Chapter 112: Clue Appears (4/4, for 'Foggy Morning')

Lin Ling immediately frowned with suspicion: "What are you planning to do?"

"Relax, it's definitely for investigating Hua Wuye—just tell me if you have it."

"... Fine, here, but you owe me!"

Saying this, Lin Ling handed Fang Yue 1g of Black Ember.

It was only because this involved Hua Wuye that he was willing to get worked up—otherwise, he might not have lent it to Fang Yue at all.

Unlike Fang Yue, it seemed Natives had a chance—albeit a very low one—to condense Black Ember when killing anomalies, making it quite rare; Fang Yue guessed this was a player benefit.

After handing over the Black Ember, Lin Ling returned to the Guard Station to interrogate suspects.

Fang Yue didn't stop him, instead continuing to closely examine the three corpses.

But after staring for a long while, he saw nothing.

He scratched his head, finally pulling out 1g of Black Ember—and... a piece of parchment.

"Eat this, then tell me—who's the traitor!"

Fang Yue poured the Black Ember onto the parchment, which instantly devoured it clean!

Then, text began to surface on its surface.

【I am Fang Yue. I am beside the corpse in the crematorium, troubled by the traitor problem—but soon, all questions became effortlessly resolved—the corpse is speaking!】

Fang Yue:???

"What the hell is effortlessly resolved! Speak! Who's the traitor, or I'll make you vomit it up! Spit out my Black Ember!"

Fang Yue shook the parchment violently, turned it upside down—but not a trace of Black Ember, not even a speck, came out.

Damn! Eating for free, swallowing my stuff!

As if sensing Fang Yue's anger, the parchment began to display text again.

【My foolish self never understood the great mercy of the Parchment Lord, who overlooks debts! But the great and noble Parchment Lord has decided to forgive the petty.】

【Next, I abandoned tormenting the Parchment Lord and resumed my daily Guard Team patrol.】

【One day passed quickly; night fell, and I continued my night patrol—then, I met someone.】

【It was... Hua Wuye—but not Hua Wuye.】

【I approached, confused, and saw Hua Wuye's eyes turning black... she had become an anomaly!】

【I fought Hua Wuye; when Lin Ling arrived, I killed Hua Wuye right before his eyes.】

【I became Lin Ling's enemy; Gu Yue Cun seemed to grow harder and harder to stay in.】

【Three days later, I was expelled from the village and died in the wilderness.】

What?!

This this this.

Fang Yue scratched his head—the parchment's information overload was too much; he needed a moment.

So, three days from now, I'm going to die again? And in the wilderness?

Also... Hua Wuye is going to turn into an anomaly? And I'm going to kill her, then Lin Ling will expel me from the village—no need to guess, this expulsion was definitely done behind Lord Han's back.

This guy...

No no no, now is not the time to resent Lin Ling—he hasn't even done anything yet.

Fang Yue frowned, feeling he couldn't just sit idle; otherwise, what came next seemed likely to be grim.

Fang Yue scratched his head and continued inspecting the Hua Family corpses, hoping to spot something.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed Guard Team members bringing another corpse outside.

Fang Yue froze instantly.

He recognized this corpse—it was the player with the ID 【Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs】, who had claimed to be Mo Shentou's apprentice last night.

That wasn't the point—the point was... the wounds on his corpse were knife wounds! Horrific knife wounds!

A massive wound nearly severed 【Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs】's chest, leaving only a sliver of skin and bone clinging together.

When the Guard Team members dropped the corpse to the ground, it cleanly split in two—the wound bore a striking resemblance to the waist-severed corpse of the Hua Family matriarch!

"Wait!"

Fang Yue called out to the Guard Team member, then rushed over himself to examine it.

After careful comparison, he realized both wounds were clearly made by the same hand.

Fang Yue's eyes lit up instantly.

"How did he die?"

"Don't know."

The Guard Team member shook his head: "When we found him this morning, he was already like this."

Ah...

This...

Another clue gone...

Fang Yue was brooding when suddenly he froze, then smacked his thigh.

Go to hell with that!

This guy is a player!!

Corpses speak!! He pulled up his friend list and quickly searched—immediately locking onto one person: WaterInTheWater.

"Bro Water, you there? Need your help urgently."

WaterInTheWater was pitifully waiting in the Talent Market for someone to adopt him; seeing this message, he perked up instantly.

"Ye Ge! What is it? Say it! I'll risk my life for you!"

He'd finally realized—this damn village runs on connections!

"No problem—if you've got no ability, just wait for your lifespan to run out and die at the Talent Square!"

Shuizhongzhishui certainly didn't want to die just like that.

Fang Yue's appearance was clearly his only lifeline.

"Last night you said you knew how to make sweet and sour spare ribs—is that true?"

"That has to be true! Classmate! Same-class classmate!"

"Can you give me a contact number?"

"Ah… well, that is…"

"Having trouble?"

"No… it's mainly that I need to find work in the village, and that lifespan thing…"

Fang Yue immediately understood.

"I'll arrange it for you! I guarantee someone will want you!"

"Thanks, Ye Ge!!"

Saying this, Shuizhongzhishui immediately sold out sweet and sour spare ribs, even exposing everything—what his real-life name was, how old he was, what he looked like.

Fang Yue wiped his sweat, had the Guard Team members help watch over his body, sat cross-legged himself, and logged straight out of the game.

After logging out, Fang Yue didn't hesitate and dialed the number right away.

"Hello?"

A slightly nervous voice came from the other end of the line.

Fang Yue didn't bother with pleasantries and stated his identity directly.

"Y-Ye Ge?! Holy shit! Yese Liming?! That Deputy Captain Ye from last night was actually you?!"

Sweet and sour spare ribs was instantly shocked, his whole body trembling.

What on earth did I miss out on!!

"Don't get worked up. I'm calling just to ask one thing—how did you die?"

Sweet and sour spare ribs was startled inside. Why would Ye Ge ask that question? Could it be that Ye Ge took a liking to me last night, but with so many people around he didn't take me in as a subordinate on the spot, and was planning to quietly recruit me during the day—only to find out I was dead…

Dammit!

I missed my chance!!

Sweet and sour spare ribs was filled with regret! At the same time, he couldn't help feeling even angrier at last night's killer.

Immediately, he recounted last night's situation in full, and at the end couldn't help adding: Ye Ge! I'll be able to log into the game again at this time tomorrow, and if I'm lucky I'll still be in Gu Yue Cun—you've got to look after me, alright?

But there was no response from the other end of the line.

Sweet and sour spare ribs called out twice before Fang Yue seemed to suddenly come back to himself, hummed a couple of acknowledgments, agreed to the promise, and hung up the phone.

When he looked up again, Fang Yue's eyes were icy cold.

"Who would have thought—the mole was actually you!"

One more chapter to come.

(End of chapter)