CH 18

“But it was very quiet last night. I didn’t sleep until the middle of the night, but I didn’t hear any noise.”

“What about your rooms?” Lei Ge immediately asked the people in the other two rooms, and the four in the other two rooms shook their heads.

“Didn’t hear anything.”

Fang Zhi and the other two of them simply said that they heard the baby crying last night, and casually mentioned the quarrel between the male and female masters upstairs. As they spoke, the family came down from upstairs. The master held a black plastic bag and went out into the yard to discard the trash, before coming back in to greet them. 

The master’s eyes were a little tired, showing that he didn’t have a good sleep last night. After having a simple breakfast, their entire family went back upstairs again.

After a while, Lin Meng came down. Today, she wore a long blue dress with an easel in her hand, a drawing board on her back, and a few other  things. She said to everyone: “I want to go out to sketch, does anyone want to go with me?”

A few people looked  at each other. In the end, seven people said they wanted to stay. It was still unclear who in the family was the key NPC that affected their survival conditions. Each of the players had their own little abacus in their hearts, and since no one died last night, it proved that this place was relatively safe for now. Going out right now, it was unsure what they would encounter. 

In the face of Lin Meng’s invitation, it wasn’t like no one could go. In the end, the soldiers were split into two groups of people. Gu Xizhou and his team of three acted together, adding on Dong Chao and Lei Ge, a total of five people agreed to accompany Lin Meng.

“Really? You’re all willing to accompany me! That’s great!” Lin Meng had a face full of surprise, as if she hadn’t expected so many people to be willing to accompany her out, and she was incredibly happy.

Seeing Lin Meng struggle to hold the drawing board, a male voice rang out. “Let me help you hold that!”

“Thank you!” Lin Meng smiled sweetly, handing the contents in her hand to Fang Zhi. She smiled at him, her eyes bending into crescents.

Si Yu: “Is he here to fall in love?”

Gu Xizhou: “…” Xiao Fang is a person who lives in the present. 

Lei Ge: “… It seems so.”

Dong Chao: “Fuck love, when he dies, he won’t even know how he died!”

Fang Zhi took the bucket and drawing board in Lin Meng’s hands, and took two steps back to Gu Xizhou’s side. He saw several people staring at his face, and he subconsciously felt his face, asking: “Is there something on my face?”

Several people shook their heads together: “No.”

Frustrated by the strange acts of several people, Fang Zhi shook his head. He’d already been here for a day, and still hadn’t seen any spiritual incidents. If it weren’t for Gu Ge, he would have suspected that this was some drama special. 

Following Lin Meng and walking towards the halfway point of the mountainside, several people were alert to possible dangers and accidents until they reached their destination. Midway on the mountainside, there was a large reservoir, and no danger on the road they had taken. 

In front of the reservoir, all the reeds were taller than people. The mountain wind blew against the surface of the water, and the leaves rustled. 

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It was a really clean voice.

Gu Xizhou gave a scornful glance at the owner of the voice. He still remembered the previous world, when this fake goods used this voice to coax an NPC, and that girl had jumped off the building the very next day. 

Lin Meng heard this, and didn’t reveal any sort of strange reaction. She generously took out the paintings in her drawing board and handed them to Si Yu. “I don’t paint well, but you can casually look at it!”

Saying this, Lin Meng sat on the stool that she had carried with her and started to draft on her drawing paper. 

Gu Xizhou shared a glance with the other four people, and gathered to look at Lin Meng’s paintings, hoping to find clues. 

The first painting — Lin Meng’s self-portrait. 

The second painting — Lin Meng and her little sister.

The third painting — Lin Meng’s father and her little sister.

The fourth painting was the one Lin Meng just finished when they had arrived yesterday.

After carefully looking at the four paintings, Gu Xizhou did not find any useful clues. Right when several people were at a loss, the girl who was drawing looked back at the five of them. “My background is done! I want to draw three people inside!”

Lei Ge shook his head in a hurry, his head shaking like a rattle: “No, no, no, I’m fine!”

Dong Chao: “I’m a little dizzy…”

Then, Dong Chao leaned directly on Lei Ge. Lei Ge was also eager to help and he supported the man with a face full of concern. “Are you all right?”

Gu Xizhou: “…” It wasn’t clear on sight, but apparently you were all hired from a theatre troupe.

Gu Xizhou glanced at Lin Meng, and thought about whether to refuse her, but the Si Yu next to him was just a step faster and said to Lin Meng: “Then just draw us three ba.”

Lin Meng nodded, and said: “Okay, stand closer!”

The three of them stood side by side. Gu Xizhou stood in the middle, and he lowered his voice to ask Si Yu, “What exactly are you doing? Those two people couldn’t wait to hide, but you still agreed to her? What if this is one of the death conditions?”

Si Yu: “Trust me.”

Gu Xizhou: “…” If I die, you are responsible!

Fang Zhi: “…”

Because they didn’t see Lin Meng’s drawing board, they didn’t know the contents of her painting, but they noticed how Lei Ge’s face became whiter and whiter with the completion of the painting, while Dong Chao’s glee at their misfortune couldn’t escape their eyes. 

