Cheng Xiao swore that he had never been so humble since he was born.
Well, a few hours ago, he had begrudgingly apologized to Little Mom, so that could count as one.
Cheng Xiao squatted in front of Yu Deng, letting the large, warm tears fall on his hands, his eyes darkening.
He had originally thought that this beautiful NPC perfectly matched his aesthetic tastes and found it amusing to tease him, so he kept focusing on Yu Deng.
But in such a short time, facing the pitifully crying little beauty, he found himself unable to resist softening just a little.
How could there be such a contradictory person?
Weak, slow, yet so emotionally touching.
"Little Mom, can I not call you a crybaby from now on?" Cheng Xiao said softly.
Yu Deng bit his lip, his whole body wrapped in his coat, the frayed collar encircling his face, making him look so small.
Hearing his stepson's rarely gentle voice, Yu Deng's tears fell even more fiercely.
His older brother always mocked him, saying that if someone comforted him, he would cry even more.
"Don't look at me, and don't speak."
Yu Deng awkwardly raised his hand, pressing his soft palm against Cheng Xiao's face to push him away so he wouldn't look at him.
Cheng Xiao: "So unreasonable."
The moment Yu Deng's hand covered his face, Cheng Xiao's nose was filled with the scent of Little Mom.
[Baby, your crying has broken Mommy's heart.]
[I used to think I really disliked people who cried a lot, but today I realized I just can't dislike Deng Deng.]
[I really like seeing beautiful babies cry; am I a pervert?]
[Bad dog, hurry up and comfort them.]
[Plot-driven survival, this situation feels weird everywhere, and the clues are indeed very few and messy.]
[Indeed, but this type of side story should have ghosts or monsters, right? I wonder which plot point will trigger it. I have a feeling something will happen tonight.]
As Cheng Xiao was pressed by Yu Deng's hand, he could only look away. After a moment of silence, he asked.
"Then I'll say something else. Little Mom, I haven't had the chance to ask you, what's your name?"
Yu Deng sniffled and reflexively replied, "Yu Deng."
At the same time, the system reminded him in his mind: [Host, please answer carefully.]
The two spoke almost at the same time.
System: [...] Sighed.
Yu Deng looked confused.
[I just want to remind the host that you are a special tasker. It would be troublesome if others knew your name, as players might encounter acquaintances in the infinite copy.]
Yu Deng stared blankly for a few seconds, shot a look at his stepson, and nervously said, "What should I do then?"
[Sorry, this issue needs to be resolved by the host.]
Yu Deng had already withdrawn his hand, and Cheng Xiao turned his head back.
"Is it 'Yu Deng' as in 'light'?" Cheng Xiao asked.
"Mm." Yu Deng replied vaguely, bent down, and leaned close to Cheng Xiao, whispering in his ear, "You mustn't tell anyone my name."
Cheng Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Yu Deng hesitated, quickly coming up with a reason, "Because I don't want to tell others; they always end up bothering me."
Yu Deng became more confident as he spoke, his mind surprisingly sharp at this moment.
"I've only told you." Yu Deng's eyes were still glistening with a hint of moisture. With this expression and whisper, it was hard to tell if it was a command or a plea.
"So, you can't tell anyone, especially not those guests."
No one dislikes feeling special. Cheng Xiao felt like he had been gently scratched by a cat's paw.
"Okay."
...
At this late hour, Yu Deng had been awake in the night wind for a while and was still a bit dazed.
The several Cheng family servants on guard also looked quite drowsy.
Two of them, seemingly exhausted, spoke in very low voices, taking advantage of the distance between them.
"This was really sudden from the master. Could it be that the old lady finally couldn't stand it anymore?"
"Shh, are you trying to get us killed?"
"Such a pity for Miss Lin; she finally had a good match, sigh."
After a few exchanges, they turned around to find the two main members of the Cheng family standing in front of the.
Cheng Xiao smiled faintly. "So, what did you two talk about just now?"
"Nothing, nothing much."
Yu Deng trailed behind his stepson, mixing in with the servants, observing the two of them intently.
One of the servants, unable to withstand Cheng Xiao's pressure, stammered, "Well, Master often has affairs with other women, and in recent years, he hasn't been getting along well with the Old Madam. Everyone has seen them argue."
"And?" Cheng Xiao pressed further. "You were talking a lot just now. Spill it."
Yu Deng glanced sideways at his stepson, thinking he should learn to adopt this demeanor and questioning style for gathering information.
"Uh, well, several of the concubines want to have their children inherit the family fortune, and Master has already agreed with two of them," the servant said quickly, afraid to say more
Cheng Xiao didn't press any further and walked back to the bench in the courtyard with Yu Deng.
"Little Mom, do you know how many possibilities there are for someone being killed?" Cheng Xiao asked and then answered himself, "It could be a crime of passion, revenge, robbery, or a crime of impulse."
Yu Deng listened attentively, noting the senior's analysis.
"In my opinion, given the current situation, we can rule out the last two possibilities."
Yu Deng blinked and thought along the same lines. That left crime of passion and revenge. According to the servant, it sounded like a crime of passion.
"Little Mom, what kind of person do you think the old man was?"
Yu Deng recalled the various concubines he had seen during the day and replied without thinking, "Lecherous."
"What a straightforward assessment," Cheng Xiao chuckled. "To find the murderer, we need to see who holds a grudge against him and who stands to gain from his death."
