I Marked My Arch-Nemesis Omega - Chapter 48

“Hiss.” Several people sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

Sheng Yu also took a step back, scanning the expressions of everyone present. Most of those in the room were Alphas, so the ones who looked shocked were mostly Omegas. The Alphas, though their faces were grim, didn’t show any fear.

“Damn, how did he die?”

“The game just started and it’s already over. That’s brutal. Will he be spectating from outside now?”

“A fork stabbed into the throat…” The person sitting next to the corpse made a disgusted face. “This game is way too gory.”

Song Qing glanced at Sheng Yu and noticed her face had turned slightly pale as she stared at the body. Frowning slightly, Song Qing said, “Once the cause of death is confirmed, cover him up or move him somewhere else.”

Sheng Yu shot a look at Song Qing, the corner of her lips curling up in a faint smirk.

“Sure, but let’s take another look first. No need to rush. The fork seems to have been thrown from across the table.” Another bold person leaned in to examine the wound. After a moment, they scanned the dining table, their gaze settling on the person sitting opposite the deceased. “Where’s your fork?”

“Huh? It’s on the table… Wait, where is my fork?” The person searched frantically but couldn’t find it. Finally, they realized—their fork was now embedded in someone else’s throat. “It wasn’t me! It must’ve been the ghost. How could I possibly—”

“Something like this wouldn’t be hard for an Alpha,” someone else interjected skeptically.

“True, but it probably wasn’t him,” Sheng Yu spoke up, glancing at the corpse before quickly covering her mouth and looking away, as if she were about to vomit. “Otherwise, it’d be way too obvious. No one’s that stupid.”

“I agree. Let’s all calm down first and move the body.”

A few people carried the corpse to the storage room, and only then did Sheng Yu’s complexion improve slightly.

“You okay?”

Sheng Yu looked at Song Qing, who had somehow appeared beside her holding a glass of water. “You’re breaking character.”

“Oh.” Song Qing shoved the water into Sheng Yu’s hand.

Sheng Yu took a sip and shook her head. “I’m fine.” But thinking about what she had to do next, a pang of guilt struck her. Why did it have to be the president?

Song Qing glanced at Sheng Yu before returning to Wu Wu’s side.

The meal ended hastily. After all, this was a 100% realistic game—if they didn’t eat, they’d really go hungry. Whether to eat now or sneak down for food in the middle of the night was an easy choice.

Song Qing had finished eating long ago but waited for Sheng Yu before heading back upstairs together.

On the surface, everyone returned to their rooms, with no one wandering around. But those with missions quietly slipped out.

“That was terrifying…” Shen Yun returned to the dorm, still shaken, her face yet to regain its color. “I feel like something else is going to happen.”

“Probably,” Sheng Yu said, sitting on the bed. It was soft.

“I kind of want to shower,” Shen Yun muttered. She’d broken out in a cold sweat earlier and felt sticky all over.

“Then go.”

“But I’m scared.”

“Then suffer.” Sheng Yu lay down.

Shen Yun sighed, realizing her hint hadn’t worked. “This is so boring. It’s only seven. Are we really just going to stay in the room the whole time?”

“If you say so, we’ll probably be heading out soon.” Sheng Yu yawned and closed her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk—to be honest, she really wanted to just eliminate Shen Yun right then and there to get some peace and quiet.

As it turned out, the game system wasn’t about to let them lounge around for long.

At the stroke of eight, the butler summoned everyone downstairs to play a game.

“This suddenly appeared beside my desk at seven-fifty,” the butler said, placing a box on the table before reading out the rules. “It’s simple—hide and seek. The person who draws number four will be the seeker, while the rest hide. Only one person can hide in each spot, and you can change locations as long as you haven’t been found.”

“Why four? That sounds so unlucky…”

“Come on, just draw. Honestly, whether you’re hiding or seeking, it all feels terrifying.”

“True…”

Sheng Yu drew her card and stared at the number “4” on it. Internally, she was laughing, but her expression cracked on the outside. “I got four…”

“Me too,” Song Qing said.

Sheng Yu exhaled in relief, her clenched hand relaxing.

“You have three minutes to hide. You four, head to the kitchen first.”

“Got it.”

The four seekers went to the kitchen together.

Sheng Yu naturally positioned herself next to Song Qing.

Song Qing glanced at her. “Want to stick together?”

“Sure,” Sheng Yu nodded.

“Honestly, the four of us could just team up… It’s not like there’s any punishment if we don’t play.”

“That’d be boring,” another person chimed in. “Let’s split up. Sheng Yu and Song Qing, you two go together. We’ll pair up.”

“Fine.” Song Qing had no objections, and Sheng Yu naturally had none either.

When the three minutes were up, the four of them left the kitchen.

The living room had felt crowded earlier, but now, with only four people, an eerie chill seemed to creep in from all directions.

Sheng Yu shivered and grabbed Song Qing’s sleeve. Truthfully, Song Qing didn’t think Sheng Yu was genuinely scared, but if she wanted to put on an act, Song Qing was happy to play along.

Sheng Yu and Song Qing would search the first three floors, while the other two took the fourth and fifth.

