DLMSWSHH Chapter 44

TL: Hua

Chapter 44: Siege

Zhong Ming kept his eyes lowered and didn’t move.

Seeing that he hadn’t spoken for a long time, Shen Weinian frowned. Why does this beauty seem so wooden?

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping from Zhong Ming’s expressionless face to his rigid back. His heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the NPCs here had no self-awareness?

Just then, Zhong Ming spoke: “Alright.”

He gave a slight nod, passed by Shen Weinian, and walked ahead of him. He tilted his head and said, “Please follow me.”

Looking at his fair profile, Shen Weinian had a sudden realization. He must have triggered some NPC function, like “Helping a lost player find their room.”

He rubbed his nose. “Oh, okay.”

Zhong Ming nodded at him and turned to walk out of the corridor.

Shen Weinian rubbed his neck, glanced back outside the door, and decided to follow Zhong Ming. The space inside the storage area was extremely cramped. With Shen Weinian’s height of 185cm, he had to constantly duck his head to avoid the hanging cabinets as he moved through the hallway.

“Holy shit.”

Shen Weinian tucked his neck to dodge a cabinet door, looking at the sharp corner behind his head with lingering fear before turning to look at Zhong Ming in front.

“Hey,” Shen Weinian said, “can we switch to a different path?”

Ahead, Zhong Ming stopped and looked back to see Shen Weinian’s large frame standing awkwardly among rows of cups and plates. The hair he had styled with gel that morning had been snagged by a cabinet edge and was now a mess.

Shen Weinian said, “Beauty, you’re thin so you’re fine walking through here, but my head is about to be punctured.”

Zhong Ming paused, lowered his eyes, and said, “This is the shortest route.”

He gestured behind Shen Weinian. “If you wish to take another path, we will need to turn back the way we came.”

Shen Weinian was stunned. Looking back, he saw various cabinets obstructing their path, and the light from the small door at the end had grown dim. If he had to navigate back through that now, he’d likely end up with a head full of bumps.

Shen Weinian choked on his words. “Oh… never mind then.”

Hearing this, Zhong Ming nodded and continued forward. Having no choice, Shen Weinian followed, entering this intricate miniature labyrinth behind Zhong Ming. Before long, a bruise had formed on Shen Weinian’s forehead. He cursed under his breath, clutching his brow as he looked at Zhong Ming’s slender silhouette in the distance. The maid remained ahead of him, maintaining a distance that was neither too far nor too close.

When has a young master like Shen Weinian ever suffered like this? In any other setting, he would have quit long ago. But in this scenario, he strangely felt a bizarre thrill from this cramped, quiet space. It felt as though he were chasing a fairy through a forest or like the Mad Hatter chasing Alice through Wonderland.

The game seems to be getting interesting. Shen Weinian’s lips curled. Like a leopard stalking a gazelle, he patiently followed Zhong Ming.

One after the other, they emerged from the storage area. The space finally opened up, and Shen Weinian let out a long breath, stretching his limbs.

“This way.”

A voice came from above him.

Shen Weinian looked up and saw Zhong Ming standing on a staircase, looking down at him. This staircase in the back kitchen was smaller, narrower, and much steeper than the ones outside.

Shen Weinian stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the black hem of the dress right in front of his eyes. He was dazed for a moment. If he squatted down right now, he would probably be able to see the view under the little maid’s dress.

Shen Weinian’s throat moved. He was a bit tempted, but he held back.

He considered himself a bit of a gentleman when it came to picking up girls. He could see plenty once he actually won her over.

“Alright.”

He smiled and followed Zhong Ming up the stairs.

The narrow, old wooden kitchen stairs creaked under his weight. Shen Weinian was afraid that if he wasn’t careful, he would step right through the rickety thing. He tried to move as lightly as possible, yet the stairs continued to groan loudly.

“Whoa!”

Shen Weinian lifted his feet awkwardly, let out a curse, and looked up again only to find that Zhong Ming was as light as a cloud. Within a few breaths, he had already drifted far ahead.

Shen Weinian narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to catch up. However, just as he reached out, his fingers nearly brushing the hem of the maid’s black dress, Zhong Ming came to an abrupt halt.

“We’re here,” Zhong Ming said, tilting his head slightly toward him.

