Chapter 74.2
Besides those two people, Gu Liang did not encounter anyone else as he was returning back to his room with the roses.
After returning to his room, there were numerous doubts and conjectures in his heart and Gu Liang honestly wanted to look for Yang Ye to have a chat. But every time he touched the door handle, the card would sound with a rule violation warning notification.
Hence, Gu Liang could only give up.
Gu Liang knew that if the system was controlling the player’s movements so strictly, it could only signify that— the real murderer was starting to make their move.
If he had stepped into the corridor just now, he might have seen the murderer moving outside.
The Actor Ming in the script did not witness a single thing, and as the player who was portraying Actor Ming, Gu Liang should not see anything either, or else he would become a “first-hand witness” outside of the script’s stipulations. It goes without saying that it would not be allowed.
Thus, Gu Liang was extremely worried for Yang Ye.
He was afraid that the bridegroom who would die this time around, would become Earl William.
It was only at 5 in the evening where there was finally a knock on his door.
“Gu Liang? It’s me.“
— It was Yang Ye’s voice.
Gu Liang released a long sigh of relief as he went up to open the door: “We’re allowed to move freely?”
Yang Ye nodded his head. “I just tried it and the card didn’t issue a warning when I opened the door. This might be an indication that… the script enactment has ended completely.”
Just as Yang Ye finished saying those words, the system’s public broadcast rang out like they had expected.
“On 11 November, 5 o’ clock in the evening, Mother Ai discovered two corpses among the sunflowers in the back garden. The corpses were wearing black, formal evening suits.
“Ding dong. The script enactment for《 Folding Ancient Castle 》 has come to an end. Following, the case investigation segment will commence.
“After the sun rises again, the evil energy will disappear completely. Hence, may all the players seize every second to solve the case.
“The time for free exploration is 3 hours.
“The time for centralised discussion is 5 hours.
“Hope everyone will enjoy the game!
“Finally, there are three attached reminders for this game.
“Firstly, one of the deceased is Magnate Rong, his actor Player Meng Qian Cheng has used a [Reincarnation Card] prior to his death, and the ‘so-called reincarnation, is just starting all over again’. Half an hour later, Meng Qian Cheng will be resurrected from the dead while losing all his memories, and he will be breaking through the barriers from the introductory script again.
“In order to conserve the natural resources, the system will not be manufacturing a separate corpse. Hence, from this moment onwards, you will only have half an hour to investigate the corpse.
“Secondly, the newly opened exploration areas in this round are— the back garden, the western and the southern paths. For the specifics, the card map can be consulted.
“Thirdly, through the real-time monitoring of the players, it was discovered that two players have established a substantive romantic relations.h.i.+p.”
What do you mean by substantive romantic relations.h.i.+p? I haven’t given a reply.
Gu Liang: “……”
The system continued: “The two players are the actors of the Unknown Figure and Actor Ming respectively. In view of this substantive romantic relations.h.i.+p, the two players might lie or cover for the other party outside of the script provisions. The remaining players are requested to take note of this when re-examining the case, and ensure that they are not misled.
“Additionally, the game does not explicitly forbid players from being in relations.h.i.+ps, but the game has dangers, and caution is needed in love. ‘The married couple were originally birds from the same forest, but in the imminence of a great catastrophe they take their respective flights’, these words are incredibly well-spoken. In its many years, the system has witnessed innumerable lovers turning into enemies in the game. Hence, the system is reminding everyone to remain rational during the game, lest they harm others and themselves.
“Okay, please work hard and solve the case everyone!
“Hope everyone will enjoy the game!”
* * *
Once Gu Liang slanted his head after hearing the broadcast, he immediately saw Yang Ye staring at him with a grin.
“Move it, there’s a case to investigate.” After saying that line, Gu Liang took the initiative to walk outwards first.
“Okay, wik2014;”
Before Yang Ye managed to call him “wife”, Gu Liang had already stopped, turned around, and used his hand to cover his mouth as his eyes darkened in warning.
