绝代双骄 林志颖

There was a slight cracking sound as the ice on the glass spread from the edge of the window sill to the center.

The newbie player who fell on the ground backed up subconsciously. Her slightly distorted by the impact face was half resentful and half fearful, her stiff eyes looked over Ge Xiu’s shoulder, staring at something behind him.

A white cold hand came around from behind, the slender fingers were pale as if bloodless, the thin and powerful joints were tinged with blue, slowly wrapping around the young man’s slender waist, embracing in an almost paranoid possessive gesture.

“Finally willing to come out?”

Ge Xiu chuckled unsurprised, his voice teasing and casual.

A cold breath came from behind.

The man’s voice was deep and calm, almost as if calm before the storm.

He approached Ge Xiu’s ear and said word by word:

“…Say it again.”

When he spoke, his breath brushed past Ge Xiu’s ear, sliding past his warm skin like ice, causing a reflexive shudder.

Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows and sneered:

“Want to hear it? Not until you remem—”

His tone changed in pitch suddenly, last syllable stuck in his throat with a strange trill.

The man’s cold lips fell on the sensitive skin on his nape. Under the pale delicate skin, the smooth spine was protruding, connecting to the slender shoulder blades. With a slight bow of the other’s head, the delicate outline of the bone was revealed under the skin, when biting on it with the sharp tips of the teeth, there was a burst of numbing tingle.

Not painful, but strange.

Ge Xiu was ashamed into anger: “What are you doing!”

“Of course it’s what a boyfriend should do.” There was a slight smile in the other party’s voice.

While he was speaking, the hand around Ge Xiu’s waist slowly moved upwards.

Ge Xiu’s heart skipped a beat.

He was wearing a shirt and jeans borrowed from Cheng Xiao’s house. Ge Xiu had a smaller frame and a thinner figure than Cheng Xiao’s and so the other’s clothes were one size bigger than his, hanging loosely on his body.

The man’s hand slipped easily through the hem of the shirt.

As if a piece of ice had fallen inside his clothes and touched skin, Ge Xiu shuddered at once and froze:

“You…you let go.”

The icy fingertips traced the young man’s slender and firm abdomen:

“Nope.”

Ge Xiu: “…”

Why was this dialogue so familiar.

Only then did Ge Xiu realize a common sense mistake he had made earlier.

He was only thinking about how to force the other party out, but he really didn’t fully consider how to make the other party obedient in the future.

So he fell into the embarrassing situation he was now in.

Ge Xiu had a headache.

He pulled the opponent’s hand out of his clothes and said through gritted teeth: “—Pay attention to the occasion!”

The fake player who had been lying in the corner the entire time: “…”

—So you know as well.

“Isn’t this occasion enough?” the other party asked.

Ge Xiu: “…”

He took a deep breath: “…No way.”

Ge Xiu vigorously shook off the cold body that was pressing close on him and tore him off his body.

The man let go of his hand regretfully.

This was the first time Ge Xiu had seen the appearance of the other party in this world.

The man had deep facial features, his nose bridge was narrow and high, his face was sickly pale and his dark eyes were secluded and gloomy.

His eyes were extremely focused, when he stared at the person in front of him his chilling paranoia showed through, making the person watched feel suffocated as if gazed by some kind of cold-blooded animal. As if a python was tightening its slender, cold and flexible body, crushing ribs bit by bit, squeezing out the last breath from the victim’s chest cavity and lungs, give the other party a indefatigable killing embrace with deadly enthusiasm, never letting go.

Ge Xiu’s gaze swept across his face.

The other party’s facial features were 70% similar to the appearance in the previous world, but they were paler and gloomier, appearing cold.

Ge Xiu retracted his gaze, turned around and walked towards the fake player who collapsed in the corner.

He leaned down slightly and asked,

“Now, can you answer my previous question?”

A strange smile appeared on the stiff and dull face of the fake player, her voice was hoarse and unpleasant, as if rubbed with gravel:

“No.”

After she finished speaking, her body fell limply like a puppet that lost its threads, in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a half-sized human puppet, spreading limply on the ground. The originally three-dimensional facial features turned into distorted fabric.

It lay quietly on the ground like a dead object, unable to make the slightest sound.

Ge Xiu bent down and picked up the puppet from the ground.

It feels soft to the touch, the back of the human skin was still moist, even with a slight warmth.

Ge Xiu changed the puppet to another hand. His fingers that had touched the puppet just now were already wet, the bright red sticky blood stuck to his fingertips, in a very shocking contract to his pale fingers.

He turned the puppet over.

Under the light, it could be clearly seen that the back of the human skin was a bloody mess, even the direction of the capillaries and the remaining muscle debris could be seen.

Apparently, this skin had been freshly picked.

Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly thoughtfully.

The man stood aside, watching Ge Xiu quietly, and asked slowly:

“What are you going to do now?”

