Switch Mode
We need to go to each chapter in each story to manually fix the links for the theme. We are doing this in alphabetical order so if you click the button made by the website it might not work but the original one that says previous, table of context, next chapter within the chapter will work! Current novel on: Husband and Wife are of the Same Mind

The Entire City Is My Husband Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Catching Little Xie


Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!


<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>


Residential Building, 2nd Floor

“Cousin, which floor does Brother Xie live on?”

Lin Lan tiptoed carefully around the garbage water on the steps and climbed the stairs. The second floor was even darker than the first, with no ventilation windows in the corridor, filled with a gloomy atmosphere.

“The 4th floor,” replied Chu Feng. “The 7-year-old lives in 404.”

Lin Lan looked at the residents on both sides of the 2nd floor, which were 203 and 204 respectively:

“Cousin, what about 201 and 202?”

“They’re in the building behind,” Chu Feng said.

This residential building consisted of 2 buildings in the old district, with residents in the X03 and X04 units. The building behind was Building 1, with residents in the X01 and X02 units.

Lin Lan recalled seeing that the cross staircase connecting the two buildings was located on the 4th floor.

“So, 401 and 402 are in the building behind, and the units we’re currently passing through, 403 and 404, are in this building?” Lin Lan asked.

Chu Feng nodded.

Lin Lan muttered to himself and silently remembered the door numbers, feeling somewhat unsafe living on the fourth floor.

The security in this old rundown area seemed poor, with no surveillance cameras, and the existence of a cross staircase on the fourth floor meant that the 404 unit should be the place where Little Xie had lived in the real world. Originally, Little Xie’s neighbor was only in unit 403, but because of this cross staircase, residents from units 401 and 402 in the building behind could also come over.

Ta, ta, ta.

They climbed up to the 3rd floor step by step. It became even darker around them. Almost to the point of being invisible. Lin Lan felt that something was wrong:

“Cousin, is it possible for it to be this dark during the day?”

Lin Lan even felt a chill; it was early summer morning, even if it followed the logic of a horror movie, nothing should happen. But there was no light in this corridor, it was dark and gloomy. Lin Lan shivered as he asked:

“Sh-should we… turn on the lights?”

Chu Feng also felt that something was off; this didn’t match his memory. Although Xie Shiyu’s home was relatively back-facing, it shouldn’t be this dark on a summer morning.

—There must be something wrong here.

“The l-lights… where are they?” 

Lin Lan looked around anxiously. They stood between units 303 and 304, a small light bulb hung above their heads, but Lin Lan couldn’t find the switch on the wall after feeling around for a while. In his previous residential area, the corridor lights were voice-controlled; they would turn on with a stomp, and there were no lighting fixtures where residents had to search for switches like this.

Chu Feng also struggled to remember; he was only 7 years old, and it had been 22 years ago. He vaguely remembered that the light control in this building wasn’t the usual fixed push-button switches on the wall, but rather a thin light cord that needed to be pulled to turn on the lights, and it was particularly difficult to find.

The electricity bill for turning on the lights in the corridor is shared equally between the two households on each floor, and they have to collect money for it. Therefore, the residents on each floor hid the light switches very securely to prevent others from turning on the lights and using their electricity. 

***

Chu Feng remembered that when he was a child, he once played at Xie Shiyu’s house until dusk. As the sky darkened, the corridor was pitch black. 

Little Chu Feng was a bit scared, but then he saw Xie Shiyu, like a little light spirit, bounding down the stairs and effortlessly turning on the lights on each floor.

“It should be… here…” Chu Feng thought for a moment, reaching out towards the side of unit 303—

Click.

As Chu Feng’s hand reached halfway, the light above suddenly turned on.

The tungsten filament bulb emitted an orange light, the bulb was a bit old, with a layer of gray dust on the glass. Under the dim yellow light, Chu Feng saw X’s hand, accurately pulling out the light cord from the inside edge of unit 303 to turn on the light.

Chu Feng: “…. How did you know the light cord was there?”

X blinked, seeming a bit puzzled himself:

“…By chance.”

Chu Feng narrowed his eyes, looking at X with some suspicion.

With the lights on, the surroundings became brighter, and Lin Lan observed that the walls here were a bit mottled and peeling. The color scheme of the walls was also strange, with the lower half painted green and the upper half white, for some unknown reason.

The painter painting the walls with paint did it very roughly, lacking the delicate powder texture that Lin Lan usually saw on his own white walls at home. The walls here were simply painted over the cement base with a large brush dipped in inferior paint, brushed on roughly, and not even evenly brushed. You could even see the rough granular texture of the cement base where the brush had passed.

In the middle of that white wall, the painter used dark red paint to write the floor number: 3

The written numbers were also irregular, with fuzzy edges and drips of red paint along the edges, resembling blood letters from a horror movie, which made Lin Lan very uncomfortable.

X was also observing the wall surface. His gaze was fixed on the lower half of the wall, where the green paint had been applied:

“There was no green paint on the first and second floors just now.”

“Yeah. Only the third floor is like this,” Chu Feng said. In his memory, Little Shiyu’s building had an inexplicable half of the third-floor wall painted in green, while the rest were white.

X slowly squatted down, inspecting the lower half of the green-painted wall. Suddenly, he pointed to a spot where the paint was not evenly applied:

“This.”

Chu Feng also squatted down to take a look, frowning.

In a small area where there was no green paint, about the size of a thumbnail, half of it was white, indicating that this wall was originally white like the walls on other floors. The other half had a bit of black-brown stain.

——This black-brown stain had a hint of red.

X said, “Bloodstains.”

“…D*mn!” Lin Lan realized, meaning that the lower half of the third-floor wall was originally white, but because of blood splatter, it had to be repainted with another color of paint!

“D*mn, I’m getting goosebumps!” Lin Lan exclaimed. “What’s going on with this building?”

“Don’t scare yourself,” Chu Feng said.

If something had really happened here, with a large amount of blood splatter that needed to be covered up, they would definitely repaint with white paint and do it carefully to prevent anyone from noticing.

It might not be a big deal to paint walls hastily with green paint like this; it might just be a matter of using whatever color of paint was at hand, not caring about it, even if it was different from the walls on other floors.

X said, “Even if it’s discovered, it doesn’t matter.”

Chu Feng: “?” 

X: “Take a look at the environment here.”

Chu Feng frowned unhappily, “What do you mean?”

X remained silent. He knew that Chu Feng’s dream city was filled with his husband everywhere. This place must have been where his husband lived when he was young. It seemed that his husband’s family background was really not good, not just ordinary poverty, but… the whole building exuded a sense of… gloominess, irregularity, like it was inhabited by a group of socially unstable individuals. 

Living in such an environment, everyone was unclean. In this building, the 365 days were completely different from those spent in a regular residential area, where every corridor had surveillance cameras, and every day was lived in law-abiding, clean and bright surroundings.

