I Struggle to Survive in a Girl Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 30

Arthur seemed long accustomed to the astonished gazes of others, intimately affectionate with Rosa as if no one else was present.

An Qing’s mind suddenly flashed with a strange thought.

If age wasn’t taken into account, these two actually looked quite well-matched.

“Darling, could you visit Shirley for me this morning and return the juicer I borrowed last time?” Rosa looked at Arthur and said softly, “With so many guests at home, I want to entertain them properly and can’t get away.”

“No problem,” Arthur readily agreed to his wife’s request. He went into the kitchen to retrieve the juicer, then suddenly seemed to remember something, looking at Rosa with a slightly embarrassed expression.

He said, “Sweetheart, I’ve run out of money again. Could you give me a bit more?”

Under the stunned gazes of everyone, Rosa pulled open a nearby drawer, took out a heavy bag of gold coins, and handed it over.

“If you’re running out of money, you should say so earlier. I like it when you spend more.”

An Qing gasped, actually feeling a twinge of envy.

Arthur, unfazed, took the bag, weighed it in his hand, and smiled contentedly.

After whispering intimately with Rosa for a moment, he walked out the door with complete composure.

Once Arthur was gone, Rosa returned to the sofa.

Ignoring the girls’ complicated expressions, she elegantly picked up a white bone china teacup and took a sip of black tea.

“As you can see, Arthur is much younger than me, so I don’t feel very secure. And recently, he really has been acting a bit strange.”

Yu Tingbai asked, “What specifically has he been doing?”

Rosa said, “He hardly eats the meals I cook anymore.”

Is that considered strange?

An Qing couldn’t help but speak up, “Maybe he’s just picky?”

Rosa shook her head and explained, “No, my mother was a top-tier chef. I grew up surrounded by that, so my cooking is excellent too. Although he chose me largely for the money, his favorite food has always been what I make.”

An Qing:

If you gave me that much money, I’d love eating anything too.

Seeing the disbelief on everyone’s faces, Rosa went into the kitchen and brought out a plate of cookies and a plate of cake.

She set the plates on the coffee table and took out several small dishes from the drawer below.

“Here, I made these this morning. Try them.”

The cookies were exquisitely decorated with various flavors, each embedded with different nuts, making them very pleasing to the eye. The cake was fluffy, with freshly whipped, moist, and soft cream spread thickly over it. It had been cut into small pieces, each topped with two bright red strawberries.

It looked incredibly tempting!

An Qing really wanted to eat but remembered the health point setting and warned her two teammates, “Let me test it for poison first.”

With that, she resolutely picked up a piece of cake and took a bite, eating half of it in one go.

The cake was even softer than it looked, with a rich, creamy flavor melting in her mouth, yet not overly sweet.

Shen Siqi watched her nervously, “How is it?”

“No health points lost. Go ahead and eat,” An Qing lifted her arm to show the screen on her wristwatch, then added, “Even if it did cost health points, it’d be worth it.”

Food was precious, and it would be a waste not to eat it, so Yu Tingbai and Shen Siqi also started eating the pastries.

Rosa continued, “These past few days, no matter what I cook, he only takes two bites before putting down his chopsticks. When I asked him why, he just said the weather is too hot and he has no appetite. This has never happened before.”

“We just celebrated our wedding anniversary in March. Could he have fallen out of love so quickly?”

Shen Siqi swallowed a bite of cake and asked Rosa, “Have you ever heard a saying?”

Rosa: “Hmm, what is it?”

Shen Siqi: “If a man doesn’t eat at home, he must have eaten his fill outside!”

She spoke with conviction, as if stating an undeniable truth.

An Qing:

That doesn’t seem to be meant literally, does it?

Rosa nodded thoughtfully, “I think so too. Arthur might have someone else.”

Yu Tingbai remarked, “But earlier, his attitude toward you didn’t seem particularly cold. Have you noticed anything unusual otherwise?”

At least on the surface, Arthur was still very affectionate toward Rosa. Of course, it could also be that he was putting up a front for the money after all, he had no qualms about asking for it.

Rosa thought for a moment and said, “Aside from not eating, he’s been going out alone more often, and he’s gone for half the day each time. Nothing else seems off. Well in that aspect, we’ve always been very harmonious.”

“Cough, cough.” An Qing, who was drinking tea, hadn’t expected the NPC to suddenly steer the conversation in that direction and choked a little. Yu Tingbai glanced at her with amusement and gently patted her back.

But if what Rosa said was true, then things were starting to seem a bit strange.

Because even if Arthur were having an affair, he could easily avoid eating at the other person’s house to prevent arousing his wife’s suspicion.

Could it be that Arthur was sneaking out behind Rosa’s back just to eat secretly?

Yu Tingbai pondered.

To verify this, the only option was to follow Arthur and see for themselves.

Sure enough, Rosa spoke up, “I wanted to follow him, but I can’t keep up with you younger folks. I lost him after a short while, so I have to ask you for help. Of course, it’ll be compensated.”

She glanced at her phone and said, “Arthur just messaged me, saying he’s going to feed the pigeons in the park for a while. You should head out now.”

[Accept the mission: Follow Arthur (0/1).]

Yu Tingbai checked the prompt on her wristwatch and suddenly asked a question.

“What do you like about Arthur?”

“What else?” Rosa blinked and smiled. “He’s young.”

