Chapter 84: Werewolf Community 21

Chapter 84: Werewolf Community 21

Lin Ye was startled when Qin Fei covered his mouth, instantly tensing up.

"What's wrong?" He stiffened, his back straightening in alarm.

Did something go wrong?

Or was someone coming?

Earlier, when they were searching through the fridge, a plastic bag in the corner had fallen to the ground, and something had slipped out of its loosely tied opening.

Lin Ye hadn't noticed it, but as he stepped back, he accidentally trod on it.

It was soft and slightly elastic.

Looking down, he saw a mass of dark red flesh, long and coiled together, appearing slimy with visible blood vessels on its surface.

...It resembled a human intestine.

A muscle twitched at the corner of Lin Ye's eye, causing him to feel nauseous all of a sudden.

Qin Fei, however, remained unperturbed after a mere glance. With his elegant and well-defined fingers, he hooked the bag and nonchalantly tossed it back into the fridge.

"Nothing happened. Don't panic," Qin Fei turned Lin Ye's shoulder, guiding him out of the mutton noodle shop.

The reason Qin Fei abruptly stopped Lin Ye from speaking was that something had come to mind.

After the ghost-hunting mission began, both of them still stood in their original spots, with no changes in their surroundings.

The halfway washed dishes and overturned plates were piled exactly where they were left.

It was the same when they entered the mutton noodle shop.

The steaming soup noodles on the table seemed to indicate that, at the instant the mission started, all the customers had vanished simultaneously.

This made Qin Fei worry: Would they also exit the mission just like this, standing still in the same spot after completing it formally?

In the blink of an eye, Qin Fei had already pulled Lin Ye to their usual spot. Hiding behind the trash can across from the mutton noodle shop, their figures partially concealed by its shadow.

Qin Fei held up the cleaver he had just retrieved, declaring loudly, "We've found it. This knife is the murder weapon that killed the owner of the liver and intestines restaurant."

The moment his words faded, the air seemed to warp for an instant.

Lin Ye's vision blurred, and in the next second, numerous figures suddenly materialized on the deserted street.

There were both players and NPCs among them.

Inside the mutton noodle shop, the NPC who had suddenly reappeared at the table was oblivious to his disappearance. His wrist remained at the same angle as he held the soup spoon, slurping the broth into his mouth with an "slurp."

At the same time, the furious roar of the mutton noodle shop owner thundered through the door, reaching the two of them. "Who the hell went through my freezer?!!"

Muffled gasps and the sound of overturned tables and chairs echoed from inside the shop, followed by heavy footsteps charging toward the exit.

Qin Fei plunged the cleaver into the trash can and pulled Lin Ye along, bolting away without looking back.

...

"Huff! Huff!"

It wasn't until the two of them dashed out of the commercial street that Lin Ye heaved a sigh of relief.

Now he understood why Qin Fei had covered his mouth to prevent him from revealing the mission answer in the noodle shop's kitchen—it was all for this reason.

Lin Ye looked at Qin Fei with admiration and said, "Thank goodness you were careful!"

Otherwise, they would've been caught red-handed by the shop owner, and who knew what would have happened then.

The pair crouched in place for a while. Seeing that the owner of the mutton noodle shop hadn't chased after them, they returned to the fried tripe shop to look for Ghost Fire and San Tu.

Ghost Fire and San Tu were sulking outside the entrance to the fried tripe shop, doing nothing.

Upon seeing Qin Fei return, their eyes lit up instantly.

"Madam Boss kicked us out!" Ghost Fire was a little depressed as he pointed at the rolling shutter door behind him.

The fried tripe shop was already closed, with a notice of business transfer stuck on the door.

Lin Ye's eyes widened in surprise. "Why is it being transferred all of a sudden??"

This speed is simply too quick, we've only been away from the shop for less than half an hour.

Ghost Fire was clueless as well, "I don't know… I was going to ask you guys too."

Just now, the two of them were wiping tables in the shop when the proprietress suddenly kicked them out onto the street, one kick per person.

She then promptly sealed the door with a notice.

As she affixed it, she muttered, "How can the shop stay open without any cooks?"

