HTCYH Ch 31

Chapter 31: Suspicions

Tu Si had a good night’s sleep, dreamless and peaceful. It felt as if he had turned back into a seed, buried deep within fertile soil, waiting to sprout. Wrapped securely by warm, moist earth, he felt indescribably safe and comfortable.

“Get up! The sun’s already burning your backside.” Wuming gently shook Tu Si awake. Half-asleep and annoyed, Tu Si irritably lashed out, swatting away the hand that disturbed his slumber with his tendrils.

“You little brat! Quite the temper in the morning, aren’t you? These little whips of yours actually sting.” Wuming clicked his tongue and then pinched Tu Si’s cheeks, tugging them apart. The faint sting cleared Tu Si’s head somewhat, but also made him more irritable.

Irritated, Tu Si suddenly conjured a long whip in his hand. Without even opening his eyes, he swung it viciously and cursed, “Get lost!”

Then he blinked open his eyes and saw Wuming smiling at him, holding the whip in his grasp. Tu Si froze. He quickly sat upright, retracted the whip, and let out a sheepish laugh. “Good morning, Captain~”

“Morning~” Wuming replied with a smile, nothing more.

But precisely because Wuming didn’t pursue the matter, Tu Si felt even more guilty. After all, he had fallen asleep clinging to his Captain the whole night, and now he turned hostile first thing in the morning. That was rather ungrateful. Feeling remorseful, he cradled Wuming’s hand, checking it carefully as he said, “I’m sorry, Captain. I was still half-asleep. I didn’t hurt you, did I? Let me bandage it for you.”

On the back of Wuming’s hand was a faint, almost-faded red mark. Seeing it, Tu Si called out the worm-head creature. Just as he was about to snap it to release some of the healing green liquid to apply on Wuming’s injury—

Wuming stopped him, rescuing the worm-head struggling in Tu Si’s hand, then let it coil back around his own wrist. He said, “I’m fine. For such a tiny mark, there’s no need to waste something so precious. From now on, this little fellow will stay with me. You’re not allowed to harm it again.”

Tu Si glanced at Wuming, then at the worm-head now wriggling proudly around his wrist as if flaunting itself. With a snort, he frowned and muttered, pouting, “So after keeping it with you for just a couple of days, it suddenly becomes yours? Custody rights don’t work like that, you know. That’s robbery.”

Wuming stroked the worm-head with a smile and replied, “Then just think of me as a robber this once.”

Tu Si didn’t bother arguing over custody anymore. Ignoring the worm-head bouncing about in delight, he turned away and swept his hand to unravel the cocoon of tendrils surrounding them.

Sunlight streamed in, warm wind stirred around, and without the tendrils enclosing them, the thick scent of Wuming within the cocoon was blown away. This made Tu Si feel much clearer-headed. He looked at Wuming and thought to himself: So this is what humans meant when they said—once you’ve gotten it, you stop cherishing it. When he had first encountered Wuming, Tu Si could only sneak close to secretly sniff or taste him. Even a single stolen drop of blood was rare and joyous. But now, he found himself growing tired of it. Spending too much time by Wuming’s side had dulled his fondness for that fragrance. He even felt that when the breeze diluted the scent, it seemed fresher and more pleasant.

When the last tendril finally vanished, Wuming rose to leave for their self-built lodge to hold the discussion. Nearly at the cave’s mouth, he noticed something wrong and turned back—Tu Si was still seated, waiting expectantly to be carried. One eyebrow arched, Wuming asked, “Do you still need me to carry you?”

Tu Si blinked innocently and replied, “Ah! You’re not going to carry me anymore?”

Wuming laughed and cursed, “You really are like raising an ancestor.” Then, crouching halfway down, he let Tu Si climb onto his back.

Wuming carried Tu Si toward the lodge. Tu Si still seemed drowsy, half-asleep and muddle-headed. Neither of them spoke, making the road back calm and quiet.

When they entered, the other four were already there. Seeing Wuming carry Tu Si inside, Xu Jinyan couldn’t help but whistle. Immediately, Fang Xia leapt up and smacked him hard, turning the whistle into a muffled grunt.

Wuming set Tu Si on a chair, then stood beside him, bracing one hand on the chair-back. He asked, “Any new discoveries?”

Ke Xian was the fastest to respond. “There’s a problem! A huge problem! Liang Tiancai—there’s something seriously wrong with him! He… he’s using the Kuman Thong* to guarantee gambling wins, but it looks more like he’s fishing for something! He hasn’t actually been using that ability for money at all!”

Tu Si instantly sobered up at this and asked, “And how do you know this?”

Ke Xian explained, “In this game, the few of us are actually playing as NPCs. We can only explore during nighttime—since it’s always late night, there’s usually no real storyline. That’s why I thought we were just exploration tools. But today, I discovered the plot can change in subtle ways.

The day before yesterday, I tested this by making the original character believe he had won the lottery. With that, his debts could be cleared without buying off the Kuman Thong. I thought this would stop the Kuman Thong’s transfer at my end. But instead, I realized—I was just a decoy. The talisman wasn’t prepared for me, but for Li Chun’er and Yang Chengji. Liang Tiancai’s real targets are those two. I’m just a cover, but I don’t understand his motive.

