I am the only cleaner in the horror game.

After each round, I come out to clean the rooms, picking up the scattered limbs.

The NPCs who normally go around hacking players are all very respectful to me off-duty.

Without me, their living environment would be like a cesspool.

One day, I took a day off, and they went crazy looking for me, asking everyone they encountered, ‘Did you kidnap Aunt Maya? Give us back Aunt Maya!’

In the end, all the players went mad too and joined in the search for Aunt Maya.

01

I, Maya, am the only cleaner in the horror game.

During the interview, the boss, who had a frosty demeanor, waved his hand grandiosely and said, ‘I hereby announce that all the game’s trash is now your responsibility.’

Before I could say ‘thank you’ or ‘there’s no need,’ my eyes were glued to the job benefits listed next to his forty-two-pack abs.

A base salary of eleven thousand per month, with a piece rate for each instance cleaned, each instance paying a thousand.

I immediately decided that this menial job should be mine. Labor is glorious!

The boss said, ‘To prevent the NPCs in the game from interfering with you, I grant you four artifacts: the broom, the dustpan, the mop, and the cloth.’

I forced a smile and said, ‘Thank you for your generosity, boss.’

He nodded with satisfaction, saying, ‘Go ahead, I look forward to your performance. After all, you are the woman I picked at first sight.’

He have a bunch of heads but only one eye in the middle of his chest, squeezed by his huge pectoral muscles. I looked at his eye, then at his many heads jabbering away.

I said expressionlessly, ‘So, should I start working now?’

He said, ‘Actually, there’s no rush. Tomorrow is Saturday, you can start on Tuesday. Our instances are only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You can clean on Tuesdays and Thursdays.’

Do I look like a fool?

This is piece-rate work; the less you work, the less you earn.

I plastered on a stiff smile, turned on my heel, and dove into the instance, ready to tackle whatever horrors awaited me.

I faintly heard him say with relief, ‘Such diligence.’

But if it weren’t for being poor, who would want to be diligent?

While I was pondering this, I arrived at the first instance — House of Cards.

[House of Cards Rules.]

[1. When playing card games, you must not hold a joker. If the joker stays in your hand for more than three rounds, you will be killed.]

[2. Blank cards can replace any card.]

[3. Spades bring misfortune, red cards bring good luck.]

I looked at the large signboard and picked up the cloth to wipe it. It was so dirty that some words were unreadable.

‘What are you doing?’

A cold voice came from behind me.

‘Do you know I deliberately made it confusing for players? Do you want to die…rip…play cards?’

He saw the four artifacts in my hand and forced a smile.

His clown face had no comedic sense at all.

I looked at him and asked, ‘You’re not really happy, are you?’

‘What?’ He looked confused.

I said, ‘Your smile is very strained, just like mine. If you don’t want me to clean, I can leave.’

I understood his feelings well.

I used to kowtow to my boss too.

I only started looking for a new job after being fired.

Seeing him still organizing his words, I picked up my things and prepared to leave.

He looked at me and said, ‘Actually, you can clean. Although I put people into playing cards when I kill them, some still kill each other.’

He led me forward, ‘Look at this wall. It used to be pure white, but now it’s stained with dark blood. Can you clean it for me?’

I nodded, bent down with the cloth, and carefully cleaned.

The wall material was special, made of playing cards.

Using too much water or force could wrinkle or tear it.

He watched my cloth intently and only relaxed after seeing it clean, ‘Thank you so much, I’ve always been troubled by this. This deck of cards was left to me by my dad.’

I looked at him.

He reminisced, ‘He was an unremarkable magician and a clown who made people laugh. I despised him as a child, but growing up, I realized he was a great father. But I can no longer tell him this in person, as I am already dead, just an NPC.’

I asked, ‘Do you need me to deliver a message? I can return to the real world.’

His eyes lit up and he became flustered, ‘Please come next time. I still need to think about what to say…’

He pushed me out the door, and I saw the door to the House of Cards close.

The boss raised an eyebrow, ‘Do you know what rating your first instance cleaning received?’

He pulled a suspenseful act like a talent show judge, raising his tone, ‘Full marks!’

‘What’s the reward for full marks?’

I asked expectantly.

‘There is no reward, just my flying kiss.’ He winked with his single eye.

‘No, thank you,’ I said expressionlessly and walked into the next instance.

Having such a boss is a ‘blessing.’

02

The room name — Nine-Tails.

[People are unwilling to believe that a wise ruler turned into a tyrant and blame the fox beside him.]

[But after killing the Nine-Tails, the dynasty did not improve at all.]

[So, what should these insightful people do now?]

Entering the instance, I saw pavilions and towers covered in white snow.

I looked at the ordinary broom in my hand. I was good at sweeping snow, but using this seemed a bit difficult.

