Li Zhi went down to the fourth floor and waited for a while.
The apartment wasn’t soundproof, but that had its advantages. She could clearly hear Chen Meiqian cooking, followed by the sound of her serving the food and closing the door behind her. After that, there was no more noise.
Deep in thought, Li Zhi continued down the stairs. As soon as she stepped out of the apartment, she encountered Li Jianxi, who seemed to have been waiting at the entrance for a long time. He was holding several bulging plastic bags, which looked like they came from a grocery store.
Li Zhi quickened her pace and walked up to him, curiously eyeing the bags in his hands. “What did you buy?”
Li Jianxi raised his hand to show her. “Dinner.”
He pursed his lips and said earnestly, “You treated me to dinner last night, so today, I’m treating you.”
Li Zhi chuckled at the way he kept insisting on reciprocating, but she didn’t comment further. “Alright, let’s go have dinner.”
At Grandma Qiu’s stall, several people were already seated. Thankfully, there was a stall like this where players could settle their meals in the game. Grandma Qiu’s cooking was pretty good, too. Otherwise, investigating clues on an empty stomach would have been miserable.
As soon as she saw her favorite couple walking over, Fu Huan sneakily carried her boxed meal over to sit beside them, taking the best spot to enjoy the ‘sweet moments’!
Li Feng glanced at the two of them and suddenly felt that he had made a hasty promise to his sister about not interfering with them.
Li Jianxi took the packed meal boxes out of the bags and placed them on the table. Li Zhi was surprised. “Why did you buy so much?”
Li Jianxi replied, “I didn’t know what you liked, so I bought a bit of everything.”
Fu Huan was so happy that she had to lower her head to hide her grin as she shoveled food into her mouth.
Looking at the seven or eight meal boxes on the table, Li Zhi suspected that Li Jianxi had probably bought everything the store had to offer. She smiled and called over Fu Huan, who was busy eating. “Huan Huan, come eat with us.”
Fu Huan’s eyes sparkled as she looked up, but then she hesitated, glancing at Li Jianxi. She was worried that this NPC might not be too pleased about sharing.
After all, these meals were bought for his “wife”—what if he didn’t want other players to touch them?
However, Li Jianxi’s expression remained indifferent, showing no objection.
Li Zhi laughed. “Come join us. There’s too much food; we shouldn’t waste it.”
Meng Yuhan, sitting nearby, didn’t have any such concerns and had already started eating. Seeing this, Fu Huan didn’t hold back either, and soon, the four of them were sitting around the small table, enjoying dinner together in a harmonious atmosphere.
The players were all gathered here, and since they were close, they took the opportunity to exchange information while eating.
Yuan Cheng spoke in a low voice, “I observed carefully, and there’s indeed a scar on Qu Rong’s left wrist. It looks like it’s from when she attempted suicide. I casually asked about it, but her response was totally normal.”
Another player chimed in, “Yeah, she didn’t seem to care about the scar at all, just said she cut herself accidentally a long time ago.”
Li Feng, who had been with them earlier, put down his chopsticks and said, “When I asked her about the news report, she showed no reaction, either in her eyes or her tone. That’s really odd.”
That was something she had risked her life to uncover, a truth she would die to prove. Even though the incident was in the past, how could she have no reaction when asked about it?
She should have shown some emotion—maybe anger, maybe pain, or even avoidance. If she had truly let it go, there should still have been some sense of relief. But instead, it was as if it had nothing to do with her, as if she was hearing gossip about a stranger.
“There are two possibilities,” Li Zhi said. “One, this isn’t the real Qu Rong. The real Qu Rong is dead, and this imposter naturally wouldn’t have any feelings about it. Two, Qu Rong found a way to suppress her negative emotions about the incident. If she can keep her emotions from being affected by it, she could still live a good life elsewhere.”
After they finished discussing Qu Rong, Fu Huan remembered something and asked, “Did you see Chen Meiqian?”
Li Zhi nodded. “Yes, I did.”
She recounted her encounter with Chen Meiqian, and the others were surprised. “That easy? She just came out of hiding in the washroom? Shouldn’t meeting such a key NPC have been more difficult?”
“Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?” Xiang Ling frowned. “Li Zhi wanted to meet her, and then she just happened to come out. And wasn’t it always Chu Guangyan who did the cooking? Why was it that, the moment Li Zhi hid in the washroom, Chen Meiqian just happened to be the one cooking?”
When she said that, everyone agreed it was indeed quite the coincidence.
Li Zhi propped her head on her hand and smiled slightly, “Maybe it’s because she wanted me to meet her.”
“What do you mean?”
“For the past couple of days, I’ve been asking around about her. Last night, I even asked Chu Guangyan if I could visit his home, but he politely declined. If someone didn’t want me to keep digging and asking questions, the best way would be to appear and satisfy my curiosity.”
Chen Meiqian knew Li Zhi was looking for her, so she came forward specifically to be seen.
Look, she’s just a normal person. No matter how hard you look, you won’t find anything unusual. Once you’ve seen her, there’s no need to remain curious.
Li Zhi recalled the meeting once more.
The young woman, slender and with delicate features, had warm and soft hands when they shook. When she spoke of her husband, there was no hint of resentment in her tone or expression. She wasn’t the timid woman who, according to Grandma Qiu, would lower her head and avoid neighbors, nor was she the introverted and shy wife Chu Guangyan had described.
She was gentle, poised, and greeted unfamiliar neighbors with a smile. When she left, she even said, “See you again.”
