of the reef in the distance.
Someone is out there?! Fang Daichuan got goose bumps on his arms. Why would someone go outside in such heavy rain?
He quickly ran to the corner and rang the doorbell in Li Sinian’s room. The doorbell here was single-line and could not be heard from outside. An unknown terror seized his heart and he rang the doorbell frantically. He wanted to tell Li Sinian about the weird murals and strange figures he just saw.
However, Li Sinian did not open the door.
There was a sudden burst of laughter in the corridor behind him.
Fang Daichuan’s heart was beating fast. He quietly leaned against Li Sinian’s door. Li Sinian’s room was in a corner. As long as he didn’t show himself, whoever in the corridor wouldn’t be able to see him. He clenched his fists and listened carefully, but all he could hear was his own crazy heartbeat in the silent corridor.
Calm down. Fang Daichuan forced himself to take a deep breath, and he rang Li Sinian’s doorbell again. Still no one opened the door. Li Sinian is a seer. He should have secretly gone outside to find a log cabin to check the role. Fang Daichuan speculated, the white shadow I saw just now should be Li Sinian.
There was another weird laughter from the corridor.
“Hee hee hee……”
It sounded like a child that just got candy and toys.
Child? Fang Daichuan thought of the crazy child, and cautiously stuck to the corner while peeping outside.
Sure enough, it was the child. He was holding a bucket and splashing water on both murals on the wall while laughing. He splashed for a while, then stopped and sang,
“Who killed the robin? The robin died on the island.
The wolf killed the robin; the sparrow flapped its wings and sang.
The wolf kills with venom; the robin dies, eyes wide open.”
The lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating the corridor for a while before it turned dark again. The weird little boy splashed water on the wall while singing nursery rhymes about death.
Fang Daichuan’s gallbladder almost exploded, and he couldn’t breathe at all. He clung to the wall and pressed his face to the cold tapestry.
“Nan Nan, come back, it’s dangerous here.” Niu Xinyan yelled softly from the other side of the corridor.
Fang Daichuan’s head exploded.
The little boy stopped singing in an instant, he turned his head to look at his mother. Fang Daichuan took two deep breaths, lying on the ground, and poked out his head cautiously.
[SKIP THIS]
Niu Xinyan squatted on the ground, her silk white nightgown dress spread out on the ground. She hugged the child and gently kissed him on the mouth. Fuck me! Fang Daichuan almost jumped out. Niu Xinyan kissed the little boy with her eyes closed and her arms tightly around him – it’s definitely not the expression and posture of a mother kissing her son!
“Let’s go inside,” Niu Xinyan slightly panted and looked timidly at the little boy. “I’m very scared.”
The little boy’s voice changed. He carelessly touched the back of Niu Xinyan’s head. Fang Daichuan couldn’t see his face from his angle, but he could hear his calm voice. He said: “What are you afraid of, you fool?”
[SKIP OVER]
Fang Daichuan couldn’t remember what happened later. Suddenly his mind went blank as he watched the mother and son swipe their cards. Then he curled up on the ground and pressed his body to Li Sinian’s cold door.
Until a pair of feet appeared in his field of vision.
Fang Daichuan raised his head and saw Li Sinian who was soaking wet from head to toe and a drop of water hit the floor. He was holding the identity card, wondering why Fang Daichuan was here, and looked at Fang Daichuan in surprise.
Fang Daichuan used the door to stand up, stepping on the small puddle dripped from Li Sinian’s hair, his feet slipped a little but he did not fall to the ground.
Li Sinian hurriedly helped him: “What’s wrong with you? Your palms are full of cold sweat.”
Fang Daichuan poked out his head with lingering fear and took a look. The weird mother and son had already returned to the room. He held Li Sinian’s shoulder and felt that he had been curled up for so long that even his legs and feet were numb. No, it’s more than just legs and feet, Fang Daichuan felt like his whole body was numb, only his heart was jumping desperately without fear of death.
“Open the door…” Fang Daichuan lowered his head and waved his hand, having no strength to explain, “Open the door quickly, I can’t hold it anymore.”
Li Sinian hurriedly opened the door.
Fang Daichuan held a glass of wine and sat on the bed wrapped in a quilt. His eyes were drifting and his hands were shaking.
“What’s wrong with you?” Li Sinian took a quick shower in the bathroom, and walked out while wiping his hair with a dry towel, and handed Fang Daichuan a pack of compressed biscuits.
Fang Daichuan raised his head and drank all the wine in the glass, and tremblingly tore open the package of compressed biscuits. He didn’t know where to start. The amount of information he received tonight was too much.
Finally, he decided to put it in chronological order. He first asked: “I couldn’t sleep before so I came out to look for you. Where did you go?”
“Examining people,” Li Sinian wiped off his hair, in a half-wet and half-dry state, his hair curled. “I went out to test while you were all asleep. Otherwise I would be exposed lest someone found out. “
Fang Daichuan ate biscuits and drank wine. The indoor lighting was very bright, there were no shadows to hide, which calmed his spirit a lot: “Who did you test? Mrs. Song? Is she a werewolf?”
Li Sinian shook his head: “I’m already certain that Mrs. Song is a wolf. I would directly vote for her in the morning so I don’t need to check her out. I checked Du Chaosheng. I’m afraid I was wrong. On the first night, he stood up and said he wouldn’t expose himself. I logically think he will not be a werewolf, but you have also seen it today. He cannot vote for himself. I’ve already known your and Ding Zihui’s identity, and for Mrs. Song, it is unnecessary. Liu Xin doesn’t look like someone who will foolishly lie and trap himself. So I thought, maybe Du Chaosheng has other secrets and my assumption about him was wrong.”
“Then the result?” Fang Daichuan asked.
Li Sinian smiled bitterly and shook his head: “Unfortunately, my guess was right from the beginning. He is indeed in the villager faction.” He said, pouring himself a glass of wine and asked, “What about you? What are you doing tonight? What’s going on?”
Fang Daichuan shuddered while recalling what had happened just now.
He jumped out of bed, threw the clean T-shirt to the topless Li Sinian, and opened the door: “I want to show you something, come with me.”
(T/N: Nothing much happened here, just the pair of mother and son kissing each other. Don’t worry, there is no more incest scene in this novel after that)