Chapter 18 Our Promise 10 The City Flooded
Chu Ping looked at Wu Wangwang quietly for a while, then asked, "Do you think someone who has killed someone once might come to love the feeling of making the other person disappear whenever they're unhappy?"
Wu Wangwang really wanted to reply to her: I'm not human, how would I know?
Chu Ping misunderstood this silence and continued, "A leopard can't change its spots. It will. That agreement, apart from Fu Mei, has never been kept by anyone."
Our agreement only binds one person.
The biggest secret in the entire instance is that the secrets are intertwined, making it impossible to distinguish who died.
Wu Wangwang finally realized: "Why? Why did those six people kill Shi Rong and Du Luo?"
Chu Ping laughed: "I don't know, it's ridiculous, isn't it? Sometimes the victims don't even understand why they were killed, and maybe even the murderer doesn't know."
After leaving Chu Ping, Wu Wangwang walked along the road, still feeling confused. She seemed to have gotten the truth from Chu Ping, but there were still illogical parts. Moreover, Chu Ping did not tell her the specific rules of death, only that Guo Tianyin would kill the players for Hua Jiao's safety.
So now that Hua Jiao has disappeared, is it Guo Tianyin who is protecting her?
Why did Hua Jiao kill Du Luo?
After running around for so many days, there wasn't even a single useful clue. Wu Wangwang felt extremely exhausted. She began to miss the last dungeon, where everyone cooperated so well. This dungeon was a mess, with players scattered everywhere, making it very painful.
Back home, Wu Wangwang looked at Fu Mei, whose face was completely exposed, and thought of Chu Ping's words, and suddenly felt a sense of pity.
Fu Mei suggested that the two sides join forces to kill the person they hated, but unexpectedly, in the end, only she insisted on the agreement, as if she was guarding a friendship that could not be exposed.
But the six of them had their own little circle and never integrated her into it.
After closing the door, Wu Wangwang tried to contact Lai Jie, but this time, she couldn't get through.
Is it because he knows a lot of things?
But Lai Jie clearly said he didn't know anything.
If knowing too much triggered Guo Tianyin's death rule, then why is Wu Wangwang unharmed?
There's no reason why Du Luo would chase after them to kill them last time, but not this time.
The rules of death must still be hidden. Wu Wangwang left again to find Lai Jie, but this time she couldn't find him at Liu Ke's house.
Wu Wangwang went directly to the landlord to ask if her friend had returned and what the consequences would be. The landlord said that Lai Jie had come to help Liu Ke cancel the lease during the day, and that the house was very clean and that he had recorded a video for the landlord.
The landlord forwarded the video to Wu Wangwang to prove that he wasn't lying; Lai Jie really did clean up his things before leaving.
The only player she could contact had also disappeared, and Wu Wangwang was now completely alone.
On her way home, Wu Wangwang was waiting for the bus by the roadside when a sudden downpour began. The rainwater quickly accumulated, and if she hadn't been on the bus stop, the water would have been up to her ankles.
The number of cars on the road gradually decreased, and the bus did not come for a long time. The rain was heavy and splashed mud all over Wu Wangwang's trousers. Dark hair floated up from the sewer and spread little by little towards Wu Wangwang.
The lights of the billboard behind it kept flashing, making the entire bus stop seem like an isolated island in the world, with ghostly shadows floating in the water.
Wu Wangwang watched the muddy water rise and asked, "Which rule did I trigger?"
No one answered.
He couldn't die in such an obvious place; resurrection would definitely be difficult. Wu Wangwang stared at the muddy hair that was slowly climbing up, then stomped on it several times, squeezing out dark red blood from the hair.
After being stomped on so many times by the Demon Mother, he won't be able to show his face for ten days or half a month; at the very least, he'll suffer internal injuries.
The hair and the ghostly figure disappeared, the rain gradually subsided, and the long-awaited bus finally arrived. Wu Wangwang boarded and swiped her QR code.
The driver, who was blocked by the protective door, was rather thin. After Wu Wangwang finished scanning the code, she looked up at the rearview mirror and was met with a pair of bloodshot eyes.
Du Luo's eyes were bloodshot, filled with a bulging, bursting crimson. Blood welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill over, but she wore a wide smile as she looked at Wu Wangwang in the rearview mirror.
