Even after thinking it through, they still felt apprehensive. Even if they figured it out, who would step in for them?
Indeed, they were right. These two women were on the same team. But then again, being willing to take on risks for a teammate is not easy, and the others were quite envious.
Xiao Muyu wanted to stop her, but Shen Qingqiu didn’t give her the chance. She put down her spoon, pressed down on Xiao Muyu’s outstretched hand, and said softly, “There’s no need for both of us to suffer. Someone has to eat it, and it’s better for one person to eat than for both of us. If something happens, you can still find a way to save me. If both of us are down, that would be bad.”
Xiao Muyu knew Shen Qingqiu was right, but her expression was complex. She couldn’t help but say, “It’s the same if I eat it.”
Shen Qingqiu looked at her and suddenly smiled, “It’s different. Your nose is sensitive, and you’d feel worse after eating it. I’m not picky. No matter what kind of meat this is, I’ve eaten worse, so I don’t mind. Besides, I’m just a cripple now and need you to protect me.”
She pointed to her right hand and then picked up the spoon to finish eating the rest.
As she ate, she felt the taste was somewhat familiar, but out of humanitarian consideration, she said nothing.
The others were all self-hypnotizing, starting to clear their plates. The chicken leg tasted good, but the meat in the dish had a very strange flavor, with a sour and astringent taste, making it hard to eat. They all frowned while eating, feeling increasingly horrified.
Xiao Muyu kept watching Shen Qingqiu and saw Zhang Yangfeng reach out to take Yang Rui’s plate, swapping it with his own empty one, and started eating.
Yang Rui wanted to speak but eventually pursed her lips and said nothing, her expression likely mirroring Xiao Muyu’s.
Zhang Yangfeng moved quickly, and no one else, who were busy battling with the meat on their plates, noticed this except for Xiao Muyu.
Xiao Muyu suddenly recalled the incident in the hall earlier. When the doll appeared, maybe Zhang Yangfeng’s retreat wasn’t a coincidence; perhaps it was to protect Yang Rui, which is why he stood in front of her. So, besides her and Shen Qingqiu, were they also a team?
Xiao Muyu continued to ponder, sorting through the information. When she looked at the clock on the wall, she saw it was already 6:39. Then some noise came from the kitchen, abrupt and startling, as if someone had suddenly started moving inside.
The group then saw a middle-aged woman wearing a yellowed white hat and an apron walk out from the kitchen doorway.
Under the collective gaze of the group, this sallow-faced, dull-eyed woman walked over step by step, expressionless.
Her movements were also strange, as if her legs were impaired or she was a puppet being controlled, moving stiffly and mechanically, with unchanging step frequency and distance.
She walked in a straight line to Xiao Muyu, who was sitting at the outermost side. Her eyes finally lifted slightly, falling on the plate in front of Xiao Muyu. Her voice was flat and cold, “Finished eating?”
Meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu glanced at the time, 6:40.
Xiao Muyu responded with a hum, leaned back a bit, and her gaze swept over the woman’s face, then slowly settled on her apron.
The leather apron was filthy, its original color indistinguishable, and it was covered in bits of meat and bone shards, along with splattered blood.
Xiao Muyu then looked at the woman’s right wrist, also stained with blood and debris. Judging by the blood stains, it seemed to have been splattered when she was chopping meat.
As the woman leaned over to collect the plates, Xiao Muyu took a light sniff and then held her breath.
She smelled like cooking oil, clearly from spending time in the kitchen cooking, but there was also a stench of fishiness and the odor of rancid grease. This stench was much stronger than the smell she encountered in the meat.
After clearing the dishes, she walked over to Shen Qingqiu again, repeating the same actions and the same tone, “Finished eating?”
Shen Qingqiu noticed the stuff on her and, suppressing the feeling of nausea, responded coldly, “Yes.”
As usual, she took the plates away, and then persistently asked each person in turn. This bizarre behavior cast a heavy shadow over the hearts of the players, making their hair stand on end.
