Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Brother B had expected her to ask about his skills. She had, but what she asked was completely different from what he’d imagined. He instinctively touched his face. “Is it really that square?”
Yu Lingling thought for a moment before offering a comparison. “Like one of those pentagonal beef wraps.”
Brother B: “…”
The viewers in Brother B’s Livestream Room burst out laughing.
“Damn, now that she mentions it, Brother B’s face really does seem to be getting squarer.”
Brother B’s lips twitched. “To gain something, you always have to lose something. I used to be a handsome young man with a pointed chin too.”
Yu Lingling opened her mouth, then remembered her brother saying that a good child shouldn’t comment on other people’s appearances. She remained silent.
For a time, the only sound on the first floor was the wet, sticky noise of chewing.
Brother B rubbed his face. “I wanted to ask – why did that married couple turn against each other?”
Yu Lingling didn’t want to talk about those matters. It wouldn’t reflect well on either of the ladies. “The man couldn’t perform.”
Brother B’s eyes widened. “Couldn’t perform?”
Yu Lingling hummed in confirmation. His morals were no good, and neither was his combat ability. What a loser.
Brother B swallowed. Seeing that Yu Lingling was already heading toward the Westernmost Unit, he took advantage of the relative safety to glance at the chat in his Livestream Room. “The Horror Game is terrifying. In real life, if a man can’t perform, the worst that happens is divorce. Here, he gets killed. Couldn’t he have taken some virility pills?”
Brother B assumed Yu Lingling was also a Full-fledged Player and knew about the livestream chat, so he made no attempt to hide it or turn on the privacy filter.
Yu Lingling heard him, but her pace remained steady. Only her eyes narrowed slightly. It seemed her guess had been correct. There really were so-called viewers who could see them.
That truly made her angry.
Brother B chatted with the viewers in his Livestream Room for a few moments before following Yu Lingling.
The door to the Westernmost Unit on the First Floor stood wide open. Even Brother B, who was accustomed to bloodshed, froze at the sight inside.
Not one of the monsters was intact. They were tearing into one another with their teeth, and Chen Xiaofeng, who had previously resembled a Flesh Mountain, was nowhere to be seen.
The sight made Brother B’s stomach churn, and he began chewing his gum much faster.
Yu Lingling was sensing the location of her hard Thimble. Her gaze settled on an old woman crouching in a corner, clutching a large chunk of meat and gnawing on it. However, Yu Lingling didn’t move or even attempt to disturb them.
She had only left the Thimble behind as a precaution.
If the monster that emerged victorious finished eating and fled, she could use the Thimble to track its location.
Yu Lingling also wanted to test a theory: if the residents in this instance grew stronger, would they remain in this kind of Novice Instance, or would they be sent to other instances?
Brother B noticed her staring without blinking. She looked cute, and her outfit was cute too, though her personality was somewhat twisted. Still, having another powerful collaborator with an Exclusive Skill could only benefit him. “Want to add each other as friends once we’re out?”
Yu Lingling wasn’t even a Full-fledged Player and had no idea how to add friends. If it worked like exchanging phone numbers, then no matter how she tried to brush him off when he asked, she would easily arouse his suspicions.
“If we happen to meet again.”
Brother B saw nothing strange about such a tactful refusal and didn’t pester her. “All right. What are you looking at?”
Yu Lingling looked away. “I’m waiting for the instance to end.”
The instant she finished speaking, the entire building began swaying violently from side to side. Then came a man’s agonized scream.
A voice sounded in Yu Lingling’s mind.
“Perfect clear of the Novice Happy Family Instance. Calculating clear results.”
“Hidden side quest triggered: Submit the instance Core.”
Yu Lingling looked at Brother B.
Brother B assumed she was asking about the instance Core. “We already discussed this before. I can’t tell you anything now, or it’ll count as cheating.”
Yu Lingling understood. It wasn’t a task meant for her alone, so she immediately lost interest. With a thought, she submitted her answer.
Ms. Zhao and the Woman in the Red Plaid Dress.
Only together were they the true core. Without the Woman in the Red Plaid Dress, Ms. Zhao could never have done it alone.
After all, Ms. Zhao’s range of movement was limited to the Westernmost Unit on the fourth floor and the rooftop. Otherwise, Chen Xiaofeng and the others on the first floor could never have survived until the players arrived in this instance.
The Woman in the Red Plaid Dress had kept Chen Xiaofeng from leaving the apartment. She felt both maternal love and hatred toward him and couldn’t bring herself to harm her own son.
Only together did the two of them form the true Instance Core.
[Hidden achievement completed: Discover the Secret Hidden Beneath Happiness.]
[Hidden side mission completed: Find the True Instance Core.]
Brother B’s expression changed drastically as he turned to Yu Lingling. He had submitted the Wheelchair-Bound Boy’s mother. Had he guessed wrong?
Yu Lingling looked back at him innocently.
Brother B asked, “Did you complete it?”
Yu Lingling nodded.
Brother B hurriedly pressed, “What did you put down?”
Yu Lingling took off her hat, her eyes crinkling in a pure, adorable smile. “Just what we talked about earlier.”
It seemed Brother B hadn’t been honest either.
Yu Lingling hadn’t even thought to ask him at the time, yet he had deliberately offered a wrong answer to mislead her and get her to write down the Wheelchair-Bound Boy. People really were rotten to the core.
Feigning surprise, Yu Lingling twisted the knife. “Brother B, wasn’t that what you put down?”
Brother B’s gaze darkened as he looked at Yu Lingling, but then he smiled again. He now realized the answer wasn’t the Wheelchair-Bound Boy. Yu Lingling had to possess some clue he didn’t know about. “I got it wrong.”
Yu Lingling met his gaze innocently, though her tone held no sincerity whatsoever. “What a shame.”
[Livestream Room closing in 3, 2, 1.]
Hugging her Teddy Bear Doll, Yu Lingling took its paw and waved it at Brother B. “Baby, say bye-bye to Brother B.”
Brother B’s expression nearly twisted out of shape, but he had also received the notification that his Livestream Room was about to close.
When the countdown ended, the Livestream Room of every surviving player in the instance vanished.
Yu Lingling was calm this time. Even when endless darkness surrounded her, she didn’t move.
[Instance settlement: Congratulations on acquiring your first property in the Horror Game and activating an Exclusive Gift. Every resident of this instance welcomes the arrival of a good child, and each has prepared a gift for you. You may choose any resident in this instance and accept their gift.]
Yu Lingling hugged her doll. “So after the prize draw, now we’re opening mystery boxes? I choose the Wheelchair-Bound Boy.”
She wondered if that wheelchair had some special function. She wanted to get it out, study it, and give it to her older brother as a gift.
The Wheelchair-Bound Boy appeared in the darkness.
With just one glance, Yu Lingling knew he wasn’t Xiao Yi. Their eyes were completely different.
The Wheelchair-Bound Boy handed Yu Lingling a cheap-looking yellow plastic egg.
Yu Lingling looked at the egg, then at the boy’s wheelchair. “Actually, I’d rather have the wheelchair.”
The Wheelchair-Bound Boy tossed the egg into Yu Lingling’s arms, wheeled around, and disappeared at top speed.
Yu Lingling stared after him, dumbfounded. “So two wheels really are faster than two legs?”
[Instance closing soon. Players, prepare to leave. 3, 2…]
[Beep, beep, 1111111!]
[Instance error. Core. Beep. The Happy Family Instance will be permanently shut down.]
[1. Instance shut down.]