Chapter 13: The Widow in the Mansion 13

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The bathroom was filled with mist, the faint scent of soap mingling with the sweet, soft fragrance clinging to Yu Deng, carried by the steam into every corner of the confined space.

Yu Deng had thought that the blurry shadowy figure would no longer stir, but he had overestimated the moral compass of this unnatural being.

Or perhaps, he had underestimated his own allure to these wretched beasts.

Before long, it began to stir again, the sticky, cold aura of darkness silently entwining around Yu Deng’s legs, the entire shadow drawing much closer.

The droplets falling from Yu Deng’s body grew even fewer.

Just awakened, it thought in the straightforward, primal manner of a beast.

Because the water carrying Yu Deng’s scent was sweet, it chose to absorb it—disregarding ethics and morality, driven solely by primal desire.

“...Mmm.”

Yu Deng let out a short muffled groan as his lower abdomen tensed, a patch of snowy skin on his back reddened where it was licked.

Annoyed and embarrassed, he turned his head sharply. “Why are you licking there? It’s ticklish.”

The shadow, already sticky and clingy, pressed against him again the moment Yu Deng spoke.

To be fair, this vague shadow was overwhelmingly oppressive. Though just a dim, indistinct shade standing there silently, it exuded a chilling and unsettling terror.

Such an entity symbolized ill omen and death within the infinite dungeon.

At first, Yu Deng had been quite afraid, but... this creature was simply too fond of biting and licking randomly! His embarrassment and irritation had surpassed his fear, and he began scolding it.

“You shouldn’t be here. Who just watches others bathe all the time?”

The shadow selectively ignored this remark.

“And you’re too cold. Always hugging me like this makes me uncomfortable.”

The shadow’s movements froze for a moment.

Being held like this—is it very cold?

...What a delicate little wife.

The shadow silently appraised this thought. Yet, driven by instinct and savage wildness, upon hearing Yu Deng’s complaint, the terrifying presence clumsily reined in its discomforting cold aura like a tame dog.

Yu Deng’s slightly furrowed brow finally relaxed.

Suddenly, he thought of a question and, a bit fearful yet curious, asked, “By the way, will I see you again?”

—Yes.

The ghost nodded.

Yu Deng blinked. “Can’t I ever see what you really look like? I don’t even know who you are.”

The contentment in the shadow’s eyes dimmed, replaced by melancholy.

After a moment of silence, it nodded again.

—Yes, you will know who I am, and we will meet properly.

...

Yu Deng washed himself thoroughly and wrapped in a bathrobe. The shadow, unsure if it had matters to attend to or could not stay long, reluctantly left.

Before departing, it left many new marks on Yu Deng and, with a small wisp of pure black aura, quietly took a small piece of cloth from the laundry basket.

This caused Yu Deng, after his bath, to impulsively check only to search repeatedly without finding it.

Where did it go again??

“...You guys can’t wear this anyway, and it’s dirty.”

Yu Deng muttered. After leaving the bathroom, the viewers in the livestream finally saw the light again, their eyes catching Yu Deng’s face flushed pink from bathing, the corners of his eyes and earlobes tinged with red, and fresh kiss marks on his neck.

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[Baby... be honest with us, did you just mess around with some wild man ghost again? (Complicated feelings)]

[Why! Why the blackout?! Don’t we deserve to see our lovely wife bathing?]

[Honestly, I forgot this was an infinite dungeon channel; these days I thought I was watching some chaotic romance game.]

Yu Deng was completely unaware that his chat was wailing again. He lay on his bed, trying to use his dull brain to piece together the dungeon’s storyline.

The more he thought, the more his pretty little face frowned, the sparkle in his eyes fading.

[But you know... watching this fool do tasks is kind of fun, a bit cute, no, a bit appetizing.]

[Wait, the guy in front, your ID looks familiar—weren’t you the one who said Deng Deng wouldn’t survive the first day?!]

[Yeah, that’s me. So what? I’ve already tipped 10,000 livestream coins.]

[Alright, alright, total conversion to fangirl mode then.]

Yu Deng, embracing the motto “Nothing in the world is hard if you’re willing to give up,” had already given up thinking and lay down to rest.

His snow-white leg hung half off the bed, gently swinging. Soon, drowsiness crept in and he drifted off.

[Ping, player Yu Deng triggered a personal side quest.]

Yu Deng abruptly sat up from his near-sleep death, bleary-eyed and asking, “What quest...?”

[According to player Yu Deng’s current character profile, you need to act accordingly. It has been detected that you have not adhered to your role’s dress code for over three days. Role break warning issued along with a personal side quest.]

Yu Deng nervously twiddled his fingers. “Go on.”

[Personal side quest: Player Yu Deng must wear female attire and be seen by at least one person, with the outfit worn for a minimum of one hour. This quest must be completed within 24 hours.]

