Book 4: Chapter 18 |
Regarding Rosvithar’s proposal, everyone present expressed their agreement.
After the temporary meeting ended, the group moved to the first-floor hall.
Rosvithar used the item card “Great Detective” on Leon.
Very soon, a line of text appeared on her memory stone:
“‘The King’s Old Friend’ has not killed any player within the past six hours.”
Even though Leon already knew he was “innocent,” it was only at this moment—after seeing the confirmation—that he finally let out a long breath of relief.
He then turned to the others, spread his hands, and said, “See? I wasn’t the one who killed A-Guang.”
“If it wasn’t you… then the situation is even worse.”
“Just like you said during the meeting, if the wolf who killed A-Guang wasn’t you, then it must be someone else. And that person… possesses the ability to kill from a distance. We can’t defend against that.”
“The most dangerous part is—”
The one who picked up her words was Isha.
The eldest sister crossed her arms over her chest. Her red, cold dragon eyes slowly swept across everyone present.
“This wolf with long-range killing ability is among us. It could be Claudia. It could be Xiao-Luo. It could even be me.”
She then looked at Leon.
“So, what should we do next to find this wolf?”
Leon pondered briefly before replying, “We keep doing tasks.”
“I think everyone has noticed that as the game progresses, more and more useful information is surfacing. Only by quickly gathering clues related to the lone-wolf identities can we help the princess retrieve the Black Holy Stone.”
“Should we pair up in teams of two?” Helena suggested.
“That way, the wolf wouldn’t dare kill casually.”
If a kill occurred while players were paired, the one grouped with the victim would become the prime suspect.
“But if that lone wolf truly has long-range killing ability,” Noya said, “then the two-person buddy system won’t work. Instead, it would allow the real wolf to muddy the waters and eliminate good players one by one.”
Helena nodded in sudden realization.
“I see…”
“Then let’s keep things as they are,” Leon said.
“Anyway, if it really is long-range killing, there’s no way to dodge it. And like I said earlier, for game balance, such a powerful ability must have restrictions—like only being usable once within a certain time frame.”
“So we don’t need to panic. Just proceed steadily—do tasks, gather clues. We’ll definitely flush that wolf out.”
Leon’s morale-boosting speech sounded nothing like ‘The King’s Old Friend.’
Instead, it sounded very much like ‘The Princess’s Loyal Guard.’
No choice. Since the other lone wolf possessed a killing advantage Leon didn’t have, the only option was to cozy up to the good faction—otherwise, when things got critical, no one would back him up.
“Alright,” Isha said. “Let’s proceed like this for now. Everyone stay alert, and be cautious when teaming up.”
“If no temporary meeting is called, the next meeting will be at eight tonight.”
“Mm. Everyone, be careful.”
After the discussion ended, the group dispersed.
Leon returned to his floor. Isha walked ahead of him.
The two of them opened their respective room doors almost simultaneously.
But neither entered immediately.
After a brief standoff, Isha slowly turned around to look at Leon.
The red-haired beauty wore a faint smile as she softly asked,
“Do you have any clues about the lone wolves, brother-in-law?”
Leon shrugged. “Nope. You, sis?”
“Neither do I.”
“Oh… then it looks like tonight’s going to be busy. The game is already halfway through, and we haven’t found a single wolf yet—let alone the Black Holy Stone.”
Isha nodded. “Yeah. Let’s move quickly.”
After that brief exchange, Isha gently pushed her door open.
But just as one foot stepped inside, Leon suddenly spoke from behind her—
“Sis, you seem to remember the meeting times really well.”
Isha paused.
“Is that a problem?”
“Of course not,” Leon replied sincerely. “I’m just impressed by your memory. With so many meetings in a day, you still remember the next one perfectly.”
Isha smiled modestly. “It’s not that many. I just read the rules twice and remembered.”
“Mm.”
They nodded to each other and returned to their rooms.
…
After A-Guang was eliminated, Mu’en was left without a teammate and had no choice but to seek help from Noya.
Originally, she wanted to go to her dad and mom.
But Mu’en felt that might disturb their private couple time.
A-Guang had told her before: although Mom and Dad looked like they disliked each other, whenever they got the chance, they would always gravitate together and act all lovey-dovey!
So Mu’en decided to team up with her sister instead.
Naturally, Noya was happy to have Mu’en join.
Mu’en’s tail and the tuft of hair on her head swayed joyfully.
When A-Guang was still around, Mu’en didn’t have a legitimate excuse to go find Noya and could only rely on the “Bond of Unbreakable Love” item.
