Chapter 14
Outside the Theater Garden, Yang Caisi leaned against a wall with her hands in her pockets, silently watching the crowd in the distance, her gaze precisely fixed on Jiang Liu.
It was noon, and the sun cast its light down. The upper half of her face was perfectly hidden by the shadow of the eaves, revealing only the faint hint of a smile at the corner of her lips.
Jiang Liu, in the crowd, seemed to sense something and looked up in this direction—
Their gazes met briefly in mid-air, bypassing the cheering crowd. A thought flashed through Jiang Liu’s mind, but before she could grasp it, Yang Caisi had already calmly withdrawn her gaze and started walking towards her.
As her face was exposed to the sunlight, Jiang Liu felt a prick in her heart, a thought flashing through her mind.
It’s those familiar eyes again.
The woman before her was slightly thin, her simple shirt and trousers outlining a tall, straight figure. Her short, choppy hair fluttered in the wind. Her eyes, like gentle spring water, held no trace of a smile. Her lips were slightly pursed as she stopped in front of Jiang Liu and extended a hand.
“I am Number 097, Yang Caisi.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m here to guide you back to the public area.”
Her tone was businesslike, completely devoid of any other emotion. It made Jiang Liu feel a strange sensation. She scrutinized the woman before her, looking her up and down as if trying to see right through her.
Yang Caisi seemed not to notice her impoliteness, nor did she rush her. She just looked at her calmly, maintaining the handshake gesture, waiting for her response.
After a long while, when everyone else had noticed the situation and was looking at Yang Caisi with confusion, Jiang Liu finally retracted her gaze. She broke into a bright smile and took her hand.
“Jiang Liu.”
“Have we met somewhere before?”
She had just run out of the fire, and her palm still held a lingering warmth. When their hands touched, Yang Caisi trembled almost imperceptibly. It was very slight, but Jiang Liu caught it keenly.
Noticing her strange reaction, Jiang Liu raised an eyebrow imperceptibly. Just as she was about to press her advantage and ask more questions, she saw that Yang Caisi had already released her hand, her expression as normal as ever, as if the momentary tremble had been her imagination.
Sensing her probing gaze, Yang Caisi blinked expressionlessly, her lowered hands unconsciously clenching into fists.
Only she knew that the moment she touched that hand, her heart had gone wild like an untamed horse, desperately wanting to hold Jiang Liu tight.
Despite the reluctance in her heart, she had to maintain a cold demeanor. “In this instance, I played the role of Chen Si.”
A simple sentence, yet it contained a shocking amount of information, causing everyone to fall silent in an instant, their hearts pounding as they tried to figure out its meaning.
Xu Shu studied her face carefully and swallowed nervously.
He hadn’t noticed it before, but now that Jiang Liu had pointed it out, he realized that the woman before them and Chen Si from the Theater Garden had a subtle resemblance.
This resemblance wasn’t in their facial features, but in a feeling.
Chen Si was lively and obedient, while the Yang Caisi before them was serious and unsmiling. They couldn’t possibly be the same person. The only thing they had in common was—
“Her eyes,” Xu Meng suddenly said in a daze.
Right, the eyes.
It was a moment of enlightenment for Xu Shu. When the soft, charming look in Chen Si’s eyes faded, Yang Caisi’s unique coolness emerged. Besides their temperament, their eyes were identical.
This discovery made them all uneasy. Zhang Xiaochen was the most impatient, rushing forward to question Yang Caisi, “We’ve already cleared the level, can’t we go home?”
Yang Caisi glanced at him coolly, her eyes devoid of any emotion, like a feelingless machine running on a pre-set program. She explained simply, “The transaction has not yet been completed. You can’t leave yet.”
Xu Shu frowned and asked, “What do you mean by transaction?”
A faint smile played on Yang Caisi’s lips. Despite her girl-next-door appearance, her words were chilling. “You should ask yourselves that.”
After saying this, she had no intention of explaining further and walked briskly ahead. “Follow me.”
She walked quickly, paying no mind to the bewildered group behind her, leaving only her tall, straight back in their view.
Zhang Xiaochen couldn’t help but get angry. “So mysterious. What’s with the attitude!”
He subconsciously looked back for Jiang Liu, only to find that she was long gone. When he looked up again, he was speechless.
While he was distracted, that girl had already followed Yang Caisi, with no intention of calling out to him.
Looking at the others, they had also followed Jiang Liu’s lead. He became exasperated. “Are you guys my friends or not! You didn’t even call for me!”
He cursed under his breath, but his feet were unwilling to fall behind, and he jogged to catch up.
Up ahead, Jiang Liu walked beside Yang Caisi, actively trying to gather information. Her eyes darted around, making no effort to hide her intentions. “What exactly is this place?”
The corner of Yang Caisi’s mouth lifted in a fleeting smile. “Don’t you know yourself? The Lost Way Game only makes transactions with specific people.”
Transaction, that word again.
Jiang Liu frowned in thought for a moment, then tilted her head to look at her. “So I made a deal with this damn place? And it’s not completed yet?”
Yang Caisi focused on leading the way, seemingly not hearing her words, as silent as a proper NPC.