Qin Fei: "…"

He truly felt apologetic for disrupting the proprietress's business, but if there was someone to blame, it should be the system for assigning such an unfortunate mission to players.

Aside from the liver stir-fry shop, Chenchen's Breakfast Stall and the Mutton Noodle Shop had also closed down.

Ghost Fire said, "The breakfast stall shut its doors this morning, right after we completed our mission."

The reason for the closure was unknown, but it was most likely due to a similar reason as the liver stir-fry shop.

The owner of the mutton noodle shop grumbled as he slammed the door shut, his expression portraying immense anger.

"I heard that he lost something," Ghost Fire touched the tip of his nose. "The mutton noodle shop owner even chased all his customers away and carried a huge bag, looking like he's about to travel far."

Lin Ye's eyebrows arched unevenly. "What's he up to?"

Qin Fei blinked. "I get it now."

Although the mutton noodle shop owner had been behind the ghost incidents at the breakfast stall and the fried liver store, he was just an ordinary person.

Losing the murder weapon must have left him in a panic. He was probably afraid the police would come after him, so he fled.

The live-stream viewers burst into laughter.

"Damn, those four players wrecked three shops in one morning."

"The commercial street seems a bit desolate now."

"There's a closed shop every few steps, giving off an aesthetic of an economic crisis."

Three closed shopfronts had turned into glaring red sights, standing by the roadside, truly an eyesore to the neighborhood.

The players stood on the sidewalk, with Qin Fei hiding behind a trash can to conceal himself.

Passing residents, walking nearby, caught sight of Lin Ye and his group, all wearing expressions that were hard to describe.

The locals whispered among themselves, "Are these tourists bringing bad luck? How come three shops have closed down just one day after they arrived?"

Players: "......."

Though uncertain, why did they suddenly feel a pressing need to speed up their mission progress?

They had a hunch that in another two days, the residents of this community would chase anyone in travel agency uniforms away.

After all the commotion, half the morning had passed by in a blink.

Wondering if Mi Yang was still at Wang Mingming's house, Qin Fei planned to go back and check earlier.

San Tu and the others also wanted to make a trip back to the activity center.

Phantom Fire said, "When we were squatting in front of the fried liver shop earlier, a player came to notify us to return."

The message was vague, as if there was something important.

San Tu, however, seemed to be deep in thought. "The one who called us back wasn't an ordinary player."

It was a puppet controlled by a Butterfly.

Phantom Fire was startled.

Was it a puppet? He hadn't noticed at all.

That was unusual. He had long become familiar with the puppets that Butterfly brought into the dungeons.

Now that he recalled, he couldn't quite remember what the messenger looked like just now...

Phantom Fire was stunned. "He used an item?"

San Tu nodded. "It could also be a skill."

"Best you slip back quietly and observe the situation near the Activity Center first," Qin Fei suggested after a moment's thought.

In truth, most players would return to the Activity Center around noon even without Butterfly's summons, as Xue Jiqing had ordered lunch boxes for everyone yesterday.

Butterfly calling them ahead of time gave Qin Fei an unsettling feeling.

The trio of Lin Ye agreed, and the four of them parted ways at the intersection. Qin Fei made his way alone towards Building 12.

When not in the company of Lin Ye and the others, Qin Fei saw no need to hide his true nature. He strolled confidently down the main road of the community, acknowledging the greetings from fellow players he encountered with a cool nod.

Xue Jiqing's team had significantly dwindled in size, now consisting of roughly six members.

Aside from those who perished during missions, a few survivors had branched off to form their own groups, splitting the original team into two.

However, there seemed to be no conflict between the two parties. When they crossed paths, they engaged in polite conversation.

Qin Fei surmised that after a night of probing and assessing each other, they had finally discerned each player's allegiance.

Now, those who remained with Xue Jiqing were likely to have undergone a selection process, and they stood on the same side as him.

The scorching summer sun was blazing hot, and Qin Fei's forehead was already beaded with sweat after just a short walk of a few hundred meters. As he entered the twelfth building, the elevator was descending from the fourth floor to the first.

Someone emerged from the elevator.

It was Mi Yang.

