Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Li Xiaoqin: “…”
“Besides, have you ever heard the saying that a man’s mouth is a lying ghost? Your husband is both a man and a gambling ghost. You’d have to be a ghost yourself to believe a word he says.”
Li Xiaoqin: “………..”
“But, he never had a gambling habit before…”
Qiao Yu: “Then maybe he was just really good at faking it?”
Li Xiaoqin racked her brain for a long while before finally saying, “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault for not being able to give him a child.”
Qiao Yu: “…………………….”
Motherfucker, how did the conversation circle back to this again?!
-Hahaha, I’m dying. This is the first time I’ve seen the streamer make that kind of face.
-It seems the only thing that can defeat the streamer is a ‘love brain.’ Makes sense.
-Sister Li, you are truly my big sister~
Qiao Yu: No, I don’t under-Li-stand at all!!!
He glanced at the mocking bullet chats in the Live Stream Room and rolled his eyes in frustration.
Fine. Whether she was ‘Sister Li’ or ‘Sister Qin,’ she wasn’t his actual sister. Let her do whatever she wanted.
Li Xiaoqin picked up her cloth bag and went to buy groceries again. Qiao Yu didn’t want to deal with this love-brain woman right now; he didn’t even bother collecting the free vegetables.
After Li Xiaoqin left, Qiao Yu suddenly turned and walked toward the far end of the corridor, looking up at Room 4008.
He wasn’t sure if Canyue Wushuang was in; the room was silent, so he likely wasn’t.
Qiao Yu didn’t intend to enter. Instead, he reached out and felt along the top of the doorframe.
Unexpectedly, he found nothing but a hand full of dust.
So what exactly had the Landlord Uncle been tinkering with at the entrance of Room 4008 yesterday? Qiao Yu was certain that Li Xiaoqin’s killing rules definitely had something to do with the Landlord Uncle.
He vaguely remembered the first night when he went to the small shop to ‘borrow’ a bottle opener for his canned food. On his way back, he had run into the Landlord, who was walking out from the depths of this very corridor.
What could it be?
As Qiao Yu pondered, his fingers aimlessly felt around the area above the doorframe. The old iron House Number Plate was cold to the touch, its edges covered in mottled brown rust, feeling as rough as sandpaper against his skin.
Just then, several streamers from the neighboring Room 4009 began to wake up. Pozhan’s decent suit had become somewhat wrinkled, but his hair was still meticulously combed, giving him the air of an elite white-collar professional.
As soon as he stepped out, he saw Qiao Yu touching the wall like a pervert, his eyes full of lingering attachment. “Enjoying the smell of the drywall? You might be calcium deficient.”
Qiao Yu: “As long as I’m not brain-deficient, it’s not a big deal.”
Pozhan: “…”
He was wrong. He shouldn’t have spoken to this man.
Pozhan gave up any desire for communication and started to walk away.
Seeing this, Qiao Yu quickly caught up. “Mind if I join you for a meal?”
He minded very much! But he was too embarrassed to say so.
The two walked downstairs in silence. As they passed his own door, Qiao Yu reflexively glanced at it. The markings on the House Number Plate for Room 4005 were clear and bright, looking as brand new as if it had just been bought.
The chaotic clues in Qiao Yu’s mind suddenly connected like a string of pearls, clearing the fog in an instant.
“I’ve got it!”
Pozhan paused and turned back in surprise. “You’ve got what?”
“The House Number Plates!” Qiao Yu pointed at the brand-new House Number Plate for Room 4005, then spoke excitedly, “The House Number Plates for Room 4008 and Room 4009 have been swapped! Li Xiaoqin’s killing rule is based on the House Number Plates in the Basement.”
“The House Number Plates in the Basement?” Pozhan recalled the scene and remembered that there were indeed some thin iron plates on the floor of the Basement yesterday. Wulong Tea had almost tripped over them at the time.
“Exactly. Those iron plates in the basement are the House Number Plates.”
“But we don’t know how the Landlord sorted them. Logically, the next one should be First Blood in Room 4007, but would it really be that simple?”
“The issue with the Eternal Life Curse hasn’t been straightened out yet, either. Did Li Xiaoqin get desperate and join some cult?”
“But over the past two days, Li Xiaoqin hasn’t shown any signs of religious belief.”
“Then what’s the connection between all this and the Landlord Uncle?”
Qiao Yu felt like his CPU was about to burn out. He clutched his head and let out a pained groan, suddenly saying, “Forget it. Food first.”
With that, he took the lead and ran downstairs. Pozhan was left utterly confused by his flurry of reasoning and self-questioning. His mind was filled with Li Xiaoqin, the Landlord Uncle, and… the Eternal Life Curse.
So, what was the connection between them? What was the actual storyline?
It was already the third day, and they hadn’t even figured out the relationships between the characters…
Never before had an Instance’s storyline been so elusive. Was this really just a Beginner Instance?
Once the hallway was empty, the door to Room 4004 suddenly cracked open. “House Number Plates in the basement?”
Canyue Wushuang murmured to himself before cautiously slipping out of the room. He was currently holding a medical report, but his thoughts had shifted to the basement following the conversation between Pozhan and Qiao Yu.
Even after using a Review Card, Canyue Wushuang remained gripped by extreme tension and panic. His most urgent desire now was to uncover the storyline of this Instance. Only by constantly gathering clues and reconstructing the storyline with at least seventy percent accuracy would he have a chance at survival.
At that thought, Canyue Wushuang immediately headed toward the basement.
A cold wind blew from the end of the corridor, and a thin sheet of paper slipped silently from the man’s hand.
It was a medical report without a hospital seal. The name written in the patient column was ‘Li Xiaoqin.’ The cause of illness: Abnormal egg development.
***
Qiao Yu bought two boxes of biscuits from the Landlord’s small shop for breakfast, not even bothering with hot water. As for breakfast items like deep-fried dough sticks or soy milk, he didn’t even consider them. He had asked around last night; none of the remaining streamers had space-type items for storing food.
They had only cleared a few Instances; where would they find the connections to know high-level streamers?
Wulong Tea had some connections, but word was he had spent his entire fortune on a Jade Guanyin pendant and had absolutely no interest in food storage items.
Tsk, what a waste of his massive frame.
The Landlord Uncle was still leaning back in his recliner, looking leisurely as if the world were at peace.
Pozhan didn’t have much of an appetite. He grabbed a loaf of whole wheat bread and went to the counter to pay. When he pulled out his phone, he realized it was dead, so he had to take out his wallet and hand over a fifty-yuan bill.
The Landlord Uncle had to stand up and pull open the drawer to find change. As that chipped drawer slid open, Pozhan’s expression changed.
The reason was simple: the drawer contained a stack of photocopied ID cards. The one on top belonged to Li Xiaoqin.
The birth date column was marked: April 4, 1989.
It was followed by a handwritten time: 4:04 AM.
While the Landlord was counting out the change, Pozhan’s eyes were glued to that string of numbers, his heart drumming against his ribs.
1989… an odd-numbered Yin year. April… an even-numbered Yin month. The 4th… an even-numbered Yin day. 4:04 AM… even and even again.
The medium for the Eternal Life Curse had been found: the Yin-Time Woman-Li Xiaoqin!