The others were tense, waiting for her to check and clean up, perhaps without noticing anything unusual, but Xiao Muyu keenly observed that the lady wasn’t just mechanically asking questions. Her eyes moved quickly as she bowed to clear the dishes, clearly checking if anyone had left any food.
Moreover, her seemingly stiff questioning became increasingly urgent, as if she was unwilling to give up.
Although the others couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong, their instinctive fear was suffocating them. Their voices trembled as they answered, especially the two injured men, whose faces were bloodless and who seemed about to cry at any moment.
It was only after this creepy cafeteria lady left that they all breathed a sigh of relief, with several of them collapsing.
“In the previous instances, the ghost was at least a bit restrained. This one is just blatantly scaring us,” Huang Junfeng muttered, wiping his sweat.
“Is she really a ghost? Can we even eat the food cooked by a ghost?” Hu Shun’s face turned pale as he thought about it, feeling nauseated again.
No one spoke. Huang Junfeng, thinking about what was on her apron, gagged and spat, “That ghost meat was awful. I hope it wasn’t poisonous. It would be really bad luck if we got poisoned and died.”
Shen Qingqiu didn’t look at him and said with a half-smile, “Maybe it really was ghost meat.”
Everyone: …
“Don’t say that,” Hu Shun quickly said, his expression changing.
“Now that everyone is here, let’s briefly introduce ourselves. Although we don’t know each other, we share the same goal. I hope we can work together sincerely and ensure everyone gets out safely.”
The speaker was Zhang Yangfeng, who had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, exuding righteousness, making him likable.
The others then introduced themselves one by one. All eight of them had cleared three instances and were not newbies. Zhang Yangfeng’s words were partially heeded.
However, the more experienced ones were actually more cautious. Having either personally experienced or witnessed the consequences of trusting others too much, they were wary. In Tianwang, no one who survived was a saint.
Xiao Muyu already knew four of the eight people. The other two injured men were Hou Liang, who had a broken leg, and Jia Wenlong, who had injured his eye.
During the conversation, they revealed that they had no idea how they got injured and couldn’t remember what happened.
“This orphanage feels eerie everywhere. Everyone must be careful at night. The time points mentioned by Director Qu seem crucial, and it’s best not to attempt anything. According to the system setup, we’ll be here for a long time. As long as we don’t make mistakes on the first night, it shouldn’t be fatal.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Has anyone discovered anything new? Let’s share our findings. We haven’t figured out how to clear this instance yet, so we need to at least know the way out.”
Zhang Yangfeng addressed everyone, but his gaze fell on Xiao Muyu, Shen Qingqiu, and the injured Jia Wenlong and Hou Liang, as the others had been with him the whole time, and only these four had time alone.
Jia Wenlong and Hou Liang, not being foolish, immediately stated, “We passed out as soon as we entered the instance and have no idea what happened. We woke up here and only saw the director. Nothing special. What about you?”
Huang Junfeng continued, “We know very little. Although we walked in, nothing happened on the way. We only encountered the doorman, Old Sang, who seemed odd, not liking to talk and giving us strange looks.
The only unusual thing was the little girl named A-Jiao, the one who kept smiling. She suddenly ran into the hall holding a doll when we first entered the orphanage, which gave me the creeps. And we don’t know when she got there.”
Hu Shun nodded, “That little girl is indeed weird. Also, she grabbed Miss Xiao as soon as she appeared, babbling about dolls, beautiful dolls, just like she did earlier.”
Talking about it gave him the creeps, and he looked at Xiao Muyu with a bit of sympathy.
“Talking about that doll, I find it terrifying. It must be something wrong with it,” Huang Junfeng said, nodding repeatedly.
He looked at the calm woman in front of him, admiring her inwardly. Although she didn’t talk much, she was beautiful, and young men tend to have a bit of compassion for pretty women. He couldn’t help but warn her, “Even though it’s just speculation, Miss Xiao, you should be careful.”
Xiao Muyu glanced at him without responding and finally said, “It’s getting late. I’ll briefly share what I saw. We all know this place isn’t clean, but we may still be confused about what exactly we need to be cautious of in this instance.
