Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Ning Shuo said gently, “Big brother can let you have a bite of Mr. Thief.”

Ning Wang: ?

Sui Chunsheng pulled out half a roujiamo: “Here, have this. I tore it off to eat, so it hasn’t touched my mouth.”

He blinked at Ning Shuo and mouthed: *Thank you.*

Ning Shuo pressed his palms together in a prayer gesture: *I should thank you as well.*

Sui Chunsheng assumed he was a Buddhist and made a mental note of it.

There were five people tasked with soothing the child, and there was no reason Ning Shuo, as a Player, shouldn’t have to do it too.

Therefore, as an exemption, he must have completed some other task.

For instance, those unconscious actions in the dream that had saved him once.

If it hadn’t been for Ning Shuo, he really might have been trapped in that dream.

Wanzi took the bun and ate it as she walked out the door to tell the other townspeople when the guests had left the house.

The townspeople’s hostility had lessened, but suspicion remained. “They’ve all been out of the house. We can’t completely rule them out as suspects.”

Wanzi pointed at Ning Shuo. “Mr. Number One has been here the whole time. He chatted with Wanzi as soon as he woke up. Wanzi doesn’t trust the others, so let Mr. Number One investigate.”

Ning Shuo-the Detective fallen from the sky-bent down in a gentlemanly bow. “It would be my absolute honor.”

Given Ning Wang’s personality, he surely would have mocked Ning Shuo’s posturing right now because of Ning Shuo’s backstabbing.

Yet, Ning Wang didn’t.

Ning Shuo glanced at him and noticed he was staring at the room where the hypnosis had taken place.

Come to think of it, Ning Shuo still didn’t know what Ning Wang had dreamed about.

Since Wanzi had given Ning Shuo the highest status of Detective on the scene, no one would stop him.

Just as Ning Shuo was about to step forward, someone in the crowd of onlookers called out cautiously, “Ning Banxian?”

Ning Shuo reacted instantly and gave a prompt response.

Real names could be shared freely among Players, but not with Ghosts/Monsters.

An alias was set during the first entry into a Script specifically for the Ghosts/Monsters to know.

The NPCs in this Script were much more intelligent than those in the Newbie Script. Aside from Wanzi, who had taken a bite of human flesh, the other NPCs seemed very human.

The person calling him was a girl named Qiuqiu. She sized Ning Shuo up. “Did you really come to find the Dreamweaver to cure your insomnia?”

Recalling the content he had seen on this identity’s phone, Ning Shuo lowered his gaze and said expressionlessly, “Wasn’t it you who posted so many social media updates about the Dreamweaver?”

Qiuqiu froze for a moment, looking embarrassed. “Oh, so you noticed.”

From the Players’ perspective, the suspicion Qiuqiu held toward Ning Shuo dissipated significantly.

Since there was an NPC who knew Ning Shuo, there was no reason there wouldn’t be NPCs who knew the other Players.

The several Players exchanged looks and stepped forward one after another.

Sure enough, some were called “Chunsheng,” others “Xiaoxiao”; almost everyone had a match.

Ning Wang, however, stayed where he was, not moving.

A few seconds later, a girl in a red dress walked up to him. “Number One Swordsman in the World, why do you still like lurking in corners so much?”

Ning Shuo wasn’t far away. Hearing the girl call him that, he almost lost his composure.

It wasn’t that he was mocking him; he just suddenly remembered that in the past, Ning Wang had always been the center of attention in crowded places.

Let alone liking corners.

Then there was the combination of that title with this context.

Ning Wang looked at him: *Is it that funny?*

Ning Shuo looked back: *Don’t you think so yourself?*

Ning Wang actually did think so. He suppressed the smile in his eyes and looked coldly at the girl. “What does it have to do with you?”

Shen Xiao, who was closest to him, looked over and found that the girl in red wasn’t angry at all.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, after all-at least longer than them. Why is your temper still so bad?”

The girl pointed her finger at the others before continuing, “Did you bring the hair ribbon you promised me?”

She pouted, her cuteness immediately apparent. “You promised me last time. If you forgot to bring me the Red Hair Ribbon again…”
Her gaze was fixed on Ning Wang’s hand, and from Shen Xiao’s angle, it looked as if her eyes were glowing green. “Your rice bowl is mine now!”

