Ding!
[Dungeon: "The Bloody Wedding of the Giants," Dungeon Progress: 40%]
[Total Players: 10, Remaining Alive: 8]
[Real NPCs: 4, Uncontaminated NPCs: 4]
[Side Quest: Every night at midnight, vote for one person who killed the king, and they will be eliminated.]
Tao Shi raised an eyebrow and softly called out: “Teacher.”
Jian Hou glanced at him, briefly scanning the people at the long table, before his gaze finally rested on Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan’s heart skipped a beat.
From his understanding of Jian Hou, this wasn’t a look of despair. Jian Hou’s soul imprint didn’t show any signs of the emotion [Despair].
Old Jian...
What did he see? Why is it specifically Old Jian?
Jiang Yan took a deep breath, not out of worry but out of anger.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that the main system was doing this on purpose, deliberately targeting Jian Hou, and in fact, targeting him, and everyone around him.
It made Jiang Yan feel like he was a real NPC, manipulated and controlled at will, being guided along the storyline of the game according to the true “player's” intentions.
With this thought, Jiang Yan silently gripped the hem of Yu Xiu's clothes.
Yu Xiu glanced down at him and reached out to rub Jiang Yan’s head.
Seeing everyone remain silent, Jian Hou rubbed his messy brown curls and repeated:
“So, you all are certain that what you just said is everything that happened in your memories after the wedding last night?”
“We have no reason to lie, and it’s impossible for us to lie,” Yu Jia shrugged, jerking his chin toward Yu Xiu. “The steward didn’t react at all, and that’s proof enough that we’re telling the truth.”
As the [Judge], the steward just quietly smiled. He didn’t tie them to the chopping block or bring out some strange parasitic insect to infest their bodies—this was proof that none of them were lying.
Although there were many contradictions in their words, what each of them said was, in fact, true.
At this thought, Jian Hou became even more distressed. They were telling the truth, and yet his own personal system kept emphasizing that the memories implanted in his brain by the main system were his “true” memories from last night.
This was what truly broke him.
It wasn’t despair—it was the voicelessness of being played by the system.
Jian Hou took a deep breath and slowly said, “Alright! If what you all say is true, then I can guarantee that everything I say next is completely true as well.”
“After the wedding banquet ended, we all returned to our rooms. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard strange knocking sounds...
“I wanted to go out to investigate, but the maid told me that humans shouldn’t roam around the Giant’s Castle at night. Humans, like little mice, could easily cause trampling accidents in the dark! That’s what she told me.”
“So, I gave up on checking the source of the noise and just lay down on the bed.”
“At that moment, someone knocked on my room's glass window. I opened the curtains, and it was Yan Yan.”
Everyone turned to look at Jiang Yan, but his face remained expressionless.
“But… isn’t our room on a high floor? How could Jiang Yan appear outside your window?” the middle-aged man pondered. “Could it be… that he was already dead, a ghost?”
Everyone: “…”
Jian Hou shrugged. “When I first saw him, I was also startled. Then I remembered, he’s an elf, so he has wings.”
Behind Jiang Yan, his golden, translucent wings fluttered slightly.
Instantly, the middle-aged man’s face turned a little awkward.
The braided youth gave his father a disdainful look, then curled his lip in annoyance and whispered, “Could you please not talk during this kind of situation?”
The middle-aged man, embarrassed by his son’s public reprimand, didn’t get angry. Instead, he smiled awkwardly.
Jiang Yan’s gaze lingered briefly on the father and son before he silently looked away.
Jian Hou continued: “When I saw Yan Yan, I was really surprised.”
"After all, the wedding banquet had just ended, and this is his wedding night. Normally, he should be in his bridal chamber, not outside my window, and moreover, covered in strawberry jam."
"Strawberry jam?" Jiang Yan asked, confused.
"Yes, strawberry jam," Jian Hou replied. "I know you’re wondering if it was blood, but the answer is: no. It was just pure strawberry jam. I confirmed this myself when I opened the window and let him in."
"I asked him what happened, and he said everyone was having a pillow fight in his room, and halfway through the party, they remembered they had invited me, so he came to invite me to join."
"I was really shocked at the time, but also relieved."
Jian Hou’s voice was emotionless, as if reciting lines from a script.
"In my impression, Yan Yan was always a timid and introverted little elf. He never liked parties. After all, something unpleasant happened back at school..."
"Unpleasant things? What happened?" Yu Jia interrupted.
"I have no idea," Jian Hou replied expressionlessly. "That part isn't in my implanted memory."
Yu Jia shrugged.
