Chapter 86.1: Xishan Residential Area (6)

Ruan Qing returned to the bedroom, and then quietly sat on the edge of the bed. A fragile and helpless aura surrounded him, and his lifeless gaze seemed somewhat vacant, as if lost in thought.

The child stood obediently by Ruan Qing’s side. He wanted to hold Ruan Qing’s hand, but it seemed like he was afraid of being pushed away. In the end, he only gently tugged at the corner of Ruan Qing’s clothes, not daring to use too much force. It was as if he was silently comforting Ruan Qing.

His obedience was endearing.

Unfortunately, the Ruan Qing before him was blind and couldn’t see anything.

Ruan Qing lowered his gaze slightly, pondering his current situation. He had just missed the chance to leave, and now it wouldn’t be easy to do so.

After all, as long as the murderer was still around, he wouldn’t have a chance to leave.

Huh?

Ruan Qing’s gaze flickered slightly as he suddenly paused. Was that the sound of a door closing just now?

Did the murderer leave?

Despite that, Ruan Qing continued to sit there, looking sorrowful. In reality, he was straining his ears to listen to the sounds in the living room.

The living room remained quiet, without any sound, as if no one was there at all.

After listening for several minutes without hearing anything, Ruan Qing stood up directly and began to grope around the bedroom, seemingly searching for something.

The child watched the person carefully searching for something and gently reached out to hold Ruan Qing’s hand. In a gentle voice, he asked, “Daddy, what are you looking for?”

“Can Xiao Xi help Daddy find it together?”

Ruan Qing hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Suitcase.”

“Daddy, are you leaving?” The child’s soft voice carried a hint of pitifulness. “Can Xiao Xi go with Daddy? Xiao Xi wants to go with Daddy.”

Ruan Qing hesitated for a moment and finally nodded. “Okay.”

It was evident that the original owner and Yang Tianhao couldn’t have a child together, so the child was truly cherished as their own by the original owner. “Yang Tianhao” had even agreed to a paternity test, sounding genuinely responsible. The original owner was probably somewhat willing to believe in Yang Tianhao.

After all, the original owner was quite skilled at self-deception.

Ruan Qing always felt that Yang Tianhao seduced the original owner. There’s no doubt that Yang Tianhao was outstanding; it’s hard to find anyone better than him. However, the original owner’s excellence was undeniable as well. Unfortunately, after encountering Yang Tianhao, the original owner’s excellence seemed to vanish. He became like a dependent attachment, offering humble and unrestrained love, as if Yang Tianhao had become his whole world.

Even if this child was truly Yang Tianhao’s, Ruan Qing believed the original owner would eventually compromise.

It’s not too surprising for Ruan Qing to bring along Yang Muqing.

Most importantly, Ruan Qing sensed something strange about this child. He didn’t quite seem like a normal three-year-old.

If Ruan Qing didn’t take the child with him, he estimates the child might end up in the hands of a murderer. Moreover, Yang Muqing always referred to himself as ‘Xiao Xi’. If this child was indeed an important NPC, there would definitely be problems if he was killed.

When the child saw Ruan Qing nod, he immediately displayed a bright smile and happily begin to search for the suitcase. He’s much quicker than Ruan Qing, directly dragging the suitcase out from the corner, then helping Ruan Qing organize the clothes and belongings.

The original owner injured his eyes in a car accident. Ruan Qing remembered that the doctor prescribed medication. Ruan Qing fumbled to pick up the original owner’s medicine, preparing to pack it in the suitcase. Just as he was about to put it in, he suddenly remembered that he forgot to take the medicine during dinner. His attention was focused on the murderer, so he seemed to have forgotten about the medicine.

Ruan Qing fumbled to open the medicine bottle and poured out two pills, ready to swallow them. But he stopped before putting them in his mouth.

Due to dealing with illnesses for a long time, Ruan Qing understood quite a bit about medicine, and he even recognized various medications.

And this medicine for the original owner was wrong.

This medicine was just simple vitamins. It couldn’t possibly treat his eyes. No matter how much he took, it won’t improve his eyesight.

Who switched the original owner’s medicine? Yang Tianhao? Or could it be the murderer?

Ruan Qing felt that it’s more likely to be Yang Tianhao. The murderer probably wouldn’t have figured out the situation so quickly. He might not even know that the original owner just recently became blind, let alone intentionally replacing his medicine.

Moreover, it’s unlikely that someone would carry a bottle of vitamins while committing murder.

But why would Yang Tianhao switch the original owner’s medicine? Did he not want the original owner to regain his vision? Or did he want to completely ruin the original owner?

This wasn’t Ruan Qing’s conspiracy theory; it’s just that Yang Tianhao seemed extremely suspicious. He didn’t truly love the original owner, yet he insisted on acting like he deeply cared for him. Ruan Qing even suspected that Yang Tianhao might have something to do with the original owner’s car accident.

The original owner had a solitary and self-deprecating personality, rarely leaving home except for grocery shopping and picking up the child. However, on the day of the car accident, he was out with Yang Tianhao. They were planning to go to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities when an out-of-control truck crashed directly towards the original owner’s location.

