Yu Deng was trapped in this mass of shadows, his body entangled by tendrils formed from the black mist. Dizzy and disoriented, he murmured softly, "Stop scratching me.."
The shadow reflexively obeyed and paused, but seeing Yu Deng's slightly swollen lips, it resumed its unceremonious caresses.
The maze that had been troubling Yu Deng had long since dissolved on its own, and the lurking phantoms had vanished without a trace.
[The first time I saw this shadow, I was shocked. Just looking at it made me break out in cold sweat.]
[Yeah, yeah, it feels so eerie and cold. This must be a boss! I wonder who it is..]
[But why is the shadow bullying Deng Deng? Could it be that Deng Deng can deal with both humans and ghosts? Amazing!]
[Think about Deng Deng's face and body, and how cute he is. Suddenly, it doesn't seem so surprising.]
Yu Deng's dizziness didn't subside, and the black mist holding him continued to play tricks.
Yu Deng struggled to open his eyes and saw the familiar shadow, feeling slightly braver.
He turned his head and, in an act of defiance, bit down on the writhing tendrils of black mist.
The tendril tensed for a moment, allowing Yu Deng to bite, then slipped into his mouth, sliding along the soft flesh.
"Mm."
"You haven't answered me yet, madam. Did you just come out of that bastard's place?"
It took Yu Deng a long time to realize that Mr. Shadow had spoken.
Yu Deng's head was spinning, and he only caught the word "bastard," so he nodded firmly.
"Yes, Cheng Xiao is a bastard, a bad guy!"
Shadow: "..."
The shadow almost laughed in exasperation, angry but unwilling to harm Yu Deng.
The tendrils of black mist cupped Yu Deng's face, gently caressing every part of him, leaving its essence on his body.
"Knowing he's not a good person, why do you still go looking for him in the middle of the night? Do you like him that much?"
Yu Deng couldn't stand hearing this. "Of course not."
The shadow looked at Yu Deng's face, thinking coldly that it would sooner or later deal with this mansion and Cheng Xiao, an outsider.
[Alert! Alert! ]
[Detected a hidden ghost in the instance with a high degree of destructive intent. Calculating the probability of action… 95% probability of action. Player Yu Deng, please proceed with the sealing of the hidden ghost.]
Yu Deng's head was already uncomfortable, and the sharp alarm from the main system made it worse, making his head buzz.
System 01, slightly concerned about Yu Deng's condition, blocked the main system's channel. [The host is not well. Please try again later.]
Main system: [...]
Without the interference of the electronic voice, Yu Deng's headache lessened, but he still felt uncomfortable. His voice was soft, filled with grievance.
"Please stop moving me, Mr. Shadow. I'm so cold and tired."
The tightly coiled black mist paused for a moment, then firmly lifted Yu Deng and floated towards the house.
"Why are you so good at acting cute?"
...
Yu Deng opened his eyes.
It was pitch dark outside, and he couldn't tell if it was morning or still night. It took him about ten minutes to regain his senses.
"System, sir. I remember I went outside yesterday. How am I back in the room now?"
Is he that powerful? He actually came back unscathed?
Oh, wait, he seems to have encountered that shadowy figure before. It must have helped him..
The shadowy figure can talk now. He just forgot to ask its name..
[Host, I'm sorry.]The system suddenly spoke up.
Yu Deng was puzzled. "Huh?"
[You were in a dangerous situation yesterday, and I should have assessed the situation more carefully before letting you explore.]
Ghosts usually scare their victims continuously, extinguishing the "fire" on their shoulders before they can harm them. Someone as timid as Yu Deng is easily frightened and would see more and more eerie things, eventually getting lost in the dense fog like last night.
System 01 had analyzed the data all night and felt it had failed in its duty.
"Ah." Yu Deng could sense a hint of cautious tenderness in the system's electronic voice. He responded, his tone unconsciously affectionate, "But last night I wanted to challenge myself. Don't blame yourself, system."
System: […Okay.]
Yu Deng lingered in bed for a while, then slowly got up.
The sky outside was gloomy. Although it was already past nine in the morning, it was still as dark as night.
When Yu Deng went downstairs, he found that the other players were already awake. The bald man who had been in a coma for several days was also awake, limping as he ate breakfast.
Cheng Xiao was the first to notice Yu Deng. He walked over quickly and teased in a low voice, "Evil Lord."
Yu Deng looked around, pretending not to understand what the young stepson was saying.
Humph, this scoundrel didn't even help him with the tasks.
Cheng Xiao looked down at him for a few seconds, sharply sensing that Yu Deng seemed a bit down. "Did something happen yesterday?"
Yu Deng shook his head. "It's already been taken care of."
Cheng Xiao stopped joking and raised his hand to pinch Yu Deng's earlobe. "Next time you run into trouble, remember to come to me."
Yu Deng looked up at him and nodded.