There are certainly many eerie things here, but I’m sure that doll is haunted. Be extra careful.
Also, it’s not a coincidence that three players passed out and got injured as soon as they entered.
I noticed that among the eight children, the boy named Xiaohan walks strangely, and there seems to be something wrong with his leg, specifically his left leg.”
As soon as she said this, everyone stared at Hou Liang, who had a broken left leg.
“Could it just be… a coincidence?” Hou Liang swallowed, his face stiffening.
But Xiao Muyu’s next words dashed Hou Liang’s last shred of hope.
“Did you notice that among the eight children, besides the boy with the limp, there was one who was eating with his left hand?” Xiao Muyu did not want this to be the case with Shen Qingqiu.
Eating with the left hand could mean either being left-handed or having a problem with the right hand. Either way, it matched with Shen Qingqiu having to use her left hand for things eventually.
She had been watching closely, but she hadn’t made eye contact with every child. She wasn’t sure if any of them had eye issues, but she could guess that there must be some.
After Xiao Muyu finished speaking, no one made a sound, especially the injured Hou Liang and Jia Wenlong.
After a long silence, Jia Wenlong said in a hoarse voice, “Miss Xiao, can you guess what this correspondence means?”
Xiao Muyu shook her head. How could she be certain?
On the other side, Shen Qingqiu, noticing Xiao Muyu glancing at her occasionally, knew what she was thinking and chimed in, “But I think this might not necessarily be a bad thing. After all, the three of us being selected was not something we caused ourselves. Perhaps being selected and not being selected are essentially the same thing.”
Xiao Muyu was momentarily taken aback by Shen Qingqiu’s words, which enlightened her. Even if this setup was dangerous, it must come with corresponding opportunities. Otherwise, the three of them would be too unlucky.
More importantly, the fairness of the game would be completely lost. Her concern had clouded her judgment, and she hadn’t considered this angle. She stiffened, feeling secretly annoyed. Concern? She wasn’t worried about Shen Qingqiu.
They were about to continue discussing when a series of heavy footsteps approached, and Old Sang’s expressionless face appeared in front of them.
“It’s time to sleep.”
The eight of them snapped out of their reverie and quickly stood up. Huang Junfeng, who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, whispered to Liu Pei as they walked, “Damn, saying it’s time to sleep sounds like he’s saying it’s time for us to die.”
He kept his voice very low, but Old Sang at the front stopped and turned to look at them.
Huang Junfeng silently cursed and shut his mouth, pretending nothing had happened.
But Old Sang wasn’t there to catch someone talking out of turn. He just glanced at the eight of them and said hoarsely, “Don’t wander around. Lights out means sleep.”
After saying this, he walked ahead, leading the eight of them upstairs. At the second-floor landing, he pointed to the doors on either side, “These used to be washrooms, but they’re now out of use. If you need to wash up or use the restroom, go to the third floor.
The children’s dormitory is on the third floor, and the second floor is currently empty. Each room has three beds. Arrange yourselves as you wish.”
“Where do you and Director Qu sleep?” Xiao Muyu asked.
Old Sang glanced at her and slowly replied, “I sleep on the first floor. I need to patrol at night. Director Qu and a few aunties sleep on the third floor to take care of the children.”
He then turned to look up the stairs to the third floor, not looking at Xiao Muyu, and said in a somewhat drifting voice, “They haven’t finished washing up yet. Choose your rooms without disturbing them. Once it’s time, wash up quickly and go to sleep.”
With that, he held onto the stair railing and slowly walked down to the first floor.
The group exchanged uneasy glances. After Old Sang left, Xiao Muyu looked up at the ceiling and said calmly, “We’ll take the second room on the right.”
By “we,” she naturally meant herself and Shen Qingqiu.
Yang Rui pressed her lips together. There were only three girls in the group, so if Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu shared a room, it meant she would have to sleep alone.
She glanced at Zhang Yangfeng, who, with a serious look, said, “You can share a room with me.”
Hu Shun, Huang Junfeng, Hou Liang, and Jia Wenlong all looked at them in unison, realizing they were the unlucky ones.
