The Whole Family Are Villains, I’m the Group Pet 121

Chapter 121

After hundreds of exams, Shen Baizhou’s single-digit scores were finally starting to improve.

By the end of the year, he was consistently scoring in the twenties and thirties!

He was finally no longer the last in the class.

The day the monthly exam rankings were posted, Shen Baizhou wanted to announce it to the world with a loudspeaker!

And the school dungeon, which had inadvertently contributed to his academic improvement, his legend was now being whispered in every classroom.

The players who left the dungeon tried to find information about him, but there were no records of a Shen Baizhou.

As a late winter snow fell, Xing Nuo ran home from school, handing out invitations to his family.

“We have welcwoming pawty…performances…parents can come watch.”

Shen Baizhou had classes that day, and Shen Wen had to return to his manor and might not be able to make it.

Shen Wen gently nuzzled Xing Nuo’s cheek, his voice apologetic.

“I’ll try to be back in time to see Xing Nuo’s performance.”

Xing Nuo, knowing his dad was sometimes busy for days, shook his head, telling him not to worry.

“It’s okay.”

Shen Wen had attended many of Xing Nuo’s kindergarten performances. Missing one wouldn’t be the end of the world.

On the day of the welcoming party, Shen Yan rescheduled his meetings and attended, dressed in his finest.

Xing Nuo, in his little bumblebee costume, his fluffy white wings buzzing as he ran, greeted his brother.

“Big Brother!”

Shen Yan chuckled, touching his wings.

“Why a bumblebee? And you’re carrying your little wooden sword?”

Xing Nuo, not wanting to spoil the surprise, smiled and led his brother to their seats in the auditorium.

“Big Brother sit. I go backstage now. We second performance!”

The auditorium, filled with nearly a thousand parents and students, was buzzing with excitement.

Shen Yan set up his video camera, ready to record Xing Nuo’s performance.

Xing Nuo’s teacher, maintaining order among the parents, reminded them to be quiet during the performances.

Finally, the party began.

The first performance was a choir from another first-grade class. The children, lined up neatly on stage, scattered in all directions as they left, making the audience laugh.

Xing Nuo and his classmates, peeking out from behind the curtains, giggled, their bumblebee antennae bobbing.

Shen Yan, spotting Xing Nuo’s head, smiled and snapped a few pictures.

An older student, holding a microphone, announced:

“Next, let’s welcome Class 1-2 with their performance, ‘The Brave Little Bumblebees’!”

The lights dimmed.

When they brightened again, Xing Nuo and his classmates, in their fluffy bumblebee costumes, waddled onto the stage, flapping their wings.

“We widdle bumblebees…but we bwave!”

“Yay! We can defeat bad guys!”

Their performance was chaotic and disorganized, their lines forgotten and jumbled.

But the parents, ever indulgent, managed to piece together the story from their fragmented dialogue.

A group of cute little bumblebees, while collecting nectar, encountered a scary wild boar.

The wild boar destroyed the flowers, and the brave bumblebees, stinging him with their stingers, fought back.

But the wild boar had a secret weapon: an evil wizard!

Fortunately, with the help of a little elf, the bumblebees transformed into humans, their swords in hand, and defeated the wizard and the boar.

Shen Yan, looking at Xing Nuo, who had a small, red cape attached to his bumblebee costume, struggled to suppress his laughter.

The other parents were already laughing, some wiping away tears of mirth.

“That’s so cute! A little cape, and he’s a brave warrior!”

“Who wrote this story? It’s so dramatic!”

Despite the comical nature of the performance, the little ones on stage, their wooden swords held high, earnestly acted out their roles.

After the performance, the bumblebees and the wild boar, hand in hand, bowed to the audience.

Xing Nuo, clutching his little wooden sword, which he had brought from home, ran backstage,

bumping into a child from the next class. He fell to the floor and was quickly helped up by the other children.

Xing Nuo, clutching his head, ignoring the pain, hurried off the stage.

The teacher, rushing backstage, checked Xing Nuo’s forehead and told him to stay put.

