Mutual Redemption with the Villainous Boss [Infinite] - Chapter 40

“That is because her karma has reached its end; she will never fall into any cycle of cause and effect again.”

Zhu Ci found it somewhat strange that Dilireba did not pursue the fact that she had stolen something. This person gave her a sense of familiarity.

She asked tentatively, “But you haven’t either…”

Dilireba blinked at her without speaking. The hint was already obvious enough. She was the Red Witch who governed karma.

But the familiarity went beyond that. “Have we… met somewhere before?”

After asking, Zhu Ci felt a surge of nervousness. What if she had recognized the wrong person? If the person in front of her wasn’t that person, would this line of questioning cause trouble?

Unexpectedly, Dilireba laughed directly. Her eyes curved into crescents, and the upward arc of her lips revealed pearly white teeth. Her laughter was crisp, making Zhu Ci feel involuntarily cheerful.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have teased you.” Dilireba’s eyes held tears from laughing so hard. She wiped them away with a fingertip. “But your reaction was so cute, I like it so much.”

Zhu Ci’s brow twitched. “So, including the last dungeon, you were just pretending not to know me to tease me?”

And here she was, thinking there was some unspeakable situation!

For the entire afternoon, Dilireba coaxed her, continuing until the sky turned dark.

“Forgive me, okay…?” The woman tugged at Zhu Ci’s sleeve, shaking it gently. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, and she sobbed twice from time to time.

Zhu Ci turned her head away, refusing to give her a single glance.

“I was wrong… I just wanted to give you some hints, but I couldn’t say it directly…” The beauty was covered in tears, her eyes red like a startled rabbit.

Finally, after a long time of coaxing, Zhu Ci finally turned around to face her.

“I thought you weren’t coming this time. Did you specifically choose a dungeon with me in it?”

“Of course!” Seeing that she was forgiven, Dilireba smiled brilliantly again. “If you are here, I will definitely come.”

“Fine, I reluctantly forgive you, but you aren’t allowed to do that again.”

Zhu Ci wagged her index finger at her. The woman grabbed that finger to keep it from moving.

“Mhm, I promise!”

The sky grew late, and the night had turned completely dark outside. The rain continued to pitter-patter, showing no intention of stopping.

Dilireba simply told her to relax, saying it would stop at midnight.

Since she wasn’t in the village, she wasn’t sure what had happened during the afternoon. Thinking of the Blue Feather Flower, Zhu Ci asked, “Does this flower not grow in the village? I heard the villagers say it no longer grows.”

However, Dilireba did not answer directly, instead starting another topic: “Is the one I gave you still there?”

Zhu Ci took it out of her pocket. After a day, the flower had become withered and limp.

Dilireba stood up, went to the flower field outside to pluck a fresh flower covered in dew, and pinned it to Zhu Ci’s chest, taking the old one back.

“Don’t lose it. You must keep it with you.”

The moment it was pinned on, Zhu Ci felt a wave of drowsiness. She let out a yawn and leaned over the table.

“Go lie down on the bed and sleep,” Dilireba urged her. But she kept saying it was fine, just for a moment.

As she spoke, she drifted into a dreamland.

Perhaps because of the rain, she didn’t know how long she slept. When she woke up, Zhu Ci found herself lying on the bamboo bed covered with a quilt. Dilireba was gone.

She remembered that before falling asleep, she was leaning on the table. How did she wake up in the bed?

The rain outside had stopped.

Using her last acceleration enchantment, she rushed back to the village.

In the middle of the night, there wasn’t a soul in the village. This place certainly didn’t have streetlights like the modern world; one could only rely on the faint glimmer of the full moon in the sky to light the path.

At least when it wasn’t raining, the moon was quite round.

Seeing the house where she lived from a distance, Zhu Ci slowed her pace and approached quietly.

To her surprise, a figure was standing at the door.

In the moonlight, the person appeared as a thin shadow. Only upon getting closer could she see that it was Ruan Liangyan.

It was so late; what was he doing standing at her door?

Zhu Ci stopped advancing and hid in the shadows, observing him from behind a wall.

Ruan Liangyan maintained his posture from earlier in the day, looking up at the sky. It was unclear if he was staring at the moon or the starless void.

After a short while, Tong Lexi came out of the house. She seemed to have known he was outside and wasn’t surprised.

Tong Lexi opened her mouth and said a few words to Ruan Liangyan. He seemed to understand only partially, appearing dazed and confused, but he nodded and walked away.

It wasn’t until both had left her line of sight that Zhu Ci stepped out from the corner. She hesitated for a few seconds and decided to take a detour before going back.

Otherwise, entering the door immediately would get her noticed.

While wandering, she happened to run into Yan Wenxue, who seemingly never slept at night.

Yan Wenxue was kneeling on one knee, one hand propped on her knee and the other holding a long halberd. She was staring intently at the woods ahead like a hunter waiting for prey.

But she had held this posture for ten minutes, and Zhu Ci had watched her for ten minutes.

Unable to help herself, she spoke up and interrupted: “What are you doing?”

“Don’t make a sound, there’s movement in the woods.” Yan Wenxue raised her halberd, appearing ready to strike.

With a whoosh, she charged out.

Birds and beasts took flight in the woods, and leaves rustled as they were sliced.

Zhu Ci was a bit helpless. “Did you see it wrong? It was just birds.”

Yan Wenxue emerged from the forest with a head full of leaves, lifting her chin defiantly. “I really saw something at first.”