Fortunately, Yang Tianhao pushed the original owner aside in time. The truck only grazed the original owner. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been as simple as losing his eyesight.

Ruan Qing calmly swallowed the medicine in his hand without any change in expression. He didn’t continue dwelling on it. He had been through the instance before; he wasn’t here to investigate whether the original owner’s ex-husband truly loved him. Yang Tianhao was already dead, and pursuing such matters seemed pointless.

After a moment of contemplation, Ruan Qing spoke in his mind, ‘System, once I leave this instance, will the original owner I portrayed still exist?’

[It’s just a setting for the instance. If you didn’t possess him, Zhou Qing would have died after he opened the door.] The system’s cold response came in an emotionless tone.

[Every time the instance restarts, he would die once. Unless the instance upgrades, the settings won’t change.]

Ruan Qing fell silent, not saying anything more. After packing his belongings, he held the child’s hand and dragged the suitcase, slowly walking out of the bedroom towards the front door.

Although Ruan Qing appeared disoriented on the surface, his mind was highly alert, constantly aware of his surroundings, afraid of any unexpected incidents.

However, no one emerged to hinder him throughout the process.

Evidently, the murderer had most likely left.

But as Ruan Qing was halfway to his destination, he hesitated briefly, stopping in his tracks. He turned his head to look in the direction of the kitchen, his eyes vacant and lifeless.

Just a moment ago, he seemed to have heard a sound coming from the kitchen, resembling the noise a cat makes while scratching something.

Was it an auditory hallucination?

The sound of the suitcase wheels rolling on the ground had been too loud, disrupting Ruan Qing’s hearing. Now, as he stood still, there was no sound to be heard.

As if he had genuinely misheard just a moment ago, even Ruan Qing himself wasn’t entirely sure.

The child noticed Ruan Qing’s hesitation and glanced in the direction he was looking, raising his head with a puzzled expression. “Daddy, what’s wrong?”

“Did you forget something?”

“It’s nothing.” Ruan Qing withdrew his gaze at the child’s words, holding the suitcase in one hand and the child’s hand in the other, continuing towards the front door.

Perhaps that sound was a hallucination, perhaps it wasn’t. But regardless, he was blind now, and even if he investigated, he wouldn’t find any clues.

If the kitchen did indeed hide someone, blindly entering without knowing their intentions would only put him in danger.

Perhaps it was better to wait until his eyes recovered before coming back to investigate.

Zhou Qing and Yang Tianhao’s family definitely had a significant connection with the instance mission. After all, the deaths of Zhou Qing and Yang Tianhao were obviously the starting point of the instance.

However, it’s probably difficult for news of Yang Tianhao’s death to spread now. It’s estimated that the group of players hadn’t found any leads yet, and he didn’t want to provide clues to the players by dying.

Hopefully, they could discover the eerie role-playing game about ‘Xiao Xi’ at Xishan Kindergarten.

Ruan Qing continued to walk towards the door, pulling the child along. The child seemed a bit impatient, taking hurried steps and walking directly in front of Ruan Qing. It appeared that the idea of going out made the child very happy.

However, just as Ruan Qing reached the door and was about to reach out to open it, the door was pushed open from the outside.

The main entrance of the former owner’s house opened from the inside. The sudden push of the door was quite unexpected. Ruan Qing hadn’t heard any footsteps or the sound of keys turning before the door was pushed open. It was as if it had opened very abruptly.

If Ruan Qing hadn’t moved back quickly, the door would have almost hit him.

After the door was pushed open, Ruan Qing distinctly heard someone walk in directly. Then, the person forcefully took the child’s hand from his and seemed to do so in a manner similar to a home invasion.

Just as Ruan Qing was panicking and trying to step back, a gentle and elegant voice sounded in front of him. “Darling, where are you trying to go?” Ruan Qing’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the familiar voice. Was the murderer already back so soon?

Before Ruan Qing could answer, the man seemed to realize something when he saw the suitcase in Ruan Qing’s hand. He grabbed the suitcase from Ruan Qing’s hand, preventing him from leaving, and then urgently began to explain, “Darling, are you still angry? I really have no relationship with that Chen Sihan. Please believe me.”

The man was standing very close to Ruan Qing when he took the suitcase. They were almost standing side by side.

Ruan Qing had been about to speak, but he was taken aback.

Something about the murderer’s demeanor seemed off?

Was the person in front of him really the murderer? Or had the murderer just taken a shower and changed clothes?

Initially, the murderer’s clothes had a fresh soap fragrance, combined with a strong smell of blood. However, when he came out of the room after entering, the smell of blood had faded.

It seemed like the murderer had changed into a clean set of clothes, and the scent had become a light jasmine fragrance. Jasmine fragrance was the scent of the laundry detergent the original owner used. The original owner and Yang Tianhao used to wash their clothes together, and their clothes carried a faint jasmine fragrance.

The murderer most likely took the opportunity when he entered the bedroom to change into Yang Tianhao’s original clothes.

But the man in front of Ruan Qing had a faint fragrance of magnolia on his clothes, so light that it could hardly be noticed.

 

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