X didn’t say anything. After all, it wasn’t appropriate to say such things directly in front of someone else’s wife, so X chose to remain silent. 

However, Lin Lan understood X’s implicit meaning. It was true that Brother X’s previous family situation was… very bad. If it was just a bit poor in a clean and honest family, it wouldn’t matter much. But his father was a drug addict, and their family owed hundreds of thousands in high-interest loans. When Chu Feng used to visit Xie Shiyu’s house, he went without telling his family, and when he was discovered, his cousin was scolded severely by his mother. 

—–After all, no parent would want their child to always go to the home of a drug addict to play. 

And the neighbors around the drug addict’s home, could they be good people? Children who grew up in such an environment, sons raised by drug addicts, could they be good children? 

Thinking about his cousin’s family situation, Chu Feng’s father was the vice president of a local 211 university, his mother worked in the education bureau, his grandfather was the director of the finance bureau of the municipal government at that time, and his maternal grandfather who had not retired yet was a director of a top-tier hospital in the city. Their family was not extremely wealthy, but they were all respectable members of society. In their local city, Chu Feng’s family had a very strong network of relationships, and everything went smoothly when they needed to get something done. 

Since childhood, Chu Feng’s parents drove two cars and lived in a duplex penthouse with a garden. After having a precious son like Chu Feng, he loved to go and play with little Xie after school, always running to the home of the drug addict for no reason. Chu Feng’s parents were almost scared to death when they found out. They strictly prohibited Chu Feng from having any contact with the bad kid Little Xie, and even informed the teachers at school that if they found out Chu Feng had a close relationship with Little Xie at school, they should report it immediately. 

Beep… beep… 

The system’s little spirit suddenly emitted a signal interference noise. “Don’t move! Something’s not right here!” the spirit exclaimed. At the same time, Chu Feng’s phone suddenly vibrated violently, and red warning messages popped up: 

【Danger detected by the system!】 

【Unforeseeable danger detected inside the building!】

【Please players immediately exit the game!】

Lin Lan was startled, immediately recalling the situation when he and his cousin experienced the bus explosion. It was also accompanied by a screen full of blood-red warnings:

“What’s… going on? Could there be… a bomb in this building too?”

The system spirit’s tuft of hair emitted a beeping sound: “It’s infected! The building from the fourth floor and above has been infected by the virus!”

They were currently on the third floor, where Little Shiyu lived in room 404.

Chu Feng asked, “Will the characters be in danger?”

“I can’t confirm.” The spirit said, “But the virus cannot spread from infected buildings to characters. The virus can only transmit between living beings. However, the infected buildings will exhibit anomalies. It could be just like what happened in the hospital, where the power was cut off, or it could be… anything unusual.”

“But…” Lin Lan couldn’t understand, “How could the residential building be infected?”

The only contact with the virus was Little Xie, who went to school in the primary school. If there was any infection, it should have started with the data sequence in the primary school building. Moreover, the residential building was some distance away from the primary school area. After the virus outbreak, the Little Xies in the building did not go to school, and the Little Xies in the primary school area did not return to the building. So, how did the virus infect this building?

Silence ensued.

Lin Lan suddenly realized, “I get it! So, the seven-year-old Little Xie in this building is the [original body], right? Because he was originally the [original body] of the virus, which is why he infected the surrounding data sequences!”

“There’s another possibility.” X interjected.

Chu Feng immediately added, “Animals.”

Lin Lan: !!

Lin Lan remembered that among the three types of Little Xies staying in the residential building were: Little Xie who holds a cat, Little Xie who observes swallows, and Little Xie who catches spiders. These animals might have been active near the primary school area before and got infected by the virus, then came near the residential building, thus infecting the building’s data sequence.

“So, which animal is it?” Lin Lan wondered. If they could catch this animal, it would help control the virus.

Chu Feng immediately said, “Swallows.” ??

Lin Lan couldn’t keep up with this train of thought.

X added, “On the fourth floor.”

Among the three types of animals, spiders are unlikely to crawl long distances. If it was a cat carrying the virus, then it would start infecting from the first floor and move upward, so it wouldn’t make sense to only infect the fourth floor and above. Therefore, the most likely culprit would be the swallows.

Chu Feng remembered that there was a swallow’s nest at the doorstep of Little Xie’s house. When he was in primary school, he would sneakily go to Little Xie’s house after school to observe the swallows together. This building was quite old, and the beams were suitable for nesting, so every spring, many swallows would come to build nests.

“So, there are two possibilities now,” the system spirit gathered information. “Either, one of the three seven-year-old Little Xies is the [original body], or none of them are. However, the animal swallow has been infected by the virus and needs to be eliminated as soon as possible to prevent other characters from being infected.”

The leaden gray steps extended under their feet towards the fourth floor. As they climbed up, X took out the large axe he had used in the hospital from his backpack. This kind of prop was quite rough and didn’t require special training to wield; it could exhibit astonishing destructive power purely through brute force. Chu Feng turned and handed Lin Lan a similarly large hammer.

“Ah!” Lin Lan took it, and the hammer fell to the ground with a thud. Lin Lan wore a bitter expression:

“Cousin… this is too heavy, I… I can’t lift it.”

X: “…”

“… ” Chu Feng could only exchange it for a lighter knife for his cousin. “It’s just for self-defense for you. In case of any trouble, the Dream City key is with you, just pop out.”

Lin Lan held the knife and nodded.

X: “I’ll go ahead.”

Chu Feng stepped aside, and now the queue was X in the lead, Lin Lan in the middle, Chu Feng in the rear, with the system spirit guarding behind Chu Feng to prevent any sneak attacks from behind.

Creak—

As they reached the last step, X entered the fourth floor. Lin Lan had only entered half of his body when, at that moment, Chu Feng and the system heard the sound of a door opening—

The door of room 304 on the third floor opened!

Chu Feng’s heart trembled. There was no Little Xie living on the third floor. How could someone open the door and come out?

——Was it a person?

“Wait.” Chu Feng grabbed Lin Lan and pulled him back.

Lin Lan didn’t know what was going on and quickly reached out to pull Great God X back.

His hand reached out, but found nothing, just empty air.

—This shouldn’t be happening, Lin Lan thought. Great God X was just a little ahead of him; how could he not be able to grab him?

When he looked up again, the fourth floor in front of him seemed like a black hole, engulfed in darkness. X, who was leading the way, finished the steps and stepped onto the fourth floor. As soon as he entered, the intense darkness swallowed him up.

“Great God X…” 

Lin Lan lowered his voice, trying to see if he could call out to him. He thought, if there was danger, he could use his cousin’s Dream City key to pop out, but what about his cousin? Without Great God X, who would protect him?

Chu Feng covered Lin Lan’s mouth, silently gesturing for him to keep quiet.