Finally, I decided to use brute force.

‘Hey! You swept my tail!’

I looked around and finally saw a bald tail wriggling in the snow.

‘Sorry, I didn’t know your tail was there.’

It asked, ‘Who are you? It’s not the time for players to enter the instance.’

I said, ‘I’m the new cleaner.’

‘Cleaner?’ It seemed surprised.

At this moment, the snowman in the distance moved, and a fox head popped out, its big eyes shining, ‘When did our game get a cleaner? How strange.’

To make it believe me, I walked up to it and showed my work ID.

It looked closely and said, ‘I can’t read. Human text is too complicated for me.’

I apologized again, ‘Sorry.’

It said puzzledly, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong, why do you keep apologizing?’

‘Maybe it’s a habit,’ I thought and said, ‘Sometimes I worry about hurting others.’

Its ears twitched, and it fully emerged from the snowman, revealing a furry head and a bloody lower body.

‘I never worry about that.’ I looked at its body. It said, ‘My fur was just skinned, but I’ve already avenged myself by torturing them in the instance.’

I said, ‘It must have hurt a lot.’

‘Of course,’ it nodded, ‘but now I don’t feel pain anymore. Let’s not talk about me, tell me about yourself.’

‘Me?’ I thought for a moment, ‘My life is as bland as water, nothing much to say.’ It walked closer step by step, nine tails extending from the snow, ‘I’m curious, aren’t you afraid?’ I asked, ‘Why would I be afraid?’ It said, ‘All players who see me run away scared, calling me ugly, disgusting, terrifying…’ I thought about it, ‘Maybe because I like watching horror movies? When I was a kid, my classmates had posters of bands and stars in their rooms, but I had monsters, ghosts, and demons… I wished they would come out of the pictures and beat up the bullies.’

It nodded, ‘Did your wish come true? Did they come out?’

I shook my head, ‘They didn’t, but my teacher dealt with the bullies.’

It said, ‘How nice. In my fox life, I never met anyone who helped me.’

I squatted down and looked at it, ‘Do you need my help?’

It thought seriously, ‘Help me build snowmen. Although they’re destroyed every time the instance opens, I really like these white things.’

So we spent the whole day building snowmen— all kinds of snowmen.

Blowing hot air, I felt a bit tired but also very happy.

It said, ‘Alright, it’s almost done. One last thing. Bury me in the snow, I want to sleep.’

When I buried it in the snow, it said goodbye, ‘See you next time, Miss Cleaner.’

Leaving the instance, the boss was still at his desk, ‘You didn’t seem to clean this time?’

I nodded, ‘Yes, don’t count it in my wage.’

He looked at me, ‘I appreciate your honesty, so I decided to reward you…’

I said, ‘A flying kiss, right? No need, really.’

 He chuckled, ‘You saw through me… I’ll give you a different reward next time. Now you should go home. It’s already 5 PM in the real world, and our workday ends at 4:30. Remember, no overtime allowed here.’

He clapped his hands, and the surroundings blurred as I returned to reality.

So decisive, no chance for overtime.

Helplessly, I went home.

My grandma was sitting at the door, asking indistinctly, ‘Maya, did you find a job?’

I approached and said into her ear, ‘Grandma, I did.’ Her hearing was bad, so I had to get close.

‘That’s good, that’s good,’ she said twice, as if a burden was lifted from her heart, ‘I knew you could find a job easily; you’re a college graduate, finding a new job is just a matter of time…’

Grandma talked for a long time before stopping.

I smiled and went inside, greeted my mom, ate, rested…

Monday.

I picked up the four artifacts and returned to the mysterious space behind the instances.

The boss, with his arms crossed, looked at me, ‘Don’t rush in; the instance is in progress.’

He patted the chair next to him, ‘Sit and watch the live broadcast for a while.’

I looked up and saw countless images floating.

In the House of Cards, players holding jokers were sweating profusely.

In the Nine-Tails instance, players were discussing strategies to break through.

‘This instance is over, you can go in now if you don’t mind.’ He pointed to a place, and I looked over. Blood, limbs… and a grinning monster.

03

When I pushed the door open, the monster was crouching on a recliner, and the ground was covered in sticky blood, red and slippery.

Human limbs were scattered everywhere, impossible for even a professional corpse collector to piece together accurately.

It was a scene straight out of hell. And this was only the second floor of the castle instance.

I peered over the railing, the visual shock comparable to my first encounter with Junji Ito’s manga, the master of Japanese horror.

I muttered, ‘Such a tough cleanup job.’

I knew the thousand-piece rate wasn’t easy money.

I put on a mask, gloves, and picked up the tweezers, ready to start picking up the limbs into the big garbage bin.

