Mutual Redemption with the Villainous Boss [Infinite] - Chapter 11

In the dim room with tightly drawn curtains, He Fanghui woke up clutching her chest.

Her heart still throbbed with a faint, lingering pain, though it wasn’t as agonizing as the night before. She scanned her surroundings and saw Yu Jiayi sitting on a stool, propping up her head and dozing off.

She got out of bed, walked over, and shook her.

“Yu Jiayi, Yu Jiayi, wake up.”

Yu Jiayi was shaken awake. Her misty eyes were slightly dazed, lacking her usual cold detachment. This rare display of softness caused He Fanghui to swallow hard.

In all the time she had known her, this was the first time she had seen Yu Jiayi look so pliable and relaxed.

In the past, He Fanghui was a criminal.

A murderer who had killed many people.

However, she hadn’t stayed in a prison; she lived in a psychiatric hospital.

She personally didn’t think she had any mental issues, but everyone else insisted she was insane.

And Yu Jiayi was the criminal police officer who had arrested her.

This woman acted with meticulous precision and was the most righteous person He Fanghui had ever met. Moreover, she was intensely focused on He Fanghui, viewing her as a cancer upon society.

She kept a constant, watchful eye on her. Even when He Fanghui managed to escape the asylum, Yu Jiayi would always hunt her down and bring her back.

Finally, the world had fractured, and He Fanghui had regained her freedom—only to end up entering the same “Newbie Dungeon” alongside her nemesis.

No matter where she went or what corner of the world she hid in, Yu Jiayi would find her and follow her.

Although He Fanghui had lusted after that stunning face countless times in the past, she had never succeeded in making a move. Ultimately, she simply couldn’t beat her in a fight.

Now, in the shadows of the room, this woman was completely off-guard. He Fanghui’s heart tightened, and despite the residual pain, it began to race wildly.

Dark thoughts occupied her brain.

Yu Jiayi raised a hand to her forehead. Having been woken up just after falling asleep, the brief rest had left her in a poor state. She murmured, “Ah, you’re awake. You slept for quite a while…”

Suddenly, her raised right hand was grabbed. The other person’s fingers slithered into the gaps between hers like snakes, and a beautiful, exquisite face magnified before her eyes.

Yu Jiayi narrowed her eyes dangerously, watching the woman lean toward her, thin lips slightly parted.

In the next second, those “thieving hands” were twisted behind He Fanghui’s back, and her entire body was pinned against the table.

“Ow, ow, ow! Yu Jiayi, it hurts! Why are you so heavy-handed?!”

He Fanghui’s arms were wrenched back, just one step away from being snapped. Yu Jiayi held her down, her elbow pressing firmly against the back of He Fanghui’s neck.

“That’s what happens when you don’t behave,” Yu Jiayi said without letting go, even adding a bit more pressure. “Do you dare try that again?”

He Fanghui screamed at the top of her lungs: “I don’t dare! I definitely don’t dare anymore!”

Yu Jiayi gave a disdainful cold snort before standing up and releasing her.

He Fanghui rubbed her sore, swollen arms, grumbling internally: Next time, I’ll tie you up first and see how tough you are then.

“It’s time to go. It’s dinner time, and everyone agreed to gather to organize the clues,” Yu Jiayi said, glancing at the time before heading into the bathroom to change clothes.

The death-defying He Fanghui leaned in close again, asking teasingly, “We’re both women, why are you hiding from me to change? I’m not going to eat you.”

“Or could it be… you’re shy?”

Yu Jiayi didn’t bother to respond. She only asked, “Are you going to change or not? Do you plan on going out like that?”

He Fanghui was wearing a simple linen nightgown. It appeared Yu Jiayi had changed her into it while she was asleep, but it was quite sheer—only suitable for sleeping.

“Sure, I’ll go out like this,” she said nonchalantly. “It looks pretty good anyway.”

Yu Jiayi walked to the wardrobe, grabbed a piece of clothing, and tossed it at her, hitting her square in the head.

“Stop talking nonsense and just change.” With that, she shoved He Fanghui into the bathroom.

He Fanghui took the garment off her head and looked at it. It was a professional long dress—very conservative, not at all her usual style.

This belonged to Yu Jiayi too.

The dress emitted a faint scent of laundry detergent; Yu Jiayi must have exchanged points for it and brought it into the dungeon.

After dragging her feet for a long time, He Fanghui finally emerged. Yu Jiayi was getting impatient, and the moment she saw her, she grabbed her and headed for the dining room.

In the dining room, Xiao Die and another girl sat together sobbing, their eyes brimming with tears. Luo Yongcheng was sighing heavily. Everyone’s faces were clouded with gloom; the atmosphere was terrible.

“What happened?” Yu Jiayi asked.

Someone looked up at her but didn’t answer.

“Another person is dead,” Chen Jian said, standing at the door holding his laptop, his expression dark and unreadable.

The Investigation

Zhu Ci was currently examining the corpse.

Having seen the scene through the monitors, Chen Jian had wanted to rush back immediately, but she had held him back.

“Don’t rush,” she urged. “Download the data first.”

He thought about it and nodded. The person was already dead; rushing there wouldn’t change anything. So, he returned to the console and continued typing on his computer.

In the video, Xiao Die and the other girl looked terrified, with no trace of acting. Zhu Ci rewound the surveillance footage, wanting to see how the person had died.

The footage showed that half an hour ago, nothing was there.

Then the screen flickered, white noise filling it for a moment. When it jumped forward five minutes, the person was already hanging from the railing.

