Chapter 122
The two strangers, hearing Xing Nuo’s words, scratched their heads awkwardly.
“Probably not him. Finding the culprit this easily would be too simple.”
This was a B-rank dungeon. It should take a few more days to uncover the truth.
They looked at Xing Nuo, who was staring at the piece of plastic in his hand, and sighed.
“Kid, let’s go back backstage. The front is completely burned, and the exit is blocked. We have to find another way out.”
Xing Nuo, looking at the charred remains of the seating area, his eyes still filled with confusion,
looked up and asked:
“Uncle, Auntie, this is…Rongcheng Central Elementary School auditorium?”
The players, thinking this might be a clue from the little NPC, quickly checked the background story, then exchanged glances.
“It doesn’t mention the school’s name. We can’t be sure.”
The female player, her arms crossed, looking at the ash-covered auditorium, said:
“Isn’t this the auditorium where you performed? You came running from backstage. You seem to know this place better than we do. It must be your school.”
Xing Nuo walked around the seating area, not finding anything else, and went towards the main exit.
The auditorium had two exits, one at the front and one at the back.
The front exit, located at the back right corner of the seating area, was a large, heavy, double door, wide enough for four people to walk through side by side.
Xing Nuo tried to pull the doors open, but they were locked.
“Don’t bother. The doors were locked during the fire. That’s why the people inside couldn’t escape.”
The players had tried everything, even using high-level props, but the doors wouldn’t budge.
“We have to find the back exit.”
Xing Nuo gave up and turned, looking at the ash-covered floor, vaguely remembering his brother sitting there, filming him.
How could this be?
He wondered if he had somehow gotten the time wrong.
Or had he missed the fire, having gone to the restroom?
He couldn’t understand and refused to accept that his brother had died in the fire.
The two players led him back backstage, through the maze-like corridors, to where they had first encountered him.
“Kid, you know where the back exit is, right?”
The female player, afraid the little one was too distraught to think clearly, bought him a lollipop.
“Don’t be sad. Everyone experiences loss. It’s part of growing up.”
Xing Nuo shook his head, not taking the orange-flavored lollipop.
He looked up, his eyes clear and bright.
“This not our school auditorium.”
Although everything pointed towards it being his school, he trusted his intuition.
“I no amnesia. I no faint.”
He was just in a strange place that looked exactly like his school auditorium!
He wanted to get out and see if it really was his school!
He started running, his little red cape fluttering behind him.
The players, seeing the key NPC running, quickly followed.
“Hey! Wait!”
Xing Nuo, having rehearsed in the auditorium before, was familiar with the backstage area.
He ran towards the back exit, reaching it before the players caught up.
The players, seeing the door, gasped, their eyes wide with surprise.
“That’s strange! We’ve been everywhere, but we couldn’t find the exit. How did you find it so easily?”
Xing Nuo, his heart pounding, pushed the door open.
Outside, sunlight dappled the ground through the leaves of the camphor trees, swaying gently in the breeze.
Xing Nuo, looking at the unfamiliar trees, his clenched fists relaxing, sighed softly.
This wasn’t his school.
His elementary school didn’t have camphor trees, only two pine trees on the playground.
The players, more excited than Xing Nuo, rushed outside, cheering.
“Three days! We’ve been trapped for three days! And we finally escaped!”
“Maybe this dungeon is designed this way, difficult at first, requiring us to avoid monsters, then easy once the key NPC appears.”
The female player, beaming, gave Xing Nuo the lollipop and pinched his bumblebee antenna.
“Thank you!”
Xing Nuo mumbled “You welcome,” then, after a moment of thought, asked:
“Big sister, you not…parents watching performance?”
The female player, not minding sharing some information with the little NPC, shook his head.
“No, we’re detectives, investigating the fire. We were trapped here after the fire.”
Xing Nuo, looking at them, his eyes bright but confused, asked:
“Then why…this auditorium…same as my school?”
Not just the backstage area, but the seating area too, the charred remains, the layout, even the patterns on the doors, were identical.
If it weren’t for his intuition, he would have believed this was his school auditorium after the fire.
The female player, still thinking Xing Nuo was just a child with a confused memory, shrugged.
