I picked up a boyfriend in the infinite game

Chapter 245, 4th Hall, 10

By then, they had almost finished registering, but the information was incomplete and quite disorganized, yet they had done their best.

The sun had climbed to the very center of the alley, but it wasn't very warm. The wind, carrying the astringent smell of lime and the dry fragrance of mugwort, swirled between the houses on both sides.

Shi Sui walked in front, a cigarette dangling from his lips, hands in his pockets. Chen Wenyu followed behind, carrying the registration book. He would occasionally glance down at it, his brow furrowed so deeply it could trap a mosquito. The information he was registering was disjointed and haphazard, with incomplete names, vague symptoms, and most of the page filled with entries about being mentally unstable and unwilling to speak. It looked extremely messy.

Just as I reached the middle of the alley, I bumped into two familiar figures.

Song Guicheng and Sun Zhida walked side by side.

Song Guicheng's long white hair, tied back, shone softly in the sunlight, the ends hanging down on his white coat, making his skin appear even whiter.

The lime powder beneath their feet crumbled and fell, and when Song Guicheng's gaze swept over them, the corners of his eyes slightly turned up.

"Finally, we've run into you," Shi Sui said casually, dangling a cigarette from his lips. "If we hadn't run into you guys, Xiao Wenyu would have crumpled up his registration book himself."

Chen Wenyu adjusted his glasses and explained, "I can't remember what they said..."

Song Guicheng walked to his side, took the register from his hand, and glanced at the neat handwriting on the paper, finding very little useful information.

The group stood beside a patch of weeds. Song Guicheng flipped through the register page by page. One line of information stood out. Song Guicheng lightly tapped the line "Li Laosan, there is something strange inside the house" with his fingertip, his eyelashes fluttering slightly.

He quickly finished reading the register, returned the book to Chen Wenyu, and said in a gentle voice, "Tell me about your findings."

Zhao Xiaoyun spoke first, calmly explaining the situation encountered during the registration: "When we were registering Li Laosan's family, we heard something fall off the kang (a heated brick bed). He panicked and pushed us away. We waited at the door for a while and then heard a dragging sound coming from inside, like someone was being dragged."

Zhao Xiaoyun paused, touched the red mark on her wrist, and continued, "An old lady kept muttering 'my darling, my darling,' I wonder if it's because her child died. But as we registered along the way, we didn't see a single dead person. An auntie said the deceased would be taken to the morgue to be cremated, but we didn't smell a single burning odor, not even you noticed. There's definitely something wrong here. Every household has had lime sprinkled and mugwort hung at their door according to epidemic prevention rules, but we feel like they're trying to cover something up."

After hearing this, Sun Zhida frowned even more and looked at Shi Sui: "Didn't you break into Li Laosan's house to check? The noise inside his house is definitely not right."

Shi Sui leaned against the wall, shrugged, and said with a self-righteous and shameless tone, "I can't fight! That old man is very strong. I can't exactly go up there and fight him head-on with Xiao Wenyu and Xiao Yun, can I?"

Upon hearing this, a smile flashed in Song Guicheng's eyes. He knew Shi Sui too well. He looked frail, but he was full of tricks. Even if he couldn't win a fight, he had plenty of ways to sneak into the house. The fact that he said he wouldn't fight now was probably because he found it too troublesome and wasn't really serious about it.

He unconsciously touched his chest with his fingertips; the pattern of half of the Star River Temple seemed to still be burning hot. Thinking of Wu Zhi, Song Guicheng's decision became clearer.

“Let’s go, let’s go take a look now.” Song Guicheng straightened up, his long white hair swaying slightly with the movement. His tone was still gentle, but it carried an undeniable certainty. “Anyway, from your description, he is still a human. If he’s not a ghost, there’s a way to deal with him.”

Shi Sui paused for a moment, then raised an eyebrow, reached out and patted Song Guicheng's shoulder, his tone teasing yet serious: "Little Chengzi, you're really different now... Before, you would have to figure out three escape routes first, and then figure out how to go in quietly, you wouldn't be so direct."

Upon hearing this, Song Guicheng lowered his head and smiled. Sunlight fell on his thick eyelashes, casting soft shadows, like butterflies about to take flight.

Yes, he used to be afraid of making mistakes, afraid that his mistakes would implicate others, but now he was more afraid that he wouldn't make it to the day he found Wu Zhi. Since he could vaguely mobilize the power of "eternity" within him, he had become much more confident in the dungeon. Besides, Wu Zhi's time was running out, and he didn't have that much time to take things slowly.

Song Guicheng didn't explain, but looked up at Shi Sui. Their eyes met, and they both saw an unmistakable determination hidden beneath the smiles in each other's eyes, like sparks on a grassland, just waiting to be ignited and burn down the entire green field.

Song Guicheng's voice was soft but clear: "Let's go, don't waste time."

Sun Zhida took the first step.

Shi Sui clicked his tongue and patted Chen Wenyu on the back: "Let's go, little Wenyu. Don't be afraid, with Guicheng and Brother Sun here, nothing will happen."

Chen Wenyu nodded, holding the register in his arms. He had a feeling that behind Li Laosan's door was something just as terrifying as the nightmare he had experienced the night before.