"The guests are going to have a meeting later," Cheng Xiao said. "Would you like to listen in?"
Listen? Of course he wanted to listen. Yu Deng nodded again. He really needed to refer to the players' intellectual outcomes.
Half an hour later, the players gathered in the first-floor reception room.
Excluding the disguised NPC, Yu Deng, who was sneakily eavesdropping outside the door, the other eight players were all present.
[Wow, it's amazing that there haven't been any casualties yet.]
[It's already the fifth day. They should be consolidating information to confirm suspects. Actually, even using the process of elimination now, they could figure it out.]
[I just checked the official statistics. The survival rate for difficult altered instances is 30%, damn.]
The players took their seats one by one. During the seating, there was a small incident where the athletic player accidentally knocked over a water glass and was scolded by the office worker next to him.
The veteran player smoothed things over with a few words.
At this stage, everyone had their own suspects in mind, but they were now looking for the complete truth. Moreover, even if someone had guessed the culprit, they would be afraid of alerting the enemy and wouldn't dare to make a hasty judgment. If they said something wrong and were resented by the culprit, they might be killed to silence them.
Veteran player Sister Tong looked at everyone and said, "Let's hear what everyone thinks."
Everyone was somewhat cautious, sharing their thoughts in riddles.
Yu Deng crouched behind the door, disappointed, finding it hard to understand what they were talking about.
Boohoo, could they say something he could understand?
The meeting ended quickly, with everyone seemingly confirming their suspects. Cheng Xiao was the first to leave, and he found the dejected Yu Deng outside the door, feeling a bit amused.
Cheng Xiao put his arm around Yu Deng's shoulders and led the dispirited little widow away. They walked to a quieter corner and sat at a small round table.
Before long, Yu Deng heard someone calling Cheng Xiao from behind.
"Brother Cheng, wait a moment."
It was the two new players, Zhang Ziyun and Ke Qi.
"What is it?" Cheng Xiao nodded to them coolly.
Zhang Ziyun first glanced at Yu Deng and, seeing that Cheng Xiao was completely unguarded around him, didn't worry about Yu Deng either.
Oh, how could such a pretty NPC have any bad intentions?
"I went out this morning and mysteriously kept wandering around the room, and almost couldn't get out." She sat down with Ke Qi at the round table, lowered her voice, and shared with this seemingly reliable player, "The mansion is a bit dangerous now."
Cheng Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the warning."
Yu Deng looked at the short-haired girl with confusion. Did she encounter the same situation as last night? He was saved by Mr. Shadow last night. How did she escape?
Perhaps Yu Deng's puzzled gaze was too obvious, so Zhang Ziyun explained, "Luckily, I really like Marx. I recited a passage from the original works of Marx and Lenin, and eventually, I got out."
Yu Deng's eyes widened. "Is this the power of materialism?"
"Next time I encounter this, I should try singing," Zhang Ziyun added, then lowered her voice even further. "Those two veteran players also seem a bit off. When I asked them for help, they were enthusiastic in their comfort but had no intention of actually helping me. So during the meeting, Xiao Ke and I withheld some clues."
Yu Deng immediately pretended to be delicate and non-disruptive, patiently awaiting their sharing.
"These father and son from the Cheng family aren't good people. They have abused many others, taking advantage of the Cheng family's power and influence," Ke Qi continued the conversation. "Even Cheng Wen Hao's reputation isn't great publicly. When we talked with the Cheng family a few days ago, the information we received was completely different."
Cheng Xiao remained noncommittal. "Maybe they were lying."
The two newcomers nodded in agreement, eagerly looking to Cheng Xiao for some reciprocal sharing.
Yu Deng also turned his gaze expectantly towards the young stepson, urging him silently.
"I do have some clues," Cheng Xiao began but paused abruptly.
Yu Deng was on the verge of impatience, reaching out to tug at Cheng Xiao's sleeve gently, urging, with a soft, pleading tone, "Please, hurry and share. I want to hear."
Cheng Xiao found Yu Deng's sweetness quite tickling, a slight curl forming at the corner of his lips.
How does he manage to be so cute?
"I found the Cheng family's account books, transaction records, and some newspaper articles," Cheng Xiao stated bluntly. "The Cheng family did invest in the Fourth Auntie's school, and later, the school closed after a scandal involving a teacher molesting young girls was exposed. Also, there is..."
Cheng Xiao paused momentarily, appearing nonchalant. However, he had seized Yu Deng's hand, intertwined their pinkies, and playfully wrote a message in Yu Deng's palm.
"Evil Lord, I want a kiss."
While Yu Deng was still trying to discern Cheng Xiao's written message, Cheng Xiao's knee had already come into contact.
Taking advantage of the round table's ability to shield irrelevant onlookers, the young stepson, being extremely mischievous, lightly grazed Yu Deng's soft flesh on his thigh with his knee, separated only by the thin fabric of their pants.