Seven Days and Nights with the Werewolf

Day 2 · 05

“The vote is closed. Please return to your original seats.” A stiff mechanical voice announced.

Fang Daichuan was wracked with nerves. He bowed his head and cut a piece of cold clam meat with his dinner knife, stirring it around the plate without taking a single bite.

“I voted for you.” The little boy bared his teeth at Ding Zihui with a grin. “You’re a goner.” Ding Zihui stared at the boy, pale-faced, his chest heaving violently.

“The vote is closed. A total of 12 votes have been cast, all valid. First, we announce the safe players with zero votes.” The machine paused for a beat, then continued, “Yang Song, Liu Xiquan, Fang Daichuan, Du Wei, Chen Hui, Chen Xin. Congratulations, you are temporarily safe.”

Fang Daichuan let out a huge sigh of relief at the sound of his name—only for his heart to clench all over again, because he hadn’t heard Li Sinian’s. He whipped his head around to look at Li Sinian, his right hand clenched into a fist, his palm slick with cold sweat. Li Sinian turned to him and smiled, murmuring, “Don’t worry. If I’m not mistaken, I only got one vote.”

How the hell did he figure that out?! Emotionally, Fang Daichuan hoped Li Sinian wasn’t bragging at a time like this, but rationally, he could hardly bring himself to believe it. The tension and indecision left a lump in his throat, a dull ache throbbing in his heart. The clam meat he’d eaten that morning felt like it had come alive, churning in his stomach, and he could feel sweat trickling down his temples.

“All players not named, please stand and step forward.” The machine ordered.

Four sniper rifles in the corners of the room stood at the ready.

Li Sinian patted Fang Daichuan on the shoulder with a smile and was the first to step into the center of the room. Fang Daichuan jumped to his feet, ready to yank him back, but Li Sinian jutted his chin at the table in front of him and frowned, “Sit down.” Fang Daichuan’s breathing was ragged. He glanced at the other players and sank heavily back into his chair.

Even more stunned were Ding Zihui and Niu Xinyan. They stared blankly from side to side, convinced the machine had miscalculated—yet Old Madam Song and Zhao Chu had already stood up, and under the machine’s insistent urging, the two women had no choice but to rise too. Yang Song’s eyes went wide, and he asked Ding Zihui, “Did you really vote for yourself?!”

Her eyes glistening with tears, Ding Zihui said in grief and anger, “I didn’t!” She suddenly came to her senses, glared hatefully at the boy hiding nearby, and shouted, “Why the hell did you vote for me?!”

The boy froze at her roar, his face blank for three seconds. He glanced at his mother instinctively, then turned back to Ding Zihui and snorted coldly, “It’s my choice who to vote for. Mind your own business!”

Those who’d received votes stood in the middle of the hall, face to face—it was like a public execution. For the accused, certainly, but for the accusers too. Their gazes darted, probing, evading one another. Li Sinian’s eyes wandered over every face, while Fang Daichuan’s were fixed unblinkingly on him alone.

Zhao Chu stared at the seated players, grinding her teeth and cursing, “Who the hell voted for me?! If I find out who it was, I’ll never let them off!”

“Voting for someone else is one thing, but voting for me? Do you have no conscience at all?” Niu Xinyan muttered, her head bowed. “I have a child with me! How could I possibly kill anyone? Even if I had no morals, I’d never murder someone in front of a child. The kid is innocent.”

With all due respect, Fang Daichuan thought, shooting a cold glance at the maliciously grinning boy nearby. This kid of yours is about as innocent as a snake in the grass. He’s practically given me pediophobia. If I end up being a DINK and never having kids, it’ll be all his fault.

Old Madam Song let out a cold snort beside Niu Xinyan. “I don’t know who voted for you. But you voted for me, didn’t you?”

Niu Xinyan turned her head away, silent for a second, then said, “You’re joking.”

Only Du Chaosheng and Li Sinian said nothing. They locked eyes and exchanged a meaningful glance.

The machine’s flat voice went on, “Among the remaining players—Song Xinran, Zhao Chu, Niu Xinyan, Ding Zihui, Li Sinian, Du Chaosheng—the ones who received one vote each are: Song Xinran, Niu Xinyan, Ding Zihui, Li Sinian. Please return to your seats.”

As Li Sinian sat back down, he smiled at Fang Daichuan. “Told you I wasn’t wrong, didn’t I?”

Fang Daichuan’s heart lifted in an instant. He smiled back at Li Sinian, then turned his head, his eyes filled with anxiety as he stared at Ding Zihui.

Ding Zihui was already certain the little boy had cast the vote for her. She crossed herself on her forehead, chest, and shoulders, whispered a short prayer, then stared daggers at the boy.

The little boy huddled in his mother’s arms, saying nothing.

In the end, only Du Chaosheng and Zhao Chu remained. Fang Daichuan’s nerves flared again. Du Chaosheng was the one he suspected the most, yet Zhao Chu was the “wolf” they’d settled on following Li Sinian’s advice. He pricked up his ears, waiting silently for the final result. The other eleven people in the room did the same, holding their breath for the verdict.

