Chapter 53

Chapter 53

The deceased was very likely an NPC or a Player. Among the clues they had gathered over the past few days, there was indeed mention that during the festival, it wasn’t just outsiders who died; sometimes a resident or two from the town would die as well.

However, all these deductions were based on the assumption that the time of death for this corpse was yesterday.

If this person had died the day before yesterday, they could actually be a Player.

The person impersonating him would only need to slightly adjust their height every day. Over three days, there would be a significant difference to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, they had no way to determine the specific time of death for this corpse.

There was no absolute necessity to find that Monster; as long as the three of them could confirm that none of them was the imposter, it was enough.

The remaining people wouldn’t be able to backstab them no matter what.

Returning to the Inn, the three of them finished lunch and headed out again.

However, when they went to check this afternoon, the man and woman who had been manning the stall at that fixed location were gone again.

The three of them split up to coax more useful information out of the townspeople.

Chu Yue walked up to a floor stall and crouched down.

The one running the stall was a little girl of about ten. There wasn’t even a table where she was; she had simply spread a piece of ragged cloth on the ground. A few scattered paper-cuts were placed on top. Compared to the other stalls, they were quite crude, clearly cut by her own hand.

He had just greeted the little girl and hadn’t even begun to ask anything when he saw several people rushing into a small alley not far away, as if something had happened.

Immediately after, a commotion broke out among the nearby stall owners. Chu Yue watched for a moment, then stood up and walked toward them.

Only when he got closer did he hear what the nearby vendors were saying.

“Did you hear? Zhou Yao’s daughter-in-law is dead.”

“What? For real? I saw her at her stall this morning. How could she suddenly be dead?” the person beside him asked in shock.

“Hah, how could it be fake? Didn’t you see those people just now? They’re all Old Man Zhou’s family, going over to help now.”

“Tsk tsk, what a shame. That daughter-in-law of his was quite the hand at business. Look, ever since he married that woman a few years ago, Zhou Yao’s family has been doing much better. They went from being the town’s paupers to a wealthy household in one leap. Now, sigh, what a pity. She was still so young.”

“Hmph, what’s there to be pitying? That woman didn’t look like the settled type. Look at her and that Zhou Chun kid-not only were they at the stalls together every day, some people often saw them meeting in private. Who knows if she was a decent person or not.”

For some reason, hearing what the two were saying, Chu Yue got the feeling they were talking about the woman they had been in contact with these past few days.

Without disturbing them, Chu Yue followed the scene he had just witnessed and turned into an alley. After some winding around, he saw people going in and out of a doorway.

He walked over slowly and stood at the door, glancing inside.

He didn’t see a corpse, but he did see the man who had been manning the stall next to the woman.

“Who are you looking for?”

A voice suddenly sounded behind him while he was looking.

Chu Yue turned around, his expression calm as he pointed inside. “I’m looking for Zhou Chun. I have something to ask him.”

“Oh, oh.” The man nodded. “Should I call him out for you? With this happening, things are a bit busy here.”

“It’s fine.” A look of concern appeared on Chu Yue’s face. “With something like this happening, he probably isn’t in the mood to talk to me. Go on with your work; I’ll look for him later.”

“Alright then.”

The man didn’t insist and hurried into the courtyard.

Chu Yue stood outside the door for a while longer, thought about it, and then walked in.

People were moving in and out of the west room. Chu Yue’s clothing and appearance were vastly different from the townspeople.

The moment he entered the courtyard, someone noticed him.

However, he and Shen Yubi had been wandering around the festival frequently these past two days, so quite a few people recognized him.

Even if they didn’t know him personally, they knew he was one of the Big Bosses who had come to town this time.

Some had seen him interacting with the woman, so they didn’t think much of it now.

After Chu Yue entered, he first stood at the door of the west room and looked inside.

At this moment, the room was packed with people. Sitting on the ground wiping away tears was a middle-aged man Chu Yue hadn’t seen before.

His nose was running and tears were falling, blurring his entire face as he kept shouting “Wife, wife.” He was clearly the son of the so-called Zhou Yao.

With just a few glances, Chu Yue understood. No wonder those people earlier were gossiping about the woman and Zhou Chun; it turned out the woman’s husband was actually a simpleton.

Standing beside him was a Veteran with a hunched back, who kept tugging at the man’s arm, trying to pull him up but failing. They remained in that deadlock.

A circle had formed around the bed. Chu Yue couldn’t see very clearly, only catching a glimpse of red.

He squeezed inward slightly. Zhou Chun turned his head and spotted him, his expression immediately souring.

