Chapter 27

Wen Xu left again.

He always vanished mysteriously. If Jiang Xiao weren’t blind, he would definitely follow him to see what exactly Wen Xu was up to.

The knife that had been taken might be somewhere in the house, but it could also have been hidden outside. Even though it might be a futile effort, Jiang Xiao calmed himself and began searching the room.

While passing through the living room, Jiang Xiao accidentally kicked something.

It was Qin Guan, lying on the floor.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to… Qin Guan, I will definitely find your killer!” Jiang Xiao pressed his palms together and began muttering incantations.

The System spoke with a tone of exasperation: “What are you doing?”

“Uh, sending him off to be reincarnated?” Jiang Xiao said. “It feels wrong just leaving him here all alone, but I can’t just bury him in some random place, right?”

He had to admit, sometimes Jiang Xiao felt a little thankful he couldn’t see. Otherwise, waking up every morning to find a corpse on the floor would be far too intense.

“Game NPCs have their destined trajectories, but they aren’t the same as in your world. They aren’t just for player investigation,” the System said. “You don’t need to have any psychological burden, because in the next instances, he will still…”

“Still what.”

The System paused for a few seconds: “In your terms, he’ll come back as a zombie.”

…How did that sound even more horrifying.

“So you can investigate for evidence here.” Jiang Xiao had a sudden epiphany. He crouched down reluctantly. “Qin Guan, don’t come back as a zombie. I won’t do anything bad to you.”

Jiang Xiao crouched down, his fingers carefully touching the man’s skin on the floor. It was ice-cold, piercingly so, devoid of any life.

But what the System said was true. Qin Guan, aside from not moving or breathing, didn’t seem much different from a normal person.

Jiang Xiao searched through his pockets, pulling out a cell phone and a square box.

He found nothing else on Qin Guan.

Jiang Xiao opened the box and felt two pointed objects inside.

What were these?

Jiang Xiao was a little puzzled.

The next second, a dialog box appeared before Jiang Xiao’s eyes.

【The first conflict between you and Qin Guan started when he saw you wearing ear studs and mocked you with a couple of remarks, “Why would a guy wear something like that?” You had a big fight, and after that, your relationship gradually cooled.】

So, these ear studs were something Qin Guan intended to give him, perhaps also carrying a meaning of reconciliation.

Even if he suspected Qin Guan had ulterior motives, this gift at least indicated that Qin Guan harbored no malice towards him.

What exactly was his motive then?

“Drip—”

“Jiang Xiao, I waited for you for hours. You wouldn’t be thinking of breaking our agreement, would you?” Ying Weizhu walked in, his tone filled with displeasure. The next second, he saw Jiang Xiao fumbling over Qin Guan and raised an eyebrow: “What are you doing?”

Jiang Xiao, without betraying any emotion, slipped the cell phone into his own pocket and said, “Checking if there are any other clues on him.”

“Even if there were clues, someone would have taken them long ago.” Ying Weizhu said with a faint, ambiguous smile, “Do you think everyone else is an idiot?”

“……”

“Do you know something.” Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but ask, “You should have seen the situation clearly back then.”

Ying Weizhu remained silent.

Today, he was wearing another artistically styled shirt, adorned with many accessories that jingled and clattered as he walked.

After a long moment, he finally smiled slightly and said: “What exactly do you want to know?”

Jiang Xiao was about to speak but was cut off by Ying Weizhu:

“Think carefully. Every request you make of me comes with a price.”

“I won’t answer your questions for free.”

From Ying Weizhu’s tone, it was clear he knew something but was deliberately not saying it.

Jiang Xiao fell silent.

Ying Weizhu’s personality was extremely strange, so much so that even Jiang Xiao couldn’t guess what he was thinking. And this ex-boyfriend’s moral bottom line was already dangerously low in Jiang Xiao’s mind.

It was entirely possible that Ying Weizhu might just pick up a knife and start hacking people on the spot, always talking about fighting and killing. If Ying Weizhu made another unreasonable demand, things would probably get even more troublesome.

Ying Weizhu sat down at the dining table. Because the weather was cold and food cooled easily, the breakfast dishes were kept in insulated containers and were still steaming when opened.

“Do I need to invite you to eat breakfast too?” Ying Weizhu said.

Jiang Xiao didn’t move, casually saying, “I’m not hungry. You eat.”

Ying Weizhu sneered: “You just love using this trick to threaten me, don’t you?”

“Eat all of this, and I can answer one of your questions.”

Jiang Xiao: “……”

Not eating breakfast could actually trigger a hidden bonus scene?

Jiang Xiao probed: “Will I still have to pay a price for that?”

Ying Weizhu: “Are you deliberately trying to make me angry?”

Jiang Xiao slowly sat down at the dining table.

A finger pushed a white porcelain plate in front of him.

Ying Weizhu rested his chin on one hand, his long silver hair cascading over his shoulders. When his golden eyes weren’t filled with anger and looked at Jiang Xiao, they seemed to carry a tender, affectionate meaning.

If Jiang Xiao could see, he would probably be stunned by Ying Weizhu’s beautiful visage.

But Jiang Xiao couldn’t see, so he also didn’t know that Ying Weizhu’s smile right now wasn’t the gloomy, dark kind he usually wore, but instead carried a relaxed and joyful air.

Jiang Xiao ate without tasting anything, but after a casual bite, his taste buds instantly opened up.

He had to admit, although this place was remote and rugged, the service was indeed top-notch. No wonder rich kids loved to come here for vacation.