“Not breaking character?” Song Qing glanced at Sheng Yu.

“Tch.”

Sheng Yu let go, but Song Qing immediately caught her wrist.

“Actually, I’m not breaking character. My persona is pretty scummy like this.”

Sheng Yu narrowed her eyes. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

“Let’s just find people.” Song Qing tugged her along.

Sheng Yu noticed how composed Song Qing was—she even checked the storage room where the bodies were kept. Honestly, Sheng Yu doubted anyone would hide there, and sure enough, no one was. Yet Song Qing still went in alone and searched the entire place.

The storage room was quite large. Sheng Yu claimed she was too scared to enter, but in reality, she used the time to eliminate someone.

Jiang Yi was hiding on the first floor. The moment Sheng Yu appeared, he deliberately made noise to lure her over. After being “found,” he sighed loudly but subtly pointed in a direction.

Jiang Yi lowered his voice. “Three people. Two of them are in the same room.”

Sheng Yu responded, and after ensuring there were no other people around, she transformed into Song Qing’s appearance. She went straight to the room where two people were hiding. After pretending to search for a while, she swiftly killed one person and moved the body back into the closet.

One person was hiding in a gap in the ceiling. Sheng Yu had actually noticed them as soon as she entered, but she silently admired their agility and courage. Without looking up, she simply left.

Sheng Yu was quite familiar with some of Song Qing’s mannerisms and had perfectly captured her demeanor. To the person in the ceiling, Song Qing appeared to be the ghost.

After completing this, Sheng Yu returned to stand by the storage room door. A short while later, Song Qing emerged.

“Took you so long?” Sheng Yu asked.

“Yeah, there were a lot of cabinets inside,” Song Qing nodded, glancing at Sheng Yu.

Sheng Yu gestured toward the person sitting in the living room. “I just found Jiang Yi.”

This way, if Song Qing had come out midway and noticed her absence, there would be an explanation.

“Okay,” Song Qing didn’t ask any questions.

Jiang Yi claimed to be scared and followed behind the two of them. Watching Sheng Yu cling to Song Qing with a frightened expression, then recalling how boldly she had been strutting around the castle earlier, Jiang Yi couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions.

Sheng Yu and Song Qing searched the first floor again. This time, Sheng Yu found the person hiding in the ceiling before Song Qing could. After the person climbed down, they looked at Song Qing, then at Sheng Yu, hesitating as if they wanted to say something.

The group moved on to other areas together, and as more people gathered, Sheng Yu found it harder to slip away, so she didn’t take any further action.

The game was set to last two days and one night, so there was still plenty of time. She wasn’t in a hurry.

Once everyone had been found, they all sat down together.

“Two people are still missing,” the butler counted heads and frowned.

“Zhao Liu is dead,” the person who had hidden in the ceiling spoke up. “He and I were hiding in the same room. I saw Song Qing come in and kill him.”

Song Qing froze, turning to look at the speaker, then instinctively glanced at Sheng Yu, who also wore a shocked expression.

“That can’t be. Song Qing was with me the whole time,” Sheng Yu said.

“But I saw her. I couldn’t have mistaken her,” the ceiling guy clenched his fists. “Luckily, I was well-hidden and she didn’t notice me, or I’d be dead too.”

“But I really—” Sheng Yu tried to argue.

“Not really. When you found me, Song Qing wasn’t with you,” Jiang Yi interrupted.

Sheng Yu wanted to give Jiang Yi a thumbs-up—she was great at playing along.

“It wasn’t me,” Song Qing said. “I think it’s more likely the ghost impersonated me. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

Song Qing looked at Sheng Yu again.

Sheng Yu knew she had already drawn Song Qing’s suspicion. “I think that’s very possible… How could the president not find you?”

“But later in the room, wasn’t it you who found me? She still didn’t find me,” the ceiling guy pressed. “Sheng Yu, don’t trust Song Qing too much. You might be next.”

Sheng Yu frowned and fell silent, her expression conflicted. She looked at Song Qing, who was also watching her.

She knew she was probably exposed, but Song Qing didn’t say anything.

“So what do we do now?”

“I have a prop,” someone said, pulling out five bracelets. “If you put these on a ghost, it can’t move anymore. But once you’ve identified the ghost, you can’t change your mind…”

“Then we should probably put them on the ghost at the last moment. What if we get it wrong? Let’s observe Song Qing’s behavior first. After all, so many of us were acting alone back then—what if someone really impersonated Song Qing…”

“I think that’s a better approach too,” Sheng Yu chimed in immediately, putting on a show of unwavering faith in Song Qing, unwilling to accept reality. “But didn’t we say there’s still one person missing?”

“Yeah, Min Qi hasn’t been found yet.”

“Min Qi!” several people shouted, but no one appeared after a long while.

“No way… is he dead too? Unbelievable. The ghost faction is seriously overpowered. That person has a prop—do the others have skills too? How are we supposed to play this? Did anyone see how Min Qi died?”

Sheng Yu made a suggestion: “How about this—everyone shares what they were doing during hide-and-seek? Maybe we can piece something together.”