Shen Weinian blinked. He looked up, stunned to realize they had somehow reached the third floor. Right beside him was a door marked with the numbers 306.

This was his room. Shen Weinian stood frozen. He had no idea how they had managed to navigate back to this exact spot after all that winding around.

“Oh… we’re here.”

Shen Weinian frowned, a sudden sense of eeriness washing over him. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to grab the handle and pushing the wooden door open.

The furnishings inside were exactly as they were when he left. An Alexander Wang denim jacket he had tossed onto the bed that morning was still lying right there.

Shen Weinian’s gaze swept across the room, and he felt a slight wave of relief in his chest. He retracted his gaze and looked at Zhong Ming, who was standing by the door.

The maid stood quietly, his face slightly downturned.

Right then, the final glow of twilight faded from the horizon, signaling the time to light the lamps in the mansion.

The massive, ornate chandelier in the grand hall flickered to life, layer by layer. Along the corridor, the oil lamps ignited one by one, moving from a distance toward them.

Shen Weinian watched the light hit the little maid’s profile. Radiant colors filtered through the gaps of her thick eyelashes, casting soft shadows beneath her fair, delicate eyes. The way she stood there with her head lowered was more captivating than any movie star.

His heart skipped a beat. He pivoted on his heel to face Zhong Ming, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

“Thanks, Miss Maid.” Shen Weinian arched an eyebrow and gestured into the room with a grin. “Why don’t you come in and sit for a while?”

Zhong Ming kept his eyes fixed on the tips of his toes, offering no reaction at all.

Seeing him stand there with that expressionless, beautiful face like a plastic rose, Shen Weinian felt a bit deflated. No matter how pretty a face was, if there was no interaction, it lost half the fun. Shen Weinian let out a slow exhale and looked away, thinking to himself that this damn game had such incredible modeling, yet the character interactions were absolute shit.

In the next moment, he saw Zhong Ming nod. The maid then stepped forward, intending to walk past him.

Shen Weinian was in the middle of pulling a cigarette from his pocket. Seeing this, his brow twitched, and he reached out to stop him.

Even if it was a plastic rose, it was worth picking and playing with for a bit. But because he was holding the cigarette, his movements were a step too slow. Shen Weinian hurriedly shoved the cigarette pack back into his pants pocket, but when he looked up, Zhong Ming was already gone.

“…?”

Stupefied, Shen Weinian walked forward a few paces. He looked left, right, forward, and backward at the corner, but not a soul was in sight.

In the span of just a few seconds, the maid’s figure had vanished into thin air.

“Fuck.”

Shen Weinian stood in the corridor, eyes wide, feeling like he had just encountered a ghost.

He couldn’t wrap his head around how that maid could have disappeared so quickly. After a few seconds of stunned silence, a sudden shiver ran down his spine. Are the NPCs here some kind of goddamn ghosts haunting this old house? Or was it just a hallucination?

The thought sent a chill through him.

Once that idea took root, the empty corridor before him suddenly looked different. The sky had turned pitch black, and the oil lamps lining the walls cast an eerie, dim yellow glow that felt oppressive, like a scene straight out of a Western horror film.

A faint breeze drifted by, causing the flames of the oil lamps to flicker slightly.

Shen Weinian rubbed the dense patch of goosebumps on his arms, clicked his tongue, and ducked back into his room.

He shut the door and scanned the room once more, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

Tossing his phone onto the bed, he walked to the bedside and knelt down to peer underneath.

The aged yellow talismans were still stuck to the bed frame, looking as precarious as ever.

Shen Weinian’s brow relaxed. He stood up, figuring he was just getting paranoid because of that ghostly little beauty; now everything looked suspicious.

He let out a breath and flopped onto the bed, reaching for the headphones on the nightstand. The thought of those people coming to his room at midnight, howling for his items, made him irritated beyond belief.

Shen Weinian closed his eyes, picked a random playlist, and prepared to get some sleep.

Meanwhile, the disappeared Zhong Ming was actually trapped in a corner of the corridor, his body unable to move.

In the shadows of the hallway, a small patch of the floor beneath his feet had turned a strange black color. The texture had shifted subtly, causing Zhong Ming’s feet to sink into it. Gradually, everything from his toes to his ankles was encased within it.

Zhong Ming breathed rapidly, trying to pull his feet from the floor, but no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t budge.