Does she not know, or is she not allowed to say? Jiang Liu’s eyes darted around, and she changed the question. “What do you mean you ‘played the role of Chen Si’?”
This time, Yang Caisi spoke. “High-level NPCs are assigned by The System to various instances to help build the world.”
Jiang Liu couldn’t help but think of her initial introduction, Number 097.
Seeing her still probing look, Yang Caisi couldn’t help but slow down and explain it differently. “You can think of it as being an extra.”
This sentence was overheard by the group catching up from behind. Curious, they started chattering with questions, which made Yang Caisi frown and turn back into a silent clam.
Yang Caisi led them to a door at a street corner and said flatly, “This is the public area. Players who have cleared an instance can rest here and wait for the next one. I wish you a pleasant game.”
The completely insincere, formulaic instruction made Jiang Liu’s mouth twitch. She quickly stepped forward and grabbed Yang Caisi’s hand just as she was about to leave, her eyes smiling.
Yang Caisi was startled by her sudden action, her throat moving slightly as she looked at Jiang Liu in astonishment. “What are you doing?”
Jiang Liu blinked and familiarly linked her arm with hers. “Wait, one last question.”
“Was it you before?”
The question sounded nonsensical, and the others with her were completely baffled, but Yang Caisi instantly understood what Jiang Liu meant.
What she really wanted to ask was: Was the person who helped me in secret, who gave me clues, the Yang Caisi in front of me?
Yang Caisi’s eyes flickered for a moment, as if she wanted to say something with her gaze. But after a long while, she just lowered her eyes and resumed her cold expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
With that, she shook off Jiang Liu’s hand and turned to leave, as if she didn’t want to stay a moment longer.
Only Jiang Liu remained, raising an eyebrow and looking at her retreating back with amusement. Although she sounded cold, Jiang Liu had seen it clearly just now. Just holding her hand was enough to make her earlobes turn red—were all NPCs this innocent?
If so, why does she keep climbing into my bed?
Recalling Yang Caisi’s performance just now, Jiang Liu was lost in thought. She came back to her senses when she saw Zhang Xiaochen waving a hand in front of her face. She immediately took two steps back in disgust. “What are you doing?”
Zhang Xiaochen clicked his tongue. “What riddle are you talking about now? Do you know her?”
After getting a negative answer from Jiang Liu, he looked even more confused, scratching his head and muttering, “If you don’t know her, why are you smiling so flirtatiously? Anyone who didn’t know better would think you have a crush on her.”
Of course, he didn’t dare say this in front of Jiang Liu. After saying it, he guiltily touched his nose, glad that no one heard him.
He must have been traumatized by the Theater Garden incident to see everyone as a couple.
Zhang Xiaochen laughed at himself, shaking his head to clear out the messy thoughts, and quickly followed the others through the door.
From the outside, it was just a simple carved wooden door, until—
The quaint, ancient street disappeared, and in its place was a modern town. Tall buildings rose from the ground, and the blare of car horns and the sound of people’s laughter rushed towards them. It was exactly like the world they had left.
Xu Shu froze on the spot, his eyes wide as he looked around. He spoke, almost cautiously, “Are we… back?”
“Something’s not right. Look over there.”
Jiang Liu’s expression was a little grave. She frowned as she surveyed the surroundings, her words like a bucket of cold water poured over Xu Shu, making him shiver.
She was pointing to a shopping mall not far away. The entrance was festively decorated, and an excited female voice blared from a speaker.
“Good news, good news! The Lost Way Mall is having a 20% off sale, today only! Today only!”
Everything was just like in the real world, but the phrase “Lost Way Mall” instantly pulled their thoughts back to reality.
“What… what is going on?” Zhang Xiaochen stuttered for once, looking at everything in disbelief. He suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself.
A crisp sound echoed, and the fiery pain on his face confirmed that all of this was real.
They hadn’t left at all, they had just changed maps.
In the midst of the silence, a man’s voice drifted from somewhere. “New here? Come over and register for a room.”
The speaker was a middle-aged man wearing a faded shirt that was out of place with the bustling city behind him. He was smiling kindly at Jiang Liu.
“And you are?” Jiang Liu sized him up and asked politely.
The man scratched his head sheepishly. “My name is Xiong Zhong. I’m a player, just like you, and also a volunteer here. Is this your first time?”
A volunteer? The group exchanged strange glances, a sense of dissonance in their hearts.
Xiong Zhong saw their confusion and explained as he led the way, “This is The System’s public area. It’s absolutely safe inside, so don’t worry.”
Jiang Liu’s gaze swept over the people on the street. Only after confirming there was no danger did she speak, asking the question everyone wanted to know—
“What exactly is the Lost Way Game?”
Xiong Zhong looked a little surprised, as if shocked by their ignorance, but he quickly concealed his surprise and began to explain animatedly.
“You’ve heard of urban legends, right? The kind you young people are probably very interested in.”
When Xiong Zhong was young, he loved reading about strange people and events, especially all kinds of strange tales. He happened to learn about the Lost Way Game from a magazine, and one sentence describing it remained deeply etched in his memory—
“Whatever you wish, it can do anything.”