177 Hold Me
◎I want to hear you say you love me◎
Li Yiqing lost his breath in Qi Qiuxue's arms.
All the players watched this scene with heavy expressions, and no one spoke. The pain of killing a loved one with one's own hands was not something that most people could bear. Pushing the tip of the knife into the body of a loved one with one's own hands and watching her slowly die in one's arms, this kind of experience would make anyone despair and collapse.
——But Qi Qiuxue didn’t.
After realizing that the person in her arms had completely lost vital signs, Qi Qiuxue was silent for a moment. As if saying goodbye, she lowered her eyes again and gently kissed her lips.
Then she gently placed Li Yiqing's body on the ground, carefully tidied up her messy hair, and then Qi Qiuxue took out the god-level item [Soul Fusion] from her backpack and chose to use it without hesitation.
Suddenly, a strong wind arose from the ground, and the original sky was covered by dark clouds. It was like the end of the world, and the whole house was shrouded in a dark and gloomy haze.
Qi Qiuxue stood in the center of the hurricane, staring at Li Yiqing's body intently, letting her clothes flutter and her hair dance in the wind.
Soon, a colorless, transparent, yet sparkling light peeled off from Li Yiqing's body.
That was her soul, holy and beautiful.
Qi Qiuxue slowly extended her hand towards him. Her whole body was dim except for her eyes, which were bright, as if she sensed something. The light spots turned into bright, straight lines and swept over.
They lightly touched Qi Qiuxue's fingertips, wrapped around her wrist in a flattering and intimate manner, and then gathered in her palm, rubbing against it coquettishly.
“…”
Qi Qiuxue gathered her fingers together and brought the light spot to the position of her heart.
"I agree to accept Li Yiqing's soul and allow her to merge with me." Her voice was very soft.
Very smoothly, this bright and brilliant light spot was slowly pushed into her body.
In an instant, a strong pain and fatigue came at the same time.
Qi Qiuxue was forced to bend over, her fingers subconsciously grabbing the clothes on her chest, her brows furrowed. That was the negative impact of using the god-level props. When Li Yiqing's soul was completely integrated with her, Qi Qiuxue's health would be directly cut in half.
"Axue!" Wu Shanyue, who was closest to her, exclaimed loudly.
"I'm fine, don't come over!" Qi Qiuxue shook her head and stopped her from trying to walk into the hurricane. She took a few steps back in severe pain and leaned against the wall behind her, where Li Yiqing's blood was still stained.
Her figure merged with the bloodstains, and everyone looked at her painful appearance and even had an illusion for a moment.
It seemed like she had killed more than just Li Yiqing.
And herself.
The pain lasted for about two minutes, and then gradually faded away. Qi Qiuxue's body was soaked in cold sweat, and she slid down to sit down, unable to hold on any longer.
But even though she was in so much pain, Qi Qiuxue still managed to raise the corners of her lips with difficulty.
"Ah Qing." She opened her lips and called Li Yiqing's name, "Are you there?"
"I am here."
The next second, Li Yiqing slowly opened his eyes inside her.
-
The strong wind disappeared, the dark clouds dispersed, and everything returned to normal.
Liu Ge, Wu Shanyue and others took a few quick steps and helped Qi Qiuxue, who had fallen to the ground, up. They all looked at Li Yiqing's body at the same time. When her soul was completely separated, the body also underwent unexpected changes.
It was withering rapidly and changing extremely quickly. Everyone watched with their own eyes as "Li Yiqing's" body became stiff, developed corpse spots, and then began to collapse and decay.
Then, the corpse opened its eyes again.
The person who appeared in front of everyone now was not Li Yiqing, but the real Miss Li.
Qi Qiuxue quickly opened her mouth: "Su Wen!"
"I understand!" Su Wen nodded and immediately opened his palm, revealing the gold and jade earrings he was holding tightly inside. "I found the last treasure!"
After he finished speaking, the system prompt sounded in everyone's mind——
[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the treasure: Li Yiqing's earrings, and completing quest x1.]
Congratulations to the players for collecting all the treasures and achieving the full clue collection achievement. Thank you for your hard work and excellent performance.
[There are currently two days remaining. Players are requested to burn the treasures they have collected as quickly as possible, extract the necessary silk thread from the ashes, successfully craft the Thousand Knots, and complete the sacrifice on Madam Han's birthday.]
After saying these words, the system quickly left, and Li Yiqing's body followed suit and disappeared from everyone's sight.
At this point, all the main NPCs disappeared, and the uncomfortable feeling that had been hanging over the mansion also dissipated a lot. With the help of the players, Qi Qiuxue found the servant and asked him about the whole story.
After being freed from the control of the main NPC, the servants finally breathed a sigh of relief. Faced with the players' doubts and inquiries, they finally dared to tell the truth and reveal everything.
It turned out that these people from the Li family had died a long time ago, most likely due to revenge. Some servants recalled that even though the murderers who suddenly broke into the house that day were all masked, the identities of some people could still be roughly guessed based on some special details.
Several of them are Fu Cong's family members, and the rest may be his distant relatives, former servants, or some hired killers. They hate the Li family to the core, hate the Li family's false accusations and frame-ups, and hate them for destroying an originally happy family. If it weren't for the Li family, they wouldn't have to be so miserable, displaced, and live worse than beggars.
They killed five main NPCs, but did not attack the innocent servants in the mansion. The Li family was notorious for their harsh treatment of servants, and like the Fu family, they were also victims.
"We are going to flee from here tonight, you should leave too." At the very end, the Fu family left these words and completely disappeared into the night.
