Chapter 196
Chapter 196
On the way back, Lu Qian’s time ran short. He gave Xiao Huai more healing candy and said a brief farewell.
After all, he still had a major client to attend to.
Lu Qian grinned and waved. “I’ll treat you to hot pot after you get out.”
He did not look remotely concerned that Xiao Huai might fail to escape.
After Lu Qian left, the others soon approached the Yang Residence.
Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi walked rather slowly. Under Shen Yun’s influence, however, Zhong Jiangyuan moved inexplicably fast and kept a deliberate distance from the two of them.
Lu Yuanshi, who had remained quiet, suddenly asked in a low voice, “Are you upset?”
They had watched Huo Lanxu’s story together. From the moment Loki appeared, frost had covered Xiao Huai’s expression.
Xiao Huai had said nothing about that world after returning, but only because he was adept at concealing his emotions.
Others might not notice, but Lu Yuanshi always would.
Xiao Huai vaguely understood that himself. He looked toward the gate of the Yang Residence not far ahead.
“Perhaps,” he said softly.
He had imagined countless stories behind Yang Nanqing. In only a few minutes, he could conceive a hundred possibilities, yet a god’s prank had never occurred to him.
He had thought he was already accustomed to some of the horror game’s evil gods.
Yet when he witnessed Loki create that tragedy with his own eyes, a question stirred deep inside him.
What right did beings like that have to call themselves gods?
Such a god deserved no followers.
Yet reality was always contrary and cruel. Evil gods often had the most believers.
Truly benevolent gods gathered fewer and fewer followers as faith gradually disappeared.
Meanwhile, the evil gods’ power grew by the day.
How terrifying the power of faith could be.
After a moment, Xiao Huai asked quietly, “Do you think benevolent gods truly exist in this world?”
He raised his eyes to Lu Yuanshi, his lashes trembling faintly beneath the night sky.
His voice was soft, yet every word seemed carved into bone.
Lu Yuanshi tilted his head toward the heavens. “There are good people and bad people, so of course there must be benevolent gods too. Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet one someday.”
Xiao Huai said nothing. He did not believe in gods, much less that he would ever meet a benevolent one.
Then he seemed to remember something, and a smile rippled across his lips.
“My question was a false premise. Good and evil have never had fixed boundaries. God or not, all I care about is three meals a day.” Xiao Huai quickened his pace, then looked back at Lu Yuanshi. “I’m hungry. Let’s go back and eat.”
Nothing in heaven or earth mattered more than a meal.
Lu Yuanshi’s eyes curved. “Mm. All right.”
Strangely, whenever Xiao Huai exchanged a few words with Lu Yuanshi, no matter how ordinary the subject, his irritation gradually subsided.
* * *
The Yang Residence.
Chen Chong and the others were all waiting for Xiao Huai’s group to return.
Chen Chong folded his arms and leaned casually against a small tree in the courtyard. All he lacked was a blade of grass between his teeth.
“Yang San is missing. Do you think the missing man could be him?”
“He may not be missing. We still have some time before sunset. Let’s wait for the others and see what they have to say,” Jiang Wenmei answered.
Since the bald man in the suit died, the blonde woman had grown increasingly on edge. She crouched beside a well without saying a word.
The bald man’s corpse had also vanished from the courtyard. Even the blood was scrubbed perfectly clean, as though he had never existed.
Whether to an NPC or a player currently challenging the fifth level, the bald man’s death was far too ordinary.
No matter how gruesome it had been.
When Xiao Huai and the others returned, Chen Chong greeted them with an enthusiastic “Hello!”
“You’re all fine? Great. It would’ve been a terrible waste if you all died in the cemetery. The main mission is finally taking shape. Want to compare notes?”
Chen Chong briefly recounted what had happened after the groups separated.
They had found little useful information in town. Only a few shops welcomed customers, while most doors remained tightly locked.
Moreover, as soon as the townspeople realized they came from the Yang Residence, hostility appeared on their faces.
Yet none would openly criticize the Yang Residence to them.
Since the town offered little to explore, they returned early to see whether anything had happened at the residence.
Only after coming back did they discover that the Yang Residence was completely deserted.
The home of the Yang family was enormous, absurdly so. They searched as many rooms as possible.
They paid particular attention to the place where meals should have been prepared, because Butler Yang had said two things.
“I must remain here and prepare Master’s welcome banquet, so I won’t intrude upon your outing.”
“Dinner will be waiting for you. Please return before sunset.”
A welcome banquet necessarily required food. Yet no one was cooking, and not even a wisp of smoke rose from the kitchen.
If dinner was to be prepared in advance, where was Butler Yang, the man responsible for it?
Xiao Huai swept his gaze across the courtyard. “Open all the bedroom doors.”
“Why?” Chen Chong had been waiting for Xiao Huai’s advice. Perhaps Xiao Huai’s perspective would produce some novel idea.
Zhong Jiangyuan did not question him. He immediately opened a door, then froze.
Food boxes covered the round table inside.
There was even more food than yesterday.
The boxes were not only in Zhong Jiangyuan’s room. Every room contained them.
“What in the world is going on?” This time, even Jiang Wenmei was confused.
Xiao Huai looked toward Lu Yuanshi. “I visited the kitchen before. Dust covered the pots, proving no one in the Yang Residence had cooked anything. Yet on our first night, food was waiting in every room.”
Lu Yuanshi arched a brow. Xiao Huai had visited the kitchen only once, yet he had already noticed such details.
His gaze moved to the food inside the room. “Have any of you considered that some person or thing prepared the food long ago and has been secretly placing it in our rooms?”
“But what does that have to do with Butler Yang’s disappearance?” Jiang Wenmei asked.
Chen Chong’s expression turned grave. “Assuming Xiao Huai’s theory is correct, who could that person be?”
They could not forget the main mission: *Stay alive and find the missing man.*
Xiao Huai needed no time to consider it. He voiced Chen Chong’s thoughts at once.
“The missing man. Who does that actually mean? Many people could qualify as ‘him.’ Since *Town of the Blind* is a game and others have cleared it, the answer cannot be impossible.”
He entered the room and continued slowly, “On the second day, Butler Yang vanished, while the master of the Yang Residence still hasn’t returned.”
Two possible men.
Everyone sank into thought.
They assumed the choice lay between those two, but Xiao Huai added one more possibility.
“There is also Miss Yang.”