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Rabbit: I love how the comments are like, oh this newbie is a goner, when we all know Fu Yan will be faceslapping them soon enough hahahhahaha! Funny that they keep misinterpreting Fu Yan's actions as being dumb when Fu Yan is doing the right thing all along. And here comes the first villain player, Chen Sheng, the snobby shithead.
"What are you two looking for?"
Both Fu Yan and the boy whipped their heads around at the question, only to find the mother from the photograph standing behind them.
Those dark, lightless eyes stared holes through them from a face drained of all color, causing the boy to lurch behind Fu Yan in terror, his grip on the latter's shirt trembling.
Meanwhile, Fu Yan stood his ground, matching the woman's unblinking stare.
"What were you two just discussing?" the woman pressed again, her scratchy voice carrying the weight of a dying breath.
Maintaining a mask of indifference, Fu Yan stayed silent, though he secretly wiped his index finger clean on the boy's sleeve; that closet door had been unexpectedly dirty.
Getting nothing out of Fu Yan, she shifted her attention and waved the boy over.
"There's watermelon in the kitchen. Go cut it and bring it out. It's so hot; why didn't you guys turn on the air conditioning?"
Worried about Fu Yan, the boy hesitated for a moment before finally obeying. As he walked past the woman, she bent down and reached out to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Fu Yan's gaze had been fixed on the woman the entire time, so he immediately noticed the marks on her throat. A four-finger-wide purple-blue bruise, peppered with flecks of dark, dried blood, encircled her neck.
By now, Fu Yan's livestream had drawn over a thousand viewers, attracted by the infamy of the "Newbie Death Trap." They were safe in the knowledge that they would likely never face it themselves, but their natural appetite for drama kept them glued to the screen.
[My, oh my! This newbie is such eye candy! Too bad he's basically a dead man walking after entering this dungeon.]
[Looks don't matter in a death trap. As expected of a newbie. Just a few questions from an NPC and he's completely frozen.]
[This newbie is hopeless—can't he just say something and bluff his way through?]
[First time in all my years of watching streams that I've seen a newbie so frightened by an NPC that he couldn't even speak.]
As soon as the child was gone, she latched onto Fu Yan like a drowning woman.
"Xiao'Yan, you have to help Mom," she pleaded, wearing a look of absolute terror.
T/N:Xiao’<name>, literally Little <name>, is a kind of Chinese affectionate nickname.
Her grip was iron-tight and deathly cold, and the dark red grime beneath her nails was impossible to miss.
Jerking his arm away reflexively, Fu Yan met her shocked gaze with a stern reprimand.
"You didn't wash your hands."
Both the woman and the livestream viewers fell silent.
[Seriously? He's worried about hygiene right now?]
[He's literally on death's door and still being this particular. Grown men shouldn't be this fussy.]
[This new guy is so dumb it's hilarious.]
[If I were the NPC, I'd kill him on the spot.]
The woman's terrified expression froze as she struggled to figure out how to respond.
Fu Yan finally broke the awkward silence. Rubbing the spot she had touched against his clothes, he played along half-heartedly.
"Oh? What's up?"
What's up? Did he seriously ask that?!
The carefully crafted horror atmosphere was completely ruined by that question.
Suppressing an eye roll, she pushed through her lines.
"Your dad... he's a monster. He attacked me last night, and I killed him in self-defense. I panicked, didn't call the police, and just chopped him into pieces and flushed him down the drain."
She continued, "But today... he was standing there, perfectly fine, and he smiled. Your dad doesn't smile like that. That thing isn't human; it's definitely a ghost."
"So, what do you want me to do?" Fu Yan asked, having no choice but to guide her. The NPC's improvisation skills were so poor that any deviation left her looking completely lost.
"Ghosts are terrified of the weapons that killed them. If you strike him with the murder weapon again, his soul will shatter."
The woman pulled a fruit knife from behind her back and handed it to Fu Yan, a manic, twitching smile spreading across her face.
"Kill him in one strike. I want to see his soul scatter into nothing with my own eyes. You'll help me, won't you?"
