After thinking it over repeatedly, I finally walked toward the elderly couple.

"Hello, sir, ma'am. Please take care of me in the days to come. You can call me Lia," greeted the young woman with pigtails.

She showed no fear at all, and the elderly grandma smiled warmly back at her.

However, there was something deeply unsettling about that smile. Her entire face looked like wrinkled tree bark. Her features squeezed together when she grinned.

I recognized who the pigtailed woman was—Thalia Cross, the college roommate whom I'd never gotten along with. A surge of irritation rose in me.

Just as I stepped forward, the grandma waved her hand, and a thick white mist shrouded the area.

A mournful, melodic voice echoed from afar.

"The lucky hour has arrived."

The grandma clasped both my hand and Thalia's. Her eyes slowly became vacant, and her voice turned extremely shrill.

"Escort the bride into the bridal carriage!"

When I opened my eyes again, I realized I had been awakened by Thalia. Only then did I notice that both of us were wearing wedding gowns.

Thalia was screaming hysterically beside me. Her face was deathly pale as she fell to the ground and scrambled backward.

Following her gaze, my whole body went rigid, and I froze in place. Luckily, I was quick enough to clamp my hand over my mouth, stifling the scream that threatened to escape.

Goodness, those scales… That damn glossy sheen. How could scales be so smooth and beautiful?

In front of us stood a giant snake. It was hundreds of feet long, and its body was covered in shimmering scales. At that very moment, it reared up in a coiled attack stance.

Its golden eyes stared directly at Thalia, and there was a bone-chilling air about it. Behind it, bones and corpses were heaped into mountains, and an indescribable stench assaulted my senses. Those were undoubtedly the remains of previous explorers.

A low, cold snort came from above. With a slurping sound, the giant snake's tongue flicked out and dragged Thalia into its mouth. The air instantly filled with the thick smell of blood. It smacked its lips a few times, then spat something onto the ground.

Thalia was already unrecognizable. Her bones—mixed with saliva—had turned into a pulpy mess.

Yet, I remained unmoved. My eyes gleamed as I stared at those glossy, intricate scales. Heaven knows how tempting this was for a snake enthusiast like me. Only when the snake's head stretched right in front of my face did I snap back to reality.

I stared at the snake's head, just inches from me, and reached out to stroke it. Then, I brushed the few stray strands of grass dangling near its eyes.

"There, you're clean now."

My voice trembled slightly as I said this. No matter how much I pretended, seeing something so gruesome still filled me with terror.

The giant snake studied me thoughtfully, but it didn't seem like it had any intention of sparing me. That was, until the small snake in my pocket slithered up my arm and curled around my shoulder.

Only then did that oppressive, bone-chilling presence finally ease.

The giant snake also shrank considerably until, finally, it curled itself up inside a coffin.

I let out a sigh of relief. But my tense body had barely relaxed for more than a few seconds when, suddenly, countless snakes poured from a nearby cave.

There were so many of them that I couldn't see a way to escape. The venomous snakes piled on top of each other, forming a snake tide that surged toward me at a terrifying speed.

Goosebumps erupted across my arms. I instinctively glanced at the now-shrunken giant snake, and our eyes happened to meet. In that moment of eye contact, I saw something almost human in its eyes—vivid emotions that only humans should have.

Naturally, I didn't miss the provocation and disdain in its gaze either.

As the snake tide drew closer, I looked at the giant snake lying in the coffin. It was seemingly watching the chaos unfold with amusement.

Gritting my teeth, I made up my mind. Taking two steps as one, I lunged into the coffin and wrapped my arms around its silky, scaly body.

"Move over, move over," I muttered as I nudged it aside.

In the narrow space, I could almost smell its scent, a mixture of fresh grass and earth after rain, evaporating into the air.

The next second, a sharp, angry voice rang next to my ear.

"You're lying on my hair!"

What?

I stared in shock and bewilderment at the white-haired, golden-eyed young man beneath me. After staring blankly for a few seconds, I gave him a small smile.

"Hey, handsome. What a coincidence," I chirped.

The giant snake, which was now in human form, was dressed in flowing black robes with long white hair cascading over his shoulders like moonlight, giving him the air of a charming, old-world gentleman.

The slight flush on the tips of his ears added a touch of vivid beauty to his otherwise cold and severe features.

"30 survivors left."

The icy mechanical voice interrupted my thoughts. In just half a day, a quarter of us were already dead.

Seeing the increasingly dangerous look in the man's eyes, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his strong waist and pulled him closer. There was no avoiding each other—the space between us was impossibly tight.

Suddenly, a pair of enormous wings sprouted from the man's back, and the scales on his body seemed sharper than ever. There was even a faint, eerie shimmer about them.

At the same time, a wave of drowsiness hit me, almost causing me to fall asleep instantly. In my groggy state, I could still feel the scorching gaze fixed intently on me, and I heard a muffled, indistinct voice whisper by my ear.

"I'll keep you around for a few more days—for now."

When I woke up again, it was the next day. My little pocket snake was somehow now coiled around the snake-man.

He still wore that calm, indifferent expression, but I knew he was not as harmless and docile as he appeared. Who knew how many people he had eaten at this point?

"All players, please take note. Congratulations! You've triggered the hidden stage. All players must immediately bring their host families and gather in the clearing by 2:00 pm."

A hidden stage?

Though my mind was filled with suspicions, I didn't dare refuse to go. I could only turn to the snake-man beside me for help. But what I saw startled me terribly. In his hands was a severed head, and he was steadily sucking out its contents through a straw.

The slurping sounds were loud, echoing clearly throughout the cave we were in.

Brain matter mixed with some unknown fluid—pale yellow and red—was savored with relish. He even wore a faint grin at the corners of his lips.