Lin Lan also realized that Great God X had entered the abnormal fourth floor, completely cutting off contact with them here.

Chu Feng pressed Lin Lan down and crouched by the stairs, listening to the sounds from the third floor.

He had just heard the door of the uninhabited 304 open.

Generally, there were two sections of stairs between each two floors. The first section had twelve steps, close to the third floor, where they could see 303 and 304. After climbing up, there would be a small platform, where one would turn in one direction and then climb the second section, also twelve steps, where they could see 403 and 404 on the fourth floor.

Chu Feng and Lin Lan were currently on the second section of stairs, close to the fourth floor. They couldn’t see the residents on the third floor.

Similarly, the “person” who came out of 304 couldn’t see them either.

Chu Feng gestured, and the system spirit quietly extended its antennae through the crack of the stairs to take a picture—

The image appeared, and Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s just Brother Xie.”

He stood up, about to go down and greet seven-year-old Brother Xie from the third floor…

Chu Feng immediately pressed him down, alertly asking the system, “Is it the actual character or a Ghost?”

If this seven-year-old Little Shiyu had been infected, he might produce a Ghost Image that looked exactly like him. At the hospital, Chu Feng had suffered because of the Ghost Lin Lan, directly leading to the death of Watergun Little Xie. They had to check the identity in advance before trusting.

The system brought up a small square screen aimed at the Xie who came out of 304:

The aperture on the screen rotated, and soon popped up:

[Ghost · 7-year-old Xie, Observer of Swallows]

Combat Power: 850000000000000…

Lin Lan: …D*mn?!

The number of zeros after the combat power of seven-year-old Xie couldn’t even be displayed on the screen.

[Don’t panic.] 

Chu Feng pressed Lin Lan, preventing him from making any noise. The system spirit wrote a line of text on the screen:

[This may not be the actual combat power; it may have been deliberately displayed like this because the virus has encrypted it.]

Lin Lan calmed down a bit, thinking of how the combat power of Ghost Image Doctor Xie was displayed as infinite, but his actual combat power was only ranked third, not really infinitely powerful.

The Ghost Xie walked out, hands in his pockets, like a naughty child, heading straight for the fourth floor…

Lin Lan quickly picked up the knife in his hand, ready for anything.

Chu Feng glanced at his cousin indifferently: [Put down the knife]. 

System spirit: “[You’re combat power 5, and you’re fighting against Ghost Xie who’s combat power is 850000000000000… What are you doing?!” 

Lin Lan was momentarily speechless. 

Chu Feng shielded his cousin behind him, lifted the axe in his hand, and quietly waited in ambush. 

The system spirit helped Chu Feng purchase real firearms, rocket launchers, and other props from the system store. Once Ghost Xie showed up, he would unleash all firepower to annihilate it! 

Ta, ta, ta… 

Ghost Xie ascended the stairs. The first flight of stairs, twelve steps. After reaching the end, Ghost Xie would move to the small platform between the stairs and start climbing the second flight of stairs. That’s when they would confront Ghost Xie face to face. 

—-Chu Feng prepared to completely obliterate it the moment Ghost Xie turned around. 

Chu Feng counted the footsteps, ten steps, eleven steps… it was approaching. 

The twelfth step. 

Ghost Xie ascended, just turned around— 

Bang—!!!

Suddenly, a silver bullet pierced through the ghost’s forehead!

Hiss— The ghost sprayed out a corrosive liquid, and the face of Xie Shiyu immediately melted, turning into a dark, ugly silhouette.

The grotesque ghost was hit by the force of the bullet, half of its head flew off. It reached out, trying to retrieve its displaced head, when suddenly:

Bang, bang!

Two more silver bullets shot out, one pierced through the ghost’s throat, the other through its heart.

The ghost’s head was directly knocked off, the entire body melted into a pool of black sludge, softening on the ground, turning into a flowing liquid…

“Oh no! It’s trying to escape!” Lin Lan hurriedly exclaimed.

As the ghost melted into water, it could quickly flow into other places through the cracks…

Hiss!

Before the ghost could take a few steps, the surface of its liquid form immediately froze into ice crystals. Crackling sounds echoed as it was instantly frozen into a black ice block, lying on the ground.

Slowly turning his head, Chu Feng saw behind them, at the end of the stairs, the black hole-like fourth floor, from which protruded a shiny silver gun, emitting wisps of smoke.

In the next moment, X leaped out from the dark abyss, the iron-gray windbreaker fluttering. Chu Feng saw behind X… a sack on his back.

In the sack were two things, little hands and feet struggling inside.

X put away the silver gun, decisively threw the sack on the ground, and said to Chu Feng, “Your husband.”

Chu Feng: …

“Two in total.” X said. “I caught them for you.”

Chu Feng: “…Thank you very much.”

X: “You’re welcome.”

Chu Feng rolled his eyes inwardly, quickly cutting open the sack to rescue the Little Shiyus.

“….Chu Feng!”

The two seven-year-old Little Shiyus crawled out of the sack one after the other, their hands and feet embracing Chu Feng, complaining:

“A man with a bandage caught us!”

“It’s okay now.” Chu Feng hugged the two Little Shiyus, comforting them.

One of the Little Shiyus carried a small backpack. Lin Lan secretly unzipped the zipper of Brother Xie’s backpack from behind—

“What are you doing?” Little Shiyu turned around.

Lin Lan: “…Um.”

“Do you want to see what’s in my backpack?”

Little Shiyu squinted at him, scrutinizing Lin Lan.

Lin Lan nodded.

Little Shiyu stared at him, then suddenly took out a plastic transparent bottle from the backpack and held it up to Lin Lan’s eyes:

“Here, take a look.”

“Ahhh!!!” Lin Lan was so scared that he nearly lost his soul. The man in his twenties jumped off the stairs and directly bounced to the third floor.

—There was a big spider in that plastic transparent bottle, easily over 10 centimeters in size!

Xie Shiyu, the spider catcher, held the big spider up to Chu Feng again. “Here, for you.”

Chu Feng didn’t react with much fear. It was he who wanted to see what a super-sized spider looked like, so Xie Shiyu went to catch one for him when they were younger. Chu Feng patted Little Xie and put the spider into his own game backpack.

The other seven-year-old Xie was the cat-carrying Xie, though there was actually no cat in his arms. There was some mud on his sneakers from the time he saved a kitten from a tree.

The system spirit flew up, dragged the mini screen, and placed it over the two Xies for a check:

“No problem! Congratulations, Master, neither of these two Xies has been infected by the virus!”

—Only the seven-year-old Xie, who observed swallows, has been infected by the virus, and is a suspect of being the [main body].

Creak—

The door of room 304 was not closed. Lin Lan pushed the door gently and peered inside.

“Cousin, could the last Xie who observed swallows be in there?”

The ghost that came out of the door just now was the ghost of Swallow-observing Xie, and the Little Xie himself might still be inside.

