Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 82

11 p.m.

Ke Si and Ke Shi had been guarding the courtyard gate for a long time. Initially vigilant, they now struggled to keep their eyes open against encroaching sleep.

Suddenly, the chopping sound of a cleaver jolted them awake. Startled, they jumped to their feet, murmuring nonsensically in their drowsy state.

“Could it be? Is Ruan Mei wielding a cleaver?”

“I thought she only used methods related to ‘accidents’ to kill?”

“What are you thinking? If Ruan Mei really intended to kill, given your lack of alertness, you’d both be dead by now.”

It was Zhou Qian’s voice.

The two turned to see him yawning.

They quickly replied, “You’re right, Brother Ge! We’ll listen to you!”

The sound of chopping kept coming.

Both of them looked towards the kitchen and saw that the person with the cleaver was the Rank God player with the words “Ke Yi” on his head.

He was probably cooking, and with an indifferent expression, he was chopping something with the cleaver.

They wouldn’t have been hungry if they didn’t realize someone was cooking. But once they realized it, both of them suddenly felt hungry, and their stomachs started to growl.

Zhou Qian glanced at them. “Stop standing there. Use this time to check inside and outside the courtyard again. If Ruan Mei comes back and makes any move, we will all break the rules. However—”

“However, what?” The two were taken aback.

Zhou Qian said, “There’s no rush. If Ruan Mei comes back, it will likely be tomorrow.”

Ke Si and Ke Shi clearly didn’t understand.

“What do you mean? Why won’t she come back?”

“Oh, Qian Ge, please be clear. We have been scared for two hours!”

“If Ruan Mei wanted to return, two hours would have been enough for her to come back and then continue her killing plan. But since she hasn’t shown up for so long, it indicates she definitely won’t have time to return tonight. From a realistic point of view, this is actually more logical.”

Zhou Qian explained, “Because she has to find a sufficient reason to prove that the accident of locking the child in the car was due to some force majeure. Otherwise, involuntary manslaughter is enough to put her in prison.”

Ke Si and Ke Shi looked at each other, probably understood, but looked at Zhou Qian with difficulty. “Okay. Since she hasn’t returned for so long, should we set up a trap to get back at her? We have plenty of time now.”

Unexpectedly, Zhou Qian said, “Of course, there’s no need.”

Ke Si and Ke Shi: “???”

Zhou Qian said, “Tomorrow morning, the cooking auntie, the driver, and others will probably come over, and even many relatives like Ke Yun and Ke Zheng will come. If they trigger our traps beforehand, it’ll be difficult to deceive Ruan Mei. Unless we can kill all the adults without letting Ruan Mei notice, do you think that’s realistic?”

Ke Si and Ke Shi understood. “You have a point. Then we…”

Zhou Qian simply said, “We do need traps, but not the kind you’re thinking of that are meant to harm people. First, go check things out. I’ll explain in detail later.”

After instructing Ke Si and Ke Shi to get to work, Zhou Qian stretched lazily and went to the kitchen. Seeing Bai Zhou’s current state in the kitchen, Zhou Qian could hardly contain his amusement—

Everyone had become children, naturally shorter in stature. The now smaller Bai Zhou was having difficulty chopping meat directly, so he was standing on a small stool to reach the cutting board.

“Being small is really inconvenient. I almost couldn’t handle playing cards,” Zhou Qian said, laughing as he approached and sat next to the semi-open kitchen counter.

Resting his cheek on his hand, he intently watched Bai Zhou. “What late-night snack are you making for me?”

Bai Zhou continued chopping the peeled shrimp. “Vegetable, mushroom, and shrimp soup?”

“Sounds good.” Zhou Qian smiled and continued watching.

Bai Zhou, who had been silently chopping, felt Zhou Qian’s gaze and, after a while, looked up. “What are you looking at?”

“At you,” Zhou Qian replied naturally. “I noticed on the beach earlier; your weapon is a Tang sword. So… are you skilled with the blade? The hand that wielded a sword to kill enemies now holds a kitchen knife in the manner of a child… It’s quite intriguing. I should take the chance to watch more, as I won’t see this after leaving this instance.”

“Mm.” Bai Zhou nodded slightly. “Watch all you want.”

Zhou Qian gave him a once-over and asked, “When you first joined this game, you were not even 17, right?”

Bai Zhou, still chopping shrimp, nodded. “Mm.”

“It was dangerous a lot of times, wasn’t it?” Zhou Qian inquired.

Bai Zhou responded succinctly. “It was okay.”

Zhou Qian remarked, “I can hardly imagine how you managed to clear instances when you were alone.”

Bai Zhou looked up again. “The instances I entered didn’t have as many twists and turns.”

So, weren’t those instances both dangerous and tedious and also boring? Translated into game time, Bai Zhou’s solitary journey spanned well over seven years. What kind of belief or desire kept him going alone in the game for so long?

Zhou Qian remained silent.

After a while, noticing Bai Zhou’s consistent shrimp-chopping movements, he suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist.

“What is it?” Bai Zhou paused and looked into Zhou Qian’s eyes.

Zhou Qian motioned toward the cutting board. “This dish seems quite complicated. Actually, I don’t really need a midnight snack.”

Bai Zhou’s expression remained unchanged, but there was a deeper meaning in his gaze. “You won’t be able to eat it once you leave the game.”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian’s expression darkened.

