Ding—
The chiming clock rang out once more. It was already seven in the morning. But outside the window, the sky was dark with oppressive clouds. The raging blizzard was fiercer than before, nearly threatening to blow the windows in.
Footsteps wound their way upstairs. The person finally stopped before a room door.
They pressed the doorbell.
Seven o’clock was breakfast time. Although, after the bloody murder the day before, probably few people were in the mood to eat. But the attendant couldn’t skip work. Pushing a dining cart, he was just about to pass the stairs when the faint sound of conversation reached his ears.
“How much further are you going to take this? Someone’s already dead. Isn’t that enough?”
“That person’s death has nothing to do with me. Shouldn’t you be clearer on who did it?”
“Hand over the item.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“The surveillance monitor you put inside the clock.”
“Why are you so nervous, Bo Xiting?” The person at the door said slowly. “Are you worried that Jiang Xiao will see the video before you do and discover the truth is that… you killed Qin Guan?”
Hearing this, the attendant gasped in shock. His hand slipped, and the cart crashed into the wall with a loud bang.
The noise alerted the two people talking.
“Who’s there?”
The attendant hastily pushed the cart, his feet moving as if greased, and fled at top speed.
Good heavens, good heavens! So this murder really was premeditated. He already knew who the killer was—it’s that man named Bo Xiting!
But who should he tell this to?
—
Inside the room, the wood in the fireplace had burned down to embers. A few remaining sparks flickered in and out of existence. The curtains were drawn tight, creating the illusion that it was still night.
Jiang Xiao slept hazily, feeling colder and colder. Even pulling the blanket tighter didn’t help. Yet not far away, there seemed to be a source of warmth, compelling him to constantly inch closer. Snuggling up against that warm thing, he drifted back into a deep sleep.
He had no idea how much time had passed. His disheveled head, buried in the blankets, finally stirred. Yawning, Jiang Xiao finally woke up. Instinctively, he nuzzled the warm body pillow beside him…
Huh?
That texture was wrong.
He squeezed again. His wandering wrist was caught. The grip wasn’t forceful.
“Xiaoxiao, awake?”
It was Wen Xu’s voice, tinged with a hint of tiredness. Jiang Xiao froze for a moment before fully realizing that this body pillow was not a body pillow. He had been hugging Wen Xu in his sleep, practically about to climb on top of him.
Thankfully, unlike Jiang Mu, Wen Xu had worn his pajamas properly and neatly even while sleeping. Otherwise, Jiang Xiao would have been a hooligan again.
Jiang Xiao immediately withdrew his hand.
Sorry, no inappropriate touching between men!
However, the other party didn’t let go of him just like that. Instead, Wen Xu intertwined his fingers with his, preventing him from escaping.
Jiang Xiao felt quite uncomfortable. Afraid Wen Xu would notice something amiss, he didn’t dare move, letting him hold his hand. He asked, “Why were you out of the room all night?”
Wen Xu’s voice was gentle. “I was dealing with some things.”
“What things?” Jiang Xiao tilted his head up slightly, leaning closer to Wen Xu, and sniffed gently.
A damp smell of icy snow and wind clung to Wen Xu, though it was very faint now. He must have just returned from outside not too long ago.
Wen Xu looked down at him, seemingly not expecting the interrogation. After a two-second pause, he said, “There’s a small path at the foot of the mountain. I was hoping to take you back that way. After all, it’s… not very safe here.”
“Hmm?”
“I went to scout the surrounding area. There wasn’t much snow on the road; vehicles could pass. However, there are no gas stations along the way, and there’s a risk of avalanches on both sides.” Wen Xu continued. His voice was unhurried and calm, like flowing water, and just listening to it calmed one’s mind. “So, we’re temporarily unable to leave here.”
Wen Xu’s explanation was indeed flawless.
He had mentioned this path earlier. Going to check it out was perfectly normal. Plus, he did look like he’d just come in from outside. Jiang Xiao could hardly find a logical flaw.
But could just looking at a road take an entire night?
Wen Xu must have done other things as well.
Jiang Xiao’s mind suddenly flashed to the knife that had fallen in the corner.
Regardless of whether that knife was used to stab Qin Guan or the killer, at least one thing could be deduced now: besides Qin Guan, someone else among this group had been injured.
In truth, when the power had come back on, that had absolutely been the best opportunity. In that brief three-minute window, the killer had to both commit murder and cover up the act. There would definitely have been no time to hide any wounds.
