“Aaaaaah! A ghost! Aaaaaah!”
The security guard who had been secretly watching the excitement bolted out the door and ran, screaming uncontrollably and drawing the attention of grandparents walking children around the community.
Chen Jing Sheng was so startled his breathing stopped for a moment and he nearly fell out of his chair. He stared uncertainly at the version of himself wearing that eerie smile, his face gradually turning even paler.
“…That uncle is scarier than the ghost. Ignore him.”
Song Zang rubbed his temple and casually reassured Chen Jing Sheng, but his eyes remained fixed on the man in the monitor.
In the silent security room, their gazes seemed to lock across the screen, making the atmosphere subtly strange. Curious, Song Zang spoke first. “Who are you?”
The instant he asked, the video image suddenly flickered as though the converted signal had become unstable.
When the picture steadied again, the man’s figure had abruptly moved right up against the top of the surveillance frame. He was so close to the lens that only a pair of coldly smiling eyes could be seen.
Because of the lens distortion, even the normally straight outer corners of his eyes seemed to tilt upward unnaturally.
“Who do you think I am, Song Zang?” the man asked darkly.
Song Zang’s eyes widened and he blurted without hesitation, “You’re my baby.
“I missed you so much! Yin Chen, Yin Chen, where are you? Are you stuck somewhere and can’t get out? Can I help you?”
Yin Chen did not answer any of his rapid-fire questions. His gaze remained cold and shadowed inside the flickering screen.
He glanced toward Chen Jing Sheng beside Song Zang and asked with a smile that was not quite a smile, “Having fun without me around?”
“Nonsense! I’ve been thinking about you the whole time!”
“Song Zang, don’t even think about leaving me a second time. Don’t think you can hide from me. I will never give you another chance to run away.”
“…Yin Chen, do you not understand human language?” Song Zang could not follow what he was talking about at all, yet Yin Chen’s emotions were obviously growing increasingly twisted and extreme.
“Don’t think I don’t know. You especially like Happiness Community. I can feel your emotions, Song Zang. You want to stay here. You want to live here. You’d rather keep a dog than come find me.” Yin Chen’s voice was icy, but red spread through his phoenix eyes like fire. “You irresponsible lunatic. Don’t dream of getting rid of me again. I will never let you live peacefully.”
Piercing static exploded from the speakers on both sides. Chaotic patterns flickered across the overheated monitor, and the smell of scorched circuitry slowly spread through the room. Then, with a loud pop, the overloaded computer tower caught fire.
The anger Song Zang had been suppressing for a long time was instantly dragged to the surface.
He swore he had never been a short-tempered person.
Anyone else in the world could curse him, insult him, wrong him, or leave him.
It truly did not matter. An ant he could crush with one finger would never affect his life, so Song Zang simply did not care.
But Yin Chen was different.
Yin Chen, who spent every day and night beside him and held him close through the dark, absolutely could not do that.
Besides… who exactly was the lunatic in this relationship?
Yin Chen actually had the nerve to turn around and call Song Zang crazy? Was there any justice left in the world?!
Song Zang kicked the office desk over, thrust half his body recklessly toward the wavering flames, and glared down at the monitor, so furious he almost laughed. “You can feel my emotions?! Bullshit! Then how did you fail to notice how much I like you?”
“You emotionally illiterate, sharp-tongued bastard, get out here! You keep saying you’re going to □□ me, right?! I’m taking my clothes off right now. If you’ve got the nerve, get out here this instant and try to fuck me!”
Crack.
The moment Song Zang finished, the failing monitor completely died in the flames and Yin Chen’s image disappeared. He clearly had no intention of continuing the argument.
So he had shown up, made a bunch of incomprehensible threats, and then simply run away?
The fire alarm shrieked incessantly. Song Zang was furious already, and the sound only made him more annoyed. He grabbed the guard’s walkie-talkie and threw it upward.
Bang.
The walkie-talkie broke apart, and half of the security-room ceiling collapsed from the impact, but the nerve-grating fire alarm still refused to stop.
Still… it had to be admitted that Happiness Community’s fire-warning system was more reliable than Song Zang had expected.
For the residents, that was a good thing.
Song Zang took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down as quickly as possible.
Yin Chen was not here, so getting angry by himself accomplished nothing. Better to save the argument for the next time Yin Chen appeared.
Chen Jing Sheng was still sitting blankly in the chair, staring downward without anyone knowing what he was thinking. Song Zang had no choice but to grab his collar and pull him quickly away from the fire.
