I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 43

Once the interference from Yanyan’s piano music vanished, the players quickly recovered. The music had exerted a massive toll on them, particularly on their nerves; everyone had bled to some degree. Qi Yan had a nosebleed, while Xinyi looked as though she had coughed up blood.

As Bai Qing led Qi Yan toward the door, Qi Yan instinctively glanced back at the other three. This was the first time Bai Qing had revealed herself to players other than Jiang Miao, and Qi Yan was curious to see their expressions.

Jiang Miao and Xinyi were still struggling with the side effects of the piano music. Wushuang, however, was calm. He wiped the blood from his face, his eyes fixed on Bai Qing. Sensing Qi Yan’s gaze, he quickly looked away.

Qi Yan knit her brows. She deeply disliked the way Wushuang had looked at Bai Qing. It wasn’t just the discomfort of a man staring at a woman; Wushuang’s gaze held a predatory aggressiveness, the look of a hunter spotting prey. This made Qi Yan feel a sense of threat.

“Stop looking back,” Bai Qing, walking ahead and holding her hand, reminded her via a telepathic transmission only the two could hear. “That man is problematic. I don’t know the specifics yet, but he is different from you ordinary humans.”

Qi Yan was slightly startled, staring blankly at the side of Bai Qing’s face.

Bai Qing took the key from her, easily opened the exit door, and led her away without looking back.

“Was it really okay to reveal yourself in front of them like that? You’re being so careless even after seeing he’s problematic. Honestly, you didn’t have to come out to protect me; I could have held on,” Qi Yan said. Thinking about how Bai Qing had appeared recklessly to shield her, she suddenly felt a deep sense of security. Seeds of gratitude began to take root in her heart.

However, before those seeds could sprout, the mood-killing “stinky fox” spoke again: “It’s precisely because I saw he’s problematic that I wanted to appear directly. Sometimes standing in the light allows one to see more clearly.”

She’s trying to use herself as bait.

Qi Yan was speechless. So my gratitude was for nothing? She rolled her eyes. Such a beautiful fox, yet she just had to have a mouth.

“However, I was naturally worried about you as well. In that situation, I had to ensure your safety.”

That sentence sounded suspiciously like an afterthought.

Qi Yan gave a listless “Oh.” “Right, I was just a byproduct.”

Bai Qing stopped and turned around. Qi Yan, not expecting the sudden halt, bumped straight into her arms.

Confused, Qi Yan looked up. “Why did you stop?”

Bai Qing’s gaze drifted past her, noting the varying expressions of the three following behind. Jiang Miao was the most composed, having seen Bai Qing before. Wushuang’s eyes were dangerous and ill-intentioned. Xinyi had the most normal reaction; she was stunned by the appearance of a person out of thin air, her eyes shifting between Bai Qing and Qi Yan with shock.

Retracting her gaze, Bai Qing looked down at Qi Yan and said, “You are not a byproduct. Protecting you is a very important matter.”

Qi Yan froze, her head buzzing. She suddenly felt her heartbeat become erratic, as if someone were using a drumstick to strike her heart, the rhythm growing faster and faster.

The person holding that drumstick was the “stinky fox” in front of her, who had suddenly turned serious.

Ignoring Qi Yan’s daze, the fox led her forward by the hand, showing no concern for the players following behind.

Xinyi, who wasn’t close to Qi Yan, was scratching her head in curiosity. She couldn’t help but ask Jiang Miao, “Who is that? Dressed like an ancient person… Is it some kind of prop belonging to Shijian?”

She had guessed somewhat correctly, but Jiang Miao didn’t fully understand what Bai Qing was either. She only remembered Bai Qing telling her that she and Qi Yan were “wife and wife.”

Since this was Qi Yan’s privacy, Jiang Miao didn’t feel right discussing it with an outsider. She simply shook her head. “I’m not sure. It’s the first time I’ve seen her.”

How could Xinyi not see through the lie? Based on Jiang Miao’s calm demeanor, it was obvious this wasn’t her first time seeing the woman. But since Jiang Miao clearly didn’t want to talk, Xinyi knew she had to exercise discretion and stopped asking.

Wushuang, walking a few steps ahead of them, grew colder. A faint green light flickered in his eyes. He found his malice hard to restrain and displayed it openly, but then quickly hid it again for fear of being detected too early. However, the two he was watching didn’t seem to pay him any attention at all.

