Chapter 41: Clues

Xia Wulei raised her head abruptly, swept her gaze around for a moment, and locked onto a figure on the street below.

It was a beggar, wearing dark brown clothes that made it hard to tell if they were naturally that color or just filthy. His hair was greasy and unkempt, blocking his face, but it was clear that he was facing upward, his gaze fixed dead on their floor.

The malice in that look felt almost tangible, shooting straight up toward them.

Xia Wulei frowned and pulled the kitchen curtain shut.

"That might be a clue. If you need it, I'll go down with you to check it out later."

It was only the first day of this instance, and a clue was already delivered to their doorstep. Wasn't the buff on Cheng Cheng a bit too powerful?

Xia Wulei temporarily pushed this small episode to the back of her mind. Clues weren't going to run away, but eating was a priority.

The shrimp were pan-fried until crispy and golden, their plump, firm flesh turning from white to red. Seeing that the heat was just right, Xia Wulei scooped the shrimp out of the wok, set them aside, and drained the oil.

She cracked open salted duck eggs, scooped out six yolks, and using the unwashed frying pan, mashed the yolks into a sandy froth. Finally, she tossed in the shrimp, coating them evenly with the golden yolk. A dish of golden salted-egg-yolk shrimp was ready.

That wasn't all. Xia Wulei quickly kept the dishes warm, placed the chicken into the oven, and stood thinking for a moment.

Cooking for five people, three dishes were a bit too few.

Xia Wulei took pork ribs out of her spatial storage and blanched them. With limited time, making a few simple, quick-fry dishes would do.

Stir-fried cucumber with eggs, minced pork with eggplant, and stir-fried spicy pork—their preparations were simple, requiring only tossing the ingredients into the wok and adding a touch of seasoning.

By the time the other dishes were done, the oven emitted a ding. Xia Wulei flipped the chicken and said to Cheng Cheng, "Take these out to eat first. This one will be ready in a moment."

Cheng Cheng nodded, holding a plate in each hand, and served the food to the table. Seeing this, the people in the living room came over to help serve the dishes and dish out the rice.

Li Lianxin gasped in repeated amazement, "Wulei, did you make all of these? You're this amazing?!"

Xia Wulei walked out holding another dish and said, "Cheng Cheng helped a lot too. I didn't expect her to be so familiar with the kitchen."

Cheng Cheng smiled shyly. "I worked part-time in a restaurant for two years. My cooking is just average, but I'm fine as a kitchen assistant."

Xia Wulei finally brought out the roast chicken. Six dishes filled the entire dining table, and the aroma of the food drifted through the whole room, making one's mouth water.

Li Lianxin wore a touched expression. "There's even salted-egg-yolk shrimp and roast chicken. Wulei, you're really good to me."

Xia Wulei curled her lip. She just didn't know what else to make; she definitely wasn't cooking specially for her.

Xia Wulei eagerly picked up a shrimp and popped it into her mouth.

The distinct savory-salty flavor of the egg yolk spread across the tip of her tongue, while the shrimp meat was tender and springy. It was simply the ultimate enjoyment for the taste buds.

Li Lianxin's eyes welled up with tears.

"It's, it's much better than what Senior Brother makes..."

Up on the mountain, Cui Chengzhi basically did all the cooking. His culinary skills were quite decent, but she hadn't expected Xia Wulei's to be even better.

Cui Chengzhi didn't believe it and picked up a chopstick of shrimp. The moment he put it in his mouth, he froze.

"It is indeed quite good."

Looking at the others, they practically buried their faces in their bowls.

Cui Chengzhi observed Xia Wulei in secret. Seeing that she had also started eating, doubt surfaced in his heart.

Could she really just be an ordinary player? Had he misjudged her?

Meanwhile, Li Lianxin, though stuffed and satisfied, kept staring at the leftovers on the table, resenting her own small appetite for the first time because she couldn't keep eating like Bako.

Cui Chengzhi, sitting beside her, still had his eyes lingering on Xia Wulei. Li Lianxin sighed and patted Cui Chengzhi on the shoulder.

"Senior Brother, I don't oppose this match. I'll help you."

Cui Chengzhi: ......?