Upon seeing Qin Fei, Mi Yang was initially taken aback, then he gave Qin Fei a peculiar smile that seemed to hold a hidden meaning.

He stepped toward Qin Fei.

As they brushed past each other, Mi Yang lowered his voice and whispered a menacing threat to Qin Fei:

"Wait and see, you'll soon know how formidable I am."

Qin Fei: "???"

Audience: "???"

A muscle twitched on Qin Fei's forehead.

Does this person have a delusional disorder or something? Why does he speak like he's in a movie?

One of those movies that give you an eerie feeling.

Though the words were vague, Qin Fei managed to understand the message.

Mi Yang probably meant: "Just wait a little longer. I'm about to uncover your family's secret and settle the score with you."

However, while Qin Fei grasped Mi Yang's meaning, the audience was largely puzzled.

The live chat exploded with comments as soon as Mi Yang whispered his words.

"What did those two just say? There seems to be an undercurrent of tension?"

"…Strange, Little Sheep. What kind of suggestive words are you uttering? Eeeeh."

"Damn, what's going on here? It looks like Big Shot Mi Yang is really concerned about this D-rank rookie."

"This rookie gave Mi Yang a tough time in the Ghost Mansion. How could Mi Yang not care? He must be seeking revenge!"

Mi Yang, after delivering his threatening words, stood aside with a smug look, eagerly anticipating a terrified expression on the rookie's face.

Instead of fear, he found himself being stared at as if he were an idiot.

Mi Yang: "..."

Mi Yang: "What are you looking at?"

Qin Fei, unbothered, rolled his eyes and entered the elevator without turning back, mimicking the morning scenario perfectly.

Watching Qin Fei's disappearing figure, Mi Yang's cheeks puffed up in anger.

What was wrong with this person? Why was he fearless??

He remained unfazed even after being threatened by an A-level player.

But his arrogance wouldn't last long.

Mi Yang's theft value from Wang Mingming's parents' NPC had already reached 78%.

By tomorrow at the latest, once the theft value hit 100%, all the clues concealed by this D-class player would be laid bare before him.

We'll see how smug he still is then.:)

Mi Yang harrumphed and left with a light-hearted skip in his step, humming a tune.

...

Inside Building 12.

The elevator dinged as it stopped on the fourth floor. Qin Fei returned to his "home" with practiced ease.

Upon opening the door, Qin Fei paused for a moment.

Did he go to the wrong place?

No.

The two NPC parents, still standing in the living room with their foolish grins, hadn't moved.

"…What happened here?" Qin Fei asked, somewhat struggling to find the right words.

Qin Fei was stunned by the scene before him.

Wang Mingming's house had undergone a complete transformation.

In truth, Wang Mingming's home had always been tidy, except during those times when blood stained the floors. But the cleanliness before was that of an ordinary household, entirely different from the current state.

In the living room before his eyes, every item within sight had been meticulously arranged according to size and height.

The dining table and coffee table were free of any clutter, adorned with fresh flowers instead.

The wooden floor shone as if waxed.

The curtains seemed to have been taken down, cleaned, dried, and rehung, now brighter in color and perfectly gathered on both sides. Even the cords for tying them up were tied into elegant bow knots, reminiscent of a show flat in a property sales gallery.

Exquisitely polished, almost to the point of being artificial.

Qin Fei raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What's going on?"

Did they have a fairy tale creature like a Snail Maiden visiting their home?

Wang Mingming's parents were standing at the door, eagerly welcoming their son back. Upon hearing Qin Fei's question, they eagerly replied.

Wang Mingming's father: "Your good friend here helped clean up, son."

Wang Mingming's mother: "He's really great at doing household chores."

Good friend.

In less than half a second, Qin Fei understood the situation.

Miyang must have taken advantage of his absence in the morning to talk some strange things to Wang Mingming's parents, sneaking into the Wang household to search for information about the dungeon.

Wang Mingming's father: "He said he got lost in the neighborhood and wanted us to send him out."

Mrs. Wang: "I told him I was too lazy to send him, and then he suddenly said, 'Oh, you look so familiar. Isn't this Wang Mingming's house?'"

Qin Fei's lips twitched. Mi Yang's excuse was a bit too forced.

