Chapter 22

Chapter 22

At the first hint of dawn, Yu Lingling heard doors opening. Through the window, she saw several residents leaving the building.

In daylight, they showed none of the mutated features they had displayed at night. They looked just like ordinary people in the real world. Some carried schoolbags, while others held baskets as they walked into the gray fog.

Yu Lingling glanced at the pile of flesh on the floor. He was feeding even faster now, but his regeneration was slowing.

With a thought, the Four Dolls appeared beside Yu Lingling.

They had all changed clothes since last night, and their auras were slightly stronger than when she had first seen them yesterday.

Yu Lingling handed the key to the Westernmost Unit on the fourth floor to the doll with the strongest aura. “Collect all the newspapers with missing-person notices and give them to the resident in the wheelchair we met last night.”

Before her, the Four Dolls stared at Yu Lingling with pitch-black eyes. Not one of them moved.

Yu Lingling: “…”

She closed her eyes and silently counted her oversights.

First, she had overlooked the fact that people like Brother Knife possessed abilities that defied common sense, such as suddenly switching places with someone. That had been her mistake, and it had nearly cost her life. She could never allow herself to make the same mistake again.

Second, she had simply assumed the Four Dolls knew how to read.

After a moment of silence, Yu Lingling said, “Give everything with writing on it to the resident in the wheelchair. Then clean the place up together. Once it’s spotless, remember to open the windows and air it out.”

At that, the Four Dolls stared at Yu Lingling in disbelief, each pointing at their own nose with their right index finger.

After becoming Yu Lingling’s dolls, they were not yet strong enough to speak, but their meaning could not have been clearer.

They were the four bosses of Auspicious Village, supernatural entities who had disposed of countless players – and she wanted them to clean?

Did she even hear herself?

The corners of Yu Lingling’s lips curled upward as she took out her dagger. “What’s wrong? If you have something to say, go ahead. If you don’t, I’ll take that as agreement.”

Without a word, the Four Dolls lowered their hands and trudged away with the key, their eyes drooping.

It wasn’t as if they didn’t want to speak!

That hateful outsider had better not think she could buy them off just by feeding, clothing, and housing them well. Sooner or later, they would eat her.

After the Four Dolls had disappeared, Yu Lingling stepped around the pile of flesh and opened the door. Just as she walked out, she suddenly remembered something she had overlooked.

There had been five empty rooms, but only four outsiders.

And then there was that shoe at the turn of the fourth-floor staircase.

Yu Lingling tried to leave the building, only to be forced back by something invisible when she reached the entrance. She turned and headed for the stairs. She needed to determine whether the abnormal step existed during the day as well as at night, and whether there was only that one abnormal step or one on every floor.

When Yu Lingling reached the second floor, she saw Brother B coming downstairs.

He was chewing gum. On the side hem of his bear-print T-shirt was a conspicuous stain, clearly left from brushing against something. The moment he saw Yu Lingling, he flashed her a brilliant smile. “Chacha, it’s so good to see you again.”

Holding the Teddy Bear Doll, Yu Lingling quietly watched him.

As if he hadn’t noticed her wariness, Brother B leaned close and sniffed her. “You’re hurt? The smell of blood is really strong.”

Yu Lingling took a step back. Brother B’s behavior felt overly deliberate, as though he were putting on an act. Yet the performance did not seem intended for her. Instead, he reminded her of the guests on reality shows she had watched before, who would sometimes deliberately do things to attract the audience’s attention.

Reality-show guests did it for views and exposure.

What about Brother B?

Did he have a histrionic personality, or was he performing for someone?
When Brother B saw what Yu Lingling was doing, he put on a wounded expression. “Chacha, I’m only worried about you. By the way, why are you on the first floor? Didn’t you choose the fourth floor before?”

It was difficult to cooperate or communicate when they weren’t on equal footing.

Yu Lingling wanted to learn more about the Horror Game Instance, which meant she couldn’t allow herself to be seen as a weakling who was easy to fool and push around. “Haven’t you already gone up to check the fourth floor?”

Brother B’s eyes narrowed, his pupils quivering for an instant. When he saw the slight curve of Yu Lingling’s lips, his smile widened. “Looks like you caught me with that little test, Chacha.”

Yu Lingling neither confirmed nor denied it. She simply stared at Brother B until the smile faded from his face, then spoke again. “You deliberately gave yourself away because you wanted me to notice, didn’t you?”

Brother B raised an eyebrow, his expression growing a little more serious. “Do you want to team up with me for this instance, Chacha?”

Yu Lingling did need a teammate, and she made no attempt to hide it. However, Brother B wasn’t the teammate she had chosen. “I thought you’d chosen Brother Knife.”

Brother B spread his hands. “I was planning to work with him, but after seeing the two of you, I chose you instead.”

The implication was that Brother Knife had run into trouble.

Yu Lingling wasn’t surprised. The boy in the wheelchair was no pushover.

Brother B turned off his comment feed. “You’re nothing like you were when we first met.”

When she first entered the instance, Yu Lingling had seemed naive and easy to deceive. Before any of them could even ask, she had already laid all her cards on the table. Now, it appeared that had all been an act. Was this woman really a newbie?

Or was she, like him, another Full-fledged Player who had come here for fun and fan attention?

Yu Lingling said pointedly, “After all, contrast is what they like to see.”

At that moment, the viewers in Yu Lingling’s Livestream Room who had been following her since Auspicious Village were all dumbfounded.

“She’s a Full-fledged Player?”

“Impossible. She’s in the newbie section. Brother B may be able to enter a Novice Instance, but his Livestream Room is listed in the Full-fledged Player section.”

“I went out and double-checked. She’s definitely in the newbie section.”

“Lighting a candle for Brother B. Can’t blame him for falling for this one.”

“The craziest part is that she hasn’t told a single lie.”

After hearing Yu Lingling’s response, Brother B clicked his tongue. He was now certain that Yu Lingling was a Full-fledged Player rather than some supposed newbie. He pulled a truth-detecting item from his inventory and activated it. “Then Sister A had it coming. So which was it? Was Brother Knife trying to use you as the target of Death Substitution, or did you only pretend he’d gotten the better of you while you were actually plotting against him?”

At his words, Yu Lingling sensed a strange ripple of energy coming from Brother B. She didn’t know what it was, but having already fallen for something like this once, she wasn’t about to do so again. Using the same trick she had used against Doctor Song, she smiled without answering. Instead, she said, “I found a clue. I can share it with you in exchange for you retrieving it.”

Brother B even stopped chewing his gum. He inwardly lamented the loss of an item. He had paid for that thing, too. “If it’s a useful clue I don’t already know about, then fine.”

If they were going to cooperate, both sides naturally had to pull their weight.

In Brother B’s mind, only three players were still alive. Since Brother Knife had tried to harm Yu Lingling, there was no way she would choose to work with him. It was therefore only natural for the two veteran players to team up and clear the instance together.

Thus, Brother B overlooked one crucial detail: from beginning to end, Yu Lingling had never agreed to cooperate with him.

Yu Lingling led Brother B to the suspicious step. “There’s something hidden inside this step. It appeared after those residents came back last night.”