Chapter 3

If the speed at which the water had receded earlier defied everyone’s understanding, then the ever-changing ink painting before them now made it abundantly clear: this grand estate that brought the twelve people together was not a place that could be explained by common sense.

The originally bloody and tragic scenes gradually shifted into a peaceful and harmonious setting.

A general dressed in white married a beautiful bride. Flowers in the courtyard bloomed and withered with the seasons. In the blink of an eye, they were holding adorable children in their arms.

But in the shadows of this beautiful life, a nobleman in black and his sneaky attendants always lurked.

Finally, one night, the nobleman led troops into the general’s manor, slaughtering wantonly. In the chaos, the white general fled with his children and samurai in a panic.

From then on, the manor was cast in an unshakable shadow, and naturally, it changed hands.

Xi Yu stared at the black flag on the painting and finally saw the emblem clearly—it was a coiled venomous snake!

So, it seemed the snake outside had a reason for appearing here.

In a twist, the black general actually married the lady of the manor who had been left behind, and had his own heir and princess.

However, the general’s lady, devastated by all that had happened, grew frail and bedridden, and soon passed away.

Time passed. The heir and princess grew up, and the black general began to age.

Unexpectedly, at dawn years later, the white general led an assault back into the manor. The once-peaceful estate turned once again into a sea of corpses and carnage!

Just as the conflict seemed bound to end in mutual destruction, the bones of the general’s lady rose from her grave and knelt in worship deep within the shrine.

After a series of earth-shaking tremors, the general’s manor was completely consumed in a wave of blood-red destruction—no one escaped.

At last, everything on the scroll faded away, leaving behind only a hollow, tattered piece of old paper hanging in the hall.

Everyone watched the “ink animation” unfold in stunned silence, then naturally began to murmur among themselves.

Teacher Fang Hao cleared his throat and stood up. “That must have been the history of the general’s manor we’re in. But even if we understand what happened, we still don’t know why we’ve been trapped here.”

The sharp voice sneered again: “You understand? You think you understand that you’re characters in the painting?”

Wu Zhi froze, pointing at himself. “Us? Characters in the painting? Don’t joke like that—I’m just an ordinary high school student!”

The eerie voice that flitted through the hall ignored his protests and suddenly hovered above the banquet table: “Among you are the black general, the white general, and their five loyal followers each. You are all trapped here, your memories erased—it’s all the lady’s curse! Five days—five days from now, only one side can escape this cursed world!”"What black and white generals? Do you think we're playing Werewolf?" Yao Chenna said angrily. "Stop pretending to be mysterious and come out!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a white shadow shot out from the pitch-black beams of the room, directly attacking her!

Yao Chenna screamed in pain, her beautiful face now marked with three deep gashes, cutting into the flesh, a sight too horrifying to bear!

The one who attacked her was, surprisingly, a white cat with blood-red eyes.

The others, startled by Yao Chenna's screams, scrambled to their feet in a panic, but the white cat remained calm, leaving a trail of bloody paw prints on the ground. "You'd better listen carefully to what I say, or don't come begging me later."

Xi Yu glanced at Yao Chenna, who was being comforted by Huashen while crying in pain, and cautiously asked, "So, what you're saying is that we have some sort of identity here in the general's manor, divided into two teams, with a black general and a white general as leaders, right?"

The white cat jumped onto an empty seat, nonchalantly licking the blood from its claws, taking a while to respond, "That's right."

Xi Yu asked again, "Then after leaving this cursed general's manor, we can return to our real lives, right?"

The white cat yawned, then said, "Of course."

Everyone stared at it intently.

Tang Yanyan, scared, asked, "What about those who can't leave...?"

The white cat said nothing, only showing a strange smile.

Tang Yanyan trembled, "N-no danger, right?"

The white cat replied, "There's no danger, it's just that... quietly... no longer existing."

No one knew if this was true, and no one could verify it. The hall fell silent in an instant.

Teacher Fang Hao rushed to its front, "Then who is the black general, and who is the white general? The idea of leaving one team alive means the other team... must be... killed, right?"

"Of course, it's most convenient to kill them all, but it's also boring," the white cat locked eyes with him, its blood-red gaze intense. "So revealing identities isn't meaningful; killing the wrong person is more fun."

Fang Hao froze for a moment. "Then how do we know who our allies are—"

Before he could finish, the white cat suddenly bared its sharp teeth at him, growling impatiently, "You talk too much! It's no surprise if a fool who can't even find their own allies dies!"

It was somewhat absurd that a grown man was frightened by a cat, but Fang Hao felt a chill down his spine and instinctively shut his mouth.Luo Xi remained silent throughout, and only when he was fully fed and satisfied did he lazily ask, "Regardless of everything else, the general must have a way to know his own identity, right?"

The white cat jumped down from the table. "Taste the wine in your pots. The white general's wine is extremely bitter, the black general's wine is harsh, and everyone else's wine is sweet."

Everyone looked at each other, no one moving.

The white cat let out a chilling laugh. "If you miss the identity of your own general, just wait for the entire army to be wiped out! I’m not serving you fools anymore. Once you're done eating, servants will take you to rest."

It quickly scurried to the door, turned around with a strange look, and said, "I wonder whose corpse will be left here in five days!"

With that, the creature darted into the darkness.

Luo Xi, with an innocent expression, called out to it, shaking his empty wine pot. "Hey, is this the wine you’re talking about? I accidentally finished it, but I didn't taste anything sour, sweet, bitter, or spicy."