But at that time, everyone had been focused on the deceased. No one had paid attention to whether anyone else was injured.
Jiang Xiao obviously had no way to observe either.
Now was the best chance to check.
But actually going through with it made Jiang Xiao hesitate slightly.
…Should he make up some excuse?
Would it seem too deliberate?
“When will we be able to leave here?” Jiang Xiao tried diverting Wen Xu’s attention.
The hand being held rested on Wen Xu’s waist, slowly, slowly creeping upward.
“Wait another two days. Once the snow stops, we can…” Wen Xu’s voice suddenly broke off. He looked down at Jiang Xiao’s hand, which had nearly slipped under the hem of his shirt.
“Xiaoxiao.”
“Hmm?” Jiang Xiao didn’t know he’d been caught, still racking his brain to talk serious business with Wen Xu. “Then what about Qin Guan? We can’t just leave him here. Can we contact his family?”
“Perhaps.” Wen Xu’s answer was very perfunctory.
Jiang Xiao said earnestly, “What do you mean ‘perhaps’? If we can contact his family, we should do it as soon as…”
“Xiaoxiao, if you keep touching me, I’m going to get hard.”
Wen Xu uttered this sentence completely calmly.
An unfathomable emotion rose in his amber-colored eyes. This perfect boyfriend, handsome and disciplined to the point of never even unbuttoning a single collar button, could actually say “I’m going to get hard” to Jiang Xiao without changing his expression or batting an eye.
Jiang Xiao guiltily moved his hand away, pretending as if he hadn’t done anything. He stared fixedly at his own nose and inward. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
Wen Xu didn’t expose his lie. He looked at Jiang Xiao for a few minutes, then said, “Should I help you?”
“What?” Jiang Xiao was horrified. “No, no need! I don’t need…!”
A faint glint of laughter passed through Wen Xu’s eyes. He held down the flailing Jiang Xiao and said softly, “Xiaoxiao, what exactly did you do in Jiang Mu’s room last night?”
Jiang Xiao was like a rabbit about to be carried into a wolf’s den, every hair on his body spelling out “alert”. Only after realizing that Wen Xu really wasn’t going to make any moves on him did he slowly relax.
“I asked him if he secretly snuck into our room at night. He didn’t deny it.” Jiang Xiao said. “But he said he just came in to leave a gift and then left.”
“I never saw any gift either…”
Jiang Xiao had searched the entire room but found no trace of any gift.
“I returned the gift to him for you.” Wen Xu said. He reached out to straighten Jiang Xiao’s collar, and inadvertently saw the bite mark on his neck. The person clearly hadn’t gone easy on Jiang Xiao; the mark had turned a deep red, strikingly visible against his fair skin.
The neatly adjusted collar covered the mark.
“It was a watch. But I thought you probably wouldn’t like a gift from him, right?” Wen Xu said.
Jiang Xiao: “…Right.”
Jiang Xiao hadn’t expected Wen Xu to discover the gift before him and, without his consent, return it.
The gift itself wasn’t important. What mattered was: when had Wen Xu and Jiang Mu met?
It seemed he had missed quite a lot while he was asleep.
Ding-dong—
The doorbell rang.
Wen Xu was about to go open it, but Jiang Xiao said, “I’ll go. You just got back. Get some good sleep.”
As he spoke, Jiang Xiao felt his way out of bed and walked step by step, under Wen Xu’s complex gaze.
“Xiaoxiao,” Wen Xu called out from behind him, his voice very soft, like a gust of wind that leaves no trace once it passes the ear.
Jiang Xiao: “What is it?”
Wen Xu seemed to want to say something but ended up just smiling faintly. “Be careful. Don’t bump into anything.”
Jiang Xiao left the room and thoughtfully closed the door for him. The last sliver of light disappeared.
After he left, the smile on Wen Xu’s lips vanished. He lifted his hand to unbutton his pajama top. The bandage wrapped around his waist and abdomen was already damp, blood continuously seeping through.
Jiang Xiao had almost touched it just now. But even if he had, he might not have noticed anything.
Yet those “guests” he had invited… not a single one was easy to deal with.
Wen Xu furrowed his brow slightly.
Things were getting more and more troublesome.
Having left the bedroom, Jiang Xiao didn’t immediately answer the door. The room was completely silent; the others must have gone back to their own rooms. Following the route in his memory, Jiang Xiao went to the storage room and reached down…
Huh?
This was bad.