“Ugh—”

Zhong Ming gasped for air, looking down at the tentacles wrapped tightly around his waist, his eyelashes trembling in panic.

Earlier, as he had brushed past Shen Weinian, right as the other man looked down to grab his cigarettes, a tentacle had suddenly shot out from the corner and yanked him into the darkness.

That was why, in Shen Weinian’s eyes, he had vanished instantly.

In the silent corner of the mansion, the soft suckers of the tentacles rubbed against his clothing, making a faint rustling sound.

Zhong Ming watched the tentacles around him writhe, like a python coiling around its prey, slowly tightening. His breath hitched, and he couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan, instinctively reaching out to pull the limb away.

However, just then, a dark shadow appeared in his peripheral vision.

Zhong Ming froze, lowered his hands, and spoke toward the figure: “Your Grace.”

Like the suddenly shifting floor and the tentacles appearing out of thin air, the Duke had appeared silently in the corner.

He stood in the shadows with his hands behind his back. Zhong Ming couldn’t see his expression, but he could feel the man’s intense gaze fixed upon him.

The tentacle around his waist tightened further. It wasn’t enough to cause pain, but the pressure was overwhelming, making Zhong Ming feel as though he couldn’t breathe.

He took a shallow breath and looked up at the silent man standing in the shadows, his lashes fluttering.

“Didn’t we agree… not to use these anymore?” Zhong Ming pursed his lips. “You know I don’t like them.”

He was referring to the tentacles coiled tightly around his waist.

The Duke had said before that because Zhong Ming disliked them, he had hidden them away. Why use them again today? Zhong Ming took a few quick breaths, feeling the smooth tentacles contract with each movement, his hands and feet stiffening.

The Duke watched him from the shadows for a moment before stepping out into the light.

The light hit his pale, handsome face. The Duke lowered his eyes and said coldly, “I also don’t like you getting too close to the players.”

Zhong Ming froze. In the next instant, the tentacles around his waist suddenly released their grip.

Zhong Ming stumbled, losing his balance and falling forward. The Duke happened to be right in front of him and reached out to catch him. His right hand brushed back the damp strands of hair at Zhong Ming’s temple as he asked: “Does it hurt?”

Zhong Ming’s head rested against the man’s chest. Startled by the hard sensation, he instinctively tried to push himself up, but the arm loosely encircling his lower back prevented him. Zhong Ming gave up after a small struggle and looked up to meet the man’s eyes: “…It doesn’t hurt.”

The Duke looked down, his finger wiping away the cold sweat from Zhong Ming’s forehead. “Then why are you sweating so much?”

Zhong Ming wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. He looked back at the darkness behind him with lingering fear, wary of the tentacles that could reappear at any moment.

Noticing his movement, the icy expression on the Duke’s face thawed slightly. He gave a helpless smile.

“Are you really that afraid?”

He reached out, gently cupping Zhong Ming’s cheek to turn him back.

“Stop looking. I’ve put them away.”

Zhong Ming immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

The Duke withdrew his hand, noticing that Zhong Ming’s expression had relaxed, and didn’t know what to say. Zhong Ming was so resistant to his tentacles; he was so afraid of just a light touch. How would they manage in the future?

It seemed he would have to hide them better.

The Duke lowered his gaze, his right hand resting on Zhong Ming’s lower back, and he whispered.

“What did you just say to that player?” His tone wasn’t heavy, but his hand remained firmly on Zhong Ming’s back. “Have you been doing something bad?”

By now, Zhong Ming could sense the emotions churning beneath the Duke’s calm exterior. The man seemed somewhat angry.

Zhong Ming gave a subtle pout inwardly. You already know everything, so why ask me?

The Duke caught his small expression, and his face instantly turned cold. “Speak.”

Zhong Ming looked up, seeing a faint crease appear between the man’s brows. Only then did he speak. “I didn’t say much.”

“I was just leading him back to his room,” Zhong Ming said honestly.

The Duke knew this, of course. But this time was different from other situations; Zhong Ming seemed to have approached that player intentionally with a specific purpose.

The Duke pressed Zhong Ming into his chest with one hand and looked up toward Room 306 not far away, narrowing his eyes. A moment later, he retracted his gaze and looked down at Zhong Ming.

