A suspicious village

Lu Yichen suddenly lunged at Lu Xingchen. Huo Chuyun swept an arm around Lu Xingchen's waist and pivoted, leaving Lu Yichen to fall flat on his face.

Lu Yichen struggled to his feet and shrieked, "Lu Xingchen, what are you doing? Why didn't you catch me? What kind of fourth brother are you?"

"Who's your fourth brother?"

Lu Xingchen coldly glanced at the alarm still blaring on Lu Yichen, then looked past him to see the hunter almost upon them.

"Let it go" had never been in Lu Xingchen's vocabulary.

He didn't care that the camera was right beside them. His hand shot out like lightning, seizing Lu Yichen by the hair and dragging him close. He spoke into Lu Yichen's ear like a demon that had crawled out of hell.

"Looks like you didn't eat enough dog shit that day. You haven't learned a single lesson."

If Lu Yichen wanted to hurt Lu Xingchen, Lu Xingchen would at most teach him a little lesson.

But Huo Chuyun was here too. Lu Yichen wanted to drag Huo Chuyun down with him, and Lu Xingchen would not forgive that.

A resounding smack left Lu Yichen's ears ringing. Before he could react, a kick followed straight to his stomach.

"Aah!"

As the agonized scream rang out, Lu Xingchen stood with both hands in his pockets, one long, straight leg still raised in the air.

Through the camera, everyone watched Lu Xingchen kick Lu Yichen in an arc that landed him squarely in the hunter's arms.

A flurry of phone notifications chimed. Lu Xingchen calmly took out his phone. The message showed that Lu Yichen had been caught by a hunter, with ten players remaining.

After catching one runner, a hunter would turn and leave rather than pursue the remaining runners.

Clutching his stomach, Lu Yichen roared, "Lu Xingchen! You lunatic! You bitch! I won't let you get away with this, and neither will my fans-"

Lu Xingchen abruptly bent down and viciously clamped Lu Yichen's chin in a viselike grip. The ferocity in his eyes cut across Lu Yichen like cold steel, frightening him into silence.

"Don't even think about doing anything bad, Lu Yichen. I'll be stalking your every move. The moment you try anything nasty, you won't get off this easily again."

Whenever he thought of how Huo Chuyun had died a miserable death in the book because he had stood in Lu Yichen and Huo Junchi's way.

Those fucking idiots had even been brought back to life by the brain-dead author in the end. Even slicing Lu Yichen to death wouldn't be enough to vent Lu Xingchen's fury.

Lu Xingchen had never been softhearted. His compassion was selective.

In his original world, Lu Xingchen had come from a wealthy, powerful family and had seen more than his share of sordid secrets.

He had done plenty of unscrupulous things. Quietly disposing of someone wasn't particularly difficult either.

"Do you understand?"

Lu Xingchen lightly patted Lu Yichen's face and watched him nod frantically.

Lu Xingchen released him in disgust, then watched indifferently as the staff dragged Lu Yichen away.

It wouldn't fit Shitty Author's style if Lu Yichen didn't keep stirring up trouble.

But it didn't matter. Lu Xingchen had long since hacked the Lu family's phones.

Every move the Lu family made was within Lu Xingchen's grasp.

Once Lu Yichen had been dragged away, the previously silent live comments scrolled wildly, instantly filling the livestream.

[Tsk, tsk, tsk. Why was that so satisfying to watch?]

[I've thought Lu Yichen was a fake innocent for ages. Such a bitch. He failed his own task and deliberately brought the hunter over to Xingxing and Boss Huo. Serves him right!]

[Chenchen! Lu Xingchen, may you die a horrible death! You deserve to stay a nobody forever!]

[Whatever happened, Lu Xingchen shouldn't hit people...]

[How can you call that hitting someone? Didn't Lu Yichen call Xingxing his fourth brother? Xingxing was disciplining his own naughty little brother to stop him from getting cyberbullied for doing bad things.]

[I never expected someone as sweet-looking as Xingxing to have MAX combat stats.]

The instant Lu Xingchen turned around, his expression became docile. He moved close to Huo Chuyun. "I didn't scare you, did I?"

At the same time, Huo Chuyun strode over and took Lu Xingchen's hand to examine it. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Lu Xingchen stared blankly at Huo Chuyun as he earnestly checked him for injuries. Ripples stirred in his heart; it was impossible not to be touched.

Huo Chuyun sided with Lu Xingchen unconditionally. It made him happy, and he relished it.

The facts proved that Lu Xingchen hadn't picked the wrong man. He really did have good taste.

Lu Xingchen shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm just sick of him sticking to me like snot, always trying to drag me under and then step on me to get himself ashore."

Huo Chuyun knew what Lu Xingchen's situation in the Lu family was like. His heart aching for him, he said, "That won't happen again."

From now on, you have me.

Lu Xingchen checked the time. There were sixty-five minutes left in the game. "The five minutes are up. Looks like the other runner managed to evade the hunter."

The phones chimed, announcing the release of the second mission.

Mission two: The runners who completed mission one have received a clue about Li Tao's mother.

We now require the runners to search Tuanjie Village for clues.

Find Li Tao's mother before the remaining time drops to twenty-five minutes. Runners who complete the mission will have their final acceleration coin earnings multiplied by two.

The two exchanged a glance and went to a small village shop. Lu Xingchen took out a hundred yuan to buy some drinks, one bottle each for himself and Huo Chuyun, along with a few more for their cameramen and the staff.

After paying, Lu Xingchen gave an obedient smile. "Ma'am, keep the change. I'd like to ask you something."

The shopkeeper put away the money while cracking sunflower seeds and smiled at the sweet, well-mannered-looking Lu Xingchen.

"Oh my, what a fine-looking young fellow you are. You've come to just the right person. I'm the village know-it-all; I know a little about everything. Go on, ask me."

Adapting to the local way of speaking, Lu Xingchen asked, "Ma'am, what's the story with Li Qiang's wife? I heard his son Li Tao is so worried he's putting up missing-person notices everywhere. Do you know where Mrs. Wang Xiuli came from?"

"Wang Xiuli, you mean..." The woman glanced around and only continued after making sure no one was nearby.

"Li Qiang really lucked out, getting himself a wife for nothing. Wang Xiuli was a university student back in the nineties, but she came to our village instead of going to university."

"Let me tell you, though, that Wang Xiuli was no decent woman..." She paused before continuing.

"She was with Li Gang from our village at first, but his mother disliked her for not being able to have children and kicked her out."

"In our village, a woman who can't bear children is supposed to be drowned in a pig cage! If she's lucky, her husband's family just throws her out, but she still has to obediently live as a widow with a living husband. She can never remarry."

"But that Wang Xiuli shamelessly let Li Qiang take her home. Lucky for her, Li Qiang didn't mind her being used goods. Fortunately, she had Li Tao the next year."

Lu Xingchen and Huo Chuyun frowned as they listened.

As for her being unable to have children, if Wang Xiuli could have a child with Li Qiang but not with Li Gang, didn't that mean Li Gang was infertile?

Why was all the mud being slung at Wang Xiuli?

After thanking the woman, Lu Xingchen went elsewhere to ask about Wang Xiuli and received exactly the same answers.

"Chuyun, what do you think?"

After visiting the fifth household, Lu Xingchen wanted to hear Huo Chuyun's thoughts.

"This village is very suspicious. Everyone has different values and ideas, and their opinions of a person won't be entirely the same either," Huo Chuyun analyzed.

"Whenever we ask about Wang Xiuli, they give exactly the same answers, as though they've agreed on a story. It would be normal for their answers to differ a little."