The white cat stared at him for a moment, and then the wine pot gradually refilled itself, spilling wine all over Luo Xi's hand.

Luo Xi raised an eyebrow and continued eating and drinking without a care.

Xi Yu, seeing that he was unfazed, quickly poured himself a cup and found it to be as sweet and sticky as honey. It seemed he wasn’t the one who had become a general.

Although he was forced to play the game, none of them had many options in this eerie place.

After some hesitation, the remaining ten quickly returned to their own tables to verify, even the blood-smeared Yao Chenna, who, under Huashen's comfort, furrowed her brows and tried the wine.

Xi Yu carefully observed their expressions, noting confusion, concern, and so on, but he couldn't tell which two people had hit the "jackpot."

At that moment, a dispute suddenly broke out at the west side of the hall.

A well-dressed man grabbed Fang Hao and angrily said, "What are you doing with my wine?!"

Fang Hao seemed just as anxious. "Let's not be fooled by this cat's tricks. Let's all taste each other's wine, and share information, alright?"

The man, named Ren Bo, introduced himself as coming from a business family. His designer-label clothes suggested he was a rich second-generation. He didn't seem to have any major plans, but his temper was bad, he liked to complain, and he didn't work much. Naturally, he wasn't going to let Fang Hao get away with anything and shoved him to the ground, mocking him. "Teacher, you’re right. How about we taste your wine first?"

Hearing this, Zhu Ge frowned and walked toward Fang Hao's table.

Fang Hao, frightened, scrambled up, trying to snatch the wine pot from the woman. "What are you doing?"

Zhu Ge tucked her long hair behind her ear and smiled politely. "Teacher, why are you so nervous? Could it be that you're the general?"Fang Hao: "I'm not!"

Saying that, he awkwardly started drinking.

While everyone was arguing, Luo Xi finished his second pot of wine and leisurely yawned.

Xi Yu thought for a moment and quickly downed his sweet wine, just in case someone suddenly lost their mind and tried to steal the wine.

After all, the white cat had provided very little information, and now, besides the two generals, the identities of everyone else were unclear. Since it was a battle between two teams, everyone needed to be cautious and not reveal any weaknesses, waiting to uncover more rules and facts.

For instance, Fang Hao's suggestion could easily lead to the two generals fighting to the death, leaving the five innocent teammates trapped here with no way to escape.

The others naturally thought of this as well, and one by one, they hastily drank their own wine. The hall once again fell silent.

Luo Xi, watching the spectacle, suddenly said, "That cat seems to be the totem on the white general’s flag."

Xi Yu noticed the black flag and, of course, saw the animal on the white flag, but he had thought it was supposed to be a tiger.

Wu Zhi couldn't help but voice the same confusion, "The drawing is unclear... I only saw a snake. That snake from earlier, perhaps it’s the black side's helper? The white side has a little cat, that's so unfair!"

"Whether it's a helper or not, no one knows," Xi Yu said softly. "But the combat strength is indeed unbalanced."

Luo Xi fiddled with the decorative flowers on his plate and no longer responded to them.

Tang Yanyan and the girl beside Zhu Ge had been very low-key, but at this moment, she suddenly mustered the courage to speak. "I often play games like Werewolf with my classmates. It's not about who can kill, but who can gather information. I think that talking cat seems to know a lot of things..."

Zhu Ge lowered his eyes with a heavy expression. "But the so-called killing... it might actually mean real killing..."

As soon as these words were spoken, no one laughed except Luo Xi.

Xi Yu didn't want to get involved, but he was even less willing to see unnecessary cruelty happen, so he immediately tried to calm everyone down. "Let’s not jump to conclusions. Right now, we’re all in the dark. Instead of letting our imaginations run wild, it’s better to take it one step at a time—though that cat says we’re two teams, we’re all victims, so we should be partners. The force keeping us trapped here is the real enemy."

What he said was very fair, and he was right, but it was a bit too naive.

Everyone nodded, each with their own thoughts, and the conversation fell silent as no one continued to speak in despair.

Luo Xi smiled nonchalantly and suddenly threw a green plum at him, then raised an eyebrow. "The Holy Mother is wise. If only there was still some wine, I'd offer you a drink."

Xi Yu’s mind was still muddled. He couldn’t recall anything about his own situation, but he was definitely not a hot-tempered person. Even though he’d been hit, he didn’t get angry. "I just don't think that if some evil person shoves a knife into my hand and forces me to stab someone, I should blindly follow without questioning. Though I’m not skilled, I’m not a pushover either."Luo Xi was unexpectedly retorted by him with a few words but only smiled and remained silent.

Suddenly, a faint sound of bells came from outside the room.

The once lavish food on the table vanished in an instant, and then those terrifying living mannequins reappeared, walking into the room. There were twelve of them in total, each standing in front of one of the twelve people and bowing respectfully. In unison, they said, "Honorable guests, you need to rest now."

A few of the girls were the first to obediently stand up, and the rest reluctantly followed suit.

Xi Yu slowly walked behind the mannequin at his table and softly asked, "Where are we going to rest?"

The mannequin's terrifying head suddenly turned 180 degrees to look at him.

Xi Yu was completely unprepared and almost had his heart stop from fright!

The mannequin's fully black eyes curved into a smile as it replied in a mechanical voice, "Of course, to the general’s bedroom, honored guest. You must not roam around tonight, otherwise, you will bear the consequences."

Xi Yu tried to calm himself and nodded.

Only then did the mannequin turn its head back and, like a ghostly shadow, began to lead the way.