At about noon, the woman put down her brush after painting the last stroke and glanced at her painting with satisfaction. “It’s done! Look at it, do you like it?”

As she spoke, Gu Xizhou and the two of them took a step forward, and finally saw the full picture of the painting. The background was the reservoir behind them, and the three men in the picture were different from their imagination.

Gu Xizhou noted the expressions of the people in the painting with some surprise — the three men in the painting were looking straight ahead in anger.

“Satisfied, thank you.” Si Yu nodded and said to the woman. After finishing the painting, the woman walked in front, and the five of them were behind. Lei Ge was restless, and there was quite a bit of sympathy in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say a few words of comfort, but still chose to give up in the end, and shook his head, choosing to walk away.

Dong Chao glanced at them and said dismissively: “Looks like someone is going to die tonight.”

Gu Xizhou: “…” Don’t think I don’t know what you mean, you think the three of us are going to die! Get lost, even if you die, I won’t die!

After the two men walked in front of them, Gu Xizhou asked Si Yu: “What did you find?”

Si Yu: “Did you notice our skin color in the painting?”

Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi recalled the painting just now, and Fang Zhi frowned slightly. “The complexion was a little fairer, en…”

Si Yu nodded. “It’s normal to paint my skin white, but when painting the two of you, she didn’t change the skin color, which is strange.”

Gu Xizhou: “…” Don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to use a roundabout way of saying that I look dark!

Fang Zhi didn’t care, and agreed wholeheartedly: “Yes, and when she was drawing us, the skin color was almost similar to the one she used in her self-portrait!”

“That’s right!” Si Yu glanced admirably at Fang Zhi, and said softly, “As expected of a policeman, his observation skill is pretty good.” Having said that, he continued. “3, the number 3, there is also some special meaning.”

“Why didn’t she draw five people, or four people, why did she insist on exactly three people? At the same time, the master prepared 4 rooms for us yesterday. When we were searching yesterday, you should have noticed that each room has 3 beds, and we have a total of twelve people!”

Gu Xizhou: “… Last night, we were the only three who could hear the voices upstairs. That’s because other rooms had either more than 3 or less than 3 people inside.”

“That’s right.” Si Yu said.

…

Before they reached the villa, Gu Xizhou heard a cacophony of noisy sounds. There were some people discussing things, and there was the sound of a woman crying. 

They ran into the villa, leaving Lin Meng to continue walking slowly into the villa alone. Upon entering the villa, they saw the remaining seven people, and two girls were crying.

There was a black plastic bag on the wooden floor of the living room. It was the bag that the master had taken out this morning, and it was probably because the plastic bag was opened, resulting in a thick bloody smell permeating the villa.

“What happened?” Lei Ge ran in and asked. 

Inside was a baby’s body, covered in blood. It had been a long time since the time of death, so the blood had solidified. 

Last night, it wasn’t that “people” didn’t die. The one who died was Lin Meng’s little sister. 

“After you left, all four masters were in their rooms, so we… we thought of searching to find out if there were any other clues. We were too rushed last night, and we didn’t carefully check some places, and we ended up finding this in the trash…” A few people had white faces as they recalled what had happened earlier. 

After Gu Xizhou went out with the other four people to accompany Lin Meng, the seven of them stayed in the villa. Yesterday, they had searched the bottom floor, and wanted to search upstairs, but because that family was always upstairs, they didn’t dare to go up and search. After searching through the bottom floor again, they went out into the small yard outside the villa to search, and ended up finding this!

The people who found the body were two girls, and those two girls were absolutely terrified.

Coincidentally at this time, Lin Meng walked in. Her gaze naturally fell on the plastic bag in the living room containing the baby’s body.

Several people throughout the hall exhaled a cold breath, and the air almost seemed to still.

Lin Meng’s gaze fell on the plastic bag, then she immediately recovered her gaze. Her face was a little cold, but she didn’t speak. She opened the refrigerator and turned to ask a few people what they wanted to eat.

Recalling how much Lin Meng cared for her little sister yesterday, Gu Xizhou couldn’t help but say: “Hey, your little sister is dead.”

Hearing Gu Xizhou’s question, the people around him immediately stared at him. They saw Lin Meng’s complexion turn grey and furious. The woman slammed the refrigerator door and stared coldly at Gu Xizhou.

Lei Ge: “???” Are you sick?! If you’re sick, can you treat it?! If you mess with the NPC, you’re going to die a terrible death!

Just when they all thought Lin Meng was about to cut Gu Xizhou apart, the woman suddenly calmed down and said faintly: “She is not my little sister.”

Lei Ge: “???” Wait, Big Sister, are you also sick, or do you plan on cutting him at night?

soya: just in case anyone is wondering, Lei Ge is actually Brother Lei, so his name isn’t “Lei Ge”. It’s like how Ma Yu is called Ma Ge, and Gu Xizhou is called Gu Ge, except we don’t know Lei Ge’s real name.