Chapter 10: Death Acrobatic Troupe 10

Qin Yihan’s first reaction was that he must have misheard.

How could “a lot of people suddenly appear” on someone’s body?

If they had, Jian Bumian’s tiny shower room would have been bursting at the seams.

But the moment he remembered this was the Infinite World, he instantly jolted awake. He sat up abruptly, pupils trembling, looking towards the bathroom where Jian Bumian was.

White steam drifted from the crack under the bathroom door. Jian Bumian hadn’t made any further sound, and even the rushing water had abruptly stopped at that moment.

Dead silence.

In the Infinite World, this kind of silence was never a good omen.

Qin Yihan’s heart tightened. Regardless of his own fear, he didn’t even have time to put on shoes and ran barefoot towards the bathroom.

The bathroom’s dilapidated small wooden door was slammed open by his shoulder, tilting crookedly to one side.

Thick hot steam, saturated with the fragrance of soap, burst out.

After the white steam dispersed, Qin Yihan saw the scene inside the bathroom.

Qin Yihan didn’t see the scene he imagined…

He thought, based on Jian Bumian’s words, the bathroom would be packed with “people”—people cramming against people, people stacking on people—and Jian Bumian’s frail body crushed underneath.

Or some grotesque sight like people growing out of Jian Bumian’s body…

But nothing happened inside the bathroom. Everything was as usual.

An intact, unharmed Jian Bumian stood before the bathroom mirror, turning his head with a startled expression to look at Qin Yihan.

Besides Jian Bumian, there was no one else.

Qin Yihan let out a huge sigh of relief and laughed: “Jian Bumian, you shouldn’t joke like that. You scared me to death.”

“…”

Jian Bumian shook his head, pursed his lips, looking a bit aggrieved: “I wasn’t joking.”

Qin Yihan froze: “…Then what did you mean by ‘a lot of people appeared on me’?”

Jian Bumian turned around, his back to Qin Yihan, and told the other to come look at the back of his neck.

Jian Bumian had just finished showering and changed into clean, knee-length white pajamas.

This instance provided each player with two identical sets of changeable clothing.

…That was also its only act of kindness.

Jian Bumian pulled his collar aside, completely exposing the back of his neck to Qin Yihan’s view. He said calmly: “This is where I have a lot of people growing.”

Besides the faint soap scent on Jian Bumian, Qin Yihan could see the other’s fair, delicate skin—so tender it seemed it would bruise permanently at the slightest pinch.

But Qin Yihan didn’t have the mind for such thoughts. He quickly looked at the back of Jian Bumian’s neck.

Immediately, he was stunned, his pupils constricting!

On the soft, pale skin of Jian Bumian’s nape, there was now a grayish-white square.

Looking closely at this square—

It was packed with people!

These people faced away from Qin Yihan, lined up neatly together, as if posing for an eerie graduation photo.

Qin Yihan’s mind immediately flashed to the black-and-white group photo in the cloth bag!

The dimensions of this square, including the people inside it… were identical to that photo…

The people in the photo had moved onto Jian Bumian’s body?

If the people in the photo could move, Qin Yihan was already used to it. Jian Bumian had told him the photo and the people in it were alive.

But now the photo had moved onto Jian Bumian himself.

Jian Bumian straightened his collar, turned around, and said to Qin Yihan: “Did you see? They all ran onto me.”

Qin Yihan: “…”

“I don’t like having things on me that don’t belong to me. This feeling is so strange.”

Jian Bumian grumbled unhappily as he grabbed his bath towel and mug, left the bathroom, then sat on his bed, obediently drying his hair. He didn’t seem to want to bring up the photo again.

As if it was just a trivial little matter.

He’d only called Qin Yihan over specifically to tell him “this feeling is so strange.”

Qin Yihan: “…………”

Qin Yihan strode over and grabbed Jian Bumian’s arm: “Stop drying your hair! Think of something! This is definitely a dangerous sign! You might end up dead!”

In the end, Jian Bumian finished drying his hair anyway. He draped the towel over the bedhead and said: “I’ll go look at the cloth bag I brought back.”

Since the group photo from the Acrobatic Troupe’s Hall of Honor had moved onto him, what would the cloth bag that originally held the photo look like when opened?

Under Qin Yihan’s tense gaze, he slowly untied the cloth bag.

What met their eyes was a deflated milk carton, a flattened bread wrapper, and the wax paper used to wrap a sandwich.

Jian Bumian realized the trash he’d left behind was being closely scrutinized by Qin Yihan.

He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

He clutched the bag tighter, shielding the trash, blinking his eyes: “This is the trash from my breakfast this morning. I didn’t want to litter casually, so I put them in the cloth bag with the photo.”

The viewers in the Livestream Room never imagined this move from Jian Bumian.

