Chapter 60: Orphan Resentment (Part 20)     

This realization sluggishly made its way into Shen Qingqiu’s muddled brain. Her mind, as if filled with batter from the impact of Big Xiao Mei’s soundwaves, was equally slow in processing and digesting the information.

Once Shen Qingqiu became aware of this sensation, her heartbeat quickened bit by bit. It was a distinctly different feeling from the adrenaline triggered by anger or fear in a game. Shen Qingqiu could experience a long-lost—no, joyful reunion would be more accurate.

Shen Qingqiu suddenly felt reluctant to move. Moreover, she couldn’t hear anything, and her head was still ringing, so she remained motionless.

Xiao Muyu and the others fared slightly better, but their ears were nearly deafened. They couldn’t hear their surroundings clearly for a while.

“Is everyone okay?” Zhang Yangfeng shouted but realized he couldn’t even hear himself. He raised his voice louder: “Is everyone okay!?”

Huang Junfeng shook his head vigorously. He leaned closer with a bewildered expression. “Huh? What’d you say?”

Everyone else looked similarly confused and somewhat panicked. Zhang Yangfeng quickly realized no one could hear, so he stopped shouting.

The scream had disoriented Xiao Muyu. Once she finally got a hold of herself, she immediately let go of Shen Qingqiu. Her movements were so abrupt that she almost pushed Shen Qingqiu to the floor.

Shen Qingqiu feigned ignorance and steadied herself, looking at Xiao Muyu in confusion.

Xiao Muyu was about to speak, but her expression suddenly changed. She hurriedly pulled Shen Qingqiu closer. Shen Qingqiu had stood the closest to Big Xiao Mei. Although Xiao Muyu had gone over to cover her ears, she still got hurt. Xiao Muyu looked at Shen Qingqiu’s bleeding right ear.

Shen Qingqiu noticed Xiao Muyu’s unusual expression and touched her ear. There was sticky wet blood on her fingertips. The woman froze for a moment without saying anything.

Xiao Muyu shouted, “Can you hear me?”

Shen Qingqiu watched her mouth move but couldn’t hear a word. She shook her head, then pointed to her ear.

Xiao Muyu’s expression stiffened briefly. A trace of anxiety flashed in her eyes. She tore a piece of cloth, carefully wiping the blood from Shen Qingqiu’s ear. Fortunately, it was only the right ear.

By this time, everyone had recovered somewhat. They were still yelling loudly to communicate but could at least hear each other. The group gathered around Shen Qingqiu, talking all at once.

Xiao Muyu noticed Shen Qingqiu staring blankly at the others talking. Her gaze flitted anxiously across their faces before she frowned. “Everyone, quiet down and look over there.”

Zhang Yangfeng and the others thought they were speaking softly, but they were actually yelling at the top of their lungs. It wasn’t until Xiao Muyu spoke and waved at them that they realized they should turn to look in the indicated direction.

The children gathered around Qu Muxi were now helping her stand. All of them were watching the group. Qu Muxi still seemed in poor condition but at least no longer looked as translucent and on the verge of fading.

With Big Xiao Mei’s support, Qu Muxi stepped toward them. Zhang Yangfeng and the others, late to grasp the situation, were startled. They instinctively stepped back—after all, this was undeniably a ghost.

Xiao Muyu didn’t step back. She helped Shen Qingqiu to her feet and took half a step forward to shield her.

The solemn expression on Shen Qingqiu’s face gave way to a small smile. She tugged on Xiao Muyu’s arm. “It’s fine, I’m just deaf. Still good to fight.”

Qu Muxi chuckled at those words. “No need to be tense, you two. I mean you no harm.”

Shen Qingqiu gave her no courtesy. She could barely make out the words “no harm” by reading Qu Muxi’s lips. What little smile she had shown Xiao Muyu quickly vanished. She spoke indifferently. “What kindness could you offer us in this situation?”

Qu Muxi froze for a moment. Beside her, Big Xiao Mei bristled. “I won’t allow you to speak to Sister Qu like that. Keep it up, and I’ll bite you all to death.”