Fu Yan took the knife, carefully holding it with the tips of his fingers to avoid the grime, and gave a dismissive nod.
"Uh-huh."
[What is he, blind? The bruise on her neck is huge. How does he miss it?]
[He's not blind, he's just an absolute idiot!]
[Anyone with a brain knows she's the liar. He just needs to kill her to clear the dungeon.]
[This noob doesn't even think. The boy literally said she died, the clues prove it, and despite all these facts practically slapping him in the face, he stands there blind as a bat.]
[Alright, let's pack it up, everyone. Blood is about to paint my screen any second now.]
Despite all the trash talk, the vast majority of viewers stayed, morbidly curious to see exactly how Fu Yan would meet his end.
In the middle of their conversation, the woman abruptly clamped both hands onto his arm, her eyes snapping toward the doorway in absolute dread.
Calmly prying her hands away, Fu Yan followed her gaze and saw an amiable-looking middle-aged man standing in the doorway with a cheerful smile.
He was none other than the woman's supposedly deceased husband.
Loosening his necktie, the man asked jovially,
"What are you two chatting about over here?"
The woman stared at him in utter terror, desperately trying to maintain a casual expression.
"N-Nothing... much..."
"Oh, really?"
The man wound his necktie tightly around his fists and turned a smiling gaze toward Fu Yan.
The woman tugged anxiously at Fu Yan's sleeve, her face etched with apprehension.
Tucking the blade into his pocket, Fu Yan beamed at the man and cheerfully sold her out.
"Nope. She said she murdered you last night, that you're a ghost now, and she asked me to stab you to death."
[Does this guy have a death wish? Why is he snitching immediately?]
[I am so done. Can the system vet these newbies better and stop pulling in random trash?]
[The absolute guts on this guy are going to give me a stroke!]
The man's expression instantly darkened Fu Yan's words. He yanked Fu Yan behind him and glared defensively at the woman.
"Don't listen to her. That woman isn't your mother at all."
He continued, "I woke up in a daze this morning only to find your mother hanging dead in the wardrobe. Her body was still warm, but she was gone. Terrified, I tried to call the police, but when I opened the bedroom door, she was standing there with a kitchen knife, smiling and calling me to breakfast... and the corpse in the closet had vanished."
[Shit, here comes another version. So which one of them is lying?]
[My money's on the mother. The father and son's stories match, and the visible bruising on her throat proves it.]
[The father is sketchy as hell, though. Did you see that practiced motion when he wrapped the tie? And the kid literally said the dad used a tie to choke her.]
Amid the intense discussion, a banner announcing a legendary player's arrival popped up, sending the entire audience into a frenzy.
[Holy shit! Isn't that Chen Sheng, the vice chief of the 'Floating Dream' guild?!]
[Wow! It really is the GOAT, Chen Sheng. Did you just come to drop a deuce? (jk)]*
TL/N: This is a Chinese meme usually used as a sarcastic remark in response to someone's ridiculous actions.
[What's your take on how this rookie is doing?]
After briefly skimming the stream, Chen Sheng replied casually:
[This newbie is far too reckless. Good thing he's got decent luck.]
[Oh, you're being way too polite. He's not impulsive—he's legitimately crazy!]
[So who do you actually think the liar is?]
Chen Sheng commented:
[The man is the liar. He used his tie to kill the woman. The woman is the non-human because she is already dead.]
[Wait, what? What do you mean? The liar and the non-human aren't the same person?]
Confidently, Chen Sheng explained:
[The mission is to "Kill the Liar (Non-Human)." It's rated so highly because the objective is a deliberate linguistic trap. Players naturally assume the Liar and the Non-Human are the same entity based on the wording. In reality, they are two separate targets. You can only clear the dungeon by killing both.]
[WTF, that's genius! Who the hell would've thought of that?!]
[What a dirty trick! It's purely designed to murder newbies.]
[The GOAT truly lives up to his title, hitting the nail on the head instantly.]
[But wait, other players have managed to kill them both before, and they still didn't clear the stage.]
Chen Sheng replied:
[Perhaps they used the wrong weapon. Let's keep watching for now.]