Chapter 30.2

An hour pa.s.sed. After eating their breakfast, the four of them – namely Second Martial Brother, Doctor Yu, Yang Ye and Gu Liang – walked halfway down the mountain which was where Xiaoyao Sect’s entrance was situated and waited for the other five players to arrive.

The entrance was still shrouded by the thick fog; If they were to step into the fog rashly, they would be swirled up by the fierce winds before they were thrown to the ground, thus resulting in their deaths.

Hence, the four people maintained their distance from the entrance and only observed from afar.

After a short while, five pitch-black sedans emerged from the thick fog.

The five sedans first entered the area of Xiaoyao Sect before they was lowered down.

Soon after, five people stepped out from the interiors of their transport.

With their heads and faces covered in dust and shabby state of dress, it was apparent that they had escaped from a fire with their lives.

One of the men wiped his face, revealing his original facial features which had been covered by the soot. Unexpectedly, he was quite handsome and bright.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and possessed a stocky body. However, due to his comparative thinness and the fact that he was very tall, he did not seem to be excessively robust. In fact, his figure conformed well with a model’s stature.

His temperament leaned towards a scholarly, refined and gentle taste, and with the amiability his scholarliness brought out, he looked like a doctor or university professor.

That person’s gaze appeared a little dim, which gave the impression of dejectedness, as if he had just experienced something that was exceedingly horrible.

Frustrations visible, he followed the four remaining players – all of whom were heaving out deep sighs – in trudging forward and they truly resembled walking corpses.

But when he saw a certain person, some light immediately flitted into his eyes.

In the next moment, he bounded towards that person.

When he stopped in front of the person, he could no longer restrain his joy. Emotionally stimulated, he directly grabbed hold of his wrists. “Gu Liang?! It’s actually you?! I actually managed to meet you here!”

Gu Liang glanced at the newcomer, undisguised shock spread across this face before gladness, a seldom seen emotion, joined the mix.

But very quickly, his expression became a little heavy again. “Xun Feng? You… How did you manage to wind up here too?”

At the side, Yang Ye absorbed the scene into his retinas. He stood there quietly, which made for one of the rare occasions where he did not speak.

The s.p.a.ce between his brows wrinkled slightly. It was only when Gu Liang subconsciously pulled his wrists away from the grips of that person by the name of Xun Feng, that he relaxed them again.

Meanwhile, Doctor Yu sidled up to Yang Ye and observed the situation for a second. What her brain proceeded to supplement next was unfathomable. “Your love rival?”

Yang Ye: “……”

* * *

Everyone ate hot pot together in the afternoon.

Since there was a sudden addition of players, they needed to put two tables together in order to accommodate everyone.

The hotpot they were using was an antique copper stove hotpot and there were no extremely spicy condiments. While they opted for the Old Beijing way to scald their thin pieces of meat, the ingredients they used for their soup base was completely different since it was composed of chicken meat and bones.

Originally, the seating at the two tables were arranged naturally in accordance with the two script groups they came from.

However, because Xun Feng wanted to go over the old days with Gu Liang, he pulled Gu Liang over to his table.

Thus, Yang Ye, Second Martial Brother and Doctor Yu shared one table.

Whereas Gu Liang, Xun Feng and the other four players from the other scenario sat together.

However, Gu Liang’s mind was not on the food at all. Instead, he seized the rare opportunity to ask Xun Feng a few questions. “When did you arrive here?”

“A month ago, give or take a few. This is the third script I’ve played.” Xun Feng said.

“And how did the fire on your end occur?” asked Gu Liang.

“I caught a whiff of alcohol, they should have borrowed the flammability of alcohol to commit arson. Having said that, because everyone is afraid that they have to repeat the script with the same batch of people once the scenario site is repaired, no one dares to admit that they are the murderer, and no one is willing to talk about the events that led up to the fire.”

“That’s understandable. But were you in a six-person scenario as well? Since the deceased didn’t appear, it indicates that he’s already dead. How would you repeat it then? Would they have to reappoint the deceased?”

“I don’t know about that. In short… with all the present uncertainties, the murderer wouldn’t dare to admit to anything.”

Similarly, seated at his side of the conjoined tables, Yang Ye was not in the mood to eat.

He was constantly staring at Gu Liang’s person.

It was rare for him to display severity on his visage, but as he watched Xun Feng whisper into Gu Liang’s ear, his complexion darkened further.

— Isn’t it squeezy for six people to share one table? Since it’s already that cramp, why are you plastering yourself close to his ear to talk? Are you trying to take advantage of him?

When Xun Feng finally sat himself properly and kept an appropriate distance from Gu Liang, who could have expected that he would clip up a slice of chicken that had just been scalded and place it into Gu Liang’s small sauce dish. “This chicken is very tender and smooth, it tastes good. You should eat more.”

