HTCYH Ch 23

Chapter 23: Decoding (Part I)

Tu Si looked at the people in the living room and fell into deep thought. Fang Xia, Ke Xian, Ai Lin, and Xu Jinyan were chatting lively, as if they had just changed locations for a vacation. There were no other unfamiliar players around.

This convinced Tu Si that Wuming must have tampered with the game, which was why he got injured. A decoding game, if it were just a single-player puzzle game that could also be played in teams, would never be rated 6-star difficulty—unless it was originally designed for random team-ups where strangers schemed and betrayed each other. But Wuming, using a modifier, cheated, and turned all his random teammates into squad members.

Inside the living room, Fang Xia’s complaints were the loudest—wailing and cursing nonstop. But once she saw Wuming and Tu Si enter, her voice gradually quieted down.

Ai Lin held an enamel mug, sitting elegantly on a sloped wooden chair as she sipped her tea. When she looked up and saw Wuming, her movements froze. Then, forcing a fake smile, she squeezed out two dimples and said, “Why bother? Isn’t it pathetic?”

Wuming’s lips carried a faint smile. He shrugged and said with a chuckle, “The casualties caused by infighting are quite the bargain, aren’t they?”

Ai Lin sneered, “No wonder you’re only fit to be a squad leader.”

The riddle-like exchange left the others completely confused, but Tu Si, from just those few words, confirmed his earlier suspicions.

However, Ai Lin’s tone silenced the room. Everyone could sense that Ai Lin was upset.

Fang Xia, Ke Xian, and Xu Jinyan exchanged glances. In the end, they all looked toward Tu Si, silently asking questions with their eyes.

But Tu Si received a warning look from Wuming. Wuming gestured with a zipper across his lips, telling him to keep quiet. Tu Si then shrugged and pursed his lips at the curious trio.

Fang Xia, Ke Xian, and Xu Jinyan, as if rehearsed, rolled their eyes in unison and made silly faces in response.

Ai Lin got up roughly, making the chair screech against the floor. She barked in irritation, “Go on, sit! Don’t overwork yourself! That captain position is backbreaking, so don’t you dare drag me down with you!”

Wuming sat down without hesitation, leaned back against the chair, and tapped lightly on the armrest as he spoke: “What did everyone find out last night?”

“My in-game identity is Li Chuner. The owner of this house is Liang Tiancai. He doesn’t have a dad, and his mom bought him a child bride. But he’s a total scumbag. He looks down on his child bride, and then he came to harass me, saying I’m the village flower. He claimed that only a future college student like him was worthy of me, and told me to wait until he succeeded before he came to formally propose. I was disgusted to death.” Fang Xia seemed like she had been holding this in for a while; the moment Wuming asked, she spilled everything in one breath.

After she finished, Ke Xian said: “My identity is Liang Tiancai’s college roommate. He told me he wanted to take me gambling, said something about how he raised a ghost child and could channel the spirit of the Gambling God. So during the holidays, I came to his house to worship the Gambling God.”

Ai Lin chuckled: “Don’t be mad, little sunshine. You just got courted. I, on the other hand, am Liang Tiancai’s official girlfriend. I’m still alive and well, not disgusted to death yet.”

Xu Jinyan spoke softly: “I’m playing the role of the scummy brother who wants to mess with his child bride.”

Finally, it was Tu Si’s turn. After listening to everyone else, he felt as though he was playing a completely different game. Uncertain, he said: “I just saw a two-meter-tall Vajra-hand Bodhisattva holding a vajra pestle smashing someone’s head. That head burst like a rotten watermelon, unrecognizable. But it happened inside this house, so I think it was Liang Tiancai.”

Fang Xia, upon hearing this, perked up and laughed: “That’s awesome! But what’s with the Vajra-hand Bodhisattva? Isn’t our game called ‘Kumanthong’? If it’s about raising ghost children, how does Mahayana Buddhism come into the picture?”

Tu Si shook his head and waved his hands, originally wanting to wait for Wuming to speak. But when he turned, he saw Wuming already propping his head up as if asleep. So Tu Si leaned closer, extending his tendrils to reinforce the chair so the creaking wouldn’t wake Wuming.

