Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 85.1

(Burning Rhinoceros’ Horns; Connection to the Netherworld Pavilion; Ming Yue Enters)

Anon, thank you for your Ko-Fi!

Upon hearing the scream, Gu Liang and Yang Ye rushed down the wooden stairs, and they saw Proprietress Ling running in their direction in a panic when they made it to the courtyard outside. Her hair was in slight disarray, the fabric on her right shoulder had been yanked down, revealing a jade-white and alluring shoulder.

At this moment, Li Xiao Yu also came over from the detached small toilet at the side.

She took off her shawl and wrapped it around Proprietress Ling’s body immediately.

Proprietress Ling said a word of thanks to Li Xiao Yu, raising her tear-stricken face which could arouse anyone’s sympathy once they saw it.

“What happened?” Gu Liang asked.

Proprietress Ling revealed some embarrassment on her visage, not uttering a word.

Meanwhile, Waitress Jing walked over from the second-floor dining hall and she tugged on her hair slightly before she said: “Did Vagrant Qian come to make trouble again?”

Proprietress Ling nodded, to which Waitress Jing said: “There’s a vagrant living nearby who is destitute, and a compulsive alcoholic. He comes to our inn reguarly to steal alcohol, and after he noticed our proprietress’s beauty, he started to harrass our proprietress frequently as well.”

Proprietress Ling heaved out a sigh, straightening out her clothes before she returned the shawl to Li Xiao Yu: “Thank you, I remember that you’re called Zhao Meili? I’ll be returning the shawl to you.”

Having said that, Proprietress Ling looked towards Yang Ye and Gu Liang again. “I’ve disturbed your meal, I apologise. I’ll ask Chef Huang to add more dishes for you.”

“It’s fine.” Yang Ye scrutinised Proprietress Ling before he brought Gu Liang back to the dining hall with Li Xiao Yu trailing behind them.

A few minutes later, it was no surprise that Waitress Jing came over with a few more dishes again, saying that it was given by Proprietress Ling.

Before she left, she placed down a pot of wine and three cups before she stated: “This is our special plum wine called ‘Plum Yellow Timely Rain’, that our lady boss personally brewed. You can give it a try. However, you can’t drink too many cups; the alcohol has strong aftereffects, and you’ll get drunk easily if you drink too much.”

Once she said that, Waitress Jing smiled and said: “People have always remarked that if the Yellow Springs Inn could allow people to enter the Yellow Springs, this wine would be made out of Grandmother Meng’s Soup, because many people have blacked out after they consumed too much wine, and they were ignorant as to what happened while they were drunk.”

Once they heard Waitress Jing’s introduction, the three of them became rather curious about the taste of the alcohol.

After entering the advanced scripts, apart from the premise and decor becoming more exquisite and detailed, the players were also becoming more attentive as they immersed themselves in the script enactment.

Given the ambiance, Gu Liang genuinely felt like he had come to this place for a travelling trip.

Since he had already arrived here, he might as well try the wine.

However, Gu Liang did not find the wine particularly tasty after he tried it. He only felt that this wine was too bitter and astringent, and he placed it down after taking a sip.

On the other hand, Yang Ye felt that the wine was quite decent. When he was about to pour a second cup after he emptied out his first, he was stopped by Gu Liang.

Yang Ye: “Okay. I’ll listen to Liang Liang. You can control me however you want in the future oh.”

Gu Liang: “&#k2026;&#k2026;”

— This person was truly something; he could skew anything and everything in that direction.

Gu Liang could not help but ask: “Don’t you get tired after saying such things every day?”

Yang Ye returned a question: “Could it be that Liang Liang is getting tired of me?”

Gu Liang: “&#k2026;&#k2026;”

Yang Ye: “Are your ears getting calluses because I’ve been saying too many romantic words with my current style? Do you want me to change styles? Sunshine boy, domineering, cold and unfeeling&#k2026; Which style do you want?”

Gu Liang: “I want you to shut your mouth and eat your food properly.”

Yang Ye: “Who told me to like you so much?”

Gu Liang: “…………”

— He really had to concede to Yang Ye.

At this moment, Yang Ye and Gu Liang’s card vibrated simultaneously.

Yang Ye put down his chopsticks in lieu of his card to take a look— “OOC Warning! Player Yang Ye, please pay attention to your words and actions! You are currently President Gao, President Gao loves his wife deeply, and he came to Yellow Springs Inn because he hopes that this place is genuinely capable of connecting the yin and yang, thereby allowing him to meet his own wife again.

“Please do not begin any ambiguous relationships with other players that are outside of the script, especially male players! This is to avoid other players from having the misconception that President Gao has betrayed his wife, and he is a homosexual in actuality! Behaviour that misleads the players’ deductions is unethical!

“Since the player has just entered an advanced script, and still requires time to adapt, the system will only be issuing a warning in this instance, without actualising any punishments. However, please do not repeat the offence again!”

Yang Ye: “…..”

— Oho.

The contents on Gu Liang’s card was more or less the same.

Gu Liang laughed after he read it.

— He could finally have two days of silence, and he did not have to hear Yang Ye utter words that would shame his ears into redness at any given time.

Yang Ye asked him: “What are you laughing about?”

Gu Liang answered honestly: “The two days of silence. You should restrain yourself a little.”

Lowering his eyelids, Yang Ye murmured in a low voice: “I was just really happy.”