Chu Feng and X went down to the third floor. X took the lead to check inside. Soon, he pulled out a Little Xie from the bedroom.

“Let me go! Who are you!! Let me go—!”

The seven-year-old Xie with short arms and legs was held in the hands of the over 1.9-meter-tall X, like an eagle holding a chick, and presented to Chu Feng.

Chu Feng quickly reached out to take Little Xie, hugged him, and glanced at X.

X raised an eyebrow.

Little Xie: “Chu Feng! Didn’t we agree to go see the swallows together? Why are you with another man?”

Lin Lan: Oh my.

“…” Chu Feng lowered his head, pinched Xie’s cheek, and said, “Don’t say such strange things at such a young age.”

Chu Feng looked at the system, and the spirit was very obedient, flying over and using the mini screen to check the real Xie—

The screen quickly displayed information:

Character: 7-year-old Swallow-observing Xie

Strength: ***

Following the process of dealing with Dr. Xie last time, Chu Feng clicked [***].

Please enter the password: ————–

[Forget Password] → [Security Question]:

A warning similar to the one when dealing with Dr. Xie popped up on the page:

[You have only one chance to answer. After a mistake, you will not be able to reset the password. Please answer carefully.]

Chu Feng looked at the red warning on the screen, realizing that 24-year-old Xie Shiyu had kept a big secret from him. He didn’t know what secrets 7-year-old Little Shiyu was hiding.

“Cousin, you can do it.”

Lin Lan was a bit nervous too. He really wanted to know if the 7-year-old Brother Xie was the top-ranking [main body].

This time, Chu Feng didn’t have much confidence in answering the questions. He married Xie Shiyu when they were both 20 years old, living together every day, so it was easy to find clues. But the young Xie Shiyu… was too distant.

Seven years old, first grade, that was already 22 years ago. At that time, he and Xie Shiyu were just classmates who played together. Even if there were any clues, it would be difficult to verify them after 22 years.

The slender fingertips slid across the screen, and Chu Feng clicked on the next page [→].

Suddenly, a large string of text popped up on the page!

Lin Lan was startled. It was the first time he had seen such a long security question!

[Security Question]:

You are a resident of 404, and there are a group of strange people living around you.

Your neighbor, 403, is a drunkard who will knock on your door by mistake in the middle of the night.

Across from you, in 401, lives a detestable old lady who loves to gossip and chew people’s ears off. 

Similarly, across from you, in 402, lives an unemployed man. Since he moved in, the stray cats in your neighborhood have started disappearing. 

Above you, in 504, no one lives there, but you always hear noises from upstairs late at night. 

Below you, in 304, lives a kind uncle who runs a small convenience store. He’s very friendly and always smiling. One evening, as you were about to open the door to go out, you glanced through the peephole to check the situation outside. Suddenly, you saw the uncle standing right at your doorstep, staring through the peephole directly at you, with a smile on his face. 

Today, someone has died. 

Question 1: Who is the deceased? 

Question 2: What is the murderer’s apartment number? 

***

Lin Lan: ?????

“… Brother Xie is brutal,” Lin Lan exclaimed, “A seven-year-old kid wouldn’t come up with such complicated questions!”

Last time, Dr. Xie’s questions were concise and confusing, like “Number of glasses of alcohol? Color of pills?” This time, seven-year-old Xie’s questions were long and detailed, so complicated that it made one shut down after reading it.

Lin Lan reread the long question again. Some of the descriptions inside were elements one would find in horror movies, like the person outside the peephole, the eerie smile, and the dead stray cats.

“…Cousin, did Brother Xie love detective or horror stuff when he was little?”

“…Not really.” 

Chu Feng recalled inviting Little Shiyu over to his house once, where they both sat in front of the bulky TV, waiting for Conan to play on the rerun channel. Besides that, there wasn’t much else. Considering Xie Shiyu’s family situation back then, there was no way they could afford to buy him a TV or books.

“Then it’s not from virtual movies or books,” X said, “It’s from real life.”

Lin Lan shivered, his hairs standing on end! He suddenly remembered what X had said before, “Look at the environment here.”

Brother Xie’s father was a drug addict, Lin Lan thought. His cousin knew about it even when they were in school together. It was unlikely that the other neighbors in the building wouldn’t know. But even if they knew, they continued to live here as if nothing happened.

—They couldn’t be drug addicts themselves. But from the description in this question, they didn’t seem like normal, innocent people either.

After finishing the question, Chu Feng quickly looked at the wall on the third floor again.

The lower half of the wall was painted green, with some spots where the paint hadn’t been applied evenly, and a small patch of blood they had just discovered.

—This old residential building might have really had a death 22 years ago.

Chu Feng squatted down again to inspect the wall, to see if there were any new discoveries. As he crouched down, he accidentally bumped his head against X’s.

X had the same idea as him.

The two froze for a moment, slightly shifting away from each other, their gazes fixed on the details of the wall. The old tungsten light bulb in the corridor cast a soft yellow light on them.

Lin Lan watched his brother and Great God X, and suddenly noticed something. His brother was wearing a scarf around his neck today!

—Wearing a scarf wasn’t a big deal, Lin Lan usually didn’t pay attention to details of other people’s clothing. But at this moment, he suddenly realized that the scarf was iron-gray, the exact same color as X’s windbreaker!

Great God X was the highest authority figure, and his windbreaker looked very simple, not as flashy as the limited edition suits, but Lin Lan, as a veteran player, could see the difference:

The iron-gray color of this windbreaker was a color that had never been released in the Dream City store so far. Even if players wanted to make their own fabric, they couldn’t get this advanced gray from the color palette, they could only get the normal gray provided by the system.

In other words, this seemingly simple color was actually a symbol that only X, the highest authority figure, could enjoy, and no other player could have.

So, the scarf around his brother’s neck must have been given to him by Great God X!

Lin Lan suddenly felt a surge of excitement, his blood boiling. Why would Great God X give his brother his scarf? His brother was such a cold person, why would he wear a scarf given by someone else?

At this moment, Chu Feng was squatting by the wall, searching for any possible clues that might be left behind. His slender neck stretched slightly, and Lin Lan, with sharp eyes, under the lamplight, saw faint red dots on the back of his neck under the scarf… 

D*mn! 

In the mind of Detective Lin Lan, a flash of insight occurred! He immediately recalled this morning when he arrived at the residential building and saw his cousin and Great God X standing together in front of the building. 

Why would his cousin be with Great God X so early in the morning? 

Could it be… last night…! Lin Lan suddenly felt a suffocating sensation of discovering the truth! 

Just then, Chu Feng suddenly felt a tightness around his neck!

A small hand grabbed his scarf and pulled it down with a swish!

Chu Feng immediately turned around and saw the silent seven-year-old Little Shiyu standing behind him.

