Survival Game (Unlimited) Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Not Innocent

After breakfast, w.a.n.g San and Yu Su left the hotel.

This place was an ancient town, the surroundings were filled with neatly arranged red bricks and green tiles. Even the decorations on each pavement were all in retro style.

Although Yu Su had traveled to similar ancient towns before, only in here did she had an illusion that she had traveled through time.

In the ancient towns she visited before, there were many tourists with modern clothing, hence it destroyed the quaint atmosphere. In this place, there was no one except Yu Su and w.a.n.g San.

It was so quiet that there wasn't a single wind. The two strolled on the street with bluestone slab, with their footsteps being the only sound around.

Yu Su couldn't stand the silence. She coughed and asked, “Big Brother, do you know how many missions this game APP will release altogether?”

“Why, you already can't stand it?” w.a.n.g San glanced at her.

Yu Su shook her head and answered, “Although it's interesting, this game won't be endless, right? Also, I'd like to know how many days would it take to get out? Won't my family think I've gone missing?”

w.a.n.g San walked leisurely and replied, “Don't worry. No matter how much time you spent on the game, it's only long enough for outsiders to blink.” As for the end of the game… At present, the longest time a player had survived was 13 missions.” 

Surprised, Yu Su asked, “That means no one knows how many missions there are altogether?”

w.a.n.g San shook his head and wiped a smudge on his eyes, “He's dead on his 14th mission.” 

“Dead…” Yu Su felt a little sorry. This person must be very powerful to be able to live through thirteen games, unfortunately, he's still dead in the end.

So, how many games can she pa.s.s? Can she leave something for her parents before she died?

Thinking of her four-digit deposit in her bank card, she felt her chest tightened. (1000 RMB = 141 USD)

w.a.n.g San suddenly stopped, Yu Su quickly retracted her thoughts and noticed him looking at the shop on the left side of the street.

Above the store was an old wooden plaque with three big words, “Li's Crispy Sugar”.

The Proprietress' name was Li Qiufang.

However, “Li” was a common surname. There were a lot of people with this surname, so they couldn't just connect this store's owner as the Proprietress' relative.

“Let's enter and take a look.” w.a.n.g San said as he took the lead to enter the store.

All the stores in the street were open. When they entered, they immediately smelled a sweet fragrance.

Neatly arranged shelves were placed inside the store, each showing off various kinds of crispy candy with exquisite packaging. They looked very attractive.

At first glance, there was nothing unusual here, but then they noticed the curtain behind the cashier, the two immediately walked over there.

Behind the curtain was a pa.s.sage several meters long. When standing on the pa.s.sage, the other side could be completely seen with a glimpse.

There are stone steps, flowers and plants, also columns. It appeared this was the place where the owner lived.

The house was similar to a courtyard, the difference was that the room facing the street was utilized to open a store.

They crossed the pa.s.sage and entered a small and clean yard.

w.a.n.g San walked directly towards the main house, and Yu Su cautiously followed him, she was resolute not to take a step ahead of him.

It wasn't until they entered the master bedroom that w.a.n.g San inquired, “Why are you acting like my shadow?”

Yu Su thought, what bulls.h.i.t are you talking about? A good attack wounds the enemy by one thousand while losing eight hundred. (Actually means harming each other or both sides lost, because their loss wasn't that different.) (I'm not too sure about this paragraph.)

Unfortunately, she didn't dare to say it, she laughed while flattering, “If I follow Big Brother, I'll have a sense of security.”

w.a.n.g San went to the bedside table and began searching. He said while rummaging, “Don't think I didn't know you were scolding me inside your heart.” 

Can this old man read her mind? Yu Su madly shook her head, “No! I don't dare! I'm still counting at Big Brother to carry me, how can I scold you?” 

w.a.n.g San gave her a look, “Stop acting. Go outside and take care of our tail.” 

Yu Su looked around, picked up the broom on the corner, then turned to walk to the door.

Right at the moment of stepping out the door, a figure quickly hid in the previous pa.s.sage.

Yu Su snorted lightly and walked soundlessly towards the pa.s.sage. As she approached the pa.s.sage, she accelerated sharply and raised her broom while rushing into the figure, shouting, “Which scoundrels are following us? See if I don't kill you today!”

Although she had already recognized the figure hiding in the pa.s.sage, Yu Su still severely struck the other side with a broom.

The person was frightened and panicked. She wasn't able to react until she was struck three to five times, finally, she exclaimed, “Stop, stop! It's me, Li Yi!”

Yu Su stopped and pretended to be surprised. She asked in dismay, “It's actually you? Why are you following us?”

Li Yi's hair was somewhat messy. Looking at Yu Su's blank and ignorant face, she was very angry. She gritted her teeth and exploded, “Don't you play pretend with me! You know it's me and intentionally hit me!”

“Oh,” Yu Su threw the broom away while answering expressionlessly, “Yeah, you're right.” 

“…” Li Yi felt choked as Yu Su admitted directly. The words she was about to say was stopped in her throat, it was especially uncomfortable.

After a moment of silence, Li Yi took a deep breath and suppressed the anger inside her, “As the saying goes, Three cobblers are equal to one Zhuge Liang (Two heads are better than one). If you tell me the clues, I can help you finish the mission faster and we can leave this place. Isn't this mutually beneficial for us?

