SWBG - Chapter 2

[From: Happy Board Game

Marvelous Game Rules:

Each participant will receive six cards. When it's your turn to describe, you can use one sentence—whether through speaking, singing, sound, or action—to describe the image on your selected card.

After listening to the describer’s explanation, the other players each select a card from their hand that they think best matches the description. The system then shuffles all selected cards, reveals them, and players try to guess which card was originally played by the describer.

Voting Rules:

You cannot vote for your own card.

If all players either guess the describer's card correctly or all guess incorrectly, the describer earns no points, and each player who guessed the card earns 2 points.

If only some players correctly guess the describer’s card, both the describer and each correct guesser receive 3 points.

If a non-describer's card is chosen by others, that player earns 1 point per vote their card receives.

After each round, the role of the describer passes to the next player in turn.

At the start of each round, players with fewer than 6 cards draw randomly until they have 6.

The game ends automatically when a player reaches 30 points or if all players are eliminated.

Suggestion: Do your best to earn as many points as possible—it's the only path to success.

Gu Jing Sheng read through the rules word by word, barely understanding that this was essentially an advanced version of picture-based storytelling. Now, she just hoped the system wouldn’t give her cards that were either too simple—leaving little room for creativity—or too complex, which would be a nightmare to describe.

...So what's this rabbit on the table for anyway?

With its white fur, red eyes, and twitching three-petaled mouth, the little rabbit looked like a fluffy snowball crafted to trigger every human instinct for cuteness. Even Ren Song Sheng, usually a stern and serious teacher, couldn’t help but smile as he reached out to gently pet it.

The rabbit dopily raised its head, dopily lifted its front paws, dopily stared at Ren Song Sheng for a moment, then dopily opened its...

...dark red maw that could no longer be called a mouth.

The "rabbit's" mouth expanded into a growing circle with spiral-shaped internal tubes. From Gu Jing Sheng's position, she could vaguely see flesh chunks squirming madly like maggots on the cavity walls. Its mouth expanded to about ten times its original size in an instant, then stretched out like a giraffe feeding to perfectly envelop Ren Song Sheng's head before closing and shrinking back to normal size.

"Crunch crunch—"

The sound of bones breaking.

"Gulp—"

The sound of chewing flesh.

The rabbit's three-petaled mouth wriggled rapidly, its fur around the mouth now stained with the same vivid red as its eyes.

Ren Song Sheng's headless body slumped in the chair. Blood gushed endlessly from his neck stump, flowing down his shirt with the center stream resembling a bright red tie.

Gu Jing Sheng's first instinct was to jump up, but some mandatory rule in this space prevented her from standing. No matter how she adjusted her position, part of her body remained stuck to the chair.

The metallic stench of blood filled the air.

Zhou Qing Qing trembled uncontrollably while clutching her throat and retching over and over—yet nothing came out, neither food nor water.

To Zhou Qing Qing's right, Xia Xiao Yun's face was so pale it blended with the hall's background. Wei Jia Shi stared dumbfounded at the corpse, while Lin Shen He's lips moved beneath his messy black hair as he muttered to himself inaudibly.

Jiang Yan, seated next to Ren Song Sheng, had blood accidentally splashed on his sleeve. He frantically tried to wipe it off with increasingly manic motions.

Gu Jing Sheng stared expressionlessly at the seemingly harmless fluff ball on her table, deeply aware that this space defied both common sense and physics.

...I totally believe this thing was a rabbit=_=.

[From: Happy Board Game

Current survivors in Room 08321: 6

Reserve members: 6

Full members: 0

Additional members: None]

Being forced to play this deadly game with no way out, the new message made Gu Jing Sheng feel the undisguised malice radiating from "Happy Board Game."

...Or maybe not malice. To this unknown system space, reserve members were essentially expendable supplies.

There is no time for fear. Ren Song Sheng's example made Gu Jing Sheng wary of the rabbit as she quickly analyzed how to survive the coming game.

