Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 86.1

(Ming Yue: I am one of the murderers; The Investigation Begins)

In the instant where Ming Yue walked in, he undoubtedly attracted all the gazes in the room, especially the female players.

Gu Liang was looking at Ming Yue as well.

However, Gu Liang realised that when Ming Yue met his eyes, his expression did not fluctuate in the least, as if he did not recognise him at all.

In reality, Ming Yue’s performance had always been extremely professional and it was no different from the other NPCs in this script.

He looked exceedingly immersed in character; whether it was the aristocratic and elegant Duke Dahl or the mentally deranged Xiao Cao, their images were as different as the sky and earth.

Although he was not wearing a chef’s hat this time around, he was still clad in a white chef uniform, which made him appear like a professional chef.

Starting from the seat that was the closest to the door, Ming Yue gave each and every guest a piece of blank paper and a pen.

When he was issuing the materials to Gu Liang, Gu Liang gave him a quizzical look.

However, Ming Yue did not respond to him in the slightest, only treating him like he was a mere player as he issued the items.

Truth to be told, Gu Liang wanted to have a conversation with him.

After all, Ming Yue was a NPC in this game and it appeared as though he had been here for a long time. Furthermore, Gu Liang could sense that he was slightly different from the NPCs, hence his apparent intentions to make some inquiries regarding the system and the game.

Gu Liang knew he still remembered him; back at the snow-capped mountain, he had addressed him as “Brother Liang”, similar to their schooling days.

The reaction that Ming Yue was exhibiting right now, however, made Gu Liang assume that he had to abide by the rules. He could not reveal anything and he could only treat him like a stranger.

Since he was not willing to say more, and unwilling to recognise his old classmate, Gu Liang did not take the initiative to greet him.

When all was said and done, Gu Liang did not know their rules and regulations in full, and he was also afraid that mentioning the matters outside the script would make his old classmate violate the rules and be punished as a result of it.

Hence, Gu Liang did not look at him either, only gripping on the pen to write down the three words “School Senior Hua” on the paper slip.

Once Ming Yue was done issuing the papers and pen, he went to the small table at the side and sat down.

Waitress Jing was also sitting there. She scrutinised Ming Yue for a few moments before she turned her gaze back to the main table.

Apart from Zhao Meili who followed School Senior Hua, and Girlfriend Jia who accompanied Tourist Jia, the other four travellers wanted to meet their dead loved ones, so they wrote their respective names on the paper.

When everyone was done writing, Waitress Jing brought a large porcelain bowl over, taking the paper slips to fold them one by one before placing them inside. Then, she shook the bowl and handed it to Proprietress Ling.

When Gu Liang witnessed that, he was thinking— the lot drawing should not be random; after all, the trajectory of the plot inside the script had already been decided.

But how did the system manage to ensure that Proprietress Ling would definitely draw the paper slip that was necessary for the plot developments to occur?

Or should it be said that, there was a trick within the lot drawing?

After some time, Proprietress Ling selected a paper slip from the porcelain bowl, unfolding it to take a look.

When she was looking at the paper slip, the rest of the people could not see the content through the paper, and they could only see her hand.

Her ten fingers were painted cinnabar red. Undeniably, she had the ability to entrance with each and every gesture.

Especially her finger nails. Under the illumination of the white candlelight, that smear of red was too conspicuous to ignore.

Once Proprietress Ling saw the paper slip, she opened up the paper slip and placed it on the table, allowing everyone to have a look. On the parchment, it wrote the words, “Tourist Jia”.

“Since that’s the case, may all the guests return to their respective rooms. Tourist Jia, please give me your deceased older sister’s Eight Characters, I will perform the spell at 11 o’ clock to call for her spirit. Tourist Jia, please wait in your room alone, at approximately 12 midnight, you will be able to see your deceased older sister.”

After Proprietress Ling spoke to Tourist Jia, she looked at the rest: “As for the other guests, please do not wander around outside after 11 o’ clock at night. Starting from 11, the yin and yang will intersect, and I will be sprinkling some dog blood outside your room doors to drive out the evil, and prevent ghosts from entering your room. However, you can’t guard against the ghosts when you’re outside, so please refrain from stepping out from your room doors, lest you become stained with something unclean.