“Isn’t this your school auditorium? I don’t know. It’s my first time here.”
Xing Nuo shook his head firmly.
“No. Not my school.”
The players, not quite believing him, seeing that they had completed half the dungeon, wanted more information.
“Kid, do you remember anything unusual happening during the performance?”
Although they had escaped the auditorium, they still hadn’t found the arsonist.
They were sure Xing Nuo, who had led them out, knew more than he was letting on.
Xing Nuo shook his head, remembering the cheerful New Year’s party, his face sad.
“No. I just…performed…with my fwiends.”
With no new leads, their progress stalled.
The players left the auditorium, searching for clues outside.
Xing Nuo, in his fluffy, black and yellow bumblebee costume and red cape, walked around to the front of the auditorium.
The front entrance faced a barren wasteland, the auditorium’s walls charred black but still intact.
Xing Nuo looked around, but couldn’t find anything suspicious.
“Ah!”
A scream echoed from behind the auditorium, and Xing Nuo and another player rushed towards the sound.
They found a player clutching his abdomen, blood seeping through his fingers, his face pale.
“What happened? Who attacked you?”
The player shook his head, his face filled with fear.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see it. It attacked me and ran away.”
The scarred player, a veteran of several B-rank dungeons, his face grim, thinking of the two teammates they had already lost, said:
“We escaped the auditorium. The culprit must be hiding, trying to stop us from investigating.”
“So, that shadowy figure was the arsonist?”
The scarred player nodded. “I think so. B-rank dungeons usually have a fifty percent survival rate. Now that Xiao Yuan is injured, the culprit should be revealing themselves soon.”
The players, their weapons drawn, became alert and wary.
Xing Nuo, seeing that the injured player was okay, turned and went back to the front of the auditorium.
The front doors, locked from the inside, wouldn’t open when he pulled on them, but they did budge slightly.
His eyes lighting up, he pushed harder, gritting his teeth, and managed to create a small gap.
Before he could peek inside, a shadowy figure darted out.
Xing Nuo was knocked to the ground, rolling a couple of times, and he used his wooden sword to push himself up.
The shadowy figure, shapeless but with two small horns, stared at him menacingly.
Before Xing Nuo could react, it lunged at him again.
Xing Nuo raised his wooden sword to defend himself. The shadow, not taking the child’s toy seriously, didn’t hold back.
But as it hit the wooden sword, a loud crackling sound echoed through the air.
The shadow recoiled, its form shrinking, and it rolled on the ground, wailing in pain.
“Ow!”
How is this an SSS+ level prop?!
It glared at Xing Nuo, then, as the other players approached, quickly darted into the nearby woods.
“That’s the monster!”
“Holy crap, how did you manage to scare it away, kid?”
The players, having arrived too late, hadn’t seen Xing Nuo use his wooden sword.
And they hadn’t taken the toy sword seriously.
Xing Nuo, getting up, ignoring the fleeing shadow, his face covered in dirt, pointed at the slightly open door.
“Front door…can open from outside.”
The players, having assumed the door was locked from both sides, were surprised.
They rushed over and, with their combined strength, pushed the doors open.
Xing Nuo, standing closest to the door, felt a wave of intense heat as the doors opened.
But he couldn’t move, frozen, watching as the scene of the fire replayed itself.
A monster, having bitten through the electrical wires in the ceiling, spat out a ball of fire.
The flames spread rapidly, and the parents in the front rows screamed and scrambled back, the crowd turning into a panicked mob.
Someone tried to open the doors on the right, but they were locked.
“The doors are locked!”
As the terrified screams intensified, the flames, like a fiery dragon, engulfed the auditorium.
Xing Nuo saw his brother’s back.
Still in his black suit, a long coat over it,
his camera in hand, filming the stage.
Before Xing Nuo could call out to him, the flames swallowed him.
“Big Brother!”
He reached out, his hand passing through the illusory flames, trying to pull his brother out.
But the vision ended.
The fiery scene was replaced by the charred remains of the auditorium.
Looking at the spot where his brother had been standing, Xing Nuo’s tears flowed silently.
But he clenched his little wooden sword, a certainty forming in his heart.
It was all fake. His brother was still alive!
