Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 75

Jin City. Room 301, Boxue Building, Jinnan University.

After finishing an elective course related to psychology, while other students left, Yin Jiujui stayed behind. She waited until the visiting professor packed up his notes and other items before leaving with him.

The two went to dine first, then headed to a psychological counseling office owned by the professor.

Familiarly entering one of the counseling rooms, Yin Jiujui settled onto a reclining chair she knew well.

Lifting her eyes, she saw the professor bringing her a glass of water.

His features were stern, and when he didn’t smile, he appeared quite serious.

However, in Yin Jiujui’s perception, the professor was amiable and never lost his temper.

“Thank you, professor,” Yin Jiujui said, taking a sip of water before setting the glass down and lying back.

The professor gently asked, “Did you receive the money?”

“I did,” Yin Jiujui responded with a smile. “Thank you. Can we finish early today? I’d like to visit my mother.”

“Of course. With a dutiful daughter like you, your mother will be very happy,” the professor replied.

“Thanks to you,” Yin Jiujui sincerely expressed. “Without you, I wouldn’t have had enough money for my mother’s surgery.”

“No need to thank me. If anything, thank yourself. Not everyone is willing to volunteer for my experimental projects. The compensation I offer is only fair.”

The professor then walked to a corner of the therapy room, where to Yin Jiujui’s surprise, was a piano.

He lifted the piano cover and began to play. As the keys danced beneath his fingers, a smooth melody filled the room.

Yin Jiujui felt her eyelids grow heavy. She closed her eyes and envisioned a classroom where a girl in a white dress danced. Sunlight filtered through the leaves outside, casting a dreamy aura on the dancer.

“Do you see her?” she heard a deep male voice ask.

“Yes, I see her,” Yin Jiujui replied, her voice distant.

“Who is she?”

“Meng Hui. She’s Meng Hui. My best friend since childhood.”

Yin Jiujui felt as if she was immersed in a beautiful memory.

“In the future, I want to join the dance academy and become a dancer! Jiujui, don’t you want my autograph? Once I become famous, you can sell it!”

“I wouldn’t sell it. I’ll keep it.”

“Jiujui, what do you want to become in the future?”

“Your bodyguard.”

“Bodyguard? You want to protect me?”

“Yes. You’re everyone’s fairy. We all need to protect you.”

But Yin Jiujui couldn’t protect her.

She heard the piano music suddenly stop. As the last note faded, Meng Hui, who had been dancing, fell backward into a pool of blood.

Yin Jiujui felt a sinking sensation in her chest, and her world began to spin.

Afterward, she heard the professor ask, “So, who killed her this time…?”

……

Spring Hill Mental Asylum, Zone 1.

Qi Liuxing, after taking a ceremonial shower and making preparations, also entered an instance.

This time, his goal wasn’t about deciphering clues but simply fighting monsters and obtaining items.

He mostly solo-queued for such dungeons in the past. Unlike Zhou Qian, who preferred intricate dungeons filled with hidden achievements, for Qi Liuxing, these were relatively stress-free. He paired up with Ke Yuxiao. Besides acquiring equipment, their primary goal was to synchronize their skills.

Ke Yuxiao’s flute play could amplify the effects of Qi Liuxing’s sword techniques. Once they mastered their synergy, they believed they’d be unbeatable.

An hour after entering the dungeon, with the combined efforts of Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao, the first mini boss was defeated, dropping two treasure chests.

Both of them opened a chest, and astonishingly, they each obtained a double experience card.

“Our luck is incredible!” Qi Liuxing exclaimed with joy, making some calculations. “At this rate… if we continue grinding like this a few more times, we both can advance to Rank S!”

Ke Yuxiao, smiling as he stowed away the card, seemed equally excited. “Indeed. I’ve heard that upon reaching Rank S… it’s almost like entering a new game. The experience should be entirely different. We can also get closer to the gods and attain what we desire.”

Qi Liuxing continued, “Yes. I heard Zhou Qian say he was going to Blue Harbor City, which is some kind of semi-open instance. It seems completely different from the ones we’re currently playing. Hmm… Once we level up to Rank S, we can go to Blue Harbor City to find him!”

Ke Yuxiao nodded, his eyes filled with anticipation. “I’ve heard of Blue Harbor City. Apparently, we need to buy an ‘entry ticket’ to access it. We can grind and gain experience while simultaneously putting up a purchase request in the trading hall.”

“Right!” Qi Liuxing said, visibly excited, as he accessed his system panel. “I’m going to the trading hall to place a purchase request now.”

……

Blue Harbor City, Murder Exhibition Hall.

This was a vast building with an irregular shape. Depending on the perspective, the structure presented different polygonal designs. The construction material seemed like some metal, shiny as a mirror, reflecting white light into various colors, blending seamlessly into the vibrant city backdrop. However, the interior told a different story.