For some unknown reason, Yang Ye’s voice suddenly became deeper as he said those words.

It was like he had withdrawn all the frivolity and playful smiles on his expression, which made him seem incredibly serious as he said those words.

In that instant, Gu Liang had a strange illusion.

— It was like Yang Ye believed that the time they had together was limited. He did not know when days like these would come to an end. Therefore, he wanted to seize all the limited time they possessed and grab hold of every chance to profess his love for Gu Liang.

Was that it?

Typically, Yang Ye gave a very strong impression that he was dependable.

He was too optimistic, and his mental fortitude was extremely formidable.

But in that short instant, starting from the moment where he lowered his eyelids to his speech, Gu Liang could sense that miniscule and almost insignificant fragility at the bottom of his heart.

Gu Liang was still unaware of the truth that they might both be dead, and he was only under the assumption that it was analogous to Yang Ye’s previous words— Feeling fear precisely because of love, which gave rise to worries about personal gains and losses.

Consequently, the abrupt exposure of his true feelings from the rarely serious Yang Ye, made Gu Liang’s heart warm instead, and it was more effective than hearing those romantic and saccharine words.

Gu Liang extended his hand, and like how Yang Ye would usually treat him, he suddenly caressed his head.

As Yang Ye was eating a mouthful of his food, he raised his head to shoot him a smile. “What are you doing?”

Gu Liang: “Comply with your character design. I’ll tell you after the scenario ends.”

After saying that, Gu Liang picked up his chopsticks. Just as he was about to clip some food, he suddenly thought of something so he raised his head, looking towards Li Xiao Yu, who was eating her meal and enjoying the show as she sat opposite of them.

Li Xiao Yu swung her hands in large arcs. “It’s fine! Pretend that I don’t exist! Both of you can continue!”

* * *

Yellow Springs Inn was not large in size with its single courtyard and two big buildings.

One of the buildings was slightly smaller, which was also the location of the dining hall where Gu Liang was partaking his food.

The first floor was used to store sundries, and climbing up the stone stairs to reach the second floor would lead to the dining hall’s entrance immediately. Following down the outer corridor and winding around the dining hall’s main entrance would lead to the back kitchen. And if you ventured deeper into the back kitchen, you would reach the service staff’s and the chef’s room.

The other stilted building was much bigger, and it was the place where the guests stayed.

Climbing the stone steps to the second floor would lead to the inn’s lobby directly, and going up the wooden staircase which was within the second floor would lead to the third floor, where the guests rooms were location.

This stilted building had a linked veranda, and there was a total of six rooms on the third floor.

The four rooms in the centre were side-by-side, and at both ends of the corridor, there was another room constructed at the corner. Hence, the two rooms at the end of the corridor happened to face each other, and together with the centre four rooms, they formed a “凹” character.

Among the six rooms, five of them were guest rooms while the remaining room located on the eastern corner was occupied by Proprietress Ling herself.

Li Xiao Yu and Gu Liang were staying in Rooms 301 and 302 respectively and their rooms were the closest to the stairs. Yang Ye was staying in the west-most corner room and his room number was 305, which placed his room door directly opposite of Proprietress Ling’s room.

After they were done with their meals and heading back to their guest rooms, Gu Liang referred to the card map as he carefully examined the blueprint of the inn.

Firstly, he had to know which room belonged to Proprietress Ling, because he had just received a new plot.

— At 10 o’ clock at night, he needed to look for Proprietress Ling to converse about something.

After bidding farewell to Yang Ye and Li Xiao Yu, Gu Liang returned to his own room.

He took a shower, then laid on his bed to rest, waiting for 10 o’ clock to arrive.

Honestly speaking, he was a little unwonted.

— When all was said and done, he did spend a month eating and sleeping together with Yang Ye prior to this. Now that he was suddenly staying alone, he felt a little solitary.

After lying on his bed for a while, he estimated that the time was close.

Getting out of his bed, Gu Liang pushed the door and went out, heading for Proprietress Ling’s room.

In the process, he glanced at Yang Ye’s west side room, before he looked at the surrounding rooms.

All the room doors were closed tightly and not a single sound could be heard.

Li Xiao Yu and Yang Ye’s room was bright was light, whereas the remaining two guest rooms were pitch-black. When he took account of the fact that he hadn’t encountered any other guests during the day, Gu Liang guessed that these two rooms were unoccupied for the time being.

Once he was done with his preliminary inspection, Gu Liang moved towards Proprietress Ling’s room.

Gu Liang hesitated slightly when he reached the front of the room door, and he took out his card to refer to it.

After he confirmed that there was no mistake, Gu Liang could only act in compliance with the plot tentatively.

Proprietress Ling’s door room was not locked. Rather, it was merely closed.

As School Senior Hua, Gu Liang knocked on the door once before he pushed open the door directly and walked in.

The first sensation that brushed across his face was watery mist that was carrying a fragrance, followed by a gush of warmth.

The warm temperature inside the room was a few degrees higher. Amidst the suffusive mist, there was a woman with exceptionally slender and soft waist and flesh inside a wooden tub.

Realising that someone had entered, she stood up in shock, pulling over the towel beside the wooden tub to wrap it around herself.

In the instant where she stood up, Gu Liang wanted to close his eyes.

But the script specifically asked him to open his eyes to look. Hence, Gu Liang witnessed it— There was a tattoo on her lower back.