It wasn’t that Bai Qing and Qi Yan hadn’t noticed his malice; Bai Qing simply told Qi Yan to ignore it, so Qi Yan didn’t bother. After spending so much time together, she had developed an unwavering trust in Bai Qing. This fox was draped in arrogance from head to toe, but she never did anything without certainty. Her calm was proof that the situation was still within her capabilities.

No matter how dangerous Wushuang might be, he would be no match for Bai Qing in a real fight.

Qi Yan believed firmly in Bai Qing’s strength, though she still kept a mental eye out, fearing Wushuang might pull a dirty trick.

The group walked down the long corridor for a while until another door appeared ahead.

A key was hanging from the lock of this door—it was practically a “Please Enter” sign pasted right in front of the players.

Everyone stopped in unison. Even Wushuang stared at the key with dark eyes.

Xinyi stood by the door with her arms crossed, huffing, “This is basically a direct warning that there’s ‘a ghost’ ahead.”

Wushuang shrugged. “But we have no choice.”

This was the truth. No matter how much Xinyi loathed Wushuang now, she had to admit she couldn’t refute his point.

Throughout their journey, there had only ever been one path. Although there were many other rooms, every single one had been sealed off. This was a mysterious power guiding the players, forcing them along this visible path.

It was the power of the “Heart” of the world, and also the rules of the script. Players were destined to follow the route arranged by the Boss and the script to push the plot and find a way out.

Qi Yan glanced at Bai Qing. Sensing her gaze, Bai Qing gently squeezed her hand. Ever since she appeared in Qiu Lirong’s study, Bai Qing had kept a firm hold of Qi Yan’s hand, as cautious as if she were guarding a precious treasure.

Qi Yan’s face turned rosy. Fortunately, the lights in the house were dim and yellow, making her flush hard to see, but she could feel the temperature of her face rising.

With Bai Qing’s silent reassurance, Qi Yan didn’t hesitate. She turned the key and opened the door.

Seeing her sudden move, the other three players warily stepped back. No one knew what they would see behind each door in this cursed house; the disheveled, bloody female ghost from earlier had been terrifying enough.

However, while they braced themselves for a scare, nothing happened behind the door.

Bai Qing stepped in first, followed by Qi Yan. As soon as Qi Yan entered, she froze on the spot.

Everything before her was extremely familiar. Whether it was the decor or the layout, Qi Yan wondered if she had walked into the wrong place.

“This… isn’t this the same study of Qiu Ran’s that we were in before?”

Qi Yan was shocked. Her first thought was that there was an identical second room, but she soon realized that was wrong. This was the room they had been in. Traces of their search were everywhere, including the open secret door on the other side.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Miao walked into the room and looked around. “You’ve been here before?”

Qi Yan nodded, pointing to the open secret door. “I went out through there, walked along the corridor, and then ran into you guys.”

The players who could make it this far weren’t fools. Everyone there was more experienced than Qi Yan; they pieced together the situation immediately.

Xinyi said with a grim face, “So you’re saying we’ve just walked in a big circle?”

Aside from Bai Qing, who maintained her usual aloof expression, the four human players looked pale. The outer corridor was a loop. Because its curvature was slight and the walls and windows were uniform, it was impossible for the human eye to tell they were walking in a circle. The two studies, one large and one small served as the beginning and end of this loop, creating a closed circle.

Qi Yan felt suffocated again. This place was like a giant cage, using two circular corridors to connect the two studies and Qiu Ran’s bedroom, trapping her here every day.

“There… there must be a way out of this house, right? Even if Qiu Lirong doesn’t let her daughter out, she has to go out herself! Besides, Qiu Ran has to go to school; she definitely leaves every day,” Jiang Miao pondered. “There must be something we missed.”

Wushuang shook his head darkly. “What if the script sealed off the exit so we can’t find it? Or perhaps the ‘Eye’ for leaving this script isn’t the house’s exit at all, but is hidden in some key location? That’s not uncommon.”

Jiang Miao fell silent. Wushuang was right; she had been in many scripts. Not all “Eyes” were visible doors; sometimes they were hidden in thin air, requiring players to connect all the main plot points and key clues to find them.

“Regardless, we have to keep looking. Since this is a circular corridor, the key clues must be within these spaces. There must be something we overlooked earlier,” Xinyi said, rarely refraining from sniping at Wushuang. At this stage, progressing the script was the priority.

