Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Everyone froze in disbelief.
Xiao Huai had approached the player who seemed least likely to be the culprit.
Liu Tongtong.
She stared at him in astonishment. “Me? You suspect me because I said the least? You barely said anything either, so what gives you the right to accuse me? Maybe you were the first person awake!”
Xiao Huai chuckled. “Mm. Whatever you say.”
The others looked even more confused.
“Xiao Huai, if you’ve decided she’s the culprit, you should at least provide some evidence. It wouldn’t be right to falsely accuse an innocent person,” Old Mo reminded him.
Aunt Wang, still wearing her floral shirt, immediately chimed in. “Exactly. Young people these days will say anything. This girl is so sweet. She even chatted with me about everyday things.”
“If I had to give one reason,” Xiao Huai said quietly, “it would be that your performance was excessive. Or perhaps you had no choice but to overdo it.”
“What do you mean?” Liu Tongtong asked, her lips pale.
“The weather.” Xiao Huai looked out the window at the swirling snow.
Most people in the carriage wore as little as Liu Tongtong. Aunt Wang and the elderly man each had on only a single layer.
Tang Weiqi wore a thin suit, while Old Mo had on a simple undershirt.
Lu Yuanshi wore a white shirt, and Xiao Huai wore a black one.
Ever since leaving the Ivy Girls’ School instance, Xiao Huai had disliked wearing white.
It became dirty too easily, especially when stained with blood. Those marks never washed out.
Black was much better. Blood would not show against it.
“What does the weather have to do with anything? Aren’t you cold?” Liu Tongtong challenged.
Xiao Huai said, “A little at first, but not much afterward. The center of this carriage is warmer than either end because the heat comes down there. If you’ve been cold this entire time, why did you choose the front row instead of sitting in the middle?”
“Heh. What kind of reason is that?” Liu Tongtong looked at Xiao Huai with contempt. His reasoning sounded far too flimsy.
She could sit wherever she pleased. It depended entirely on her mood. Then she added, “Besides, I was asleep at that time. How could I have stolen the diamond?”
Xiao Huai arched a brow and laughed.
“At that time? What time was that? Miss Rose, do you know when the diamond was stolen?”
The sudden question caught Rose off guard. Even she did not know when the diamond had been taken.
No precise timeline had been established yet.
So what had Liu Tongtong meant by “at that time”?
She clearly knew when the diamond had been stolen.
That meant she had not awakened after Aunt Wang.
She might have been awake long before that.
Realizing she had misspoken, Liu Tongtong immediately closed her mouth.
Xiao Huai walked toward her step by step and looked down at her. “There’s another reason I suspect you. Your symptoms don’t resemble a reaction to the cold. There are no goose bumps on your arms, yet your lips are extremely pale, and you keep clutching your stomach. I think you may feel so ill because… you ate something you shouldn’t have.”
“It was you! You stole the diamond!” Jack suddenly shouted. “Damn diamond fiend! That briny stench: it’s her!”
The NPC’s abrupt reaction made everyone realize that Xiao Huai had guessed correctly.
Liu Tongtong’s gaze suddenly turned vicious, every trace of her earlier anxiety and fear vanishing. A cruel light gleamed in her eyes, sending a chill through everyone who saw it.
A sense of foreboding surged through Xiao Huai, and he instinctively stepped back.
“You… You tricked me into giving myself away! I’ll make sure you die horribly!” Liu Tongtong charged madly at Xiao Huai. A flying insect burst from her mouth and streaked toward him.
It moved with incredible speed, its mouthparts covered in razor-sharp blades.
At that instant, Lu Yuanshi grabbed Xiao Huai and pulled him into his arms. The insect struck Lu Yuanshi’s right shoulder instead.
Its vibrating wings tore straight through his shoulder, and blood instantly soaked the fabric around it.
“Hiss…”
Xiao Huai’s pupils contracted as Lu Yuanshi’s pained voice sounded above his head.
There was no time to examine Lu Yuanshi. Xiao Huai looked at Liu Tongtong and asked coldly, “Hey. Want to play a game?”
The moment he finished speaking, a black hole appeared behind her.
An invisible force dragged her inexorably backward. Before she could release more insects, she vanished before everyone’s eyes.
“What… What was…”
“My God…”
Almost everyone stared at Xiao Huai with wide eyes.
Less than a minute had passed from beginning to end.
First came the bullet-fast insect, then the mysterious black hole.
“You… Was that a supernatural ability?” Tang Weiqi finally asked after a long silence.
Xiao Huai did not even glance at him. “Only a friend’s blessing.”
He pressed firmly against Lu Yuanshi’s wound. Lu Yuanshi’s brows were tightly furrowed, but he did not push Xiao Huai away.
Though Xiao Huai appeared to be using considerable force, it did not hurt as much as it seemed. In reality, he was stopping the bleeding.
Xiao Huai took a roll of bandages from his pocket. Only after wrapping Lu Yuanshi’s wound did he ask, “Why did you help me?”
If Lu Yuanshi had not pulled him aside, then from that distance…
The insect would have blown through his skull.
Lu Yuanshi smiled teasingly. “Would you rather it blew your head apart and sprayed your brains all over my face?”
Xiao Huai had intended to thank him, but the remark left him speechless.
He tossed the remaining bandages into Lu Yuanshi’s hand, leaned against the window, and folded his arms as he silently stared into the distance.
For one instant, he had genuinely believed he might die there.
“Um, Xiao Huai, now that we’ve found the culprit, shouldn’t we hand her over to the NPCs?”
“Hand her over?” Xiao Huai looked at Old Mo. “Do you want to let her out so she can spit more insects at us? Or would you rather have the NPCs watch us fight among ourselves?”
His meaning was obvious. Jack had shouted “diamond fiend” while Xiao Huai was still voicing his suspicions about Liu Tongtong.
Jack had identified her as the diamond thief immediately.
It was possible that the two NPCs had known who stole the diamond all along and could smell a diamond fiend.
Although Xiao Huai did not know exactly what a diamond fiend was, for now, he would consider it something that carried diamonds inside its body.
Speaking of diamonds, when Xiao Huai approached Liu Tongtong, he really had detected the faintest scent of sea salt.
Was that the briny stench they had mentioned?
In any case, from the second floor onward, he would need to consciously guard against traitors and NPCs alike.
These NPCs were no different from the gods. Some were even gods playing roles.
They wanted nothing more than to watch humans turn on one another.
Old Mo asked, “Then what about the rough diamond?”
Xiao Huai swept a cold glance over him. “I have my methods.”
With that, a black hole appeared behind Xiao Huai. He stepped inside and vanished before everyone’s eyes.