Ge Xiu folded the human skin carefully and replied in the meantime: “I assume the previous scream was the sound made by this human skin.”

“It targets newcomers, because newcomers often don’t have enough experience and vigilance. It wouldn’t give players time to scream and from the scream to nearby players rushing out, there wasn’t enough time to make a puppet.” Ge Xiu stuffed the puppet into his backpack, then narrowed his eyes slightly and continued thoughtfully:

“There were two human puppets tonight. I met one on the way to the ancestral hall and the other one attracted the players’ attention by screaming when I was about to continue looking for the way…”

Ge Xiu picked up his backpack.

He turned his head and stared at the thick and heavy darkness outside the door, his eyes darkened:

“I’m really curious about that ancestral hall now.”

Ge Xiu walked to the crumbling thin wooden door, opened it and took a step forward unhesitatingly.

The man chuckled inexplicably and followed him forward, his figure gradually became transparent until it was completely swallowed by the darkness.

It was pitch black outside.

The light of the flashlight illuminated the crooked path in front of him. Ge Xiu walked forward along the road and the viscous darkness drowned him like a tangible substance.

Suddenly, Ge Xiu took a deep breath and said slowly,

“Can’t you walk well?”

Although he couldn’t see where the man was right now, Ge Xiu could clearly feel that his free forearm was touching some kind of cold existence and the other’s body was clinging to his without gaps, with a tendency to move further.

“Can.”

In the next second, Ge Xiu felt the cold arms of the other party coming from behind, wrapping tightly around his waist, even tighter than before.

Ge Xiu: “…”

He somewhat regretted why he had to be quick with his tongue before.

It was really easier to summon god than to send god away.

In the full darkness, only the crackling sound of the soles of his shoes stepping over the earth and stones could be heard. The surrounding area was so quiet that there wasn’t the slightest sound of wind or insects. The air seemed to be stagnant, with no sign of wind at all.

A few minutes later.

Ge Xiu stopped suddenly.

He seemed a little embarrassed.

After hesitating for two seconds, Ge Xiu finally asked reluctantly,

“Um…do you know the way?”

“….pfft.”

The other’s soft chuckle sounded almost in his ear, the slight vibration from the place where his chest was pressed closely.

Ge Xiu was a little annoyed:

“The road here is completely different at night and during the day!! It’s fine if it was nearbly! The place where we live is just too far from the ancestral hall!”

“That’s right.” The man’s voice still had undiminished deep smile in it: “Indeed, it’s too far.”

Ge Xiu: “…”

Regretting even more.

With the guidance of the other party, Ge Xiu finally arrived at the destination after turning right and left for twenty minutes.

The ancestral hall stood quietly in the depths of the night, the dense darkness engulfed the collapsed courtyard gate and the tall and spacious buildings in the courtyard, leaving only a looming silhouette under the light of the flashlight.

Ge Xiu walked to the door of the ancestral hall, stretched out his hand and pushed the door.

locked.

The lock was rusty, but still very secure.

He raised his foot and kicked hard.

There was a loud bang, and one of the wooden planks dropped from the door frame, dangling in mid-air, revealing a large hole that could allow one person to walk through.

The “Ancestral Hall” plaque hanging on the door had dropped down on one side from the strong impact.

Ge Xiu walked towards the dark ancestral hall.

The door of the main building in the ancestral hall was not locked, only ajar. The smell of decaying wood was mixed with a strong bloody odour, forming an ominous smell.

Ge Xiu pushed open the door.

The temperature inside the ancestral hall was extremely cold, more than ten degrees lower than the outside world, which made him shiver uncomfortably.

Ge Xiu walked towards the door.

The light of the flashlight moved slowly with the rotation of his wrist, passing through the dark space in the ancestral hall.

The dark coffins were neatly stacked in inside. They are arranged in pairs, two overlapping each other. The paint on the surface of the furthest coffin had peeled off and looks spotted. It seemed quite old, but the coffins closest to the outer edge were obviously brand new, with smooth and cold surfaces, shimmering under the light of the flashlight.

Ge Xiu walked towards an open coffin. The coffin didn’t have a lid and a bloody, completely devoid of skin covering corpse could be seen lying quietly in it.

This was obviously the novice player who just died.

At this moment, there was a sudden “clang” sound behind him.

Ge Xiu turned his head and looked back, only to see that the door of the ancestral hall was suddenly closed.

He suddenly felt something, lifted the flashlight slightly and looked up. To his eyes came countless human puppets hanging on the top of the high ancestral hall, all of the puppets arranged in pairs, wearing bright red wedding dresses, with a smile outlined on their indistinct facial features.

Both pairs of eyes seemed to be alive, staring fixedly at Ge Xiu standing below.

Fragmented laughter resounded in the empty and spacious ancestral hall:

“Hee hee.”

“Hee hee.”