“I’ll get some medicine from the school nurse. The rest of you can go back to your classrooms.”

Xing Nuo waited obediently, and, needing to use the restroom, he got lost on his way back, wandering through the backstage area with his little wooden sword.

He turned a corner and heard two voices arguing.

“Are you crazy?! This auditorium is dangerous!”

“Lao Wu and Liu-ge are already dead! There are only a few of us left! If we don’t find the exit, we’ll be trapped here!”

Xing Nuo, hearing their strange words, wondered if they were lost parents.

The backstage area was indeed a maze. Even he, having just gone to the restroom, couldn’t find his way back.

But Xing Nuo had a good memory, and after looking around, he quickly figured out where he was.

He was about to leave when the two arguing voices called out:

“Who’s there?! Who’s hiding there?!”

Xing Nuo, startled, his bumblebee wings fluttering, looked up.

The two people had already reached him.

“What the…a child?!”

A man with a scar on his face, a cheap cigarette dangling from his lips, seeing Xing Nuo, crushed the cigarette butt under his foot.

“Kid, what are you doing here?”

Xing Nuo explained obediently:

“I just performed…now go back…find teacher.”

The woman, catching a keyword, asked:

“Performed? What performance?”

Xing Nuo, thinking the strange parents were confused, pointed towards the auditorium.

“Today New Year’s party. Parents and children watch performances. Our class…bumblebees.”

He then asked:

“Uncle, Auntie, why you no watch performance?”

The two players exchanged glances, their faces filled with confusion and a growing sense of dread.

“Wait, wasn’t the background story about a New Year’s party performance?”

The system had given them a lengthy background story.

It was about a fire breaking out in the auditorium during a New Year’s party performance, most of the auditorium destroyed,

only the backstage area spared.

The players had to escape the burning auditorium and find the culprit.

The scarred man checked his watch, his voice grim.

“It’s been a month since the fire, kid. The New Year’s party was a month ago.”

Xing Nuo’s eyes widened, and he shook his head vigorously.

“No. I just performed. My Big Brother…recording video…”

The players, also confused by Xing Nuo’s presence, but afraid he might be important, asked patiently:

“You said you just performed? Judging by your costume, you must be one of the little bumblebees mentioned in the background story?”

One of the players recited the relevant part of the story, making Xing Nuo even more confused and scared.

“After the ‘Brave Little Bumblebees’ performance, the fire started, and all the parents in the audience died.”

Xing Nuo’s mouth fell open, his mind reeling.

How could this be?

He had just finished his performance, and his brother had been waving at him from the audience!

Xing Nuo was scared, but his intuition told him these two people weren’t lying!

Had the auditorium really caught fire?!

Was he in the backstage area a month later?

He suddenly remembered something, grabbed his wooden sword, and ran towards the stage.

He knew the way, and after a few turns, he emerged from backstage and onto the stage.

He looked at the auditorium, the seating area charred and destroyed, the smell of smoke still lingering in the air, and his heart sank.

He jumped off the stage and ran to where Class 1-2 had been sitting, seeing only a twisted metal frame where the seats used to be.

After a long moment, he recognized the spot where his brother had been sitting.

The seat was mostly burned, only a small, charred object and a piece of black plastic remaining on the floor.

He picked it up and recognized it as a piece of his brother’s video camera.

Shen Yan had indeed been recording his performance.

Xing Nuo, his mind in a whirl, was about to search for more clues when the two players, who had followed him, sighed.

“Don’t bother. Everyone in the seating area died. Only the backstage area was spared.”

The female player had a theory:

“Kid, did you faint during the fire? Or were you so shocked that you forgot you’ve been here for a month?”

That was the only explanation for why his memory stopped after the performance.

Xing Nuo, clutching the piece of the camera, shook his head.

“I no faint. I no forget.”

The players exchanged glances, a terrifying thought forming in their minds.

“But you’re the only character from the story who has appeared. Could it be…you’re the one who started the fire?”

Xing Nuo, even more confused, looked up, his eyes wide.

“What you saying? Why I start fire?”

His brother had been in the audience!