The security guard’s screaming and the blaring alarm had already caused a major commotion in the community. Residents soon crowded outside the security room to watch.
But when they saw Chen Jing Sheng’s crisp police uniform and then the stains on Song Zang’s windbreaker… no one dared step forward casually.
Warm afternoon sunlight fell over their pale faces, dry and gentle, yet against the blazing heat behind them it somehow felt cold as water.
“Are you back to normal?”
Song Zang released him and walked away against the flow of the crowd, turning his head to ask in a listless voice.
“…Am I normal? I don’t know. But Brother Song, are you back to normal?”
Chen Jing Sheng followed half a step behind him and answered hoarsely.
He did not quite dare meet Song Zang’s eyes. A faint, evasive fear moved inside his gaze.
That was perfectly normal.
Song Zang did not answer. He was examining himself too.
What he had just done had completely shattered the persona he had been building, making him look like someone having an intense argument with a ghost that was bewitching him.
Arguing was one thing. But he had gotten so absorbed that, to anyone who did not know the context, half the exchange would have sounded disconnected and incoherent… like a madman ranting.
There was nothing he could do about it. Yin Chen was the only person capable of violently stirring up Song Zang’s emotions. He simply could not control himself around him.
Song Zang tugged at the corner of his mouth. It felt like a rather sweet kind of trouble.
He deliberately avoided the crowd and stepped onto the garden’s stone path beneath thick greenery. Early autumn clung to the shade of the trees with a faint coolness.
The fire and collapse in the security room would be investigated and handled by the proper people. Song Zang had no intention of wasting time there answering questions.
He decided to return to Building A first and inspect the fifteenth floor, where Chen Jing Sheng’s abnormal behavior had begun.
Before that, however, several things would be much easier with Chen Jing Sheng’s active cooperation.
After confirming there was no one nearby, Song Zang glanced at him and explained calmly, “The person who spoke to me through the monitor wasn’t the thing that killed your friend. You don’t need to worry about him.”
Chen Jing Sheng gave a quiet “Mm.”
After a long silence, he lowered his pale face and spoke on his own. “Brother Song, my name is Chen Jing Sheng. The person I pushed down was Ye Xiao He. His younger sister is Ye Xiao Xi. I still haven’t found her…”
“All right. We’ll find her now,” Song Zang replied.
Chen Jing Sheng did not relax after hearing that.
He clenched his teeth and repeatedly took deep breaths, trying to regulate the tangled grief and terror inside him. Then he forced himself to turn the conversation back to the main issue. “I want to catch the killer. I can’t just ignore that person, because he’s the most suspicious one.
“Brother Song, can you tell me who he actually is?”
Song Zang nodded slightly. He had no particular intention of hiding it. “He’s my partner. After we clear this rookie instance, look through the game forum and you’ll know. He’s extremely strong and very famous, one of the players with the highest combat power.”
“A player? Then why did he appear on the surveillance monitor in such a bizarre way just to scare us and interfere with the investigation?!” Chen Jing Sheng asked in disbelief, growing agitated again.
“Because he’s crazy. Couldn’t you tell?”
Chen Jing Sheng froze. “I… could.”
Before he could finish speaking, Song Zang abruptly stopped walking, turned, and stared at Chen Jing Sheng. His expression darkened without warning.
His lips curved and his voice remained gentle, but it carried a chill. “I’m the only person in this world allowed to say bad things about him. If you have negative opinions of him, keep your mouth shut and never let me hear them.
“He won’t hurt me, and he wouldn’t bother hurting you. Understand?”
“…I understand.”
Chen Jing Sheng was actually very good at reading a dangerous situation, and his personality suited the Infinite Game well.
The instant he sensed danger, he quickly gathered up every unnecessary emotion and hid it as best he could.
No matter how violently his thoughts moved inside, before acting impulsively he instinctively chose the option most likely to keep him alive, avoiding offense against an existence obviously stronger than himself.
That saved Song Zang a great deal of trouble.
He was able to talk with Chen Jing Sheng calmly for the rest of the way, and the atmosphere quickly became peaceful again.
With a few casual questions, Song Zang learned that Chen Jing Sheng had once served in special forces and had retired three years earlier because of injuries and recurring PTSD.
Logically, his benefits should have been generous, but Chen Jing Sheng seemed to need a great deal of money. His post-service support was nowhere near enough to cover his life.
Forced by circumstance, he now worked inside the country as a hired operative for an illegal overseas organization, taking jobs that involved killing people. Work like this offered no protection at all, and an employer could abandon him at any time.
