Chapter 17: 17

“You…” Wen Zheliu opened his eyes wide and repeatedly looked up and down at Du Zijun’s appearance. Whether it was the black waist-length hair, the fair and delicate skin, or the slender and soft figure… Could it be that she or he had undergone surgery?

“Is it an item?” He Qin answered Wen Zheliu’s inner question, “Besides, any items that can achieve this effect are at least Grade B or above. Mr. Du is really rich.”

It’s just a pity that his current compliment isn’t what Du Zijun wants to hear.

Seeing that it was useless to cover up, Du Zijun simply sneered: “Yes, it’s indeed an item, a B-grade one called [Spring of the Drowned Girl1]… It was just for fun, but I didn’t expect to enter this damn Uncanny Valley. Originally, the effect of this item could be dispelled by hot water, but it no longer works like that. That’s why I’m trapped in a woman’s body for the time being.”

His experience can be described as a big mistake. As Wen Zheliu listened, his shock was gradually replaced by sympathy; he said: “Miss… Mr. Du’s current state, as long as you clear the uncanny valley, it should be solved, right? ”

Du Zijun sneered: “It’s fine. Just call me Miss Du. With the team’s current state, I don’t want to draw their attention.”

Wen Zheliu heard the deeper meaning in his words, so he asked, “Are you also aware that there’s a mole in the team?”

He Qin continued: “I guess it’s Miss Du’s props that worked.”

Du Zijun took out the binoculars he had drawn at the beginning and gave them a look.

[Prop name: Telescope of True Sight]

[Grade: C]

[Activation type: Instant activation]

[Cooldown time: 1 hour]

[Attack Power: None]

[Effect: Activate this item to see a target’s true state with its disguise removed.

Time limit for use: 5 times

Current use status: 3 times]

[Equipment level: 5]

[Item introduction: Want to use it to see the strip show of the female neighbor in the next building? You’re dreaming! Uh, but there’s something else you can do with it, I mean, like pursue the truth or something.]

Wen Zheliu was a little surprised. The timeline of this world only progressed to the second day, but Du Zijun had used up most of the usage times.

“I guess one of those three times should have been directed at me, right?” He Qin laughed, “Looks like it was in vain.”

With gloomy eyes, Du Zijun said, “That’s right, you are very self-aware.”

“Then the remaining two times…you used it on other players?” Wen Zheliu was puzzled.

“No, I looked at the system.” Du Zijun said.

This time, even He Qin was a little surprised: “The system?”

“For the first time, I aimed it at the system in order to test its usage. Surprisingly, I saw the clearance reward set by the system.” Du Zijun said lightly, “Although I only saw a pile of data bearing the name of the reward, that was enough.”

Wen Zheliu has seen Du Zijun’s eccentricity and boldness. He wondered if any normal person would use it on his own system as soon as he got the item and waste an opportunity?

“Don’t look at me like that, kid.” Du Zijun started smoking again, saying, “Good steel should be used as a knife edge2. I think it’s totally worth it to spend this opportunity.”

“Then where did you use it the second time?” He Qin asked.

“The second time, I still use it on the system.” Du Zijun exhaled a mouthful of smoke, his gaze sharp and calm, “Only, it was on the system after the death of Lu Hai Lin Fangfei.”

Wen Zheliu’s eyes lit up: “You saw the customs clearance reward again!”

“That’s right,” Du Zijun said, “After the system prompted the so-called escape mode and survival mode, I used it to look at the clearance rewards again.”

“—No change.” He sneered, “The death of Lu Lin duo should have logically opened up the team’s Survival Mode, yet the rewards, which should have become more lucrative as the system prompt said, didn’t increase at all, and we’re still in Escape Mode.”

He emphasized the tone of the last few words, waiting for the surprised expression of the two people in front of him, but he was destined to be disappointed. Wen Zheliu turned to He Qin with a serious face and said, “It seems that our conjecture that day was indeed true.”

“Ah,” He Qin said indifferently, “There’s really something odd about the deaths of Lu Hai and Lin Fangfei.”

“Let’s try to reason this first before everything else—” “No matter how you look at it, the reason why the system does this is to deceive ordinary players and use an unwarranted Survival Mode to sow discord, right? Think about it carefully, if we weren’t here last night, Zhou Yao and Mu Tuo went out on night patrol, and Mr. Du was hitting a ghost wall3 downstairs… The remaining people were either moles or simply didn’t have enough strength to block the eyeless monster who came to sneak up on us. Zhou Qing’s end will definitely be death, and once she dies, the team will immediately be torn apart and everyone will be in danger.”

He Qin said: “It is always best to break down a pile of scattered sand4 one by one. The boss of this world is really thoughtful and thoroughly understands human nature.”

