Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The System sighed, putting on an air of exasperated disappointment. [Don’t you want to make Zhang Xueya regret everything? Go cuddle someone. I can increase your charm stat.]
Zhao Xiuming could hear how much the System was enjoying his predicament. He found a cheap rental on his phone. [No.]
The System sweetened the offer. [Don’t you want to turn your life around and show them up? I could even make Li Zhehan your devoted little lapdog.]
Zhao Xiuming spotted an even cheaper rental. [No.]
Watching him pinch pennies as he scrolled through his phone, the System said helplessly, [What if I give you a hundred thousand? Will you go?]
Zhao Xiuming put his phone away. [All right. Can I find someone with silver hair, long legs, and an Eastern charm?]
The System paused. [You’re really going?]
[Ha. You…]
[Fine. I’d like to see how you find her.]
[I’ll transfer half now. You’ll get the rest when you finish the mission.]
The System had barely transferred the money and enjoyed two minutes of satisfaction before Zhao Xiuming reached an intersection and obligingly helped an old lady across the road.
Once they were across, Zhao Xiuming urged him, [Done. Pay the balance.]
The System said, [?]
Zhao Xiuming pointed at the old lady walking away. [A widow.]
Then he pointed at her hair. [Silver hair.]
[A long-legged walking stick.]
[A charming floral padded jacket from northeast China.]
[Any problems?]
This time, the System fell silent for a moment before laughing in exasperation. [Ge, you’re an idiot!]
He said that, but he paid up.
Zhao Xiuming used the money to rent a place. When he arrived, the System gave a low hum. [No. Not here.]
It was nearly evening. Zhao Xiuming checked the location. It was close to campus but not too close, and outside the busy commercial district. The residential complex was old but fully equipped, with mostly elderly residents.
The landlady was a quiet old woman. She took out the contract and keys and waited for Zhao Xiuming to pay. “There’s a mop, a broom, and a cleaning rag inside. The water and electricity are on. There’s a clean blanket on the bed.”
Zhao Xiuming didn’t give it much thought. After transferring the money, he began cleaning. The lighting in the room was dim and murky.
The old landlady lived right across the hall. She watched him for a while before turning and going inside.
Only after she shut her door did the System speak. [Don’t take this place.]
Then he deliberately pitched his voice higher, putting on a coy, mocking whine. [Nooo, Gege…]
[I don’t wanna live here…]
Zhao Xiuming deliberately copied him. [Whyyy…?]
[Because there’s no gorgeous older landlady? No pretty young woman for a roommate…?]
The System said, […]
Drowsiness came over him for no apparent reason. Or perhaps it was from working nights at the hot pot restaurant.
Zhao Xiuming didn’t sleep well. As he drifted in and out of sleep, he sometimes heard someone moving about the room, and a damp, icy presence crept into his arms.
At other times, he heard what sounded like the System talking to himself. [Ge, I’ll help you…]
Close to noon the next day, his ringing phone woke him.
It was his roommate, whose voice sounded a little nervous. “Brother Ming, where are you?”
Zhao Xiuming sat up. “Do you need something?”
His roommate sounded even more nervous. “Brother Ming, Zhang Xueya and Li Zhehan are missing. Something happened to the hot pot restaurant manager, too.”
Zhao Xiuming felt nothing for Zhang Xueya. She was practically a stranger.
His past felt like a muddled haze. Even his memories played out in third person, like a film he hadn’t particularly connected with. “Missing? What happened?”
His roommate was silent for a few seconds. “The manager died in the restaurant this morning. Loads of people saw him acting like a madman, going on about words above his head. He also said someone was pulling his head off. He kept shouting your name.”
“No one’s answering Zhang Xueya’s or Li Zhehan’s phones. You know Zhang Xueya’s best friend? She’s saying you kidnapped them. She told the university and reported it to the police.”
“So where are you right now, Brother Ming?”
Zhao Xiuming only said, “I’m renting a place off campus. I’ll head back right away.”
He hung up. The System in his head was as silent as the dead.
Zhao Xiuming suspected Sun Yan’s death had something to do with the blue code in the restaurant, or perhaps the dismembered body in the freezer.
As for the supposed male and female leads going missing, the likeliest culprit was that ugly thing on Zhang Xueya’s belly.
But why was her best friend pointing the finger at him?
As Zhao Xiuming puzzled over it, he felt something sticky against his chest. He looked down and pulled back the blanket. His bed was covered in dark red liquid.
The smell of blood rushed into his head, making him dizzy.
Zhao Xiuming jumped out of bed, frowning. Had he gone sleepwalking last night and killed someone?
Impossible. Plenty of people had seen Sun Yan die in the restaurant.
Surely he hadn’t… killed Zhang Xueya and Li Zhehan in his sleep?
The strange events, one after another, left him utterly confused. [System, why have the male and female leads gone missing?]
The System didn’t answer his question. Instead, he spoke in a low, meaningful voice. [You’ve finally noticed. You’re beginning to see the truth about this world.]
[All right. I’m actually a nonhuman…]
[A nonhuman little girl? All right, a Nonhuman Little Girl Raising System.]
[Bet you didn’t see that coming. Go on. Find the door and abduct the little girl inside.]
Zhao Xiuming’s head hurt. If this System wasn’t telling him to sneak into a widows’ village at night, he was telling him to abduct little girls.
Suddenly, fragments of the System’s earlier words flashed through his mind. [Sun Yan, you’re dead. You’re absolutely dead.]
[No. Don’t live here.]
He couldn’t tell whether it was coincidence or a hint. “And what do you mean, find the door?”
Zhao Xiuming looked around and circled the bed, finally stopping at its foot.
There were footprints on the floor, small and delicate. Judging by their size, whoever had left them really did seem to be… a little child.
The footprints suggested their owner had stood at the foot of the bed for quite a while. A fair amount of bloody liquid had pooled beside it.
From the bloodstains on the sheets, the unknown little girl had crawled into Zhao Xiuming’s arms from the foot of the bed.
He followed the footprints and finally stopped before a wall in the living room. There was no door here at all.
The System spoke in his head again. [Plot delivered. NPC awakening confirmed.]
What? Why was this happening again?
This time, it was his memories of his hometown that came into focus and revealed something deeply wrong.
Groups of people often came to the village to travel and explore. They either went missing, lost an arm or a leg, or suffered who knew what and emerged barely alive.
His mind had been so clouded before that he simply hadn’t noticed. Now, all at once, he understood.
His hometown was actually a horror game instance, a typical gathering place for anomalies. The visitors who lost limbs hadn’t been injured exploring. They had barely escaped with their lives.
And the missing ones hadn’t gotten lost in the mountains. The villagers had killed them.
Those simple, honest country folk in his memories had some very serious problems.
Zhao Xiuming fell silent. He’d thought he was in a wish-fulfillment story: put the campus beauty in her place at the start, then rise to the top. How had anomalies gotten involved?
What kind of novel was he living in, exactly?