Chapter 49
Chapter 49
As if reading his mind, Shen Yubi added calmly, “They’ve been specially treated.”
The Corpse Oil was likely only used to give these paper puppets a bit more of an evil edge.
Guan Doujin sheathed his sword, pulled Chu Yue over to the table, and produced a bottle of mineral water and a small porcelain vial out of thin air.
“Exchanged from the Mall.” He found some clean strips of cloth and prepared to bandage Chu Yue’s wound, looking up toward the other side. “What did you find?”
“The woman selling paper-cuts has a problem,” Shen Yubi said.
He stood up, glanced at Chu Yue’s wound, and then looked at the medicine Guan Doujin had produced. “You’re such a cheapskate. You have the nerve to use medicine that costs one Point a bottle?”
Guan Doujin grumbled, carefully sprinkling the powder onto Chu Yue’s wound. “You think everyone is as filthy rich as you? The wound isn’t serious; this is the most effective thing for it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a small round box rolled across the table. “Use this after the bleeding stops.”
“Got it.” Guan Doujin picked it up. “Young Master Shen is quite generous.”
Chu Yue sat still. He looked up and asked, “Do you think those two paper puppets were sent by that woman we met today?”
Shen Yubi replied, “It’s very likely. Regardless of whether those two paper puppets were sent by her, she definitely killed that woman the day before yesterday.”
Guan Doujin asked, “How so?”
Organizing his thoughts, Shen Yubi spoke slowly. “Did either of you notice the hairpin that woman was wearing today?”
It was a plain hairpin without much of a pattern, except for a small piece of jade at the end.
Hearing this, Chu Yue tried to recall it but couldn’t. Normally, he would have had some impression of it, but when he saw that paper-cut with the same pattern as the one in the dead woman’s room this afternoon, all his attention had been focused on that rabbit.
Guan Doujin was even worse off; he shook his head. “You two are such detail freaks, you make me feel useless.”
Between the two of them, one noticed a hairpin and the other noticed the pattern on a paper-cut; they were both incredibly observant.
When the focus shifted to him, his only specialty was shooting his mouth off.
In truth, Shen Yubi hadn’t noticed it at first either. He only saw it when the woman leaned down to rummage for the Big Rabbit.
Even though the jade was small, it shouldn’t have appeared on a woman like her. It was clearly an expensive item.
Normally, he shouldn’t have had any memory of that hairpin either.
However, the appearance of the Monster wearing the woman’s skin when it entered the Inn yesterday morning had left too deep an impression on him.
One of the hairpins that woman had been wearing at the time was exactly like that one.
Later, that Monster had been pushed off the 2nd Floor by the man right in front of them. At that time, blood had splattered everywhere, and the human skin had been torn to pieces.
Shen Yubi had even gone over to investigate.
Thinking back now, there was only jet-black hair on that human skin; all the ornaments were gone.
And there hadn’t been many onlookers at the time, let alone anyone who could have picked up the hairpin in the chaos.
In that case, how did the hairpin end up on that woman’s head?
When they went to check that room this afternoon, everything belonging to that woman was gone.
That man was so terrified of the woman that it was unlikely he had just moved to another room and taken all those things with him.
The day of the incident had been too chaotic, and he hadn’t noticed if the woman’s belongings were still in the room at the time.
If it was as the Waiter said-that the Monsters in this Instance killed for money-then the three of them had certainly flaunted a lot of wealth while walking around town for the past two days.
Especially this afternoon, when they spent a whole tael of silver on a paper-cut that wasn’t worth much. They practically had ‘more money than brains’ written on their foreheads.
Those hidden in the shadows had likely set their sights on them long ago.
After Shen Yubi finished speaking, Chu Yue offered his affirmation. “That does make sense.”
It happened to explain why that rabbit had suddenly come to life and attacked him.
As expected of a town famous for paper-cutting, they had actually extended the craft into another function entirely.
“But there must be something we’ve missed.”
Chu Yue hadn’t forgotten that this Instance had a Mortality Rate of thirty percent.
“There are twelve merchants in total. It’s impossible for them to kill every single person they steal from. Only four people will die in total; would they really just leave the wealth on the remaining people behind?
The woman on the first day likely died because she happened to trigger a Death Condition.
What about us? This is a game; it’s impossible for them to take our lives just because we have money. Otherwise, there would be no rules to speak of.”
“I don’t know which Death Condition we’ve stumbled upon, but if that’s the case, the situation is a bit delicate.” Guan Doujin glanced toward the bed. “From the looks of it, there are two factions in this town.”
One good and one evil, or perhaps two evil forces competing.
The group of Little Paper Figures on the bed tonight had sided with them, but they couldn’t simply be defined as the ‘good’ side.
This West Window Town certainly had a story worth digging into.
“Someone saw Zhou Laoda’s family murdered by paper puppets, and when we went to his house today, it was empty. All their valuables were gone. It’s likely related to this,” Guan Doujin said. “Should we go back again tomorrow?”
“We’re going. Why wouldn’t we? Not only are we going, but we’re going to meet those two again,” Shen Yubi said coldly.
Once the bandaging was finished, Chu Yue felt like half of his body was constricted.
“Bear with it for one night. It’ll be mostly healed by tomorrow morning. It’s a System product-guaranteed quality.”
After being busy for most of the night, they could finally get some sleep.
Just as Chu Yue was about to get into bed, Shen Yubi pulled him back. He kicked Guan Doujin. “You sleep on the inside tonight. He’s injured; it’s not good if he bumps against the wall.”
Guan Doujin naturally didn’t dawdle over such things. He wiped the soles of his feet with his clothes and climbed onto the bed.
They blew out the candle, and the remaining two lay down.
This sleep lasted straight until dawn the next day.
Because the commotion in their room had been quite loud the previous night, the other players scrutinized them either openly or covertly as soon as they came downstairs.
Their eyes held not only speculation and suspicion but also a hint of wariness. With the woman’s death as a precedent, who knew if these three were humans or ghosts?
Zhang Duo had given them the cold shoulder for two days, but today she suddenly became enthusiastic.
As soon as the three sat down, she brought her bowl over and sat with them.
“You three, did you sleep well last night? It sounded like something was happening in your room.”
“Slept great. The beds in this Inn are really comfortable,” Guan Doujin said with a smile as he broke off a piece of a steamed bun.
Zhang Duo nodded in agreement. “That’s true, it’s a rare comfort. It’s just that the rooms aren’t very soundproof. I was halfway through my sleep when I heard a lot of banging coming from your room.”
Shen Yubi kicked Guan Doujin irritably. “I told you not to snore, but you wouldn’t listen. Look at that, you woke Sister Zhang up.”
Guan Doujin pulled his leg back. “It’s not like I can control that.”
The two played along with each other, lying through their teeth. Whatever Zhang Duo was trying to fish for, they simply wouldn’t say.
In an Instance where survival time was the goal, no one was going to hand over the clues they had collected for nothing.
For every other person who learned a Death Condition, the likelihood of oneself being the one to die at night increased by another degree.
It was an attempt to get something for nothing-unless the owner of the prize was a fool, no one would make such a losing trade.