Wu Wangwang met her gaze silently. Du Luo, having not heard any screams, asked with some confusion, "Aren't you scared?"
"..." Wu Wangwang then remembered that people should be afraid, so she focused her energy in her dantian and cried out, "Ah—"
Du Luo was speechless: "Even a groundhog's squeal is more emotional than yours..."
Before she could finish speaking, Wu Wangwang interrupted her: "I don't think I triggered the death rule, so you can't kill me."
Interrupted, Du Luo was very unhappy: "Who said you didn't trigger it? Every player triggered the death rule, so now it's your turn."
This is really too troublesome. As soon as one is driven away, another one comes. Wu Wangwang silently turned around, took out the window breaker, smashed the glass, and jumped out.
The rain outside had stopped sometime ago, and the streets were deserted and pitch black.
Du Luo didn't stop her. She watched from the driver's seat, and when Wu Wangwang got out of the car and looked at her, she said, "If you promise not to expose Hua Jiao, I won't make things difficult for you."
“But if I don’t expose Hua Jiao, Chu Ping will come after me and kill me, right?” Wu Wangwang asked rhetorically.
“Yes, she might not have killed you the way I did. You rushed into the sea and were actually rescued by the fishermen. You’re really lucky. I was worried you’d be stranded on the beach, so I opened the sluice gate.” Du Luo said with great regret.
Wu Wangwang didn't care about any of that; all she wanted was an answer: "You like Hua Jiao so much, so you should know why Hua Jiao killed Du Luo, right?"
Du Luo chuckled: "I won't tell you anything about Hua Jiao, but I can tell you about Chu Ping and Shi Rong. You know what? Chu Ping was pregnant with Li Hu's child, so she was murdered in a conspiracy. Ten years later, Shi Rong was pregnant with Yang Bin's child, and the three of them conspired to kill Shi Rong. Isn't that funny?"
After saying that, Du Luo let out a shrill laugh, started the bus, and rushed forward madly until it crashed into the railing and exploded with a loud bang.
Faced with this situation, Wu Wangwang frowned, remembering what Chu Ping had said.
If you've ever killed someone, you'll come to love the feeling of getting rid of trouble.
Unable to take a car, Wu Wangwang walked home, pondering as she went, wondering what went wrong.
The information she had gathered during this period of time was repeated in her mind. After much thought, Wu Wangwang realized that she was missing two key points—what role does Fu Mei play in this story? What were the specific reasons for Hua Jiao's two murders?
Guo Tianyin was very fond of Hua Jiao, which is why Chu Ping still doesn't understand why Hua Jiao killed people, and even killed them twice.
Secondly, Fu Mei participated in the killing the first time, but did nothing in the second round. Just like Wu Wangwang is now excluded from the players, she knows nothing but has to choose sides. If she chooses the wrong side, she will die.
If Wu Wangwang were in the same situation as Fu Mei back then, what would she do?
On her way home, she passed by the square. It was late at night and there were hardly any people around. But Wu Wangwang saw the referee carrying a teapot and strolling around the square in the distance.
Wu Wangwang was hesitant to get too close to the referee; she wasn't human, and frequent close contact could still lead to her being discovered.
But the referee spotted Wu Wangwang and waved back, saying, "There are only four days left, player. Be careful."
Nodding to the referee from a distance, Wu Wangwang walked away without looking back.
The next day, Wu Wangwang was fired for absenteeism without even receiving n+1 compensation, which was her mistake.
At this point, Wu Wangwang didn't want to care about work anymore. If it weren't for this job, she could have asked more questions before Ya and the others disappeared.
Now completely in the dark, Wu Wangwang repeatedly opened those apps and chat logs on Fu Mei's phone, computer, and tablet, trying to find some information.
I've been looking for it for a long time, but I just can't find it, and I always feel very disappointed.
After reviewing the bills again, Wu Wangwang suddenly froze. She flipped the bills back to five months ago. On several days, Fu Mei's expenses were hawthorn, angelica, and saffron, which were bought separately and not on the same day. It seemed like she bought them because of irregular menstruation.
However, this list overlaps with the note Lai Jie gave him.
