Chapter 17: The Widow in the Mansion
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Yu Deng was trapped within a mass of black shadows, his body entwined by tendrils formed from the dark mist. Dazed and murmuring softly in complaint, he said, “Don’t scratch me randomly…”
The shadow reflexively obeyed and stopped, but upon noticing Yu Deng’s slightly swollen lips, it resumed its unruly teasing without restraint.
The ghostly maze that had tormented Yu Deng shattered on its own, and the lurking phantoms in the darkness vanished without a trace.
[This is the first time I’ve seen this shadow… Damn, just looking at it makes me break out in cold sweat.]
[Right, right, such a chilling aura, this must be a boss! Wonder who it is.]
[But why is this shadow bullying Deng Deng... So our Deng Deng can handle both humans and ghosts? (shocked)]
[Think about the baby’s face and body, and how adorable he is—it almost makes sense.]
Yu Deng’s dizziness remained unrelieved, and the dark mist that supported him continued its mischief.
Struggling, Yu Deng forced his eyes open and saw the familiar black shadow, which gave him a bit more courage.
Turning his head, he bit down fiercely on one of the writhing misty tendrils.
The tendril tensed briefly, letting Yu Deng bite it, then slid into his mouth, gliding along the soft flesh.
“...Mmm.”
“Madam hasn’t answered me yet—did you just come out from that bastard’s room?”
Yu Deng took a long moment to realize the shadow was speaking.
His head still spinning, he caught only the words “bastard” and nodded firmly.
“Mm, Cheng Xiao… bastard, villain!”
The shadow: “...”
It almost laughed in anger but was unwilling to harm Yu Deng.
The tendrils of dark mist cupped Yu Deng’s face, gently and slowly caressing, leaving its presence delicately upon various parts of his body.
“You know he’s no good, yet you went to find him late at night. Do you like him that much?”
Yu Deng refused to hear that: “No, I don’t.”
The shadow stared coldly at Yu Deng’s face, silently thinking that sooner or later it must deal with this mansion and outsiders like Cheng Xiao.
[Alert! Alert!]
[Detected a hidden vengeful spirit within the instance exhibiting massive destructive intent. Calculating probable actions… 95% probability detected. Player Yu Deng must perform a sealing on the hidden spirit!]
Yu Deng’s head was already unwell, and the system’s sharp alarm made it buzz even louder.
System 01, slightly concerned, monitored Yu Deng’s condition and muted the main system channel: [Host is unwell, please wait before proceeding.]
Main system: [...]
Without the electronic noise, Yu Deng’s head ached less, though discomfort remained. His voice was soft and filled with grievance.
“Please don’t move me around so much… Shadow sir, I’m so cold and so sleepy.”
The tightly wrapped dark mist paused, then securely lifted Yu Deng and floated toward the house.
“How good at acting spoiled you are.”
...
Yu Deng opened his eyes.
Outside, it was pitch dark, and he couldn’t tell if day had broken or not. It took him over ten minutes to regain his senses.
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“System sir, I think I went outside yesterday, so why am I back in the room now?”
Was he really that capable? Had he returned unharmed?
Oh no, he seemed to have met that shadow gentleman before… so it must have been him who helped.
The shadow gentleman could even speak, though Yu Deng forgot to ask his name.
[Host, apologies.] The system suddenly spoke.
Yu Deng was puzzled: “Huh?”
[Last night you fell into danger. I should have been more cautious in assessing the situation before allowing exploration.]
Ghosts typically harm by frightening their victims repeatedly, extinguishing the fire in their hearts before doing harm.
Someone as timid as Yu Deng would easily get scared, seeing more and more underworld entities, eventually getting lost in the thick mist just like last night.
System 01 analyzed data all night and felt it had failed its duty.
“Ah.” Yu Deng surprisingly detected a faint gentle caution in the system’s electronic voice. He replied with a soft, affectionate tone, “But last night I wanted to challenge myself. So don’t blame yourself, okay?”
System: [...Okay.]
Yu Deng lingered in bed for a while, then slowly got up.
Outside, the sky was gloomy; it was clearly past nine in the morning but as dark as before dawn.
Going downstairs, Yu Deng found all the players awake, including the Mediterranean man who had been unconscious for days, now hobbling to eat breakfast.
Cheng Xiao was the first to notice Yu Deng and quickly approached, teasing in a low voice, “Lord Evil Spirit.”
Yu Deng looked around, pretending not to understand the stepson’s words.
Hmph, that villain hadn’t cooperated with him on any missions.
Cheng Xiao lowered his head for a few seconds, keenly sensing Yu Deng’s listlessness. “Did something happen yesterday?”
Yu Deng shook his head. “It’s resolved.”
Cheng Xiao stopped teasing, pinched Yu Deng’s earlobe, and said, “If you have trouble next time, remember to come find me.”