Once the system issued the quest, a countdown timer appeared, ticking away.

Oh, so it wanted him to wear a skirt. He had thought it would be another spirit-guarding type quest.

Yu Deng wrinkled his nose and glanced toward the wardrobe.

He hadn’t seriously looked at the dresses inside yet but hoped for something nice... It had been a long time since he’d worn a skirt, and if he had to, he wanted to wear the most beautiful one.

Yu Deng still felt a bit self-conscious.

As for when to wear it... there was a full day’s time limit, so he decided to do it after waking up tomorrow.

With that decision made, Yu Deng fell asleep again.

The next morning.

When Yu Deng awoke, the mansion was as lethargically silent as ever. The moisture in the air had gathered for days and finally turned into fine rain, softly falling outside.

As Yu Deng got up, the players were eating breakfast.

Yu Deng had developed a slight aversion to the bland vegetarian fare of the mourning period, dawdling before taking his seat.

The players were discussing a letter found last night by the newcomer girl Zhang Ziyun and that overworked man.

It was a complaint letter written by Cheng Wenhao last month to a friend, undelivered for some reason.

One part revealed Cheng Wenhao’s frustration with Old Master Cheng: [Grandfather scolded me again, furious, telling me not to expect to inherit the Cheng family. He never thinks about himself—clearly an old, stubborn man...]

“See, he actually had a motive,” the overworked man analyzed confidently. “Besides, the concubines already have inheritance rights. Only Cheng Wenhao would be threatened. If Old Master Cheng dies, won’t the main line take over?”

Before entering the game, he worked in data analytics, and his reasoning was methodical and convincing. The new players listened, wide-eyed, sensing something meaningful.

Two veteran players exchanged calm glances and nodded in agreement with the overworked man: “You make a good point.”

Yu Deng nodded silently in his heart as well.

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Though he couldn’t piece everything together, he was beginning to grasp the dungeon’s essence: anyone involved had a grudge against Old Master Cheng.

As the discussion wound down, Cheng Xiao entered from outside, carrying a slight chill of steam with him.

Cheng Xiao spotted Yu Deng quietly drinking porridge and without hesitation sat beside him, whispering,

“Stepmom, I have something to tell you later.”

“Hm? Okay.”

Cheng Xiao was about to say more when a maid rushed over and bowed to them.

“Guests, have you seen Young Master Wenhao?”

The players’ expressions stiffened; they knew this development spelled trouble.

“No, he’s missing?”

“Yes. Just before dawn, the young master said he was too exhausted to continue and wanted to step out to clear his head. But he hasn’t returned, and there’s no sign of him in his bedroom. Madam sent me to ask the guests.”

Naturally, the players volunteered to help find him.

Ten minutes later, Cheng Wenhao was found. Or rather, his body was found.

He lay in his own bedroom’s ensuite bathroom.

He stood at the washbasin, torso bent forward, face buried in the sink.

The discoverer trembled, grasped his shoulder, lifted his face, and saw Cheng Wenhao’s face was pale gray, as if soaked and swollen, features blurred and puffy. A gentle touch caused his flesh to flake away.

—Cheng Wenhao had drowned in the washbasin.

The person immediately released him with a loud, harrowing scream and then fainted.

Yu Deng glimpsed the scene from afar, his stomach twisting violently as nausea surged uncontrollably.

Cheng Xiao covered Yu Deng’s eyes and pulled him back a few steps. “Don’t look.”

Compared to the other two straightforward murder methods, Cheng Wenhao’s death was eerily strange.

The screams drew others over. Three people had now died in the Cheng family consecutively. Few showed grief; most were numb.

Only Cheng Chaoxia and Lin Zhiyue reacted strongly—the former had lost a son, the latter, her fiancé.

Last night, Cheng Chaoxia’s children had watched over the body continuously for two nights. Miss Lin looked pale, bundled tightly in thick clothing, appearing fragile.

Cold-blooded or not, the players paid no attention to NPC emotions and immediately began discussing new clues.

Cheng Xiao did not join the discussion but walked with Yu Deng to the corridor. “Stepmom, do you think he killed Old Master Cheng and then committed suicide out of guilt?”

Yu Deng answered instinctively, “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah.” Cheng Xiao nodded.

Though more had died, the list of suspects had shrunk again. In some cases—especially stormy mansion-style mysteries—the killer might fake death or commit suicide to escape suspicion, but that clearly wasn’t the case here.

Cheng Wenhao wasn’t the culprit but a victim of the killer.

Cheng Xiao glanced sideways. “Then, who do you think is the real problem? Why would they do this?”

Yu Deng bluntly displayed his empty mind. “I don’t know.”

He only knew the victims must be connected to the murderer; beyond that, how could he tell?

Yu Deng shot back, “Why keep asking me? Can’t you analyze it yourself?”