It Turns out that I am Beautiful, Strong and Miserable [Quick Wear] - 173

 

ITOTIABSAM | Infinite Flow | 173

A cat smiling sounded absurd, but Zhao Dong was certain he wasn't seeing things.

Hastily informing the other players of this strange discovery, when the group hurried to the back alley, the black cat was nowhere to be seen, leaving behind only a garbage bag soaked in blood.

Bones, white and eerie, scattered outside, with what appeared to be parts of fingers, sporadically mixed with shreds of flesh, as if they had been gnawed on by someone and then regurgitated, making onlookers feel nauseous.

"Large portions of muscle tissue missing," avoiding the crimson pool on the ground, the doctor pulled up the hem of his coat without expression and opened the plastic bag. "No eyeballs, skin from the face, the inside of the wrists, the abdomen..."

Describing each part that had been bitten by the cat, he calmly commented, "Quite the appetite."

As soon as he finished speaking, the timid novice male player took a few quick steps and vomited into a corner.

The novice female player's complexion wasn't much better, pale as a ghost, tightly pursing her lips.

"Look on the bright side, at least it didn't attack any living person," removing his disposable gloves, the doctor stood up. "What do you say? Should we go talk to the innkeeper?"

Li Jie, holding his nose in disgust, remarked, "There's no second inn in this town."

What if they angered the one-eyed old lady?

Of course, advancing the plot was also a necessary part of clearing the dungeon. With a subtle shift in his gaze, Li Jie casually brought up, "By the way, wasn't there an NPC who gave an umbrella to Xie Ye?"

"Let him go ask; I'm sure it'll be fine."

The alley was narrow, with tall buildings of red walls and white windows, giving a strong sense of oppression. Under the scorching sun, the black-haired Xie Ye stood in the crowded shadows. When he heard his name, he looked up. "Me?"

In an instant, all the players' gazes were involuntarily drawn to him.

"I didn't mean anything else..." Li Jie hesitated, mindful of Gu Cong's presence. He didn't want to sound too offensive. But before he could say anything more to instigate, Xie Ye nodded: "Okay."

Tang Yan's words of defusing the tension were stuck in her throat.

Sometimes she really couldn't understand whether Xie Ye was bold or naive. He clearly possessed a keen intelligence that could discern malicious intent, yet he remained oblivious and didn't know how to avoid it.

Only Gu Cong, gradually seeing through the facade of innocence presented by Xie Ye, understood his way of thinking: whether it was provocation or sarcasm, it was all just lip service. 

At least for now, Li Jie hadn't harbored any murderous intent towards Xie Ye, so he didn't take him seriously.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but speculate what Xie Ye had experienced to shape his current personality.

Always hovering on the edge of the crowd, like a lost soul, he seemed to have shed many of the sharp edges he once had been familiar with.

0028 timely suggested, "You can flip through the original work."

It would be a good opportunity to gain some insight into the upcoming plot, to prevent any mishaps.

However, Gu Cong didn't respond.

He didn't want to understand a person through the so-called God's perspective anymore, or rather, he didn't want to understand Xie Ye through the so-called God's perspective, casually and rudely, flipping through the other's life, making judgments based on those words that might misinterpret the other's true intentions, and missing out on much.

Sensing the man's gaze lingering on her, Xie Ye turned around, "What's wrong?"

Gu Cong smiled, "Nothing."

"Do you want to come with me?" Opening his umbrella, Xie Ye naturally extended an invitation, "I will protect you."

Except for Gu Cong, all the players took this as an affectionate joke. Even Li Jie had to admit that this kid was really good at coaxing people.

Clearly, he was just trying to act cute and cling to someone's thigh, but he could still make it sound so nice.

But when they returned to the hotel and saw the one-eyed old lady sitting right in front of the gate, everyone instantly stopped being relaxed.

Because in her arms was the cat that had just gnawed on a corpse.

However, Xie Ye showed no hesitation, stepping into the door and casually remarking, "The garbage you threw in the back alley just got eaten by a cat. Won't it upset its stomach?"

Perhaps not expecting Xie Ye to ask such a question, the one-eyed old lady obviously paused before hoarsely replying, "It was too hungry."

She answered indirectly, but also proving from the side that the black cat didn't start off by taking corpses as food.

However, Xie Ye had just had porridge in the morning and eaten the boiled egg Gu Cong peeled for her. Would these things be enough to fill the cat's stomach, or does the cat have to eat meat?

Having no experience in raising pets, Xie Ye skipped the question about the cat's diet and got straight to the point: "Why did the tenant in Room 205 die?"

The other players blocking the doorway immediately changed their expressions:

Wow, asking directly. What if this one-eyed old lady is the BOSS? Exposing her disguise would only increase the difficulty of the dungeon.

Fortunately, the anticipated danger did not occur. With her empty eye sockets and the cat's fur stroked gently in her arms, the old lady showed remarkable patience and said, "Because he was guilty."

"Guilty people are not suitable for this town and will naturally receive the judgment they deserve."

Guilty?

What counts as guilt? Based on what law? Or morality? And who conducts the judgment? Who gives them the right?

For a moment, numerous questions flashed through the players' minds, with a sense of everyone being potentially at risk. After all, how many of them hadn't shed a drop of blood in the Infinite Game?

But Xie Ye, stubborn as ever, continued questioning, almost as if setting his own death flag, "Do I have it too?"