The strange knife, the one that had fallen in the corner gap by the cabinet and held someone’s dried blood, was gone.
Jiang Xiao had known this knife would eventually be found, but he hadn’t expected the other party to move so fast.
This meant the enemy he was facing was smarter and more decisive than he had imagined. Correspondingly, if Jiang Xiao didn’t hurry up, his fate would likely be the same as Qin Guan’s—
Murdered in this hotel room where the blizzard would never stop.
“Why didn’t you tell them about the knife?” The System asked.
“I thought about it originally. Tell them there’s another knife in the storage room, and then see who has a stab wound—it would clear things right up.” Jiang Xiao said slowly. “But I just had a feeling that alerting the enemy wasn’t a good strategy.”
When everything was still unclear, the only person he could trust was himself.
And besides, he had already achieved amazing results.
The person outside kept ringing the doorbell. Jiang Xiao had to temporarily stop his train of thought and go open the door.
The attendant pushing the dining cart enthusiastically introduced the menu to Jiang Xiao as if reciting a comedic patter: “Guest, today’s breakfast includes: pan-fried buns, custard buns, pineapple buns, wontons, noodles, steamed dumplings, ham, fried fish, macaroni, dry-fried beef chow fun, curry fish balls…”
Jiang Xiao’s ears hurt from listening. Not in the mood for breakfast, he randomly ordered two items. As the attendant set the dishes out, he looked around the room.
The entire living room contained only Jiang Xiao. And this poor guest couldn’t see, so he obviously couldn’t be the murderer. An idea formed in the attendant’s mind. Lowering his voice mysteriously, he said to Jiang Xiao:
“Guest, that murder case in your room yesterday… I know who did it!”
Jiang Xiao just felt bewildered. Was the game thinking he was progressing too slowly and sent an NPC to give him a clue?
“Tell me.”
“It’s a man named Bo Xiting.” The attendant embellished the story of what he’d overheard while hiding at the staircase. “Guest, once you get down the mountain, you must call the police and have that killer arrested!”
Jiang Xiao nodded. “Thank you for your clue. I will.”
The killer was Bo Xiting?
This matter was clearly even stranger now.
The person talking with Bo Xiting was obviously Jiang Mu. Could what Jiang Mu said be true?
Jiang Xiao remained skeptical.
But one point was indisputable: Jiang Mu had indeed taken the surveillance monitor.
He absolutely had to get that monitor back to know what had actually happened last night.
And…
Compared to Bo Xiting, Jiang Xiao already had a much clearer answer in mind.
Earlier, in bed, Wen Xu had carried a faint scent of blood. It wasn’t strong, only detectable up close.
To confirm his suspicion, Jiang Xiao had deliberately gotten close to Wen Xu. Sure enough, Wen Xu hadn’t let him continue his actions but had stopped him.
These two points were sufficient to show that the person wounded by the knife was Wen Xu.
The truth seemed to be surfacing. Jiang Xiao was even close to submitting his answer for the Main Mission. But then the attendant had appeared and given him an even stranger clue.
Perhaps making the final decision after viewing the surveillance footage wasn’t too late.
The bedroom door creaked open.
Jiang Xiao snapped back to reality and adjusted his expression, asking with confusion, “Not going to sleep?”
Wen Xu was already fully dressed. In such freezing weather, he still wore only a thin shirt and trousers, covered by a black trench coat. The outfit accentuated his tall, lean figure, and the all-black attire exuded an inexplicable sense of lethality.
Wen Xu lifted his eyes to scan the living room. He fetched some spare wood from the storage room and threw it into the fireplace, lighting it. The dying embers instantly roared back to life. The bright flames illuminated Wen Xu’s pale, almost bloodless face, giving him an air that was no longer as gentle as usual, but rather held a strange coldness.
But Jiang Xiao, of course, saw none of this. He only felt the room’s temperature suddenly rise significantly.
Wen Xu said, “I just remembered I still have something to do. I’m going out for a bit.”
“It’s still snowing outside. Don’t go out. I’ll have someone come light the fireplace regularly.”
“Got it.” Jiang Xiao clearly didn’t take his words to heart. “You’re so naggy.”
Wen Xu didn’t mind. He reached out to smooth a stray lock of Jiang Xiao’s hair that was sticking up, then turned and left the room.
This was just their most ordinary farewell. And at that moment, Jiang Xiao would never have imagined that this would be the last time he ever saw Wen Xu.
