CH 72

(Hand over the protection fees)

Edited by Silver Wind 

Shen Dongqing walked around the broken corpse on the floor and walked in.

The sheep fur carpet placed at the door entrance seemed to have absorbed a great deal of blood, such that it became sticky in texture. It was quite disgusting to step on, and Shen Dongqing quickly landed on the wooden floorboard after a leap and three hops.

Zhou Wenyan stretched his hand out to slap the wall.

Pa— 

The lights were out.

Under the circumstances where there was no light, the Dean’s office was in the pitch-black darkness. Thankfully, they could still perceive some blurry outlines after their eyes adjusted to the dark.

Zhou Wenyan felt around until he reached the front of the Dean’s office desk. He recalled he had placed a decorative candlestick there, and there was a candle on top.

It was unknown what kind of trick he used, but flickering fire light appeared above the candlestick after some noise was generated by friction.

Holding the candlestick, Zhou Wenyan used the weak illumination to scrutinise the Dean’s office.

Shen Dongqing followed behind his back, and his foot happened to bump into something. Upon lowering his head, he realised that the roll of paper that was stuffed in the corner had toppled over, thus revealing the portrait of the Dean.

The Dean inside the painting was wearing a black dress. However, unlike the stern expression she had during daytime, her facial features were ferocious and her eyes were protruding, like she was going to climb out of the painting.

Shen Dongqing looked into the Dean’s eyes for a moment before he kicked it away immediately. 

Perhaps due to the blood-stained threshold just now, an additional blood-soaked footprint was stamped onto the Dean’s face in the portrait, and it directly covered her face.

The Dean’s gaze contorted slightly, appearing as though she was going to explode.

Zhou Wenyan sensed the movement behind him and came to a stop: “Did you bump into something?”

Shen Dongqing: “I kicked away a piece of trash.” 

When the Dean in the painting heard those words, her originally white visage became red. In a place where they could not see, she slammed her hands against the canvas like her life depended on it. It was just a painted layer, why couldn’t she come out?

It seemed like the Dean was the final BOSS in the copy. But it was impossible for the copy to use its ultimate from the get-go. For the same reason, she was trapped inside the portrait, only allowed to come out when the necessary conditions were triggered.

The Dean was supposed to be hung up and facing the door so that everyone who entered the office could see her. She was not meant to lie on the ground like this, and even be stepped on.

She became angrier the longer she thought about it, and she hated the fact that she could not drill out of the painting right now to give them a good show. 

Perhaps because the anger in the Dean’s heart had smoked out, the sound of a child frolicking and playing suddenly rang out in the Dean’s office.

“Hehe—”

In the darkness, there seemed to be a child running about and making a commotion, and he even issued a laugh that could send shivers running down their spines.

Zhou Wenyan raised the candlestick, wanting to see that child’s appearance clearly, but that child was too fast, and all he could perceive was a white shadow streaking past. After giving two attempts, he promptly gave up. 

The child thought that Zhou Wenyan was still playing a game with him, and once Zhou Wenyan stopped using the light to shine it on him, his skin started itching. He would knock something over at one spot and then toppled a decoration somewhere else, trying to scare them.

Had it been anyone else in the room, perhaps his scares might have accomplished something.

However, the two Big Bosses were the ones standing in the room. Hence, they ignored the hyperactive child completely and went to look for other clues.

There were a lot of books inside the Dean’s office, and under the circumstance where there were no NPCs, it was highly likely that the clues were hidden inside the book. 

Shen Dongqing took the candlestick so Zhou Wenyan could skim through the book with greater ease.

Just as Zhou Wenyan finished perusing the three to four books in front of him, he heard cheerful and light-hearted music sound from beside his ear.

Ding ding dong ding ding dong—

Shen Dongqing looked over subconsciously. A little boy was sitting on the chair, swinging both his legs as he manipulated the music box. The music had transmitted out from that object. 

Before his brain even processed the thought, Shen Dongqing used his simplest and crudest intuition to confirm the utility of that music box. Then, like an arrow taking flight, he rushed up and snatched away the music box from the little boy’s hands.

The boy seemed to suffer from a scare as he shrank his head back and fled into the shadows quickly, only poking his head out to stare at the bandits with an attitude which conveyed that he was shy with strangers.

Zhou Wenyan placed down the book: “What did you find?”

Shen Dongqing raised the item in his hands. “This!” 

The music box looked exceedingly exquisite: there was a clockwork spring on top, which would open the music box after being rotated. There was a cute baby lying in the pool inside, and accompanying the sound of the music was a spinning yellow duck and little frog at the side.