Du Zijun was already listening in a daze. He bit his cigarette and looked at the two people left and right for half a day before reacting, “So… how did you guys rule out my identity as a mole?”

Wen Zheliu’s smile was bright and clean, showing off his white teeth: “Because you have a special identity! In the current Uncanny Valley, the effect of [Spring of the Drowned Girl] is permanent. I’m afraid even the unknown boss has no way to see through your true identity, let alone choose you as the mole. As for Zhou Qing, she and Zhou Yao are one; if she’s the mole, then the Eyeless Monster last night wouldn’t choose her as a breakthrough point, and the same is true for Zhou Yao. As for the rest… Lu & Lin left the stage, everyone in Gao Xinghan’s group was very suspicious, not to mention that young man with almost zero sense of existence. He was either 100% innocent or 100% the mole. Mu Tuo is still under suspicion…”

He quickly and clearly circled all the people and finally concluded: “Now we can only determine five people. You, me and my brother, and Zhuo siblings. We must not let Gao Xinghan’s group hear the information that Zhou Qing’s group found. The less they know, the better.”

After Du Zijun sorted out the information in his mind, his expression was a little ugly, and he spat: “Obviously they are all human, but they still engage in such crooked things…”

“Perhaps we have our clearance conditions, and the spy players have their clearance conditions.” “Isn’t the Saint Nun expecting us to kill each other?” Wen Zheliu asked helplessly.

Du Zijun nodded: “Okay…now that we’ve cleared things up, what do you need me to do next?”

He Qin suddenly said: “It’s time for dinner. Call Marianne to come down.”

Du Zijun smiled. Without saying a word, he turned around and left the kitchen.

Looking at his departure back, Wen Zheliu said calmly: “I still want to know one more thing about that person with almost no sense of presence. What kind of item does he have?”

“Shh,” He Qin held up a finger and pressed it lightly on Wen Zheliu’s lips, the swirling light in his eyes was as drunk as mellow wine, “Go to dinner. You have too many things to think about. Take it easy. Today’s dinner is said to have mushroom cream soup. Do you like it?”

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Wen Zheliu’s Adam’s apple twitched, and the heat suffocated his cheeks. He didn’t dare look at He Qin again.

“Y, yes…”

He Qin held his hand as if he were holding a child who was much younger than him—which was true; in fact, he was eight years older than Wen Zheliu, “Then let’s go. Our teammate has bought enough time. It’s our turn to switch places with him.”

The players’ information exchange was spoiled by the sound of the meal being served. No matter what time and space they are in, a hot meal is always the most attractive to humans. Ke Wenyan’s lips moved, as if he had some complaints about Du Zijun calling Marianne, but when he saw the fragrant, creamy mushroom soup on the table and the expectant glint in the players’ eyes, he couldn’t say anything more and had to pick up the soup spoon in silence.

Wen Zheliu’s parents are both from the northwest, but he also accepts this fresh and sweet taste well. Seeing that he liked it, He Qin pushed his share between the two of them and said in a warm voice, “Eat slowly; don’t rush; there’s more.”

The meal passed under the collision of tableware and the sound of swallowing and chewing. After the meal, Marianne was about to push away the stool and stand up when Zhou Qing suddenly called her: “By the way, Miss Marianne, I want to ask, when did you move here?”

“Why, what’s the problem?” Marianne asked in bewilderment.

Zhou Qing hurriedly defended herself: “No, I just think this house seems to be a bit old, so I was curious for a moment…”

“Ah, it doesn’t matter.” Marianne smiled tolerantly and said, “This house belongs to my cousin. He was a gentry, but childless, only a distant relative like me. After he passed away, this house was supposed to be owned by the church, but I bought it back and then refurbished it.”

Zhou Yao gave a timely compliment: “So, that’s your family crest hanging on the fireplace? What an imposing big family.”

The family crest he mentioned is a pattern that can be seen everywhere in the room: an eagle with an ear of golden wheat in its mouth. It’s not only on the fireplace but also on the stairwell handrail and on the desk in the study. Its shadow can be vaguely seen even in the fuzzy carpet pattern.

Marianne paused, and after a while, she nodded slightly and said, “Thank you for your compliment.”

Zhou Qing pursed her lips and threw the spoon into the empty bowl, showing a distraught look. Mu Tuo also lowered his head and refolded the napkins that were already neat. Only Zhou Yao maintained his usual expression as he watched Marianne’s slender figure disappear upstairs.

Wen Zheliu sensitively detected something, but now the time for the night patrol has come.

“In order to avoid conflicts, the members of the night patrol will be distributed according to the number of people.” Mu Tuo said solemnly, “Zhou Qing volunteered to go. For the rest, should we draw lots?”