[From: Happy Board Game

Coin toss: Tails

Starting order counterclockwise: 08321-1 → 08321-7 → 08321-6 → 08321-5 → 08321-4 → 08321-2]

As 08321-1 was to go first, Zhou Qing Qing looked terrible. Xia Xiao Yun hesitantly reached out but was blocked by an invisible barrier.

[From: Happy Board Game

Dealing cards]

As the message arrived, six cards appeared on Gu Jing Sheng's table in order, as if some invisible person was dutifully providing a good gaming experience.

From her seat, seeing others' cards should've been easier than cheating during exams, but Happy Board Game's anti-cheat system was far more advanced than a school proctoring during exams. No matter how she looked, others' tables only showed poorly pixelated mosaics.

Feeling helpless, Gu Jing Sheng focused on her own cards.

Hmm...

Looking at the cards that seemed cheerful at first glance but horrifying upon closer inspection, Gu Jing Sheng felt her eyes were being assaulted.

The system gave little time to examine cards before starting—except for Zhou Qing Qing (08321-1) who remained visible, other players were forcibly covered in nostalgic late-20th-century TV static from head to toe.

[From: Happy Board Game

08321-1 please give your description within 10 seconds.

Countdown: 10, 9...]

From Gu Jing Sheng's experience, pressure makes people freeze. Only when three seconds remained did Zhou Qing Qing manage a sobbing hum.

"Il mio tesoro intanto, Andate andate aconsolar!"

It sounded somewhat familiar.

Gu Jing Sheng racked her musical knowledge before realizing it might be from Don Giovanni. Not that she knew Italian—her English repertoire was limited to "ABCD" and "Sing a song."

—Thanks to the music teacher squeezing in knowledge between main subjects, and herself for staying awake long enough to hear "Don Giovanni is about a playboy" before dozing off.

As soon as Zhou Qing Qing hummed a short phrase, her image and voice were instantly obscured by a flurry of static, cutting off all signals. Each player had ten seconds to pick the card from their hand that best matched her expression/description.

Gu Jing Sheng cautiously selected her sixth card.

The card showed a European room draped in satin and velvet, every ornament glittering beautifully. On the chaise sat a giant nightingale wearing a crown, surrounded by eight cages containing beautiful, sorrowful maidens singing desperately.

...No, this wasn't a nightingale.

Though similar, its asymmetrical eyes bulged downward like dripping water droplets. Its feathers were disgusting amorphous blisters that seemed to melt like wax under heat when stared at too long.

The cage bars were made of white, scratched bones—Gu Jing Sheng personally believed they were human, not from any animal she'd eaten.

After selection, the card vanished from her table—she'd been careful to keep distance from the rabbit throughout.

[From: Happy Board Game

System shuffling cards.

Shuffle complete.

Revealing cards.]

"..."

Seeing no actual shuffling happening, Gu Jing Sheng concluded Happy Board Game made the process "transparent" to appear fair.

In the silent game hall, only five static screens surrounded her, unnervingly quiet.

Six reordered cards appeared midair, all facing Gu Jing Sheng—though she assumed others saw the same:

[Madly drumming wanderer]

[Black goat dancing around fire]

[Handsome man strolling garden]

[Snake-charmer playing flute]

[Nightingale listening to song]

[Piano split down middle]

Upon closer look, each card contained disturbing elements with clashing colors creating intense unease.

[From: Happy Board Game

Please begin voting in 15 seconds.

Note: Watch your rabbit—it seems hungry now :).]

Author's Note:

① From Don Giovanni's "Il mio tesoro" ("My dear treasure").

Translator's Notes

欢乐桌游 (Huānlè Zhuōyóu)

• Literally "Happy Board Game"

• The mysterious game system/organization that forces participants into deadly games.

雪花片 (Xuěhuā piàn)

• "Snowflake static" (like TV noise)

• Visual effect used to obscure other players.

望兔息心 (Wàng tù xī xīn)

• Wordplay on 望峰息心 (an idiom about abandoning worldly desires).

• Means "looking at the rabbit calms one's heart" (ironic, as the rabbit is deadly).

The story is getting more intense... Hope you all enjoyed Chpater 2!