How to Easily Capture a Long Aotian [Quick Transmigration] 8

Chapter 8: The Cannon Fodder Roommate of the Unlimited Flow Male Lead (Part 8)

Su Huai and Yu Lin walked to where the flames had last licked, near the entrance to the third-floor corridor, and frowned as they looked down.

The fire below was raging, and the screams were incessant, but perhaps due to some unspoken rule, it never spread to the third floor.

Fiery serpents danced in the corridor. The bell talismans hanging on the walls seemed to sense it and began to shake crazily.

The commotion here was too great. After a while, despite their pale faces, the remaining few players also pushed open their doors and came out.

Mu Guang, wearing a jacket, came over with a pale face and asked, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

The temperature was too high to go any further down. Su Huai stood at the entrance of the corridor, holding Yu Lin’s hand. His eyelids lifted slightly as he said calmly, “There’s a safety hazard that hasn’t been found.”

“…Fuck.” Mu Guang’s legs went weak.

“So if we can’t find the safety hazard, the boss is just going to burn us all to death in here?”

Remembering the tragic state of humans being burned to death, Mu Guang leaned against the railing, covered his mouth, and couldn’t help but make a retching expression.

Aihao and Chenguang came out second. They stood behind and looked down, their expressions thoughtful.

Aihao frowned. “Why is it so fierce? It wants to go on a killing spree so early?”

“It seems to have a lot of resentment,” Chenguang said, stunned. “It seems being burned to death really hurts. It’s become an obsession.”

He hesitated, listening to the faint screams coming from the internet cafe downstairs, and couldn’t help but rub his arm, feeling a wave of goosebumps.

The screams in the fire were mixed and difficult to distinguish. Aihao listened for a while, and for some reason, he frowned slightly.

He turned around, glanced at Chenguang, and then looked down again thoughtfully. “…Is that so?”

After a while, the remaining people also came out of their rooms one after another.

Donggua had been given the cold shoulder by Dongqing for the past two days, forced to adapt to the dungeon. His face was pale, but he was indeed doing much better than before.

Listening to the others’ discussion, he pressed against the railing and asked in a small voice, “So the purpose of these dungeon bosses… is to kill us all?”

“Hard to say.”

Compared to a high-combat, steamrolling player like Dongqing, Chenguang, as a technical player, was clearly more knowledgeable about gossip.

He explained, “I’ve seen people discuss this on the forums before. At first, some people also thought that ghosts killing players was an unconscious act, but…”

Chenguang frowned, a chill running down his spine.

He rubbed his arms, feeling a wave of goosebumps.

He said, “But later, I came across another post. The poster said that the dungeons would eat people. His teammate from the previous dungeon, after being killed by a ghost, became the exact same monster in the next dungeon.”

“Exactly the same?” Donggua was dumbfounded. “So it’s looking for a scapegoat?”

“…”

“.”

Chenguang was at a loss for words, unable to refute.

He paused. “…I guess so. But that was in the past. As for a monster with a mind of its own like in this instance, who knows what it wants to do.”

He said it in a gloomy tone. Donggua’s eyes widened, and he shivered with fear. “That’s too terrifying.”

Dongqing suddenly reached out and tapped the back of his head. “That’s enough.”

After a pause, she leaned against the wall and suddenly frowned. “Why are there only seven people? Where’s Chen Jian?”

The others all looked up, only then realizing that one person was missing from the team of players.

Mu Guang, who was in the same room as Chen Jian, was stunned and subconsciously replied, “He didn’t come…?”

A look of confusion appeared on his face. “I remember when I left…”

He was bewildered. “He wasn’t there?”

He frowned. Just as he was speaking, a man came running from the end of the corridor, his hair messy, tucking his shirt into his pants as he ran.

He ran over, panting, “Sorry, I just went to the restroom.”

He looked up, revealing a very approachable face.

He was still smiling. This time, even the most timid Donggua was speechless. “In the middle of the night, in this place, and you didn’t team up with anyone? You went to the restroom by yourself?”

Chen Jian looked at him, waved his hand, and said with a smile, “…Hmm? I was still quite scared, but what could I do?”

