Chapter 61
Just like last night, a thin layer of dust lay quietly on the metal doorknob before her, confirming the fact that the owner of this house had not returned.
Jiang Liu had initially intended to pick the lock and go in, but then she remembered Gao Yuan’s mention of an alarm system yesterday. She restrained her eager impulse and turned to walk toward the other side.
Gao Yuan’s door was also tightly locked. As if he had learned his lesson, the first-floor window had been closed from the inside. She tried to press her face against it to peer inside, but before she could get a clear view of the room, she heard a sudden voice.
“Are you here for Number 082?”
It was a gentle and soft male voice that sounded somewhat familiar. Before Jiang Liu even turned around, she had already guessed who it was.
Qiao Ke stood under a banyan tree not far from the window. His shirt and trousers were clean and neat, and his hands were casually tucked into his pockets as he leaned against the tree trunk in a somewhat lazy posture.
If he were out for a walk, the timing was clearly off. Besides, he looked fresh and clean, with no signs of sweat or fatigue. Instead, it looked as if he was waiting for someone.
Logically, this was the NPC residential area, so Qiao Ke’s appearance was perfectly normal. However, the timing was too coincidental, which immediately made Jiang Liu sense that something was amiss. Her lips tightened unconsciously as she spoke with a hint of defensiveness, “What are you doing here?”
Seeing that she had no intention of approaching, Qiao Ke shrugged helplessly and took steady steps toward her. He didn’t answer her question, only saying kindly, “Number 082 has an instance to lead today, so he left early to prepare.”
Could it really be such a coincidence?
Jiang Liu was suspicious. Although her body was facing Qiao Ke, her slightly tense posture did not escape his notice.
It was a defensive stance. Qiao Ke knew very well that if he made any unusual move, Jiang Liu would notice immediately and take corresponding measures.
He sighed softly and complained in a half-joking, half-serious tone, “You and I are old acquaintances. Why be so wary of me?”
Was he admitting that they knew each other before, or did he already know that Jiang Liu had learned a lot?
Jiang Liu speculated internally, but the muscles on her face gradually relaxed. A faint, enigmatic smile touched her lips as she probed, “Since we’re old acquaintances, how could you not know what I want to do?”
After speaking, she seemed to completely let down her guard, pointing at Gao Yuan’s house with a raised eyebrow. “You should be able to contact Gao Yuan, right? I need to see him about something.”
She had expected Qiao Ke to change the subject again, but unexpectedly—
He gave a wry smile, his gaze on Jiang Liu exceptionally complex, as if he were looking not at a person, but at a thorny problem. He looked on helplessly while simultaneously trying to figure out how to solve this problem for good.
Qiao Ke sighed again, his voice lower this time, almost a mumble, yet it still reached Jiang Liu’s ears clearly.
“You’ve changed a lot over the years. I can’t say I know you anymore.”
He faced Jiang Liu candidly, his eyes meeting hers directly. “If you have any questions, I can clear up your confusion.”
Jiang Liu glanced around but found no one else nearby. She frowned slightly and cut straight to the chase, “Can players choose their own instances?”
Qiao Ke wasn’t at all surprised by her question, as if he had finally been waiting for these words. He spoke seriously, “Normally, no. But there are many props within the System, which I’m sure you’ve already seen. If you use them, it might be possible to achieve your…”
Jiang Liu covered her ears impatiently, her tone unfriendly. “Just tell me how to do it.”
She didn’t have the time to listen to nonsense from someone she disliked.
Qiao Ke was a little surprised. He pushed up the glasses on his nose before saying, “The Points Arena. The rewards there might include a Self-Selection Prop.”
Points Arena. Jiang Liu silently repeated these two words in her mind.
From their very first meeting, he had mentioned this place. Now he brought it up again, a hint of expectation in his eyes, as if he were deliberately trying to get her to go there.
What was the reason he had waited here so early in the morning just to say this?
To put it another way, what benefit would Qiao Ke gain if she entered the Points Arena?
Jiang Liu didn’t reply, lowering her head to ponder on her own.
Seeing that she had no more questions, Qiao Ke said nothing further. But just before leaving, he dropped another thought-provoking sentence.
“Pay attention to the people around you.”
The ambiguous words made Jiang Liu pause. When she looked up again, Qiao Ke had already left, leaving only a straight back that gradually disappeared around the corner.
Jiang Liu didn’t chase after him. Instead, she thought for a moment, then turned to stare blankly at Gao Yuan’s house.
They lived in two-story buildings, with an open-air balcony extending from the second-floor bedroom. Simple, self-built houses like this were generally not constructed with a reinforced concrete structure. The sloped roof on top was most likely made of old-fashioned bricks and tiles, which would be easy to break through with the right tools.
She decided to act on her idea. Seeing no one around, she took a running start and easily climbed onto the balcony’s protective railing. Using her arm muscles and core strength simultaneously, she swung her lower body up and over the railing’s edge.
She used the same method to get to the very top. Once Jiang Liu was standing on the roof, she finally got a full view of this rest area.
There were many similar houses, occupying a large open space. Lush trees were planted in the middle. What was strange was that many plants from different seasons were all growing vigorously. It seemed there were no traces of the four seasons’ rotation here; although the weather was similar, the plants and animals were unaffected.
With Gao Yuan’s house as the center, there were about thirty to forty houses nearby. Farther away, they were separated by an artificial stream, with about twenty houses clustered together, divided into several sections.
