True Terror Chapter Nineteen: Endgame

At this moment, Mo Han successfully identified another werewolf player, bringing her a measure of comfort—she had now managed to uncover two werewolves. As for Sun Jing, player number 4, she had already been eliminated in the previous round.

In that previous round, Mo Yan, her younger sister, had revealed herself as the witch and forcefully accused Sun Jing, player number 4. The others, wary of being suspected as Sun Jing’s teammates, voted her out without much resistance.

Originally, Mo Han had planned to reveal her role as the seer in that same round, but her sister had already claimed the witch’s identity and exposed the false witch.

Currently, the remaining players were Mo Han, Mo Yan, Su Zheyuan, Zhang Ling’er as player 5, player 8, player 9, player 10, and player 11—eight people in total.

It was already known that Mo Yan was the witch, Su Zheyuan the guardian, Zhang Ling’er (player 5) a werewolf, player 10 the hunter, and both player 12 and player 4—the other werewolves—had been voted out. Now, player 5, Zhang Ling’er, had just been exposed by seer Mo Han.

That meant the last werewolf was hidden among players 8, 9, and 11.

As long as they could identify the final werewolf, Mo Han and her allies’ task would be complete. (The plot was slightly altered due to some emotional instability.)

This time, in an unprecedented move, Mo Han chose to speak first from her own seat—a deviation from standard Werewolf rules, but necessary for the story.

The joker’s voice had barely faded when Mo Han took the initiative to begin.

“Alright, I’ll be taking over the game from here,” she declared.

“First, let me clarify: I am the seer.

On the first night, I investigated player 2—my sister. She was, without a doubt, a villager. On the second night, I checked one of the candidates, player 12, who turned out to be a werewolf. So, when suspicions were raised against player 12 in the second round, I capitalized on the opportunity and helped vote them out.

On the third night, I checked player 3, who sits right behind me. I prioritized him because he’s close to me, and also because we’re familiar—I wanted to confirm his identity.

Today is the fourth day, and I’ve checked player 5. My strategy is to first clear those on my side, then move on to the seats further right.

As things stand, the werewolves we’ve identified are player 12—a confirmed werewolf who’s already out—and player 5, who is our current target.

As for player 4, I don’t believe she was a villager pretending to be a witch; the likelihood is slim, so it’s almost certain she was a werewolf. That means we’ve found three werewolves.

Now, among the remaining players on the right—players 8, 9, and 11—one of them must be a werewolf.

This round, follow my lead: skip the speeches and vote out player 5. Next round, I’ll investigate the remaining seats; if I clear another villager, we can simply vote for one of the last two. If the game isn’t over after that, the remaining player is the werewolf. If it ends, we’ve won.”

The players sitting on the right exchanged glances, looking at the joker on the TV and the cameras overhead, clearly a little reluctant.

They hadn't expected the game to end so quickly. After all, it was a rare opportunity to appear on a televised live broadcast, and they had hoped to put on a good show.

Unfortunately, none of them had drawn any special roles—just a group of ordinary villagers—and the novelty of the TV experience was still fresh for them.

The joker on screen spoke in an odd, exaggerated tone throughout, and every speech countdown was displayed in the corner, a sign that the TV station was putting genuine effort into the broadcast. There were no staff interruptions, and when players were eliminated, the production even added anguished screams.

If not for the knowledge that this was a live broadcast, everyone might have thought they were watching a paranormal show.

In the game, it was the fourth day of Werewolf; in reality, night had fallen. At 10 p.m., in an ordinary room in Shandong, an aging, eccentric uncle walked heavily toward his computer.

This was Mars, the author whom Jiang Li had encountered during the last mission. Mars sat down at his computer, his head throbbing; he hadn't updated in three days and now had no choice but to work on a new chapter.

But as soon as he sat down, his mind went blank. With no inspiration for plot or scene, Mars aimlessly opened a website and stumbled upon a live broadcast of Mo Han’s game. Since he had no ideas anyway, he decided to watch the broadcast for a while.

He pulled up the stream and watched absentmindedly, all the while imagining the latest adventures of his protagonist, Yun Che.