“You want the items on him?” the Duke asked. “If that’s the case, I can make identical ones for you.”

Items that were priceless on the black market were spoken of by him as if they were mere toys.

Zhong Ming’s mouth opened slightly in surprise. After a moment of stunned silence, he said, “…I don’t want them.”

Hearing the denial, the Duke frowned, his expression puzzled. He thought for a moment and asked, “Then, do you want a new friend?”

“Are you tired of Ye Qing?” He thought of the female player he had resurrected last time, his brows knitting tight. “I thought you preferred the company of women.”

The Duke paused and said in a deep voice, “Even if you want a new friend, that person is not a good choice—”

Seeing the Duke’s theories getting more and more ridiculous, Zhong Ming quickly interrupted: “No!”

He pursed his lips and said: “I just wanted to figure something out.”

The Duke stared intently at him, seemingly judging whether Zhong Ming was lying. After a moment, as if confirming the truth, he slowly released his hand from Zhong Ming’s waist.

Zhong Ming straightened up and took a small step back, putting some distance between himself and the Duke.

The Duke lowered his hand and asked, “What are you planning to do?”

Zhong Ming looked up, hesitant to speak. But seeing the man’s expression, it was clear he intended to get to the bottom of it today. He bit his lip and said, “This isn’t his original room.”

“I deliberately arranged this room to look exactly like his original one.”

Zhong Ming lowered his eyes. Because those talismans were difficult to move, they had even moved the bed over together. Fortunately, Matthew had helped.

Taking advantage of the complex structure of the mansion, where several places looked exactly the same from the outside of the corridor to the inside of the room, Zhong Ming quietly moved Shen Weinian’s room to a different location.

He had one thing he wanted to test.

Upon hearing this, the Duke frowned and glanced up at the room. “Is that so?”

Zhong Ming: “…”

This man truly didn’t care about the players at all. He didn’t even know where a highly threatening player like Shen Weinian, who was carrying an unknown number of items, was staying.

With a boss like this, it felt like the haunted house was doomed.

The Duke retracted his gaze, seemingly finally satisfied with Zhong Ming’s explanation, and his expression softened. He reached out to tuck a stray hair behind Zhong Ming’s ear and said: “Go outside and have some fun tomorrow,” he said softly. “I’ll have Feng Tang and Matthew accompany you.”

Zhong Ming paused, his eyes widening in surprise.

“…Outside?”

Seeing his stunned expression, the Duke smiled slightly and touched his face. “Didn’t you say it was suffocating to stay here all the time?”

He had said that. Zhong Ming composed himself, but he was secretly alarmed. What did “outside” mean? He thought back to that gray lake.

The Duke withdrew his hand and instructed, “Since you’re going out tomorrow, get some rest early once you’re finished.”

His attitude was exactly like a parent sending a child off on a school field trip. Zhong Ming felt a bit choked up and replied, “…I know.”

The Duke clearly knew that Zhong Ming often stayed up late being sneaky. He gave him a skeptical look but didn’t call him out on it, simply nodding. “Good.”

Zhong Ming: …Now I feel even angrier.

After the Duke left, Zhong Ming checked the floor clock and saw that it was nearly midnight. The mansion was deathly silent; every player knew that in a few hours, the man-eating spider would emerge to randomly attack. Everyone was as quiet as a cicada in winter, not daring to make even the slightest sound.

Zhong Ming navigated the labyrinthine corridors and arrived in front of Shen Weinian’s original room. The contents had been emptied, but it was impossible to tell from the outside.

Zhong Ming looked up at the “306” on the doorplate.

If all went according to plan, that group of sports students would be sneaking out of their rooms soon, running to this door to seek Shen Weinian’s protection.

Zhong Ming lowered his eyes, pushed the door open, and turned on the light. The dim yellow glow illuminated the now-empty room.

Then, Zhong Ming closed the door and pulled a ring of keys from his pocket.

With a crisp click, he locked the door.

Zhong Ming looked down at the sliver of light peeking from beneath the door, turned, and walked away.

–

Shen Weinian had a sound night’s sleep.

Wearing his headphones, he slept until the bright daylight woke him. As the morning sun hit his eyelids, Shen Weinian frowned and climbed out of bed, realizing his headphones had played music all night and were now dead.