When all the energy in the clockwork spring had been exhausted, the music box closed again.

Shen Dongqing borrowed the candlelight to inspect the row of words carved into the back of the music box.

【 For my adorable Shun Shun, may he have a life that is smooth without worries 】 

“Shun Shun?” Shen Dongqing looked towards the shadows.

That little boy had already scrambled to his feet and ran away prior to this.

Vtfc Gbcudlcu aegcfv atf mibmxkbgx rqglcu, ktlmt wjvf atf werlm ybz rlcu jujlc. Coafg qijslcu klat la obg rbwf alwf, tf rjlv: “Ktlr rtbeiv yf erfoei.”

Itbe Qfcsjc cbvvfv tlr tfjv. “Ofa’r ub yjmx.” 

Vtfc Gbcudlcu jrxfv: “Tbe’gf cba ublcu ab mbcalcef ibbxlcu atgbeut atf ybbxr?”

Itbe Qfcsjc: “Pa’r erfifrr.”

The bookshelf was also present during daytime, and he would have discovered the clue if there was any during the day. The music box was the sole, new addition that would only appear at night.

Furthermore… 

“Aren’t you sleepy?”

Once he asked that, Shen Dongqing realised that he was quite sleepy. His biological clock had always been stable; lightning and thunder could not shake it, and he only wanted to go back and lie down on his soft bed right now.

He hugged Zhou Wenyan’s shoulders. “Let’s go back and sleep.”

Meanwhile, Blonde-haired Boy’s corpse was still lying in front of the Dean’s office horizontally. Perhaps because the scent of blood being emitted was too thick, it attracted a group of children. They loitered around the corridor, packing it to the brim, completely eliminating any possible footholds. 

When they heard movement coming from the office, each and every one of them raised their small ashen-pale faces and opened their mouths, revealing their densely packed teeth. It was like they were going to pounce over and devour their prey cleanly in the next second.

Shen Dongqing gave a pause before he waved his hand at them: “Hi—”

The leading child stiffened all over.

He was the unlucky child who had gone over to harass Shen Dongqing last night, except he had achieved nothing beyond a butt spanking. As he was looking at Shen Dongqing now, he only felt the fiery and stinging pain on his butt. 

This child originally thought that he had encountered an unlucky bastard, but he did not expect that these two gods of plague would appear. Immediately, he took the decapitated head and ran.

Zhou Wenyan gave a command: “Catch him.”

Without needing his instruction, Shen Dongqing ran at a speed faster than everyone else and accurately caught the unlucky child who was mingling with the group of children.

“Not sleeping and running out to stroll in the middle of the night again?” 

In order to prevent his butt from getting spanked again, he submitted himself like the occasion required. “I was wrong, I won’t do it again!”

In light of the fact that his remorseful attitude was right on the mark, and that he was still holding the music box in his hand, it was not convenient for Shen Dongqing to carry out a lecture. Thus, he put down the unlucky child for the time being.

Zhou Wenyan pointed at the Blonde-haired Boy who was at the entrance of the Dean’s office. “Who did that?”

The unlucky child looked over in the direction he was pointing at. Looking a little fearful, he trembled and shook his head. “Don’t, don’t know, it wasn’t us, he doesn’t play games with us…” 

A known requisite.

These children could not take the initiative to harm people, and could only rely on inviting the players to play a game. However, the difficulty of the aforementioned game could not be discerned, and it was highly probable that it was full of danger.

Zhou Wenyan: “Besides your group of children, is there anyone else in this kindergarten?”

The unlucky child stilled momentarily. In a blunt manner, he said: “Do kindergartens only have children? Apart from children, there are teachers ah.” 

It appears that even though these little ghosts have existed for a long time, their reasoning and logic did not depart much from a child.

Zhou Wenyan did not attain any new information from the child’s mouth in the end.

Once Shen Dongqing relaxed his hands, the child used both his hands and legs to run away swiftly with his newfound freedom.

The other children also followed him in climbing up the outer walls to return to a different classroom. 

Tranquil silence was restored back to the kindergarten again.

Shen Dongqing yawned: “Let’s go back and sleep.”

* * *

Perhaps owing to the fact that he had woken up once at night, Shen Dongqing’s proceeding slumber was particularly deep, and he was only jolted out of his dreams when a scream sounded from outside his door. 

As the Fringed Girl stared at the corpse lying outside the Dean’s office, she shrieked with abandon: “AH—”

Her boyfriend had died, and his state of death was particularly gruesome.

