Doll House (23)

In bewildered silence, Bu Hua stared  incomprehensively at the little boy standing before him.

The words 'One person' echoed in his head over and over again like a horrifying symphony, confused horror coloring his ashen face.

"One- One person?! Who's the other...other person."

The Young Master answered in a childishly cruel voice,

"It's the person in your shadow, of course."

All eyes turned to Bu Hua's stagnant shadow.

'Won't you come out mister."

Silence.

Under everyone's confused and disbelieving eyes, the shadow below Bu Hua's feet began to move.

First a large distorted head, then a long shadowy arm, then the twisting legs until the thing hidden inside his shadow was fully  revealed to the eyes of the players.

Heh.

What a familiar operation.

If he couldn't guess the hidden identity of this player by now, he should just jump off a building and off himself before the other has the chance to.

Some habits, even if you change to a diffrent face, couldn't be erased.

Even though he thought so, Chu Yi's movememts didn't pause for even a second. He reached out to catch the shadow that was suspended in midair before anyone could react.

    At this moment, the shadow felt its arm was caught.

How-

    The cold palm was like an iron hoop, slowly exerting a force weighing more than a thousand catties. The intense pain made him materialize quickly and the now revealed face shouted in distorted pain "What the fuck are you doing? Quickly let me go."

    Chu Yi smiled and blinked, pulling him violently towards him, and then using his palm, he slammed the opponent's arm in the opposite direction--the

    crisp bone cracking sound "click" sounded in the dark room.

    The player's arm was broken solidly.

"Done playing Zhong Feng"

Zhang Feng disgusted as Zhao Pengyu, that was still screaming between shoked, choked, as if a rock had been shoved down his throat. His face paling quickly.

The other players stared stared the farce before them, disregarding how Zhong Feng, got into Bu Hua's shadow, the history between Chu Yi and the other man seemed complicated.

Chu Yi suspected that this ability of his was the exclusive reward given by the system.

It wasn't unheard of for players to disguise themselves in the instance. It was a  layer of insurance for alot of them, because not everyone wanted their filthy and cowardly image that they may have in the game to coincide with whatever prestige they held outside in the black city.

Killing, Looting, Betrayal and Murder was common in the Nightnare Shuttle, but unconsciously or consciously everyone wanted to keep a superficial and hypocritical mask of humanity. Losing that mask would make them feel uncomfortable and exposed, as if they were stripped bare in front of an audience , therefore  although,  disguising props were expensive, alot of people were willing to spend money buying it.

Zhong Feng was one of those individuals

Even though Zhong Feng was shocked,  he quickly calmed down in virtue of his experience in and out of the instance, putting on a naive and confused look, shaking his head frantically at Chu Yi

"I- I - Don't know who that is- , I-I never heard of this Zhong Feng."

"Doesn't matter, the big question though is were you hiding in Bu Hua's shadow. What were you trying to accomplish. Taking advantage of someone else's effort to pass the instance or maybe even...Murder?"

The topic changed so quickly, Zhong Feng didn't even have time to react, this wasn't how the typical person would react.

Their was no further questioning nor interrogation, as If Chu Yi had just been making an unimportant guess, moving on unconcerned when he didn't get the desired answer.

The others reacted quickly

.

It didn't matter what kind of black history Chu Yi and the Zhao Pengyu, no, it should be called Zhong Feng had between them, it was more important to figure out the basis behind his actions.

"Ahem!"

"The game has not been completed, dear servants, it would be in your best interest to focus. Time is running out."

The Little Young Master seemed unhappy at being ignored and quickly reminded the rest of their duties, an ominous threat tangible in his tone.

Chu Yi stepped back and let go of Zhong Fengs hands, sending him a kind smile by the way.

Bu Hua seemed to have lost whatever courage he had mustered up and under the young masters gleeful gaze, ventured trembling into the isolated space.

The other players settled down, nevertheless whether unconsciously or unconsciously, they avoided the place where Zhong Feng was standing, a subtle air of rejection and hostility diffusing the room.

The other man's faces turned even uglier noticing the atmosphere in the room, sending a glare brimming with ill-intention in Chu Yi's direction.

For humans, it was always easier to place the blame on someone other than themselves. Chu Yi wasn't the one who did bad things but Zhong Feng didn't bother to reflect on his own mistakes or even figure out how Chu Yi had found out his identity but preferred to transfer his own hatred and failure onto Chu Yi for him to carry that black pot.

Its like a terrorist putting a button in the hands of an innocent passerby, press the red button to explode to the left, and press the blue button to explode to the right.

Standing in the middle of a crowded interway, the innocent passerby must make a choice, otherwise both sides will explode.

But after a passerby makes a choice, the survivors will not appreciate him, but the relatives of the dead will hate him. Obviously it was the fault of the terrorist, but everyone still hated the passerby habitually.

Why?

Because of fear.

A terroist is a person who is not bound by rules. This kind of person is very dangerous, and hating him is likely to lead to death. But hating the passers-by is much simpler. It can vent grievances without being retaliated. There is no danger. With so many benefits, why not hate the passers-by?

Using this reasoning and substituting into the logic of self, there is so much benefit to blaming someone else, why not do that and ignore your own obvious shortcomings.

Gradually, the other players went up and said their thoughts, Chu Yi was last after giving his answers, he

walked up to the others on the sides, and waited for the final verdict.

The invisible barrier around them disappeared and the isolated sounds flooded their senses once again.

It was like a breath of fresh air after wading through a humid and muddy swamp.

But the mud and dirt left over on their bodies was their fate. They could either fail and sacrifice one of themselves or succeed and find the key to survive the instance.