176 Killed with my own hands
◎I love you◎
The moment he saw the two eyeballs, Su Wen gasped and rubbed his arms, "That's horrible."
"Put these things away." Qi Qiuxue recalled the system's warning. "Before completely burning them, make sure to keep them properly to avoid any accidents."
Li Yiqing nodded in response and put the bottle away again, following Qi Qiuxue's words. "Okay."
Everyone returned to their rooms and had a simple lunch.
Qi Qiuxue was relatively silent during the meal. When they thought about what was going to happen next, everyone lost interest in chatting. This was the quietest meal they had had since entering the dungeon. After the meal, everyone temporarily returned to their respective rooms to rest for a while.
Li Yiqing did not leave. This time she stayed openly.
"Perhaps there are other clues that haven't been collected yet. If we find them, we'll definitely be able to turn the situation around." She and Qi Qiuxue sat down by the bed together. Li Yiqing held Qi Qiuxue's hand tightly, looking at her seriously. "I'll do my best to find them."
"Yes, indeed." Qi Qiuxue nodded in agreement. "S-level copies are hard to come by. To ensure this doesn't affect the final rating, we can't miss any clues."
"This time, we all have to get an S rating."
“…”
She remained calm, no matter what her fate would be.
Li Yiqing paused after listening to her, then sighed helplessly for a long while. He leaned his head on her shoulder and whispered, "You know that's not what I want to say."
"I understand you're worried about me." Qi Qiuxue slowly raised her lips, raised her hand and gently stroked Li Yiqing's cheek, carefully feeling the touch and temperature of her skin, "But I'm really fine."
"This divine item will bring me back to life, but in a different way. I'll temporarily reside in your body as a soul. Ah Qing, I'm actually more worried about your safety. After all, if you decide to accept my soul, your health will be halved, and your chances of death will increase significantly."
"If you encounter any danger later, be sure to protect yourself."
"Yeah." Li Yiqing replied softly, still not in high spirits.
So Qi Qiuxue continued to caress her face, patiently comforting her 'injured' lover: "Or is it that you can't kill me with your own hands?"
Li Yiqing lowered his eyelids and was silent for a moment before saying, "Axue, I don't want to and can't bear to hurt you, but I understand that if things really develop to this point, I must do this."
"Like you said, some choice is better than no choice."
"That's right." Qi Qiuxue smiled, "I'm glad you understand."
"I hope you can be involved in everything I do." Qi Qiuxue tilted her head to the side and rested it against Li Yiqing's. The two of them leaned close together, unreservedly revealing their thoughts in the quiet room. "I hope you love me, kiss me, and hug me. Even if something unexpected happens one day and we are forced to separate, I hope you won't forget me."
"If love cannot last, then turn it into hate. Hate me, dislike me, or even kill me."
"You have some morbid values, don't you?" she said softly. "After all, I was an orphan since I was little. No one taught me how to grow up properly, so it's normal for my values to be a little distorted."
"No." After saying that, Li Yiqing shook his head slightly, "Axue didn't."
"You're absolutely right." She raised her eyes again and looked at Qi Qiuxue, her tone solemn and serious, "I share the same idea as you."
"I hope we will never be separated. Whether it's love or hate, we will be entangled together for generations to come. Even if it really comes to death, I still hope to die in your hands."
The smile in his eyes melted away. Qi Qiuxue sighed and said with emotion: "Then we are both quite twisted."
Li Yiqing said nothing, but just laughed with her.
"I love you." After a while, she said suddenly.
Qi Qiuxue quickly caught up with her thoughts and responded with a chuckle—
"Me too."
-
Just like a movie gradually entering its final stages, everything suddenly begins to become dull and even a little boring.
Within two days, the players searched every corner of the house but could not find any suspicious clues. They even tried to enter the parts covered by black fog many times, but they all failed in the end.
In the past two days, even those horrible hallucinations have not appeared again.
Time quickly came to the afternoon of the fifth day. After today, it would be the time when Qi Qiuxue had to die. At this moment, all the players were in an extremely heavy mood, but even so, they still did not give up.
Because there is a place they have not been to, where there may be difficulties and dangers, but also where there may be hope and turning points.
It's outside this house, on the other side of the gate.
From a very early on, Qi Qiuxue suspected that the map of this copy was larger than this house, but for some reasons they could not get out temporarily. The subsequent tests by Liu Ge and Su Wen also verified this.
