Mutual Redemption with the Villainous Boss [Infinite] - Chapter 38

After Yan Wenxue finished speaking, everyone’s eyes shifted to her, but she didn’t seem to care.

No one expected that she was the one who had seen Ye Yang outside.

Moreover, it was likely the last time anyone saw him alive.

“Why were you out at night?” Xue Yaru asked, living up to her ranking. Although she was still consumed by grief, she hit on the crucial point.

“Taking a walk.”

Zhu Ci felt helpless; no one would believe such an excuse.

Sure enough, Ruan Liangyan began to shout.

“It’s her! She’s the killer! She even threatened us it was all because of her guilty conscience!”

Yan Wenxue shot him a piercing glare, but Ruan Liangyan didn’t shut up; he continued to yell and scream.

A gust of wind blew past, and a bloody gash appeared on his face.

Yan Wenxue retracted her halberd: “The next strike will be at your throat.”

Ruan Liangyan instantly became as quiet as a quail.

Zhu Ci contemplated. Although she couldn’t determine the exact time of death, based on the degree of blood coagulation, he had been dead for at least five hours or more.

That meant he was murdered after Yan Wenxue had encountered him.

Jing Miaozhen stated her own timeline, which could provide mutual alibis for her and Yan Wenxue: “The two of us stay together. She came back after 11:00 PM; I wasn’t asleep yet at that time.”

Lu Jun and Ruan Liangyan both stated that after they returned at 9:00 PM, they hadn’t gone out again.

Tong Lexi also said that she and Zhu Ci hadn’t left the house during the night.

That only left Qian Kai, who lived alone.

Seeing everyone turn their heads and focus their gazes on him, Qian Kai’s face turned pale. He said, “No, I didn’t see him.”

“Yesterday, when the Red Witch Assembly was held, you weren’t there. Where did you go?” Zhu Ci asked.

Qian Kai didn’t want to explain. He narrowed his eyes and spoke with an unfriendly tone: “That has nothing to do with you.”

“We are establishing a timeline right now,” Jing Miaozhen said, also disliking his defiant attitude. “Can you tell us your timeline from last night?”

Qian Kai curled his lip, sounding very impatient: “I haven’t been out since the afternoon.”

Yan Wenxue had been annoyed by him for a long time, so she deliberately withheld a piece of information.

“Last night, around 11:00 PM, I saw you.”

Qian Kai’s pupils dilated in shock.

Everyone collectively moved a bit further away from him, especially Ruan Liangyan, who had already hidden behind Lu Jun.

Seeing everyone’s wariness toward him, Qian Kai became flustered. He hurriedly responded to Yan Wenxue’s words: “Last night… it was… because I heard a noise outside, so I went out for a moment and came back quickly. That doesn’t count.”

No one believed him. After all, given the current situation, he was the most obvious and suspicious suspect.

Xue Yaru even summoned her soft whip directly, lashing it out to demand that Qian Kai explain himself clearly.

Qian Kai was very short. Under the illumination of the lights, sweat could be seen sliding down his forehead, and his fingertips were trembling.

Zhu Ci originally wanted Yan Wenxue to take out the lie detector even though it measured heartbeat wavelengths, it might be enough to bluff something out of him.

However, an unexpected person spoke up.

“Oh right, I remember now. At 4:00 AM this morning, I saw that guy named Ye Yang.” Tong Lexi spoke as if she had just remembered, slapping her forehead. Upon hearing this, Qian Kai looked at her in shock.

Zhu Ci asked, “Why didn’t you say so just now?”

“Oh, I forgot. I was just thinking about who I saw this morning, and it just hit me wasn’t that the dead guy?” Tong Lexi giggled, her tone light and casual, as if she hadn’t seen the deceased for the last time, but had simply run into a friend.

Since Tong Lexi had already received corroboration from the High Priest yesterday, everyone didn’t have much to say about her words. Even Yan Wenxue only rolled her eyes but didn’t argue.

Zhu Ci did not raise any objections at that moment.

Even though Tong Lexi’s words were full of suspicious points.

According to what she said, Ye Yang’s time of death was shifted to after 4:00 AM, until 8:00 AM when the body was discovered by Ruan Liangyan; no one else had seen him in between.

Qian Kai breathed a silent sigh of relief and stole a sideways glance at the group.

With no further evidence, Jing Miaozhen decided to go ask the villagers to see if anyone had seen the deceased in the morning.

Before they could leave, the Village Chief, Ulan, appeared at the door.

Her expression was vibrant and her eyes were glowing, yet she carried no smile. Facing everyone, she said: “Friends! Why are you gathered here? Shall we enjoy the baptism of the rain together today?”

“One of us has died. May I ask whose house that is, and if any of you have seen the deceased?” Jing Miaozhen caught hold of the village chief and asked urgently.

Tatalina bowed respectfully from behind, hoping to lead the way and provide answers for everyone.

The players swarmed toward the place where Ye Yang had died. Qian Kai was unwilling to go, but he couldn’t resist Yan Wenxue’s coercion.

The villagers walked in the rain, completely unbothered by the fact that they were getting drenched.

The closer they got to the house, the stronger the foul odor became, filling everyone’s noses and mouths.

Tatalina looked at the corpse and commanded a few villagers to lift the body out and place it on the sacrificial altar in the mountains.

“Sacrificial altar?” Jing Miaozhen questioned.

“Yes. After a person dies, they are placed on the altar, and the Great Red Witch will perform the rites for them,” Tatalina said.