Du Chaosheng still looked unflappable, his eyes calm and empty—but drawing on his years in the entertainment industry, Fang Daichuan’s gut told him there was more to him than met the eye, a still well hiding a sharp blade.

“Between Zhao Chu and Du Chaosheng, the player with the higher vote count of five is—” The robot dragged out the suspense, and Fang Daichuan tugged anxiously at his trouser leg.

“Zhao Chu.”

As the machine spoke the name, a sharp c***k rang out from the sniper rifle in the corner. Du Chaosheng’s lips curved into a faint smile.

A wisp of pale blue gunsmoke curled slowly from the muzzle. Zhao Chu’s body crumpled forward like a sack of potatoes tossed roughly into the corner, slamming face-first into the floor with a dull thud. Half a minute passed before blood slowly seeped out, pooling into a crimson puddle at Du Chaosheng’s feet.

Du Chaosheng squatted down halfway, sighed at the body, then wiped his blood-stained shoe sole on the clean carpet.

Fang Daichuan turned his head and closed his eyes.

The others were growing numb to the endless stream of bodies and blood. Not even Ding Zihui cried this time. The young woman sat stiffly at the table, motionless, her expression blank, like a statue that could only move its eyes. “Let’s... go back,” she said, her voice faint and distant. “Today is over...”

Is today really over? Fang Daichuan wondered. He stared dazedly at the sniper rifle behind the corpse for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he was freezing all over. He shivered.

The sniper rifle retracted back into the ceiling.

“Congratulations to the surviving players. May you enjoy the game.” The machine’s polite voice seemed to answer the question weighing on Fang Daichuan’s mind.

Fang Daichuan stood up abruptly. He was trembling all over, his cheeks burning hot, the lump in his throat impossible to swallow—he could only let it burst out, his breath scalding hot in front of his nose. Without a word, he grabbed a chair and hurled it into the corner.

The ceiling on the first floor was vaulted high; even standing on the chair, he couldn’t reach it. He hopped down in a rage, gasped for breath a few times, then spun around and kicked the chair over. The brass-carved chair clattered against the floor four or five times, skidded into the corner, and crashed into the brick wall, shattering into pieces that littered the floor like a human skeleton.

Li Sinian bowed his head and let out a soft sigh. He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Fang Daichuan’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

“I killed him.” Fang Daichuan brushed his arm away, lifted his head stubbornly, and met Li Sinian’s eyes. “I’m one of the five murderers.”

“Fang Daichuan!” Li Sinian snarled. “Come upstairs with me!”

“What’s the difference between what we did and murder?!” Fang Daichuan glanced around at everyone’s faces. “We tell ourselves their deaths have nothing to do with us just because we didn’t pull the trigger with our own hands, don’t we? And because everyone voted, majority rules becomes the perfect excuse for a mob, doesn’t it?!”

Li Sinian’s heart raced with fear; he couldn’t cover Fang Daichuan’s mouth fast enough. In a panic, he slapped him across the face.

A sharp c***k echoed through the room. Yang Song stared wide-eyed, jerking his head up.

Fang Daichuan turned his face back. Li Sinian had more to say, but when he saw Fang Daichuan’s expression, he froze. Fang Daichuan was deathly pale, his eyes alone blazing red as if soaked in blood, hauntingly bright. Li Sinian’s right hand clenched involuntarily; he rubbed his fingers together, and they were damp. A sharp twinge shot through his heart.

“Come upstairs,” Li Sinian softened his voice, leaning in close to Fang Daichuan’s ear, his tone thick with a catch. “Brother Chuan, let’s go upstairs and talk. Please...”

Fang Daichuan looked up at him with wet, puppy-like eyes. Li Sinian’s gaze bordered on supplication. They stared at each other for a moment, then Fang Daichuan followed Li Sinian upstairs in silence.

Ding Zihui hesitated for two seconds at the table on the left, then shoved her chair back and stood up, hurrying a few steps after them and climbing the stairs too.

Yang Song came next, then the young couple, and then the rest. They filed up the stairs one after another, all silent.

“Where’s your ID card?” Li Sinian stood outside Fang Daichuan’s room, his eyes filled with worry as he looked at Fang Daichuan’s dazed face. Fang Daichuan finally came to his senses and fumbled in his pockets. Li Sinian watched as his fingers shook so badly he missed the pocket several times.

Li Sinian sighed, pulled the ID card out of Fang Daichuan’s pocket, and swiped it to open the door. Fang Daichuan trudged after him numbly.

In the moment they’d delayed, everyone else had already swiped their cards and gone into their rooms—only the mother and son who’d come last remained outside.

“Do you know who I voted for today?”

A childish voice drifted in from outside as Fang Daichuan closed the door. His mind was still too numb to think, his ears registering the words but his brain failing to process them. Yet on an impulse, he thought of the boy’s sinister look earlier that day. He slowed his hand, leaving a narrow c***k between the door and the frame, and pressed his ear to it.

He heard Niu Xinyan unlocking the door across the hall, her movements slow, seemingly paying no mind to what her son said. She pushed the door open and asked absentmindedly, following his question, “Who did you vote for, sweetie?”

The boy’s innocent-sounding voice drifted in from outside, and Fang Daichuan heard him look up at his mother with a smile and reply, “I voted for you, Mom!”