——When they tried to push open the door, the system gave them two options.
[Yes (please choose carefully) or No]
At that time, they chose the safe approach and did not force themselves to go out, but today, perhaps they should try another option.
"After all, this is an S-level copy. We don't know what's behind the door, whether we can handle it, whether we will die if we push it open, and whether the death sentence will fall on only one person or multiple people." Before making a decision, Qi Qiuxue took the initiative to analyze the situation.
"Opening the door has its pros and cons. If we're lucky, no one will die, and we'll gather new clues, achieve higher achievements, and get higher ratings."
"If we're unlucky, not only will we not get any new clues, but we'll also be pronounced dead in an instant. Besides me, who is doomed to die, everyone else will perish as well."
"All in all, not pushing the door is actually the safest approach. With the help of the god-level item, I won't die completely. We can all successfully complete the dungeon and leave together. However, the rating we'll get is not guaranteed. If it's an A, it means we've wasted an S-level dungeon in vain. But at least everyone's life is saved."
"On the other hand, if we succeed, one or all of us will receive an S rating, bringing us one step closer to the final instance. However, our safety cannot be guaranteed. Life or death depends entirely on fate."
"How should we choose? I hope everyone will carefully consider it before making a decision." Qi Qiuxue paused for a moment, giving everyone time to think, and then said, "If there are no objections, we will vote by raising our hands. If you want to go out, then raise your hands. If not, then don't raise your hands. The minority shall obey the majority."
After he finished speaking, everyone gave their answers one after another.
Qi Qiuxue looked at them one by one and found out that these core members of their guild were actually gamblers.
——Everyone raised their hands, perhaps to save her from pain, perhaps for a higher rating, perhaps out of herd mentality, or some passionate heroic feminism.
"Won't you reconsider?" After a while, Qi Qiuxue raised the corners of her lips slightly, "It's not too late to regret now."
"No." Li Yiqing shook his head.
"No need to change it." Liu Ge said.
Wu Shanyue and Bai Shien both nodded in agreement.
Su Wen, who was standing by, pushed her directly and said teasingly, "Qi Qiuxue, why are you suddenly so slow?"
"Let's go." She looked up at the door in front of her and tutted in dissatisfaction. "Actually, I've been feeling unhappy for a long time. I don't know what this shabby door is playing at."
"Just consider it as paying for my curiosity. I'm willing to die."
"Then let's go." Qi Qiuxue nodded, agreeing to this answer. "But I have a request. I'll open the door, and before I do, you try to stand as far away from me."
"Okay." Everyone did as they were told.
So under everyone's gaze, Qi Qiuxue chose [Yes] and successfully opened the door. Unlike the worst result they had imagined, a strong light shot in the moment the door opened.
Then the strong light disappeared, and an alley with no end in sight appeared in everyone's sight, and the walls on both sides of the alley were covered with densely packed notices.
When a few people walked closer to check, they found that they were things similar to rewards. They said that a terrible murder had happened not long ago. Someone drove a car late at night and killed several people. Not only did he not send them to the hospital in time, but he abandoned the victims and fled the scene. In the end, all the victims died, causing an irreparable tragedy.
To this day, the murderer has not been apprehended. A total of four people died in the accident, all men, and all from wealthy families. The youngest man was even the son of a high-ranking official.
Qi Qiuxue was very familiar with the name of that senior official. He was the one who had joined forces with Master Li to get rid of Fu Cong.
On the night of the incident, the murderer accidentally left his personal belongings at the crime scene. A photo was attached to the reward, which showed a pair of unique and exquisite gold and jade earrings.
“…”
Li Yiqing frowned upon seeing this.
She glanced sideways at Qi Qiuxue and said quickly, "I've seen this earring before."
"There's an identical one, hidden in the eldest lady's room."
-
Everyone quickly turned back.
Li Yiqing and Qi Qiuxue went back to the room together to get the earrings. The remaining four people split up into four groups and checked again the black fogs that had been impassable before. This time, they got a result that shocked them.
When they tried to enter, the system did not issue any more warnings, and they successfully passed through the black fog and reached the various areas behind the fog.
With the emergence of new clues, new clues also appeared in these areas. They were four pieces of scraps of paper, which, together with the one Li Yiqing found in the eldest lady's room, could form a complete page of the diary.
