Chapter 4: Guide 04

28TH AUG 2022~SV

Releasing the clue

Wen Qing searched again and again, this time even going back to open the folded towel and looking at it, but there was still no underwear.

He couldn’t find underwear in this room, but there must be other rooms.

The second floor only had two bedrooms, and the other room was probably already occupied by Yu Xing. He didn’t want to go there.

If it was the third floor……

Wen Qing couldn’t go to the girls’ bedroom to find boys underwear. So there was only Teacher Ji and the basketball uniform’s bedroom.

Basketball uniform’s temper didn’t seem good, and he didn’t know if he would get angry because of this sort of situation.

After struggling for a while, Wen Qing decided to go to the third floor to find Teacher Ji to borrow underwear.

Too bad his plan didn’t keep up with changes.

Wen Qing opened the door, took one step out, and had his arm grabbed by Gong Yunyun, who was passing by.

“Wen Qing, you came at the right time. We have a new finding.”

Gong Yunyun pulled Wen Qing to the study at the end of the corridor.

Wen Qing struggled twice, but Gong Yunyun’s strength was too great, he had to use one hand to hold the bathrobe closed to avoid exposing himself.

“Wait… wait a second, I still have something to do.”

Gong Yunyun paused walking, turned her head and looked at Wen Qing. “What’s the matter?”

Wen Qing thought for a while, and pointed to his bathrobe. “I’m dressed like this, it’s not very suitable, there’s a lot of girls.”

Gong Yunyun burst out laughing. “What era is this, don’t underestimate us girls.”

“Is there anything we haven’t seen before, I have drawn many nude male models, your bathrobe is still covering your calf, so don’t be shy.”

Wen Qing thought, you’ve drawn nude male models, but I’ve never been a nude male model.

He used to wear short-sleeved shorts even when he slept in his bedroom, and he wouldn’t be shirtless. Not to mention, below the bathrobe was emptiness, and he didn’t have a sense of security.

Gong Yunyun directly pulled Wen Qing to the door of the study. Wen Qing glanced around. Everyone was inside, except for the basketball uniform.

This person was also too much.

Wen Qing pulled the bathrobe closer and blushed lightly, saying, “That… I… I need to go to the toilet.”

If he couldn’t find any underwear, he could wear pants first.

Gong Yunyun could see that this was an excuse at a glance, and immediately said, “Hold on, let everyone finish the discussion first.”

“You can’t let everyone wait for you alone, right?”

This sentence stabbed at Wen Qing’s embarrassment at having to trouble others. He hesitated for a while, pulled the bathrobe, and walked into the study.

“Wen Qing has arrived,” Gong Yunyun glanced around and addressed everyone. “There’s only that handsome brother in the basketball uniform left. He said he wanted to take a shower, so let’s discuss first, no need to wait for him.”

“Why doesn’t he come?” The short-haired girl whispered.

Gong Yunyun curled her lips. “Who knows, maybe he doesn’t care about the guide.”

The person who didn’t care about finding the guide was most likely the guide themselves.

Hearing the hint in her words, Wen Qing frowned slightly.

There were only four chairs in the study, just enough for the four girls to sit. Wen Qing walked to the wall with his back facing against the wall, barely feeling a sense of security.

He lowered his head to tighten the straps of the bathrobe. Suddenly, a large hand with well-defined joints appeared beside the bathrobe, trying to untie the straps. It scared Wen Qing so much that he quickly avoided it. 

The corners of the bathrobe rose with his steps, revealing two white and tender calves without leg hair, and with skin as delicate as cream.

Yu Xing let out a long whistle.

The whistle rang out, and the two girls who hadn’t noticed the scene before turned their heads to look at Wen Qing.

The bathrobe had already covered his legs tightly, only his small ankles still being exposed to the air. His skin was very frail, the light blue meridians were very clear, and there was a kind of fresh smell to him.

Inexplicably, even the girls felt a little thirsty.

Wen Qing shrunk back his feet, gripping the bathrobe nervously.

He didn’t expose himself just now, right?

Obviously it was Yu Xing who whistled, why was everybody looking at him?

After a long time, Zhou Zhou came back to his senses, and said, “Since everyone is hee, let me tell you about a new discovery.”

He walked to the bookshelves and pointed towards the two rows of bookshelves with Chinese and English books. “I used to say that the Chinese and English books in the study were mainly about religion and theology.”

“I spoke wrongly. It wasn’t mainly, all the books here were about religion and theology.”

Seeing that everyone’s attention wasn’t on him anymore, Wen Qing slowly lifted his head, looking at the bookshelves.

