The five answers were —

【A: Hahahahaha! That’s hilarious!】

【B: Because the sheep shaving its wool is funny.】

【C: Because it’s unexpected — not being funny is part of the humor too.】

【D: The humor of a cold joke lies in the illogic and tedium of its reasoning.】

【E: I don’t find it funny.】

Bai Youwei paced slowly from A all the way to E, then turned her head and smiled at the clown head on the ground.

“There’s another kind of person who won’t laugh.” she said. “Because they never classify this kind of entertainment-style language as a joke to begin with.”

Bai Youwei reached out and opened the door without a moment’s hesitation.

Behind the door stood Shen Mo.

He frowned slightly, his gaze drifting to the two corpses on the ground, his memories slowly returning.

“How many people were eliminated?” Shen Mo walked out and asked.

The clown head on the ground was silent for a moment, then its spring retracted the head back into its body, and it said in a sour, peculiar tone: “Four. As for which four specifically, the King may check for themselves.”

As if it harbored resentment toward Bai Youwei.

— The King’s wristwatch could display the status of subjects. On Bai Youwei’s side, only Shen Mo’s avatar was lit up, status normal; the other subjects showed grey avatars, offline status.

As for which subjects Hans had lost on his end, only he himself knew.

The clown had lost interest in riding its comical unicycle. It said in a flat tone: “Zone A game is concluded. We are now entering Zone B. The battle game officially begins. All Kings, please prepare yourselves.”

Bai Youwei took Shen Mo’s hand and spoke quietly to him: “In Zone B’s game, numbers should be one of the key factors determining victory or defeat. That’s why the supervisor made a temporary adjustment and added the Zone A game — to balance the numbers.”

Shen Mo glanced at Hans’s side and said calmly, “What if we had more people than them? Would we necessarily need to be reduced?”

“If you’re strong enough, your numbers won’t be reduced.” Bai Youwei also looked toward Hans’s side. “If you’re strong enough… having fewer people doesn’t really matter.”

The surrounding walls began to fall one by one — white panels, one after another, like being inside an enormous cardboard box whose every side was flipping open to reveal the world outside.

Bai Youwei saw blue sky and white clouds; they were standing on a hillside covered in lush green grass, and in the distance lay a village that looked like something out of a fairy tale.

A pity that while the village looked beautiful, its name was not quite so lovely.

The clown supervisor announced: “Welcome to Werewolf Village. Allow me to introduce the rules of Werewolf Village —”

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo exchanged a glance.

“The name of this game makes me feel like people are going to die.” Bai Youwei said.

Shen Mo said, “Perhaps it will be wolves that die.”

“You’ve been getting more and more humorous lately.” Bai Youwei reached out both hands and pinched his solemnly cool face. “…Tsk tsk, I really do love watching you tell jokes with that perfectly straight face.”

“Perhaps I was always like this, but never had the opportunity to show it before.” Shen Mo gently lowered her hands. “Alright, pay attention to the rules.”

Hans, Molin, Breil, and Dim watched these two people in silence.

The clown, paying no attention to the players behind it, continued introducing the rules of its own accord:

“Every night, one villager transforms into a werewolf.

“Every night, the werewolf attacks one villager.

“Every night, villagers may not leave their homes.

“Upon entering the village, players become members of Werewolf Village. You must find methods of protection against werewolves in time, to avoid being attacked at night.

“Please note: when a villager is attacked by a werewolf, their physical capabilities are automatically halved. If one survives an attack unharmed, the second night they will be invincible — as werewolves cannot attack the same target two consecutive nights.

“Alright. Is everyone clear?”

—