His behavior was actually not problematic, and his conversation with Donggua was also very normal.

But Yu Lin, looking at him, always felt that something was not right.

He pressed his lips together, his mind preoccupied, and was slightly distracted. His fingers unconsciously gripped Su Huai’s, his eyelashes long and thick in the firelight.

The others were chattering and discussing. Yu Lin looked up and glanced at Chen Jian again.

Chen Jian was still smiling, a superficial kind of smile. He seemed to have a pleasing personality and was always trying his best to cooperate with others.

Yu Lin looked at him, almost instinctively feeling a sense of disharmony.

Chen Jian noticed his gaze and was very sharp, immediately looking over at him.

He stared at Yu Lin, his eyes narrowing slightly. Then, Su Huai suddenly turned around and met his gaze placidly.

Chen Jian paused, then looked away as if nothing had happened.

Yu Lin stood with Su Huai, listening to the tired and fearful discussions of the others. He looked down at the sea of fire, a faint idea forming in his mind, but he couldn’t be sure.

The flames in the stairwell burned until the early morning before gradually receding. By the time it was over, it was just four o’clock.

The group had been woken up in the middle of the night, their minds constantly tense. They only breathed a sigh of relief when the fire was extinguished and dragged their exhausted bodies back to the dormitory.

There was only a single dim yellow lamp in the dormitory, and the concrete walls were old and mottled.

Su Huai turned to lock the door.

He raised his hand, and the lock clicked shut. He turned around, just about to go back, when Yu Lin, who had been standing quietly by the side, moved slightly with him, his eyes lowered.

He took a step, and Yu Lin followed.

Su Huai stopped, turned back, and placed his hand on the side of Yu Lin’s neck, afraid that he would fall over without reacting.

Yu Lin didn’t notice, his face still wearing a thoughtful expression.

He even seemed to have tacitly accepted that wherever Su Huai was, was a safe zone. Not only did he allow himself to think, but seeing Su Huai reach out, he even thought it was a hint.

These days, Yu Lin had gotten used to this kind of hint.

—So he followed suit, raised his hand, and naturally placed his fingers on top.

The fingers in his palm were fair and slender, but not overly delicate. If it were in ancient times, they would probably belong to a scholar.

But now, they landed in Su Huai’s palm and, in turn, gripped Su Huai’s hand, leading him forward.

Su Huai followed Yu Lin all the way to the bed and sat down.

Yu Lin sat there, and as if he had suddenly figured something out, he relaxed his brow and looked over. He pressed his lips together and said softly to Su Huai, who had been watching him, “I just discovered something.”

After speaking, he felt the warmth in his palm and tilted his head to look.

When he saw the two hands, still clasped together after the danger had passed, on the dark blue floral bedsheet, Yu Lin was stunned and suddenly let go.

He looked away, his ears turning red.

Su Huai looked at him, then at his own hand, which still retained a little warmth, and grunted, “En.”

He withdrew his hand, his expression as usual, swallowing the words “it’s fine if you want to keep holding it.”

He said, “Go on.”

Yu Lin looked at him, stunned for a moment, and tried to switch his train of thought back.

After a long while, the heat in his face slowly faded.

Yu Lin sat up a little straighter, his expression one of recollection. “I heard other voices.”

Yu Lin’s hearing was very sensitive.

Because of this, just now at the entrance of the stairs, amidst the countless screams in the sea of fire, besides the tragic cries of men and women, he had actually faintly heard a familiar and different voice.

The timbre was very similar to the boy from his dream, and also somewhat similar to the internet cafe owner.

It was Chen Nianqiu. To be precise, it was the young Chen Nianqiu. In the sea of fire, his voice still sounded very young.

In the sea of fire, Yu Lin had heard the sound of electrical wires snapping, and also the sound of him crawling on the ground, groaning in pain, and crying for help in vain.

Amidst the cries of pain, his voice quickly became hoarse, but it wasn’t “it hurts so much,” but rather a hissing, “Let him go, let him go, I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you—”

The voice was full of resentment and despair.

“He was maliciously killed. He still has a wish that hasn’t been fulfilled.”