In Chen Jing Sheng’s words, even the Infinite Game’s system rules made him feel safer.
So after being pulled into the Café, he had accepted reality very quickly and had even been eager to make something of himself.
Who could have expected that right at the beginning of the game, the brutal death of his friend would deal him such a heavy blow?
Song Zang felt somewhat emotional about it, but Chen Jing Sheng’s occupation also caught his interest.
A killer employed by an overseas organization…
Was it possible that the overseas mercenaries who had kept coming after Song Zang were connected to Chen Jing Sheng’s employer?
After all, organizations willing to hire killers for jobs inside the country were already extremely rare.
Song Zang opened the system panel and entered Chen Jing Sheng’s name. “Add me as a game friend.”
“Okay.” Chen Jing Sheng froze for a moment, then quickly accepted the request without asking anything else.
Perhaps in Chen Jing Sheng’s eyes, Song Zang was simply an unpredictable lunatic who was difficult to get along with.
Song Zang could tell, but he did not care.
He spent every day with Yin Chen. Even if some of Yin Chen’s unpredictability had rubbed off on him, that seemed perfectly normal.
When you liked someone, of course you gradually became more like them!
＊
When they returned to Building A, the first-floor elevator lobby was packed with people.
Yellow police tape had been stretched across the left elevator entrance, sealing it completely.
After the emergency brake engaged, the car had stopped on the third floor. Firefighters had already arrived and were preparing to lower ropes into the shaft from the fourth floor to recover the victim’s nearly pulverized remains.
Several police officers were dispersing the crowd filming and watching, searching for witnesses and running themselves ragged. Even the elevator repair workers could do nothing but stand behind them scratching their heads.
Fortunately, the two elevators operated separately and their shafts were completely independent. Residents of Building A could still line up to use the elevator on the right.
One officer turned, spotted Chen Jing Sheng, then glanced at the stains on Song Zang’s windbreaker and paused before casually calling out, “Brother Jing Sheng, there you are. What’s going on? Where’s Captain Lin?”
Chen Jing Sheng’s expression remained natural. He familiarly patted the officer’s shoulder. “I went to pull surveillance footage just now. Captain Lin is still upstairs checking apartments.
“Oh, right. This Mr. Song was riding the elevator when the victim fell. He wasn’t hurt, but he got a bit shaken up. If anyone still has questions, ask them now, then arrange psychological support. I’ll take him home to rest first.”
Song Zang cooperated by biting lightly on his lower lip, letting his black lashes tremble while unease flickered in his eyes. He deliberately leaned a little closer to Chen Jing Sheng, adopting the fragile posture of someone unconsciously seeking protection.
The scrutinizing looks aimed at him quickly softened.
The police stopped studying Song Zang and instead quickly updated Chen Jing Sheng on the recovery operation. They were still trying to determine exactly which floor the victim had fallen from.
Chen Jing Sheng reacted quickly and immediately brought up the “mysterious” fire in the security room, casually complaining about shoddy construction in the old residential complex.
“It collapsed?! Was it a computer-tower explosion?”
“If that fire isn’t put out, something else might blow too. Tch, I’ll get the firefighters over there immediately… Brother Jing Sheng, go handle your side. We’re fine here. No need to help.”
No one would ever imagine that Song Zang had actually broken the ceiling by throwing a walkie-talkie, or that the security-room fire probably had something to do with Yin Chen.
The two successfully avoided further suspicion, boarded the functioning elevator first, and went up to the fifteenth floor.
After stepping out, Song Zang paused in the empty corridor and swept his gaze around.
There were not many signs of daily life. All three security doors were covered in dense layers of small advertisements and flyers. Between the floor tiles lingered an old musty smell that no amount of mopping seemed able to remove.
The elevator buttons did not show the heavy overlapping fingerprints expected from frequent use, which was also somewhat unusual. The few fresh prints left recently clearly belonged to Chen Jing Sheng and Lin Yao.
“Other than the household you considered suspicious, did you knock on either of the neighboring doors?”
Chen Jing Sheng shook his head. “I don’t remember. My head was foggy. At some point I stopped knowing what was happening, and then… you showed up.”
“Then your colleague is probably the key.” Song Zang thought for a moment and walked toward Apartment 1502.
This household looked the most suspicious. Torn red couplets covered both sides of the doorway, while the Spring Festival fortune decorations showed pairs of chubby white rabbits. They looked very old and clearly had not been replaced in years.
Song Zang checked his phone. This year was the Year of the Monkey.