“General Theory of Eastern Mythology”, “Chinese Myths and Legends”……

There were also several English books, “History of Western Mythology”, “Nordic Mythology”……

Wen Qing looked at the other bookshelves again. He didn’t recognise those tadpole-looking words.

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Gong Yunyun continued, “Because of my major, I’ve been exposed to some religious paintings before. Although I can’t understand the books on the other bookshelves, all of the illustrations are about various religious theologies.”

“Plus, when the game started, the system also said that this was a god-level instance.” 

God-level instance, theology…… the clues seemed to point towards the three people with the god cards.

Wen Qing blinked, looking at Yu Xing cautiously.

Yu Xing stared straight at him, a smile on the corners of his mouth. When he caught Wen Qing staring at him, he whistled carelessly and casually again.

Wen Qing glared at him, turning his head to look at the other person in the study with a god card —— Ji Yu.

Zhou Zhou spoke without preamble. “Now, I have a slight suspicion that the word ‘guide’ is blurring the information.”

“The system never said that the guide had to be a human, they could also be a god. Maybe ‘guide’ is the code name for a god in some myth.” 

“Of course, this is only my guess. I can only confirm one thing, that the guide has something to do with the gods.”

Wen Qing nodded in agreement. It seemed reasonable.

“Does anyone have anything to say?” Zhou Zhou asked.

Several people’s visions were shifting between Ji Yu and Yu Xing.

The other person who held the god card didn’t even show his face, and the three people who had the god cards were indeed suspicious.

After a while, nobody said anything.

“Then I’ll say a few words.”

Ji Yu warmly smiled, addressing everyone. “What Zhou Zhou said was very reasonable.”

“I also believe that the guide has something to do with the gods. But I think the gods are similar to witches. Perhaps under certain conditions, some insight can be made.”

“After all, the suffix of ‘guide’ is ‘person’. If these three words have no meaning, they can be completely replaced with another pronoun, which can blur the information even more.”

Wen Qing nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

En, reasonable.

What the teacher said was also very reasonable.

The air was silent once more. Everyone was digesting the new information.

Wen Qing included.

Suddenly, Yu Xing’s voice sounded in his ears.

“You just believe what other people say?”

His voice was hoarse and with a faint smile in his tone, as if he was deliberately seducing people, “What if the one named Zhou Zhou was the guide? Deliberately trying to confuse people.”

Wen Qing’s eyelashes trembled, and he lifted his head to meet Yu Xing’s eyes. His words held a smile in them, but there was not even the slightest bit of a smile in his eyes, only a layer of interest.

Seeming like it wasn’t a big deal to be an onlooker. 

Wen Qing moved to the side, moving a little further away from Yu Xing.

Yu Xing followed him closely, step by step. “Doesn’t what I say make sense?”

Wen Qing ignored him, quickly walking towards Ji Yu.

Seeing this, Yu Xing quickly stopped his steps, watching them from afar.

Wen Qing let out a breath.

“It’s ten o’clock right now, the system will give us a clue in two more hours,” Zhou Zhou glanced at the clock in the study and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Everyone should hurry up and rest.” 

Wen Qing quietly waited for everyone to leave first.

Seeing that Zhou Zhou and Yu Xing still had no intentions of leaving the study, only then did he stood on his tiptoes, leaned close to Ji Yu’s ear, and said lowly, “Te… teacher, can I go to your room to borrow some clothes?”

Ji Yu curved his lips. “Of course you can.”

“If you’re in a hurry, go upstairs first, I’ll be right over.”

“Alright,” Wen Qing nodded.

He was in a hurry, very much in a hurry.

Wen Qing hurriedly left the study and walked up to the third floor.

Immediately after, Yu Xing and Ji Yu walked out of the study together.

The two of them walked to the head of the stairs, separated by a certain distance, and looked at the big reddish brown door downstairs simultaneously.

“This game is very fun.”

“It’s interesting.”

*****

Wen Qing walked up to the third floor, before realising that he had forgotten to ask Teacher Ji which room he slept in.

He took two steps forward. Hearing hat the two rooms left and right were both resounding with the girls’ conversation, he kept on walking. 

The doors of the other two bedrooms were closed. Wen Qing simply knocked on the door of the bedroom to the right.

“Knock——”

After he knocked once, the door that was unlocked was opened.

There was someone in the room. A man stood by the window, wrapped only in a bath towel. His upper body was naked, and his wheat-colored muscles glistened with water.

It was basketball uniform.

Wen Qing didn’t know his name, hesitated for a while, and quietly asked. “That… Number 23, do you and Teacher Ji live in the same room?”