“Why don’t you ever sleep at night?”

Yan Wenxue looked at her and said, “I don’t need to. My thought card is called ‘Waning Sleep.’ I only need to sleep for two hours a day, which is perfect for me to search for clues in the dungeon.”

She countered with a question: “What about you? It’s three in the morning, and you aren’t asleep either?”

It was already 3:00 AM? It seemed she had slept for a long time at Dilireba’s house.

“I’m not sleeping… because I have a piece of intel here. Are you willing to exchange with me?”

Yan Wenxue became interested as soon as she heard about intel. Zhu Ci told her what had just happened, without hiding the matter regarding Tong Lexi.

Yan Wenxue frowned. “Isn’t that Tong person your teammate?”

“Yes, but the situation is a bit complicated. I don’t want to doubt her, but doubt always arises. How about this? I’ve already told you the intel in advance; you just need to help me find out what she is actually doing. After all, if I go, she will be on guard.” Zhu Ci lowered her eyes, her gaze dark and uncertain.

“Deal.” Yan Wenxue agreed readily. Although she was a bit difficult to get along with, she was quite fair in transactions. She didn’t even take out a lie detector, giving her full trust.

After wandering for a while longer, Zhu Ci finally returned to the house. The light in Tong Lexi’s room was still on; it only went dark suddenly the moment she opened the door and entered.

She was waiting for her.

According to Nuobu, today was the second day of the rainy season.

This time, before 7:00 AM, a scream woke everyone up.

Zhu Ci put on her clothes and went out immediately, but someone had already gotten ahead of her.

Tong Lexi stood at the door and said to the hurriedly dressing Zhu Ci, “You’re awake. No rush, I’ll go take a look first.”

“You’re up quite early, Tong Lexi. Did you sleep well last night?” Zhu Ci tugged her jacket into place, scanning her for a moment with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Tong Lexi pulled back the corners of her mouth.

Xue Yaru was wailing outside the door, her voice even louder than when she learned of Ye Yang’s death. She muttered intermittently, her hands clasped in prayer as she knelt and bowed, crawling toward the sky and then bowing again.

She had gone mad.

She used all her strength to crawl on the ground, and no one could stop her. Seeing the villagers resulted in nothing, but if she saw a player, she would grab onto their leg fiercely, either howling or biting.

Zhu Ci stepped out and saw Xue Yaru biting Qian Kai’s leg, refusing to let go. Qian Kai was so terrified that kicking her in the head did no good.

A floral scent drifted into Zhu Ci’s nose.

This scent was emanating from the space between the two entangled people. The smell was faint; among those present, she was likely the only one who could smell it.

The fragrance of the Blue Feather Flower.

The term suddenly jumped into her mind.

The Blue Feather Flower is karma. Could it be that because she was wearing this flower, she could smell the scent of karma?

Her hand subconsciously moved to the flower pinned to her chest.

Xue Yaru had bitten Qian Kai; the two had already pulled out a karmic cycle.

The surrounding people didn’t dare step forward. Tong Lexi also stood to the side, staring at the situation.

Entrusted by Zhu Ci, Yan Wenxue began to observe her.

A piece of flesh was bitten off Qian Kai’s leg, leaving it bloody. He was dragged to the ground, screaming, “Help! Help! Save me!”

Jing Miaozhen summoned her weapon, intending to go up and save him.

Her sleeve was pulled by Nuobu.

“Don’t go, Big Sister.” Even though Jing Miaozhen was old enough to be Nuobu’s mother, Nuobu still addressed her as sister. “Kindhearted Big Sister, they are exchanging karma. Do not go, or you will be dragged into it too.”

He only reminded Jing Miaozhen. Yan Wenxue, who also intended to use her weapon, received no warning, while the other villagers simply watched.

Zhu Ci remembered a sentence from the Great Priest’s notebook:

“Jing Miaozhen praised Nuobu.”

Could it be that because of this, Nuobu was repaying the “cause” to her?

It seemed she would have to steal the Great Priest’s notebook one more time.

Zhu Ci went over and held Yan Wenxue back, signaling her not to act rashly. Xue Yaru’s movements stopped. She didn’t seem to notice the other players and began her nonsensical bowing and wailing again.

A wound medicine appeared in Qian Kai’s hand; it seemed he had just purchased it from the mall.

Gritting his teeth, he urgently treated the wound, but the leg injury was severe, and he could no longer stand.

“Oh, my friend, you have done well.” Wulan walked up to Xue Yaru, leaning on her cane.

Xue Yaru was drooling, and a mark had appeared on her face at some unknown time.

Everyone watched her silently. They saw her wipe her face with the back of her hand, and another black mark appeared.

The black marks suddenly increased. No matter how she tried to wipe them, they wouldn’t go away, covering her entire face and extending down her neck into her collar.

It was the same Red Gu as Tong Lexi’s.

Zhu Ci turned her head and saw Tong Lexi in the distance, clutching her left arm and staring straight ahead.

Immediately after, Qian Kai was also covered in them across his face and body. He screamed “Ahhh!” and summoned a weapon, intending to scrape off the top layer of flesh.

In this situation, the players all took a step back, afraid of being affected.

Only Zhu Ci stepped forward as if she didn’t care at all, standing between the two of them and facing Qian Kai.

The question she asked sent a shock through everyone present.

“Why did you kill Ye Yang?”

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