Wu Wangwang searched online and found that the items on Lai Jie's note and the items Fu Mei bought were all rumored to be for abortion. Moreover, the items were common, and as long as the pregnant woman did not accidentally ingest them, there would be no problem. However, if someone deliberately bought them, no one would suspect that they were for abortion.
"Did Fu Mei buy it for Shi Rong? Yes, Shi Rong is pregnant. Shi Rong and Fu Mei have a good relationship. What about Lai Jie? Did Lai Jie buy it for Hua Jiao because Hua Jiao is pregnant?" Wu Wangwang muttered to herself.
But everyone thinks that Hua Jiao wouldn't sleep with her boyfriend, she would only hire servants. If Hua Jiao wasn't pregnant, why would she buy these things?
If Hua Jiao is pregnant and planning to have an abortion—thinking of this, Wu Wangwang denied the possibility that Hua Jiao was pregnant, because Hua Jiao was rich and did not need such a cheap and secretive way to get rid of the child; she could even spend money to have a painless abortion.
Children from wealthy families never compromise their rights and are bold enough to handle things themselves without even telling their parents, let alone having a bunch of servants.
So, the pregnant woman wasn't trying to be charming, but she wanted to use these things to get an abortion.
Wu Wangwang couldn't figure out why, and no player could give her a hint. After thinking it over, she did what humans do and went to several large forums to post questions about why.
After making some minor repairs, I mentioned that a friend of mine had suddenly bought some food intended for abortion, but she herself was not pregnant, and asked what to do.
A bunch of people below were making fun of the references, even asking if this friend was Wu Wangwang herself.
After several random replies, one finally came up: "OP, is your friend an only child? Her parents might be planning to have a second child."
Upon seeing this, Wu Wangwang immediately thought of the original owner's family and felt that it was very likely.
Many people agreed with this answer, while others said that it might be sold to another friend. In any case, these kinds of things are not easy to talk about openly.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, Wu Wangwang called the class monitor and asked, "I suddenly can't get in touch with Hua Jiao. Class monitor, do you know her home contact information?"
The class monitor became alert: "What? You can't contact Hua Jiao either? Don't worry, wait a little longer. Maybe she's on vacation and her sleep schedule is messed up. If all else fails, you should call the police. Her parents went abroad after she graduated from high school and haven't come back at all. It's been so many years, I doubt anyone outside can contact them."
Jiaojiao herself mentioned this before: her parents went abroad and never came back. But as their only daughter, could Jiaojiao really bear to leave them?
There is only one possibility—there is an irreconcilable conflict between her and her parents.
Those abortion products weren't bought for peers or for themselves, but for Hua Jiao's mother, who needed to support herself, as she was the only daughter in the family.
How much did Guo Tianyin know about this?
Or rather, how much did Guo Tianyin help Hua Jiao?
Can someone who knows Hua Jiao's secret really survive?
Just then, a loud noise came from the bathroom, as if something had fallen to the ground. Wu Wangwang quickly ran over to see what was happening and found that the showerhead had fallen and cracked. Countless hairs mixed with mud and water squeezed out of the crack in the showerhead and kept wriggling.
Wu Wangwang stared at the clump of hair for a while and said, "I know your secret, all your secrets, I know them all."
Instantly, the hair stopped wriggling, followed by a sharp hissing sound from the showerhead, as if it were insulting Wu Wangwang. But the hair did not attack again. After a while, the hair disappeared, leaving only a broken showerhead on the ground.
There are still many questions. Wu Wangwang doesn't know how she triggered the death rule. If she were human, she would have died many times over and wouldn't have survived until today.
Those questions seemed to be answered only by the parties involved. Wu Wangwang really couldn't find any more answers, and everyone had cleaned up all the traces.
Both Chu Ping and Guo Tianyin tried to kill Wu Wangwang in different ways. She could always see the swollen hair in different places, as well as Guo Tianyin, who was always laughing and wearing Du Luo's body.
She never saw the other players again. Wu Wangwang didn't dare go to the square for fear of being watched by the referee. So she simply went to the police station every day, took a number, and sat there for an afternoon. When it was her turn, she would say that her parents hadn't brought anything and had to take another number.
August 31st, the last day of the dungeon.
