Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 144: Murderous Intent

Under the cover of night, the inner courtyard was peaceful and tranquil. From a dried-up ancient well in the corner, three figures emerged, one after the other.

The first to come out was Xu Wang, followed by Yan Wang, and Wu Sheng was the last.

“Yan Wang, is Xiao Xue really here?” As soon as Xu Wang emerged, he scanned the surroundings.

This place indeed looked like an inner courtyard, with its vermilion corridors, carved window frames, and four rooms neatly arranged in a row.

However, on the east side of the courtyard stood a towering, long wall, as if cutting off a part of the courtyard, making the well-ordered courtyard seem as if it were built against a wall, looking quite abrupt.

Before Yan Wang could answer, Xu Wang had already walked into the corridor and came to the door of the first room. Looking up, he saw two small wooden plaques hanging on the door lintel—[West Wing] [Sun].

Now there was no need for Yan Wang; this was indeed Xiao Xue’s dwelling, the west wing.

Each of the four rooms had a small wooden plaque, together reading [Sun] [ Moon] [Star] [Bright].

Quite sophisticated, Xu Wang sneered sarcastically, looking up at the sky filled with dense clouds and the dim moonlight, where there was no sign of “Sun, Moon, Stars, Bright”.

Thinking that Xiao Xue was behind one of these four doors, Xu Wang suddenly felt an anxious unease, a complex emotion mixed with nervousness, heartache, excitement, and many indescribable feelings.

Wu Sheng noticed his hesitation and understood the turmoil in his heart, feeling the same way.

But now that they were here, the only thing to do was to continue forward and find Xiao Xue—if possible, to bring him out of this cold, dark place.

With this in mind, Wu Sheng decisively turned to Yan Wang, ready to ask him which room exactly housed Chi Yingxue. Unexpectedly, before he could speak, an unexpected alert sounded in his ear—

[Owl: Congratulations on finding the 9/23 Hell Badge!]

Wu Sheng raised an eyebrow, exchanging glances with Xu Wang, who also heard the alert.

Immediately after, a crisp “ding—” came from his arm.

Opening the hidden item bar, indeed, there was an additional badge.

After a journey that almost brought their spirits to the abyss, they finally encountered something to be happy about.

“Lao Qian or Xiao Kuang?” Xu Wang asked Wu Sheng.

Wu Sheng wasn’t really a fortune-teller. Hesitating for a few seconds, he gave a very standard answer. “If it’s not Lao Qian, it’s Xiao Kuang.”

Xu Wang: “……”

“Crack—”

Suddenly, a faint sound of rocks breaking came from the east.

The three turned their heads together.

It was the towering wall, starting to crack bit by bit, about to…

“Boom—”

Collapse.

Thick dust flew up instantly, obscuring the sky.

Just as Xu Wang was about to cover his nose to avoid inhaling dust, he saw a figure in the dusty mist behind the ruins of the high wall, so tall and so familiar…

“Lao Qian?!”

Amidst the lingering sound of the collapse, the call successfully reached the other side of the ruins, and soon came the response from Qian Ai. “Captain? Where are you? How can you see us with this visibility?!”

Xu Wang was stunned. “You—guys?”

Qian Ai: “Xiao Kuang and I!”

“……” Xu Wang stared for a long time but still couldn’t see Kuang Jinxin’s small figure. Obviously, in terms of “noticeability”, Xiao Kuang and Lao Qian had a vast difference.

Realizing this, Captain Xu decisively stopped fussing and got straight to the point. “How did you guys meet up—”

As he finished the question, the dust also settled, and the two on the opposite side finally saw Xu Wang clearly.

With eyes meeting, Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin were startled, especially Qian Ai, who immediately forgot what Xu Wang had just asked. “You guys… fell into a cesspit?”

Xu Wang, Wu Sheng, and Yan Wang looked at each other, speechless.

“It’s chocolate!”

After shouting, Xu Wang quickly urged, “Don’t just stand there. Hurry over. This is the west wing.”

Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin looked at each other and quickly ran over.

The small team finally reunited.

But before Xu Wang could feel relieved, he noticed that Kuang Jinxin’s face was badly swollen, with a clear handprint on his cheek. He immediately glared at Qian Ai. “Did you hit him?!”

Qian Ai was bewildered. “Why would I hit him?!”

Xu Wang: “Like being dominated by an illusion or possessed by something…”

Qian Ai was exasperated. “Captain, you’ve been watching way too many dramas…”

Kuang Jinxin didn’t care about the injury on his face but was more concerned about the third person beside Xu Wang and Wu Sheng. “Sheng Ge, who is this?”

“Yan Wang,” Wu Sheng answered simply.

Kuang Jinxin was stunned, and so was Qian Ai. They looked at Yan Wang up and down. His completely unfamiliar appearance, especially with the added chocolate sauce, made it impossible to connect him with the Yan Wang they knew.