It was absurd that he could get away with such a blatant lie.

But the moment Mr. and Mrs. Wang heard their son's name, they lost all sense of principle and reason.

Under Mi Yang's flattering and ingratiating approach, they actually let him into their home.

Mr. Wang: "As soon as he entered our house, he headed straight for the storage room."

Mrs. Wang: "He said he wanted to help his good friend clean the whole house."

What nonsense about helping a friend clean; he clearly just wanted to buy time and linger in Wang Mingming's house for as long as possible.

And linger he did, for quite some time.

With great energy and enthusiasm, Mi Yang tidied up the entire first floor of Wang Mingming's house.

Father Wang: "He even wanted to visit our second floor."

Mother Wang: "But we didn't agree."

Mother Wang hesitated for a moment: "…After all, he said he's your friend, dear son."

Qin Fei felt he was indeed adept at reading between the lines.

He grasped Mother Wang's implication once again.

His loving mother was implying that if Mi Yang were not Wang Mingming's best friend, his visit to the Wang family today would surely have ended in a disastrous return.

What awaited him on the second floor could hardly be anything pleasant.

But since he was their son's good friend, these two doting parents generously forgave him with a wave of their hands. After he had meticulously cleaned their home, they spared no mercy in sending him off.

Qin Fei: I've been speechless too many times today.

Mi Yang didn't suffer from a compulsive need to clean or else he'd die syndrome.

Considering his innate abilities, it was clear that he had put in so much effort to work as a cleaner at Wang Mingming's place just to steal information from the NPC.

One had to admit that this person was quite daring.

While all the players were diligently completing missions and searching for clues, Mi Yang could actually spare half a day to engage in such an insignificant task that wouldn't yield immediate rewards.

He seemed solely focused on completing that hidden mission, not caring whether his team won or lost if the hidden mission failed.

After all, no one would die in the process.

Qin Fei ran a finger along the inside of the window frame, finding not a single speck of dust.

Despite having his hideout invaded by another player, Qin Fei appeared anything but alarmed.

He even smiled gently at the invisible camera in the air, unscrupulously mocking,

"So Mi Yang threatened me just now, saying I'd soon know how formidable he is. Does that mean I'll realize how thoroughly he cleaned my house once I return upstairs?"

Pausing for a moment, Qin Fei sincerely praised,

"That's truly impressive."

"HAHAHAHAHAAAAA, DAMN IT!"

An array of laughter filled the live stream chat.

"I'm dying from laughter, my wife has such a way with words."

"Keep talking, wife! Don't let him get away with it!"

"Our wife can steal NPC information, so what? She's still the beloved son of the NPCs~"

"And besides, he didn't even manage to steal anything, pfft pfft pfft."

Qin Fei's witty remark wasn't related to any specific plot or quest in the dungeon, and within minutes, it was replicated by the spectral viewers and reposted in Mi Yang's live stream.

Mi Yang, walking along, opened the chat and was immediately slapped in the face by Qin Fei's comment.

Mi Yang: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻!!

The house was tidy and clean, and Qin Fei had a particularly enjoyable lunch at Wang Mingming's place.

However, when lunch ended and Qin Fei once again joined Lin Ye and the others in the bushes near the community center, he heard a rather chilling piece of news.

Lin Ye crouched on the grass, wearing a grass ring as a disguise, his expression grave. "Butterfly has kidnapped several players!"

Ghost Fire Sanzu, standing beside Lin Ye, also wore an unpleasant expression.

Sure enough, just as they had suspected that morning, Butterfly had called the players back with malicious intentions.

These intentions were not even well-concealed; anyone with a bit of intuition could sense something was amiss.

As a result, only E and F-rank newcomers, the less experienced ones, had returned—those who were rather foolish.

Not a single person from Xue Qijie's team had gone back.

On the other hand, two people from the splinter group that originated from their team had been captured by Butterfly.

Lin Ye: "A total of five people went back unprepared and were all taken control of by Butterfly."

Butterfly is an expert in mind control. If he uses his innate skill to implant parasitic eggs within a player's body, it can make the victim trust him completely, turning them into his plaything.

Aside from this high-level manipulation, Butterfly also possesses some simpler control techniques.

