Doll House (9)

Morning rolled around very quickly and by the time the clock struck 8, all the players had gathered in the hall.

No one spoke amongst them and they all spread out and distanced from each other. Previous alliances broken without a trace. Occassionally glares spotted with resentment would be shot in the direction of Chu Yi and Zhao Pengyu.

After a sleepless night of brooding, many of them attributed their bad luck to Chu Yi and Zhao Pengyu. The original Jesters. Although, the butler had said it was only to watch a play, no one was naive enough to really think they wouldn't be pitted

Tonight,once again, no one had died. All 10 people were standing here whole and unharmed.

This was in fact very unusual and the smarter ones among them could easily sense a deadly brewing conspiracy.

It wasn't long before they were proven right,

"Today we'll begin our Baron Estates most prided sport. "

" Doll Hunt"

"There are 103 dolls hidden on the estate, each with 5 clues.

You will be locked inside the castle for 5 hours and you are required to find and collect 50 clues to get the key to the door, note that the clues must match up, if you cannot connect the clues, they are invalid. If you haven't found the keys at the end of the timer, you will be locked into a room to play with the little dolls however they want.

Only one person can open the door at a time.

11 people can form a team of less than or equal to 4 people and can change team members at any time.

One person will be killed each hour and clues will be given to others according to their will.

The above rule is invalid if all the keys are found during the the hour.

Jesters are given the most special privilege and are allowed to pick the honourable sacrifice each period, if you manage to kill the jester and take his hat, you'll also become the Jester."

The players immediately turned a deadly white. This was blatantly forcing them to die. Not only that, they were putting them each other. Trust was practically a illusion amongst the players at this point.

Before they could rush out to secure a chance at survival however the butler stopped them immediately.

"The Madam and Young Master has invited you all to have a sumptuous breakfast to replenish your energy before the hunt."

" Oh praise their purest of soul, the Madam and the young master are so kindly indeed. Come with me and have them grace you with their compassion. "

No matter how reluctant they were, they had to follow along the butler still singing praises for his virtuous masters, itching to lick the toes of their very fleeting reverence.

Inside the grand dining hall, at the head of the long table seated the ashen, gloomy madam with the childishly cruel yet beautiful young master.

No matter from which angle you looked at it, they didn't seem like mother and son in the slightest.

With only 10 seats left at the table and with tacitly understanding, they all beelined to the farthest chair from the two NPC.

After scrambling and cursing with the butler still looking on in disdain, they managed to be seated. With Chu Yi unhurriedly taking a seat next to the young master, ignoring the eyes boring into him.

Soon after, rows of faceless NPC's came out, setting the metal trays in their hands on the table

There was truly a rich array of food, with even a redwood branch barbeque. Lamb meat was skewered onto those branches, gradually seeping golden oil. A natural, crispy crust formed around the meat, completely enveloping the fresh lamb meat, ensuring that the juices would continue to overflow. When the lamb meat was fully roasted, fresh chili peppers were sprinkled on top, arousing the appetites and stomach acid of the people who loved spicy food. 

But at this moment, staring the meat in front of them, they only saw their possible ends. Sliced into pieces and burnt over a fire.

The delicious food was tasteless and even nauseating in their mouth and looking at the only person who could still manage to eat gracefully, some jealousy couldn't be hidden.

Neither did Chu Yi care for their jealousy.

They could only finish their food tastelessly, before waiting in trepidation for the game to begin.

After an excruciating long hour, the madam finally put her fork down with a soft clang, a slow, steady grin making its way onto her face.

"Without further ado my dearest guest, may the hunt begin."

"AHHHHHHH-"

Almsot immediately, from the seat beside him, Chu Yi heard an agonized scream. The man who also happened to have stayed behind yesterday, was now currently throwing up mouthfuls upon mouthfuls of blood between strangled screams , painful rashes spreading like fire across his skin, slowly as if a noose was being tied around his neck, bluish purples marks started appearing, strangling the very air in his lungs, the skin seemed to be peeling from his skeleton, and even then the hands never stopped, so very quickly the man's scream died down into the silent howls, eyes bulging out cruelly, blood seeping from all his orifices. The pain was so bad he couldn't even faint to ecape, he was forced to endure the pain of being skinned and strangled to death.

He didn't die immediately, instead he was left to slowly feel his lungs collapsing in on him, oesophagus being crushed gradually under the tremendous force, blood and urine forming to create a truly disgusting stench of death

.

When he finally breathed his last, eyes still wide open in anguish, he wa only left with a bloody skeleton, pieces of muscles and flesh still dangling like meat off of bones

The others were still in shock, unable to even process the disgusting scene.

It was all too sudden, there was no trigger or preparation at all.

"Hehehheheheheh"

The young master clapped his little hands happily, a wide grin on his face.

"Do it again, do it again."

At first they thought he was talking to the already dead man but after following his eyesight to the floor they quickly came to a realization.

On the ground was a group of lovely dolls of all sizes, their furry bodies twitching in grotesque shapes. Obvious changes took place under their eyes. When the second laugh sounded, sharp fangs came out of the doll's mouth, and sharp claws emerged from their palms.

The soft hair became a barbed whip, swaying left and right in the air. The round ears turned into horns and pressed against the top of the head. At this moment, compared to the innocent and beautiful dolls prepared for children, they are more similar to demons crawling up from hell. This group of little demons howled and screamed, stepping on each other and climbing up. Their bodies are in one place, like a big demon that is almost higher than the high ceiling. The huge black shadow stretching out a wide, fan-like hand, and squeezing the man's neck fiercely.

They were all flabbergasted at this development,not knowing what terrible death flag the man had tripped over to die such a horrible death.

Peng Qi, the man with the disproportionate head, suddenly thought of something, the man who died yesterday, was called Xu Jiayo and Xiong Qi that had gone crazy as well as the man before him were all part of the group that stayed behind -

Cold sweat pooled slowly between his brows at the conjecture, teeth chattering loudly even as he wished to ignore this sudden fear because although he tried to brush it off and convince himself it was just a simple coincidence, a sinking gut feeling pooling in his stomach told him that he wasn't far from the truth.

With a trembling head, he glanced at the still dancing dolls uncionsciously, pupils instantly dilating into thin needles at the sight.

Those creepy glass eyes were staring right at him. A hungry smile on their faces.

"Who's next, who's next"

"Who else wants to play"

At this point, the young masters words had changed, instead forming a lovely death symphony especially made for him, eyes boring straight into Peng Qi's, dark with glee.

Peng Qi seemed to envision his own death.

The him in the vision was standing the edge of the castle roof, swaying dangerously in the wind. A panicked and absolutely terrorized look in his eyes. He looked crazed, neurotic even.

Just like the eyes Xiong Qi had used to stare at the man before tearing his neck off.

Then there was the sound of sweet giggles before him and with snapped nerves, he jumped .

Peng Qi saw himself fall headfirst into the shallow ground below him. Head bursting lke a rotten watermelon on all sides. The shallow pool of collected rainwater covering the base of the soil, rippling with threads of red and white filth. Only his body still twitched sporadically.

By the time, he snapped out of it, Peng Qi had already watched himself die over and over again the same blood splattering and staining the floor of the earth, even the taste of fresh blood seemd to linger on his tongue.

A anguished scream bubbled in his throat, eyes clouding in fear,

"Kekekekeke."

"Who's next, who's next,"

Scrambling out of his chair, Peng Qi ran wildly out of the dining room, unable to think or even breath, a shrill scream shattering in his wake.

The Madam only watched his pathetic figure leaving without query before turning unconcernerly the bewildered and fearful bunch before her with a smile.

"The Hunt Begins now."