So today, I hacked into Liang Tiancai’s account. All his assets are from legitimate sources—part-time jobs from work-study and scholarships. He has no gambling debts, no large money transfers. Which means he’s trying to quit and wash his hands clean… So could it be he wants to silence his former accomplices by killing them?”

When Ke Xian finished, Ai Lin spoke next: “Yes, Liang Tiancai is definitely full of contradictions. From my perspective—or rather, from Cui Ruxue’s perspective—he’s a good man. I couldn’t find a single dark spot on him. I pride myself on my abilities to discern between disguise and sincerity, but in Liang Tiancai’s case, my analysis says: he’s a good boyfriend, possibly the ideal boyfriend. Even compared to our Captain dating, I’d say it’s unlikely the Captain could be as attentive or flawless. This kind of performance means one of two things: either he truly loves Cui Ruxue wholeheartedly, or he’s such a brilliant actor he could deceive even someone like me, from the Investigation Division.”

Hearing that, Fang Xia instinctively objected: “No way! Liang Tiancai a good guy? Then how do you explain him getting me—pah, I mean getting Li Chun’er pregnant and then forcing her into an abortion? As a minor, he was a scumbag, a menace under the Law Division! And yet, after turning eighteen, he suddenly becomes a lawful, model student, excelling in everything? The transformation from a scoundrel to the prime boyfriend representative is way too abrupt! And another thing—now I’m beginning to doubt whether that Kuman Thong baby is actually Li Chun’er’s child, or his fiancée’s child!”

Xu Jinyan, who had been silent, said, “Fang Xia, stop. I think you’re getting too deep into role-play. Let’s not just look at Liang Tiancai—we need to remember that the NPCs connected to us may not be decent either. Maybe they’re just as bad as he is. Don’t let Li Chun’er’s perspective bias you. Let me organize things. Since the NPCs tied to both of us are the same, I’ve figured this much: the way we see our own appearances is beautified, or rather, how our NPCs believe themselves to look. To explain: in your own perspective, you see yourself as a beauty. But in Yang Chengji’s eyes, you’re a gaudy, cheap-looking woman who constantly throws yourself at men without self-awareness—an ugly, clumsy imitation compared to the child bride. Li Chun’er once confessed to him, but he refused and even paid for services from the child bride instead. On the flip side, Yang Chengji thinks he’s more handsome than Liang Tiancai, the ‘clueless fool,’ even calling himself the village’s heartthrob. Fang Xia, I want to ask you—what’s Yang Chengji like through Li Chun’er’s eyes?”

Fang Xia shuddered in disgust, rubbing his shoulders. “What you said isn’t wrong. I know Li Chun’er isn’t any good either. She looks down on the child bride as dirty, so she humiliates her in all sorts of ways. The worst was throwing the girl into the pigsty and smearing her face with pig dung. Every time I look in the mirror and see Li Chun’er, I feel like slapping her stupid face. And in Li Chun’er’s eyes, Yang Chengji is a good-for-nothing delinquent, a scrawny little punk, worlds apart from her brother Liang Tiancai. But despite his flaws, she still finds herself charmed. To her, Liang Tiancai is the destined leading man of her life, while Yang Chengji is that infatuated second male lead. That’s about it.”

After listening to everyone’s accounts, Tu Si also shared the child bride’s story. Then he turned to Xu Jinyan and asked, “That so-called yellow trade—was Yang Chengji part of it?”

Xu Jinyan froze briefly, shocked. “Yes! The money was paid to Liang Tiancai’s mother, under the pretense of buying new clothes for the child bride. But—damn it! Liang Tiancai’s mom was basically a brothel madam! Holy crap, that really messes with my worldview! I thought Yang Chengji was just sneaking around having affairs, but it turns out it was an actual transaction. Damn it! Liang Tiancai is seriously inhuman!”

Tu Si then asked again, “And was it you who helped Liang Tiancai cut open his fiancée’s child?”

Xu Jinyan froze, bewildered, uncertain. “I—I don’t know. I haven’t found any clues for that. All I know is Yang Chengji likes to mess around with women, attracting cats and dogs, leaving a trail of debts of passion. But as for cutting open a child—I… I’m not sure at all.”

Tu Si turned back to Fang Xia: “Li Chun’er despised the child bride as filthy, but did she also know about this yellow trade?”

Fang Xia frowned, dredging up memories, and after a long pause said, “I can’t be sure. But in her diary, she did write about feeling sorry for her brother Liang Tiancai, saying he was being deceived by that dirty woman. She swore that one day she would tell him the truth, so he would throw that woman far away. Li Chun’er knew that Yang Chengji had slept with the child bride, and she was involved in that process too. So I don’t know if by ‘dirty’ she only meant Yang Chengji, or if she actually knew more.”

Tu Si nodded. Something about all of this felt off to him. Yet, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He sank into silence, quietly arranging the threads in his mind, selectively shutting out the rest of the group’s discussion.