The man turned his head to look at him, not knowing if he was responding to Number 23 or Teacher Ji. After a while, he said in annoyance, “No.”

Wen Qing made a sound in response. He couldn’t help but think, it turns out that it was one person in one room. How brave.

He hurriedly said, “Sorry, I walked the wrong way.”

“I want to find the teacher.”

A second before he closed the door, the man spoke, his tone disdainful. “What are you finding him for?”

Wen Qing told the truth. “To borrow some clothes.”

The man’s eyelids lifted. He looked at him deeply, his eyebrows still impatient. “Take them yourself.”

Wen Qing opened his mouth. Just like how he was unwilling to trouble others, he was also bad at rejecting other people’s kindness.

“Then… then I’ll take them.”

He whispered a sentence, walking to the closet.

As soon as he opened it, he saw neatly folded underwear in a corner.

Wen Qing pursed his lips, remembering the first time he checked the room.

It seemed to be put in the same position, why was he suddenly unable to find it?

While thinking about it, Wen Qing looked at the size of the underwear. They were all one size.

They were bigger than the ones he wore by two sizes.

Bigger was better than none.

Wen Qing sighed in his heart, and took two pairs of underwear. He also conveniently grabbed a t-shirt to cover them up. He said to Number 23: “I’m done, thank you.”

He walked to the door, and his footsteps stopped. He turned and asked, “Can I ask for your name?”

The man coldly watched him.

Wen Qing said weakly. “It’s fine even if you don’t say.”

He didn’t mind continuing to call him Number 23.

“Si Kong.”

“My name is Wen Qing.”

When Wen Qing went downstairs with the clothes in his arms, he happened to meet Ji Yu.

He was anxious to return back and put on underwear, so he quickened his words. “Teacher, I’ve already borrowed clothes from Si Kong, I’ll go back first.”

After speaking, he went downstairs without even turning his head.

Ji Yu smiled, saying to the air, “That’s really a pity.”

When he returned to the bedroom, Zhou Zhou was washing his hands in the bathroom.

Wen Qing closed the door, and hurriedly put on underwear.

Even though it was a little big, it brought him a sense of safety.

Wen Qing’s tense nerves finally relaxed. He laid on the bed and sighed.

Zhou Zhou walked out of the bathroom and glanced at Wen Qing. “Gong Yunyun and I will be looking for clues in the study.”

Wen Qing made a sound to respond. He buried his head into the pillows and said in a low, muffled voice. “I want to rest for a while.”

“Alright, I’ll call you when it’s time.”

“Okay.”

Wen Qing got into the quilt. Too many things happened today, which made him exhausted physically and mentally. In no time, he fell into a deep sleep.

****

“Tick—— Tick——”

As it neared 12 o’clock, the sound of the minute hand moving became clearer, making it hard to read the book.

Zhou Zhou simply closed the mythology book in his hand.

Except for him, there was also Gong Yunyun, Ji Yu, and the short-haired girl named Chen Yiyi.

When there were still two minutes left, Zhou Zhou rose and said, “It’s time.”

“I’ll go to the room to call Wen Qing.”

Gong Yunyun replied, “That basketball uniform with the god card seems to still be on the third floor. I’ll go call him. Wang Jing and Li Si Wen should already be downstairs.”

“Alright.”

Just as the three of them walked to the door of the study, the system’s voice suddenly rang out. Several of them stopped their footsteps.

【 Looking, looking, looking for a friend

I found a very good friend

Saluting and shaking hands with them

You are my very good friend. 】

Four simple sentences were sung twice.

【 Now releasing the guide clue. 】

【 May all players pay attention, may all players pay attention. 】

【 Five, four, three, two, one. 】

The system’s voice was like an alarm. Everyone had an inexplicable premonition, their hearts lifting.

“Clunk——”

The door lock moved.

Zhou Zhou stubbornly stared at the door.

The system only said it would be releasing a clue. It never said where it would come from.

With a creak, the door opened.

Wen Qing rubbed his eyes and walked out.

Zhou Zhou breathed out a sigh of relief. “I was just about to call you.”

Wen Qing had heard the sound of the system in a daze, and climbed out of bed.

Seeing the three people with serious expressions on their faces, Wen Qing rubbed his eyes to confirm that the voice from before wasn’t his own hallucination. 

Was it time already?

Before he could ask that question, a shrill scream suddenly came from downstairs.

“AAAAH————”

The scream was mixed with the low roars and howls of a beast, one after another, and the air was filled with a rotten stench and the faint smell of blood.

Wen Qing’s face turned white.

In a flash, everyone realised that there was something wrong with the system’s words.

Releasing a clue……

Releasing a monster?