Bako eagerly volunteered to clean up the bowls and chopsticks. Perhaps because his appetite had been rarely satisfied, he worked with great briskness. Li Lianxin and Cui Chengzhi had freeloaded a lavish feast for nothing, which made them feel somewhat guilty.

"I'll take charge of tomorrow's meals. Miss Xia, thank you very much for today."

Cui Chengzhi cast a glance at Li Lianxin. Although she felt somewhat bewildered, she still turned around and followed Cui Chengzhi outside.

Xia Wulei didn't bother with them and pulled Cheng Cheng along. "Let's go downstairs and take a look."

The beggar clue was discovered by Cheng Cheng, so it was best to investigate it sooner rather than later.

Downstairs, the beggar was still huddled near the utility pole, his eyes glued fixedly to the window of Room 503. Even as Xia Wulei and Cheng Cheng approached, he showed no reaction, instead muttering something under his breath.

"Twenty-three, fifty-seven, red eyes. Twenty-three, fifty-seven, red eyes..."

Xia Wulei leaned closer to listen. The beggar looked quite young, yet he kept repeatedly mumbling these three phrases, though their meaning was unclear.

"Go on, it's the clue you found. You go ask him." Xia Wulei patted Cheng Cheng.

Cheng Cheng didn't know how to approach this either. After thinking for a long time, she managed to squeeze out: "Mister? Why are you staring at my place?"

As soon as those words came out, the beggar whipped his head around and glared fiercely at Cheng Cheng.

"You're going to die! All of you are going to die!"

Roaring this from the depths of his throat, the beggar suddenly bolted upright and sprinted toward the other end of the street.

Xia Wulei and Cheng Cheng were both stunned.

"Uh, are the NPCs in this kind of infinite flow instance all this unhinged?"

Xia Wulei: "Um... What he was muttering should also be a clue. Let's just keep it in mind for now."

Xia Wulei couldn't deny this point. After all, the three NPCs they had encountered so far indeed exhibited rather eccentric behaviors, though that might also be related to the place they lived in.

Between Rooms 503 and 504, one of them definitely had something weird about it.

Judging by the beggar's reaction, it seemed like Room 503, where they stayed, was the problematic one, but for now, they could only gather information through other channels.

After a sound sleep, Xia Wulei walked out of her room yawning. Cheng Cheng was still asleep. There were two rooms; Cheng Cheng slept with Xia Wulei, while Li Lianxin stayed in a room by herself.

She took out the soybeans she had soaked the night away and put them into the soy milk maker. She had to admit, the kitchen facilities this time were quite well-equipped, which greatly satisfied Xia Wulei.

Listening to the soy milk maker hum to life, Xia Wulei took out the milled flour and began kneading the dough. Making homemade yeast took several days, leaving Xia Wulei with no choice but to spend points to exchange for it.

As the dough gradually took shape beneath her hands, she placed it in a basin to ferment. Xia Wulei then took out fresh pork, preparing to mince the filling.

The sound of chopping coming from the kitchen woke Li Lianxin up. Rubbing her eyes, she walked to the kitchen and looked at Xia Wulei's busy back, recalling what Cui Chengzhi had told her last night.

Xia Wulei might be a ghost or monster.

Cui Chengzhi wouldn't slander someone for no reason, so Li Lianxin couldn't help but size Xia Wulei up.

How could a ghost sneak into a player team? She had never seen such a thing before.

Unable to hold back, Li Lianxin sneaked over to ask Cheng Cheng, who had just woken up, "Cheng Cheng, do you know what Wulei's system is?"

She wasn't a novice and knew that inquiring about someone's system out of the blue was somewhat offensive.

Since that was the case, she had no choice but to trick a true novice.

With messy hair and a still-drowsy expression, Cheng Cheng blinked. "Sister Wulei? It seems to be... being able to take out all sorts of things..."

Li Lianxin paused. "Could it be some kind of summoning system? Can she summon animals or similar creatures?"

Frowning, Cheng Cheng thought of the chicken Xia Wulei had pulled out, hesitated, and nodded. "She... can?"

Li Lianxin's eyes lit up. "So that's how it is!"

Another lovely misunderstanding.