But now that A-Guang was gone, she had a very, very, very legitimate reason to team up with her sister!
By that logic—
One Aurora equaled ten Bond of Unbreakable Love cards.
“A-Guang, Mu’en’s superhero!”
Although A-Guang had been “sacrificed,” being able to happily stick close to her sister made Mu’en feel that her game experience was nearly complete.
With Mu’en joining, the three little dragon girls completed tasks much faster.
After searching around for a while, they entered a room.
In the center of the room stood a table.
On it were several empty cups and a bucket of clean water.
The three approached. Noya picked up a card from the table, which displayed the rules:
“Use your mouth to hold the cup and pass the water to the next person. Three players cooperate. When the leftmost empty cup is filled, the task is complete.”
“Oh, this looks pretty easy. Let’s start.”
“Yes, Sister!”
The dragon girls lined up.
Mu’en cleverly squeezed herself into the middle position.
This way, she could separate her sister from Helena, preventing them from accidentally touching while transferring water mouth-to-mouth.
You think Mu’en joined the Princess’s group just to cling to her sister?
Of course not!
She was also there to supervise—absolutely not allowing that sea dragon girl to steal her sister away!
Once positions were set, the water-passing game began.
Standing on the far right, Noya filled her cup with water, held it by the rim with her mouth, carefully turned, and slowly leaned toward Mu’en.
She tiptoed slightly, tilted her body, and poured the water into Mu’en’s cup.
During the process, Mu’en pressed her soft cheeks tightly against her.
“Mu’en, there’s no need to stick so close…” Noya said indistinctly with the cup in her mouth.
“No, no, Sister. We need to minimize water loss, so we must stay close,” Mu’en replied solemnly.
“That makes sense.”
Although the sisters had good coordination, the first transfer took a long time.
A lot of water spilled—by the time it reached Mu’en’s cup, only half remained.
After receiving the water, Mu’en immediately turned toward Helena.
Because of the height difference, Helena had to bend her knees—otherwise, even with Mu’en standing on tiptoe, she couldn’t reach her.
Noya watched nervously, worried the transfer would again be slow and wasteful.
But to her surprise, the sister who had just been moving at a snail’s pace now completed the transfer with lightning speed.
“So… you were totally acting earlier, weren’t you, Mu’en?”
Noya smiled helplessly to herself.
Silly girl. You just wanted to rub cheeks longer. Did you really think no one noticed?
The first round ended quickly, but the target cup was still far from full.
“Again, again~” Mu’en urged eagerly.
“Wait,” Helena suddenly said.
“I think our positioning isn’t optimal.”
Mu’en blinked, thinking Helena wanted to move her out of the middle.
But Helena continued,
“If I stand at the end, whoever passes water to me will lose a lot due to height difference. So how about this—I’ll go first, Mu’en stays in the middle, and Noya stands last?”
Noya nodded. “No problem.”
As long as Mu’en could still reach her sister, she had no objections.
They rearranged positions, and the second round began.
Just as Helena predicted, the height disadvantage turned into an advantage.
The transfer between her and Mu’en lost very little water.
And when it came time for Mu’en to pass to Noya—despite Mu’en still sneaking in some cheek-to-cheek contact—plenty of water remained.
After repeating this several times, the empty cup was finally filled.
“Yay~ Sister is amazing!”
Mu’en clapped happily, then added, “Helena-sister is amazing too.”
Even as a hardcore sister-lover, Mu’en didn’t forget her manners.
Helena smiled with narrowed eyes. “Thank you, Mu’en~”
With the task complete, a hidden compartment in the table opened, revealing a card.
Noya picked it up—it was an item card.
Reincarnation Deadlock
Effect: When only two players remain, use this card to forcibly initiate a 1-on-1 mini-game against the other player.
Winning the mini-game equals winning the entire game.
Note: When it comes to this… give it everything you’ve got.
…
Footnotes:
- liú gè hòu shǒuMeaning: To keep a backup plan or contingency; leaving oneself a way out.
- dāo rénGaming slang meaning “to kill a player” in social deduction games.
- hún shuǐ mō yúMeaning: To muddy the waters in order to take advantage of chaos.
- zhōng quánLiterally “loyal dog”; used humorously to describe someone fiercely devoted to a person or cause.
- tiē tiē liǎnCute internet slang meaning “to stick cheeks together,” implying clingy affection.
- xiàn jìMeaning: A sacrifice made to achieve a greater goal.