Behind his computer sat several books, one of which was a black volume with red lettering. Mars didn’t pay it any mind—his bookshelf was right beside his computer, so it probably just fell there without him noticing.

Still preoccupied with story ideas, Mars barely noticed it. Truth be told, the supernatural incident he’d experienced last time had left him with lingering anxiety; now, he couldn’t bear to be without the lights on at any hour, for fear of attracting misfortune and waking up covered in strange hair. The incident had also propelled his novel to the top of every ranking—monthly votes, clicks, recommendations, he was number one across the board.

Many readers even suggested that Mars try his hand at a supernatural novel; Jiang Li considered Mars the best writer out there, bar none.

Jiang Li had been reading Mars’s work since middle school, beginning with his first novel, “Asura,” a web game story that was considered groundbreaking in its era. Mars had achieved instant fame with that book. (I really adore Mars, though his update speed is… Well, the reason I started this book is that besides Mars’s writing, I find it hard to read anyone else. So I decided to write a supernatural novel myself, and let Mars suffer in my story as payback for his slow updates.)

Neither Mars nor Jiang Li could have guessed that they would meet again in the near future.

Watching the live broadcast, Mars couldn’t help but laugh. From his godlike vantage, he could see everyone’s roles clearly. What amused him most was that, in this game of Werewolf, not a single person actually had the werewolf role.

And the seer, brimming with confidence, seemed so sure of herself—it nearly made Mars burst out laughing. It was like a reader suddenly discovering that he’d updated five chapters in one day.

Mars imagined the scene: if he ever posted five chapters in a day, his fans would probably laugh themselves silly, slapping their own faces to make sure they weren’t dreaming. The thought made him chuckle.

Yet Mars mused: Would I ever do five chapters in a day? Absolutely not, unless some patron tipped me five million, or I ended up on a reality show by accident.

Suppose there was a show where, during its broadcast, the author who received the most tips had to update five chapters in one day. Mars wondered if he’d join such a program.

If he did, he’d have to live with the terror of five daily updates. But if he didn’t, and the show paid handsomely, wouldn’t he be watching a pile of money slip away before his eyes? (I think Mars would definitely regret joining. How could it stand that Mars wouldn’t be number one on the first day? Honestly, who wouldn’t look forward to Mars doing five updates a day?)

Time passed quickly, and Mars finished his update. It was already three in the morning. After completing his work, he reopened the broadcast to catch up on the peculiar game of Werewolf.

On screen, Mo Han and the others had successfully eliminated the third werewolf during the fourth daytime round. Thanks to Mo Han’s clear and precise reports as the seer, everyone carefully analyzed her every word and concluded that she really was the seer.

Although some players felt Mo Han could have played her role even better—she hadn’t revealed her identity until the very end. If it hadn’t been a live broadcast, some of them would have wanted to show her firsthand what it meant to be an e-sports Beethoven or a true flame-thrower from Zu’an.

The remaining players were all seasoned Werewolf veterans. But, constrained by the broadcast, they couldn’t greet Mo Han with their usual “affection.” Otherwise, they might have roasted her long ago.

Mo Han was indeed clever, but she’d only played the game a few times and didn’t know that, typically, when a seer gets a positive hit, they should reveal themselves immediately—especially with a guardian in play. Experienced seers who play well can often survive to the end; those who don’t are quickly eliminated by werewolves impersonating the seer.

Some werewolves are so articulate and logical that you can’t distinguish the real seer from the fake. In most such situations, the real seer isn’t trusted, leading many inexperienced seers to exit the game quickly, then get blamed for the loss. It all boils down to a lack of experience.

———————My admiration for Mars is sincere. This novel is just my way of poking fun at him in my own world, but I won’t write anything negative about his character or actions.

He’s just an ordinary person, and the purpose of this book is to have fun with Mars’s persona. No matter what happens in the main plot, Mars will always appear in my story.

I never intended to profit from this book. I know exactly what kind of story I’m writing.

This is purely a hobby; tormenting Mars is my only motivation for writing this novel.