“Chu Feng.”

Little Shiyu grabbed the iron-gray scarf and pointed to the red dot exposed on Chu Feng’s neck.

“What is this?”

Chu Feng:…

X:…

Lin Lan: Oh my god!!!


Want to show your support? Come donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)


<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>


The Entire City Is My Husband Chapter 31

The Entire City Is My Husband Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Catching Little Xie


Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!


<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>


Residential Building, 2nd Floor

"Cousin, which floor does Brother Xie live on?"

Lin Lan tiptoed carefully around the garbage water on the steps and climbed the stairs. The second floor was even darker than the first, with no ventilation windows in the corridor, filled with a gloomy atmosphere.

"The 4th floor," replied Chu Feng. "The 7-year-old lives in 404."

Lin Lan looked at the residents on both sides of the 2nd floor, which were 203 and 204 respectively:

"Cousin, what about 201 and 202?"

"They're in the building behind," Chu Feng said.

This residential building consisted of 2 buildings in the old district, with residents in the X03 and X04 units. The building behind was Building 1, with residents in the X01 and X02 units.

Lin Lan recalled seeing that the cross staircase connecting the two buildings was located on the 4th floor.

"So, 401 and 402 are in the building behind, and the units we're currently passing through, 403 and 404, are in this building?" Lin Lan asked.

Chu Feng nodded.

Lin Lan muttered to himself and silently remembered the door numbers, feeling somewhat unsafe living on the fourth floor.

The security in this old rundown area seemed poor, with no surveillance cameras, and the existence of a cross staircase on the fourth floor meant that the 404 unit should be the place where Little Xie had lived in the real world. Originally, Little Xie's neighbor was only in unit 403, but because of this cross staircase, residents from units 401 and 402 in the building behind could also come over.

Ta, ta, ta.

They climbed up to the 3rd floor step by step. It became even darker around them. Almost to the point of being invisible. Lin Lan felt that something was wrong:

"Cousin, is it possible for it to be this dark during the day?"

Lin Lan even felt a chill; it was early summer morning, even if it followed the logic of a horror movie, nothing should happen. But there was no light in this corridor, it was dark and gloomy. Lin Lan shivered as he asked:

"Sh-should we... turn on the lights?"

Chu Feng also felt that something was off; this didn't match his memory. Although Xie Shiyu's home was relatively back-facing, it shouldn't be this dark on a summer morning.

—There must be something wrong here.

"The l-lights... where are they?" 

Lin Lan looked around anxiously. They stood between units 303 and 304, a small light bulb hung above their heads, but Lin Lan couldn't find the switch on the wall after feeling around for a while. In his previous residential area, the corridor lights were voice-controlled; they would turn on with a stomp, and there were no lighting fixtures where residents had to search for switches like this.

Chu Feng also struggled to remember; he was only 7 years old, and it had been 22 years ago. He vaguely remembered that the light control in this building wasn't the usual fixed push-button switches on the wall, but rather a thin light cord that needed to be pulled to turn on the lights, and it was particularly difficult to find.

The electricity bill for turning on the lights in the corridor is shared equally between the two households on each floor, and they have to collect money for it. Therefore, the residents on each floor hid the light switches very securely to prevent others from turning on the lights and using their electricity. 

***

Chu Feng remembered that when he was a child, he once played at Xie Shiyu's house until dusk. As the sky darkened, the corridor was pitch black. 

Little Chu Feng was a bit scared, but then he saw Xie Shiyu, like a little light spirit, bounding down the stairs and effortlessly turning on the lights on each floor.

"It should be... here..." Chu Feng thought for a moment, reaching out towards the side of unit 303—

Click.

As Chu Feng's hand reached halfway, the light above suddenly turned on.

The tungsten filament bulb emitted an orange light, the bulb was a bit old, with a layer of gray dust on the glass. Under the dim yellow light, Chu Feng saw X's hand, accurately pulling out the light cord from the inside edge of unit 303 to turn on the light.

Chu Feng: ".... How did you know the light cord was there?"

X blinked, seeming a bit puzzled himself:

"...By chance."

Chu Feng narrowed his eyes, looking at X with some suspicion.

With the lights on, the surroundings became brighter, and Lin Lan observed that the walls here were a bit mottled and peeling. The color scheme of the walls was also strange, with the lower half painted green and the upper half white, for some unknown reason.

The painter painting the walls with paint did it very roughly, lacking the delicate powder texture that Lin Lan usually saw on his own white walls at home. The walls here were simply painted over the cement base with a large brush dipped in inferior paint, brushed on roughly, and not even evenly brushed. You could even see the rough granular texture of the cement base where the brush had passed.

In the middle of that white wall, the painter used dark red paint to write the floor number: 3

The written numbers were also irregular, with fuzzy edges and drips of red paint along the edges, resembling blood letters from a horror movie, which made Lin Lan very uncomfortable.

X was also observing the wall surface. His gaze was fixed on the lower half of the wall, where the green paint had been applied:

"There was no green paint on the first and second floors just now."

"Yeah. Only the third floor is like this," Chu Feng said. In his memory, Little Shiyu's building had an inexplicable half of the third-floor wall painted in green, while the rest were white.

X slowly squatted down, inspecting the lower half of the green-painted wall. Suddenly, he pointed to a spot where the paint was not evenly applied:

"This."

Chu Feng also squatted down to take a look, frowning.

In a small area where there was no green paint, about the size of a thumbnail, half of it was white, indicating that this wall was originally white like the walls on other floors. The other half had a bit of black-brown stain.

——This black-brown stain had a hint of red.

X said, "Bloodstains."

"...D*mn!" Lin Lan realized, meaning that the lower half of the third-floor wall was originally white, but because of blood splatter, it had to be repainted with another color of paint!

"D*mn, I'm getting goosebumps!" Lin Lan exclaimed. "What's going on with this building?"

"Don't scare yourself," Chu Feng said.

If something had really happened here, with a large amount of blood splatter that needed to be covered up, they would definitely repaint with white paint and do it carefully to prevent anyone from noticing.

It might not be a big deal to paint walls hastily with green paint like this; it might just be a matter of using whatever color of paint was at hand, not caring about it, even if it was different from the walls on other floors.

X said, "Even if it's discovered, it doesn't matter."

Chu Feng: "?" 

X: "Take a look at the environment here."

Chu Feng frowned unhappily, "What do you mean?"

X remained silent. He knew that Chu Feng's dream city was filled with his husband everywhere. This place must have been where his husband lived when he was young. It seemed that his husband's family background was really not good, not just ordinary poverty, but... the whole building exuded a sense of... gloominess, irregularity, like it was inhabited by a group of socially unstable individuals. 

Living in such an environment, everyone was unclean. In this building, the 365 days were completely different from those spent in a regular residential area, where every corridor had surveillance cameras, and every day was lived in law-abiding, clean and bright surroundings.