Upon entering the exhibition hall, the only colors Zhou Qian could see were black and white. Accompanying the monochrome was an inexplicable chilly aura.

Soon after entering the main door, a corridor stretched out before him, long and seemingly endless, almost as if it led to hell itself.

All Zhou Qian could discern near the entrance were two doors, each illuminated by a light. One was labeled “Hall A” and the other “Hall B”.

At that moment, a female staff member emerged from the depths of the corridor. Dressed in a white gown with flowing hair, she moved silently, resembling a stereotypical ghostly female lead from horror films.

Her voice had an eerie undertone, chilling to its core.

After giving Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou a fleeting glance, she softly advised, “Please choose a hall to begin your tour. Once you start, you must see it through. No quitting halfway.”

“Is there a specific order? Or do we need to tour all the halls regardless of the sequence?” Zhou Qian inquired.

The staff member gave a slight smile, her dark, cold eyes glancing at him. “You aren’t from Blue Harbor City. Visitors like you must visit all the halls. Only the vacant ones can be chosen.”

Zhou Qian grasped her implication.

By “visitors,” she referred to players, while “locals” meant NPCs. NPCs were unrestricted, but once players began, they had to complete their task before they could leave.

“What do you mean by ‘vacant’?” Zhou Qian probed further.

This time, the staff member only smiled mysteriously, fixing Zhou Qian with a haunting gaze.

As Zhou Qian was about to question her more, three men emerged from Hall B. All three were NPCs. Like the previous trio of women, they were garishly dressed but looked rather pale and clearly disturbed.

“What’s inside?” Zhou Qian asked.

“Blood, flesh… It’s nauseating.”

“Why did we even come to such a place?”

“Hey, it was you two who wanted to build up some courage in advance!”

The brief exchange was revealing. Zhou Qian pressed for more details: why they needed courage, their origins, and more.

He learned that the three were students from Blue Harbor City’s Detective Academy, aspiring to be exceptional detectives. Hearing that an exhibition hall had opened, they believed visiting such a macabre exhibit would help them acclimatize to actual crime scenes.

But everything on display in this exhibition hall exceeded their imagination, so much so that they wanted to leave only after visiting Hall B.

The man in the red shirt shuddered. “The sight of my clothes now makes me want to puke. The scenes inside were too horrifying.”

Zhou Qian couldn’t help but stare at the red shirt adorned with stars and moons. The imagery against the red backdrop made it appear as if someone had drawn the celestial patterns in blood.

Zhou Qian wasn’t sure if he had a prejudice against the color red, which led to such feelings. But in any case, he found the shirt very uncomfortable.

“What’s really inside? Are the blood and flesh real?” Zhou Qian queried.

“I don’t know. Maybe animal blood and flesh?” the man in the red shirt answered. “Anyway, the corpses inside are too realistic.”

The man in the green shirt chimed in, “The corpses are uncannily lifelike. Not just their skin, but their expressions too.”

The young man in the green clothes quickly added, “The bodies look so real! Not just the skin; even the expressions on the corpses are so lifelike! My God, I made eye contact with a female corpse whose eyes wouldn’t close in death and almost peed my pants! It’s truly terrifying!”

The one in the yellow clothes continued, “At first, I thought they were wax figures. Or maybe some 3D realistic display. After convincing myself, I touched a corpse’s hand. Fuck… It felt like I was touching a living person, really! It was so damn scary.”

When Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou first arrived at the exhibition, they encountered three young ladies.

These ladies screamed as they came out of the exhibition and quickly left without saying much. The reactions of these three men after visiting the exhibition were clearly similar to those of the ladies.

They too felt that “this place isn’t good to stay in for long”. And so, they quickly stopped answering any more questions and ran out of the exhibition as if they were flying.

Zhou Qian caught a glimpse of their retreating figures.

As he turned his head, he met Bai Zhou’s gaze. Just then, the ghostly female staff member eerily reminded them, “Please make your choice quickly. You have 30 seconds left.”

At this point, she grinned as if she was hoping they wouldn’t make a choice—as if any violation from the players would give her the right to devour them alive.

Immediately after, Zhou Qian heard Bai Zhou ask, “Do you want to go to Hall A?”

Bai Zhou’s suggestion was indeed good.

Although they didn’t know what was in Hall A, Zhou Qian knew from the NPCs that Hall B contained a lot of blood, which he didn’t like.

Zhou Qian smiled and nodded at Bai Zhou, asking, “Have you told Hidden Blade and He Xiaowei where we’re going?”

“Yes, they are on their way,” Bai Zhou replied.

“Then it’s perfect for splitting up. Let them go to Hall B first.”

