Realizing she had spent the night with someone who was already dead, then traveled alongside the dead, Yuan Sisi felt utterly shaken.
Now she was jumping at shadows, nervously clutching the hem of Li Qing's trench coat. "C-can I stay with you now... I can't tell what any of them really are anymore..."
Fortunately, there was no rule on the final day forbidding brides from staying together. Li Qing nodded and continued toward an empty room where they could rest.
The two reached a secluded spot. Li Qing pushed the door open, and Yuan Sisi followed him inside and shut it.
A voice tinged with amusement rang out behind them.
"Oh? Am I interrupting?"
Yuan Sisi nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned to see a man in a black tank top and matching cargo pants sitting casually on a low stool, smiling at them through narrowed eyes.
"G-G-Gong-"
"Gong Yao, I knew you were here."
Li Qing walked over to him.
Gong Yao drew in his long legs, which had nowhere to go, making a little room before patting that pitiful sliver of space.
Li Qing ignored it and perched against the table opposite him.
"Did things go smoothly on your end? What number did you get?" Gong Yao asked.
Li Qing said, "Five."
Gong Yao raised his eyebrows. "Five? That's the number Wan Yingjun got. I saw it."
"Oh, is it?" Li Qing said flatly. "That works too."
Gong Yao: "..."
He said helplessly, "Didn't you say you'd team up with me?"
Then he cradled one of Li Qing's hands and looked up at him, his obsidian eyes glistening, looking both sincere and pitiful. "You promised to marry me. Now you're going to love me and leave me?"
Li Qing pulled his hand back, completely ignoring his improvisation. "I got number five, then traded numbers with Yuan Sisi."
Gong Yao looked toward the girl who had been hugging the doorway, trying to make herself invisible.
Yuan Sisi jolted. "Y-yes... that's right. I originally got number three, Zhao Yu's number."
Gong Yao gave her a gentle smile. "Is that so? That's good. You're safe now."
Sensing Gong Yao's friendliness, Yuan Sisi relaxed. She pulled over a stool and sat off to the side. "I'll rest for a while. Don't mind me."
Gong Yao turned his attention back to Li Qing.
Ever since they arrived, Li Qing's pale, glass-marble eyes had been fixed on him. Gong Yao wasn't narcissistic enough to mistake that for an "affectionate" gaze. Instead, he felt that this machine-like little administrator was using him as a model to investigate something again.
Once he signaled that he was ready to continue their conversation, Li Qing spoke again. "Have you figured out which ones are players and which ones are NPCs?"
"Oh? Is Mr. Li going to give me some 'special tutoring'?"
"You could call it that." Li Qing was simply curious about the level of Gong Yao's intuition and intelligence as an ordinary player.
"Wan Yingjun, Zhao Yu, Li Zi, and I are players, paired with Zhou Qing, Yuan Sisi, Wu Nianfang-who was mistaken for a player-and you."
Li Qing gave a noncommittal hum. "And?"
"And? Isn't that the complete, correct answer?"
Li Qing raised one eyebrow slightly.
Gong Yao chuckled, leaned closer, and lowered his voice as he stared at Li Qing.
"Are you asking me the bonus question, sir? I can answer that too. Of these eight 'players,' only four can make it out of the dungeon instance-you, me, Yuan Sisi, and Wan Yingjun."
That was also why Gong Yao felt comfortable speaking without deliberately hiding anything from Yuan Sisi while she was present.
"Li Zi died on the first night. He was Wu Nianfang's partner, the one who never showed himself. Zhou Qing also died the night she was locked in the Fortune Lady Temple, along with her partner."
He paused, then added, "It's also possible she was never alive in this run of the dungeon instance.
"...But 'they' still came back to gather with everyone that day. You were the only one missing, so no one noticed anything strange about them.
"And today, every 'person' has returned here."
Li Qing nodded.
Gong Yao asked, "What grade would you give me, sir?"
Li Qing thought for a moment. "One hundred points."
"A perfect score?" Gong Yao smiled. "I'm so happy."
Li Qing didn't answer that question.
Gong Yao didn't pursue it either. Instead, he grew serious. "Although Wan Yingjun is a player too, it would still be better for Miss Yuan to stay with us tonight."
Hearing her name, Yuan Sisi opened her eyes and looked nervously at them.
Gong Yao lowered his voice slightly, his expression gradually turning grave.
"While we were looking for the wooden tokens this morning, I saw him sneak underneath the Fortune Lady's statue. He was with a man dressed like a local. I followed him down and heard that man call him-
"-'Boss.'"
Li Qing fell silent.
None of the player identities in this dungeon instance included a boss.
And how could Wan Yingjun have any other dealings with the dungeon instance's NPCs?
A possibility suddenly occurred to Li Qing.
"What if, in this dungeon instance, the people colluding with the village chief and his lot include other grooms besides the men of Fortune Star Village?"
Gong Yao voiced it at the same moment.
Li Qing's gaze flickered, but he immediately shook his head. "Impossible."
He's only a player. How could he have such high-level permissions...
...But it isn't entirely impossible.
If a bug had appeared here as well, that would explain it.
Through some sort of bug, Wan Yingjun had become the boss of certain NPCs. That was why he acted as though everything in this dungeon instance was under his control, and why he made no attempt to hide that he regarded the "brides" as resources for him to pick and choose from.
At that thought, Li Qing immediately opened the Administrator Console. His fingers tapped rapidly out of sight, and a technical assistance request appeared at once on the light display projected onto his retinas-
[Player P-Q9288600 (Wan Yingjun) has exhibited abnormal interactions with NPCs within dungeon instance C9999. Suspected anomaly in player data. Requesting assistance from the Technology Department to investigate.] [Applicant: S-A9B08F013 Administrator Li Qing]
All of this happened within a minute, yet Gong Yao keenly noticed the instant those eyes, already lacking much sense of life, became even emptier. He guessed that Li Qing was secretly carrying out some operation.
Fortunately, his goal and Li Qing's were aligned for the moment.
So Gong Yao didn't continue speaking and needlessly arouse suspicion among the huge audience constantly watching his livestream.
Once Li Qing returned to himself, Gong Yao smiled and said, "Well, on the bright side, at least he won't die easily tonight, so Miss Yuan is still safe. Right, we still need to help you get the numbered token that pairs with mine."
Li Qing said evenly, "Don't worry. I'll trade with her for it."
Gong Yao gave a curious hum. "I haven't told you my number yet. Who are you going to trade with?"
Li Qing said, "You didn't tell me outright at the start because you wanted me to guess, didn't you?"
"Then how did you figure it out?"
Gong Yao idly played with the tassel dangling from the wooden token in Li Qing's hand, using his long legs to rock the stool back and forth.
Li Qing put away the wooden token, caught Gong Yao's outstretched wrist with one hand, and tapped his palm with a fingertip of his left hand.
Gong Yao froze, then smiled.
He had almost forgotten that the person before him had the answers in hand.
From what he had observed, every time Li Qing's left fingers danced rapidly, this administrator gained some special abilities.
...That really is a subtle hint.
Gong Yao curled his fingers inward, but Li Qing had already withdrawn his hand.
"Go get some rest," he said. "There's no suspense left in this dungeon instance."
Before you continue