"Of course not!!" The originally calm expression of the old lady suddenly became excited, with even her facial muscles and sagging skin trembling. 

The one-eyed old lady seemed like a different person, staring straight at Xie Ye, almost obsessively, with a hint of respect, "You are different."

The feigning black cat winced in pain and with a meow, jumped off the old lady's lap.

Due to the perspective issue, the abnormal expression of the one-eyed old lady, except for Xie Ye, only 0028 who had an overview of the whole scene could see it. It even suspected that if there were no other players around, the old lady might have inadvertently used "您" (a formal form of "you").

But soon, this strange behavior ceased abruptly. The one-eyed old lady shuddered for a moment, then shook herself out of her daze, returning to her initial calmness.

"I'm tired," as if completely forgetting what she had just said, she leaned on the table and slowly stood up, "Guests, please make yourselves at home. Dinner will be served at six."

Leaving Xie Ye surrounded by a group of players concerned about clues.

"He's different? What's different about him?" Never had Li Jie expected such extraordinary luck from a worthless guy. He stood arms crossed, furthest away from Xie Ye, but his ears were honestly perked up.

Knowing his senior and teammate's temperament all too well, Sun Pengyu immediately chimed in, "A brat who hasn't even stepped out of school naturally has the advantage."

This was also the speculation of most players present.

After all, Xie Ye left the deepest impression on people because of his overly straightforward simplicity.

"Have you considered switching rooms?" Without any reservation, the doctor generously extended an invitation, "Sleep with me tonight."

Gu Cong's gaze immediately darkened.

Zhao Dong didn't even hesitate: "Seriously, are you trying to steal someone's partner now?"

"I'm sincere," trusting his intuition, the doctor politely smiled and once again extended an olive branch to Xie Ye, "If you're willing to accompany me for the next few days after I clear the level, I'll give you half of my points."

Points.

Upon hearing this word, Xie Ye did indeed become a bit interested.

The last time he was killed, it was because of points.

Although he was not clear about the details of Xie Ye's dreamscape, Gu Cong could see the eagerness in Xie Ye's eyes. He feared that if he waited another second, the cat he had just brought back would run off with someone else. 

He cleared his throat, about to mention that he was the player with the most points present and even made it onto the leaderboard, but the black-haired Xie Ye seemed to intuitively turn his head as if sensing something.

"Forget it."

Suppressing the curiosity deep in his heart, Xie Ye reluctantly declined the doctor's invitation, covering most of his fingertips with his sleeve and holding onto Gu Cong's wrist, "He needs me more.”

Knowing the strength of their leader all too well, Cheng Xiaorong couldn't help but wonder, Needs? Who really needs whom?

But 0028 in their cognitive space was thoroughly enjoying themselves, "Gu Cong, you really looked like a busy peacock trying to impress him just now," a silly expression of vying for attention.

"In fact, it may not be safe to stay with Xie Ye either," Tang Yan interrupted with a rational analysis, "If one player must be eliminated in each room..."

There was no doubt that the one who would survive would be Xie Ye, determined by the NPC as "different".

Fifty-fifty chance of risk and opportunity.

"I understand," the doctor shrugged helplessly, smiling, "It's just that this little kid seems to have quite the intuition."

Little kid.

This term of address wasn't the first time it had been used, but it fell on Gu Cong's ears far more irritatingly than the last time. Despite a new bed becoming available in Room 205, nobody seemed interested in taking it. In the end, the allocation of player rooms remained unchanged.

Opportunity rarely knocks twice. Seizing the moment while the innkeeper and the cat were both absent, everyone searched the ground floor of the inn again. They only found a registration form, but it proved to be valuable.

"There's no record for Rooms 201 and 202," Cheng Xiaorong noted as she scanned through it, "So why weren't they given to us?"

No wonder they hadn't seen any guests besides players coming downstairs all day; it turned out nobody had been staying there at all.

"How about..." Zhao Dong whispered, glancing at Gu Cong as if seeking his opinion, "We try picking the locks?"

Xie Ye, who had been daydreaming, immediately perked up.

Feeling a cool sensation in his palm, Gu Cong realized someone had slipped something into his hand—a small, round object. With a quick glance, he saw it was a beautifully wrapped piece of candy.

Exquisitely crafted and brightly colored, it even had a small satin ribbon tied around it.

Confirming that this wasn't something from the system store, he cast his eyes down to the earnest Xie Ye who was "bribing" him silently, signaling with his eyes: "Where did this come from?"

Xie Ye quickly pointed with his finger to the bottom drawer.

Gu Cong's pupils constricted slightly:

That drawer was one he had personally checked just a few minutes ago, and it was clearly empty.

"It's a gift for me," Xie Ye said, not caring at all about what the other players might think. He tilted his chin slightly, leaned closer to Gu Cong, and grinned as he whispered in the man's ear, "This dungeon likes me."

—Just like the umbrella that arrived just in time, as long as he wasn't noticed by others, no matter what he opened in the inn, it would be filled with candies almost overflowing.

However, Gu Cong couldn't empathize with the young man's joy. Three big words popped into his mind:

Learning from experience.

Even when trying to please someone, one must use their own methods.

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Author's note:

Gu Cong: What a crappy dungeon. Players are trying to steal my wife, and now even ghosts are trying to steal him from me?