Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Tang Weiqi and the others had been waiting for Xiao Huai in the first-floor hall for quite some time.
Meals were for eating and serious discussions were for afterward. None of them seemed to be the sort who liked mixing the two.
When Xiao Huai approached the hall, Tang Weiqi called out to him.
“Xiao Huai, so much happened last night. Can you explain why Aunt Wang became contaminated, and how that black diamond saved her?”
The two questions had troubled him for so long that dark circles ringed his eyes that morning. He had spent the entire night thinking about them.
They had all awakened on the same train and followed the same route. How had Xiao Huai discovered so many hidden rules?
Xiao Huai had no reason to conceal the answers. Aunt Wang was there as well. Her complexion was terrible, and she seemed to remember what she had done the previous night.
“Aunt Wang, you sat closest to Liu Tongtong yesterday. Did anything unusual happen while you were talking?”
“Unusual? Let me think.” Aunt Wang considered it. “Oh, I remember. If I had to name something, she did give me something to eat on the train.”
The others froze. There really had been something? They crowded her with questions. “What was it?”
“A cookie. She said it was a specialty from her hometown and that she’d baked it herself. It smelled nice, so I took one and tried it.”
Xiao Huai arched a brow. “A cookie…”
“What’s suspicious about a cookie?” Old Mo did not understand. He could buy countless varieties of cookies from the System Shop right now.
Tang Weiqi said, “The important part isn’t that it was a cookie. It’s that she made it herself. She could have added anything she wanted.”
Xiao Huai nodded. “Exactly. Aunt Wang may have been the first among us to lose control because of someone she encountered earlier. Once I determined that players were diamond fiends, I remembered that Liu Tongtong had hidden the rough diamond in her stomach.
“At first, I thought she was clutching her stomach and looking pale because she’d eaten something she shouldn’t have. But something Victoria said later made me suspicious.”
She had said, “Serves her right for trying to eat the Count’s rough diamond again.”
*Trying to eat it again?*
So Liu Tongtong had not hidden the diamond. She had wanted it.
Wanted to eat it.
Wanted to eat diamonds.
Did *diamond fiend* refer to a player who craved diamonds and wanted to devour them?
For now, it was only Xiao Huai’s theory.
“Even after eating an ordinary rough diamond, she ultimately lost control. When I played the game with her, she became much like Aunt Wang. I believe that is a diamond fiend’s final fate: the destination awaiting us once we lose control.
“However, whenever a game imposes a debuff like this on its players, there must be a way to remove it.
“When I came downstairs, I discovered that Aunt Wang had stolen and eaten the rough diamonds from the white-house and green-house studios, but she had avoided the red-house studio entirely.
“I guessed there was something in the red-house studio that frightened her. The studio’s dimensions were also wrong, and I could feel air moving through the sealed room, which revealed the existence of a hidden chamber.
“You know what happened after that. I found black diamonds inside. But those diamonds belong to a monster. He was asleep at the time; now he’s awake.
“He may take our lives whenever he pleases. Diamond fiends are what he hates most, after all.”
After hearing Xiao Huai’s explanation, everyone wore complicated expressions. Old Mo now gazed at him with open admiration.
“Handsome, you’re incredible. While the rest of us were still panicking over the game, your mind was already operating on another level. Amazing!”
He tried to sling an arm around Xiao Huai’s shoulders, but Xiao Huai shifted aside and avoided him.
Old Mo understood immediately. Xiao Huai was not someone who enjoyed physical contact.
“So next, we start preparing for the main mission?” Old Mo asked. He sold fish for a living and had nothing whatsoever to do with art.
The most artistic moment in his daily life was probably when he sliced raw fish into translucent pieces and earned a few compliments from his customers.
Creating a diamond involved two major steps: drawing the design and cutting the rough stone.
The main mission specifically emphasized designing the most beautiful diamond, so they could not skip the design stage.
Moreover, diamond cutting was not something an amateur could simply pick up and perform.
One wrong move could destroy a rough diamond, and the finished piece might bear no resemblance whatsoever to the original design.
Most importantly, they had only seven days. This mission might as well have been a death sentence.
Old Mo scratched anxiously at what little hair remained on his head. “What are we supposed to do? I’ve never designed anything in my life. Isn’t there anyone who can teach us?”
Tang Weiqi patted his shoulder and started toward the studio. “Don’t worry too much. A second-floor instance can’t be that unreasonable. There must be reference books in the studios.”
When they entered, however, only a few rough diamonds remained on the tables. Aunt Wang had eaten most of them.
Their expressions immediately darkened further.
Aunt Wang looked deeply apologetic. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”
Before she could finish, Xiao Huai handed them a bag.
It contained several transparent rough diamonds and four black ones.
Everyone stared at him in surprise and stammered, “Y-You don’t need them?”
Xiao Huai felt his pocket. “I kept some for myself. But one warning: I don’t recommend using the black diamonds in your designs.”
After all, they were the only items capable of temporarily pulling them out of a contaminated state.
There were still many rough diamonds growing from the corpses of the diamond fiends in the red-house studio. Even knowing that, none of them dared go in and retrieve any.
There were four black rough diamonds, one each for Old Mo, Tang Weiqi, Aunt Wang, and Uncle Li.
Only Lu Yuanshi received none.
He stood beside Xiao Huai, his eyes fixed upon the bag Xiao Huai had handed over. Then Xiao Huai’s voice sounded beside his ear.
“Come on, roommate. I already left yours in the studio.”
Xiao Huai looked at him. Lu Yuanshi seemed intrigued by the word *roommate*, silently mouthing it again.
Xiao Huai read his lips. “That’s right. It’s a room we work in, and we’re mates. Roommates.”
Lu Yuanshi seemed to laugh, the sound cool and clear.
The two men returned to the red-house studio. Its windows had been left open since the previous night, and after airing out until morning, the room smelled much better than before.
Sunlight streamed through the windows. Xiao Huai sprawled bonelessly across the sofa, as languid as a cat. He narrowed his eyes beneath the warm winter sun. As he breathed quietly, his lashes fluttered, casting long, feathery shadows in the light.