Ai Lin also noticed Wuming resting. She took the initiative to get serious and began leading the group: “Tell me the ages you saw for Liang Tiancai. Arrange them in chronological order. We’re probably all playing roles from different stages of his life. The connected storylines are meant to help Tu Si survive—they shouldn’t be underestimated.”

The once-grumbling Fang Xia suddenly went quiet and spoke seriously: “So we’re in charge of role-playing and finding clues, while those clues are the key information Tu Si needs to escape with his life!”

Ai Lin nodded, and the group chattered again, trying to recall and analyze everything carefully, terrified that even a single detail missed might doom Tu Si that night.

Without a doubt, the one in the most danger at this stage was Tu Si. And Tu Si also began analyzing the game internally.

Six-star difficulty—compared to the three-star difficulty of The Bride—the mechanics and restrictions were indeed much harsher.

And with an 80% mortality rate, the death trigger point lay in the fact that players from different time periods might each hold different information. If someone withheld critical intel, then the person tasked with the final escape would almost certainly die.

If the escapee died, what happened to the others from earlier time periods? Would new players be added? Or would one of them be thrown into the escape phase next, repeating the cycle over and over?

So how was the escapee chosen? Was it by chronological order? Or was it randomly assigned?

If it followed time order, then the earliest player would experience all stages, gathering all information. When it came to the final escape, they wouldn’t need the others to share intel, essentially turning it into a single-player game. With five dead and one surviving, that would be an 80% win rate. But that design would be pure teammate sacrifice, with no gameplay value—death for the sake of death.

If Tu Si himself were the game designer, he would opt for randomizing newcomers and letting each timeline trigger different storylines. That way, the final escapee’s story would change depending on what happened before. This would make the game more challenging and enjoyable.

Tu Si laid out his analysis one by one. Xu Jinyan took a deep breath and said: “If it’s random newcomers, this game would demand insane teamwork! If even one person acts selfishly, it could wipe us all out!”

“That’s why you should hurry up and review everything again, then tell Tu Si useful clues. Otherwise, once I leave, I’ll be accused of risking an intern’s life just to test-run the game, of killing recklessly.” Wuming’s amused voice suddenly rang out.

Tu Si turned his head and saw Wuming yawning lazily. He pursed his lips and tightened the restless tentacles under the chair, stopping them from accidentally slipping into Wuming’s mouth.

Wuming’s reminder made the rest of the group even more serious. They concentrated on recalling, analyzing, and organizing information. Ke Xian even started drawing a timeline, recording every detail he had seen, extremely focused.

Only Tu Si stayed unmoved, his gaze fixed on the corners of Wuming’s eyes, slightly wet from the yawn, feeling inexplicably restless.

Wuming noticed Tu Si staring without blinking. He blinked back and chuckled: “Do I have something on my face?”

Tu Si didn’t look away. After a long moment, he bit his lip and asked hoarsely: “You haven’t told us your time period yet.”

His words were like a stone dropped into a lake—plop—not loud, but it shocked everyone awake.

Because after their earlier analysis, the timeline had already been sorted out:

Liang Tiancai at ages 12–14 was connected to Fang Xia, 15–17 with Xu Jinyan, 18–20 with Ke Xian, and over 20 with Ai Lin. Liang Tiancai’s death also occurred at 20. The events linked together seamlessly, each corroborated by the others. Without Wuming’s time segment, nothing felt missing—so they had simply forgotten he was even in the game.

Wuming laughed lowly, looked at Tu Si, and said: “I’m also in the escape phase. But yesterday I made a mistake and ran into the boss. I spent the whole night running for my life, so you didn’t see me. Tonight we can act together.”

Wuming winked mischievously at Tu Si, enticing him not to expose the truth.

And Tu Si had no intention of exposing him. He only lowered his head and went back to analyzing the useful information at hand.

notes:

1. Kumanthong (古曼童) – A Thai occult practice involving child spirit dolls believed to bring fortune or protection. Often appears in horror-themed works.

2. Vajra-hand Bodhisattva (金剛手菩薩) – Refers to Vajrapani, a wrathful guardian figure in Mahayana Buddhism, often depicted holding a vajra (ritual weapon).

3. 《嫁》 (The Bride) – A reference to a different horror/decryption game within the story, used here as a benchmark for difficulty comparison.