CH 29

Under the twilight sky, QiLeren made his way through the many roads and alleyways of Nightfall Island. Apparently all the residents here were players apart from a small handful of NPCs, unlike the player-to-NPC ratio of the rest of Eventide.

QiLeren felt his mouth water at the smell of food wafting along the trunk road, and – was that braised meat he smelt?

No, he had to save money. With great pain he brought himself to a food cart and purchased a large bowl of fried rice instead, which he ate with a bowl of soup. Reenergised, he signed the bill –

[20 minute(s) have been deducted from your account. Remaining balance: 9d4h7m. All complaints and objections are to be submitted to the Trading Centre.]

QiLeren’s eyebrow twitched. The imminent problem of survival was a constant thorn in his side.

He should ask Dr Lu for his plans, QiLeren thought as he left the trunk road and approached his friend’s new house. Maybe hanging around this lucky guy who mained support would give him an extra life of sorts.

Rather than chance his (unimpressive) luck in the winding alleyways of Nightfall Island, QiLeren opted to retrace the steps of last night when he walked with SuHe. At least he wasn’t too terrible with directions – actually, his memory was pretty good with things like this. Once was generally enough to commit the way to memory.

As QiLeren walked, the ringing of the clock tower at the heart of the island once again reverberated through the apricot sky, adding a tinge of melancholy to the unending sunset of Eventide; a reminder that every minute, every second brought them one step closer to death.

QiLeren sighed. There must’ve been many, many people just like him, with the same worries and woes. In this world that toyed with the lives of its people with a childlike cruelty, they too must have been left with no option but to struggle on, lacking the courage to chance escape through death.

In the hazy dusk, a large black bird approached from afar and landed itself on a fence by QiLeren’s side. The lighting was somewhat dim but it was enough for QiLeren to realise that the bird was perhaps not a seagull. It looked more like an eagle.

QiLeren frowned suspiciously. Did this place have eagles?

The bird raised its head in a sudden motion. “Human,” it said, voice profound, “make a contract with me and become the chosen hero of legend!”

!?!?!?

QiLeren couldn’t have masked his shock if he tried. This bird could speak? Was it even a bird? Or did he stumble upon some hidden sidequest?

He schooled his expression into something more composed before carefully asking, “What contract?” At the very least, he couldn’t let himself seem like some gullible idiot who fell for scams so easily.

A pair of beady black eyes stared into his soul for what seemed to be hours. Just as he thought the bird was going to hold this staring contest with him until the world goes to ruin, it let out an odd sound of laughter.

“Haha,” it chirped, “I was lying.”

Murder sounded good, QiLeren decided. Perhaps roast bird was on the menu tonight.

Dark thoughts aside, he fished out the [Rations of Shallow Affection] and threw a handful onto the ground. The rations gave off a scent so alluring that even QiLeren, who was far from hungry, felt the instinctual urge to lick some off the ground.

Unlike QiLeren, the bird had no such qualms and immediately dropped into a nosedive and squawked at QiLeren for more.

What was the deal with this bird? Was it a quest NPC or not? He supposed he could give it another handful, but there were only thirty in total and now that he used one…

Before he could reach a conclusion, the a shrill whistle tore through the air and froze the bird in its tantrum. It flapped its wings, pausing to cast QiLeren one last look before taking off towards the sound. Maybe its owner was the NPC he heeded to find. QiLeren quickly put away the rations and ran to catch up.

The intricate alleyways soon proved to be too much, leaving QiLeren to run around blindly, having lost sight of the bird long ago. A little bit miffed, he rounded a corner and-

-skidded to a complete stop. The intense metallic smell of blood greeted him, forcing him to stumble back as he took in the familiar sight of corpses on crimson; there were at least seven or eight bodies strewn across the floor, but not a single one exhibited any sign of life. This was very clearly a murder scene.

QiLeren hesitated. The culprit may very well be doubling back at this very moment, so the best thing to do would be to turn around and leave like nothing had happened.

But would fleeing do anything? whispered a nagging voice in the back of his mind. This isn’t your world of peace and sunshine. If fleeing truly granted people the chance to survive, then why would anyone take the risk of hijacking an airship?