Without wasting any more time, Zhou Qian quickly turned and walked into Hall A.

……

It was initially pitch black inside Hall A, but the room lit up as Bai Zhou and Zhou Qian stepped in.

The pure white light illuminated everything, revealing the details of the hall. The hall seemed smaller than Zhou Qian had anticipated. It was only after entering that he realized this was just one of the exhibition rooms in Hall A. Directly across from them was a sign on the wall that read “Hall A-1”. To the right was another door, presumably leading to “Hall A-2”.

In Hall A-1, everything was square and neat. There was no blood, no flesh, and no gruesome or horrifying props related to those ideas. The only thing present was a tiny corpse in the center of the room—the body of an infant—and nothing else.

But that didn’t mean the situation wasn’t eerie. Without vivid, visually shocking elements like blood or severed limbs, the mere sight of a pale, slightly purplish, closed-eyed infant lying under the blinding white light, looking eerily real, still made the room feel unsettling.

At first glance, it might not seem like much. But as time passed, in the quiet room with only oneself and a deceased infant bathed in an overly bright light, it felt like being judged… It would probably make anyone’s skin crawl.

Even Zhou Qian slightly frowned. After exchanging a glance with Bai Zhou, they both approached to examine the infant’s body.

The dead baby was casually lying in the center of the pristine white floor. A label in front of its tiny feet probably bore its name: “Ke Hua”.

Zhou Qian’s eyes scanned the name. When he looked up, Bai Zhou had already picked up the baby.

Zhou Qian’s attention was on Bai Zhou’s expression. Naturally, Bai Zhou was expressionless.

Clearly, he was a seasoned player. Zhou Qian subtly raised an eyebrow before focusing back on the infant. Then he heard Bai Zhou say, “The body is still somewhat warm, as if it died recently.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qian reached out to touch the baby’s cheek, feeling its softness and slight warmth. Indeed, it seemed the baby had only stopped breathing minutes ago.

Its body showed no signs of rigidity, and the skin still felt warm.

Bai Zhou quickly undressed the infant to inspect its body. There were no visible external injuries. After checking, Bai Zhou dressed the infant again.

Zhou Qian asked, “Did you find anything?”

Bai Zhou replied, “The face and lips are a bit purplish. There’s nothing else. It might have died from suffocation.”

“Suffocation in infants is common. To determine if it’s a homicide, one would need to figure out whether it’s accidental or intentional,” Zhou Qian remarked as he looked around. “But considering this is a ‘Murder Exhibition Hall’, accidents can likely be ruled out. This infant’s death was the result of a deliberate murder.”

“However, naming this an exhibition hall is problematic. From what we see, it merely displays a corpse. There’s no murderer, no environment depicting the victim’s last moments… How is this a complete murder exhibition? Wait—”

Zhou Qian approached and took the baby from Bai Zhou’s arms, inspecting it closely as if trying to discern the details of its skin and hair.

“Those NPCs were right. This body is too realistic. It’s not a wax figure. Could it be made of some special material to make it look so real?”

Zhou Qian paused, then shook his head. “No, it feels completely human.”

“Yes, I agree. It’s a real person,” Bai Zhou confirmed.

“So what’s going on? Did someone murder an infant in the exhibition and then run away?” Zhou Qian felt puzzled, as this explanation seemed somewhat inconsistent.

Logically, the displays in an exhibition shouldn’t change in the short term. Therefore, the baby should remain here indefinitely. Hence, it couldn’t have been recently killed. Unless logic didn’t apply here and the murderer just left moments ago.

“It doesn’t make sense. Let’s check the next exhibition hall,” Bai Zhou said. As he walked towards Hall A-2, he glanced at his wrist and told Zhou Qian, “Hidden Blade and his team have arrived and are about to enter Hall B. We can ask about their findings later.”

“Alright.” Zhou Qian, seemingly lost in thought, chuckled.

Noticing the smile, Bai Zhou inquired, “What is it?”

Zhou Qian replied, “I was wondering why those fools who wanted to kill me haven’t found me yet. Hey, Zhou Ge, maybe this instance is challenging, and they’ve heard rumors, so they’re preparing before rushing in.”

Bai Zhou stared at Zhou Qian for a moment before proceeding. “The harder the dungeon, the happier you are.”

“Exactly. If I see through it and others can’t, then I have the chance to deal with them,” Zhou Qian said, narrowing his eyes at Bai Zhou’s retreating figure. “By the way, when you were an NPC, why didn’t you increase the difficulty for me?”

Instead of answering directly, Bai Zhou responded, “Wasn’t it in the second year? I was helping the teacher grade math papers and accidentally deducted an extra point from you. You were angry for quite some time.”