He sat on the bed and yawned. As his consciousness slowly returned, he frowned.

Wait. Why didn’t those guys come howling at his door last night?

Shen Weinian was puzzled for a moment. He arched an eyebrow, wondering if they had finally changed their ways. Were they finally ashamed of constantly mooching off his items? He pondered it for all of two seconds before tossing the thought aside.

He didn’t respect that group of fair-weather friends anyway.

He sauntered about as he got dressed, the image of that maid’s fair, beautiful face resurfacing in his mind. After a night’s sleep, the memory felt draped in a thin veil, making it even harder for Shen Weinian to tell if what he saw yesterday was a hallucination or a real person.

Could it really be a female ghost? Shen Weinian thought.

He looked down at his phone, scrolling through short videos of influencers shaking their hips to music, but it felt like something was missing.

That movement would definitely be cuter if that maid did it.

Shen Weinian’s mind wandered. Looking at the pale thighs of the girls on his screen, he didn’t feel his usual impulse; instead, he recalled the black maid’s dress from yesterday, which covered her from her wrists to the very top of her neck.

Those influencers were pretty, but they lacked that cold, untouchable aura the maid had.

Imagining it for a moment, Shen Weinian’s muscles stiffened. He let out a slow exhale.

Forget it. Not the kind of thing to think about during the day.

Shen Weinian shook his head, exited the app with little interest, clicked his tongue, and thought to himself that he should have just dragged the person into the room yesterday. If he wanted to know if she was a female ghost, he could have simply lifted her skirt and felt around to see if she had legs, right?

He put away his phone and sighed deeply. Now he actually wanted to run into a ghost.

His head was so full of dirty thoughts that he didn’t even react when someone grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up.

“Shen… Shen Weinian!!”

The buzz cut’s contorted face suddenly appeared before him. The whites of the man’s eyes were bloodshot, and his pupils were constricted to tiny points, reflecting Shen Weinian’s startled face.

“Why… why didn’t you open the door for us yesterday?!”

He roared in a breakdown: “Why?! Huh?! Why the fuck didn’t you open the door—”

Shen Weinian’s eyes widened, looking utterly confused. “Hah? What kind of bullshit are you talking about?”

The buzz cut was clearly on the edge of an emotional collapse. The veins on the hand gripping Shen Weinian’s collar bulged, and he was shaking uncontrollably. Shen Weinian’s response only agitated him further. The man gasped for air and said in a raspy voice, “I… I knew it. You did it on purpose. You fucking did it on purpose!!”

His foul breath sprayed onto Shen Weinian’s face, nearly gagging him. Unable to take it anymore, Shen Weinian slapped the man’s hand away and smoothed out the slight wrinkles on his collar.

“What’s wrong with you so early in the morning?!”

Shen Weinian looked down at his clothes with heartache: “Damn it, if you tear my clothes, can you afford to pay for them?!”

Even now, he hadn’t realized the gravity of the situation. The buzz cut glared at him with red eyes, his chest heaving. The way he looked at Shen Weinian had quietly shifted from a fear laced with jealousy to eyes filled with overwhelming rage and hatred.

“…I knew it all along. You never intended to share your items with us.”

The buzz cut clenched his fists and stepped closer.

“You’re just treating us like disposable utilities. You use us and then throw us away, right?”

Shen Weinian barely heard what they were saying. He patted his clothes flat and arched an eyebrow: “I don’t care what kind of fit you’re throwing. Get lost. I’m hungry and I want breakfast.”

The buzz cut stopped talking. He looked at Shen Weinian, whose dyed purple hair stood up arrogantly, his youthful and handsome face radiant, and the piercing on his brow bone gleaming in the sunlight as he looked down at them.

Just because he had a background, Shen Weinian could remain untainted even in a boss level.

No matter how pathetically they wailed outside the door yesterday, even kneeling to kowtow and begging for mercy, this man could turn a deaf ear. And the next day, he put on this act of knowing nothing.

He just stood by and listened as they were chewed up by the spider, swallowed, and spat back onto the ground.

The massive psychological gap destroyed the buzz cut’s last shred of sanity.

He let out a cold laugh and tossed a glance toward his surroundings. Four or five other men emerged from different corridors, surrounding Shen Weinian in an instant.

Every face wore the same identical, frenzied expression.