Yu Lin looked up, voiced his guess, and said softly, “Mu Guang’s guess might be right. His real target may not be us.”

“He wants to save someone.” Yu Lin frowned. “Besides wanting us to prevent the fire from happening, he seems to have been trying to convey some message.”

“And Chen Jian, something’s not right about him,” Yu Lin said to Su Huai.

Realizing that he had been talking a lot, Yu Lin paused. “…But this is just my thought. Whether they are connected or not will have to be verified tomorrow.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, his voice soft and quiet.

The light in the old-fashioned dormitory was very dim, with only a single faint lamp.

He sat under the light, his features quiet, his neck long and slender. He looked up, seriously explaining his discovery.

While he was speaking, because he was thinking, his fingers had nowhere to rest and would unconsciously tug at the bedsheet.

The bedsheet was smooth. He tugged at it but couldn’t get a grip, so he had to let it go, spreading his hand flat on the edge of the bed.

Yu Lin was focused on thinking about the connection between the clues and didn’t know what he was doing. As he was thinking, his fingers suddenly felt a chill.

He looked down and found a small object had been placed in his palm.

It was a silver brooch. This world was separate from reality. Su Huai was wearing a black police officer’s uniform, his waist cinched by a leather belt.

He sat on the edge of the bed. A silver brooch was pinned to the left breast of his uniform. The metallic color was very cold, making him exude an unapproachable, icy aura.

It was a completely different style from Yu Lin, whose initial outfit was a plain white T-shirt and light-colored jeans, giving off a strong campus vibe.

Yu Lin was stunned for a moment. He opened his palm and looked at the silver brooch in it, gently touching it.

The brooch was cool to the touch. Because it had been worn close to its owner’s body, he could almost feel the lingering cool, woody scent on it.

Yu Lin didn’t understand. He looked up at Su Huai. Su Huai looked at him, reached out and pressed down on his soft hair, and said, “Play with this.”

He added, “No rush. We’ll check them one by one tomorrow.”

***

It was inconvenient to hold it while sleeping, so Yu Lin placed both the brooch and the pistol by his bed. In a very faint, cool, woody scent, he slept until dawn.

The next day was generally unremarkable.

Only in the early morning did Yu Lin and Su Huai deliberately go to the restroom to take a look.

Because it was an old-fashioned apartment, the dormitory building’s restrooms were all at the end of the corridor on each floor.

During the day, it looked unremarkable. Plain concrete walls, separated by a low door. Inside were small stalls, and the faucets outside would suddenly sputter out turbid liquid.

Compared to coming here to relieve themselves, the players were actually more willing to hold it in, so they hadn’t come here many times in the past two days.

As a result, what exactly Chen Jian had been doing here last night was completely unknown.

After getting no useful information from the restroom, they went downstairs, and the voices of the other players gradually sounded out.

Because of yesterday’s fire, everyone’s faces were not looking good. They exchanged a look and began the tedious task of checking for safety hazards.

There were too many possible causes for a fire, and the internet cafe was too big, which made the players in it feel involuntarily irritable.

Mu Guang sat in front of a computer, mechanically lifting a row of power strips. Chenguang frowned and simply stood outside the smoking area, trying to stare at the structure inside.

He planned to keep an eye on this place today, because human error was also a major safety hazard.

The same hypnotic bell as always. When the owner came hopping down, his face was not looking good. He said a few words casually and then hopped away again.

As he went upstairs, Yu Lin looked up slightly and found that the burns on his body seemed to be even more severe.

Three days seemed to be some kind of deadline.

Yu Lin looked at him, recalled the voice he had heard yesterday, frowned slightly, and stood up from his seat.

Su Huai had been sitting on the front desk with his legs bent. Hearing the movement, he looked up.

Yu Lin turned his head and explained to him, “Today, I want to ask the NPCs some questions.”

Su Huai nodded, grunted “en,” stood up, and asked him, “Where are you going?”

Yu Lin paused, looked at him, and said softly, “It’s just in the internet cafe. I can do it myself.”

He wanted to say that he wasn’t that scared anymore.