Yu Deng thought to himself that this matched the clues he had heard earlier.
"Little Mom, would you like to help me look for the murderer during the day?" Cheng Xiao stopped walking.
"Or do you already know who it is?"
Yu Deng sighed inwardly. It seemed his stepson had overestimated him. His mind was blank; he had no clues at all.
"I really don't know. I usually don't interact much with them.
As they spoke, several players emerged from inside and stood at the entrance of the hall.
Yu Deng looked into the mourning hall and saw the candlelight flickering dimly.
"I don't have the necessary tools for this. After a manual inspection, I can confirm there is only one wound on the chest, and it's quite deep," Sister Tong said quietly, avoiding Yu Deng.
The newcomer named Zhang Ziyun continued, "From the color of the lips, he might have ingested something toxic, but I'm not sure what exactly.
Sister Tong's expression grew colder. "Didn't you say you studied forensic medicine? Don't hide anything."
Zhang Ziyun, with a mournful face, replied, "Sister, I just started school and ended up in this scenario. My skills are still quite basic."
Yu Deng sympathized. He had also just managed to get into a good university but hadn't finished his studies before ending up in this place.
As the argument seemed about to escalate, Cheng Xiao interrupted, "We'll sort it out after dawn."
"I have a tool that can pinpoint a wound to track the murderer. If the object causing the injury is within twenty meters, it will give a prompt," Sister Tong said coldly, looking at everyone. "You'd better cooperate."
The two newcomers nodded repeatedly.
Night deepened further, with only an hour left until dawn.
Yu Deng couldn't stay awake any longer and fell asleep with his head drooping. Cheng Xiao glanced at the beautiful person leaning on his shoulder but said nothing and quietly organized the information.
Even though dawn was approaching, the sky grew darker, and the morning mist floated throughout the mansion.
The candle in the mourning hall suddenly extinguished with a soft puff.
Darkness instantly engulfed the entire mourning hall, and even the courtyard outside became pitch black.
Cheng Xiao pulled out a lighter from his pocket.
A faint flame lit up the pitch-black mourning hall, barely illuminating anything, as if the light was being swallowed. The flame quickly extinguished; it only lasted a moment with each press, though the flame's temperature was normal.
Cheng Xiao clicked his tongue. "Little Mom, wake up."
The temperature plummeted in seconds. Yu Deng jolted awake at his stepson's voice, but he found himself unable to see anything.
He trembled and asked, "System, am I... am I blind?"
A crackling sound followed by an intermittent electronic voice came through, as if the signal was blocked. [Vision is detected as 50, vision normal.]
Alright, so the abnormality must be the environment here.
Yu Deng realized belatedly that the candles had gone out.
In such darkness, he couldn't see anything, meaning if something approached, he wouldn't be able to detect it.
Rustling. Rustling.
Thud.
Something was moving.
Yu Deng shivered and tried to get up from the pile of straw and run outside, but his legs were too weak to move.
[Damn, what the hell, why did everything suddenly go quiet?]
[I was admiring Deng Deng's beautiful sleeping face, everything was fine, then suddenly it all went dark, and it startled me.]
[I've turned the brightness of the live broadcast room to the highest, I suggest everyone not to adjust it.]
"Cheng Xiao," Yu Deng said with a hint of a crying tone, just as he shouted, the person next to him reached out his arm, half encircling Yu Deng's waist, and helped him up.
"Quick, let's run outside," Yu Deng commanded.
The two carefully stepped back, only to find that the door of the hall had been closed and locked at some point.
Yu Deng knocked on the door for help, but received no response.
Cheng Xiao held Yu Deng in his arms to stabilize him, his muscles tense, his voice sounding surprisingly steady, "We probably can't get out now."
Yu Deng grabbed Cheng Xiao's arm, his palm cold, desperately trying to calm himself down.
He had heard of some customs, such as not letting the candle go out when keeping vigil, because the candle, also known as the eternal light, guides the souls to the underworld.
Without the candle, the souls would linger.
"How did this happen?" Yu Deng leaned against Cheng Xiao, wary of unknown creatures in the darkness.
"There was no wind or earthquake just now, it just went out suddenly," Cheng Xiao casually comforted, "These things can't be guarded against extinguishing just because we want to guard them. When the enemy comes, we'll fight; when the water comes, we'll cover the earth."
In the infinite world, how could so-called side quests be completed so easily?
He never expected Little Mom to be involved in this.
Yu Deng was not comforted at all, he sobbed.
He was too foolish, why didn't he prepare some self-defense items.
Yu Deng clenched his fists, ready for a fierce but possibly useless physical fight.
"It's okay."
Cheng Xiao's voice was clear in the darkness, "If it's a soul coming out, it's fine, we can just ask them who the culprit is."
"As for the rest, we can always fight. If all else fails, we can break down the door or burn it down. There are plenty of flammable materials in the funeral parlor, at most, it's just burning down a mansion."
The eerie silence in the funeral parlor lasted for a few seconds.
Yu Deng also momentarily froze for a few seconds.
Is he really this brave..?
At that moment, an alarm sounded in Yu Deng's mind, a more detached electronic voice belonging to the main system, a hint of frustration could be detected upon closer examination.
[Destruction-related statement detected. The likelihood of execution is ninety percent. Danger level assessed as level one.
Special mission target has been locked on!]