Fringed Girl was slightly frail to begin with; now that her boyfriend was dead, she sank into hysteria and she was not in the best state of mind.

“Who was it, who killed my boyfriend!” 

The other players pulled away from the Fringed Girl silently.

They had become accustomed to death a long time ago, and they would not stop walking just because their companion was dead.

The Blonde Lady said impatiently: “There’s still a group of children waiting for me to attend to them, I’m leaving first.”

The remaining players dispersed one by one. 

Fringed Girl was the only one who stayed behind to collect Blonde-haired Boy’s corpse. She dug a hole in the grass-covered ground outside and buried Blonde-haired Boy inside before she knelt there, crying until she was unlike herself. She had completely forsaken her job.

And probably because one of the teachers was missing, the little children became more rancorous than before.

Fang Qi and the Blonde Lady were so busy their sweat was about to start flowing down, and they were on the verge of kneeling down to beg them to stop causing a commotion.

Dong dong— 

A series of knocks sounded at the door, which made all the children shut their mouths and look towards the door.

Shen Dongqing pushed open the door and walked in. In the face of small radish heads, he waved his hand, saying, “It’s nothing, you can continue playing.”

After the excruciating pain they experienced yesterday, how could they possibly muster the courage to play?

Deathly afraid of being pulled into another game, the children stopped being world-wrecking demon kings. Rather, they sat in their chairs obediently, not uttering a word. 

Fang Qi finally had a chance to rest. “Big bosses, what are you looking for?”

Shen Dongqing: “A person.”

The name on the music box.

Without a shadow of a doubt, “Shun Shun” was an important character. 

Zhou Wenyan walked up to the podium and flipped open the attendance book. Despite flipping through all the pages, he did not find a person by the name of Shun Shun.

“Not here.”

The pair left as quickly as they came.

Even though the pair had departed, their deterring force was still there. The children did not dare to make too much noise even when they were arguing, since they were afraid that it would draw those two naughty men back into the classroom. 

* * *

There were only a total of four classrooms in Haiduo Kindergarten.

Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing searched through all the classrooms one by one. There was an attendance book placed on the front desk of every classroom, but there was no child by the name of “Shun Shun”.

“Is he from a graduating class?” Zhou Wenyan made a guess. 

Shen Dongqing did not like using his brain, so he retrieved an ice cream and started looking through the photographs pasted at the back of the classroom.

In one of the pictures that the kindergarten children took together, he even found a familiar-looking child, who was also the unlucky child he had caught last night. As it turns out, he was a student in the kindergarten too.

Shen Dongqing shot a smile at that unlucky child.

But the unlucky child inside the photograph looked like he wanted to cry. 

Since Zhou Wenyan could not think of anything either, he left the classroom first. Just as he stepped outside, he bumped into another person.

The Uncle seemed to be waiting for them specifically, and he immediately blocked them once he saw them coming out. “What were the clues you discovered last night?”

As a security guard, the Uncle had to be on duty for all twenty-four hours.

He was afraid of something occurring at night, so he had forced the Blonde-haired Boy to go for the patrol. However, he did not expect that the Blonde-haired Boy would fail to make his return, and once the next four-hour shift arrived, he could only go for his own patrol as well. 

Perhaps because the Blonde-haired Boy had died, the Uncle did not encounter any danger again.

Not only that, he even witnessed Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan walking out of the Dean’s office while they were holding something in their hands. It was definitely a key prop.

Shen Dongqing answered honestly: “Nothing really.”

It was true that he knew nothing with regards to the current premise. 

Even though the Uncle did not believe his words in the slightest, he did not have the audacity to do anything because of the disparity between their strength. In the end, he could only give them a sinister and ruthless glare before he stalked away.

Shen Dongqing touched his chin: “He looks rather strange.”

Zhou Wenyan replied: “He has already become a monster.”

There were dangers everywhere in this game; the slightly faint-hearted and less intelligent could not stay here for long, while others slowly lost themselves after they went through game after game, until they eventually lost their humanity as well. 

Before he met Shen Dongqing, Zhou Wenyan did not know how long he could endure for.

Meanwhile, Shen Dongqing remained oblivious to the complicated emotions that Zhou Wenyan felt. He took out an oreo-flavoured ice cream and licked it as he said: “Since we can’t find Shun Shun on the attendance book, do you think those children would know of him?”

* * *

Thus, the pair returned back to the classroom again. 

Having executed the same action a number of times, Shen Dongqing hauled Guo Guo up with ease.