Wu Wangwang had already been to several police stations. This time, she went to a slightly more remote and larger public security bureau. She had just taken a number at the entrance when she heard a policeman blowing a whistle outside, saying that a prisoner had escaped and they should chase after him immediately.
Yu Guangzhong saw a familiar figure and quickly chased after it.
Humans couldn't possibly match her speed. After catching up, Wu Wangwang pulled the person into a nearby public restroom, where police were conducting a search outside.
The man Wu Wangwang was pulling recognized her, so he stopped struggling. Once they got to the toilet, he quickly squatted down and asked, "Fu Mei, you're not dead yet?"
This person is Yahe, wearing clothes that already smelled sour, with messy hair, looking like he hasn't washed himself for many days.
"I don't think it's very polite to ask someone if they're dead as soon as we meet," Wu Wangwang gently reminded her.
Yahe waved his hand: "Never mind that. I've been hiding in the police station for so many days, keeping them in suspense with messages. Now I have to run away, otherwise I won't be able to go to the square tomorrow morning."
Wu Wangwang frowned: "So, you haven't gone missing? You've all hidden in the safe zone?"
Yahe paused for a moment before replying, then said, "No, it was only Li Hu and I who managed to hide in the safe zone, you know? That oath was something to protect us."
"That thing really works?" Wu Wangwang asked, puzzled. She had heard a lot of news, including from Chu Ping, who said it was just for show and no one actually followed it.
Aya retorted with great certainty: "No, that is the real protection agreement. As long as you abide by the agreement and forget all the truth, you will not be hunted down. Anyone who knows their secret, even just one of them, will be hunted down."
Being chased doesn't necessarily mean death; it all depends on how fast you run. Because Chu Ping and Guo Tianyin's killings aren't guaranteed kills, players have room to escape.
However, if they are being hunted down, there is basically no way to survive, since not everyone can survive being submerged in water for several hours like Wu Wangwang.
The police were still searching the area and would be reviewing the surveillance footage soon, so they had to run. Wu Wangwang pulled Yahe along, using her powerful senses to evade the police while she made Yahe explain what everyone's secrets were.
Yahe said, "I only know the secrets about Chu Ping's side because Yang Bin and Li Hu are related people. Through them, I quickly figured it out. But the problem is, I know nothing about Hua Jiao and Du Luo."
After running out of the area, Wu Wangwang didn't sense anyone chasing her, so she quickly pulled Yahe to a nearby alley without surveillance cameras.
Once things calmed down, Wu Wangwang pressed on, "Could there be a mistake? I was also approached a couple of days ago, but I told them I knew each of their secrets, and they didn't come to kill me."
Yahe clapped his hands suddenly: "Isn't that simple? This is the only way to break the deadlock! Only the player who knows all the secrets of these eleven people can survive!"
Upon hearing Yahe's words, Wu Wangwang suddenly understood Du Luo's meaning—every player has triggered the death rule!
Those who don't know all the secrets will trigger the death rule, while those who know all the secrets will threaten the existence of the ghosts. Therefore, they cannot be killed. Wu Wangwang's casual threat turned out to be the right thing to do.
Looking back on the entire instance, Wu Wangwang realized that from the very beginning, it revolved around only two things: first, the agreement that everyone had to abide by; and second, the secrets that everyone had to keep to themselves.
Seeing that Wu Wangwang seemed to understand something, Yahe pressed, "Am I right?"
"No, tell me, what secret did you find out?" Wu Wangwang asked quickly.
“I traced this identity and all of Yang Bin and Li Hu’s past online records and found that Chu Ping was not pregnant at all back then. She was deceived. The person who was pregnant from the beginning was Shi Rong. However, Fu Mei and Shi Rong were good friends with Chu Ping. They also knew that Chu Ping had dated Yang Bin, so they gave the order to Chu Ping and asked her to ask for the money.” Ya He explained the matter clearly in just a few words.
That "promise" actually belonged only to Fu Mei and Shi Rong; the hand they secretly held under their graduation photo was their biggest secret.
During Chu Ping's relationship with Yang Bin, Shi Rong and Li Hu were bed partners. Li Hu was a womanizer and, while flirting with Shi Rong, he didn't forget to flirt with Chu Ping. Ya He seemed to have noticed something and hated Chu Ping, but he ignored Shi Rong, who never showed it.