“It’s a long story, so I won’t go into it,” Wu Sheng said decisively. “Let’s find Xiao Xue first.”

Xu Wang, Qian Ai, and Kuang Jinxin agreed.

To really start talking, there were too many things to clarify. How Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin met, how Kuang Jinxin got the injury on his face, why Yan Wang appeared, and why Yan Wang looked like this, as well as what Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai experienced in the east wing and what Wu Sheng and Xu Wang experienced in the stone chambers. To thoroughly summarize the information, they feared it would take until 5 a.m. to finish.

Wu Sheng got straight to the point. “Yan Wang, which room does Xiao Xue reside in?”

Yan Wang hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “I can’t say for sure.”

Xu Wang frowned. “Don’t you always come here to play with him? Don’t tell me his bedroom changes randomly too?”

Yan Wang seriously replied, “Indeed, it changes randomly, depending on his mood.”

“……” Xu Wang was resigned.

“That’s easy. Then we’ll just search one room each,” Qian Ai suggested. “After all, we have enough people.”

Yan Wang disagreed. “Better to search one room at a time. What if, like the stone chamber, there are traps inside, or something dangerous emerges? Handling four rooms at once would be too difficult.”

“Okay, let’s go one room at a time. Lao Qian, open the door!” Xu Wang decided quickly. Otherwise, they would have spent enough time debating to open all four doors.

Qian Ai, emboldened by the support of his 3.5 teammates—with the unfamiliar Yan Wang counting as half—pushed the door with both hands with great force!

“Bang!”

He used too much strength.

Startled, Qian Ai quickly stabilized the door.

The room was empty except for a waist-high wooden cabinet in the center. The cabinet looked old, but the wood grain on its surface was still beautiful, and it still had a reddish-brown color tinged with yellow, clearly a piece of high-quality old furniture.

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng, seeing the interior of the wing for the first time, were uncertain of the situation. Qian Ai, who had been there before, immediately said, “It was like this in the east wing. There’s basically no furniture in any of the rooms, just… some illusions.”

Qian Ai didn’t want to admit that those were Xiao Xue, even though he knew in his heart they were real. But he still didn’t want to admit it.

Xu Wang, unaware of their experience, asked in confusion, “Is this cabinet also an illusion?”

Qian Ai hesitated.

Kuang Jinxin looked at him, and in their exchange of glances, both, who had experienced the east wing, already had the answer.

“It’s possible, Xiao Xue might be inside.”

The night was eerily quiet.

A thin veil of pale moonlight draped over the ruins of the wall, the east and west wings, and the entire estate.

Xu Wang cautiously stepped over the threshold, softly reminding his companions behind him, “Everyone, be careful.”

He slowly approached the cabinet, and, upon reaching it, nothing happened.

Bending slightly, he placed his hand on the cabinet handle, held his breath, and slowly pulled the cabinet door open…

Empty.

Just as Xu Wang frowned, he heard the door close behind him with a “snap”!

He turned around sharply, seeing that the door was tightly shut!

At the same time, the floor tiles beneath their feet suddenly turned into a swamp-like mud, and his companions began to sink involuntarily!

“What the hell!” Qian Ai struggled, but the more he struggled, the faster he sank. Seeing Xu Wang and Kuang Jinxin suffering the same fate, he immediately took on the role of the team’s muscle. “Don’t worry, Captain. Leave it to me—”

Suddenly, Xu Wang felt something solid under his feet in the mud. He perked up and quickly shouted, “Lao Qian, wait—”

[Owl: Someone used [(Offense) Extreme Freeze] on you~~]

It was already too late.

The mud, reaching up to their thighs, instantly froze into hard soil, painfully pressing against everyone’s legs, cold to the point where it felt like not only the mud but also their flesh was frozen.

“Hurry and undo it.” Xu Wang couldn’t stand it for even a second.

Qian Ai was also in pain, but remarked, “If I undo it, we’ll continue sinking.”

Xu Wang panicked. “We can’t sink anymore. I’ve already hit the bottom!”

“Ah?” Qian Ai looked at Kuang Jinxin for confirmation.

The latter nodded. “Yeah, I’ve hit the bottom too.”

Qian Ai was baffled. “Then why haven’t I?”

Xu Wang: “That’s what you get for flailing around!”

Qian Ai: “……”

The effect of the stationery was undone.

With a tentative heart, Qian Ai sank another two centimeters, and indeed, he had hit the bottom.

The so-called terrifying swamp was only up to their thighs.

He tried to push forward, and while slow, it was still possible to move.

Compared to him, Xu Wang was inexplicably faster. Qian Ai had barely taken two steps when Xu Wang had already reached the door, trying to force it open.

But to no avail. The door wouldn’t budge.

In the dim moonlight, Kuang Jinxin’s question arose. “Captain, where are Sheng Ge and Yan Wang…”

Qian Ai then realized there were only the three of them in the room.

Xu Wang must have realized this earlier, as he was struggling with the door, his eyes filled with anxiety and concern.

