Chapter 15: You Are Too Polite

For a moment, there was silence. Su Tingting, who had just regained consciousness, felt a buzzing in her mind, and her heartbeat even stopped; this sudden scene had stunned everyone.

A minute, or perhaps less, the sound of water rose again outside, right beyond the window, but this time the sound moved further and further away, soon disappearing in the direction of the lake.

The few of them did not dare to move. Not until the sound had completely vanished and they had waited for quite a while longer did Kuang Hongyi quietly press against the door crack, discovering that the mist outside had already dispersed and the candlelight in another room not far away had also lit up; Kuang Hongyi let out a long sigh of relief.

This seemed to be a signal; only at this moment did everyone finally dare to breathe normally.

Xu Su was the first to stand up, slowly working her somewhat numb joints; she had maintained the same posture for a long time.

"Woo... woo..."

Yang Xiao also let out a sigh of relief. Only then did he notice Su Tingting staring at him with a resentful gaze, and he hurriedly let go of her hand.

"What is wrong with you?" Kuang Hongyi stared down at Su Tingting, with a tone that was quite accusatory, "If it hadn't been for Brother Chu just now, you would have been in trouble. Aren't you going to thank him!"

Su Tingting clutched the place where she had been stabbed, her eyes brimming with tears; on the floor lay the murder weapon, the candlestick, "Thank you."

Yang Xiao waved his hand, "You are too polite."

Su Tingting watched as Yang Xiao casually inserted the broken candle back onto the candlestick, his movements practiced and natural; it seemed he was very accustomed to doing such things.

The few of them relit the candles, the light dispelling the darkness as if they had returned to the human world, "Don't worry too much, that thing has already been here. This is only the first night, there shouldn't be any more trouble." Kuang Hongyi comforted them with the tone of an experienced veteran.

"Everyone tidy up and get ready to rest." Xu Su took the candlestick handed over by Yang Xiao, relit the candle, and placed it on the table, "The old rule: in a place like this, we must have people keeping watch. Two people per shift; who is taking the first shift?"

Xu Su was looking at Kuang Hongyi when she said this; after all, when it came down to it, only the two of them were experienced veteran players here.

Kuang Hongyi worked his wrists and gave a dull grunt, "How about this: the two of us will each lead a shift. I'll go first, Brother Chu will follow me, and since Su Tingting has been frightened, you take her to rest first."

Xu Su had no objections, though Su Tingting, clutching her injured area, walked with a limp and looked quite pitiful.

Xu Su rummaged through the room and finally found some ointment wrapped in oil paper inside a wooden box under the bed. After identifying it, she took Su Tingting behind the bookcase to help her apply the medicine.

After some fuss, Xu Su walked to a bed intending to rest. Seeing Su Tingting still pitifully following behind her, Xu Su frowned, "Go to the other bed, sleep by yourself!"

Su Tingting dared not offend Xu Su, so she had to pitifully head toward the other bed. Because of her injury, she could only lie on her stomach. However, Yang Xiao knew that the earlier events had been a heavy blow to her; it would be impossible for her to sleep soundly tonight.

Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi sat around the table, faithfully carrying out their watch duty. As time ticked by, Yang Xiao noticed that Xu Su, lying on the bed, was breathing steadily and seemed to have truly fallen asleep.

"Brother Chu, I apologize for my offense at the Flour Factory earlier. I didn't know you were also one of the players this time, and I took you for a young man here to hunt for thrills. You also understand that there is something strange about that place." Kuang Hongyi's attitude was surprisingly kind; he picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Yang Xiao, as if they were familiar friends chatting about daily life.

"I know, Big Brother was doing it for my own good." Yang Xiao played along well.

Hearing Yang Xiao change his form of address, the corners of Kuang Hongyi's mouth curled up, his mood visibly improved, "Brother Chu is truly a reasonable man. It is fate that you and I met here. If you don't mind, you can call me Brother Kuang from now on, and I'll call you Brother Chu. In the future, we brothers will look out for each other."

After saying this, Kuang Hongyi glanced at Xu Su's bed, then leaned in closer and lowered his voice, saying mysteriously: "Brother Chu, you are new here, and there are some tricks in the Script you don't understand. What can take a person's life here has never been limited to just that kind of thing from before; there are also people. In this world, don't easily trust anyone, whether they are an NPC or a teammate."

Yang Xiao feigned surprise, "What does Brother Kuang mean by that?"

"Sigh, it's impossible to leave a place like this unscathed. Someone always has to be left here forever. This world has no laws to restrain it; in order to survive, people will do anything." Kuang Hongyi changed the subject, "Of course, the best way is to find some like-minded friends to cooperate with; that will greatly increase the chances of survival."

"Brother Chu, to tell you the truth, my real identity is a police officer." Kuang Hongyi sat up straight, a sudden sense of justice permeating his whole body, "This is my third time coming to a Script world, so I have some experience. If there is anything you don't understand, just ask me, and I will answer everything I know. By the way, what do you do, Brother Chu?"

Yang Xiao gave a bitter smile, "I really do work at a milk tea shop. I thought what you all said at the beginning was all true."

Smiling, Kuang Hongyi maintained his polite attitude, but his eyes changed, "Brother Chu is joking. Someone working at a milk tea shop can know about the Paper Groom, and know it in such detail?"

"I like to read in my spare time—folk geomancy books, strange folklore, and the like. The Paper Groom is nothing; I know a little about other things too." Yang Xiao maintained his sincere expression, leaving no room for criticism.

Kuang Hongyi naturally did not believe this explanation, but it was not easy to tear off the mask directly, so he had to apologize with a smile: "That was my lack of insight. I didn't expect a small milk tea shop to hide such talent. Very well, I believe that if we cooperate, we will surely be able to carve out a path to survival."

"I'll be counting on you, Brother Kuang." Yang Xiao extended his hand full of gratitude, and the two hands gripped each other tightly.

"What does Brother Kuang think of today's events?" Yang Xiao wanted to dig out more useful information from this veteran player, Kuang Hongyi.

"Looking at the current situation, this Feng family must have done something heinous to kill that guy from earlier. The other party's resentment could not be dissipated, so they turned into a fierce ghost and came to the door to seek revenge." Kuang Hongyi continued, "Also, when I was at the Flour Factory before, I recorded a video. It didn't capture anything useful, but when I went back at night and played it back, I could faintly hear an ethereal singing voice in the background, very similar to the opera singing from just now."

"The name of this Script is Fengmen Ghost Opera." Yang Xiao reminded him.

Kuang Hongyi nodded, "That's right. So, if nothing goes wrong, what we are facing this time is this Singing Ghost. When dawn comes, we will split into several groups and try our best to find out the identity of this ghost before the sun sets, as well as what evil deeds this Feng family committed to bring about the destruction of their family."

"By the way, Brother Chu, keep an eye on that Shi Dali; he is not quite right." Kuang Hongyi said very seriously.

"How so?"

"I suspect he has human lives on his hands—more than one."