Yang Ye narrowed his eyes in a shrewd manner instantaneously.

— I was the one who cut up the chicken slice by slice, and the sauce was also made by me. Aren’t you going a little too far when you’re presenting the Buddha with borrowed flowers?

Doctor Yu glanced at Yang Ye and laughed secretly. Towards Gu Liang, she said: “Beauty Yi, we put too much meat in the soup here, why don’t you come to our side to eat instead? We sliced the meat thinly; if it ends up being overdone, it’ll be wasted.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll come over.” Gu Liang took his own small sauce dish and walked over.

It happened that the seat beside Yang Ye was empty so he sat beside Yang Ye.

Clipping up the meat, Gu Liang lowered his head to eat the food. While it was done at a leisurely pace, he carried through with his motions smoothly.

Yang Ye seized the chance to give Doctor Yu a thumbs-up.

Doctor Yu mouthed to him silently. “You owe me a favour!”

On the other side, Second Martial Brother witnessed the entire interaction but he did not understand what was going on.

He used his elbow to nudge Doctor Yu, “What do you mean?”

Doctor Yu merely rolled her eyes. “The pedantic, fearing what patient, it’s fine even if you don’t understand it.”

Second Martial Brother: ???

— Why am I being ostracised?

— Whatever, ever since the beginning of the game, he had never gotten along with Doctor Yu.

* * *

Once they were done with lunch, everyone started to discuss how they were going to distribute the rooms.

Since Doctor Yu was the only lady, she naturally had her own room.

As for the other men, one of the next-door players stayed with Second Martial Brother, another player stayed with Xun Feng in the Yafang Ju, and the remaining two took the Managerial Room. Since that place of residence was initially made for subordinates, it had a lot of bunk beds.

In the afternoon, Doctor Yu and Second Martial Brother helped the five new players tidy up their respective rooms so they could have a good rest.

Meanwhile, Gu Liang and Yang Ye stayed behind to wash the dishes and clean up the loose ends.

By the time their clean up concluded, much of the food was already digested. Hence, Yang Ye was planning to jog around the lake.

Gu Liang followed him to the lake, but he headed straight for the small path beside the fake mountain immediately after.

The road he was taking led towards Master Hui’s guest room. Yang Ye knew he wanted to go back and sleep at a glance.

“Sleeping again?” Yang Ye called him to a stop, “Run together with me. It isn’t often that we get an open s.p.a.ce like this. Who knows what kind of h.e.l.lish place it’ll be for the next scenario.”

“Precisely. Which is why I have to conserve strength and store up my energy. I want to sleep.” Gu Liang spoke with conviction in his words.

Yang Ye: “……”

“Huh, is that person… Doctor Yu?” Gu Liang abruptly said.

Yang Ye looked in the direction of the fake mountain, and sure enough, he saw Doctor Yu.

She was sitting in a wayside pavilion on the fake mountain and she seemed to be flipping something.

Upon hearing their voices, Doctor Yu raised her eyes to peer at them. Her face reddened. Swiftly, she placed the thing she was looking at behind her back and flipped open the book in front of her and pretended to study it.

At this moment, Yang Ye and Gu Liang happened to stroll up to her. “What are you doing? Why the need for secrecy?”

Doctor Yu blushed. “Nothing really.”

Her appearance alone heightened the suspicions within Yang Ye.

But before he could say anything, the book behind Doctor Yu fell to the ground, thus sprawling opening with an audible thump.

Due to the abruptness of the situation just now, Doctor Yu had forgotten the fact she was seated on a stone stool in a wayside pavilion, which by the by, had no backrest.

Upon noticing that the book was already open in hindsight, she tried to pick up the book and shut it as fast as she could.

Alas, she could stop Gu Liang and Yang Ye’s approach to the wayside pavilion, and it was highly probable that they already saw everything.

As she had expected, they did see it— and to their surprise, it was the male and male little painting alb.u.m they found in Perennial w.a.n.g’s library pavilion.

Gu Liang: “?”

Yang Ye laughed out loud.

Doctor Yu s.n.a.t.c.hed the book out of Yang Ye’s hand, blus.h.i.+ng harder. “I… I was enjoying some rot, am I not allowed to do that?”

“You can. Of course you can. I apologise.” Yang Ye feigned an apologetic look.

Doctor Yu rolled her eyes. “You pair of husbands seem to be in a leisurely and carefree mood. You even came here to stroll after a meal?”

Gu Liang: “??”

Yang Ye admonished her immediately, “Don’t randomly YY. We’re not in that sort of relations.h.i.+p. It’s not.”

“Why isn’t it?” Doctor Yu asked curiously.

Yang Ye shot Gu Liang a look and realised that his gaze was attracted to the other book on the stone table. Thus, he mouthed his words to Doctor Yu: “The revolution has yet to succeed.”