A moment later, Gu Liang put down his hand.
Yang Ye held his hand automatically and boasted shamelessly: “The system has already spoken, there’s a ‘substantive romantic relations.h.i.+p’ between us!”
“……”
Gu Liang shot him a sidelong glance, “That doesn’t mean you randomly attach names. At most, it’s only boyfriend.”
Having said that, Gu Liang opened the door and left.
How could Gu Liang possibly know that Yang Ye continued to stand there, rooted to the ground behind him, and utterly frozen?
The casual sentence that Gu Liang tossed out, flowed in Yang Ye’s heart cavity like a warm current and it circulated through his four limbs and all his bones, the sensation so intense it felt like his soul was trembling.
No way?
What did Gu Liang just say?
Gu Liang, was he, was he admitting to it???
He accepted me???
I’m his boyfriend from now on??
Which means he’s my boyfriend too!!!
Yang Ye currently felt that he had been smashed with a huge meat pie as he was walking on the road.
It was even to the extent where he felt a little faint after being smashed.
It was a sort of unreal and vague feeling that people would experience because their happiness came too suddenly.
The sound of footsteps faded only to approach again, before it was followed by Gu Liang’s inquiry that was tinged with bafflement. “Why haven’t you moved yet? We only have half an hour to check the corpses.”
Yang Ye followed him. “Okay, let’s go, boyfriend.”
Gu Liang: “Can’t you just call me by my name normally?”
Yang Ye asked: “Wife, babe, darling, sweetheart, sweetie, you won’t let me call you any of that?”
Gu Liang: “If you have to call my name abnormally…… you might as well go with Liang Liang.”
By the end of his sentence, Gu Liang sounded like he had been gritting his teeth as he was trying to persuade himself, and only afterwards that he was capable of saying the two words “Liang Liang” with an emotionless expression.
Yang Ye: “Okay, Liang Liang!”
As they were waiting for the lift, Gu Liang tilted his head to gaze at Yang Ye. Then, he raised his hand since he could not restrain the urge to touch Yang Ye’s forehead with the back of hand. “Are you okay?”
Yang Ye took the chance to hold his hand again, his gaze teeming with tender feelings. In a warm and deeply emotional voice, he uttered: “Boyfriend Liang Liang, I’m fine. With how much concern you’re showing to your boyfriend, I feel very gratified as your boyfriend!”
Gu Liang: “………………”
— Do you have to constantly emphasise on the word “boyfriend”?
After a long moment.
Hearing the sound of footsteps travelling over from behind them, Gu Liang patted on Yang Ye’s shoulders. “Yang Ye, someone is coming. Be more normal.”
* * *
In the end, Gu Liang, Yang Ye, Su Lan, Sister Mei, and Chief Mei took the same elevator downstairs.
Which also meant that, apart from Mother Ai who discovered the corpses, the rest of the suspects were all on the sixth floor at this time.
Once the elevator reached the first floor, the five players stepped off the elevator, cut across the lobby and entered the main hall.
Mother Ai happened to be in the main hall too.
Compared to the past, the main hall was quite different to a certain extent, mainly because there were a lot of fresh flowers acting as decorations.
The T-shaped stage used for the wedding ceremony was still present.
It had been constructed during Lady Rong’s wedding, and the two sides were also decorated with fresh flowers then.
After being placed there for a few days, all of the past flowers had already withered.
Hence, new flowers decorated both sides of the T-shaped stage.
However, it could not compare to the hundred flowers that were competing for splendour back then, since there were only roses this time around.
Upon seeing them walk in, Li Xiao Yu, the actor of Mother Ai, stood up and addressed them: “The sun is about to set soon. I didn’t dare to stay there alone so I came here to wait for you.”
Gu Liang and Yang Ye took the lead in heading out of the west side door. “Let’s go and check the corpse.”
