Iris 20

Xu Fu gave Mu Qin a basic rundown of what he knew about the game. In short, only the killer could not die. Even if you tried every possible way to kill one, they would automatically revive after a short time. But most of what Xu Fu said was less detailed than what Zhou Yue had told Mu Qin, so Mu Qin only half-listened.

Afterward, Mu Qin did his best to act shocked and astonished by the possibility that the corpse could come back to life. Before Xu Fu, he adopted a half-convinced, half-doubtful attitude, lowering his guard just enough to show that he partly believed Xu Fu's words. After all, the signs of chaos at the scene and the vanished corpse were undeniable facts.

"But how can I trust you completely? What if you secretly dragged the body away, then deliberately told me it had revived? What if you pinned the killer label on a corpse and used such a ridiculous story to evade responsibility and make me lower my guard?" Mu Qin raised the most important question.

"If I were really the killer, I'd have pounced on you already." Xu Fu stared at Mu Qin for a moment. "I told you, killers have something like hyper-regeneration. They recover very quickly. If they're injured, they can heal rapidly in a short time. That's what an experienced player from the last round told me. He said every ghost was like that... But look at my leg now. That chandelier hit me hard enough. I can barely walk properly. Does it look like it's healing?"

Mu Qin glanced at Xu Fu's leg and was about to say something else when both of them suddenly heard a noise from the upper floors of the apartment building.

It was loud, as though something had crashed to the ground.

Hearing it, Xu Fu looked up toward the second or third floor of the apartment building. Several rooms on both floors had lights on, flickering on and off. Then Xu Fu seemed to realize something. He frowned at Mu Qin. "Didn't you say you went upstairs to search? There shouldn't be anyone up there besides you, right?"

Mu Qin also looked upstairs, then lowered his gaze to Xu Fu and lied with perfect composure. "Are you kidding? I didn't have enough time to search the whole apartment building. I only checked the third floor. There really wasn't anyone there. As for whether there are people on the fourth or fifth floors, I have no idea."

Xu Fu immediately frowned. "This place isn't very safe. We'd better leave as soon as possible."

Mu Qin had softened his attitude toward Xu Fu quite a bit by now, but he continued to make his distrust clear. "But I don't think you're very safe either."

Xu Fu spread his hands indifferently. "Think whatever you want. If you don't want to come with me, you can stay here."

At that, Mu Qin turned as though shrinking back and looked at the apartment building behind him. Only then did he turn back to Xu Fu. "All right. I'll trust you once. We can go together, but I decide where we go."

"Fine." Xu Fu did not mind. "Where are we going next?"

Mu Qin took the fever medicine from his pocket. "Han Li has a fever. I need to bring her this medicine."

Xu Fu was somewhat stunned. "In a situation like this? You're still looking for medicine for someone else?"

"It would be best if she survives." Mu Qin looked at the fever medicine, then tucked it back into his pocket. "But if there's nothing we can do, then she'll have to leave it to fate."

"All right. So where is Han Li?" Xu Fu casually asked. Mu Qin did not answer. Instead, he led Xu Fu directly toward the office building. At the very least, they should meet up with Qiu Zijia and the others first.

The two walked one behind the other with a wide gap between them for a while. Mu Qin suddenly glanced back at Xu Fu thoughtfully, then seemed to remember something. "I saw that you wanted to kill Han Li earlier."

"Because I suspected she was the one who killed my younger sister. Even if she wasn't, she might have been an accomplice. I was thinking I'd rather kill the wrong person than let the culprit go." Xu Fu felt no shame at all over his malice. "So yes, I did want to kill her then. But the real murderer suddenly showed up instead."

"I believe what you're saying," Mu Qin said calmly. "But I still hope you'll keep your distance from us. When we meet the others later, don't come too close."

Xu Fu was already getting impatient. "Fine, I'll do as you say. I just want to find the door key and get out as quickly as possible... By the way, your Fool Cards are very useful."

Mu Qin had long known what the Fool Cards could do, so he did not pay much attention to Xu Fu's nonsense. He headed straight for the office building, quickly spotting two lit rooms on its first floor. He guessed that Qiu Zijia was probably waiting for him there.

By now, Mu Qin knew who the real murderer was. What to do about it depended entirely on his choice. Although Zhou Yue had told Mu Qin not to sell out his teammates just because he wanted to help him, even so, Mu Qin might still be unable to stop himself from wanting to help Zhou Yue and take some extreme action.

So what exactly should I do?

Mu Qin truly could not make up his mind. He ran his fingers over the box of fever medicine in his hand, then finally gave up thinking about those damned questions. For now, he would get the medicine to Han Li first. He could think about everything else once Zhou Yue came after them.