These skills might not offer total domination, but they're more than enough to deal with those low-level players.

" Butterfly took them away, and they haven't returned yet," San Tu picked up where Lin Ye left off.

"I sneaked a look, and it seems they're searching building by building, starting from Building 1 of the community," San Tu said with unease.

Qin Fei lowered his gaze. "I suspect..."

"They're looking for the red door," Qin Fei concluded.

The Red House.

The red door.

If the demonic face in the kindergarten could be considered a well-concealed task clue, then the Red House and its red door were the most superficial hints.

Almost every completed mission would provide corresponding clues.

Butterfly's team members were no weaklings in their respective copies. Since they had been operating independently from the start, they must have completed several missions by now.

It was impossible for them not to have obtained any relevant information.

That was why they made their move.

They no longer focused on accumulating points but instead searched aggressively for hidden mission clues within the copies.

"They're attempting a comprehensive search," Qin Fei tapped the ground lightly with his finger.

Butterfly must have felt that their group was too small and inefficient, so they bound a few more players.

Anyone could perform a floor-by-floor sweep, which is why Butterfly devised such a cunning plan to deceive a few of the easiest targets back.

Actually, Qin Fei was more concerned about another matter: "Did any of you search for clues regarding that trash can?"

Ghost Fire nodded. "Yes, we did."

His expression was a bit odd. "We asked different residents, and they pointed us to several garbage collection points, but when we got there, we found nothing."

It wasn't that they couldn't find any clues.

It was that they couldn't find the garbage stations at all.

The locations pointed out by the residents were all wrong.

Those residents didn't seem to be lying when they were being enthusiastic at that time.

Moreover, the players had already gained prior knowledge of the restrictions in this instance and didn't ask sensitive questions like "Has anything strange happened at the garbage station?" Instead, they straightforwardly asked, "Where are the garbage stations in the community?"

There was no need for the NPCs to deliberately hide things from them.

When they previously asked around about the kindergarten and a few restaurants on the commercial street, they hadn't encountered such a situation where they couldn't even locate the places.

Qin Fei's eyes darkened slightly. "The restrictions on players' exploration in the instances have become stronger."

The NPCs weren't deliberately deceiving the players; rather, there was a more powerful force at play, one that transcended their individual wills.

Currently, I'm constraining them, preventing them from divulging any information pertaining to the garbage dump.

A thoughtful glint flashed across Qin Fei's eyes as he began to reason logically, "This restriction wouldn't increase with the passage of time."

Considering the full duration of this instance, it has barely been two days so far.

If the restrictions on players within scenarios were indeed so overwhelming, then by the third day, all the NPCs in the community might become mute.

That would be utterly unreasonable.

Upon hearing Qin Fei's words, the trio couldn't help but wear expressions of delight.

If it wasn't due to time constraints, then the issue had to lie with the Junkyard itself.

The Junkyard was a taboo subject within the community.

The secrets hidden within the junkyard were more concealed than anything they had encountered in their previous missions.

San Tu said, "Butterfly's thorough search indicates that they don't have a specific target. Both Xue Jiqing's team and the scattered players are still completing missions to earn points."

For now, it seemed that only their four-member squad had uncovered the junkyard's secret.

"Amazing!"

"So, are these players currently making the fastest progress?"

More and more viewers began to focus on this small team.

However, whenever there was applause, there would inevitably be voices of skepticism.

"But what good does knowing about the junkyard do?"

"Yeah, even if they know, if they can't find it, doesn't that knowledge become meaningless?"

"And with Butterfly conducting a sweep, Xiao Qin is in danger, isn't he?"

The vivid red door at Wang Mingming's place was an unmistakable clue.

Although Qin Fei was more than eighty percent certain that Wang Mingming's home and the series of ghostly disturbances in the neighborhood were not directly connected, the other players wouldn't buy his explanations.

The best course of action now was to swiftly uncover all the secrets of the Wang household and then keep his distance.

He would hide away, search for the garbage dump on his own, and let the other players do as they pleased.

Qin Fei pondered for a moment.

Wang Mingming's birthday was still a day away.

However, Qin Fei could no longer afford to wait.