Swapped! - LXC x JC fanfic

Punishment

"Oh, my god... Jiang Cheng won't kill me, will he?!" Wei Wuxian asked with a pale face as he sat on top of Lil Apple while Lan Wangji pulled the rein as they walked towards the Lotus Pier. "Oh, no... I think he will. After all - !" he closed his eyes tight as he remembered what happened yesterday, the third day after they played the board game with Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen.

He and Lan Wangji travelled again, and, coincidentally, they passed by the place where Wei Wuxian picked up the board game.

"Eh? Lan Zhan. Wasn't this where I picked up that old board game?" Wei Wuxian asked Lan Wangji.

"En." Lan Wangji nodded.

Just then, an old man riding atop an ox that was pulling a cart of hay passed by. His eyes were wide as he has a panic-stricken expression on his face. "What?! Young master, what did you just say?!" he asked and looked at Wei Wuxian.

"Eh? Old man, why do you look so scared?" Wei Wuxian asked. "I just said I picked up an old board game in this spot." He said and pointed.

"How can I not be scared?!" the old man said with a look of horror on his face. "An entirely family died because of that damn board game! No... a whole village was cursed!" he said.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's expression changed. "What?!"

"Please tell us what happened." Lan Wangji said and they invited the old man to a teahouse.

"Everyone here knows what happened to the Geng Village." The old man started. "The Geng Village is two villages away from ours, but we all still heard the horrifying incident. It was the Ji family. Both parents are always out since they have businesses to take care of. The eldest son has a family, and moved out of their house. The second child is a daughter, and she also married. The youngest child, the second young master, is only fifteen years old. Since only he was left in their house, he felt bored and thus always goes around to play." He took a deep breath before he continued.

"One day, he found an old board blocking the way. He picked it up. At first, he thought it was just an ordinary board, but when he inadvertently turned it, he saw the rules on its back. No longer felt bored since he found a game, he brought it home. He called some servants to play with him, and they began to play."

"There are three rules: the first rule states that no one should leave the game until it was finished. The second rule states that the players should place themselves in the game. And the third rule states that the first person to reach the finish line and the last person will be punished."

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji looked at each other. It was the same rules they played. "What happened after they finished the game?" Wei Wuxian asked.

The old man shook his head. "The game was stopped in the middle since someone broke a rule." He said. "A maid left since she has to check the rice and the dish she was cooking." He told them.

"She broke the rule... what happens when you break the rule?" Wei Wuxian muttered to himself.

"The second young master, along with the two other servants that remained, resumed playing. One of the servants reached the finish line first, while the second young master was in the middle, and the other servant was the last." The old man said.

"The first and last person will be punished... what happened to them?" Wei Wuxian asked.

"The maid was found dead in the kitchen, while the other servants also died... but in a gruesome death." The old man's face paled. "The servant who reached the finish line was found in the bottom of the cliff... and his body was eaten by some beasts. Meanwhile, the other servant who finished last was smashed flat under the wheels." He shook his head.

"Breaking the rules will lead to death. The punishment for the first and last person is also death." Wei Wuxian muttered. "What about the second young master?" he asked.

"The second young master lived... however – " the old man shivered when he recalled a memory. " – however, he had gone mad. He invited some people to play the game. At first, we didn't know about such a death game, nor we know that all of the servants in their house is dead." He said. "We only found out a few days later when some people whom he invited became missing, and someone who passed by their house smelled the rotting corpses." He said.

"How about his parents?"

"Dead. Their body was found among the other corpses inside the house." The old man answered.

"Then, what happened to the second young master?"

"He was caught, and the board game was kept away from him. Then, few days later and his body was found dead in his jail cell."

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji looked at each other as they began to worry about Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng. "Oh, right. What about the 'curse' you mentioned earlier?" Wei Wuxian asked.

"It was the board game." The old man answered. "The board game was locked up in a compartment by the authorities, yet one day it disappeared. Then, they found that the board game appeared in one of the houses in the village, and somebody started playing it again." He explained.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji fell silent with a heavy expression on their face.

"Oh, right, gentlemen. You must have played the game, since that game would possess the person who found it to play it." The old man said. "The authorities noticed something as they investigated."

"What is it?"

"That in three days' time, by midnight, the 'punishment' will be executed." The old man answered. "When did you start playing the game?" he asked.

"Three days ago." 

(A/N: oof. But, WWX and LWJ are still alive since they arrived in Yunmeng after their talk with the old man yesterday. How about LXC and JC? What happens next?)