The monster watched me start cleaning on my own and said, ‘Hey, ma’am, I’ve been watching you for a while. How can you start cleaning without the owner’s permission?’

I looked into its fierce eyes and asked, ‘Do you really need cleaning?’

Secretly hoping they’d say no, so I could dodge this gruesome task.

It nodded vigorously, ‘Need it, definitely need it. Ma’am, I’ve been longing for this day.’

My mouth twitched, ‘You can call me Aunt Maya.’

Before I could finish, it grabbed my gloves, nearly pulling them off, tears shining in its eyes.

‘Aunt Maya, you have no idea what life was like before you came. I was initially living on the first floor, now I’m almost living on the roof. It’s so smelly!’

Forget it, let it call me whatever. I looked at its needle-like teeth and said, ‘I’ll start cleaning now.’

It was sobbing and sniffling, looking like I had wronged it.

It nodded heavily, ‘Please, Aunt Maya.’

So I dragged the garbage bin and started the ‘limb-picking’ action.

Halfway through, the bin was so heavy that the ‘red’ wheels barely turned.

‘Aunt Maya, I’ll help!’ it said, pushing the bin from behind.

I felt that if I stayed a bit longer, my biceps would start showing. After circling the second floor, my arms were completely numb.

My hands, holding the tweezers, were trembling.

‘Um…’ I looked at it, ‘I haven’t asked your name yet?’ It smiled, ‘Call me Lee.

I nodded, ‘Lee, your Aunt Maya may have to leave early today.’

I knew cleaning would be tiring, but not this tiring. If I stayed longer, my arms might not make it. ‘How about…’

It scratched its head in disappointment, its sharp claws scraping against its scalp like hitting steel, clink-clank.

‘I’ll come again tomorrow,’ I said.

It immediately beamed with joy.

If an ordinary person saw its ferocious grin, they would surely have nightmares all night.

‘Let me see you out.’

It lifted the big garbage bin and escorted me to the door, ‘Aunt Maya, you must come back tomorrow.’

‘My word is my bond.’

I turned and pulled the garbage bin out of the instance.

The boss said, ‘I can only pay you after you’ve cleaned an entire instance.’

I looked at him, ‘Of course.’

He raised an eyebrow, ‘So, do you still want to clean this instance? The workload differs greatly between instances. I won’t consider how hard it is for you. With the same effort, you might have cleaned three instances. Smart people know what choices to make.’

Dragging the garbage bin towards the garbage dump, I said, ‘Then just consider me a fool.’

His hearty laughter echoed behind me, like he’d just heard the world’s best joke or found a hidden stash of candy.

Dumping the remains into the garbage dump, I looked at the warning at the entrance, all red exclamation marks.

[The garbage dump is only open from 13:00 to 14:00 daily. Enter at your own risk outside these hours!]

At the entrance, six clocks were ticking simultaneously, seemingly to prevent any errors.

04

I entered at 13:22 and left at 13:47.

The garbage classification here was quite strict, everything had to be piled in designated areas, otherwise strange things would happen.

My movements were still not swift enough.

Thinking for a moment, I returned to the hall.

The boss was still watching a livestream, thirty-one heads looking around, making me wonder if the eye on his chest was just for show.

Otherwise, how could he see?

‘Back?’ he asked casually.

‘Hmm,’ I said, hesitating for a moment, ‘Boss, can I advance some of my salary?’

Before I could state my reason, he asked, ‘How much?’

‘I need three thousand,’ I said…

‘No need to tell me what you need it for. The salary will be transferred to your card later,’ he said indifferently, suddenly becoming fully focused, ‘Come with me, a new instance is about to be born.’

On the right side of the hall, an entrance door was flickering, appearing and disappearing.

The boss stood there like a father outside a delivery room, his expression extremely solemn.

Catching his mood, I also became nervous.

Until the entrance door solidified, the boss’s brows furrowed deeply.

I looked at him, ‘Boss, you don’t seem happy?’

As the boss behind the horror game, having one more instance should be a good thing for him.

He looked at me, ‘You might have noticed, from dealing with the NPCs, their pasts weren’t exactly happy. Instances are born with pain. If human newborns represent hope, then the birth of instances represents despair. If it were you, could you be happy?’

I immediately thought of the Nine-Tails.

It casually mentioned being skinned, but only it knew the actual pain.

I said, ‘If it were me, I couldn’t be happy.’

I only hope for less suffering and more joy in this world.

After the entrance door stabilized, the boss turned the knob, ‘Come in with me, let’s take a look.’

Following him in, the sky was overcast, with a sandstorm sweeping across the land.

A few steps forward, an orphanage appeared before us, a white cat and a black cat standing side by side on the wall.

The black cat asked, ‘Who are you?’

The white cat went, ‘Meow meow meow meow.’