Seeing the villagers had prepared a bamboo stretcher and were placing Ye Yang on it to carry him out, Zhu Ci said: “You still haven’t answered us. Who among you saw him this morning, and whose house is this?”

“Haha, friend, don’t be so tense. People are bound to die.” Village Chief Ulan stepped forward with a smile on her face, having no intention of explaining properly. “It’s just a matter of sooner or later. Even if someone killed him, that person has created a cause and will receive their due fruit. This is all a cycle of reincarnation, with traces to follow.”

Zhu Ci did not respond to Ulan’s words; she simply watched them carry Ye Yang’s body out.

The sacrificial altar was on the back mountain, and the players all intended to follow along.

In the end, she stayed behind. Once everyone had left, Tong Lexi asked her: “The killer won’t be found for the time being. Let’s go too.”

“Why did you lie?”

Tong Lexi stopped in her tracks.

“You clearly didn’t go out this morning.” Zhu Ci’s gaze was calm as she looked at her back. “What benefit do you get from saying such things?”

She slowly turned her head and cracked a grin: “I didn’t lie. I couldn’t sleep last night, tossing and turning, so I thought about going out for a walk before I left. You were sleeping so soundly, of course you wouldn’t know, Zhu Ci.”

“Ah, right,” she added another point. “The rain stopped at 12:00 AM last night and started again at 6:00 AM this morning, which is why I didn’t get wet. My clothes are all dry.”

Zhu Ci remained silent, simply staring into her eyes.

She stared until Tong Lexi felt her skin crawl.

Tong Lexi laughed awkwardly and said with a somewhat fawning tone: “Really, don’t you believe me?”

“Your shoes are clean.”

On a rainy day, even if the rain has stopped, stepping on the ground will pick up mud especially in the mountains.

However, on Tong Lexi’s shoes, the mud left from yesterday had long been washed away by the rain, and there wasn’t even a trace of new mud.

Since it hadn’t rained this morning, where was the new mud?

Tong Lexi began to panic, stammering: “Ah, yesterday… today… it rained again this morning, so it was washed away.”

But before they left at 8:00 AM today, there was already nothing on her shoes.

Zhu Ci knew that if someone had their heart set on hiding something, they wouldn’t talk.

She just couldn’t figure out the meaning behind this lie.

She brushed past Tong Lexi’s shoulder, her gaze cold, lightly dropping a single sentence: “Let’s go.”

Tong Lexi stood frozen in place, bit her lip, and hurriedly followed.

The villagers carried the bamboo stretcher, with the players following behind, forming a long line as they headed toward the back mountain.

From a distance, Zhu Ci saw someone standing on the other side of the mountain.

A blue dress fluttered lightly, and silver ornaments shone brightly in the light. She stood silently in the heavy rain, yet the water didn’t seem to affect her in the slightest.

The person raised her right hand and placed a finger to her lips.

“Shh.”

For a moment, Zhu Ci seemed to hear that person’s voice echoing in her ear.

When she blinked and looked again, the person was gone.

Dilireba…

Was it her?

The journey wasn’t particularly long; they arrived after an hour of walking.

A large stone platform sat there, flat and rounded. The rain washed over the surface, making it so smooth that not a single drop remained.

The villagers placed the bamboo stretcher on the ground, lifted the corpse onto the stone platform, and spread a white cloth over it.

Subsequently, the Village Chief moved her cane aside and, supported by Tatalina, knelt on the ground.

The other villagers followed suit and knelt down.

“Great Red Witch, please protect the lost soul and return it to its homeland.”

The villagers chanted along:

“Great Red Witch, please protect the lost soul and return it to its homeland!”

Dilireba appeared again, standing amidst the bushes with her hands behind her back, her expression somewhat playful.

Zhu Ci was startled and looked left and right, but no one else seemed to notice her presence.

“Shh.”

The voice reached her ear again.

Did she mean for her not to make a sound?

Dilireba moved behind the players. Zhu Ci turned back to look at her, only to see her lightly waving her left hand, pointing toward the sacrificial altar.

The white cloth on the altar moved.

No one noticed this abnormality. The white cloth shook, bulging bit by bit; what lay beneath no longer seemed like a corpse, but rather like squirming insect eggs.

Finally, someone noticed.

Xue Yaru opened her mouth, but it was as if some force was strangling her throat; she couldn’t utter a word.

She could only struggle to reach out toward the direction of her dead lover.

All the players watched as the white cloth continuously bulged until it formed a massive sphere, swelling in size. Finally, it was as if it had been deflated, returning to stillness.

The humanoid protrusion underneath was gone; only the white cloth remained.

“Where is the person? They disappeared?” Ruan Liangyan couldn’t believe his eyes.

Xue Yaru was in disbelief. The restriction on her throat was released, and she rushed madly onto the altar, ripping away the white cloth.

It was empty.

The corpse was gone.

The villagers performed a final bow. Ulan was helped up and raised her hands high.

A series of crimson marks suddenly twisted across the sacrificial altar, vivid and dripping. They spiraled in a chaotic fashion, forming indecipherable incantations, yet they were slightly different from the ones on Tong Lexi’s arm.

It was no longer that flickering black, but a dazzling red.

Zhu Ci turned around to search for Dilireba, but she was no longer there.

Was all of this her doing?

She saw Ulan open her mouth, letting out a loud cry of “Ah! Ah!”, and kowtowed three times.

She continuously chanted: “Death is extinguished, yet karma remains. The rain and dew wash the Red Gu; nothing can remain hidden!”

Support Mutual Redemption with the Villainous Boss [Infinite]