【x year x month x day, cloudy.】
[This period was the darkest time in my life. I was haunted by nightmares and tortured every day and night!]
"I shouldn't have gone out drinking. If I had stayed home and not gone out, then what happened next wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have to live in constant fear of being arrested or facing retribution!"
Will anyone catch me? Why wasn't I more careful? Why did I lose my earrings? If only I hadn't been so careless. If only I hadn't hit that guy to death! If he hadn't died, and it had only been a few nameless people, the Li family would have paid to help me settle this matter! But now I can't. This matter is too serious...
What should I do? What should I do? If only I could forget about this. If only someone could take my place and bear all this for me!
[I want to hide, hide...]
[Hide in the safest corner, hide completely. ]
“…”
I feel her.
—————————————
Further down, there are some useless and messy graffiti, but to a certain extent, they also reflect Miss Li's mental state at the moment.
Because of extreme tension, panic and fear, she seemed to have mental problems. She hoped that she could escape the disaster and hide completely in the safest place.
The last sentence in the diary hinted to everyone about the direction of events.
Qi Qiuxue read the diary carefully and finally understood everything, why Li Yiqing, as a player, was also the main NPC, and why in addition to her, the person who was suspected to have the treasure, there was also an important clue earring.
Because there are two kinds of judgment in Li Yiqing. Of course, according to the plot setting, Li Yiqing's existence can be explained as a second personality.
She was created by Miss Li after she suffered a severe mental trauma. When this body was Li Yiqing, her treasure was Qi Qiuxue, but when this body was Miss Li, her treasure would be the earrings.
This is the final clue and also the True Ending.
"It seems that I am the one who is going to die now." Li Yiqing obviously understood something.
"Except for me, all other major NPCs are ghosts. Of course, Miss Li is also one of them. According to the system of this dungeon, ghost NPCs cannot be killed for the time being, but humans can. Only by killing me and completely separating my soul from my body can this body undergo the transformation from corpse to ghost and become the real Miss Li."
"And we will get a higher rating."
As she spoke, she raised her lips and looked at Qi Qiuxue. Their eyes met in mid-air. After a long moment, Li Yiqing spoke softly again, "Fortunately, I'm the one who's going to die."
"Axue, remember what I said before? If the moment really comes when it comes to no other choice, I also hope that you can kill me with your own hands."
"You over-nodded then. Now it's your turn to fulfill your promise."
The atmosphere suddenly became so quiet that you could almost hear a pin drop.
Except for Qi Qiuxue and Li Yiqing, every player's eyes were filled with complex emotions. They finally found new clues and the situation finally made new progress, but in the end someone still had to die.
How painful and how torturous it is.
“…”
Qi Qiuxue calmly took out the bone knife.
She walked towards Li Yiqing. Her eyes and expression looked no different from usual, except that her pace was much slower than usual.
But in the end, she still came in front of Li Yiqing and slowly stood still.
She was silent for a long time, and no one knew what she was thinking during this time. After a moment, she pushed Li Yiqing against the wall behind her and pressed the tip of the knife against her chest.
"Ah Qing." She opened her lips and called her name. Her voice was warm and gentle, unlike the cold blade. Even for someone as powerful as Qi Qiuxue, this was the first time Li Yiqing noticed the trembling in her voice. "I'll be very gentle. Everything will be over soon."
"I'll see you later, okay?"
"Yeah." Li Yiqing nodded in response, without any fear or helplessness in his eyes, only a smile, "Of course."
As if hugging each other, Qi Qiuxue pushed the tip of the knife forward with a swift movement, preventing her lover from feeling too much pain. Countless blood gushed out of Li Yiqing's mouth. Qi Qiuxue moved forward and kissed her lips with the blood.
Blood stained each other's lips and clothes red. Li Yiqing opened his eyes during the kiss and caught a glimpse of the tear marks mixed with blood on Qi Qiuxue's face.
So she leaned forward and kissed away those tears one by one.
"I love you." She used up her last bit of strength.
"Yeah." Qi Qiuxue hugged Li Yiqing tightly and answered her seriously, "I heard it."
"I love you too."
【Author’s words】
Here I come! I coded more today, so it's a little late.
Thank you all for your Bawang tickets and nutrient solution, and thank you for leaving comments and reading~
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