Chapter 158
Chapter 158
Ah Qi died in the dining room, far from the guest rooms, so none of the players noticed anything unusual. They did not learn what happened until they found Gu Fan sitting on the dining room floor the next morning.
One look at Gu Fan’s tear-streaked face and lifeless air told Cheng Miao that something had happened.
She helped Gu Fan into a chair and sent Lin Zhu to fetch a glass of water.
Gu Fan accepted the water but did not drink. She stared silently at the glass for a long time before finally looking at Cheng Miao. “Miss Cheng, something happened to Ah Qi last night. When I found him, his entire body had been nailed to the dining table, his belly cut open.”
Cheng Miao glanced at the neat, spotless dining room and understood. “There was a fire?”
Gu Fan nodded. “I told him to watch out for the hallucinations, but he just couldn’t do it. That’s how those two always were. One was rash and impatient, while the other was timid and never listened.”
Cheng Miao stood beside Gu Fan, unsure what to say. Losing a teammate could hollow a person out. She had seen it happen more than once.
“Miss Cheng, I don’t think I’ll make it out either.” Gu Fan’s voice was so low that Cheng Miao would have missed it if she had not been listening closely.
Cheng Miao crouched and took Gu Fan’s hand. “You can’t lose hope. Stay strong.”
Gu Fan wiped away her tears. She did not know why she had said so much to Cheng Miao.
At first, she had disliked Cheng Miao’s team for drawing too much attention.
But now, every last one of them appeared to be a good person.
Cheng Miao sighed. She asked Lin Zhu to stay and keep an eye on Gu Fan, then called her teammates back to their room.
“After breakfast, I plan to use my [Omniscient Kin of the Dead] buff.” Cheng Miao stated her decision directly.
Her spirit buff had upgraded in the [Apartment 444] instance, allowing her to invite a spirit into her body and gain its abilities or memories.
They had gone too long without finding a breakthrough in the instance. Cheng Miao had no choice but to try.
“But it leaves you with a thirty-minute weakness debuff. You’ll have no ability to defend yourself,” Qin Musong objected.
“That’s why I need you to guard me.” Cheng Miao smiled and looked at everyone around her. “With all of you here, I don’t have anything to worry about, do I?”
Knowing Cheng Miao would not change her mind once she made a decision, Qin Musong sighed and accepted it.
Qi Jiajia lowered her voice. “We can’t let the other players know. If anyone has bad intentions, they’ll exploit your weakness.”
Cheng Miao patted Qi Jiajia’s head. “We can trust Jiang Chen. Lin Zhu will stay with Gu Fan. As for Yun Su…”
Qi Jiajia lowered her eyes. “I’ll go.”
She would rather guard Cheng Miao, but that woman truly did require watching.
Cheng Miao pinched Qi Jiajia’s cheek in gratification and got her hand slapped away.
They had already finished touring the workshops, so Kojima no longer paid attention to the players.
He appeared to have many matters keeping him busy. Caring for his bedridden wife alone kept him inside their room all day.
After lunch, Xiao Wen and Xiao Qing dozed against each other in the living room. Cheng Miao gave the others a look and returned to her room.
Only after Jiang Chen and the others arrived did Cheng Miao ask, “Gu Jian…?”
Jiang Chen knew her plan. His eyes held concern, but also trust. “You don’t need to worry about him.”
Cheng Miao nodded and activated her buff.
She closed her eyes and submerged herself in darkness.
When she felt another person’s soul squeeze into her body, she shivered violently with cold, as though immersed in icy water.
When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the room. She could not move or speak. It was as though she had been imprisoned inside someone else’s body, forced to experience the woman’s every joy, rage, sorrow, and pleasure.
The man sitting across from her was Kojima, his eyes filled with boundless affection. “My dear Yuko, you know my family doesn’t approve of you.”
“But I’m already carrying our child…” The body Cheng Miao inhabited began to sob quietly, and she felt the woman’s pain and helplessness.
“I know a doctor. He’s very…”
“You want me to give up our child?!” Yuko’s emotions suddenly surged. She raised her head and glared at the man across from her. Guilt flashed through Kojima’s eyes.
Kojima lowered his head. “You know that if those reporters in the media learn about us, it will devastate my career.”
Yuko sobbed so hard her entire body shook. “Then what about us? We grew up together. Are you throwing away more than ten years of love?”
Kojima looked at Yuko in anguish. His lips moved, but he could not find any words.
In a fury, Yuko grabbed her bag and left.
The scene shifted to a studio.
Cheng Miao felt Yuko’s intense resentment, confusion, fear, hatred, and the twisted emotions she held toward the child in her belly.
Yuko picked up a brush and painted the terrifying woman with the long neck.
Feeling her hand move uncontrollably as it slashed paint wildly across the background, Cheng Miao knew Yuko stood on the verge of collapse.
The scene changed again. Yuko appeared to have come looking for Kojima and was hiding behind a screen, eavesdropping on his phone call.
“Oh, my precious pearl, don’t worry. I’ll take care of that woman. Nothing can stand between you and me.”
Listening to Kojima pour passionate words of love into the phone for another woman, Yuko felt her heart shatter.
Yuko learned that Kojima’s new lover was the daughter of another city’s mayor, flirtatious, captivating, and breathtakingly beautiful.
More importantly, her father held enormous power and could bring Kojima even greater fame and influence.
Yuko sank into depression for several days, then finally decided to end the pregnancy.
She had loved the wrong man. This child should not exist in the world either.
She accepted the doctor Kojima found for her. Her poverty forced her to set aside her pride.
Once the procedure was over, everything would end.
She would never again have anything to do with the man she had loved for over ten years.
But Kojima worried that Yuko would tell people about their relationship. Not only would it damage his reputation, it could very well destroy the engagement he had already secured.
Kojima bribed the clinic’s doctor. After the induction procedure, the doctor injected Yuko with a massive dose of anesthetic.
Kojima dragged away the immobilized Yuko and drove her to his family’s castle, hidden deep in the forest.
At the lake on the far side of the castle grounds, he forced Yuko’s head beneath the water.
Cheng Miao experienced the agony of drowning, the explosive pain of water filling her lungs. She struggled along with Yuko’s body, then lost consciousness.
“Cough… cough, cough!” When Cheng Miao finally tore free of the drowning sensation and woke, she found Qin Musong and the others staring at her anxiously.
She tried to speak, only to discover that even moving her lips was difficult.
That damned weakness debuff!
Qiudong knelt on one knee beside her. With great effort, she raised a hand and traced the two characters for “Yuko” on his arm.
Qiudong’s gaze sharpened. He exchanged a glance with Jiang Chen, and the two rushed out of the room.
Only Qin Musong remained beside her. Cheng Miao struggled to stay conscious, unsure how much time passed, when a powerful sense of unease suddenly rose inside her.