Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Brother B crouched on the ground, carefully examining the differences between the steps.

Now that he had confirmed Yu Lingling was a veteran player, he no longer bothered hiding his abilities. He spat the gum he had been chewing into his palm, then pressed his hands together and rubbed them. A thin membrane immediately formed over his hands.

Standing beside him, Yu Lingling flicked her gaze over the gum before looking at his hands. Was this the Exclusive Gift Brother B had received after clearing a dungeon?

However, she felt that Brother B’s gum was fundamentally different from her Dollhouse. She simply couldn’t put her finger on the exact distinction yet.

Brother B noticed her gaze but paid it no mind. A table knife appeared in his hand, and he lightly drew it across the concrete step.

Yu Lingling watched as he extracted a yellow kraft-paper notebook with curled edges from inside the step.

The cover read: Grade Three, Class Two: Chen Xiaofeng.

Yu Lingling had originally assumed that whatever was hidden here had been left behind by the uniformed boy on the fourth floor. The grade written on the cover proved her wrong, but she still felt that the notebook had something to do with him.

A third grader would be around eight or nine years old, yet she hadn’t seen any children in that age range inside the building.

No, wait.

Yu Lingling thought of that mound of blubber and carefully recalled his face.

There had been so much fat compressing his features that his appearance was nearly impossible to make out. But obesity affected flesh, not bone, and a child’s bone structure was different from an adult’s.

She had carefully observed his head at the time. The structure of that face clearly belonged to a child whose features had yet to fully develop.

After making sure there was nothing else hidden inside the step, Brother B began flipping through the notebook. As if asking casually, he said, “Do you know who this belongs to?”

At Yu Lingling’s height, she couldn’t see the pages of the notebook in his hands, only the cover.

“Chen Xiaofeng.”

Brother B suspected that Yu Lingling was merely disguising herself as a child to lower other people’s guard. Her answer was far too airtight.

“It’s a child’s diary,” he said.

“A third grader’s,” Yu Lingling replied casually. “He would have been around eight or nine when he wrote it. Have you seen any elementary school students that age in this building?”

Brother B didn’t answer her directly. “Not on the second floor.”

Yu Lingling didn’t press him.

There weren’t many entries in the diary. Brother B quickly finished reading it and handed the notebook to Yu Lingling. “Aren’t you going to treat those injuries? Don’t tell me you didn’t exchange for any medicine.”

Exchange for medicine? Where?

It seemed becoming a Full-fledged Player came with quite a few benefits.

And judging by Brother B’s words, the medicine available for exchange was no ordinary medicine. It was probably like health or mana potions in an online game – take one, and your injuries would heal.

But did it only work inside dungeons, or could it be brought outside?

If it could be brought into the real world, then things would get interesting.

If it could heal injuries, could it also cure terminal illnesses?

And if terminal illnesses could be cured, might there even be something that could extend a person’s lifespan?

If medicine could be exchanged for, then items probably could be as well. Could those items be used in the real world?

Yu Lingling thought of the things Doctor Song could use in reality. They were probably similar to Brother B’s gum, rather than the kind of item Brother Knife had used.

Since the real world hadn’t descended into chaos yet, there was most likely a dedicated department responsible for handling special incidents like these. People like Doctor Song and Brother B were probably subject to specialized monitoring and regulations as well.

That made the people who came every few days to pick up her brother for work all the more intriguing.

And why did Doctor Song keep checking every few days to make sure her condition was normal?
Excitement surged through Yu Lingling, but she only sighed. “Because I’m poor.”

That was the truth.

Brother B glanced at the Teddy Bear Doll in Yu Lingling’s arms. He was eighty percent certain that the doll was a special item. “I don’t believe you. Let me hold it for you so you can read the diary.”

Yu Lingling had already noticed that Brother B’s table knife hadn’t been on him earlier – it had appeared out of nowhere. A Full-fledged Player probably had access to something like a storage space.

So, right in front of Brother B, Yu Lingling put the Teddy Bear Doll into the Princess Dollhouse. “No need.”

That only made Brother B more certain of his guess. He said nothing else.

Yu Lingling quickly began flipping through the notebook.

The handwriting was rather ugly and had been done in pencil. There were eraser marks in many places. The front was clearly filled with random scribbles, while the diary Brother B had mentioned was closer to the back.

Words the child didn’t know how to write had been spelled out in pinyin, and his handwriting was quite large.

The older boy on the fourth floor went missing. Grandpa won’t let me go outside to play. I hate them.

The uncle on the fourth floor was eating something that smelled really good.

The uncle talked to the people whose child went missing. After they finished talking, he ate meat.

I asked the uncle for some. His smile was really ugly, but he gave me meat. The uncle is nice.

The meat smelled so good. I wanted more, so I went upstairs to ask the uncle. He treated me to red-braised pork and told me not to tell anyone.

The meat was so tasty. I ate lots and lots. It was even better than the meat Grandpa buys.

I don’t want to go to school. Grandpa said he’d bring me a chicken drumstick, but I want the uncle’s meat.

I went to find the uncle, and he cooked meat for me. The older boy was hiding under the uncle’s bed. He told me to save him.

I don’t like that older boy, but I like his meat. His meat tastes really good.

I like the uncle who gives me meat, so I told the uncle.

Lots of people saw the uncle’s family eating meat, but they aren’t as brave as me. They were too scared to ask the uncle for some.

The meat doesn’t taste good anymore. It smells bad now.

Grandpa found out that I’d been asking the uncle for meat. Grandpa and the other uncles took that uncle to look for the older boy. The uncle never came back.

The grass and flowers in the long flower bed by the road are really pretty. They’re prettier than any I’ve seen before. They don’t grow ugly vegetables there. Grandpa said we have to buy everything ourselves now. So annoying.

Goudan from upstairs picked a flower, and his mom hit him. He cried really loudly. Serves him right. None of them ever play with me anyway.

The auntie went looking for the older boy.

Grandpa said their whole family went to be together. They’re one big happy family.

After confirming that there was nothing else in the notebook, Yu Lingling pieced the entire story together.

Brother B studied her expression. “What do you think?”

“Not a single one of them was innocent.” From the clutter piled up in the hallways, Yu Lingling had already formed an impression of what the neighbors in this building were like. She simply hadn’t expected them to be even worse than she’d imagined. “The grandfather and grandson from the Westernmost Unit on the First Floor – one was thin and shriveled, while the other was a mound of fat.”

Since the diary had already revealed so much, there was no reason for Yu Lingling to hide her deduction about who had written it.

Yu Lingling flipped through the diary again. “That mound of fat should be Chen Xiaofeng.” Before Brother B could say anything, she asked, “Want to go take a look?”

Brother B agreed. Then he glanced at the anomaly in the room, which was still gnawing on its own body. “Where’s the other anomaly?”

Anomaly?

Yu Lingling made a mental note of the term. “He ate it.”

This time, there was something more in Brother B’s eyes as he looked at Yu Lingling.

Holding the diary, Yu Lingling said, “The older boy who was eaten in the diary is on the fourth floor. Brother Knife should be facing that anomaly right now. That one is special.”