Chapter 42: The Second Day·Interlinked

After Shen Mu left, Yan Yuze closed the door and looked at Du Xiulin, who sat unmovingly on the bed. With a smile plastered on his face, he asked, “Did we finish our discussion? If you don’t leave now, would you like to stay overnight then?”

When Du Xiulin heard this, the corner of his mouth appeared to perk up slightly as he stood, readily accepting the advice: “Then I’ll take my leave.”

Having said so, he walked towards the door. As he passed Yan Yuze, a voice suddenly floated by his ear: “I remember who you are now, Ye. San.”

As he slowly spat out the last two words, Yan Yuze’s voice contained a sense of direct provocation.

Du Xiulin had already arrived at the door. Upon hearing these words, his hand trembled unwittingly where it was perched on the door handle, but when he looked back, his face and voice were steady: “Yan Shao.”

The atmosphere in the air became tense for a moment. Yan Yuze still had an obscure smile, within which a sense of provocation gradually deepened.

Suddenly Du Xiulin laughed, returning the atmosphere to normal in an instant. The tension disappeared. Du Xiulin casually nodded his head towards Yan Yuze, “I will take my leave first.” Having said so, he really left and when he closed the door, he even took care to close the door gently.

Looking at the door which had just been lightly closed, Yan Yuze’s smile still hung on his face, a hint of disdain hovering within the corners of his lips. Yet, his gaze deepened with vigilance.

Du Xiulin had just left Yan Yuze’s room when he saw No. 8, Bai Lin, and the little girl, No. 9, walking towards him from the other end of the corridor. Du Xiulin nodded at them without any changes in his expression, privately processing what he had just seen within his mind.

The little girl seemed to be a little nervous and tightly clenched her fingers. When Bai Lin saw him coming out of Yan Yuze’s room, her eyes flashed with unabashed surprise. Although she quickly gathered herself and nodded politely towards him, her eyes contained vigilance, surprise, and suspicion.

She was quite a smart girl. However, this level of intelligence wasn’t enough to support her through all ten games. As for the little girl, unless she was a child prodigy, even if she tried harder, her experience and IQ was incomparable to that of an adult’s. In the early stages, people may take the little girl lightly, but if she really lived until the end, no one would look down on her just because she was a child. On the contrary, they would be more vigilant instead since she was able to survive despite being so young.

Bai Lin’s eyes flickered slightly, and when Du Xiulin was about to leave, she suddenly spoke.

“Have you… eaten yet?” 

She seemed to have decided to try to get information out of him. Du Xiulin could tell what Bai Lin was thinking with a glance, but he had no desire to accommodate her. Seeing Bai Lin, who was anxious and the little girl, whose face was full of nervousness, he smiled slightly and deliberately said, “Thank you, I have already eaten. Many thanks, No. 6, for your hospitality.” Then, regardless of what Bai Lin wanted to say, he immediately left the first floor.

“Sister Bai Lin, do you want to go back and rest?” Shen Xin asked kindly, seeing that Bai Lin’s complexion was shaky. Just then, when she had met Du Xiulin in the corridor, the pressure around him had made Shen Xin feel slightly scared. She had sensed that the bespectacled man was different from her initial impression of him, inducing slight feelings of surprise and usease. As soon as he left, she sighed in relief, and couldn’t resist secretly stimulating Bai Lin.

“No, I still have something to do. You can go back and rest first.” Bai Lin smiled at Shen Xin. Her voice was just as soft as before, however, her smile did not reach her eyes. She walked towards the stairs as soon as she finished speaking. Seeing her leave, Shen Xin shrugged, suppressed her curiosity, and obediently returned to her room to rest.

Back in her room, Shen Xin couldn’t help breathing a long sigh of relief. She was not relaxed at all with Bai Lin as she constantly felt like she was walking on thin ice. She really didn’t want to deal with her if she could avoid it, but escaping would not solve the problem here. Staring somewhat dazedly at the sky through the window, Shen Xin exhaled.

……

After leaving Yan Yuze’s room, Shen Mu went to No. 9’s room beside his own and knocked, but no one came to open the door.

Not here? Perhaps she was still eating?

Shen Mu walked towards the stairs and was just preparing to go to the second floor when some people came down. He suddenly became face to face with two figures: his sister and someone that Shen Mu hadn’t expected. It was the girl who looked a little delicate, No. 8, Bai Lin.

Since there was an outsider present, it was not a good time to acknowledge each other. Shen Mu raised his lips in a smile and nodded towards the two of them: “You two just finished eating? Your relationship seems pretty good, did you know each other before entering the game?”

Shen Mu: This was striking first to gain the upper hand!

Bai Lin smiled and didn’t speak, seemingly ill at ease. Seeing him, Shen Xin made a show of being slightly frightened, nervous and carrying a level of grievance as she hid quietly behind Bai Lin.

… She looked like a  good person who had been wronged, almost like a real Wolf meeting the Seer.

Shen Xin hid behind Bai Lin, making Bai Lin unable to stay silent any longer: “We met in the forest previously, so we became companions. I am No. 8, she is No. 9. We saw each other in the restaurant just now and had a little chat.” Bai Lin hadn’t said anything suspicious but Shen Mu noticed that when she was talking, her eyes were looking downwards to the right. It was not a look of reminiscence, but more like a cover-up.

At that time, Shen Xin was standing behind Bai Lin so her expression was hidden from her, but Shen Mu could see it clearly. Although Bai Lin was gentle and delicate, Shen Xin was shaking her head gently at him from behind, vigilance in her eyes.

Shen Mu understood what she meant, nodded calmly and said to Bai Lin, “Then I won’t bother you. I’ll go and get something to eat.”

