Chapter 37: Negative Score Means Death

When Lin Kuo returned to Room 3, Lin Zhi and Jiang Sheng immediately came up to meet him.
Lin Zhi had been cheerful at first, but when she saw Lin Kuo’s troubled expression, her smile faded.
“Brother… what’s wrong?”

Lin Kuo didn’t know how to explain it.
He had no idea why Zhang Mengnan had gone to Room 6, but it was hard to believe she’d just stopped by for tea in the middle of the night.
Besides, Zhang Mengnan had always been excluded by the other elderly players because of her high score…

Unable to figure it out, he told Lin Zhi and Jiang Sheng everything he saw in Room 6.

Lin Zhi was stunned at first. Then her first reaction was,
“She… could she have overheard us talking?”

Lin Kuo had considered that possibility too.
He thought back to Zhang Mengnan’s behavior during The Intruder, but had been reluctant to go down that path.
Now that Lin Zhi brought it up, he had no choice but to admit it was likely.

Lin Zhi frowned.
“If she overheard us, that should actually be good for her, right? She probably… probably didn’t go to Room 6 to rat us out, right? If that’s what she’s doing, I swear—f**k.”

Lin Kuo replied, “It’s not snitching.”

It wasn’t quite snitching, but it was close enough. Lin Kuo had already figured out Zhang Mengnan’s motive.
And his only comment was:
“Too clever for her own good.”

His mood soured because of Zhang Mengnan, but not wanting to worry Lin Zhi, he said,
“Let’s sleep first. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

***

Lying in bed, Lin Kuo had originally planned to talk to Sheng Wen.
He opened his phone and glanced at the livestream barrage—only to find himself in an even worse mood:

[I don’t get what Zhang Mengnan is doing.]
[Why bother about others? She already has the clues—just focus on getting in the top     three!]
[What’s with the damn streamer? So fierce with us, but so nice to his teammates.]
[What do we do? I’m worried Number 6 will betray us.]
[I really have no words.]
[This side story is actually pretty exciting. But man, the pig teammates.]

Not wanting to spread his negativity to Sheng Wen, Lin Kuo shoved his phone back into his pocket and closed his eyes, forcing himself to sleep.

******

The next day—Friday—the third story meeting.

After breakfast, everyone automatically gathered in the living room without the old man needing to call them.
On the display, the scores had been frozen for everyone except Zhang Mengnan.

Yan Jie was very unhappy about his third-place ranking.

He knew it was because his story material had been destroyed before he could kill Jiang Sheng.
When he saw Lin Kuo’s group of three walk into the living room, he cursed under his breath.
Just as he turned to speak to Number 7, he caught sight of a look exchanged between Number 6 and Zhang Mengnan.

He paused, suspicion flashing in his eyes.

Number 7 asked,
“What’s wrong?”

Yan Jie had plenty of experience with betrayal. He immediately recognized the look between Number 6 and Zhang Mengnan and cursed,
“Number 6 is up to something.”

Number 7 glanced straight at Number 6, his gaze openly aggressive. Both Zhang Mengnan and Number 6 noticed it instantly.

Seeing himself caught, Number 7 just sneered coldly.

Number 6’s heart started pounding. Had they been found out? Damn it.
Yan Jie was the most experienced player here—and he was also the top scorer in Zone B. Most people just followed his lead.

Number 6 and Zhang Mengnan had agreed to take out Numbers 7 and 8 during today’s story meeting.
But he was also counting on earning 30 points from his own story.

Now, seeing Yan Jie whispering to the others, a sense of doom rose in his chest.

Yan Jie was petty and sharp, a streetwise thug. He was definitely telling the others not to give Number 6 any points.

If he lost that 30 points, and if “Shen” didn’t pick his imagination—he was finished!

Even if Lin Kuo were the king of heaven himself, he wouldn’t be able to help Number 6 reach the required 30 points!

As soon as Lin Kuo entered the living room, he quietly asked Lin Zhi where Number 6 was sitting.
He’d already noticed the look on Number 6’s face.

Frowning, Lin Kuo shot a glance at Jiang Sheng. Jiang Sheng immediately understood and tugged nervously at Lin Kuo’s pant leg.

The old man appeared with “Shen” in his arms, smiling broadly:

“Good morning, everyone! I’m so happy to see you all again for story meeting day.
I can’t wait to hear your stories today, haha. No more small talk—who wants to go first?”

On the first day, Number 2, who went first, had died.
On the second day, Number 3, Yan Jie, got zero points for time and audience votes.

By now, everyone was hyper-aware of the order of storytellers.

Yan Jie suspected that the first storyteller was always attacked by the material entity, while the second storyteller was the one whose time and audience scores actually counted.

That was what happened on day one too.
So, naturally, no one wanted to go first today.

Number 6 knew everything about the rules already, but he still didn’t want to be first.
He figured if Lin Kuo or Jiang Sheng told their stories first, he could rate them and maybe scrape together a few more points.

