Accompanied by a strange rustling sound, lines of crimson text spread across the surrounding walls like countless vengeful spirits writing grievances with blood.
The seven people present were all startled. The delicate-looking girl turned deathly pale and screamed in fright.
After several seconds, the bloody words gradually faded away.
"It's the 'game hints'!" Lin Yu immediately understood.
He then glanced around and noticed the square-faced man had quickly composed himself.
"This guy really is professionally trained military," Lin Yu thought to himself.
The square-faced man spoke coldly: "Everyone calm down, this is nothing serious—the words appearing on the wall are likely hints about this game."
After speaking, he turned to the bespectacled chubby boy from earlier and asked: "You said you've seen similar animations and novels—any ideas?"
"Expelling the two outsiders hiding among us... sounds like some kind of spy-finding game," the bespectacled chubby boy cleared his throat. "But the game instructions are way too vague... Both the bloody words earlier and these on the wall are unclear."
Earlier, Lin Yu had remained silent to avoid becoming the center of attention.
But staying quiet now would seem suspicious—he'd already noticed several people secretly eyeing him and the short youth who hadn't spoken at all.
Following Lin Yu's suggestion, the group collectively had an epiphany.
"Right, we almost forgot about these envelopes!"
The tall square-faced man spoke while opening the envelope before him.
The others followed suit. The scar-faced man hesitated briefly before also opening his envelope.
Lin Yu slowly opened his envelope but didn't immediately take out the contents, first observing how others reacted while reading their letters.
He noticed varied expressions—some frowned deeply, others looked tense, while a few... had unreadable expressions. Moreover, they weren't reading as quickly as expected.
"Seems the game won't be that simple," Lin Yu mused before opening his own envelope.
The letter's contents appeared before Lin Yu's eyes:
"Hello, my fellow human. Regardless of why you're here, I must tell you some things about this castle."
"We've left many chests throughout this castle containing useful items—open any you encounter."
"But beware of red chests—those belong to werewolves and contain their weapons. Humans can't open them, so be wary of anyone who can."
"To maintain the castle's normal operation, remember to complete daily tasks on the schedule, otherwise the castle's traps, poisonous fog, and extreme cold may kill everyone!"
"Every night at 7pm is meeting time—you can vote to banish anyone outside the castle. The meeting room is sacred—no violence is possible there—so use meetings to banish them. If two people tie in votes, no one gets banished."
"If you discover a corpse, you may immediately call an emergency meeting. Time will then jump to 7pm, and everyone must go directly to the meeting room—no free movement allowed."
"During nighttime rest hours, you must gather in the meeting room until 7am the next day—no violence can occur there during this time either."
"Beware—werewolves are cunning masters of disguise, appearing completely human during the day while harboring hatred and murderous intent."
"Even werewolves cannot directly identify each other."
"My fellow human, I hope you eliminate all hidden werewolves and survive!"
"If any humans survive seven days—even if werewolves remain—you may all leave!"
The handwriting appeared rushed, as if written in urgent circumstances.
Besides the letter, the envelope contained an identity card.
Lin Yu took out the card.
"Your identity is: Human."
Lin Yu silently looked up from the card in his hands.
Before he could observe the others' expressions while reading their letters and cards, a sudden "crackle" sound came from his hands.
Crimson flames erupted—though not burning his hands—startling Lin Yu into instinctively letting go.
Before the burning identity card, envelope, and letter could hit the ground, they completely burned away without leaving even ashes!
Flames flickered out as they fell.
This time, no one screamed.
Having read the letters, the group remained solemn.
Combined with the earlier bloody words, everyone now understood...
They weren't all on the same side.
This was a player-versus-player game!
Finally, the bespectacled middle-aged woman broke the silence:
"This letter... what do you all think?"
The bespectacled chubby boy adjusted his glasses and said quietly: "I've pretty much figured it out—this is like a Werewolf game!"
Everyone nodded slightly.
The oldest present was the bespectacled middle-aged woman, appearing in her thirties or forties.
While most might not know about "death game" fiction, they weren't completely offline—having at least heard of the wildly popular Werewolf game.
Seeing their understanding, the chubby boy continued: "We're divided into humans and werewolves—five humans, two werewolves."
"Humans must complete tasks and open chests to survive seven days while identifying the 'werewolves.' Werewolves must hide while finding werewolf chests to obtain weapons—then use them to kill humans before seven days end!"
No one objected to his explanation.
Clearly, it aligned with most people's understanding.
The scar-faced man scratched his head irritably: "Damn, making the rules so convoluted and writing this damn letter needing translation—who'd play this shit normally?"
The short youth finally spoke for the first time: "That's why that damn god kidnapped us dead people! Otherwise nobody would play this crap game!"
His joking tone, though ill-timed, lightened the mood slightly with some chuckles.
Lin Yu observed the short youth.
"This guy seems suspicious..."