【Hahaha, Mianmian is really so good, so obedient. Even in the Infinite World, he remembers not to litter!】

【Dont—Lit—ter!】

【Suddenly feel the photo is so pitiful, clearly alive, yet forced to be with trash, haha.】

【Why does this player give me a vibe of being both obedient and ruthless? Is he a vase or a killer weapon?】

【This little player is so strange. Looks again. Ugh, can’t help but follow.】

Qin Yihan closed his eyes briefly, squatted down, and rummaged through the trash for the photo.

He found the photo, but… it was a blank sheet. Nothing was inside. The ghosts had clearly run out.

Some viewers in the Livestream Room simply concerned about Jian Bumian’s life and death instantly fell silent.

The people in the photo were clearly NPCs of this instance.

Which meant, “ghosts”.

Murder-crazed ghosts, resentment-filled ghosts, ghosts disguised as normal people…

In the Infinite World, no matter the type of ghost, encountering them head-on usually spells disaster for players.

And that’s in a direct encounter, where players have a chance to escape or eliminate the ghost.

But the ghosts from the group photo had directly moved onto Jian Bumian’s body.

And more than one!

【Mianmian is in grave danger!! I just knew even after finishing the acrobatics training, it wouldn’t be that easy to survive…】

【Ugh, I don’t want Mianmian to die!! Finally found an interesting and cute little beauty! Still waiting for him to meet the Strategy Target NPC!! Wanna see him get $%# by the Strategy Target QAQ】

【I just checked the recording. There were at least forty or fifty ghosts in that photo. Let Jian Bumian, a Novice Player, face forty or fifty NPC ghosts alone? Impossible. Besides, they moved onto him. Eliminate the ghosts, and Jian Bumian dies too.】

【Shh, everyone, look at the back of Mianmian’s neck. The photo has changed again!】

Not just the viewers, Qin Yihan also noticed the photo on Jian Bumian’s body… had changed.

The people in the photo, who were originally facing away, were now slowly turning their heads around.

Not “turning around.”

But twisting their heads 180 degrees by force.

They had twisted about a quarter of the way now. No one knew when they would fully turn their heads around.

Perhaps the moment they fully turned their heads, Jian Bumian would die, absorbed by the photo, becoming one of its members.

Qin Yihan took a deep breath, suppressing the frantic worry in his heart.

Yet Jian Bumian had no reaction to the NPC ghosts’ eerie behavior in the photo.

Jian Bumian was currently standing by the window in the dormitory, hands gripping the railings, eyes gazing outside.

A light drizzle fell outside, sparse and hazy. Dim, blurry moonlight filtered through the rain, illuminating the room and outlining the soft contours of the youth’s profile.

Jian Bumian lowered his gaze, staring intently out the window, as if searching for something: “Tonight, the Distinguished Guest will be staying at the troupe.”

It was time for him to go out and hunt for food.

Qin Yihan almost forgot this matter, his eyes suddenly widening.

He instantly understood why Jian Bumian, faced with the moving photo, felt no panic at all.

Tonight, there were even more dangerous things waiting for them.

…Sure enough, Jian Bumian was different from him, able to pinpoint the most threatening points precisely.

Qin Yihan thought admiringly.

Qin Yihan echoed: “Yeah. Who knows what’ll happen tonight. Last night, because the dorm suddenly compressed, I didn’t sleep a wink. Hope this Distinguished Guest staying tonight won’t cause us trouble, and we can just meet them at the fifth day’s show.”

He was only lighthearted on the surface; inside, his heart was heavy.

In survival instances, the difficulty increases over time.

Last night was already so hard to endure… how could tonight possibly let them off easy?

Qin Yihan patted Jian Bumian’s shoulder: “Don’t look anymore. Sleep. Tomorrow we have more acrobatics training. Must rest up.”

He figured rather than wait fearfully for death, he might as well lie down and sleep a bit first.

Jian Bumian was surprisingly obedient. He nodded, shifted his gaze away from the window, and lay down on his bed.

But he didn’t close his eyes. His caramel-colored eyes were like a cat’s in the darkness—gleaming, wet, and surprisingly bright.

A long while later, hearing Qin Yihan’s snoring, he quietly sat up, put on his shoes, prepared to leave the dormitory.

…The reason Jian Bumian wanted to leave was that he heard the sound of a carriage stopping outside.

The Distinguished Guest had arrived at the troupe.

This Distinguished Guest was not only the target of his “mutual confession” Conquest Mission, but also the delicacy he had been longing for.

The stronger they were, the tastier they must be.

It was now eleven o’clock at night.

According to the Survival Rules, the dormitory curfew was at eleven-thirty. He still had half an hour.

Half an hour should be enough to eat the other party, right?

As long as he ate seriously, ate quickly, didn’t choke, didn’t cough.

Thinking this, Jian Bumian couldn’t help licking his canine teeth, the corners of his lips curving up to reveal cute dimples.

He quietly exited the dormitory door. Unexpectedly, the moment he stepped out, he ran right into a stumbling block.