We're done for

Her face was covered in blood, wrinkles, and black sludge, but her expression was calm.

[Beep. NPC Du Hong was killed by Ghost Monster.]

An Nian wiped the tears from her face and asked, "What do we do? Du Hong is dead, but she never told us how Liangzi died. Have we lost the trail?"

Yin Chao shook his head. "No. Don't we still have a crucial lead?"

"Who?" she asked.

"Li Meihe," Yin Chao replied.

"But didn't Li Meihe go to the city for middle school?" An Nian asked, puzzled.

Yin Chao walked out of Du Hong's house, saying as he went, "I don't know if any of you noticed something-the timeline."

His reminder made it click for everyone.

If Du Hong had been telling the truth, then twenty years had passed since Liangzi's death.

And Li Meihe had said right from the start that she and Liangzi were the same age.

That meant Li Meihe had to be at least thirty-two or thirty-three now, yet she looked barely into her twenties. She had even introduced herself as a college student home for the holidays.

There was another detail only Yin Chao knew about: Old Man Luo and his son.

They looked noticeably older than they had in the dream.

Now all they needed to do was find Li Meihe and expose her lies...

They had barely taken a few steps out of Du Hong's house when they heard someone scream a short distance ahead.

Long Zang reacted quickly, leaping onto a high wall beside them and bounding toward the scream in a few parkour-like moves.

By the time Yin Chao arrived, panting, most of the other players had gathered as well.

"What happened? Is that Wang Buhui's body?" Fang Tang asked.

Zhong Mingnan nodded. "Lin Xue and I came across him when we walked over here."

Wang Buhui's hands and feet had been severed, and his tongue had been torn out.

A long, winding trail of blood stretched across the ground.

It looked as though he had crawled some distance after his hands and feet were cut off.

Zhong Mingnan burst into loud sobs. "I shouldn't have argued with him. If I hadn't, he wouldn't have gone off alone... he wouldn't have... died so horribly..."

Lin Xue stood beside him, comforting him. "This wasn't your fault. It was his. Don't blame yourself."

Wang Buhui really did bring this on himself, Yin Chao thought.

Suddenly, his pupils quivered, and his gaze settled on Lin Xue.

She was still comforting Zhong Mingnan and looked deeply concerned.

Yin Chao's gaze suddenly turned searching. He chuckled so quietly that only he could hear it and said, "What a convincing act."

Wang Buhui's death cast another shadow over the group, who were already at their wits' end.

That evening, Li Meihe appeared before everyone.

"Did anyone find any clues today?"

They shook their heads.

Li Meihe continued, "Du Hong, another villager, died today. I heard her death was gruesome. I suppose she got what she deserved."

Only Yin Chao's group knew the details of Du Hong's death, so Fang Tang asked, "What did she do to deserve it?"

"Ah..." Li Meihe sighed. "She was always bullying Liangzi when she was alive, and she often secretly stopped me from looking into Liangzi's cause of death..."

There were no real clues in her words, so Fang Tang asked no further questions.

"Oh, right." Yin Chao sounded casual, as though he had happened to bring up something unimportant. "We saw Du Hong today."

His words struck like a bolt from the blue, and Li Meihe's expression twisted.

"Did she tell you anything?" she asked.

Yin Chao nodded. "She did. For instance, she's thirty-six this year, and Liangzi died twenty years ago..."

Li Meihe's eyes bulged, veins stood out on her head, and her claws gradually sharpened.

Everyone was so frightened by the sight that they backed away repeatedly, trying to keep a safe distance from her.

Only Yin Chao remained calmly seated. With his hands clasped beneath his chin and his back straight, he looked as poised as the victor at a negotiating table.

He continued, "Half human, half ghost. Naturally, your words are half truth and half lies."

As though provoked, Li Meihe sprouted glossy black fur across her face. Her expression turned ferocious, and she bared her teeth like one of the hyenas that roamed the grasslands in packs.

"Shut up! What do you know?"

She roared and lunged at Yin Chao.

The next second, Anna appeared out of nowhere and pinned her to the ground, while Luo Lingyue pressed her blade against Li Meihe's neck.

Yin Chao knew without checking the panel that Anna's strength far surpassed Li Meihe's.

Seeing that she was no match for those before her, Li Meihe reverted to human form as though giving up entirely.

Yin Chao walked over, crouched down, and looked straight into Li Meihe's hate-filled eyes. "Tell us the real story between you and Liangzi."

At the sound of that name, Li Meihe fell into a momentary daze.

"I was Liangzi's only good friend. That's true," she said. "But I only befriended her because I wanted people to praise me and say, 'Meihe, you're so kind.'"

"One day in sixth grade, my dad bought me a red dress. He said he'd bought it at an expensive shop in the city, and it cost a lot. I was thrilled, and I loved that dress.

But the next day, that idiot showed up in front of everyone wearing the same dress as me.

Do you know what they said? They said that idiot and I looked like sisters! I was furious. I went around playing the victim, telling everyone that Liangzi was using her stupidity as an excuse to bully me.

I was so happy to see people corner her and hurl insults at her. I was actually the one who taught Cheng Liangzi to sing that song, 'Why should an idiot go to school?' I even hid in a corner to admire my handiwork.

But that idiot had sharp eyes. She spotted me hiding by the wall and even smiled at me. I was so frightened that I fled.

When I got home, I thought I couldn't let anyone know I'd been there. So I went to Cheng Liangzi's house under cover of darkness. Through a crack in her house, I saw... I saw my dad...

He... he was doing those things to Cheng Liangzi. Hadn't he said he was going on a business trip? He was an animal, an even... filthier animal than me...

I was so disgusted that I vomited all over that red dress. I hid it under my bed.

Later, I got into a middle school in the city. That was the last time I went to see Cheng Liangzi. She was pregnant, and her belly was huge, as though it was about to burst.

I stood in the doorway, looking down at her, but she was still smiling. She said to me... she said..."

At this point, Li Meihe began laughing like a madwoman. Through her laughter, she said, "She said, 'Meihe, I like you so much. Can I name my baby Meihe?' She actually... wanted to use my name for...

I couldn't take it anymore. I braced myself against the corner of the wall and threw up. Then she died. It was all because she cursed me. She cursed the whole of Fortune-Blessed Village! It was all her fault!"

Unable to listen any longer, Zhong Mingnan immediately snapped back, "She was the victim! Your whole village deserved it! You're all demons! How dare you pretend you're the victims!"

His words enraged Li Meihe. She struggled to get up and drove herself onto Luo Lingyue's blade.

Just like that, the key NPC died.

Xu Zhou shouted angrily, "We're done for! It's just a B-rank instance, and we're all done for!"