Did the two of them manage to escape? Or did they fall into another trap? Or was there a more dangerous person outside, keeping them trapped? Numerous thoughts raced through Xu Wang’s mind, nearly overwhelming him.

……

[West Wing] [Bright].

Yan Wang didn’t even look at [Moon] [Star] but went straight to the fourth room and entered without hesitation.

This was a room completely different from [West Wing] [Sun]. It was warmly decorated, with complete furnishings. Velvet curtains, a fabric sofa, a simple and artistic chandelier, and a soft, fresh carpet.

The only similarity was an old cabinet, completely out of place with the rest of the room’s style, like an intruder, tucked away in a dark corner.

But this cabinet had a lock on it.

Yan Wang went straight to the corner without looking elsewhere. His firm steps indicated he knew his target was right there.

Standing in front of the cabinet, he placed his hands on top of it and took a deep breath, as if trying to calm the turmoil within. But when he spoke, his voice still trembled slightly—with excitement, with eagerness.

“I finally found this place.” He looked at the cabinet surface as if it were glass through which he could directly see the person inside. “You really thought it through, using the last layer of stone walls and my birthday, huh? If I had come alone, I really wouldn’t have been able to unlock it…”

“But none of that matters now. I came here today to fulfill your wish…”

As he spoke, he moved to the window, took out a lighter from his pocket, and lit it. The flame illuminated the fervor in his eyes, and beneath that fervor was a slowly gathering darkness.

“You like hiding, don’t you?” His voice was very soft, almost a whisper. “Then hide forever and never come out.”

The flame neared the curtains. In the faint heat of the firelight, one could almost foresee a blaze engulfing the entire wooden room, even the whole estate…

“I thought you would change your mind.” Wu Sheng’s voice came from behind.

Yan Wang was startled, instinctively turning around, but his hand was suddenly caught, and in a flash, the lighter was taken away.

Click.

Wu Sheng closed the lighter, looked at the exquisitely engraved metal body, and sighed regrettably. “Such a tasteful lighter is not meant for killing people.”

After speaking, he naturally pocketed it.

Yan Wang didn’t care about the lighter. He had made it this far and had countless ways to kill. But there was one thing he had to clarify. “When did you see through me?”

“Did you mean through your lies or your plan?” Wu Sheng needed to clarify the question.

“Is there a difference?” Yan Wang frowned, feeling a sense of irritation at being played.

Wu Sheng shrugged, leaving him to figure it out. “After we passed the slide stone chamber, I knew you were lying. You knew about the slide and the rat in the chamber, which means you’ve encountered it. But that rat was only repelled by the three of us together…”

“Of course, you also said that for some reason, the rat had become stronger, but the logic was weak. It’s like a firewall; sure, it can upgrade, but most upgrades are based on discovered vulnerabilities. For the rat to become strong enough to require three people to contend with, the prerequisite would be that three people had already passed through here, letting the rat learn from their increased combat power. However, this path was known only to you, and only you had been through it…”

“As for your plan, knowing you lied made it much simpler. You said the contents of the last two stone chambers were random, and you didn’t know what they would be. Since that was a lie, there’s only one explanation: you never made it to the last two chambers; you never defeated that rat…”

“So your plan was obvious.” Wu Sheng looked at him steadily, emphasizing each word as he spoke. “You needed our strength to reach Chi Yingxue.”

“And once here, I intended to do something bad, right?” Yan Wang smiled; his voice was cold yet resigned.

Wu Sheng smiled back at him. “Only thieves have guilty consciences. Have you ever seen anyone who does good deeds deceive people all the way?”

“Why only mention it now if you’ve known all along?” Yan Wang looked towards the still closed [West Chamber] [Sun]. “If you had exposed me earlier, they wouldn’t be trapped.”

“They won’t be trapped by your little tricks for long,” Wu Sheng said. “If you change your mind now, I can act as if none of this ever happened.”

Yan Wang was genuinely curious this time, tilting his head to study Wu Sheng for a long while. “We don’t have much of a relationship, do we? Why be so magnanimous and always give me a way out?”

Wu Sheng narrowed his eyes, half-smiling. “We don’t have a relationship?”

His gaze was piercing, as if was seeing through him.

Yan Wang felt uncomfortable under his stare and finally scoffed, laying his cards on the table. “Yes, I remember. I remember how I joined the team and how we went through the ancient castle love line together. Satisfied?”

Wu Sheng didn’t take the opportunity to mock him but seriously repeated, “Stop it.”

Yan Wang wasn’t swayed. “Impossible.”

Wu Sheng said, “It was me and Xu Wang who brought you here. If you kill Xiao Xue, it’s like we’re indirectly killing someone.”

Yan Wang scoffed carelessly. “So?”

Wu Sheng’s expression turned stern, and his demeanor was icy. “Xu Wang and I consider you a friend. I don’t mind, but I advise you not to let him be heartbroken.”

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