X didn't say anything. After all, it wasn't appropriate to say such things directly in front of someone else's wife, so X chose to remain silent. 

However, Lin Lan understood X's implicit meaning. It was true that Brother X's previous family situation was... very bad. If it was just a bit poor in a clean and honest family, it wouldn't matter much. But his father was a drug addict, and their family owed hundreds of thousands in high-interest loans. When Chu Feng used to visit Xie Shiyu's house, he went without telling his family, and when he was discovered, his cousin was scolded severely by his mother. 

—--After all, no parent would want their child to always go to the home of a drug addict to play. 

And the neighbors around the drug addict's home, could they be good people? Children who grew up in such an environment, sons raised by drug addicts, could they be good children? 

Thinking about his cousin's family situation, Chu Feng's father was the vice president of a local 211 university, his mother worked in the education bureau, his grandfather was the director of the finance bureau of the municipal government at that time, and his maternal grandfather who had not retired yet was a director of a top-tier hospital in the city. Their family was not extremely wealthy, but they were all respectable members of society. In their local city, Chu Feng's family had a very strong network of relationships, and everything went smoothly when they needed to get something done. 

Since childhood, Chu Feng's parents drove two cars and lived in a duplex penthouse with a garden. After having a precious son like Chu Feng, he loved to go and play with little Xie after school, always running to the home of the drug addict for no reason. Chu Feng's parents were almost scared to death when they found out. They strictly prohibited Chu Feng from having any contact with the bad kid Little Xie, and even informed the teachers at school that if they found out Chu Feng had a close relationship with Little Xie at school, they should report it immediately. 

Beep... beep... 

The system's little spirit suddenly emitted a signal interference noise. "Don't move! Something's not right here!" the spirit exclaimed. At the same time, Chu Feng's phone suddenly vibrated violently, and red warning messages popped up: 

【Danger detected by the system!】 

【Unforeseeable danger detected inside the building!】

【Please players immediately exit the game!】

Lin Lan was startled, immediately recalling the situation when he and his cousin experienced the bus explosion. It was also accompanied by a screen full of blood-red warnings:

"What's... going on? Could there be... a bomb in this building too?"

The system spirit's tuft of hair emitted a beeping sound: "It's infected! The building from the fourth floor and above has been infected by the virus!"

They were currently on the third floor, where Little Shiyu lived in room 404.

Chu Feng asked, "Will the characters be in danger?"

"I can't confirm." The spirit said, "But the virus cannot spread from infected buildings to characters. The virus can only transmit between living beings. However, the infected buildings will exhibit anomalies. It could be just like what happened in the hospital, where the power was cut off, or it could be... anything unusual."

"But..." Lin Lan couldn't understand, "How could the residential building be infected?"

The only contact with the virus was Little Xie, who went to school in the primary school. If there was any infection, it should have started with the data sequence in the primary school building. Moreover, the residential building was some distance away from the primary school area. After the virus outbreak, the Little Xies in the building did not go to school, and the Little Xies in the primary school area did not return to the building. So, how did the virus infect this building?

Silence ensued.

Lin Lan suddenly realized, "I get it! So, the seven-year-old Little Xie in this building is the [original body], right? Because he was originally the [original body] of the virus, which is why he infected the surrounding data sequences!"

"There's another possibility." X interjected.

Chu Feng immediately added, "Animals."

Lin Lan: !!

Lin Lan remembered that among the three types of Little Xies staying in the residential building were: Little Xie who holds a cat, Little Xie who observes swallows, and Little Xie who catches spiders. These animals might have been active near the primary school area before and got infected by the virus, then came near the residential building, thus infecting the building's data sequence.

"So, which animal is it?" Lin Lan wondered. If they could catch this animal, it would help control the virus.

Chu Feng immediately said, "Swallows." ??

Lin Lan couldn't keep up with this train of thought.

X added, "On the fourth floor."

Among the three types of animals, spiders are unlikely to crawl long distances. If it was a cat carrying the virus, then it would start infecting from the first floor and move upward, so it wouldn't make sense to only infect the fourth floor and above. Therefore, the most likely culprit would be the swallows.

Chu Feng remembered that there was a swallow's nest at the doorstep of Little Xie's house. When he was in primary school, he would sneakily go to Little Xie's house after school to observe the swallows together. This building was quite old, and the beams were suitable for nesting, so every spring, many swallows would come to build nests.

"So, there are two possibilities now," the system spirit gathered information. "Either, one of the three seven-year-old Little Xies is the [original body], or none of them are. However, the animal swallow has been infected by the virus and needs to be eliminated as soon as possible to prevent other characters from being infected."

The leaden gray steps extended under their feet towards the fourth floor. As they climbed up, X took out the large axe he had used in the hospital from his backpack. This kind of prop was quite rough and didn't require special training to wield; it could exhibit astonishing destructive power purely through brute force. Chu Feng turned and handed Lin Lan a similarly large hammer.

"Ah!" Lin Lan took it, and the hammer fell to the ground with a thud. Lin Lan wore a bitter expression:

"Cousin... this is too heavy, I... I can't lift it."

X: "..."

"... " Chu Feng could only exchange it for a lighter knife for his cousin. "It's just for self-defense for you. In case of any trouble, the Dream City key is with you, just pop out."

Lin Lan held the knife and nodded.

X: "I'll go ahead."

Chu Feng stepped aside, and now the queue was X in the lead, Lin Lan in the middle, Chu Feng in the rear, with the system spirit guarding behind Chu Feng to prevent any sneak attacks from behind.

Creak—

As they reached the last step, X entered the fourth floor. Lin Lan had only entered half of his body when, at that moment, Chu Feng and the system heard the sound of a door opening—

The door of room 304 on the third floor opened!

Chu Feng's heart trembled. There was no Little Xie living on the third floor. How could someone open the door and come out?

——Was it a person?

"Wait." Chu Feng grabbed Lin Lan and pulled him back.

Lin Lan didn't know what was going on and quickly reached out to pull Great God X back.

His hand reached out, but found nothing, just empty air.

—This shouldn't be happening, Lin Lan thought. Great God X was just a little ahead of him; how could he not be able to grab him?

When he looked up again, the fourth floor in front of him seemed like a black hole, engulfed in darkness. X, who was leading the way, finished the steps and stepped onto the fourth floor. As soon as he entered, the intense darkness swallowed him up.

"Great God X..." 

Lin Lan lowered his voice, trying to see if he could call out to him. He thought, if there was danger, he could use his cousin’s Dream City key to pop out, but what about his cousin? Without Great God X, who would protect him?

Chu Feng covered Lin Lan's mouth, silently gesturing for him to keep quiet.

Lin Lan also realized that Great God X had entered the abnormal fourth floor, completely cutting off contact with them here.

Chu Feng pressed Lin Lan down and crouched by the stairs, listening to the sounds from the third floor.