The other snakes nearby also gathered around, coiling obediently at his feet. It was as if, with a single command from him, they would all swarm the decapitated corpse and devour it completely.

As I fought back the urge to vomit, I finally recognized the headless body. It was none other than my bastard ex-boyfriend.

Noticing my gaze, the snake-man handed the head to me and smiled. "Want my help? Sure. Have a drink with me first."

The eyes of my ex-boyfriend stared straight at me, as if conveying his terror. It sent chills down my spine.

If I didn't accept, the snake-man wouldn't help me, let alone bring me to the clearing. But if I took the head, I'd have to…

After thinking for a few seconds, I reached for the head, smiled, and said, "Sure. Let's have a drink together."

As I spoke, I casually tossed the head aside, then pulled out an unopened can of soda from my backpack and took a sip.

I tentatively offered it to the snake-man. "That stuff isn't good for you. Try this."

He stared blankly at the can in my hand for a long while before accepting it. After taking a gulp, his eyes brightened noticeably.

I glanced down at my watch. It was currently 1:57 pm, with only three minutes left until the time mentioned in the broadcast.

With that in mind, I couldn't be bothered with anything else. I reached out, grabbed the snake-man, and dragged him along with me.

When we finally reached the clearing, everyone was watching us.

I also noticed that in just a day, half of the people were gone. Meanwhile, our former class president was missing a leg, and the remaining survivors all bore injuries of varying degrees.

"Next, we will commence the role-playing stage. Every player must participate along with their host families.

"Those who do not participate… will die."

As it spoke those words, the mechanical voice grew noticeably colder.

My heart sank completely. Hidden stage? As if. We were clearly just pigs waiting for slaughter.

As despair settled over me, an elbow nudged mine. A sweet female voice said, "Do you want to swap host families with me?"

I looked up and immediately recognized her. It was my college roommate, Crystal Caldwell.

One of Crystal's eyes was already blind, while the other stared unblinkingly at the snake-man beside me.

She continued, "How about we swap? My host is really nice. He's really not scary at all."

My mouth twitched. I knew exactly what kind of person she was, and without a second thought, I turned and strode off.

At the same time, the scene before my eyes shifted. The clearing morphed into streets and walkways that looked like something from the '70s or '80s, before finally focusing on the doorsteps of a paper effigy shop, with two dim lanterns hanging at the entrance.

I looked up at the lanterns. They were translucent, about as thin as butterfly wings, yet they glowed with an eerie light. After staring for a few seconds, realization hit me, and I abruptly took a step back.

On the surface of one of the lanterns was a faint greenish image—it was unmistakably a human tattoo.

These were lanterns made from human skin.

The snake-man scoffed. "This skin is of terrible quality. If they'd used newborn babies or unmarried maidens, it would've looked a hundred times more beautiful than this."

Hearing his disdainful words, I instinctively took a step away from him.

Suddenly, the door of the paper effigy shop flew open, and a brisk, middle-aged woman stormed out.

There was a greenish hue to her complexion, and despite the blazing summer heat, a scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck. Without missing a beat, she grabbed my ear and yanked me inside.

"You little wench! I asked you to gather pig feed, yet you ran off to fool around with the male student again! Have you no shame?"

As she yelled, she shot a fearful glance at the snake-man beside me, seemingly wary of him.

I stood rooted to the spot, utterly confused. What pig feed? What male student? Wait… Role-playing! Was my role here this woman's daughter?

Before I could figure it out, she slapped me across the face with both hands, hard enough to leave me reeling.

I looked down, and only then did I notice I was wearing ragged clothes covered in patches. My high ponytail was gone. It was replaced by a braid.

As for the white-haired snake-man who had been watching the drama unfold from the doorway, he had, at some point, transformed into a black-haired male student.

A few more slaps came flying my way. Trying to deflect the attacks, I went straight for her arm and yanked hard.

The woman fell to the ground and immediately started rolling around, wailing loudly. Her already greenish face now alternated between darkening and turning pale in a deeply unsettling way.

As I stared at her face, a strange sense of familiarity suddenly struck me, but I couldn't remember why.

Since this was the role-playing stage, I must be playing the middle-aged woman's daughter right now. In that case, what were the conditions for clearing this stage?

While I pondered, the snake-man's airy voice drifted over. "Do exactly what the original owner of this body did when she was alive. Once you trigger the key plot point, you'll clear the stage."

Amid the heart-wrenching wails, I finally caught what he said and asked, "What if I can't trigger the key plot point?"

He glanced at me coolly. "If you don't trigger it within two days, you'll be trapped in this storyline forever. And just so you know—time spent surviving here also counts toward the seven days."

As soon as he finished speaking, the woman dragged me straight into the bedroom.

The room was filled with paper effigies of all sizes. Their pallid cheeks were rouged in patches, making them look extremely creepy.

The woman seized me and viciously kicked the back of my knees. "On your knees!"

She spat at me. "You little wench. I'll sell you off tomorrow. Serves you right for messing around with that poor student!"

A middle-aged man entered from the next room, presumably the head of this household. The man had a thick, brutish-looking face, yet his complexion was deathly pale. He was nearly eight feet tall, and when he spoke, the floor seemed to tremble.

He produced a whip and lashed it mercilessly across my body.

The man's strength was tremendous, and the blows landed with dull, heavy thuds. But for some reason, I wasn't injured at all.

He cursed as he struck. "You little bitch! You dare seduce people? How shameless of you! How on earth did we Effins end up with a daughter like you?"

His yelling continued as a piece of paper fluttered onto my face.

"Planning to elope tonight? Do you think we're dead or something? Dream on!"