“Right—”

Proprietress Ling pondered briefly before she eventually said: “My own spiritual energy is genuinely limited, and I don’t have the audacity to attempt a second spell cast within a short period of time. The other guests… might not be able to meet their beloved ones. I feel rather apologetic about this. However, the scenery surrounding the inn is quite picturesque; if you wander around, it should make your trip worthwhile instead of a waste.”

Proprietress Ling looked at Waitress Jing, “Waitress Jing also said that she wanted to introduce the guests to the various scenic spots around the inn. Everyone can listen to her speak if you wish.”

After saying that, Proprietress Ling rose to her feet and brought Tourist Jia away from the dining room first, stating that there were some things he still needed to take note of, and she wanted to speak to him alone.

Once Proprietress Ling and Tourist Jia left, Waitress Jing introduced the scenic spots nearby to the six remaining tourists.

Through Waitress Jing’s introduction, they learned that there was a small mountain brook in the west. The scenery there was particularly good and she suggested that they scaled the mountain to view the scenery.

If they did not like exercising, she made an alternative suggestion that they should go to plain water lake at the northern foot of the mountain.

There was fishing gear in the inn, the guests could go fishing by the lakeside if they wished.

Next, there were historical remains of Beilin from the ancient times in the southwest direction, and the interesting and appealing old architecture like the pavilions were great for leisurely strolls.

After Waitress Jing was done with her introduction, she even gave them a booklet, declaring that if they did not take the time to explore, they would honestly be wasting the trip here altogether.

It was truly unfortunate that they could not meet their deceased loved ones, but it would be even more unfortunate if they missed out on the great scenery.

Once her simple introduction was completed, Waitress Jing proceeded to urge them to go back to their rooms.

“Please return to your rooms as soon as possible, take a shower, and rest early. If you drag on to midnight and meet something unclean, that would be terrible.”

At that moment, Girlfriend Jia frowned as she looked at the remaining people surrounding the table. “My boyfriend is going to meet his older sister’s spirit, and Proprietress Ling just mentioned that he should be the only person in the room. Where should I stay then? Is there a lady that can let me stay over?”

There were a total of two female guests who were staying alone, one being the Zhao Meili that was played by Li Xiao Yu, and the other being Recluse Wang.

Contrary to Gu Liang’s expectations, Recluse Wang was the first to speak: “You can stay in my room then. Either way, I’m a little scared. It’s better to have someone by my side if there’s really a haunting.”

Gu Liang was a little surprised.

After all, Recluse Wang said that she had an introverted personality and she only had one friend ever since her childhood but that friend died. Hence, she came here because she wanted to meet her.

Since that was the case, why did she take the initiative to invite a stranger to her room?

Although the ghost fearing reason was tenable, Gu Liang was still sceptical, and it did not stop him from giving Recluse Wang a few scrutinising looks.

Thus, Recluse Wang and Girlfriend Jia formed a pair and left together.

Only Chef Huang who was being played by Ming Yue, Waitress Jing, Gu Liang, Yang Ye, and Li Xiao Yu remained inside the dining room.

Li Xiao Yu’s courage had grown recently so she took the chance to tease Yang Ye and Gu Liang. She told Gu Liang: “School Senior Hua, I’m also afraid of ghosts, what if there’s really a haunting at 12 midnight? Can I stay in your room?”

Yang Ye chided her without missing a beat. “Go to the side. Liang Liang is afraid of ghosts and he’ll be going to my room. If you’re really scared, you can come to my room too, but don’t go and disturb Liang Liang.”

Yang Ye thought in his heart: after all, he was purely bent, whereas Liang Liang was not. How could he possibly allow an unmarried man and woman stay in the same room.

“Huh? You should pay attention to your character design.” Li Xiao Yu imitated Gu Liang’s tone of voice.

Gu Liang was slightly torn between laughter and tears. Standing up, he said: “Enough of this, we should be returning to our rooms. I won’t be going anywhere at night.”

The last thing Gu Liang wanted was encountering a ghost when he stepped outside the door in the middle of the night, and being in a scenario would not change that fact. He still had some lingering fears after all, no matter how small.

Gu Liang, Li Xiao Yu, and Yang Ye left the dining room together. When they reached the exit, Chef Huang and Waitress Jing were also walking out.