There was ready-made paper at hand, so it was more convenient to draw lots. Since Mu Tuo and Zhou Yao had already gone out on the first night, they automatically withdrew from drawing lots. Among the remaining people, Wen Zheliu, He Qin, Xiong Lin, Bai Hao, Ke Wenyan, and the young lad with a low sense of presence got the spot for tonight’s patrol.

“What a run of bad luck…” Bai Hao grumbled while going to the storage room on the third floor to get torches.

Wen Zheliu asked the low-presence lad in a friendly manner, “That, I forgot your name before. Can you tell me again?”

He was standing in front of the window. His skin was originally very fair. Logically speaking, it should be set off by the dark window more conspicuously. But when Wen Zheliu glanced over, it was hard to find him. He was like a blot of transparent ink, quietly seeping into the air.

“My name is Xie Yuanyuan. The character Yuan in the idiom ‘steady stream5‘.” Xie Yuanyuan said, and he kindly added an example to help Wen Zheliu remember: “It’s okay if you can’t remember; I got used to it a long time ago.”

“Xie Yuanyuan, right? I remember it.” Wen Zheliu recited the name firmly in his heart several times: “I won’t forget it next time!”

He Qin came from behind. He had just told Du Zijun to pay attention not to let the mole, Zhou Qing, and Zhou Yao get in touch in private. Everything will be discussed after tonight.

Bai Hao brought torches and distributed one to everyone. Mu Tuo reminded him, “Wave the torch as soon as there is any danger; try to circle around in place; and don’t let the monster find the opening.”

Wen Zheliu was holding the torch and suddenly smelled a vague fragrance.

The smell seems to be of roses, but it isn’t as sweet and fragrant as real roses. Instead, it has a bit of a mild and vulgar cheap powdery smell, like putting a layer of dead white flour on dried flowers with lingering fragrance. It’s not pungent, but it definitely doesn’t smell nice.

“This is…” He frowned, searched for it, and finally found that it was the smell of oilcloth wrapped around the torch.

Strange, where did the oilcloth get such a powdery smell…

He wanted to sniff a few more times, but Bai Hao had already opened the door and shouted to the rest of the people, “Hey, let’s go!”

Wen Zheliu had no choice but to follow the example of the crowd and light the torch, walking behind with He Qin.

The oilcloth was burning blazingly, and the weird fragrance became stronger and stronger, making people dizzy. Bai Hao turned his head and said, “There are a lot of sundries in the storage room on the third floor. Maybe some perfume got on it by accident, so it got this smell.”

“It smells too bad…” Zhou Qing covered her nose and said.

He Qin and Wen Zheliu walked side by side. He only occasionally reminded Wen Zheliu to pay attention to the road, and he didn’t talk too much.

Several people walked along the uneven forest path. The dew was cool in the middle of the night, and the breeze was piercing, making the flames wobble. At this point, Xiong Lin, who was walking in front, exclaimed, “Wait, there are traces!”

Wen Zheliu and He Qin took a step forward to investigate, only to discover a large tract of dragging marks on the muddy ground, stretching along with the crushed grass and leaves and eventually disappearing in the dark dense forest.

“…Do you want to go and have a look?” Ke Wenyan hesitated.

Bai Hao rolled his eyes with contemptuous look: “Forget it, this is obviously the trace of the eyeless monster crawling, okay! How do people die in horror movies? Isn’t it because of too much curiosity?!”

Zhou Qing sneered: “But don’t you forget that the key to open the next stage of the main quest is likely to be on the monster. If we don’t go looking for it at this time, when will we have another chance?”

Wen Zheliu was a little surprised. At the critical moment, the courage and firm determination shown by this girl were actually stronger than those of several big men. He smiled and agreed: “Miss Zhou is right. We should grasp this opportunity.”

“But……”

He Qin stood behind Wen Zheliu, holding a torch in one hand and a hatchet in the other. Under the firelight, He Qin’s deep silhouette showed a kind of sinister indifference. He smiled lightly and ordered: “Let’s go now.”

Several male players swallowed their saliva. Although they were reluctant, they really couldn’t disobey He Qin’s order, so they had to reluctantly move towards the drag mark.

 

1

A cursed hot spring in anime called [Ranma ½] that turns anything into a girl. To cure the curse one needs to be splashed with hot water.

2

Where a thing can be put to best use

3

鬼打墙[guǐ dǎ qiáng] or “Hitting ghost wall” is when people often find themselves lost and circling back to where they started, as if a ghost had built a wall that kept them from walking straight.

4

A group that lacks cooperation.

5

源源不断 [yuán yuán bù duàn]

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