Gone was the well-behaved and sensible child. Big Xiao Mei’s eyes were now filled with palpable resentment. Her words were dripping with murderous intent.

Qu Muxi tilted her head, glancing at Big Xiao Mei. She spoke softly, “Big Xiao Mei, don’t be like this. They’re not bad people; they’re different from the others.”

Her gaze toward Big Xiao Mei was filled with pity and affection but also carried deep resignation.

Qu Muxi turned back to Xiao Muyu’s group. “I understand how you feel, and I sincerely apologize for what Big Xiao Mei and the others did. But they’re not bad children. There are things we’ve been forced into. While there’s a lot we can’t reveal to you, we won’t stand in your way, nor will we harm you.”

“Beep… beep… Warning, warning. System failure in Instance No. 003. Warning: System failure in Instance No. 003. Program loading… downloading patch…”

A sharp alarm suddenly blared when Qu Muxi was about to say more. The frenetic and shrill sound tormented everyone’s already battered ears.

The still-deaf Shen Qingqiu was unaffected by the noise but could see the warning message on her interface. She observed Qu Muxi and the others.

Xiao Muyu also kept her frowning gaze on Qu Muxi. After the system warning appeared, glitches began to form on Qu Muxi and the eight children’s bodies. Mosaic-like blocks flickered over them, blurring their figures.

“Analyzing… repair complete!” The system’s voice announced once more.

The blocks on Qu Muxi and the others vanished entirely. The nine figures stood intact before them again as if the connection had stabilized.

The seven players witnessed the transformation in silence. They stared at Qu Muxi’s group, then exchanged glances. In each other’s eyes, they saw the same shock and disbelief reflected back at them.

Qu Muxi broke the silence in her usual gentle tone and expression. “It’s getting late. The children still need some exercise this afternoon, so I’ll take them to rest. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable. Don’t wander off, though. It’s raining cats and dogs outside.”

Big Xiao Mei and the others seemed to have forgotten about their exposed identities. With a mix of lively smiles and quiet obedience, they left with Qu Muxi.

“What’s going on?” Liu Pei stared at the scene before him, unable to comprehend it.

Zhang Yangfeng wore a similarly complicated expression. After a pause, he said, “It seems like Qu Muxi and those kids just broke free from the game’s setting. Their actions must have violated the game’s rules, so the system forcibly corrected them.”

“That makes sense. Considering what just happened, Qu Muxi wasn’t acting like a proper NPC ghost, and those children… They would’ve revealed too much information had we pressed a little more.” Yang Rui sighed.

While they were discussing, Xiao Muyu raised her voice again and asked, “Shen Qingqiu, can you hear anything now?”

Zhang Yangfeng and the others immediately stopped and looked at Shen Qingqiu. “She’s still not recovered?”

Shen Qingqiu focused on Xiao Muyu alone. After a moment, she softly replied, “It’s a little better, but I can’t hear clearly. I should be fine, don’t worry.”

The others felt a bit speechless. They had all been concerned about her, but Shen Qingqiu only spoke to Xiao Muyu.

“So, what should we do now?” Hou Liang asked in confusion. “We thought we’d found a loophole, but the system just patched it up forcefully.”

Shen Qingqiu had violently put a stop to that farce, and they were unprepared for the series of unforeseen problems that followed. Now that things had calmed down, he didn’t know what to do next.

Xiao Muyu glanced down at her interface. Two and a half hours had passed since they triggered the multiple-choice question. She looked up at Yang Rui. “Do you have an idea now?”

Yang Rui nervously swallowed upon suddenly being addressed. “I have some thoughts, but I’m not sure.”

Xiao Muyu nodded. “We still don’t have enough information. While we can identify possible suspects, making a rash decision is risky. Let’s check a few more places.”

“Where?” Huang Junfeng squeezed in eagerly.

“The bathrooms on the second floor are locked,” Xiao Muyu replied.

Huang Junfeng couldn’t help but comment, “That’s true. But there’s something else I find strange. The beddings on the second floor are neatly arranged. Why do the eight children stay on the third floor instead of the second floor?”