The two staff members of the inn were staying behind in the dining hall, and when Gu Liang was walking down the stone steps, he raised his head to glance in their direction.

Coincidentally, Ming Yue, who was walking down the long corridor with Waitress Jing, also tilted his head over.

Ming Yue looked at Gu Liang’s group before he stated: “This is a reminder to everyone. The old rule applies, breakfast will be from 7 to 8 in the morning, and I’ll be making the food according to my mood. Being late is not acceptable.”

As they were travelling from the dining room back to the guest rooms, Li Xiao Yu could not help say: “Hey, that NPC is incredibly handsome. He was the Duke from the previous instance, wasn’t he? Back then, I was wearing my wedding dress in my room, and I saw him the moment I turned my head back— Wow!”

Yang Ye did not acknowledge Li Xiao Yu’s starry-eyed infatuation. Instead, he only asked Gu Liang: “He’s the classmate you previously mentioned?”

“Yes.” Gu Liang nodded his head, “But it seems like he doesn’t want to acknowledge me. It’s unlikely that we’ll get anything out of him.”

Yang Ye’s thoughts were— It’s good that we can’t get anything out of him.

From Yang Ye’s perspective, now was not the time for Gu Liang to know that he was already dead.

Yang Ye was planning to take an indirect approach by spreading out the figurative bedding first, before he personally told Gu Liang about everything he knew.

Because he still did not fully comprehend Gu Liang’s past.

He was not certain if Gu Liang could accept the entire truth.

And the NPC-acting old classmate of Gu Liang seemed to have served the system for a very long time and it was highly likely that he was aware that everyone was already dead.

The possibility where the old classmate revealed everything to Gu Liang once they started chatting, was something Yang Ye did not wish to see.

Hence, when Yang Ye saw Ming Yue treating Gu Liang like a stranger, he felt relieved.

* * *

At night. After returning to his room, Gu Liang still found the heat unbearable.

As per usual, he got rid of the heat by taking a quick shower and staying under the fan for a long time, before his entire body finally felt relaxed.

He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was approaching 11 o’ clock at night.

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Liang sat up and moved towards the door to listen for the movements outside.

There were audible footsteps along the corridor, and the sound of liquid splashing onto the doors and floors.

Judging from the noise, it should be similar to what Proprietress Ling said— she was sprinkling dog blood outside their doors to prevent the ghosts from barging into their rooms.

When it was nearing 11 o’ clock sharp, the noises outside the room quietened down completely.

According to Proprietress Ling’s words, she would begin performing the spell at this time.

Gu Liang moved away from his position by the door to move to the other end of the room, and he pushed his window open to look outside.

Once 12 midnight came around, he would definitely close the windows and have a proper rest instead of looking outside.

But since it was not midnight yet, he could take the opportunity to observe the inn.

Gu Liang pushed open the window that was technically facing the back of the inn.

He looked downwards after the windows were pushed open. Borrowing the light, he could see that there was a large amount of rice straw stacked downstairs.

According to Proprietress Ling’s explanation, the rice straw was used to kindle a fire and make the food.

The meals that everyone had been eating for the past few days was made from the fire of these burnt rice straws. It could not be denied that the flavour was very different from the food in the city which was cooked with natural gas.

Right, speaking of cooking….

Turning to the building to the side, Gu Liang could see the back kitchen.

To Gu Liang’s surprise, the back kitchen doors were open, which allowed him to see a flashing flame.

— It couldn’t be that someone is making food at this hour, right?

Gu Liang’s eyebrows furrowed together.

After more time had passed, he unexpectedly saw Ming Yue walking out from the kitchen.

Despite being separated by a large distance and the dark night colours, Ming Yue seemed to sense Gu Liang’s gaze so he turned his body to look over.

Gu Liang did not evade him either as he stared at Ming Yue without any qualms.

He was genuinely curious why Chef Huang had to make a fire in the middle of the night.

Ming Yue gave Gu Liang a faint smile before he turned around to return back to his own room.

The doors to the kitchen was open for all to see, and the fire inside was burning still.

Gu Liang stopped looking at the firelight. However, the indistinct smoke continued to float out from the kitchen stove, constantly lingering at the entrance of the kitchen like it was obscuring it with a layer of muslin.