“We should split up. Crowding together is dangerous and inefficient. If the Boss targets us like in the music room, we’ll all be wiped out,” Jiang Miao suggested.

Xinyi immediately added, “Splitting up is fine, but I’m definitely not pairing with him.”

While the three discussed, Qi Yan stared at the secret door for a long time.

Bai Qing, still holding her hand, looked at her focused profile and asked, “What are you thinking?”

“Um, it’s a bit strange.” Qi Yan pointed to the secret door. “Qiu Ran went to all that trouble to build this secret door, only for it to lead to the music room she shares with her mother. Doesn’t that mean her plan to escape the study failed? I believe that since her mother is so strict, this circular corridor definitely doesn’t have an exit from the house.”

“Maybe she just wanted to slack off and go back to her room to sleep?” Jiang Miao offered a guess after hearing Qi Yan’s analysis. “After all, her daily schedule was way too much.”

Qi Yan shook her head. “I don’t think she’d undertake such a massive project just for a bit more sleep. She could sleep anywhere. Her mother is always touring abroad; the only reason she feels secure is the door lock design, which essentially traps her here. A butler only comes to open the door at scheduled times.”

“There are no cameras in this room. If there were and her mother could see her remotely, she wouldn’t have been able to build the secret door. So, if she just wanted to sleep, she could have just napped on the floor in here; no one would know. But she didn’t. She found a way to make a secret door. At her age, no matter how smart she is, she couldn’t have done this alone. Someone must have helped her!”

So who would that person be? Qi Yan realized she had been so focused on cracking the codes earlier that she had overlooked this. She pulled out Qiu Ran’s diary from the desk drawer and flipped through it rapidly for useful information.

She knew Qiu Ran was precocious and very intelligent, more cunning than her peers. She wouldn’t write things too explicitly, but there would be clues.

Who else in this house could help Qiu Ran with these things? The answer seemed easy to guess. Excluding the strict mother and the unreliable father, the butler who held the daily management power in the house seemed to be Qiu Ran’s best choice.

Qi Yan’s mind raced as she shared her deduction with the other players. Finally, she found a line in the diary:

[Uncle Butler brought back a team of magicians. They can make my ideas a reality and create a hidden freedom that belongs to me.]

Uncle…?

This line was hidden by Qiu Ran within a seemingly fictional, fantastical story, like a middle schooler’s imaginative essay. It was very inconspicuous amidst a large block of text. Her mother was so busy she wouldn’t have the patience to read every single word of her diary or essays, so she definitely wouldn’t have noticed.

Xinyi followed up, “If that’s the case, then this butler must be an important NPC. But we haven’t seen any…”

She stopped mid-sentence, as if realizing something, her expression turning into one of disbelief.

Qi Yan looked at Xinyi, then at the other two. Their expressions showed they had reached the same conclusion.

Jiang Miao spoke with disbelief, “The administrator ‘Happy’ in the Carnival… could he be the butler of this house?”

Qi Yan nodded. “That’s my guess too.”

Xinyi frowned. “He’s the manager in that amusement park… What exactly is that amusement park?”

Wushuang gave a cold laugh. “Nothing good, that’s for sure.”

Xinyi glared at him fiercely and moved closer to Jiang Miao. This man, Wushuang, radiated unreliability. And she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she felt that since the Carnival started, Wushuang had become increasingly gloomy.

She had known Wushuang for a long time; they had been through two or three scripts as a team. None of them were rookies. In the past, Wushuang was a competent leader. Although he wasn’t powerful enough to protect everyone alone, everyone trusted him, believed in his judgment, and was willing to face various dangers with him.

However, ever since entering this script, Wushuang seemed to be influenced by something, becoming more and more terrifying. Xinyi didn’t know what changed him; she just knew the old Wushuang would never backstab or sacrifice a teammate. But in the Carnival, his behavior horrified her, sacrificing Xingyun on the roller coaster without hesitation, and pushing Qiuqiu out to feed the vultures in the haunted house.

Xinyi was done caring about what had happened to him; she just knew their partnership ended here. Once they left, she would dissolve the team and stay as far away from this terrifying man as possible.

While undercurrents swirled there, Qi Yan had no interest in their drama. Her mind was entirely on deducing the plot.

After a quick skim of Qiu Ran’s diary, Qi Yan closed it and walked toward the secret door. “Maybe we should go look at the bedroom again. There might be something we missed before.”

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