"Then why didn't you leave?" Wu Shanyue asked hurriedly after hearing this.
"We wanted to leave." The servants shook their heads, their eyes filled with bitterness and hardship, "But soon, we found that we couldn't leave at all."
"A terrifying scene occurred here. Can you believe it? We watched helplessly as the Li family members were all shot dead, but inexplicably, after the Fu family left, they all got up again."
"They've all turned into ghosts, evil ghosts! This house has also become a complete haunted house. We can't leave, we can't escape. We can only continue to be trapped here, serving and tending to these ghosts day in and day out!"
"Perhaps they have forgotten that they are dead, or perhaps they are just pretending to forget. They continue to oppress and exploit us as before, causing us to live in pain every day and night."
"It's a good thing you're here." The servants looked at them with tearful eyes and said sincerely, "If it weren't for you, we don't know when we would be free..."
I see.
Qi Qiuxue frowned slightly after hearing this, and thought again about what happened to Li Yiqing. After becoming a ghost, Miss Li forgot the fact that she was dead. Because of her drunken accident, she was still in extreme fear and panic, and even developed a second personality.
Of course, this is just according to the plot setting. In fact, Li Yiqing is Li Yiqing, but in order to achieve a True End and get a higher rating, this so-called "second personality" must be completely eliminated and the original Miss Li must come back, that is, let this body complete the transformation from human to ghost.
Originally, Li Yiqing was both a player and an NPC, so her treasure could be Qi Qiuxue. However, if everyone chose this, although they could successfully complete the task, they would not receive a higher rating, and an S-level copy would be wasted in vain.
But now they have successfully stripped Li Yiqing's soul, and this body has become a complete NPC, and the treasure has also changed from Qi Qiuxue to earrings, which can help them get a higher rating.
"You should be able to leave now." Qi Qiuxue coughed lightly. Her physical condition had not yet fully recovered, but fortunately her spirits were still good. "Go out! Congratulations on regaining your freedom."
"Okay, okay." The servants nodded with tears in their eyes. After a pause, they said, "What about you guys?"
"We still have things to do." Qi Qiuxue raised her lips after hearing this, "We'll leave later."
-
Su Wen prepared dinner himself.
After the meal, everyone lit a fire and placed all the treasures in the flames to burn them together. The bright red flames danced in the night, devouring the treasures bit by bit and tearing them all into ashes.
Then, the flame went out and the silk thread exploded successfully.
"We agreed long ago that the Thousand Knots will be made by the four of us." Liu Ge took a few steps forward and picked out the silk thread with a wooden stick. He turned back and met Qi Qiuxue's gaze. "Axue, Aqing, you've all worked hard. Go back and rest well."
"We promise to have it compiled before the birthday party."
"Yeah." Wu Shanyue sighed. She silently looked in the direction of Qi Qiuxue. Even though she knew Li Yiqing was not dead, she could not hide the sadness in her eyes. If she was like this, Qi Qiuxue must be feeling even more pain. "Go and rest for a while, okay?"
So at their request, Qi Qiuxue was forced to return to her room.
The door was closed, blocking out all sounds from outside.
Qi Qiuxue sighed lightly, quickly washed up, and lay down on the bed.
The bed, which was usually relatively crowded, suddenly became spacious because Li Yiqing was not there. Qi Qiuxue looked at the ceiling quietly. Once people were idle, they would inevitably have random thoughts, and she was no exception.
She recalled the moment she stabbed the knife into Li Yiqing's body, recalled the blood on her hands, recalled her lover's stopped heart, and his increasingly light breathing -
"Ah Qing." After a moment, she opened her lips and called Li Yiqing's name, "Was it painful at that time?"
"No." Realizing that she was blaming herself, Li Yiqing quickly responded. Her voice echoed in Qi Qiuxue's mind, still pleasant and gentle, even with a hint of a soft smile. "The blade pierced me so quickly, so fast that I didn't even have time to react, so it didn't hurt."
"I only noticed your trembling voice and the tears in your eyes." She said softly, "I thought Axue must be very sad, so I wanted to kiss you quickly, and I only cared about kissing you and hugging you."
"Do you hate me?" Qi Qiuxue asked, "Did you ever hate me for even a second back then?"
"No," Li Yiqing replied, "On the contrary, I understand your words even more."
"It is truly a happy thing to die in the hands of the one you love. This kind of happiness far outweighs pain, tension, and fear, and it also dispels the haze brought by death. But what is even happier is that I see you again after a short separation."
"I love you, Xue. I really, really love you."
In a trance, a hand touched Qi Qiuxue's cheek.
It was her own hand, but the one controlling it was Li Yiqing in her body. She gently smoothed Qi Qiuxue's furrowed brows, and her soft fingertips caressed her lips soothingly.
"This is the best I can do." Li Yiqing's voice came to her mind again, gently and patiently comforting her "injured" lover, just like Qi Qiuxue always did to her, "Forgive me for having to do this and not being able to hug you in person."
The lights were dim and the room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Qi Qiuxue shed silent tears, so Li Yiqing wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Did I make you cry again?" When she spoke again, her voice was filled with self-blame. "Axue, I'm sorry."
The tone sounded like a dog that had made a mistake and was begging for forgiveness from its owner.
After a while, Qi Qiuxue gently shook her head: "That's not what I want to hear."
When she spoke again, her voice was like a candle flame, trembling slightly in the night: "Hold me, Aqing."
"I want to hear you say you love me."
【Author’s words】
This chapter has a small red envelope, which will be sent before the next chapter is updated~
Thank you for the tickets and nutrient solution, thank you for leaving comments and reading, muahmuhmuhmuh!
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