“See you again.”
Li Zhi mulled over the phrase and let out a meaningful chuckle.
After dinner, the sky gradually darkened. Li Zhi heard Fu Huan reminding the others, “Stay in your rooms tonight, and don’t do anything stupid like Cao Xun did last night!”
Everyone nodded repeatedly, “Who would dare to risk that again?”
Li Zhi helped Grandma Qiu put away the tables and chairs, buying a bag of flour from her.
Grandma Qiu’s stall served freshly made food every morning, so there was plenty of flour on hand. Li Zhi carried a large bag of it upstairs. The lanterns on the second floor hadn’t been lit yet. She carried the flour up to the sixth floor and began sprinkling it down the stairs. A thin layer of white flour, like frost, covered the steps from the sixth floor to the second floor, and the bag was soon empty. She tested it by stepping on the flour, leaving a shallow footprint.
Meng Yuhan, standing at the door of room 205, asked in a soft voice, “Sister Zhi, will this work?”
Li Zhi walked backward, using the last bit of flour to cover her own footprints. “We’ll find out tomorrow.”
Night fell quickly, and at some moment, all the lanterns on the second floor suddenly lit up.
Li Zhi, noticing the red light streaming in through the crack under the door, realized that the lanterns seemed to be swaying more tonight than usual.
Since she hadn’t slept well the previous night, she felt drowsy as soon as she lay down. Meng Yuhan, however, was still full of energy, confidently assuring her, “Sister Zhi, you can sleep first! I’ll keep watch. I’m not sleepy at all!”
Li Zhi chuckled and patted her head. “Then I’m counting on you to protect me tonight.”
Meng Yuhan instantly felt a great sense of responsibility. “Okay!”
Li Zhi knew Meng Yuhan wouldn’t always be with her in the game. Since she had become a player, she needed to adapt to the environment in the game’s levels. She had to slowly develop and hone the traits that every player needed, such as being alert at night.
Li Zhi handed over the task of keeping watch to her and, without a second thought, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
As she heard the sound of Li Zhi’s steady breathing beside her, Meng Yuhan clenched her little fists. Sister Zhi trusted her so much—she absolutely couldn’t let her down!
In the darkness, the little girl’s eyes grew wider and wider.
She listened carefully to every sound in the night, her ears pricking up at the slightest rustling or movement.
She remained on high alert for a long time, though she wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Eventually, she couldn’t help but yawn, rubbing her tired eyes.
She was getting a little sleepy… She wanted to sleep…
As soon as the thought of sleep crossed her mind, Meng Yuhan snapped herself awake again. She pinched her small face and silently cheered herself on: I can’t fall asleep! I have to be a good sentry!
Outside the screen, the audience watching couldn’t help but be charmed by this little girl’s determination, and they all started voting for her.
The night grew deeper, and after Meng Yuhan stifled yet another yawn, she suddenly heard the sound of a door opening in the hallway. Someone had stepped outside.
The sound of the door opening seemed to trigger something, as more doors began to open one after another. Many people were coming out.
In the pitch-black room, the red light that had been flickering through the crack under the door swayed violently, as though caught in a storm.
Meng Yuhan instinctively held her breath. She hesitated, wondering if she should wake Li Zhi. But just then, the flickering red light beneath the door vanished.
She stared at the crack, and suddenly realized—it wasn’t that the red light had disappeared. It was that someone was standing outside the door, blocking the light.
The moment this thought crossed her mind, the knocking began.
Thud—
Thud thud—
Thud thud thud—
Three knocks, perfectly rhythmic and not rushed, as if the person outside was being very polite.
Meng Yuhan’s breath caught in her throat. She held it as she shakily reached out to cover Li Zhi’s mouth and nose, but her trembling hand was gently grasped by Li Zhi, who gave her a reassuring pat.
Realizing that Sister Zhi was already awake, Meng Yuhan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The two of them held their breath in the darkness. The knocking did not sound again, but the crack under the door remained dark.
The person who knocked was still standing outside. They hadn’t left.
Time ticked by slowly, and Li Zhi silently counted the seconds in her head. One minute later, the knocking resumed. This time, it was more urgent and impatient, and the force behind it was much stronger.
Thud thud thud—
Thud thud thud—
The sound was less like knocking and more like pounding on the door.
If they didn’t open the door, would whatever was outside break it down?
Sweat rolled down Meng Yuhan’s forehead. As she raised her hand to wipe it away, the sound of a bouncing ball echoed down the hallway. The rhythmic thump thump of the ball grew closer, stopping right outside the door of room 205.
“The sister in here promised to play ball with me,” a child’s voice could be heard, innocent yet tinged with annoyance. “Go away!”
It was the same little ghost they had encountered the previous night—the one with the overalls and white sneakers.
Moments later, red light once again seeped through the door crack.
The thing outside had left.
The door was knocked on again, but this time, it was the little ghost’s polite voice. “Sister, come out and play ball with me, okay?”
He waited for a while, but when no response came, he sat down with his ball outside the door. Li Zhi could hear the sound of him leaning against the door as he mumbled, “I’ve finished all the candy you gave me, and no one’s playing with me. I’m so bored.”
“All the uncles and aunties have gone to play with everyone else. Sister, won’t you come out and play with me too?”
In the darkness, Li Zhi’s sharp hearing picked up footsteps from both upstairs and downstairs.
It was clear that tonight would not be peaceful.