Su Huai looked at him, his eyes lifting slightly. He paused, his dark eyes shifting away slightly. He paused again and said, “En. I’ll lead you out of the first instance first.”

Yu Lin didn’t know what to say.

The environment of this internet cafe was very strange. It was surrounded by old machines, their casings yellowed, as if covered by a yellow filter.

Because it was underground, there were only a few bright lights overhead.

It was the second day. The potted plants on the desks were all gone. Without the soothing effect of the green plants, the lights overhead became cold and bleak.

People would instinctively feel uncomfortable in this environment.

As a minor cannon fodder, all Yu Lin could do was go with the flow.

But now, everything seemed to have reversed… More than one person had noticed Su Huai’s special treatment of him.

When Mu Guang and the others encountered problems, they didn’t dare to disturb Su Huai, so they would secretly come over and recount it to him with embellishments.

As if they were certain that someone would take care of it.

“…”

Yu Lin didn’t know why the plot had gone awry. This development was different from any script he had ever received.

The only thing he was sure of was that although it was unfamiliar, it didn’t seem to be unpleasant.

After a moment of silence, Yu Lin didn’t refuse. As he stepped onto the second floor, he subconsciously looked back.

Su Huai was, as always, following behind him, his arm resting on the railing.

Seeing him turn back, he immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

His gaze swept around, his eyes dark and deep. As he had said, he never strayed too far from him.

Yu Lin shook his head gently, turned around silently, and for some reason, felt that his usually calm mood was a little chaotic.

The NPCs on the second floor were a bit older than those on the first floor, almost all of them office workers, and they were also harder to talk to.

Yu Lin went up and asked several NPCs in a row if they had heard anything special recently. The NPCs took off their headphones and looked at him, all with blank expressions.

It wasn’t until he reached the smoking area on the second floor that he saw a man leaning against the window, frowning as he looked out.

The view outside the window was gray and hazy, but he was looking very seriously.

Yu Lin walked over and asked, “Hello, has anything strange happened recently?”

The man paused, his face world-weary. He turned to look at him, his expression blank. “What counts as strange?”

Yu Lin thought for a moment and asked again, “For example, has anyone been locked up?”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the man’s expression changed.

He seemed unwilling to talk about this matter. He pushed open the door and was about to leave, but came face to face with Su Huai.

The man’s expression was a bit uncomfortable. He said fiercely, “Can’t you read the news yourself?”

After speaking, he left quickly.

This was a clue. With a clue, the next steps would be a little easier.

Back at the front desk, Yu Lin opened the computer, paused, and asked Su Huai to help him check the news in this world.

There were many sources of news. This was a very tedious project, with a lot of useless information.

In the end, Dongqing and Donggua also joined in, and only then did they find what Yu Lin was looking for.

It was a very short piece of news, not even widely reported, because it was too sensational.

It said that in a certain residential area on a certain street, a woman had been locked up like a dog by her husband, beaten and scolded at will, and used for entertainment.

She had been locked up for five years. It was always said that she had mental problems. It wasn’t until her son died in an accident that she was rescued. By the time she was out, she was already on the verge of death. Resuscitation was unsuccessful, and she died in the hospital.

“…” Yu Lin searched for the woman’s name again, as well as related information about her.

The woman’s name was Chen Yan. There was a photo of her. She was a very gentle-looking woman, but she had unfortunately met a gambler husband.

The photo was a group photo. Beside her was the man who had beaten Chen Nianqiu in the dream.

After finishing the search, Yu Lin was silent for a moment, then closed the webpage.

He took a deep breath, pressed his lips together slightly, and looked up at Su Huai. Thinking of the information on the webpage, Yu Lin’s usually gentle and quiet expression became a little cold.

He reached out, tugged at the hem of Su Huai’s clothes, and looked up. “01, I want to do something.”

Su Huai had been by his side the whole time. Hearing this, he looked at him, lifted his finger, and placed it on top of his head. He said calmly, “Go ahead. You can do whatever you want.”

Yu Lin sat in the front desk chair and met his gaze. After looking for a while, he tilted his head slightly, and his soft black hair gently rubbed against his hand.