He had just heard the door of the uninhabited 304 open.

Generally, there were two sections of stairs between each two floors. The first section had twelve steps, close to the third floor, where they could see 303 and 304. After climbing up, there would be a small platform, where one would turn in one direction and then climb the second section, also twelve steps, where they could see 403 and 404 on the fourth floor.

Chu Feng and Lin Lan were currently on the second section of stairs, close to the fourth floor. They couldn't see the residents on the third floor.

Similarly, the "person" who came out of 304 couldn't see them either.

Chu Feng gestured, and the system spirit quietly extended its antennae through the crack of the stairs to take a picture—

The image appeared, and Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just Brother Xie."

He stood up, about to go down and greet seven-year-old Brother Xie from the third floor...

Chu Feng immediately pressed him down, alertly asking the system, "Is it the actual character or a Ghost?"

If this seven-year-old Little Shiyu had been infected, he might produce a Ghost Image that looked exactly like him. At the hospital, Chu Feng had suffered because of the Ghost Lin Lan, directly leading to the death of Watergun Little Xie. They had to check the identity in advance before trusting.

The system brought up a small square screen aimed at the Xie who came out of 304:

The aperture on the screen rotated, and soon popped up:

[Ghost · 7-year-old Xie, Observer of Swallows]

Combat Power: 850000000000000...

Lin Lan: ...D*mn?!

The number of zeros after the combat power of seven-year-old Xie couldn't even be displayed on the screen.

[Don't panic.] 

Chu Feng pressed Lin Lan, preventing him from making any noise. The system spirit wrote a line of text on the screen:

[This may not be the actual combat power; it may have been deliberately displayed like this because the virus has encrypted it.]

Lin Lan calmed down a bit, thinking of how the combat power of Ghost Image Doctor Xie was displayed as infinite, but his actual combat power was only ranked third, not really infinitely powerful.

The Ghost Xie walked out, hands in his pockets, like a naughty child, heading straight for the fourth floor...

Lin Lan quickly picked up the knife in his hand, ready for anything.

Chu Feng glanced at his cousin indifferently: [Put down the knife]. 

System spirit: "[You're combat power 5, and you're fighting against Ghost Xie who's combat power is 850000000000000... What are you doing?!" 

Lin Lan was momentarily speechless. 

Chu Feng shielded his cousin behind him, lifted the axe in his hand, and quietly waited in ambush. 

The system spirit helped Chu Feng purchase real firearms, rocket launchers, and other props from the system store. Once Ghost Xie showed up, he would unleash all firepower to annihilate it! 

Ta, ta, ta... 

Ghost Xie ascended the stairs. The first flight of stairs, twelve steps. After reaching the end, Ghost Xie would move to the small platform between the stairs and start climbing the second flight of stairs. That's when they would confront Ghost Xie face to face. 

—-Chu Feng prepared to completely obliterate it the moment Ghost Xie turned around. 

Chu Feng counted the footsteps, ten steps, eleven steps... it was approaching. 

The twelfth step. 

Ghost Xie ascended, just turned around— 

Bang—!!!

Suddenly, a silver bullet pierced through the ghost’s forehead!

Hiss— The ghost sprayed out a corrosive liquid, and the face of Xie Shiyu immediately melted, turning into a dark, ugly silhouette.

The grotesque ghost was hit by the force of the bullet, half of its head flew off. It reached out, trying to retrieve its displaced head, when suddenly:

Bang, bang!

Two more silver bullets shot out, one pierced through the ghost’s throat, the other through its heart.

The ghost’s head was directly knocked off, the entire body melted into a pool of black sludge, softening on the ground, turning into a flowing liquid...

"Oh no! It's trying to escape!" Lin Lan hurriedly exclaimed.

As the ghost melted into water, it could quickly flow into other places through the cracks...

Hiss!

Before the ghost could take a few steps, the surface of its liquid form immediately froze into ice crystals. Crackling sounds echoed as it was instantly frozen into a black ice block, lying on the ground.

Slowly turning his head, Chu Feng saw behind them, at the end of the stairs, the black hole-like fourth floor, from which protruded a shiny silver gun, emitting wisps of smoke.

In the next moment, X leaped out from the dark abyss, the iron-gray windbreaker fluttering. Chu Feng saw behind X... a sack on his back.

In the sack were two things, little hands and feet struggling inside.

X put away the silver gun, decisively threw the sack on the ground, and said to Chu Feng, "Your husband."

Chu Feng: ...

"Two in total." X said. "I caught them for you."

Chu Feng: "...Thank you very much."

X: "You're welcome."

Chu Feng rolled his eyes inwardly, quickly cutting open the sack to rescue the Little Shiyus.

"....Chu Feng!"

The two seven-year-old Little Shiyus crawled out of the sack one after the other, their hands and feet embracing Chu Feng, complaining:

"A man with a bandage caught us!"

"It's okay now." Chu Feng hugged the two Little Shiyus, comforting them.

One of the Little Shiyus carried a small backpack. Lin Lan secretly unzipped the zipper of Brother Xie's backpack from behind—

"What are you doing?" Little Shiyu turned around.

Lin Lan: "...Um."

"Do you want to see what's in my backpack?"

Little Shiyu squinted at him, scrutinizing Lin Lan.

Lin Lan nodded.

Little Shiyu stared at him, then suddenly took out a plastic transparent bottle from the backpack and held it up to Lin Lan's eyes:

"Here, take a look."

"Ahhh!!!" Lin Lan was so scared that he nearly lost his soul. The man in his twenties jumped off the stairs and directly bounced to the third floor.

—There was a big spider in that plastic transparent bottle, easily over 10 centimeters in size!

Xie Shiyu, the spider catcher, held the big spider up to Chu Feng again. "Here, for you."

Chu Feng didn't react with much fear. It was he who wanted to see what a super-sized spider looked like, so Xie Shiyu went to catch one for him when they were younger. Chu Feng patted Little Xie and put the spider into his own game backpack.

The other seven-year-old Xie was the cat-carrying Xie, though there was actually no cat in his arms. There was some mud on his sneakers from the time he saved a kitten from a tree.

The system spirit flew up, dragged the mini screen, and placed it over the two Xies for a check:

"No problem! Congratulations, Master, neither of these two Xies has been infected by the virus!"

—Only the seven-year-old Xie, who observed swallows, has been infected by the virus, and is a suspect of being the [main body].

Creak—

The door of room 304 was not closed. Lin Lan pushed the door gently and peered inside.

"Cousin, could the last Xie who observed swallows be in there?"

The ghost that came out of the door just now was the ghost of Swallow-observing Xie, and the Little Xie himself might still be inside.

Chu Feng and X went down to the third floor. X took the lead to check inside. Soon, he pulled out a Little Xie from the bedroom.

"Let me go! Who are you!! Let me go—!"