Seeing everyone glued to the sofa like nails, the old man smiled helplessly:

“The weather is great today. I thought you’d all be eager to share your exciting stories with me.
Alright, if no one volunteers, we’ll go in numerical order.”

He looked at Jiang Sheng and smiled kindly:
“Let’s welcome Guest Number 4 to share his story.”

Jiang Sheng looked nervously at Lin Zhi.

Lin Zhi whispered,
“It’s fine. Don’t be afraid.”

Jiang Sheng remembered he had to act depressed in front of the others, so he first made a pitiful face before starting:

“I don’t like going to tutoring classes, but every weekend, Mom still sends me.
She doesn’t like kids with bad grades, so to make her happy, I studied hard.
But one day, I had a fever. That day was the midterm exam.
I took the test even though I was sick, thinking Mom would be angry.
But Mom told me it was okay, that I should just do my best on the final exam.”

Number 6 was dumbfounded.

He’d been tense the whole time, trying to imagine some terrifying scenario—but he never expected the kid to tell that kind of story.

Was the scary part the mother? No, not really. What parent doesn’t want their child to succeed?
And the mom in the story even comforted the kid, telling him to try harder next time.

Was the exam scary? Well… even if it was, could a few sheets of paper really kill someone?

Everyone burst out laughing when Jiang Sheng finished.

Even the old man chuckled, affectionately ruffling Jiang Sheng’s hair.

“What a cute story! Now let’s give scores to Guest Number 4.”

He passed out the scoring sheets.

Lin Zhi leaned in toward Lin Kuo and whispered,
“Brother, the cat is watching the little brat.”

“Mhm.” Lin Kuo lowered his head and filled in his score.

Of everyone here, only Jiang Sheng’s imagination was pure and innocent enough to attract “Shen.”

The old man gathered the scores. But after tallying them, his face changed.

Lin Kuo immediately sensed something was wrong. Lin Zhi stiffened too.

Even in past rounds when someone scored zero, the old man had only expressed mild regret—he’d never lost control of his expression like this.

But now, his face darkened. The smile vanished. His voice turned cold:

“I’ve said before—zero is the lowest score allowed.”

Lin Zhi gasped:
“Don’t tell me… someone gave him negative points?”

Lin Kuo pressed his lips together.
“Let’s hear the result.”

The old man angrily flung the scorecards to the floor.

“Guest Number 4’s story was so adorable, and yet four of you gave him negative points!

Number 7, Number 9, Number 10, Number 11! Why would you do that?!”

Everyone was stunned. The old man had directly named the four culprits.

They looked embarrassed for a moment but quickly settled into an attitude of: Yeah, we did it. So what?

Lin Zhi took a deep breath.

“Brother, I feel ashamed for even thinking yesterday that we could all survive together.”

Lin Kuo gave the four a complicated look, while Yan Jie stared back gleefully.

Of course, it had been Yan Jie who told them to give Jiang Sheng negative points.
And if Lin Kuo had told a story, they would’ve done the same to him.

Yan Jie knew there would be consequences, so he hadn’t scored at all.

The old man suddenly smiled sinisterly:

“Do you know? If your total score goes negative, you’re eliminated immediately.”

Lin Zhi exploded:

“F**k! You four grown-ass men bullying a child—don’t you feel ashamed?! F**k you all!
If anything happens to Jiang Sheng, I swear I’ll kill you!”

Some of the other players froze, realizing they didn’t know the rule.

“I didn’t know… If I’d known, I wouldn’t have given negative points…”

Lin Zhi snapped:

“Oh, so if I stab you with a knife and say I didn’t know a knife could kill, that makes it okay?!”

Someone got pissed off:

“F**k you. A woman talking like that—what, you been living in a greenhouse? Don’t know how the world works? I’m right here. You wanna stab me? Come on then!”

Lin Zhi stormed toward the kitchen to grab a knife, but Lin Kuo pulled her back.

“Brother!”

“Don’t rush. If anything happens to Jiang Sheng, I guarantee not a single one of them gets out of here.”

The others wanted to argue back, but when they saw Lin Kuo’s expression, they fell silent.

His cold stare was like a blade, slicing straight into their bones.

The old man, still smiling eerily, continued:

“Guest Number 4 received five points each from Guests Number 1, 6, 12, and 13.

But he also received minus five points each from Guests 7, 9, 10, and 11.”

Lin Zhi quickly did the math.

Jiang Sheng had 20 positive points from them, but the other four wiped it out completely with -20.
That left him with exactly zero.

At least it wasn’t negative. Lin Zhi let out a breath but still couldn’t help cursing under her breath.

Seeing no one had died, the other guests started mocking Lin Zhi again.

The old man interrupted, his voice cold:

“I hereby announce that Guest Number 4’s final score is zero.

Guests Number 7, 9, 10, and 11 have each lost five points from their own total scores.

Their scores are now negative.

They are eliminated immediately.”