Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Only ten minutes remained on the countdown.

“Honestly, where did that young man go? If he doesn’t come back soon, that crazy woman will return.” Aunt Wang paced anxiously in her floral shirt.

She was not the only one worried. Tang Weiqi, Old Mo, and Uncle Li all looked increasingly grim.

If Xiao Huai did not reappear, they would have no choice but to prepare for the worst.

Lu Yuanshi was the calmest person among them. He lounged against the back of his seat with his eyes closed, thick lashes trembling slightly with each breath.

“Handsome, why aren’t you worried at all?” Old Mo could not resist asking Lu Yuanshi.

Without opening his eyes, Lu Yuanshi answered in his magnetic voice, “Didn’t he say he had a method?”

Old Mo said, “But he still hasn’t come back. If he doesn’t return… one of us…”

Before he could finish, a quiet laugh escaped Lu Yuanshi’s throat.

“Mm. And?”

His voice abruptly turned glacial. Old Mo opened his mouth, then thought better of speaking.

Tang Weiqi coughed lightly. “Don’t forget that the NPCs are temporary workers too.”

“What are you thinking?” Old Mo asked. “Even if we attacked the NPCs, whether we could defeat them is one question. Whether it would trigger some unknown rule is another.”

They had reached the point of considering an attack on the NPCs.

Jack and Rose pretended not to hear. They sat quietly in the last row, watching the players.

Unlike the vicious insults they had traded before, the pair now appeared perfectly harmonious. No one would have guessed that less than an hour earlier, they had nearly come to blows.

“What do we do? What do we do…?”

As Aunt Wang continued pacing, the train entered another tunnel. The compartment lights flickered without pause, flashing bright and dark amid the crackle of electricity.

Suddenly…

The powerful stench of blood filled the entire carriage.

When everyone blinked again, a person had appeared among them.

Xiao Huai’s head hung low, his hair obscuring his eyes. His chest rose and fell slightly, and his Adam’s apple trembled.

The train whistle shrieked as it emerged into the light. A freezing wind swept snowflakes into the carriage.

Sunlight refracted through the flakes scattered across Xiao Huai’s cheeks, making his eyes appear even colder and more merciless.

For a moment, the players forgot to breathe. They could only stare at him.

Both his hands were drenched in blood. Strands of some unidentifiable mucus-coated tissue still clung to his left hand.

“You… You’re back?” Old Mo was the first to speak. His voice jolted most of the players from their daze.

Xiao Huai glanced at him and tossed a bloodred sac through the air.

Old Mo hurriedly cupped both hands to catch it. His instincts told him the rough diamond was inside, and he feared the precious stone might shatter.

Xiao Huai murmured, “Relax. A rough diamond doesn’t break that easily.”

The instant Old Mo caught the crimson sac, an intensely sour, rotten odor assaulted his nose. His features twisted. With both hands occupied, he could not pinch his nose and had to turn his head aside.

“What is this thing?”

Xiao Huai’s lips curved slightly. “Intestines.”

That single word nearly made Old Mo vomit.

“What the hell? You threw intestines at me?”

“Weren’t you the one in the greatest hurry?”

Xiao Huai opened the System Shop. Sure enough, it was unlocked now.

They had been able to purchase items from the moment the redheaded woman arrived and assigned the mission.

His shop had now reached Level 2. Although its inventory was limited to objects found in human society, it offered a much wider variety of strange items.
It even sold medicine capable of reducing contamination, though the price was outrageously high.

Xiao Huai bought several wet wipes and began cleaning his hands.

He smelled truly awful, not only of blood, but also of rotting, dead insects.

It was no better than emerging from a heap of insect excrement.

All he wanted was a proper shower.

Just as Xiao Huai was about to find any empty seat, Lu Yuanshi waved repeatedly at him. “Your seat is here.”

Smiling, he pointed beside himself.

Xiao Huai looked toward Lu Yuanshi and frowned. He ultimately chose a nearby empty seat instead.

Across the carriage, Old Mo exclaimed, “I found the rough diamond! It was really inside this thing. Handsome, how did you get it?”

“What do you think?” Xiao Huai countered. Old Mo quickly grasped the implication.

An intestine? Whose intestine?

His stomach instantly churned.

As a fishmonger, he had a higher tolerance for fishy smells than most people.

But human viscera? That was another matter.

Old Mo’s face turned deathly pale, and his lips began trembling. He set the diamond on the floor and sprinted toward the bathroom.

“No. I need to throw up…”

The bathroom was reasonably soundproof, but Old Mo vomited far too loudly.

A shadow immediately fell over every player’s face.

Aunt Wang spoke quietly to Xiao Huai. “Um… Was Tongtong really the culprit? Will she come back?”

Xiao Huai did not look at her. He rested his folded hands over his lower abdomen and leaned lazily against the window.

His voice was low. “The insects have already eaten her. She can’t return.”

Inside the hide-and-seek world, Liu Tongtong had released flying insects like a madwoman.

But that world existed independently. It belonged to Xiao Huai alone.

She could not defeat him there.

Eventually, something became increasingly wrong with her. She repeatedly tried to eat something, roaring where she stood as her supernatural ability ran wild.

Before long, her own power turned against her. After she died, countless tiny insects crawled from her mouth and gnawed at her corpse.

Xiao Huai had raced against time, locating the diamond before the insects devoured her completely.

That was also why he had returned reeking so badly.

Just then, the countdowns on every player’s system interface stopped. A system notification sounded over the carriage speakers.

[Ding! Congratulations to all players for completing the timed mission: Find the stolen rough diamond.]

The carriage door opened. When the redheaded woman entered again, a brilliant smile covered her face.

Her gaze immediately landed on the rough diamond lying on the floor. “Oh! My little darlings, there you are.”

Ignoring the blood still coating the diamond, she cradled it in her palms.

“Damned diamond fiends. Always trying to eat the Count’s rough diamonds. You got exactly what you deserved,” she muttered.

Only then did she look at the players. “Since you’ve recovered the Count’s rough diamond, I suppose you temporary workers aren’t entirely useless. The train will arrive soon. In seven days, you will be invited to attend the Count’s grand diamond showcase. During those seven days, I hope you can design the most beautiful diamond of all.”

[Ding! Main Mission activated: Design the most beautiful diamond. Time limit: seven days.]

The new mission appeared on the system interface.

Aunt Wang asked, “Um, miss, what counts as the most beautiful diamond? And what happens if we can’t design it?”

The redheaded woman burst into laughter, her smile unspeakably eerie.

“If you can’t design one? Then you’ll simply remain here as temporary workers forever.”