Doctor Yu understood instantaneously and replied: “Then you have to work hard!”

Gu Liang ignored the two jocular people and picked up the book that was full of English words and numbers. “This is the teaching material for ACCA? You’re studying accounting? How did you manage to bring it in here?”

Doctor Yu said: “When I arrived at this bizarre game, I brought my school bag along. Later, I filed an application for it to the men in black. They said, it’s not that I can’t bring the books along, it’s just that I can only read it after the deductive reasoning of each script ends. During the script enactment and investigation, the book will be confiscated so it will not distract anyone from the case solving. When the case investigation ends, they can return the book to me temporarily.”

Yang Ye and Gu Liang did not speak as Doctor Yu hugged her own sacred books and said: “My real name is Li Xiao Yu. No matter what is going on with this game… I still want to go back. When I filed an application for these books to the men in black, I justified myself with a detailed reason and they actually agreed, which means… I can still return back to reality.”

Gu Liang asked him: “What specific reason did you give?”

“I have to take my examinations. My family isn’t poor but we’re not that well-off, and they spent a considerable amount to let me study for the ACCA. The examination fees weren’t cheap either. If I don’t pa.s.s the examinations, how can I face my parents and myself?”

Li Xiao Yu sighed and glanced at the small painting alb.u.m in Yang Ye’s hands. “Right, I shouldn’t be looking at those nonsensical books. I’ll be in my fourth year next year, if I manage to pa.s.s my courses smoothly, it’ll be a lot easier to find a job.”

Yang Ye exchanged glances with Gu Liang before he tried to probe her with a question: “Why do you think you entered this game then? Everyone here… seems to have committed a crime.”

“I didn’t commit a crime. At least I don’t think I did.” Li Xiao Yu said, “In my last and final week of my school semester, our school’s library, self-study rooms and even the coffee shop by our school entrance was packed to brim since everyone was doing their last-minute revisions for the end of the term examinations. Therefore, I went to a slightly remote 24-hour water bar to revise through the night. When I was returning back to school, it was roughly 3 in the morning and there was a female student in front of me who was also from the same school. She was walking along the same road as me, probably because she was also revising till late night.

“And then an evildoer came over, wanting to rape her. I rushed up to help her. That evildoer had a knife on him and he wanted to kill us so our bodies were wounded by his stabs. However, we managed to counter kill him in the end.”

Li Xiao Yu pulled up her robe sleeve. Sure enough, there was a large knife scar on her arm. “There’s some on my chest too, but I’m not going to let you see it, not even if you’re gay.”

Yang Ye: “……”

Gu Liang: “That…”

I think you’re mistaken…

Forget it…

Li Xiao Yu pulled her sleeve down and stated, “In any case. I killed someone but I didn’t commit a crime. That was legitimate self-defence. I should be given an award for acting heroically for a just cause.”

* * *

After a while, Li Xiao Yu started revising for her examinations again in the wayside pavilion.

And under Yang Ye’s persuasions, Gu Liang accompanied him to run for a few rounds before they slowed down and strolled along the lake.

“In actuality, not every person in this game has committed a crime.” That was what Yang Ye mused after they had covered a certain distance.

When Yang Ye did not hear Gu Liang respond after he posed that question, he turned his head sideways to look at him.

The wind happened to blow past which lifted his scattered fringe and revealed his white and tender forehead.

Owing to the fact that they were more familiar with each other, Gu Liang no longer had metaphorical tree splinters all over his person, and his gaze was not as guarded as before.

Presently, he looked extremely temperate; with the gentle breeze ruffling him up, he appeared unusually kind, honest and lonely, which kindled the need to get close to him.

Yang Ye became a little entranced at once.

Similarly, Gu Liang was also caught up in his own thoughts and he did not notice the situation in front of him.

When he finally snapped back to his senses and stretched his hands out to reach, it was already too late.

“Yang Ye, be careful!”

Unable to react in time, Yang Ye fell headfirst into the water.

— Good going. You actually fell into a trance because you thought he looked attractive, and it was to the extent where you tumbled into the lake.

In his mind, Yang Ye thought he ought to be thankful that this was some game world; if this incident got out to his group of friends in reality, his old face would have been thrown.

Yang Ye’s swimming ability was very good.

When he was serving in the military, he had consistently obtained excellent results in terms of simulations for underwater battles, and he was even chosen to partic.i.p.ate in flood disaster reliefs nearing the end. And because he had saved a lot of people, he was awarded with a fair bit of merit.

Although the lake water was ice-cold, his body had been warmed up by the jog. He propelled himself upwards like a carp and the upper half of his body was already above the water surface when he caught a glimpse of Gu Liang’s slightly panicked expression.

All of a sudden, Yang Ye wanted to make fun of Gu Liang.