The couplets and decorations on Apartment 1502 had all been put up five years ago.
This did not look like a home anyone lived in regularly.
Song Zang was about to speak when Chen Jing Sheng suddenly lowered his voice and said urgently, “Brother Song, I can hear Ye Xiao Xi crying. She’s inside!”
“Then what are you waiting for? Kick the door in.”
“Okay!”
Chen Jing Sheng had extensive experience forcing entry into residences. Two kicks were enough to break open the old security door, and he rushed inside.
His entire body was tense and prepared for a fight, but what he found inside was completely different from anything he had imagined.
No one was attacking Ye Xiao Xi.
The young woman with brightly dyed multicolored hair was curled beneath the kitchen counter holding an old, blunt cleaver against the side of her own neck, moving it with frightening, mechanical persistence.
The blade was dull, but the repeated motion had still injured her. Her movements remained steady and involuntary, inching toward a far more dangerous point.
Ye Xiao Xi’s makeup had been ruined by tears. Her mascara and dark eyeliner had smeared messily, yet she seemed able to control only her face. Her limbs remained rigid, her motions regular and puppet-like, and even her frightened crying had weakened from exhaustion.
Another unfamiliar player, also a young woman, lay beside her with both hands locked around her own throat, struggling against her own body’s movements as her breathing weakened.
“Xiao Xi!”
Chen Jing Sheng’s eyes reddened. Just as he started forward to take the cleaver, Ye Xiao Xi shook her head desperately and screamed.
“Don’t touch me!!! Brother, don’t touch me! Don’t!”
Still crying, she continued, “The policewoman tried to save me. Something dragged her into the master bedroom… Help! Save her!”
Lin Yao was here too?
But on the surveillance footage, had she not been riding the elevator downstairs together with Chen Jing Sheng?
“Chen Jing Sheng, knock out the one on the right. Don’t touch her directly. Use the rolling pin.”
Having said that, Song Zang ignored Ye Xiao Xi’s cries of protest and stepped closer, slowly easing the cleaver out of her rigid grip.
It looked effortless, but Song Zang actually had to work at it. Her hands might have looked thin and frail, yet they were as stiff and unyielding as iron. He could only pry her fingers open slowly, applying steady pressure.
If he had tried to snatch the cleaver away too roughly, both of Ye Xiao Xi’s hands would have broken, leaving her unable to care for herself. That would only have placed her in greater danger.
As soon as she lost the cleaver, Ye Xiao Xi shuddered as though an electric current had passed through her. Then she suddenly regained control of her body. She clenched and unclenched her fingers in disbelief and murmured through her tears, “I… I’m all right?”
Song Zang slipped the cleaver into his windbreaker pocket and stood there waiting for danger to arrive.
But the room remained quiet. Apart from Ye Xiao Xi’s soft sobs, nothing happened.
“No ghost came to drag me away? Does it only go after girls?” Song Zang sounded a little disappointed. “Chen Jing Sheng, go check the master bedroom.”
“Okay.”
Chen Jing Sheng moved immediately. A carefully controlled strike rendered the other female player unconscious, finally releasing the grip around her own throat.
Her face was pale and her breathing weak, but at least she was no longer in immediate danger.
Fortunately, the intervention had come in time.
The scene inside the master bedroom was even stranger.
Lin Yao was not dead and did not appear to be under active control. She looked as though she had simply fallen asleep.
Her complexion was rosy, black hair spilling around her face, which had been covered in full makeup despite having been bare before.
Her red lips had been precisely painted in a rich shade, bright blush colored both cheeks, and thick curled false lashes had been applied neatly.
The foundation was one shade lighter than her natural complexion and slightly heavy, but it had been applied fairly well.
For some inexplicable reason, someone had dressed up Lin Yao’s face and then placed her in the center of the double bed, hands folded over her chest and posture unnaturally formal, with both legs stretched perfectly straight.
She was still wearing her police uniform. Creases and dust marks across the fabric showed that Lin Yao really had been dragged into the room by force and had struggled hard.
Song Zang turned her over to continue checking. Her clothes were intact from top to bottom, and he found no obvious external wounds.
Only the pillow beneath her black hair held a nearly dried patch of blood.
Chen Jing Sheng checked the back of her head, then looked at the blood on his hand in realization. “A blow to the back of the head. That’s why she’s unconscious.”
Song Zang nodded and looked around the dust-covered bedroom. “Who owns this place?”