“This is so thrilling. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Shen Siqi leaned close to An Qing’s ear, her face full of excitement.

It would be strange if you had.

An Qing watched Arthur’s figure in the distance and tugged at Shen Siqi’s arm.

“Keep your distance, or we’ll lose health again.”

The mission involving Arthur’s storyline was quite interesting. Even though three people were following him and there weren’t many places to hide on the street, he seemed completely unaware of their presence. Even when their eyes accidentally met a few times while turning corners, he pretended not to notice.

But if they got too close, their health bars would flash as a warning and rapidly drop.

Moreover, Arthur would occasionally slow down abruptly or even take a few steps backward, deliberately closing the distance between them.

Yu Tingbai and An Qing’s health points had already dropped to 95, while Shen Siqi, with her slightly poorer motor skills, was now at 90.

This was likely a deliberate setup to drain the players’ health points. If everyone left with full health, the show wouldn’t be entertaining.

An Qing thought to herself.

But why did she feel like the further they walked, the more desolate the path became? Was this really the kind of route one would take for a secret affair?

Shen Siqi suddenly sighed and remarked, “When it comes to relationships, it’s better to find someone older than you, don’t you think, An Qing?”

An Qing was taken aback for a moment, then remembered that Yu Tingbai was three years older than her, so she quickly agreed, “Yes, yes, I also prefer someone a bit older than me.”

Yu Tingbai glanced at her with a faint smile and asked, “Why?”

“Because younger people are too playful and end up cheating like him.”

Before An Qing could respond, Shen Siqi answered first, pointing at Arthur ahead with indignation.

Thinking of the original host’s promiscuous past, An Qing suddenly felt a bit flustered.

Sure enough, Yu Tingbai smiled and agreed with Shen Siqi’s point.

“That makes sense.”

An Qing defended herself softly, “Not all younger people are like that, though. I, for example, am very steady.”

Yu Tingbai: “That makes sense.”

Shen Siqi: “? Tingbai, why do you have no principles? Everything makes sense to you Hey, hey?”

At that moment, Shen Siqi suddenly let out a small scream.

Checking the map in her hand, she asked, “Why is he heading toward the cemetery?”

Hearing the word “cemetery,” An Qing broke out in goosebumps and instinctively shrank closer to Yu Tingbai.

“Is this what you call steady?”

Yu Tingbai’s tone sounded as if she was mocking her.

An Qing: “I…”

She tried to stand a little straighter, wanting to maintain her steady persona.

But Yu Tingbai suddenly chuckled softly and naturally reached out to hold her hand.

An Qing’s cheeks instantly flushed, and she didn’t understand why she was reacting this way, inwardly scolding herself.

Hadn’t they already slept together? Why was she blushing just from holding hands?

Strangely enough, with Yu Tingbai holding her hand, the cemetery ahead didn’t seem so terrifying anymore.

She steadied herself, tightened her grip on Yu Tingbai’s hand, and followed her into the cemetery.

Shen Siqi clung to An Qing’s other arm, trembling as she analyzed, is this some kind of ghostly romance?”

Under the gray dome of the sky, rows of tombstones stood quietly. Surrounded by green trees, the area was completely empty.

Arthur, with his hands in his pockets, strolled leisurely along the narrow paths between the tombstones, occasionally bending down to read the inscriptions on the graves.

Did this person have no clear destination? Judging by his demeanor, it seemed as though he was selecting something.

Just as An Qing was wondering, she saw Arthur finally stop in front of a tombstone in the corner of the cemetery.

With his back to the group, he gracefully bent over, his slender fingers digging deep into the black soil in front of the tombstone, as if sensing something.

An Qing hesitantly took half a step forward, and her health points immediately began to flicker a sign that they were about to drop. She tried changing her angle, moving to Arthur’s side to get a clearer view of what he was doing.

But she soon realized that even just changing her angle without altering the distance still caused her health points to flicker.

“Stop struggling,” Yu Tingbai stopped her. “It’s just how the game is set up. It doesn’t want us to see certain things we can only watch from behind.”

At that moment, Arthur stood up and surprisingly pulled out a shovel from the nearby bushes, then began digging the soil in front of the tombstone.

His movements were incredibly swift, and in no time, a pile of soil had accumulated beside him.

Arthur casually tossed the shovel aside and opened the coffin inside the grave.

The next second, the sound of “crunch, crunch” chewing echoed through the cemetery.

He simply crouched on the ground, eating with apparent relish.

An Qing: !!!

No way? What happened to the promised affair?

Does Arthur have pica or something?

No wonder he didn’t want anyone watching this definitely can’t be aired.

Just then, An Qing caught a glimpse of Shen Siqi out of the corner of her eye. She was staring intently at Arthur’s back, her expression serious and somewhat grim.

Don’t let the kid get traumatized.

An Qing grew concerned and nudged her, saying, “Siqi, if you.”

She had intended to say, “If you’re really scared, you can wait for us at the entrance.”

But before she could finish, Shen Siqi interrupted her.

In a low voice, Shen Siqi said, “Don’t rush. I know you want to eat the snacks he’s hiding too, but going over now will cost you health points.”

She swallowed hard and declared with righteous conviction, “Let’s go grab some after he leaves.”

An Qing:

Shen Siqi, forget being in a girl group you should join Meituan instead.