Zhou Qian immediately retorted, “Bringing up the past isn’t fun! I have a much better temper now!”

Bai Zhou: “I’ve noticed.”

Zhou Qian: “See? I told you!”

While conversing, the two arrived at Hall A-2. The dim room lit up upon their entry, similar to Hall A-1. Again, everything was immaculate, and there was only one lone child corpse, this time a girl around three or four years old. A preliminary check revealed no apparent injuries except for some white foam at the corner of her mouth.

After the inspection, Zhou Qian pointed to a spot on the floor and said, “Look there.”

Bai Zhou glanced down to see a label with the name: “Ke Xue.”

This girl also had the surname “Ke”!

Hall A-2 wasn’t the end of Hall A. They continued on, discovering a total of seven exhibition rooms in Hall A. Each room contained a child’s or infant’s body, none older than seven years. Six children had the surname “Ke”, and only one boy had the surname “Xu”.

There was no other way out in the 7th exhibition hall, so the two had to retrace their steps and return to Hall A-1.

At that moment, they heard a commotion from the corridor, sounding like many people were approaching. Before long, eight individuals entered Hall A-1.

It was the same group Zhou Qian had encountered on the beach—those who wanted to kill him. Among the group, the long-haired man was present, but the bald man was absent.

Zhou Qian surmised that after their group of more than ten people entered, they split into two teams: one led by the bald man went to Hall B, while the other, led by the long-haired man, came to Hall A.

The moment he saw Zhou Qian, the long-haired man sneered. His followers seemed ready to make a move, but Zhou Qian nonchalantly said, “This place has a time limit. You’d better check the exhibition rooms first. Also, you’ve come too late. I’ve hidden the key clues.”

“You son of a—”

An underling immediately stepped forward, glaring at Zhou Qian.

The greasy, long-haired man was much calmer now than he had been on the beach. He immediately reprimanded his underlings. “Let’s first go through all the exhibition halls together. This instance is very tricky. Don’t take it lightly.”

After the long-haired man spoke, seeing that the group of eight went to Hall A-2, Zhou Qian signaled to Bai Zhou. As they were about to leave Hall A to head to the corridor, another short-haired, red-skirted staff member suddenly appeared, signaling them to stop.

She had flaming red lips, dense eyelashes, heavy eyeliner, and an overly pale face, looking like another version of a standard ghostly figure.

“The tour hasn’t ended. You can’t leave,” the staff member said in a haunting voice.

“When will it end?” Zhou Qian asked her.

“Wait. Just wait. Once the mission begins, Hall A will be temporarily sealed.” The staff member laughed, revealing her white teeth. The lipstick smeared on her teeth made them look blood-stained, a sight that made Zhou Qian instinctively frown.

Meanwhile, the group of eight didn’t investigate as thoroughly as Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou did. They moved quickly and were soon back in Hall A-1.

Probably feeling the eeriness of the exhibition hall, they also moved to leave Hall A. But just then, there was a loud “bang”, and the door to Hall A closed.

All the lights went out, and the exhibition hall plunged into darkness.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Who’s touching me? Damn it, it’s not one of those babies, is it?”

“Third Brother, don’t scare me… I…”

“It can’t be… There aren’t ghosts here, are there?”

Zhou Qian, annoyed by the noise, whispered to Bai Zhou beside him, “If these clowns don’t get eliminated soon, they’ll definitely affect my clearing the level—”

But he stopped when he noticed Bai Zhou holding his hand.

“What’s the matter?”

“Something’s not right.”

“Where?”

As Zhou Qian said this, he realized both his and Bai Zhou’s voices had changed—they now sounded like children.

The lights came on, and Zhou Qian found himself in a large, messy living room. At the moment, he was standing by a sofa with a toy train in front of him on the floor. Bai Zhou was next to him, holding his hand.

When he turned to look at Bai Zhou, he realized Bai Zhou appeared to be about seven years old. Zhou Qian himself also looked like he was six or seven, barely taller than the nearby sofa.

In the living room, the other eight people, upon realizing they had become younger, began to scream and wail.

Zhou Qian, however, laughed and looked at Bai Zhou. “Hey, you were about this age when I first met you, right? I didn’t expect to see you like this again.”

Pinching Bai Zhou’s cheek, he continued, “Little Bai Zhou is so cute, and you still have baby fat.”

The door to the living room opened, and an aging, middle-aged woman walked in. “Children, Mom’s back! Did you miss me?”

“So… all ten of us are her children?”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian whispered to Bai Zhou, “Is this some sort of instance with super fecundity you see in literature?”

Bai Zhou looked at Zhou Qian for a moment, then asked in the same quiet tone, “What kind of novels do you usually read?”

Zhou Qian quickly responded, “Not me. My sick friend Qi Liuxing reads them!”

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