His body jerked a few times as he feigned a cramp. And as if he was being dragged down by some creature, his body sank until he reached the bottom of the lake, head disappearing under the water.

Back in his military days, Yang Ye and his comrade-in-arms would frequently crack jokes between themselves whenever they had underwater combat drills. If there was a teammate who was unprepared, the others would pull him down the water together and press his head down to force him to practice holding his breath underwater. And if they pleaded for mercy because they could not take it, they would be on the receiving end of their teammates’ laughter.

After falling into the water, it suddenly made Yang Ye recall those old days. Hence, the urge to tease Gu Liang with such a method instantaneously rose.

But in the moment, he forgot that it was not appropriate to crack such jokes with ordinary people.

The regret he felt only intensified ten thousand times when Yang Ye came to a belated realisation that Gu Liang’s reaction was out of the norm.

When Li Xiao Yu witnessed the scene from her distant location at the wayside pavilion, she immediately put down the book she was reading and sprinted over. However, because she did not know how to swim, she was anxious and helpless. She was on the verge of asking him what they were supposed to do when she reached Gu Liang’s side, but Gu Liang had already taken off his shoes and jumped into the water.

As Gu Liang swam towards the position where Yang Ye sank down, he kept shouting out his name.

Upon reaching the location, Gu Liang took a deep breath before he dived underwater, attempting to look for some trace of Yang Ye.

But there was not a shadow of Yang Ye underwater.

Gu Liang’s eyebrows knitted together as he broke to the surface of the lake. He shouted: “Yang Ye! Yang Ye! Do you hear me! If you can’t say anything, just thrash, I can listen to the sound and find you!”

Gu Liang heard nothing so he could only change the direction. Taking a deep breath, he dived underwater again.

No longer wanting to make it difficult for him, Yang Ye raised a hand above water and flailed a little to make it easier for Gu Liang to find him.

When Gu Liang swam to him, he grabbed hold of his lapels and pulled him up into the lake surface.

Once his head emerged above the water surface, Yang Ye opened his eyes, planning to shoot a smile at Gu Liang.

However, he immediately noticed that something was wrong with Gu Liang, something was terribly wrong.

Gu Liang’s complexion was incomparably pale, and while his eyes were fixated on Yang Ye, they seemed to look through Yang Ye to stare at some other person.

In that very moment, all that was written in his tea-coloured eyes was deeply seated fear.

Like black clouds surging forward in waves from all directions; colliding together tempestuously, blocking out all the light.

The icy chill of the lake water set in, starting from the soles of his feet, and it froze his entire body.

Gu Liang felt like he could not move at all, whereas the lady in front of him shook off his hands as her body sunk to the bottom bit by bit.

He opened his mouth but he could not make a sound. He tried to stretch out his hands but his limbs did not possess the slightest strength.

He could only watch her, eyes wide open, as she was devoured by the pitch-black lake bottom.

Her life slowly slipped out of her, and she seemed to drain his energy dry at the same time.

“Gu Liang? Gu Liang? Are you alright? What’s wrong?”

Yang Ye shook Gu Liang’s body slightly, trying to see if it could sober him.

Gu Liang held onto Yang Ye’s robe lapels tightly. Due to the immense strength he was using, green veins protruded out, and the fierce tremble of his arms spread to the rest of his body.

“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I’ll bring you to sh.o.r.e now.”

Perceiving that Gu Liang’s strength was about to dissipate, Yang Ye swiftly raised an arm to wrap around his waist while he used his other hand to strike the water and swim to sh.o.r.e at a high speed.

Utterly powerless, Gu Liang made a feeble and futile attempt to hook onto Yang Ye’s neck. In an instant, he was only exhaling without inhaling.

— He, he was hyperventilating!

Under great alarm, Yang Ye increased his speed to bring Gu Liang to sh.o.r.e as quickly as possible.

In the midst of it all, he heard Li Xiao Yu yell out: “I’ll go and find someone for help!”

Upon reaching sh.o.r.e, Yang Ye pulled Gu Liang into his embrace and used his own body temperature to maintain his as he stroked his back nonstop.

Honestly speaking, Yang Ye did not know what had happened to him.

When Gu Liang had jumped into the water just now, Yang Ye had seen his swimming form clearly; he could see that Gu Liang was very skilled at swimming, which was why he dared to tease him like that.

Yang Ye was certain that he did not drink a single mouthful of water.

— Why did he become like this then?

After getting back on sh.o.r.e, Gu Liang eventually recollected some pieces of himself under the constant warmth that Yang Ye’s palm emitted at his back.

Yang Ye looked at Gu Liang and realised that he was slowly opening his glacial eyes, which were giving him a freezing glare.

“A pretence?” Gu Liang’s voice was exceedingly low.

“I’m sorry, I—”

Gu Liang raised his right hand, clenched into a fist, and punched it in the direction of Yang Ye’s left cheek.