The man instantly backed out and walked to his side, whispering, “Why is the Big Boss here?”
Chu Yue’s face remained expressionless, but his words were full of regret. “I was just strolling down the street when I heard someone had died over here, so I came to take a look. I didn’t expect… Sigh, we just saw her this morning. How could a perfectly healthy person just…”

Zhou Chun frowned. “An accident. She lost her footing and hit her head.”

“Is that so?” Chu Yue stole two more glances toward the room, but he couldn’t see anything. He simply brushed past Zhou Chun and squeezed his way inside.

At this moment, everyone’s attention was either on the corpse or on the father and son. As he pushed through, someone let out a soft complaint, but no one paid him much mind.

It wasn’t until he stood before the bed that Chu Yue saw the situation clearly.

The person was truly dead, and it was indeed the woman they were familiar with.

Just as Zhou Chun had said, she had died from hitting her head.

However, Chu Yue didn’t feel like it was an accident at all.

The woman lay on the bed, her head having struck the bed’s railing.

It was a wooden railing with rounded posts and no sharp edges.

She had clearly died from a blow to the head while on the bed, but no matter which direction she fell, it shouldn’t have been enough to kill her instantly.

Unless someone had shoved her violently, or there was some other factor involved.

The expression on the woman’s face wasn’t distorted; she looked as if she were merely asleep. Yet, the blood behind her head clearly indicated that she was truly dead.

His gaze swept around the bed. There were no cabinets or similar objects nearby, which ruled out the possibility of her losing her balance while trying to reach for something.

After staying for less than two minutes, Chu Yue walked back out, only to find that Zhou Chun was gone.

There was no one in the room, and no one in the courtyard. He asked a few people, but none of them had seen where he went.

Chu Yue felt a secret jolt of alarm.

From various previous signs, it was clear that there was an unspeakable secret between Zhou Chun and this woman.

With the woman dead at this moment, why wasn’t Zhou Chun staying here? Could he really have just gone home?

Chu Yue didn’t believe it for a second!

Just as he was thinking this, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of someone opening the door to the East Room. Zhou Chun poked his head out furtively, then stepped outside.

He seemed to be clutching something inside his clothes. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he hugged the wall and headed for the gate.

Chu Yue raised an eyebrow. He didn’t have time to check what was in that room and immediately followed him.

As he trailed him, he realized something was very wrong.

Zhou Chun was intentionally taking the most deserted paths possible. It felt just like when he was tailing Li Ergou in the previous Instance.

If nothing else, anything someone tried to hide or keep from others’ eyes was bound to be problematic.

He followed him as the path grew more and more remote, until finally, the man entered a Small Courtyard.

It was likely his home.

Chu Yue stopped following secretly. Instead, he lunged forward just as the man was closing the door and kicked it open.

Zhou Chun looked incredibly surprised to see him, and then his face darkened. “What are you doing here? You followed me!”

Chu Yue smiled slightly. “Just a coincidence. What did you steal?”

“Nonsense!” His expression was nervous. “I didn’t steal anything!”

As he spoke, he tightened his grip on the object in his arms.

“Is that so?”

Chu Yue grabbed his arm with a pull and a twist, causing the object in his arms to be revealed.

Looking closely, Chu Yue really couldn’t tell what the thing was.

It was pitch black and looked like a human figure, yet also didn’t quite look like one.

Chu Yue didn’t stand on ceremony and snatched the item away.

“What is this?”

Zhou Chun’s face became even uglier. “Give it back! That’s not something you should touch!”

“If you can touch it, why can’t I?”

“Give it to me, now!” The man no longer cared if he was a Big Boss or not and lunged straight at him.

Chu Yue dodged with a quick shift of his body and kicked him back.

Holding the object, he examined it carefully. After looking at it for a long time without reaching a conclusion, Chu Yue reached out and shoved the item back to the man as he lunged again.

“Look at you. It’s just a black statue, not even made of high-quality wood. What’s the rush? A Big Boss like me wouldn’t covet such a trivial thing.”

Clutching the object tightly to his chest, Zhou Chun let out a heavy breath, his expression relaxing.

His chest heaved up and down as he looked at Chu Yue. After a long moment, he forced a stiff smile. “Yes, yes, the Big Boss is right. I was just too anxious. This thing is useless, but I’m afraid you’ll laugh if I tell you-it’s a token of my affair with that woman. It’s quite disgraceful.”

Chu Yue nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word.”

He offered the man a few words of comfort before turning to leave.

He didn’t believe a word of Zhou Chun’s nonsense.

Returning the item was merely to keep the man calm; that object was definitely not simple.