Mu Qin and Xu Fu hurried across the lush grass in the courtyard and finally reached the office building. Mu Qin signaled for Xu Fu to wait outside, then went in himself. Standing in the lit corridor, he called toward the rooms with their lights on, "Qiu Zijia!"

No one answered, but Mu Qin was not in a hurry. He called again, and this time there was finally a response. Qiu Zijia poked his head out of a dark room at the end of the corridor. The moment he saw Mu Qin standing there, he rushed over as though he had seen a savior. "Mu Qin! You're finally here!"

Mu Qin casually asked, "Did anything happen?"

"No, everything's normal... It's just that you were gone for a long time, and Han Li has been unconscious the whole time. I... I couldn't sit still." Qiu Zijia looked exhausted, and his mental state did not seem very good.

"Leave it to me now." Mu Qin reached out and patted Qiu Zijia on the shoulder. "Where's Han Li?"

"She's in the room." Qiu Zijia pointed to the innermost room.

"I brought the medicine." As Mu Qin spoke, he walked toward the room. Qiu Zijia instinctively followed. They entered the pitch-dark room, and after turning on the light, they found that Qiu Zijia had laid Han Li on a bench and somehow found an old blanket to cover her with. Qiu Zijia was unexpectedly considerate.

Mu Qin went over and looked at Han Li. The woman was still burning with fever and barely conscious, her whole face flushed red. Then Mu Qin asked Qiu Zijia, "Do you have any water?"

"There's water from the faucet in the restroom next door. I filled some in advance." Qiu Zijia had shown considerable foresight. He picked up a battered cup from a nearby table, with some water in it.

"Then I'll leave the honorable task of giving her the medicine to you." Mu Qin handed the medicine box to Qiu Zijia and patted him on the shoulder.

Qiu Zijia did not seem very willing, but he obediently took the box and the water and went to give Han Li her medicine. Watching him, Mu Qin felt an inexplicable gloom settle over him.

Though he had not known Qiu Zijia and the others for long.

But... was he really just going to watch them die?

"Then again, they were already dead to begin with." Mu Qin laughed helplessly to himself.

Qiu Zijia, who was feeding Han Li the medicine, heard Mu Qin speak but had not caught the words. He turned and asked, "What did you say?"

"Nothing." Mu Qin brushed it off. "Qiu Zijia, do you think we'll be able to survive?"

Qiu Zijia put the pill in Han Li's mouth, then gave her water to swallow it. Distractedly, he replied, "I think you're the most likely one to survive. As for me... even if I get through this time, there's no guarantee I'll be able to escape alive next time."

"Do you really have so little faith in yourself?" Mu Qin wanted a different answer from him.

After Qiu Zijia finished giving Han Li the medicine, he turned to Mu Qin. "It's not that I have no faith. I've already seen clearly how far I'll ever get in this life."

"I died by suicide." Qiu Zijia's smile was somewhat ugly. "I got drunk out of my mind, stood on top of a high-rise building, and died."

"On the very building where my older brother jumped to his death."

Mu Qin said, "What about now? Do you still want to kill yourself?"

Qiu Zijia lowered his head. "I... don't have that kind of courage anymore. That kind of courage... only comes once in a lifetime."

"Hey, you two, how much longer are you going to dawdle?!" While Mu Qin and Qiu Zijia were talking, Xu Fu, who had been waiting outside, suddenly came in on his own. The moment he entered, Qiu Zijia beside him shuddered all over and immediately ducked behind Mu Qin in alarm. "Why is this guy here?!"

Mu Qin frowned at Xu Fu. "Didn't I tell you to wait outside?"

"I've waited long enough. What do you think I went to all the trouble of acting with you for?" Xu Fu said. "Take out your Fool Card. We can use it to find where the exit key is."

"If we go look for it now, we won't be able to look after Han Li." Mu Qin glanced back at the woman sleeping unconscious on the bench.

Xu Fu said, "Why worry about her? You already risked yourself to find her medicine. Whether she wakes up and whether she escapes from here is up to her now."

"Fine." Mu Qin was not especially concerned with whether other people lived or died. He merely did all he could do, just as Xu Fu had said. He had already helped as much as he could; what came next was up to each person.

After that, Mu Qin did as Xu Fu wished and took out the Fool Card, beginning to use it to find the exit key's location.

Xu Fu thought Mu Qin was moving too slowly. Rather rudely, he snatched the card from Mu Qin's hand and began investigating on his own.

Mu Qin asked him, "How can you be sure this card points to where the door key is?"

Xu Fu said, "I can't be sure... But all we can do now is gamble on it."