The seven-year-old Xie with short arms and legs was held in the hands of the over 1.9-meter-tall X, like an eagle holding a chick, and presented to Chu Feng.

Chu Feng quickly reached out to take Little Xie, hugged him, and glanced at X.

X raised an eyebrow.

Little Xie: "Chu Feng! Didn't we agree to go see the swallows together? Why are you with another man?"

Lin Lan: Oh my.

"..." Chu Feng lowered his head, pinched Xie's cheek, and said, "Don't say such strange things at such a young age."

Chu Feng looked at the system, and the spirit was very obedient, flying over and using the mini screen to check the real Xie—

The screen quickly displayed information:

Character: 7-year-old Swallow-observing Xie

Strength: ***

Following the process of dealing with Dr. Xie last time, Chu Feng clicked [***].

Please enter the password: --------------

[Forget Password] → [Security Question]:

A warning similar to the one when dealing with Dr. Xie popped up on the page:

[You have only one chance to answer. After a mistake, you will not be able to reset the password. Please answer carefully.]

Chu Feng looked at the red warning on the screen, realizing that 24-year-old Xie Shiyu had kept a big secret from him. He didn't know what secrets 7-year-old Little Shiyu was hiding.

"Cousin, you can do it."

Lin Lan was a bit nervous too. He really wanted to know if the 7-year-old Brother Xie was the top-ranking [main body].

This time, Chu Feng didn't have much confidence in answering the questions. He married Xie Shiyu when they were both 20 years old, living together every day, so it was easy to find clues. But the young Xie Shiyu... was too distant.

Seven years old, first grade, that was already 22 years ago. At that time, he and Xie Shiyu were just classmates who played together. Even if there were any clues, it would be difficult to verify them after 22 years.

The slender fingertips slid across the screen, and Chu Feng clicked on the next page [→].

Suddenly, a large string of text popped up on the page!

Lin Lan was startled. It was the first time he had seen such a long security question!

[Security Question]:

You are a resident of 404, and there are a group of strange people living around you.

Your neighbor, 403, is a drunkard who will knock on your door by mistake in the middle of the night.

Across from you, in 401, lives a detestable old lady who loves to gossip and chew people's ears off. 

Similarly, across from you, in 402, lives an unemployed man. Since he moved in, the stray cats in your neighborhood have started disappearing. 

Above you, in 504, no one lives there, but you always hear noises from upstairs late at night. 

Below you, in 304, lives a kind uncle who runs a small convenience store. He's very friendly and always smiling. One evening, as you were about to open the door to go out, you glanced through the peephole to check the situation outside. Suddenly, you saw the uncle standing right at your doorstep, staring through the peephole directly at you, with a smile on his face. 

Today, someone has died. 

Question 1: Who is the deceased? 

Question 2: What is the murderer's apartment number? 

***

Lin Lan: ?????

"... Brother Xie is brutal," Lin Lan exclaimed, "A seven-year-old kid wouldn't come up with such complicated questions!"

Last time, Dr. Xie's questions were concise and confusing, like "Number of glasses of alcohol? Color of pills?" This time, seven-year-old Xie's questions were long and detailed, so complicated that it made one shut down after reading it.

Lin Lan reread the long question again. Some of the descriptions inside were elements one would find in horror movies, like the person outside the peephole, the eerie smile, and the dead stray cats.

"...Cousin, did Brother Xie love detective or horror stuff when he was little?"

"...Not really." 

Chu Feng recalled inviting Little Shiyu over to his house once, where they both sat in front of the bulky TV, waiting for Conan to play on the rerun channel. Besides that, there wasn't much else. Considering Xie Shiyu's family situation back then, there was no way they could afford to buy him a TV or books.

"Then it's not from virtual movies or books," X said, "It's from real life."

Lin Lan shivered, his hairs standing on end! He suddenly remembered what X had said before, "Look at the environment here."

Brother Xie's father was a drug addict, Lin Lan thought. His cousin knew about it even when they were in school together. It was unlikely that the other neighbors in the building wouldn't know. But even if they knew, they continued to live here as if nothing happened.

---They couldn't be drug addicts themselves. But from the description in this question, they didn't seem like normal, innocent people either.

After finishing the question, Chu Feng quickly looked at the wall on the third floor again.

The lower half of the wall was painted green, with some spots where the paint hadn't been applied evenly, and a small patch of blood they had just discovered.

---This old residential building might have really had a death 22 years ago.

Chu Feng squatted down again to inspect the wall, to see if there were any new discoveries. As he crouched down, he accidentally bumped his head against X's.

X had the same idea as him.

The two froze for a moment, slightly shifting away from each other, their gazes fixed on the details of the wall. The old tungsten light bulb in the corridor cast a soft yellow light on them.

Lin Lan watched his brother and Great God X, and suddenly noticed something. His brother was wearing a scarf around his neck today!

---Wearing a scarf wasn't a big deal, Lin Lan usually didn't pay attention to details of other people's clothing. But at this moment, he suddenly realized that the scarf was iron-gray, the exact same color as X's windbreaker!

Great God X was the highest authority figure, and his windbreaker looked very simple, not as flashy as the limited edition suits, but Lin Lan, as a veteran player, could see the difference:

The iron-gray color of this windbreaker was a color that had never been released in the Dream City store so far. Even if players wanted to make their own fabric, they couldn't get this advanced gray from the color palette, they could only get the normal gray provided by the system.

In other words, this seemingly simple color was actually a symbol that only X, the highest authority figure, could enjoy, and no other player could have.

So, the scarf around his brother's neck must have been given to him by Great God X!

Lin Lan suddenly felt a surge of excitement, his blood boiling. Why would Great God X give his brother his scarf? His brother was such a cold person, why would he wear a scarf given by someone else?

At this moment, Chu Feng was squatting by the wall, searching for any possible clues that might be left behind. His slender neck stretched slightly, and Lin Lan, with sharp eyes, under the lamplight, saw faint red dots on the back of his neck under the scarf... 

D*mn! 

In the mind of Detective Lin Lan, a flash of insight occurred! He immediately recalled this morning when he arrived at the residential building and saw his cousin and Great God X standing together in front of the building. 

Why would his cousin be with Great God X so early in the morning? 

Could it be... last night...! Lin Lan suddenly felt a suffocating sensation of discovering the truth! 

Just then, Chu Feng suddenly felt a tightness around his neck!

A small hand grabbed his scarf and pulled it down with a swish!

Chu Feng immediately turned around and saw the silent seven-year-old Little Shiyu standing behind him.

"Chu Feng."

Little Shiyu grabbed the iron-gray scarf and pointed to the red dot exposed on Chu Feng's neck.

"What is this?"

Chu Feng:...

X:...

Lin Lan: Oh my god!!!


Want to show your support? Come donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)


<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>


Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Options

not work with dark mode
Reset