Li Xiao Yu followed in their footsteps immediately, and they headed towards where the sunflowers were planted.
Su Lan, Sister Mei, and Chief Mei trailed behind them.
On the way there, Li Xiao Yu was wiping away her tears and sniffling a little. She said: “When I saw Old Man Meng’s corpse, I was quite sad and I thought he really died. Thankfully, from what we heard in the broadcast, he merely went back to the start to play the game.”
When Gu Liang listened to that point, he could not shake off the strange feeling he had, and he asked Yang Ye: “What did he say to you previously? I’m referring to the instance where he said that he used the [I Will Not Rest Card].”
Yang Ye could not help but become extremely serious. “Back then, he was insinuating that he had used that a long time ago.”
“That makes it strange. Is it possible that he frequently casts the wrong vote which then results in poor performance evaluations, and because he’s always been muddling around in the lower rank scripts, he’s been playing the game for a very long time and he eventually met us?”
Gu Liang could not resist commenting, “This game is too strange.”
Despite that, Gu Lang did not have the time to contemplate the game’s rules and regulations deeply now, and the reality was that he had no way of contemplating it deeply either. Hence, he could only choose to focus on the case before him first.
Very quickly, the group of players reached the two corpses.
Presently, the sun had not sunk below the mountain completely.
Without needing torch lights, they could still see the two corpses.
One of the corpses belong to the Magnate Rong played by Meng Qian Cheng, the other corpse was the mysterious man in an evening formal suit that Gu Liang met in the afternoon, who was also the NPC played by Ming Yue.
The cause of death for the two corpses was the same— their chests were pierced with a silver cross.
Under their mutual cooperation, the players did a thorough investigation of the two corpses.
Apart from the wounds on their chest, there were no other external injuries on their bodies.
After checking the corpses, they decided to look around the newly opened areas on the map first, so they walked towards the path that was fringing the flower garden.
By then, the sun had completely vanished.
Two men in black lifting a sedan appeared beside the sunflowers, and when they left again, they brought Meng Qian Cheng’s corpse with them.
* * *
Meng Qian Cheng ambled in the darkness.
The surrounding fog was huge, but the strange thing was that the wind was also very strong.
It seemed like this fog was too thick and even the winds had no way of scattering it away.
Faintly, sobs could be heard in the wind; it was unknown if it was purely the sound of the wind or that someone was actually crying.
Very quickly, Meng Qian Cheng found a man clad in white robes, and he looked exceptionally handsome.
When Meng Qian Cheng saw him, he remained stock-still for a long moment before he tapped on his head. “I’ve seen you before!
“I’m not referring to the time I saw you in the scenario. I’ve met you prior to that!
“It seems like it was a long, long time ago. But I don’t remember anymore. I must have played a game with you! Why are you a NPC now?
“I remember it now! You were particularly strong! I wanted to follow you into a scenario so I specifically used the [I Will Not Rest Card]!
“That being said, if I drew the Detective and you drew the murderer, then I’m bound to die, but the chance of that is quite small, no?
“Moreover, I’m not afraid of drawing the detective card, nor am I afraid of drawing the deceased card, I have a lot of [Reincarnation Cards].
“Huh, why do I have so many of that particular card…”
Ming Yue smiled indifferently, “It seems like you and I are the same, where we will die time and time again.”
Meng Qian Cheng scratched his head, like he could not understand what he was saying.
Subsequently, he saw the person in front of him raise a cup of water before he offered it to him.
“How did you know I was thirsty?”
Meng Qian Cheng accepted the water and drank it in a series of audible gulps. “Thanks for that. What kind of water is this?
“That’s not right… Who are you… I… Where is this place?”
“It’s called River of Lethe. Have you forgotten? It’s not your first time drinking it.”
Ming Yue watched as Meng Qian Cheng sat on the sedan again so he could be brought away by the men in black. The corners of his mouth pulled as he murmured, “Apologies. I was being silly. After drinking that water, you really did forget everything.”