KK Translates

Arc 4: Castle Escape
Chapter 102

On this night, the one who was eliminated by the NPC was the manager who had become cautious after the butler was eliminated and hadn’t spoke up much during their discussions.

In the manager’s room, they found a brooch.

This brooch was the one all the artists had when they first came here.

In an instant, all the suspicions were on the remaining artists.

“This brooch is on all the clothes in our rooms as well.” Gu Ze glanced at the brooch, “Even if you search, it’s probably useless because the clothes where the brooch was taken from could just be hidden.”

Staff A glanced at Gu Ze, “You seem to know a lot about this?

Gu Ze casually pushed Staff A’s suspicion back, “Afterall, I need to think from the murderer’s perspective.”

They had now advanced into the seventh day and only ten people remain.

After the upcoming vote, only nine would be left.

And most of the ten people here have the intention to dispose of two people in one go.

During the previous votes, Staff A had received many votes from the others so Xu Ziyue felt that he would likely be voted out but it seems that they hadn’t discussed it well enough——-Of course, something like this is indeed difficult to discuss.

The final voting result: Staff A 2 votes, Gu Ze 1 vote, Xu Ziyue 1 vote, 1 abstained vote.

And the two other artists received three votes and two votes respectively.

The artist with three votes was eliminated.

Xu Ziyue breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they were now nearing the end, the votes had become more divided. Even if Xu Ziyue was still safe, the further into the game, the fewer the ‘options’.

The artist who was eliminated just happened to be the murderer.

Xu Ziyue felt that among the remaining five NPC’s (which includes Gu Ze), only the NPCs themselves would be able to accurately find the murderer.

After this voting round and adding to that the previous voting rounds, this small group had almost completely broken up.

When Gu Ze took Xu Ziyue back to their room, he looked at Xu Ziyue worriedly, “What’s wrong? You don’t seem very happy since yesterday.”

Xu Ziyue raised his eyes to look at Gu Ze. He opened his mouth but later just shut them and shook his head.

Gu Ze gently sighed, “You………”

Just as the two wanted to say something, there was a knock on their door.

Gu Ze released Xu Ziyue and opened the door only to see the other seven people gathered outside.

Gu Ze asked, “What’s wrong?”

Please read this from kk translates

“The keys that were found was kept by the butler and was later given to the manager after he was eliminated but now the manager is also gone. We discussed it earlier and have decided to search each room one by one.”

Xu Ziyue who stood behind Gu Ze heard this and felt…….that this line sounded a little familiar.

Gu Ze heard this and let the others in without any complaints. Xu Ziyue and Gu Ze glanced at each other. Gu Ze rubbed the back of Xu Ziyue’s neck, “It’s okay.”

But it seemed that whatever you fear would come true.

“This key……why is it with you?”

Xu Ziyue rolled his eyes. This kind of framing was the most obvious kind one would see in palace dramas, “We don’t have the keys. Are you sure you didn’t bring it in yourself?”

The makeup artist just smiled, “Whether it was brought in or not, these keys were found here. Alright, let’s go.”

The others stared at Xu Ziyue and Gu Ze for a moment before getting up and leaving.

Although they didn’t say anything, it seemed that they already suspect them.

Seeing Xu Ziyue’s obvious dissatisfaction towards these people, Gu Ze chuckled and pulled Xu Ziyue onto the bed.

Xu Ziyue’s mind was still on the behaviour of the others brazenly coming in to search the room and then brazenly leaving.

“Wh-what is i……..sss——–”

Xu Ziyue’s ear was bitten.

Gu Ze pressed Xu Ziyue under him and hugged him tightly. It was so tight, Xu Ziyue even felt some pain.

Xu Ziyue tried to raise his hands to hug Gu Ze back. He asked again, “What is it?”

But even after waiting for some time, Gu Ze didn’t answer. Xu Ziyue began to speak himself, “I think they came here on purpose. They want to vote us off together.”

Although he didn’t know the reason behind it, it probably had something to do with Gu Ze consistently voting for himself the past few days.

Xu Ziyue felt that he may be voted out next time, but even then, he wouldn’t be eliminated.

Gu Ze released Xu Ziyue and then supported up his upper body. He looked at Xu Ziyue and said seriously, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

He lowered his head and kissed Xu Ziyue deeply. Xu Ziyue didn’t know how to describe that kiss and felt that it felt like a final parting kiss. Gu Ze insisted on leaving a mark on every part of Xu Ziyue’s mouth.

“Gu Ze…….” Xu Ziyue’s eyes had turned slightly red. He panted slightly as he looked at Gu Ze whose expression was particularly gentle, “What’s wrong?”