If we delay it by one more day, it will be much more dangerous. No one knows whether the next person to die will be you or me. If you're angry because I and Zhuang Han didn't go out last night to find clues, you'll lose the main goal because of small gains!"

Li Yi spoke sincerely, and Yu Su listened seriously.

When she finished, Yu Su nodded in agreement, “What you said makes sense, especially the three cobblers are equal to one Zhuge Liang.” 

Li Yi's eyes were a little happier. Just as she was about to speak, Yu Su pointed at the general direction of w.a.n.g San who was inside the house, crooked her head and laughed, “But I've got Zhuge Liang's thigh in my arms. What can the stinky cobbler do?”

Li Yi's smile, which had just appeared in the corner of her mouth immediately stiffened.

“I can at least tell you that if you open the door at night, you will get the clue.” Yu Su didn't want to be too cruel. After all, everyone was players on the same mission and not enemies.

Li Yi had talked a lot and realizing her effort was useless. She reluctantly turned around and left.

Zhuang Han had stayed in the hotel to find clues. Li Yi decided to take a stroll and familiarize herself with the town before returning.

Yu Su stood at the entrance of the pa.s.sage and watched Li Yi left before returning to the main house.

When she entered, w.a.n.g San was sitting on a chair while looking at a photo alb.u.m.

Seeing Yu Su coming, he explained, “From this family photo, the Proprietress and this shop owner are relatives and should be sisters.” 

“Such a coincidence?” Yu Su looked at it and saw a gray-haired grandmother sitting in the middle of the family photo. Behind her stood a pair of middle-aged women with similar features, one of them was the Proprietress.

On the other side of the Proprietress was an unfamiliar middle-aged man which should be her husband. In addition, there were her daughter and son-in-law.

w.a.n.g San put down the alb.u.m and asked Yu Su, “Do you remember what the female ghost said last night?”

Yu Su nodded, “She said the Proprietress had gone to a relative's house and would not be back until tomorrow.” 

At that time, Yu Su thought this was a distant relative in another city. She didn't expect it was still inside the town, only a few minutes away from the hotel.

Looking from the family photo, the Proprietress' sister didn't seem married and didn't have any children, she was standing alone at the other side of the Proprietress.

If she was a single woman and the Proprietress was her sister, it's normal for the Proprietress to come and accompany her from time to time since they didn't live far apart.

That was to say, on the day Cha Nan slaughtered w.a.n.g Yan, the Proprietress left the hotel early and stayed overnight, completely ignorant of what happened that night.

On the next day, she would return to the hotel ahead of time to do business, then learned her daughter had died tragically.

Yu Su thought, if this had happened to herself, she would beat that son of a b.i.t.c.h Cha Nan!

Wouldn't the Proprietress think the same way as her? 

However… Who was the short-haired woman hung in the kitchen?

Yu Su scratched her head and asked w.a.n.g San, “Big Brother, what do you think?”

w.a.n.g San said slowly, “First of all, the short-haired woman in the kitchen wasn't killed by Cha nan. His crime was under influence. He wouldn't be able to think of that cruel way to torture his victim. But w.a.n.g Yan definitely was not the killer either. Excluding the two people, the only person left is the Proprietress. The Proprietress's daughter was killed by Cha Nan, so she should've sought Cha Nan for revenge, not an innocent woman. Unlessーthis woman wasn't innocent.”

Listening to him, Yu Su suddenly realized, “Right, last night the female ghost w.a.n.g Yan said that she had been enduring Cha Nan domestic violence, but she didn't expect to find evidence of Cha Nan's derailment! The one hanging in the kitchen was most likely Xiao San! (Xiao San = Little Three, the third party in a relationship)   

While Cha Nan is the real murderer of w.a.n.g Yan, Xiao San was the cause of this incident. Without Xiao San, this tragedy wouldn't have happened. If the Proprietress was enraged to the point of murder, she would certainly not let go of Xiao San! 

w.a.n.g San lightly picked up the corners of his mouth and the praised, “Yes, your IQ is within the normal range,” 

“…” Yu Su countered, “It seems that you are not within the normal range.” 

w.a.n.g San narrowed his eyes and looked at her without speaking.

Yu Su immediately became aware of the hairy situation and admitted, “Big Brother, I'm wrong, I shouldn't have mocked you.” 

w.a.n.g San raised his eyebrows, “Come, Let's return to the hotel.” 

Yu Su stopped fooling around and asked in doubt, “We are going back so soon?”

“Xiao San won't appear in the hotel for no reason. If there's any clue, it must be inside the hotel.” w.a.n.g San revealed a serious look with decisive eyes.

TL Note :

Similar to the expression "Two heads are better than one," this proverb says that if three cobblers work together, they could be as smart as Zhuge Liang. But how did a cobbler become a unit of intelligence? Actually, the original saying was that "Three vice-generals are equal to one Zhuge Liang". Because "vice-generals" (裨将, píjiàng) has the same p.r.o.nunciation as "cobbler" (皮匠, píjiàng), the saying has been mangled as it spread over time.

Oof, this chapter uses proverbs and slangs. It's hard to translate it T_T