“Maybe because the bathrooms on the second floor broke, so they just decided to stay on the third floor,” Hou Liang mused, but then he realized something didn’t add up. “Wait. We didn’t know before, but now we’re sure they’re all gone, turned into ghosts. Do they still follow human habits when they’re out of our sight? Do they still use the bathroom, sleep, and shower like we do?”

Everyone but Shen Qingqiu paused at Hou Liang’s words. Zhang Yangfeng furrowed his brows. “Right, the human mindset is trapping us. They don’t need to sleep, eat, or even go to the bathroom.”

Xiao Muyu also realized this fact. That night, she and Shen Qingqiu looked up at the upstairs bathroom more than once because they noticed something odd. Despite the dormitory’s poor soundproofing, there was absolutely no noise from the eight children bathing in the upstairs bathroom. It made them suspect that the children weren’t human.

But at the time, their minds were focused on the idea that the children weren’t human. They hadn’t considered that ghosts don’t need to bathe or sleep.

Xiao Muyu grabbed Shen Qingqiu, then quickly ran upstairs.

Once on the second floor, she headed straight for the room to the left of the stairwell. They had been staying in the rooms to the right of the stairs. However, they hadn’t yet entered the rooms on the left.

Since Shen Qingqiu couldn’t hear their conversation, Xiao Muyu led her. When they opened the first room, they found the setup inside was identical to theirs.

Xiao Muyu’s expression froze for a moment. With a small frown, she stepped inside. The others, who had hurried up after them, were confused. When Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu entered the room, they were dumbfounded.

The room, which had seemed clean and tidy, was suddenly covered in dust. It was as if stepping inside had triggered some time button, pulling everything out of the forgotten world in the blink of an eye.

Colorful little flowers, vibrant green grass, and trees bearing red apples adorned the wall. The dusty innocence of childhood surged forth from the flow of time to reveal itself before them.

“This… this is the children’s room?” Yang Rui murmured.

After stepping inside, they saw that the layout was completely different from the rooms they had been sleeping in. There were four bunk beds and metal lockers with names pasted on them. There were Xiao Yue’s, Xiao Qin’s, and Little Xiao Mei’s. Big Xiao Mei and Xiao Jiao shared one locker.

They weren’t locked. Yang Rui moved closer to open Big Xiao Mei and Xiao Jiao’s. But the moment she opened it, a pair of eyes suddenly met hers. Yang Rui gasped, almost fainting in shock.

Fortunately, Zhang Yangfeng had been watching her closely. Upon noticing something wrong, he reacted quickly and pulled her back. He, too, had gone pale after seeing what was inside.

A doll sat in the locker. Its large eyes were directed at them while a smile split its pale face. It was the same doll that Xiao Jiao had been holding that day.

There was a piece of clothing beside the doll—an old, blood-stained shirt soaked in dark, brownish blood.

The others were all staring at the locker, frozen. Only Shen Qingqiu fearlessly stepped forward with her dagger to carefully extract the shirt. The fabric was tattered, but they could still make out that it was a plain and unadorned men’s jacket.

“It’s the director’s,” Xiao Muyu recognized immediately.

“So, this doll… it’s the one Xiao Jiao was holding, right?” Shen Qingqiu asked with clear concern about this matter.

Xiao Muyu nodded. The others couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

“Then, you’ve completed all your connections, Miss Xiao. You don’t have to worry about the game anymore.”

Xiao Muyu glanced at the doll. It was so lifelike. Although she couldn’t identify the material, the face seemed almost alive. Could it really be that simple?

Shen Qingqiu also glanced at her. She moved to open the other three lockers. As she opened the doors, her hand casually brushed past the doll’s head, pulling two strands of hair from it.

Xiao Muyu caught it all clearly, including the doll’s eyes subtly shifting toward Shen Qingqiu.

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Author had something say:

Xiao Shen: Haven’t hugged enough yet.
Xiao Xiao: Once we’re out, it won’t just be hugging.