Yu Deng looked up at him and nodded.
“Guests will have a meeting soon,” Cheng Xiao said. “Stepmom, do you want to listen in?”
Of course he wanted to hear it. Yu Deng nodded again. He really needed to refer to the players’ intelligence.
Half an hour later, the players gathered in the reception room on the first floor.
Except for Yu Deng disguised as an NPC, sneaking outside the door to eavesdrop, all eight players were present.
[Wow, no casualties at all? Amazing.]
[It’s the fifth day now; they must be consolidating information to confirm suspects. Actually, you can deduce it by elimination now.]
[I just checked official stats. The survival rate for difficult variant instances is thirty percent. Yikes.]
Players took their seats one by one. During seating, a small incident occurred: the athlete player accidentally knocked over a water glass and was scolded by the nearby corporate slave player.
The veteran players made some conciliatory comments.
By this stage, everyone had some suspect in mind; now they were just seeking the full truth.
Moreover, even if they guessed the culprit, they feared alerting them and wouldn’t make rash judgments.
If it turned out to be nothing and they were held grudges against, resulting in a murder to silence them, that would be disastrous.
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Veteran player Sister Tong looked around: “What do you all think? Any opinions?”
Everyone hesitated, sharing cautiously like riddle-tellers.
Yu Deng crouched behind the door, disappointed, struggling to follow.
Wuwu, couldn’t they say something he could understand?
The meeting ended quickly. Everyone seemed to have confirmed their suspects. Cheng Xiao was the first to leave and found the gloomy, withdrawn Yu Deng outside, feeling somewhat charmed.
Cheng Xiao put his arm around Yu Deng’s shoulder, leading the forlorn little widower away. They walked to a quieter corner and sat at a small round table.
Soon, Yu Deng heard someone call out to the stepson.
“Cheng-ge, wait.”
It was the two new players, Zhang Ziyun and Ke Qi.
“What’s up?” Cheng Xiao nodded lightly at them.
Zhang Ziyun glanced at Yu Deng, noting Cheng Xiao’s unguarded demeanor toward him, so she let down her guard too.
Ah, what evil could such a beautiful NPC have?
“I went out this morning but somehow kept wandering around the room, almost couldn’t get out.” She sat at the far end of the table with Ke Qi, lowering her voice to share with this seemingly more reliable player, “The mansion’s a bit dangerous now.”
Cheng Xiao raised his eyebrows: “Thanks for the heads-up.”
Yu Deng looked at the short-haired girl curiously. Had she encountered the same situation as last night? Yu Deng was saved by the shadow gentleman; how had she escaped?
Perhaps Yu Deng’s puzzled look was obvious because Zhang Ziyun casually said, “Luckily, I really like Marx. I recited a passage from the original Marxist texts, and after some twists and turns, I got out.”
Yu Deng’s eyes widened: “? Is that the power of materialism?”
“If this happens again, I’ll try singing revolutionary songs.” Zhang Ziyun lowered her voice further. “Those two veteran players are a bit off… When I asked them for help, they comforted me warmly but didn’t actually want to help. So I and Ke Qi hid some clues during the meeting just now.”
Yu Deng immediately pretended to be a harmless NPC who wouldn’t disturb players, patiently awaiting her sharing.
“The grandfather and grandson who died in the Cheng family weren’t good people.” Ke Qi took over, “They bullied many using the Cheng family’s power and influence.”
Zhang Ziyun hesitated: “Also, Cheng Wenhao’s reputation outside isn’t great. A few days ago, when we talked to the Cheng family, their version was completely different.”
Cheng Xiao said noncommittally, “Maybe they were lying.”
The two newcomers nodded in agreement, turning expectantly to Cheng Xiao, hoping for some reciprocation.
Yu Deng also turned eagerly, his eyes urging his stepson.
“I do have some clues.” Cheng Xiao said, then stopped.
Yu Deng was nearly frantic, tugging on Cheng Xiao’s sleeve, softly shaking him, voice gentle: “Hurry up and tell me, I want to hear.”
Cheng Xiao smiled slightly, charmed by Yu Deng’s sweetness.
How could he be so good at acting spoiled?
“I found the Cheng family’s accounts and transaction records, plus some newspapers.” Cheng Xiao said bluntly. “The Cheng family did invest in that fourth concubine’s school, which later closed because of a scandal involving a teacher molesting girls. Also…”
Cheng Xiao paused, seeming casual but actually took Yu Deng’s hand, hooking Yu Deng’s pinky and playing with it. In Yu Deng’s palm, he wrote a phrase.
“Lord Evil Spirit, wants a kiss.”
Yu Deng was still struggling to read what Cheng Xiao wrote when his knee pressed against Yu Deng’s thigh.
Using the round table as a shield from prying eyes, the mischievous stepson rubbed his knee softly against the tender flesh of Yu Deng’s thigh through thin pants.