Oh, to the hell with it. No risk, no reward, and QiLeren had ample experience with the former. He lingered at the alley until it was clear that nobody was coming back before cutting off a sleeve to cover his face and approaching the scene in careful steps.

The seven bodies, QiLeren noticed, were clearly divided into two groups. One group was of five men clad in indistinct uniforms, all armed with weapons. Their fatal wounds were clean and concise, clearly dealt by a skilled hand. The other group were two young women no more than seventeen who looked similar enough to be sisters. Neither were armed, their bodies littered with wounds that seemed to have been inflicted during bouts of struggling.

If QiLeren were to guess, the sisters were likely killed by the five men, who in turn were killed by an unknown killer – whose bloody footprints trailed into the alleyway before gradually fading into nothing.

The men had nothing on them except some food and weapons. Judging from their distinctly western features, they were most likely NPCs. Massaging the pins and needles out of his legs, QiLeren pushed himself from his crouch and made his way over to the unfortunate sisters.

Something caught QiLeren’s eye; one of the girls sported what looked to be a painted emblem on the back of her hand. Leaning in for a better look, his hand unintentionally brushed against the design.

Almost immediately, a flourish of colour bloomed on the back of his hand like a flower in spring.

[Special quest: Witchcraft Sacrifice. Remaining time until quest commencement: 7 day(s). Lifespan countdowns will be frozen upon arrival until quest completion. Please ensure your arrival at Makah Village prior to quest commencement as late arrivals will be regarded as quest failure and induce a penalty of -100 day(s).]

So there was a quest! QiLeren slapped his right hand over the emblem and frowned to himself. He didn’t have time to loiter around anymore. Where even was this Makah Village?

He searched the bodies of the sisters, this time with haste, only to uncover nothing at all relating to the quest.

What?! How was this even possible? Not only did they not carry any important items, they didn’t even have food or water, almost as if…

Someone else had searched their bodies already.

QiLeren’s expression darkened as he took in the other body, the one without an emblem on her hand. What if the killer had triggered the same sidequest? It’d make sense for them to take away everything on the bodies and any key items then, wouldn’t it?

The new revelation did absolutely nothing for QiLeren’s situation; arguably, it made it worse. This was definitely not a solo quest, but it probably wasn’t a party quest either judging by the lack of any mentions of such. He wouldn’t go so far as to rule out the presence of other players, though he doubted they’d be allies when the time came – perhaps a free-for-all?

QiLeren could feel the beginnings of a headache. Resigned, he pushed himself to his feet and left the way he came, making sure to scuff his footprints off the ground before doing so.

He should go find SuHe. At the very least, he’d know how to get to the quest location.

Not long after QiLeren’s departure, another player stumbled upon and reported the murder scene to the institution. If he had remained there, he might’ve recognised the squadron leader as Al, the young man he’d come across on the airship.

“All seven victims are NPCs, but the wounds differ between them,” an officer reported to Al. “The five male bodies suffer knife lacerations, dealt by a user of combat knives in the dual-wielding style judging from the angles. The wounds were cleanly targeted to fatal areas and likely caused instantaneous death. No potential murder weapons were found. The female bodies both suffer multiple lacerations, all of which were successfully matched to weapons found in the possession of the male bodies. Aside from the one who reported the crime, there is evidence of two people who have visited this crime scene. One left complete footprints and departed through the alleyway while the other destroyed them before departing in the opposite direction.”

Al’s paused before QiLeren’s footprints for a brief second before turning away. Any details that may have been present were severely smudged, leaving them with no way to determine the suspect’s height or posture.

“Are we to further the investigation?” asked the officer.

“Nah, the institution has better things to do than sort out pointless NPC business,” Al replied lazily, though this image was quickly broken by his next sentence. “We’ll just go ask the culprit.”

Another officer standing nearby did a double take. “You know who the culprit is?! The footprints still need to be matched and we haven’t even sent the bodies in for autopsies yet!”

Al gave a dry chuckle in response and pointed at a puddle of blood in the corner – or rather, the feathers stuck to it. “We’re looking for someone who keeps a pet bird, wields double knives and is skilled in combat,” he listed off in a sardonic voice. “You think you can find a second person on Nightfall Island who meets those points? Who else would it possibly be?”