By this point, Guo Guo had been frightened to the extent where she had developed a psychological shadow, and she did not dare to cry even though she wanted to.

When Shen Dongqing saw her appearance, he resisted the pain and gave her an ice cream after a moment’s thought.

When all was said and done, a child was a child, and Guo Guo promptly forgot the terror of having an ice cream shoved into her mouth as she started to eat the ice cream happily. 

Shen Dongqing asked her: “Do you know Shun Shun?”

Guo Guo’s actions ceased. “Shun Shun? He’s very strange, he never plays with us.”

The other little children concurred.

“Yeah, he’s always alone.” 

“Mother Dean said that his body isn’t well.”

“Since he doesn’t play with us, we ignore him too.”

Guo Guo bit into her ice cream. “But all of us think he’s very pitiful.”

After listening to all their answers, Zhou Wenyan asked: “Which class does Shun Shun belong to?” 

Guo Guo: “Don’t know.”

The other children shook their heads as well.

There were still no clues to be found, and they still did not know who Shun Shun was exactly.

Zhou Wenyan had a thought: “I think Shun Shun might be the Dean’s child.” 

Shen Dongqing: “Hm? How did you reach that thought?”

Zhou Wenyan replied: “We discovered the music box inside the Dean’s office, the child was also there, plus…” He paused for a brief moment, “All of the students know of Shun Shun, but they said that his body wasn’t well and he never plays with them. Therefore, it’s highly plausible that he has an unusual illness that most people wouldn’t have, and it probably affects his ability to attend school.

“However, his mother is the Dean of Haiduo Kindergarten, so she could definitely manipulate something to let him stay in the kindergarten, which is why the attendance books don’t have his name.

Shen Dongqing applauded him for his deduction. 

After he was done clapping, he asked: “What kind of illness did he have?”

Zhou Wenyan: “The kind of illness isn’t important. What’s more important is that there’s a high likelihood of the Dean taking some drastic measures because of Shun Shun.”

Shen Dongqing did a brief recollection. “But all the children here look quite normal, and they haven’t done anything bad.”

Indifferently, Zhou Wenyan stated: “That’s just a stipulated setting in the game.” 

He had already seen stranger things. Presently, it was very difficult to find something that could stir him again.

Shen Dongqing rocked the swing he was sitting on a little. “How are we going to solve the question that the game asked then?”

Zhou Wenyan: “We haven’t received any useful clues yet.”

The clues that they had gained thus far were too scattered, it was impossible to connect them together as they were. 

As he was saying that, the bell for the next class rang. A bunch of children rushed out, holding onto various toys in their hands, and they started playing their games in pairs or trios.

Fang Qi also sauntered over and saw the two Big Bosses sitting there like they had nothing to do. Curiously, he asked them: “Have you cleaned up the second floor?”

Shen Dongqing was completely out of the situation: “Second floor? What second floor?”

Fang Qi had a moment of silence. “… The bloodstains on the second floor.” 

Did they forget the fact that they were cleaners?

Shen Dongqing finally remembered it. “Ah, we’re cleaners.”

Despite uttering those words, Shen Dongqing did not have any intention to move, and he looked at Fang Qi instead.

Fang Qi came to an understanding. “I’ll go, I’ll go.” 

He had no choice, who told him to be the little brother?

After Fang Qi submitted to his fate and went to clean up the second floor, two children ran over. They stared at the two swings with undeniable covetous eyes, but they did not dare to vocalise their request. Instead, they merely chose to stand there and watch.

Shen Dongqing thought of something and beckoned them forward with the curl of his finger. “Come here.”

The two children exchanged glances, but they could not withstand the temptation of the swings in the end. Hence, they walked over. 

Shen Dongqing: “We can let you play, but you need to hand over protection fees.”

The two children: ?

Shen Dongqing was not conscious of how he was bullying the children in the least. “Play a game with us.”

Although the children were scared, they really wanted to play on the swings. They exchanged another look, all hesitating and indecisive. 

Shen Dongqing was akin to a bandit as he patted the swing: “If you don’t speak, you can give up on playing the swings.”

In response, the two children ran over to find their companions in a patter of footsteps. It was unknown what they were mumbling about, but their chosen representative walked over at the end of their discussion.

Moreover, it was Guo Guo, who they were familiar with. In a small and cautious voice, she said: “We’re only playing once.”

Shen Dongqing revealed a kind smile: “Once is fine.” 

They were still going to get rolled over either way.

Honestly speaking, bullying small children did not feel very nice.