Zhao Xiaoyun walked to his side, gently patted his arm, and whispered, "Follow me, don't fall behind."

The group walked along the muddy road, the sunlight casting long shadows that fell on the whitewashed doorways of each house, leaving glaring white marks.

The wooden door of Li Laosan's house remained tightly closed, and the mugwort on the lintel rustled in the wind, as if issuing a silent warning.

Song Guicheng walked to the door, stopped, and gently touched the door panel with his fingertips. The door panel was cold and covered with cracks. The wooden door was already old and dilapidated, with the edges pitted by insects. There were also a few dark brown stains on the door panel, which he didn't know if it was mud or something else.

From the crevice below, there seemed to be faint sounds coming out, like someone sobbing softly inside, or like someone begging for mercy.

Song Guicheng raised his hand and knocked on the door. His knuckles landed on the door panel, making a dull "thump-thump" sound, like knocking on damp wood.

After a while, no one answered.

He paused, then knocked twice more, but the room remained quiet; even the faint sounds from before had disappeared.

Song Guicheng ran his fingertips along the cracks in the door, still weighing the options in his mind: kicking the door down would be too loud; although the doors of the residents on both sides were closed, making too much noise might cause them to rush out and see them in this state, thus revealing the medical team's identity. But if he waited any longer, who knew what crucial clues Li Laosan might have hidden.

Before Song Guicheng could make up his mind, Sun Zhida, who was beside him, gestured for him to move aside and kicked the joint between the door panel and the door frame with a precise and ruthless force.

The old wooden door couldn't withstand the impact; the hinges snapped with a "crack," and the door panel fell inward, kicking up a cloud of musty dust.

Before the dust had even settled, a cold glint suddenly flashed out from behind the door—

It was a gleaming sickle, its blade gleaming coldly, with dark red marks still clinging to the edge.

Li Laosan hid behind the door, his sunken eyes bloodshot, and like a madman, he gripped the sickle handle with both hands and slashed fiercely at Sun Zhida's face.

"Watch out!" Zhao Xiaoyun whispered, and Chen Wenyu instinctively shrank back, almost dropping the register in his hand.

Sun Zhida reacted extremely quickly, instinctively turning to the side, but the sickle came too fast, the blade already grazing his shoulder, tearing a gash in the fabric and revealing the solid muscles underneath.

Just then, Song Guicheng lunged forward, his long white hair tied behind his head swaying with his movements, the ends brushing against his shoulders. He lowered his body slightly and kicked Li Laosan precisely in the back of the knee with his right foot.

Li Laosan cried out "Ouch!" as his knees buckled and he fell forward, the sickle in his hand clattering to the ground.

Song Guicheng didn't give him a chance to react. He pressed down on the back of Li Laosan's neck with his left hand and quickly took off the yellowish-brown protective mask from his face with his right hand. The edges of the mask were blackened and covered with some unknown sticky liquid. He pinched the corner of the mask and shoved it into Li Laosan's mouth, just enough to stop him from screaming.

"Ugh! Ugh!" Li Laosan made muffled struggling sounds in his throat, his body twisting wildly. Although he looked thin and sickly, he was surprisingly strong. He grabbed at the ground with both hands, trying to reach the sickle.

"Come in! Lock the door!" Shi Sui reacted the fastest, grabbing Chen Wenyu and pushing him into the house. Zhao Xiaoyun followed closely behind, closing the wooden door from the inside and dragging the broken wooden table next to her to block the door. Her movements were swift and efficient.

Sun Zhida had already bent down and pressed down on Li Laosan's arm, the force so strong that Li Laosan groaned in pain. Song Guicheng also pressed down on Li Laosan's other hand, his fingertips able to feel the protruding bone under his skin, and the irregular trembling, which didn't seem like illness, but more like fear.

Chen Wenyu stood to the side, holding the registration book, his face a little pale, but his eyes quickly scanned the environment in the room.

The room was even darker than it appeared from the outside. The earthen bed took up most of the space, and some blackened rags were piled on it. A chipped earthenware jar sat in the corner, and the air was filled with a strong musty smell, mixed with a faint fishy odor.

"Hold him down!" Shi Sui said, pulling out a black rope from somewhere.

The rope looked unremarkable, but its surface was covered with fine barbs. He squatted down and moved with the practiced ease of someone who had done it countless times. In no time, he had bound Li Laosan's hands and feet tightly, even binding his arms and body together. The barbs of the rope were pressed against Li Laosan's skin, and with the slightest movement, they would pierce into his flesh.

After finishing tying him up, Shi Sui clapped his hands, straightened up, and looked down at Li Laosan, who was struggling on the ground. A half-smile appeared on his lips, and his tone carried a casual threat: "Don't struggle. The more you struggle, the tighter the rope will tighten, and the barbs will move. If you really struggle too hard, it might break the blood vessels in your neck, and then there will be blood everywhere, or it might even rip your head off. That wouldn't look good."

Li Laosan's body stiffened abruptly, and the "mmm" sound in his throat weakened.

He looked up at Shi Sui, the madness in his eyes gradually replaced by fear, and his struggling limbs became docile, but his chest was still heaving violently, and his eyes were filled with deep apprehension as he stared at the group.