Gu Ze shook his head and pressed a kiss on the corner of Xu Ziyue’s lips, “Sleep. It’ll all be better after that.”

Strangely enough, Xu Ziyue really began to feel sleepy after that.

When he woke up again, Xu Ziyue found himself in an empty room. He was still a little confused.

But when he sat up, he was not only confused, he was also embarrassed.

Why was he lying naked on the bed with hickies all over his body?

Why???

Although there was no one in the room, Xu Ziyue’s face as so red it looked like it was about to drip blood. He quickly put on his clothes and rushed out the door.

Xu Ziyue who was both embarrassed and angry found Gu Ze and the others standing outside the door of the player who was eliminated last night.

As soon as he reached the door, he saw the dead makeup artist staring straight out the door.

Xu Ziyue was slightly surprised. He then pulled Gu Ze aside whilst disregarding the presence of the others.

“What did you do? Why did I fall asleep all of a sudden yesterday? And you…….you’re too perverted.” To actually do something like that after he fell asleep…..Although Xu Ziyue didn’t feel anything, those traces left on his body were not fake.

Gu Ze smiled contently, “This will make it easier for me to find you next time.”

It seemed that he had heard something terrifying……That is, if he wasn’t reading too much into it.

“You were strange yesterday. So in the end…….”

“I like you very much too.”

Gu Ze’s words left Xu Ziyue stunned in place.

【Objective completed: Game cleared. You will return to the system space in half an hour.】

“Hey…….you……”

Please read this from kk translates

“This game was created by me so even if it is me, I must abide by the rules here.” Gu Ze smiled, “But you are different. You are different from them and us.”

Xu Ziyue swallowed, “What do you know?”

Gu Ze said: “Well……I know that they came here as part of a game and I also know that the others participated in the game after they died.”

“Wait.” Xu Ziyue was even more shocked, “Are you saying that the others joined the game after dying?”

“Yes. Those that are called murderers are players who have been eliminated in other games. After being resurrected, they will towards those who haven’t been eliminated……the people you would call players…. act with envy and jealousy. By putting these two types of people together in a restricting environment, something wonderful can be created.” Gu Ze looked at Xu Ziyue, “If it weren’t for you, I would probably naturally become a part of the game.”

“Don’t you have a way for you to survive? This escape room…….There should be other ways to escape? Aren’t you the one who organised it? Don’t you plan to live?”

Gu Ze shook his head, “Before you appeared, I had always been wondering where the person I’m looking for is but no matter what I did, I couldn’t find the person who could fill the void in my heart. This continued until I felt too tired and finally decided to design a game like this.”

“And then you appeared.”

Gu Ze had designed an inescapable escape game and had decided to end his life which only consisted of him endlessly searching for something he could never find.

But fortunately, he finally found the person he wanted to find in this game. And unfortunately, the time they could be together was limited because of this game he had designed.

“Escape room players please return to your rooms and vote through your rotary phones. The voting process is confidential, and the results will only be announced after everyone submits their votes.”

“Because there is a case of two people in the same room, the extra player will need to stay in the room of the eliminated player to vote.”

Xu Ziyue saw the others leave the makeup artist’s room and give a meaningful glance to Gu Ze when they walked past. It seemed that they had decided to vote for Gu Ze this time.

Xu Ziyue grabbed Gu Ze’s arm in panic, “Are they going to eliminate you? If you let the others vote together……vote the other players, wouldn’t you be safe?”

“No. What they want isn’t to survive.” Gu Ze twisted a strand of Xu Ziyue’s hair, “Compared to living, they want to drag the others to hell more. Eliminating other people through the process of voting……..isn’t something they are satisfied with.”

That is to say, compared to figuring out the means to clear the game, those former players wanted to experience annihilating players who are still players.

Then this meant that they would do all they can to keep enough players alive until the last day and would control the number of players that are still alive to delay the end of the game.

“Then did you know about it from the beginning?”

【Escape room players please return to your rooms and cast your votes as soon as possible. 】

The female voice urged through the speaker.

Gu Ze turned to leave and didn’t answer Xu Ziyue’s question.

Xu Ziyue tightened his grip and repeated his question. “Did you know that I needed to get your reply so that I can leave this world?”

Please support the translator and read this from
kktranslates(.)home(.)blog

<Chapter 101> <Table of Contents> <Chapter 103>

---

If possible, please support the author and purchase the original chapters! Each chapter only costs a few cents! The links to the raws are on the main novel page (You can go there via ‘Table of Contents’) and here are some handy guides: Link 1 and Link 2.

KK has something to say:
Were you guys also surprised??