Later, Shi Rong became pregnant by chance. She knew she wouldn't keep the child. Seeing how pitiful Chu Ping was being played by the two men, she asked her if she wanted to get revenge.
All the money received went to Chu Ping.
Chu Ping was tempted and actually went to threaten Yang Bin and Li Hu, deceiving both of them.
Unexpectedly, Ya and the others harbored murderous intentions and, together with Hua Jiao and the other two, killed Chu Ping and Guo Tianyin. They did not know why Hua Jiao wanted to kill Guo Tianyin.
"There's another problem. Fu Mei's role is very strange. Shi Rong gave his test results to Chu Ping, and Fu Mei also helped Chu Ping ask for money, but in the end, Fu Mei helped Ya He and the other two kill Chu Ping." Ya He, a player, pointed out his doubts.
This suspicion, along with other concerns, led Yahe to identify Fu Mei and Hua Jiao at the party. After all, they were already involved with Du Luo, so it was better to catch them all in one fell swoop.
After that unsuccessful start, Yahe had no time to investigate further. The ghost was pursuing them relentlessly, and with Wu Wangwang's disappearance, they realized that the rules might have been triggered. So they tried to escape to the safe zone as soon as possible and hide until the last day before coming out.
During their escape, Lai Jie disappeared, Yang Bin went with Liu Ke to avoid being alone, but neither of them returned. Ya He hid in a safe zone, while Li Hu was in another detention center. They used different excuses, so they were detained in different places.
She managed to escape using a lot of reward items. Yahe is a capable person; she is very skilled and has cleared many dungeons on her own, accumulating some rewards. Otherwise, she really wouldn't have been able to escape.
After hearing Yahe's news, Wu Wangwang finally understood what was going on with Chu Ping: "I understand. The information I have is that Fu Mei and Shi Rong are the best friends, and just five months ago, Fu Mei secretly bought abortion supplies for Shi Rong."
Yahe, quick-witted, suddenly realized: "Oh, I see. Fu Mei must have heard that Yahe wanted to kill Chu Ping. She was worried that the matter of exchanging the bills would be exposed, causing Yahe to harm Shi Rong as well. So she simply decided to go all the way and push Chu Ping, the only one who knew the truth, out to kill her. That way, Shi Rong would be forever innocent and safe. If the case comes to light in the future, Shi Rong will also be innocent and will not have committed murder."
"That's right. Until this year, Shi Rong got pregnant again. I don't know whose child it is this time, but it shouldn't be made public. And Chu Ping wasn't there to take her place. As a result, Shi Rong was murdered without Fu Mei's knowledge, so Chu Ping possessed her." Wu Wangwang finally sorted out the whole story.
"I know that Shi Rong is pregnant with Li Hu's child. I saw it in the deleted content on Li Hu's phone. The two of them have been in a complicated relationship and haven't broken up. I didn't expect Shi Rong to be pregnant again, but Li Hu already has a fiancée. It's not Ya He. Ya He is engaged to Yang Bin." The Ya He player filled in the remaining details.
At this point, the secret of the instance still lies with Hua Jiao, and there are still a full twenty hours until eight o'clock in the morning.
Yahe came out during the day because she was afraid that it would be difficult to escape if the door was locked at night, but coming out also meant that the ghost would come after her. In other words, they would either have to play guerrilla warfare in the safe zone repeatedly, or take advantage of the fact that both of them had the most information to find out the secret.
Wu Wangwang gave Yahe two choices: she wouldn't die, and it didn't matter which one she chose; it was all up to Yahe.
Upon hearing that there was still a chance to pass the level, Yahe immediately said, "I choose the second option. We'll go find the secret, but we have to find Li Hu. He's having affairs with many people and knows how to pick locks. With him, we can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Also, I need a computer."
It turns out that having affairs with many people is a skill. Wu Wangwang felt that she had learned something new about life: "Is that even possible? Okay, let's go pick him up first, and then go back to my house to get my computer."
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: From now on, if I break the lock and get in, I'll just say I've been having too many affairs and can't break the habit. That way, they won't be able to catch me! [Starry-eyed]
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