Accompanied by eerie rustling sounds, crimson text spread across the surrounding walls like countless wronged souls writing grievances in blood.
All seven present were startled by this phenomenon.
The frail girl among them turned deathly pale and screamed in terror.
After several seconds, these bloody characters gradually faded away.
"'Game prompt'!"
Liam understood inwardly.
Afterward, he looked around and saw the square-faced man quickly regain his composure.
This guy was indeed a professionally trained soldier, as expected.
Liam thought to himself as the square-faced man spoke coldly, "Everyone stays calm—this is nothing major. The words appearing on the wall are likely prompts related to this game."
After speaking, he turned to the bespectacled chubby boy and asked, "You mentioned having seen similar anime and novels—any insights?"
"'Expel two outsiders hiding among us...' Sounds like an undercover-search type of game," the bespectacled chubby boy cleared his throat, "but the game instructions are too vague... Both the bloody text we saw earlier and these wall writings are ambiguously phrased."
Seizing the moment, Liam interjected, "These envelopes on the table likely contain clues for the game. We should examine their contents together."
Liam had chosen not to speak earlier to avoid becoming the center of attention.
But maintaining silence now would seem suspicious—Liam had already noticed several people secretly glancing between him and the short young man who hadn't spoken yet.
At Liam's reminder, the gathered group suddenly realized.
"Right! We almost forgot about these envelopes!"
The square-jawed, imposing man spoke while reaching out to open the envelope before him.
Others followed suit. The scar-faced man hesitated briefly before finally opening his envelope.
Liam slowly unfolded his envelope but didn't immediately retrieve its contents, instead observing the others' reactions as they read their letters.
He noticed varied responses: some furrowed their brows, others grew visibly tense, and a few... displayed fluctuating expressions. Surprisingly, none read their letters as quickly as one might expect.
"It seems this game isn't as straightforward as it appears."
Then, Liam opened the envelope.
The contents of the letter appeared before Liam's eyes:
"Hello, my human compatriot. Whatever your reason for coming here, I must tell you some things about this ancient castle."
"We have left many chests in this castle containing things you may find useful. Whenever you encounter them, open them."
"But beware the red chests, for those belong to werewolves. They contain werewolf weapons - humans cannot open them, so be wary of those who can."
"To maintain the castle's normal operation, remember to complete the tasks on the schedule daily. Otherwise, the mechanisms, poisonous mist, and extreme cold might kill everyone!"
"Every evening at 7:00 PM, a meeting will be held. You may exile anyone by voting to banish them from the castle - the meeting hall is sacred, and no violence can occur during meetings - so it's best to use them to expel the threats. However, if there's a tie in votes between two people, no one will be exiled."
"If a corpse is discovered, you may choose to immediately convene an emergency meeting for that day. After activation, time will advance to 7 PM, and all members must cease free movement to gather in the conference room immediately."
"During nighttime rest periods, you must remain gathered in the conference room until 7 AM the next morning - naturally, no violent acts can be committed within the conference room during this period."
"Beware, werewolves are cunning and adept at disguise. They appear completely indistinguishable from ordinary humans in daily life, yet harbor intense hatred and murderous intent toward us."
"Even among themselves, werewolves cannot directly confirm each other's identities."
"My fellow human, I hope you eradicate all hidden werewolves and survive successfully!"
"As long as any human survives the past seven days, even if the werewolves remain unidentified, you may all leave this place!"
The handwriting in the letter appears rushed, clearly written under urgent time constraints.
Besides this letter, the envelope also contains an identity card.
Liam took out the card.
"Your identity is: Human."
Liam stared at the card in his hand and silently raised his head.
Before he could discern the expressions of others around him reading their letters and cards, a sudden *crackle* erupted from his palm.
Crimson flames surged upward. Though not scalding, they startled Liam into instinctively releasing his grip.
The burning identity card, envelope, and letter—before even touching the ground—were completely consumed by the flames.
Not even ashes remained!
Clusters of flames fell and were extinguished.
Yet this time, no one uttered a sound.
The crowd, after finishing their letters, had fallen into heavy silence.
Combined with the bloody text on the wall earlier, everyone now understood...
They were never grasshoppers bound to the same rope.
This was a game of confrontation between players!
Eventually, the middle-aged woman wearing glasses was the first to break the silence:
"What do you think... about this letter?"
Among the group, the chubby boy with glasses adjusted his glasses and spoke softly, "I've pretty much figured it out. This is a game similar to Werewolf!"
Everyone present nodded slightly.
The oldest person there was the bespectacled middle-aged woman, appearing to be in her thirties or forties.
Although many of them might not be familiar with virtual works like "death games."
But none of them are completely offline old folks. Werewolf is a game that's popular nationwide, so they've at least heard of it.
Seeing that everyone understood, the chubby boy with glasses continued, "We've been divided into two factions: humans and werewolves – five humans and two werewolves."
"Humans need to complete tasks and open boxes to survive for seven days while identifying the so-called outsiders—players who have obtained the 'wolf' role. The wolves must hide themselves, locate wolf crates to acquire weapons—and then use those weapons to kill humans! Ensure all humans perish within seven days!"
After the chubby boy finished speaking, no one contradicted him.
His explanation coincided with most people's understanding of the rules.
The scar-faced man scratched his head and grumbled: "F*ck! These game rules are overly convoluted. Even wrote a bollshit letter requiring translation. No one would play this crap game in the real world!"
The short-statured youth finally spoke for the first time: "That's why that f*ck*ng deity dragged us dead people here! Otherwise, this godforsaken game would truly have zero players!"
The petite young man said this in a half-joking tone.
Though ill-timed for humor, the group still chuckled faintly, unconsciously feeling the atmosphere lighten slightly.
Liam looked at this short-statured young man.
"This guy seems a bit suspicious..."