Empreinte de main en sang

Chapitre 22

"If I win, you must promise not to harm my family?"

"I promise, but are you really that confident you can win the game?" The barbarian's tone was somewhat sarcastic. "To make the game more exciting, we can add this rule. I know you have a friend named Qin Ge, who is a policeman. You can cooperate with the police and, based on the clues provided in the game, find me before the game ends. Then you will also win the game."

"Clues in the game?" Ma Nan was a little confused.

“I told you, this is a murder game. To the police, it’s murder, and finding the killer is their responsibility.” The Ba man paused for a moment, then sent another message. “Of course, you absolutely cannot reveal to the police that this is related to our Ba tribe before the game ends. That’s the rule. If you break it, I can end the game at any time.”

Manan knew what ending the game meant here. But the fact that the Ba people would offer to let him cooperate with the police was quite unexpected, and it also weighed heavily on Manan's mind. How could the Ba people be so confident if they weren't absolutely certain?

Imagine if they lost this game. The police might temporarily protect his family, but the Ba people would become a persistent nightmare, like a leech. Therefore, Manan knew he had no choice but to win the game—but he had no idea how to even begin.

"The clues to finding Chu Yan are in the game," Ba Ren said. "Do you have any more questions?"

"One last question," Ma Nan hesitated for a moment, then typed on the keyboard, "When does the game start?"

This time, the only answer he received was two words—"Now!"

Ma Nan immediately tensed up, unsure of what tricks Ba Ren would pull next. However, Ba Ren simply sent him a website address, which, when clicked, led him to an online video chat site. He hadn't visited that site before, but he'd seen it in newspapers and on some news websites; its content generally involved people using online video for pornography.

He didn't know why the Ba people had brought him here, and just as he was about to ask, the Ba people sent him the name of a room.

After searching, they found it was a small room for ten people. Clicking on it, they found that a password was required to enter. Ba Ren sent the password at the right moment. Upon entering, there were images in four windows. Ma Nan's body immediately stiffened because he discovered that Chu Yan, whom he had seen earlier, was also in this room, still tied to a chair, her head drooping and motionless.

The other three windows displayed images of two masked men and a man tied to a chair like Chu Yan. The masked man's face was obscured; the mask appeared to be a ski mask sold in stores, revealing only his eyes. Two characters, crookedly written, were inscribed on the forehead of the mask: "Executioner." The other bound man, his mouth taped shut, stared around with terrified eyes.

At this moment, Chu Yan suddenly moved. Ma Nan opened his eyes wide and saw her head lift slightly, then droop down weakly again.

"Have you ever played an obstacle course game?" Before Ma Nan could even ask, Ba Ren had already sent a message on QQ.

"Now, you've arrived at the first level of the game."

"The four people in the chat room are now in two separate rooms."

"All you have to do is choose one of the two executioners."

"Someone is destined to die tonight. I just hope you're lucky."

Ma Nan's hands and feet turned icy cold, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He understood, of course, what his choice meant; Chu Yan's life or death was in his hands, and death was only a step away from her.

He also knew that even if he could save Chu Yan tonight, another person would die. Although he didn't know the bound man, he knew that the man's life was just as precious as Chu Yan's.

He simply couldn't make any choices.

As if sensing his thoughts, Ba Ren sent another message at the opportune moment: "If you give up your choice, then two people will die tonight. The game has just begun, and it's about to end. Don't you think that's a bit of a downer?"

Ma Nan suddenly felt nauseous. He gagged and felt completely drained.

—If I choose, at least one person can be saved tonight.

He comforted himself in this way, and at the same time, he understood why the Ba people said it was a game of killing and saving people.

Chapter 15

His head throbbed with a splitting pain. He opened his eyes slightly, but couldn't see anything. The darkness was thick and boundless, and there seemed to be a breeze carrying the scent of earth. For a moment, Luo Bin couldn't remember what had happened. But when Yang Zheng's狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) face appeared in his mind, he suddenly sat up, and fear immediately overwhelmed him.

Yang Zheng knocked him down in the elevator. He had no idea what happened afterward or why he was lying in the dark. He touched the ground and immediately realized it was concrete. So, this couldn't be an open field. Where were the wind and the smell of earth coming from?

He slowly stood up, still feeling a headache.

He tentatively took one step at a time, but after a few steps, he touched the wall. He turned around and walked in another direction.

The darkness was profound, devoid of any other color. It was also utterly silent, a silence bordering on the absolute still. For some reason, Luo Bin thought of graves at that moment. Perhaps only the world of the dead could be so dark and silent.

But Luo Bin firmly believed he was still alive. The pain in his head and the dizziness he felt made him realize he was in a real predicament. Getting out of this darkness was what he had to do now.

More memories then flooded back: the Night Child Bar, the waitress holding up a sign; the video window on the laptop in the Guangdu Hotel room; the masked man, the gleaming guillotine, and finally, the blood spreading from a man's head.

—The Detective!

Luo Bin began to feel remorseful. Originally, all of this had nothing to do with him; he had insisted on getting involved. But he still didn't understand why Yang Zheng ultimately wanted to defeat him. He only remembered that Yang Zheng had answered the detective's call by the elevator, and then his entire demeanor changed. Did the detective really possess such great power, capable of changing a person in an instant?

"The Executioner." He slowly stepped forward, repeating the name over his head, finding it absurd.

He kept walking, this time going further. Suddenly, he tripped over something soft. He slowly squatted down and reached out to touch it. It was a person, lying motionless on the ground. Luo Bin was startled; so there was someone else in the darkness besides him. He put his hand to the person's nose, checking for steady breathing, before feeling relieved—it would be terrifying to have a dead person lying next to you in such darkness.

He nudged the person on the ground, but the person remained motionless. At that moment, Luo Bin suddenly had a strange feeling, as if the person on the ground was not unfamiliar, and there was a familiar aura about him.

—Yang Zheng!

Luo Bin's body stiffened, his conviction growing stronger. He slapped the man's cheek hard and called his name loudly. After a while, he heard the man make some low, indistinct sounds, and then his body moved.

Then, he heard the man call out "Luo Bin" in a very tired voice.

Yes, that was Yang Zheng's voice. Yang Zheng must have been acting on orders from the criminal investigator to subdue him in the elevator, but why was he also in this darkness now?

"What exactly happened? Why did you suddenly attack me?" Luo Bin shouted.

Yang Zheng didn't know what had happened either.

He knocked Luo Bin down, carried him back to the room they had just been in. The detective on the phone told him to leave Luo Bin behind, go downstairs, and return to the Night Child Bar. Yang Zheng assumed he would definitely see the detective this time, so he didn't think much of it and went downstairs as instructed. But the moment the elevator doors opened, he saw a masked man standing inside.

He was about to say something when he smelled a strange fragrance. The masked man began to blur, and his body went limp and collapsed. His last memory was of being carried on the masked man's shoulder.

"Then why did you attack me?" Luo Bin asked after learning about Yang Zheng's past.

Yang Zheng paused for a moment, then said apologetically, "If your girlfriend were in the hands of the detective, you would be in the same situation as me."

"But you don't have a girlfriend." Luo Bin asked, somewhat puzzled.