Yesterday’s dinner was also delicious, but because all of Jiang Xiao’s attention was on the nighttime murder, he had wolfed it down without really tasting anything. Now, he was finally tasting it properly.

The simple crab roe soup dumplings were shaped with lifelike patterns, immersed in broth, bursting with juice at the first bite, incredibly appetizing.

Ying Weizhu suddenly said: “Give me a bite.”

Jiang Xiao paused: “I thought this was free?”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Ying Weizhu said with a cold face.

Jiang Xiao honestly replied: “Then come over here and eat. I can’t see, I’ll probably end up shoving it in your face.”

When it came to angering Ying Weizhu, Jiang Xiao was quite skilled.

“Just you wait, Jiang Xiao.” Ying Weizhu didn’t get angry, instead laughing. He stared at Jiang Xiao, enunciating each word, “I’ll make you cry and beg me sooner or later.”

The meal finished. Ying Weizhu had eaten a stomach full of anger, and as luck would have it, Jiang Xiao was still oblivious, unable to see the storm clouds gathering on Ying Weizhu’s face, and directly asked:

“After the power came back last night, did you notice Wen Xu?”

“I didn’t notice him.” Ying Weizhu said, “What, starting to suspect he’s the killer now? Seems you aren’t that stupid after all.”

Jiang Xiao wasn’t discouraged. If Ying Weizhu had truly been carefully scrutinizing Wen Xu, that would have been stranger.

“Then I’ll switch questions,” Jiang Xiao voiced his real purpose, “Last night, why did you suggest playing the…”

“‘Murder Game’?”

Jiang Xiao had carefully reconsidered yesterday’s events. There were a few points he couldn’t understand. First, why Qin Guan had inexplicably brought up that someone had died in this hotel. Second, why Ying Weizhu had suddenly proposed playing the “Murder Game”. Although the matter was ultimately dismissed as a joke and dropped, Jiang Xiao was still very concerned.

“Because I wanted to play. Is that not allowed?” Ying Weizhu said matter-of-factly.

Jiang Xiao frowned slightly: “You promised me you’d explain properly.”

“But I didn’t promise I’d tell the truth.”

Jiang Xiao: “……”

“Oh, getting angry now?” Ying Weizhu laughed instead, seeming happier the angrier Jiang Xiao got, just like an immature elementary school kid who wants to provoke their crush but deliberately makes things difficult for them.

“Who’s angry with you? Since you broke the agreement first, I have no need to keep my promise.” Jiang Xiao said stiffly, “You can go back now.”

“I never said I’d break the agreement,” Ying Weizhu’s tone was innocent, “You’re just too impatient.”

Ying Weizhu was like someone teasing a cat with a cat wand, watching the cat jump around anxiously, and then blaming the cat for being restless—a truly unscrupulous owner.

A vein throbbed in Jiang Xiao’s temple.

He really wanted to know what kind of family could raise someone with a personality like Ying Weizhu’s. It made him really want to punch him a few times.

“I suggested playing that game simply because it fit the scene.” Ying Weizhu said leisurely, “So many of us in the same room, with a blizzard raging outside… it’s almost identical to the plot of a certain TV drama.”

“……TV drama?” Jiang Xiao was taken aback.

He didn’t understand why Ying Weizhu’s topic had suddenly veered in such a strange direction.

“You were Qin Guan’s roommate for several years. Did you really not know that he once starred as the male lead in a suspense horror film shot in this very hotel?”

Ying Weizhu enunciated each word slowly:

“The title of that TV drama is exactly—

“‘Murder Game.’”

Jiang Xiao was completely stunned.

“Qin Guan played quite a remarkable killer role in that drama.” A hint of mocking curve lifted Ying Weizhu’s lips, “He pretended to be weak among that group of people, then killed them all off one by one.”

“What’s even more interesting,” Ying Weizhu raised his eyelids, casually glancing at Qin Guan lying on the floor, “in that drama, he was also the first person to be ‘killed’.”

“Do you think he might, just like in the TV drama, eventually come back from the dead and kill us all?”

Ying Weizhu’s words seemed to carry a sinister ghost energy, piercing through his eardrums and making Jiang Xiao’s heart jolt violently.

How could… such a coincidence happen?

Could it be that Qin Guan came here truly with some other purpose?

Jiang Xiao suddenly remembered—Qin Guan was a student at the film academy. He was an actor!

But…

What connection existed within all this?

Something suddenly surfaced in Jiang Xiao’s mind, urging him to connect the existing clues. But the feeling was faint and elusive, and he couldn’t quite grasp it for the moment.

There must be some clue related to this matter.

“If he really is faking, that would be a bit troublesome.” Ying Weizhu seemed to remember something, beginning to scrutinize Qin Guan. He tapped his fingers on the table a few times, looking thoughtful, then said with burgeoning interest, “How about I just stab him a few more times, just in case he’s pretending?”

…Are you a devil?!

Jiang Xiao immediately said: “I already checked just now. He’s really dead, completely dead. Please don’t do anything else, just let him rest in peace.”

Ying Weizhu seemed to let out a mocking laugh and said: “He probably never dreamed in his wildest dreams that you’d care about him this much even after death.”

“I think he might have been the real murderer planning the killings all along.”

“……You’re probably overthinking it. He had no motive to kill. Besides, that was just a TV drama, how can you take it seriously?” Jiang Xiao instinctively denied it, “It’s all just a coincidence.”

“His motive for killing? That’s another question entirely.” Ying Weizhu’s tone suddenly changed, carrying a strong, seductive implication, ambiguously saying, “If you want me to continue answering questions, have you thought clearly about what price you’re willing to pay?”