At that time, Bai Lin had calmed herself and returned a question, “Why are you eating at such a late hour? There is not much food left. I thought the little sister and I were already the last ones. Other people finished eating ages ago.”

“Just now, I was thinking about things and lost track of time.” Shen Mu smiled without much care and kicked the ball* back to her. “How about you guys? Why did you go to eat so late?”

*T/N: to kick the ball back; to return the question.

Bai Lin answered softly. “Well, I was also thinking about things and suddenly realised that it was already late. I happened to meet little sister No. 9 on the way and we went together.” However, contrary to her words, Shen Mu saw Shen Xin raise one finger at him from behind Bai Lin and then point downwards.

No. 1? They were in room No. 1 just now? Interesting.

“Oh right, did you meet anyone else on your way to the game site?” Shen Mu seemed to suddenly think of something, and said with some concern, “I wonder, of the three people that didn’t manage to participate in the game, what kind of people they are.”

Bai Lin shook her head: “No, I did not meet anyone else. As for those people, unable to even participate in the game and already eliminated … I think they are really pitiful.”

Shen Xin shook her head from behind her and held up two fingers towards Shen Mu.

Shen Mu was slightly surprised, two people? He remembered that his junior sister had also said that she’d met two men and another middle-aged woman… So based on the numbers, his younger sister had also met the same pair of men. His younger sister seemed to be very vigilant of Bai Lin, and the girl Bai Lin was not as delicate and simple as she looked.

The dialogue had lasted a mere two minutes, and Shen Mu had already gained quite a lot of information. It seemed that Bai Lin had suddenly felt that something was wrong as she turned to look at Shen Xin. Seeing her countenance full of fear as she desperately awaited the end of the conversation, she felt that she had overthought.

Bidding farewell to his sister and Bai Lin, Shen Mu went to the second floor. By that time, the restaurant was completely empty so Shen Mu ate something casually and did not linger.

Of the players who were participating in this round, he had basically had some form of contact with everyone. For that matter, of the players who were still alive, the only one he had yet to privately speak to was No. 7. However, based on his performance during the game, No. 7 truly trusted Shen Mu and on top of that, he didn’t know much about playing Werewolf.

But he would still go and meet No. 7.

Back on the first floor, the corridor was empty. Shen Mu knocked on No. 7’s door.

“Who is it?” No. 7, as expected, was inside.

“It’s me, No. 2.”

The door opened, and No. 7 stood blankly in the doorway. No. 2’s visit appeared to be unexpected.

“Let’s go in and talk.” Shen Mu said with a smile upon seeing No. 7’s befuddled reaction.

“Oh! Come on in.” Although Zhao Xu was slightly confused, he did not seem to mind Shen Mu’s intrusion and opened the door, returning to the room before questioning him, “What’s wrong, did you come to find me for something?”

“It’s nothing much. I just wanted to ask whether you had met any of the 12 players from the current round during the preliminaries?” Shen Mu went straight to the point, “Don’t get me wrong, I just want to study what the distribution mechanism of this game is.”

After learning the reason behind Shen Mu’s arrival, Zhao Xu also relaxed. Thinking about it, he said, “By the end of the final round in my preliminaries, there were three other survivors in my team, however I haven’t seen the other two during this round. I was wondering whether they had been killed on the way.”

“Two…” Shen Mu thought for a moment, “What kind of people were they? Were they both young?”

Zhao Xu also seemed slightly stunned: “It’s true! When you say it like that, all the players in this game seem to be young … Ah, **** it! I wish I was ten years older!”

Thinking of the middle-aged woman whom he had met, Shen Mu couldn’t help saying, “I think it is safer to be 20 years older.”

Seeing Zhao Xu’s dumbfounded face, Shen Mu stopped talking. Although they couldn’t discuss game-related topics there, Zhao Xu was generally relaxed when conversing with him. It seemed that he really believed that Shen Mu was the Seer. It shouldn’t be hard to have the guy continue believing in him.

……

The third night arrived.

……

In the lofty, bright living room, the dark-veined, white marble floor was spotlessly clean, like the reflective surface of a gem. A girl wearing an embroidered, bright yellow princess skirt was sitting in the middle of the floor and arranging a castle. Although it hadn’t reached completion, its outline had already taken shape.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the girl turned, a smile appearing on her face: “Brother! You’re back!” Saying this, she threw away the building blocks in her hand and flung herself at the person.

The person reached out and hugged the cute little girl: “Little sis! Why are you sitting on the ground? Your cold just got better and you’ve already forgotten how uncomfortable you were?”

“Hehe,” The girl smiled confidently, “Since I only just got better, I won’t catch a cold again within a week ~”

“You are a typical person that forgets the pain after the wound heals*!”

T/N: forgetting the pain after the wound heals; forgetting how uncomfortable or painful something is as soon as it passes.

The little girl pursed her lips: “I have scientific proof ~”

“Okay, okay!” The brother replied dotingly.

……

Opening his eyes, the room was already bright. Shen Mu felt for his cell phone near the pillow and opened it. It was now 5:20. He had woken up an hour earlier this time.

The voice and smile of the little girl in his dream began to blur the moment he woke up, but her spirited expression and soft voice continued to breathe its own life into his mind.

The corners of Shen Mu’s lips couldn’t help rising. I wonder how my sister is doing now? But his sister was a Wolf and wouldn’t be killed. Unless she was poisoned by the Witch, she was unable to die at night…

Poisoned by the Witch… no way, right?!

No way, no way! Shen Mu quickly shook his head … after all, the witch might even be his junior sister…

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