“Let me check… The property deed lists Zhang Da Qiang and Yang Mei, a married couple with no children. They’re registered locally and run a small business. Their social insurance and property fees have been paid normally for the past few years, and they don’t own any other homes.”
Chen Jing Sheng also realized something was wrong. This apartment had obviously been abandoned for years. If so, where exactly had the couple gone?
Song Zang and Chen Jing Sheng searched the apartment thoroughly.
Important documents, money, and everyday necessities had all been moved away long ago. The only things left were the couple’s large wedding photographs and furniture too difficult to transport.
There was no danger and nothing else visibly abnormal. The only object that could reasonably be called a weapon was the blunt, rusted cleaver. The place looked like nothing more than an abandoned, empty residence filled with dust and a faint smell of mildew.
There were no further leads. For now, all they could do was wait for Lin Yao to wake up and ask what had happened to her.
Song Zang lowered his eyes in thought and slowly rubbed the cold, heavy cleaver through the fabric of his pocket. Suddenly, a chill ran into his fingertips with a faint prickling sensation, almost like an electric current.
He casually withdrew his hand and pretended not to notice anything. Then he told the sweating Chen Jing Sheng, “Take everyone back to my place first. After that, go report back to the police station. When you get off work, buy a first-aid kit, alcohol, and iodine. Better to have them ready.”
Chen Jing Sheng understood what Song Zang meant.
The police were investigating the fall. He needed to find a way to explain his movements and avoid being tangled in useless complications.
“I understand, Brother Song.”
He was strong and did not ask Song Zang for help. He lifted the unconscious player and Lin Yao, one in each arm, with plenty of strength to spare.
Ye Xiao Xi was still pale, but she could walk on her own. Waiting at the doorway, she cautiously asked Chen Jing Sheng, “Brother Jing Sheng, where’s my big brother?”
At that question, Chen Jing Sheng’s gaze went suddenly dull. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Still silent, he carried the two women into the elevator first and did not speak during the ride.
Ye Xiao Xi was not stupid. She saw the change in his expression. Her already pale face turned even grayer, and her lips trembled as though she wanted to ask again but did not dare.
Song Zang saw it all and chose not to interfere in their grief.
The moment they returned home and the door shut behind them, Song Zang turned around and went straight into the kitchen to make dinner.
Several more hungry mouths had suddenly appeared, and he was still in the middle of an argument with Yin Chen. He truly did not have time to double as a psychological counselor.
Hot pot would be easier. Everyone could eat first and deal with emotions afterward.
Under Ye Xiao Xi’s shattered gaze, Chen Jing Sheng looked as though he were walking on thin ice.
He placed the two unconscious women on the long sofa and stood there silently for a long time before finally speaking in a hoarse voice.
“Xiao Xi, slap me.”
“B-Brother Jing Sheng?”
“Slap me!” Chen Jing Sheng shouted. In the next instant his eyes turned red and his voice broke hoarsely. “I’m sorry. I killed him. I killed him! I went crazy… I didn’t know anything…”
Smack!
Chen Jing Sheng’s voice stopped abruptly, and a deathly silence spread through the living room.
Ye Xiao Xi stared blankly at her reddened palm, then shook her head through her tears. “You had no reason to kill him, and you would never hurt him. I know that…
“Now you’re the only brother I have left. We have to survive, avenge him, and avenge me too.”
＊
While the two of them struggled through a painful conversation in the living room, Song Zang lazily entertained himself with the cleaver in the kitchen.
The cleaver was strange. Its spine was nearly fifty millimeters thick, heavy enough that even using it like a brick would have considerable force.
No ordinary household would choose something like this for daily cooking. It looked more like a deliberately customized object.
Curious, Song Zang put on rubber gloves and dismantled the already loose wooden handle. A difficult-to-describe smell drifted out.
The smell of someone long dead.
So many years had passed that the smell was no longer strong and posed no immediate threat.
Song Zang tossed the wood into the sink, then applied a little force and broke open the body of the cleaver itself.
The heavy block of metal crumbled in Song Zang’s hands like a brittle soda cracker, pieces scattering across the floor.
A light scrap of paper fluttered down with them.
It was a Polaroid photograph of Ye Xiao Xi.
Her photograph had somehow been hidden inside a rusted cleaver in a stranger’s abandoned home.
The girl in the picture held up a peace sign. She wore no makeup and smiled brightly.
Along the bottom of the Polaroid was a line of delicate handwriting in blood-red ink.
“Ye Xiao He is finally dead~ Brother Jing Sheng belongs to me alone now~ I’m so happy~”