Recalling Gao Yuan’s ramblings from yesterday, Jiang Liu guessed that this place was probably like the first and second phases of a housing development, built at different times and housing entirely different people.
The Logistics Team, the Inspection Team, the Advanced Points Field, Normal Instances, and so on.
Jiang Liu withdrew her gaze from the distance and squatted down to study the roof. After testing the thickness of the structure, a relaxed smile appeared on her face.
These tiles were very brittle, made by firing a mixture of straw and mud. They weren’t very strong, and if they were old, they would easily leak.
Using the folding baton she carried, she knocked a hole in it with a few strikes and peered through to see the layout of the second-floor room.
Success.
Jiang Liu grinned, drew her dagger, and began to hack at the clods of earth around the hole’s opening.
She was still using the dagger Zhang Xiaochen had acquired from the theater instance. She didn’t know what era it was from, but it was exceptionally sharp. It didn’t seem like a mass-produced handicraft, but rather a piece carefully forged by an old-time blacksmith. Jiang Liu found it very easy to use.
Remembering the rumors Zhao Ziming had mentioned, Jiang Liu guessed that this was also a prop brought out from an instance, which was why it was so durable.
She just didn’t know how Zhang Xiaochen had gotten so lucky to get his hands on it.
While her mind wandered, her hands didn’t slow down. In no time, she had chiseled out a hole large enough for one person to jump through. She dusted off her hands and jumped in decisively.
Gao Yuan’s bedroom was nothing special, so Jiang Liu didn’t linger. She went down the stairs and finally noticed something unusual.
The leftovers from last night’s meal were still on the table. He had even opened a bottle of wine after she left, drinking it down to the dregs without even putting the cap back on, leaving it exposed to the air.
It was worth noting that the light on the kettle on the tea tray was still on. It was filled with water, which must have boiled and then cooled down since no one had used it.
A tea set was placed beside it, with some tea leaves still in the lidded bowl, yet to be steeped.
Jiang Liu remembered that before she left last night, the kettle wasn’t even here. This meant Gao Yuan had decided to make tea later. The question was—
What kind of urgent matter could make someone leave in such a hurry that they didn’t even have time to drink a cup of tea?
Although she had only been here twice, Gao Yuan’s house was undoubtedly very clean. Even though there were many things lying around, they were kept tidy. How could a person like that leave dirty dishes and bowls out all night? By the time he returned from his instance, wouldn’t they stink?
Or did the so-called Logistics Team not only cook but also come to people’s homes to clean, wash pots, and do dishes?
Recalling Gao Yuan’s attitude when he mentioned the Logistics Team, Jiang Liu felt it was unlikely.
Besides, the System’s rule was that no matter what time you cleared an instance, you would uniformly enter the next one in the afternoon of the following day. There was no reason for him to leave in such a rush.
Thinking of Qiao Ke waiting for her outside, Jiang Liu’s intuition sharpened. It was a subconscious glimmer that made it easier to spot anomalies—an inkling that something was wrong, though you couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.
She carefully recalled her conversation with Gao Yuan last night but found nothing amiss. Yet, she still instinctively felt that Gao Yuan’s departure was related to Qiao Ke.
Aside from these things, she couldn’t find anything else strange. She decided to go back the way she came, but just as she approached the hole, she heard the sparse sound of footsteps outside, mixed with some confused questions. “Strange, she should have come here. Why is no one around?”
It was Zhao Ziming’s voice, interspersed with Zhang Xiaochen’s puzzled inquiries about what was happening.
Jiang Liu used a chair to launch herself upwards, her hands gripping the edge of the hole as she poked her head out. Looking down, she saw the figures of Zhao Ziming’s group of four, just as she expected. He was holding a phone and typing, though she couldn’t tell who he was chatting with.
“Hey, I’m here!”
She shouted, shaking her head vigorously since her hands were occupied.
Zhao Ziming was startled by the sudden voice from above. He looked around for a long time before spotting Jiang Liu, his jaw dropping. “How… how did you get in?”
His expression was identical to Gao Yuan’s last night. Jiang Liu couldn’t help but sigh internally; no wonder the two of them were such good friends.
She didn’t answer, instead leaping out of the hole and sitting on the roof to greet them. “What are you guys doing here?”
Zhao Ziming still hadn’t recovered from his shock. Xu Meng answered for him, “Hou Yuqiang is looking for you. Zhao Ziming guessed you’d be over here.”
It was her first time in the rest area, and she looked around with some novelty, her gaze darting left and right, her thoughts unreadable.
Jiang Liu said, “Oh.” She looked around for something suitable to cover the hole but found nothing. So, she simply said, “Wait a moment,” jumped down to the balcony, found a wooden board of unknown purpose, and placed it over the opening. It was a perfect fit.
This way, it wouldn’t rain into the bedroom, and Gao Yuan would notice it when he got back.
Watching her jump down without hesitation, Zhao Ziming was dumbfounded. After a long moment, he stammered, “Why… why didn’t you break a hole in Sister Yang’s roof?”
Since no one was in either house, he could roughly guess Jiang Liu’s intentions, but he never expected her to be so bold as to start tearing up the roof.
Jiang Liu was asking Xu Meng for a wet wipe to clean her hands. Hearing his question, she gave him a strange look.
What a stupid question. If she broke it, how would Yang Caisi live there if it started leaking?