The boss stepped forward, the black cat warned, ‘Stop, don’t come any closer.’

The white cat went, ‘Meow meow, meow meow meow meow.’

The boss stopped, ‘We are your family. Children, welcome to the horror game. You will act as the checkpoint bosses of this instance and manage it. I’ll provide you with the relevant information later. We came here to meet you and get acquainted.’

The black cat squinted its eyes, ‘We don’t need family, please leave.’

The white cat went, ‘Meow…’

The black cat glanced at it, ‘Enough, you silly cat, stop translating, they can understand.’

The white cat stopped meowing, looking aggrieved.

The black cat turned its head, ‘Anyway, you’re not welcome here.’

I looked at the boss, ‘Boss, should we leave?’

After all, they had already issued an eviction order.

The boss nodded, ‘We’ll leave now, hope you adapt to life here soon.’

Under the black cat’s wary gaze, we walked out the door.

Only after closing the door did I notice something at my feet.

Looking down, it was the white cat. It was rubbing against my pant leg.

The boss also noticed, ‘An incredible talent, it can actually penetrate the instance.’

‘Is penetrating an instance such an amazing talent?’

I was surprised, then what about me walking in and out?

The boss said, ‘The entrance and exit of an instance only open when players enter or leave. NPCs can never leave the instance at any time. This rule was set by the previous boss, I can’t change it. So, penetrating an instance is a special talent, that’s why I chose you.’

So that’s why, I thought it was my interview performance that moved him.

Didn’t expect fate to have already set a price tag in secret.

Although I was the special one, I still felt a bit bitter.

The boss’s single eye rotated, ‘This Lee guy seems to like you a lot.’

I don’t seem to attract cats this much, do I?

Thinking it over, I took out some snacks from my pocket.

The white cat’s eyes lit up immediately.

I said, ‘It’s just hungry.’

05

I tore open the package and handed it to it, it bit it and ran to the door, scratching at it.

I was surprised, ‘It wants to bring it back to the black cat.’

I opened the door for it, the white cat jumped in and disappeared.

The boss said, ‘It’s rare to see two NPCs in one instance, their relationship must be very close.’

I thought, maybe they are brothers or siblings.

But I was completely wrong. Inside the instance, the white cat carried the food to the black cat.

The black cat wagged its tail, ‘You eat it, I used to feed you, but can’t do it here. You shouldn’t have come with me, I’m not a qualified master.’

The white cat ‘meowed’ twice, leaning against the black cat.

The black cat sighed, ‘Why did I turn into a cat and still can’t understand what you’re saying?’

I knew nothing of what was happening inside the instance.

Seeing the ‘House of Cards’ instance ending its livestream, I knocked on the door and opened it.

I didn’t see the clown’s face, only heard his voice, ‘Hello, could you please deliver the deck of playing cards on the table to my dad? Please, do not open it. He lives at the small theater on Joy Road, he’s quite old, has some burn scars, and his name is Tax.’ I nodded, ‘Sure, I’ll deliver it this afternoon.’

The clown said, ‘Thank you so much.’

I glanced around, couldn’t find his position, he’s even more socially anxious than I was.

‘Then I’ll be going now.’

He said, ‘Okay, goodbye.’

I picked up the cards and left.

Suddenly, the cards shook, and the clown was ejected out.

He fell to the ground, smiling bitterly, ‘I knew this wouldn’t work.’

I looked at him, ‘You were hiding in the cards?’

He apologized, ‘I didn’t mean to deceive you, Maya. I just wanted to see him so badly, I came up with a foolish plan.’

He said painfully, ‘I’m sorry, really sorry.’

I walked up to him, ‘You don’t have to apologize to me, you didn’t do anything harmful. I understand you, I shed countless tears while accompanying my dad in the intensive care unit. Instances don’t allow electronic devices, I’ll make sure you see everything about your dad, even if I have to draw it myself.’

He couldn’t believe it, ‘Really?’

I nodded, ‘Really.’

Though I’m not good at drawing,

I can hire someone.

He stood up, ‘I really don’t know what to say, I don’t know how to repay you.’

I said, ‘Your words are enough, I can feel your sincerity.’

Thinking of what the boss said about the black cat, I told the clown, ‘We are family, aren’t we?’

His eyes moistened, he nodded, ‘Yes, we are family. The House of Cards will always welcome you.’

I smiled, taking his cards, and walked out.

The three thousand I intended to advance was to get a gym membership for a year, to strengthen my body.

I’ll postpone that for now.

Leaving the horror game’s backstage space, I messaged my high school friend, ‘How much do you charge for drawing illustrations?’

She replied, ‘Depends, two hundred for black and white, color varies.’

I asked, ‘What about sketches?’

She thought for a while, ‘Twenty or thirty dollars.’

I said, ‘Deal.’