They might have been killed first and then hung up. She would have to see the body to be sure.

Zhu Ci left the monitoring room, saying to Chen Jian, “I need to go back for a moment.”

“Ah,” Chen Jian said incredulously, “Don’t! If you leave me here alone, what will I do if they find me?”

“No one is going to come looking for you,” she said, knitting her brows. “Besides, it’s not like I’d be much use even if I stayed.”

“But I’d feel more secure.”

Zhu Ci noticed this man was becoming increasingly chatty. Not wanting to keep arguing with him, she promised she would return immediately.

She stepped out of the control room. Though she intended to leave directly, she noticed the winding, labyrinthine paths nearby.

She had wanted to explore them earlier but had been delayed by the emergency.

Now that she was alone, she summoned her gun and chose a path to enter.

The narrow corridor was silent, so quiet that she could almost hear her own heartbeat. She lightened her footsteps and used a knife to mark the walls so she wouldn’t forget her way back.

Zhu Ci had very poor luck.

She had been sickly since childhood. To help her recover, her parents had moved to a remote small town for her treatment. From childhood to adulthood, she had never encountered anything lucky.

In contrast, her brother, Zhu Yuan, was her polar opposite. Whether in academics or life, her brother possessed extraordinary luck.

Relatives often said that the sister’s luck had been given to the brother. Or, even more harshly, that the brother had stolen the sister’s fortune.

But she didn’t actually care. What did it matter if she lacked luck? Her parents and brother loved her dearly. She didn’t feel she had lost or been robbed of anything.

However, that might have just been her own perception.

The sleeve-blade was currently strapped to her thigh. She didn’t notice that on the screen, the “Calm Card” was glowing, with the letters SR flashing and shifting.

Suddenly, the letters UR replaced SR, flashing across the screen for a fleeting second.

As Zhu Ci walked alone, leaning against the wall, the light grew dim. Feeling a bit creeped out, she tapped on the long-unseen “Xiao Chuang.”

Xiao Chuang pretended to yawn and poked its head out: “Eh, you look familiar. Looking for me?”

It was clearly annoyed that Zhu Ci hadn’t called for it in a long time.

“I didn’t ignore you on purpose,” she said, curious if this AI robot actually held grudges. “It’s just that there are so many players around, I can’t exactly talk to you in front of them.”

Xiao Chuang rolled its eyes and flew over to sit on her shoulder: “Fine, fine. I forgive you.”

It felt somewhat like having a girlfriend.

Zhu Ci brushed that thought aside and asked, “I want to ask you—if those people die, are they really dead?”

“How many times are you going to ask that?” Xiao Chuang tilted its head, looking weary. “I told you, as long as you can escape and save the whole world, of course you can save the people who died.”

“We even have Resurrection Cards here. Do you think they’re truly dead?”

Zhu Ci remained silent. She couldn’t judge the truth of what Xiao Chuang said, but since she was worried about her parents and brother, she chose to think positively.

She engaged in small talk for a while to dissipate the creepy atmosphere. While chatting, she arrived at a fork in the road.

After some thought, she decided to go right.

“I want to go left, but I have bad luck, so I’ll do the opposite.”

“Don’t do that, Player,” Xiao Chuang flew up and looked down both paths. “You should trust your intuition. Human intuition is important—it’s a primal animal instinct for avoiding danger.”

These words convinced Zhu Ci.

After hesitating for a long time, she bolstered her courage and headed down the left path.

“Yay! Good luck!” Xiao Chuang cheered, but Zhu Ci thought she detected a hint of “relief” in its tone.

She had a nagging feeling she was being pranked.

The path to the left seemed endless. It grew narrower and narrower until, eventually, she had to drop to the ground and crawl forward.

Just as she was about to give up and go back to change routes, a glimmer of light shone through.

Zhu Ci pushed further in.

The glimmer turned into a beam, then into several scattered fragments of light that illuminated the entire crawlspace.

As she got closer, she realized she had reached a ventilation duct. Looking through the gaps, she saw what appeared to be a luxuriously decorated bedroom.

Using her watermelon knife, she carefully unscrewed the bolts of the vent cover, terrified of alerting anyone inside.

Once the screws were out, she pushed the small vent door aside and crawled out slightly.

After confirming no one was there, she climbed out and jumped onto the sofa.

Just as she was about to conduct a thorough search, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door. The door was seconds away from opening.

Thud. The door swung open. Zhu Ci dove under the sofa at lightning speed; another second and she would have been spotted. she panted softly.

The person walked to the desk, used a key to open a drawer, took something out, and locked it again.

Then, they hurriedly headed back toward the door.

At the threshold, however, they stopped.

Zhu Ci didn’t dare move, let alone breathe. She covered her mouth with her hands.

The pair of feet turned around and walked toward the sofa.

Her mind raced as she calculated her next move, her gun already in hand.

At that moment, a knock came from the door: “Boss, Disaster has something urgent to report.”

The person clicked their tongue: “Something urgent now?”

“Yes, they said it’s an emergency. They’re already waiting at the door.”

The person paused for a moment before saying, “Understood.”

That said, they remained standing there, seemingly hesitating.

Suddenly, they lunged toward the sofa and peered underneath.

There was nothing under the sofa—only the fine dust kicked up by their shoes.

The person searched unwillingly for another moment, but seeing nothing, they finally got up and left.

The door closed. Zhu Ci emerged from behind the door.

She let out a soft sigh.

Taking advantage of their conversation, she had crawled out from under the sofa and slipped behind the door.

Not knowing when the person might return, she scrambled to begin her search.

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