What was a thief’s rice bowl?

Ning Shuo looked at Ning Wang’s hand and finally understood why there wasn’t a single female Player in this Script.

No wonder Wanzi said Ning Wang wanted to steal her hair tie.

Ning Shuo had one tied around his head too, but it was white.

He made a split-second decision. While the others were focused on Ning Wang, he pulled off his hair tie and tossed it into the Dreamweaver’s eviscerated corpse.

Then, Ning Shuo let out a cry of surprise and apologized repeatedly. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry! I was just trying to coax the kid earlier, and he was worried about losing his hair tie, so he let me keep it safe. I really didn’t mean to…”

Ning Shuo picked up a wooden stick from the ground and fished the blood-soaked hair tie out of the corpse. He muttered sheepishly, “I’m really sorry, it really was red originally…”

Ning Shuo hadn’t groomed his hair all day, and since the NPCs had arrived at night, no one had seen the color of his hair tie clearly-including the other Players.

Sui Chunsheng and Shen Xiao had noticed because they had returned early and spoken with Ning Shuo, but they would have to be insane to say anything.

The girl walked up to Ning Shuo in a huff. Before Ning Shuo could say another word, Qiuqiu stepped in front of him. “Xiao Hong! He said he didn’t mean it, and he already apologized. At worst, I’ll just pay you back!”

Wow, they really act like real people.

Unlike in a Novice Script, where NPCs might try to expose a Player’s identity despite knowing who they are, NPCs in an Advanced Script truly treated the Players as their designated characters-unless a Player did something suspicious.

It seemed this was a more effective way to numb a Player’s nerves and make them let their guard down.

Xiao Hong was pulled away by Qiuqiu, and the other NPCs, who had finished their performances in front of the other Players, also began to leave.

Ning Shuo tossed the hair tie aside and prepared to just loop his hair around itself to keep it from falling.

A hand suddenly reached out and took hold of his hair. Out of the corner of his eye, Ning Shuo caught a glimpse of red. He froze. “Didn’t you fail to steal it?”

Ning Wang tied his hair up nonchalantly. “You actually listened to what that little girl said?”

“You aren’t supposed to be good at stealing anyway. Didn’t she bite you twice?”

“Yeah. We played rock-paper-scissors. If I won, she’d give me a hair tie. I won the third round.”

“…”

Fine then.

Ning Shuo asked, “Then why didn’t you just give it to her?”

Ning Wang gave a light chuckle. “Wasn’t it because Brother was faster? It’s a hair tie made of decent material. Since you had a plan, I’d rather give it to you than an NPC.”

He kept calling him “Brother,” which actually made Ning Shuo feel a bit amused. “You’re being awfully well-behaved all of a sudden.”

Ning Wang blinked. “Don’t you think I’m faking it?”

“I can tell.”

Ning Wang smiled. “Well, seeing as you’re treating your younger brother pretty well, I’ll tentatively forgive you for wanting that little girl to bite me.”

Ning Shuo pointed toward the kitchen. “Are you stupid? I’ll just make a few dishes for her to eat.”

“I know. I was teasing.”

Ning Shuo’s braid draped over his shoulder. The red hair tie made his skin look even paler. Ning Wang looked at him and asked, almost as if possessed, “How did you become so pale?”

Ning Shuo was carefully examining the corpse, answering distractedly, “I don’t go out, I don’t get any sun. It’s only natural to be pale.”

An autopsy didn’t require many people, and since the other Players didn’t know how to perform one anyway, they went to search for clues elsewhere in the town.

It had settled into the typical Murder Mystery Game scenario of “Detective Autopsy, Others Search for Evidence.”

The wound on Ning Wang’s arm was still seeping blood. Ning Shuo finally remembered that his own blood coagulation wasn’t great. He went to the System Shop to exchange for medicine, saying he would re-bandage Ning Wang’s wound.

Ning Wang looked down at the face that was identical to his own-though if he had to find a difference, it was perhaps that this one was paler. He asked softly, “What did you dream about?”