Indeed, in reality, he wouldn’t be able to taste anything Bai Zhou made. The real Bai Zhou was bound in a straitjacket, immobile. Part of him might even be in an urn in his hospital room. Who knows what the real him has become?

Zhou Qian took a sip from the juice beside him. When he put the glass down, the gravity in his eyes had vanished, replaced with a smile. “I haven’t had it in seven years—what’s missing one more meal?”

Hearing this, Bai Zhou put down the knife and looked at Zhou Qian, asking gently, “I’ve finished chopping. Do you want to eat?”

“Eat, eat, eat. Use less salt,” Zhou Qian said, hopping off the stool and heading out. “I’m going to find Ke Si and Ke Shi.”

……

On the other side.

Ruan Mei drove to the supermarket with her child “Ke San”.

Turning on the air conditioner, she parked her car in the underground garage.

Ke Yun’s house was located in a remote area. The commercial district at the foot of the mountain was a newly developed commercial zone. The shopping mall where the supermarket was located was relatively quiet, especially at this time, there were hardly any visitors.

Hence, the underground garage had large vacant areas.

Ruan Mei drove into this already empty underground garage and finally parked her car in the most secluded corner.

In such a place, the chances of a passerby noticing a child left in a car were almost zero.

Ruan Mei kept the air conditioner on the whole time, finally locked the car, and left for the supermarket on her own.

An hour later, she was found on a remote path on the north side of the commercial district.

She was lying on the ground with a swollen bump on the back of her head where she had been hit. Her handbag was beside her, its contents scattered, and her wallet, empty of cash, was tossed nearby.

A passerby, seeing this scene, immediately assumed that Ruan Mei had been robbed and promptly called the police and dialed 120.

When Ruan Mei “woke up” in the hospital, it was already midnight.

Opening her eyes in a daze, she saw her husband by her bedside. Suddenly recalling something, she panicked, grabbed his arm, and said, “Oh no, Ke San is still in the garage, in the car! Go find him!”

“I’ve been feeling awful all day. I was so distracted… I just remembered… I can’t remember if I turned off the air conditioner… What should we do about Ke San…”

“I left the supermarket on foot, forgetting that I had driven there. I… I…”

“I wanted to go back! Later, I remembered I had driven there. I wanted to go back to the garage to find him! But then I was robbed! A’Zheng! We have to save Ke San! Hurry!”

Thus, to outsiders, this was the story—

Ruan Mei took her child to the supermarket to buy milk. Out of fear that he would run around, she locked him in the car. After suddenly losing her other four children, she cried all day, utterly heartbroken and distracted, forgetting to turn off the air conditioner.

When she left the supermarket, she forgot that she had driven there. As she walked up the mountain path and halfway realized her mistake, she was robbed and knocked unconscious, leading to the tragic death of her child Ke San.

Ruan Mei didn’t sleep that night. She saw her son Ke San for the last time, and went to the police station to give a statement… By the time all of this was over, it was noon the next day.

At noon the next day, Ruan Mei, Ke Yun, and Ke Zheng had lunch together in the mountain villa.

At the dining table, the four players didn’t eat much and just silently watched Ruan Mei’s performance.

She looked on the verge of a breakdown, seemingly seconds away from trying to harm herself.

Seeing her in this state, anyone would believe that it was indeed her distracted state combined with being knocked unconscious by a robber that led to another tragedy.

In an era without mobile phones, investigative techniques were primitive.

Moreover, the influential Ke family was deceived by Ruan Mei for a long time, completely believing her version of events. They defended her in front of the police, even hiring a lawyer for her.

Thus, Ruan Mei could still sit here and have a meal.

Ke Yun seemed to have aged ten years overnight and said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You didn’t mean for this to happen. This afternoon, I’ll ask the drivers and housekeepers to help you look after the children. Get some rest. My house is far from the city, surrounded by beautiful scenery. Just relax.”

Beside her, Ke Zheng looked very tired. But he knew that if he said anything harsh, Ruan Mei might immediately try to harm herself, so he didn’t dare rebuke her.

Sighing deeply, he said, “Yes, listen to my sister. I have an important meeting this afternoon. Otherwise, I’d definitely stay here with you and the children. I also need to comfort our parents… I’m afraid they’re taking this hard.”

Without knowing the whole story, Ke Zheng and Ke Yun comforted Ruan Mei for a long time, finally helping her to her bedroom to sleep. After ensuring she had no suicidal thoughts, they left.

At 1:50 in the afternoon, the Ke siblings left.

At 2:00 p.m., Ruan Mei got up from bed and went downstairs.

In the kitchen, she gave some money to the housekeeper, asking her to go to a pharmacy at the foot of the mountain to buy some headache medicine.

The housekeeper couldn’t drive, so the driver accompanied her.

Now, in the mountain villa, only Ruan Mei and the four players remained.

After closing the door, Ruan Mei went to the living room and looked at her four “children”.

She asked, “That lake looks so beautiful. Do you want to go see? There’s a car in the courtyard. Should I drive you there?”

Considering the intense heat, if the players agree to drive to the lakeside, there might be two potential risks—suffocation or drowning.

Ke Shi, who had just come out of the kitchen, became extremely anxious when he heard Ruan Mei’s words.

He immediately looked up at Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou, who were sitting side by side on the sofa.

Zhou Qian looked up and smiled at Ruan Mei. “Sure, we’d like to go to the lake. It’s really hot today. We want to play in the water!”

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