Everyone turned their gaze to Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan blinked and answered, "Sorry, I’ve lost my memories of what happened at school."
Only then did everyone remember that from the moment they entered this dungeon, Jiang Yan’s character was that of an elf prince with parts of his memory sealed away.
And the memories he lost just happened to be from his school days.
How laughable!
The real NPC, who should have mastered the script for the dungeon, was given the ‘amnesia’ script, while the players, who were supposed to explore the dungeon, had their memories forcibly implanted by the system.
"Afterwards, Yan Yan took me to fly outside his room’s window," Jian Hou continued. "Yes, he flew."
"At the time, I was very curious why we didn’t just use the door, thinking perhaps he was afraid the giants would step on me like a rat. I even complained to him, asking why such a large giant fortress didn’t have any lighting at night?"
"However, Yan Yan’s answer was very different from the maid's. He said that the giants are actually beasts, and beasts typically hunt at night. Humans, in essence, are prey."
The crowd’s expressions grew slightly more serious, though they weren’t particularly shocked.
At this point, it seemed that in this castle, nothing was too surprising. Judging by their experiences over the past two days, it was clear that humans were indeed at the bottom of the food chain in this world.
Jian Hou silently glanced at Jiang Yan again, then continued:
"We flew to the window outside Yan Yan’s room, and through the glass, we saw everyone in the room, including the child now lying on the table and the dismembered body of Jiang Yan’s husband, the king of the giants—Yu Xiu."
The fragmented light, like broken glass cut the faces of everyone at the long table into bizarre shapes, while the giant steward, as the [Judge], sat in the shadows.
Jian Hou continued, "The room was filled with red—on the walls, the white carpet, the bed, the curtains—everywhere was red, and everyone was covered in it. It was strawberry syrup."
"The white goose feathers in the pillows were sticky with thick red syrup, and everyone had traces of white fluff on them—leftover from the pillow fight."
"I have a bit of a cleanliness obsession, and when I saw the mess in the room, I instinctively didn’t want to go in. So I made an excuse, saying I was a bit tired and wasn’t going to participate in the party, and would return to my room to sleep."
"Yan Yan asked me, 'Are you sure you don’t want to join? Everyone’s looking forward to it! We’re about to play the ‘Catch the Sheep’ game.'"
"I didn’t know what the ‘Catch the Sheep’ game was. I only knew I didn’t want to get sticky with syrup and goose feathers, so I had Yan Yan send me back."
"After returning, I went straight to bed, until I woke up to the sound of screaming in the early morning."
"So, you didn’t enter the room?"Lu Sha asked.
"No."Jian Hou replied.
"Then how can you be sure it was strawberry syrup and not blood? Were they playing a game, or was it a gruesome murder?" Lu Sha raised a question.
Jian Hou replied, "Because no one was dead, and there was no one lying on the ground or the bed with an expression of pain."
"Everyone was smiling. When they saw Yan Yan and me outside the window, they all waved at me, inviting me to join them in the game."
"Yes, everyone was smiling."
Jian Hou rubbed his head in frustration, his mind almost breaking down.
"And they smiled so brightly, so brilliantly that it seemed almost sacred."
But in his mind, the image was twisted to the extreme!
A scarlet room, pale feathers, and a group of people trapped behind a glass window, their bodies smeared with red and white.
He recognized every one of them, yet each one seemed so unfamiliar.
Their smiles were exceptionally bright, so bright that they seemed almost holy, including Jiang Yan, who was holding his hand and flying in midair.
Heavens!
He had known this person for over twenty years, and this person’s face could never have shown such a pure, innocent smile!
This was also why Jian Hou became so frustrated when his memories were implanted earlier.
A warm, harmonious party, a group of smiling, radiant people.
This was not a memory... it felt more like a bizarre nightmare.
What was even more bizarre was that his memories were different from everyone else’s, conflicting with everyone else’s... but...
The crowd’s gaze turned towards the giant steward sitting in the [Judge] seat. The Steward showed no reaction, which proved that
Jian Hou wasn’t lying.
After a long silence, the entire banquet hall was so quiet that only the sound of everyone’s breathing could be heard.
"Jian is playing tricks on us!"
After a while, the chef finally said, stunned.
"This is nonsense."
Cao Youfeng lazily rewrapped the bandage around his hand and, without much interest, said,"It’s probably some parallel space, reincarnation, or illusion kind of thing—just typical horror game elements."
But…
Tao Shi rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said,"We've talked so much, but it’s all about Jiang Yan and the kid on the table."
"But as for Jiang Yan's husband..."
"There’s completely nothing."
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