บท 9: Chapter 9 Rose Flower
Tan Xiaohe took the paper, but continued to read on, her interest apparently piqued as she quickly glanced over each letter.
But the messages were all pretty much the same threatening and intimidating words.
The handwriting was so nice, yet the words spoken were so spine-chilling, and there were even things that looked like red bloodstains on several pages. Tan Xiaohe sniffed them and realized they were indeed blood.
Yang Ming watched her in horror, "What are you doing?!"
Tan Xiaohe rolled her eyes and casually said while looking at the letters, "I'm looking for any useful information. Do you really need to be that scared? I actually find it quite interesting."
"…" Yang Ming thought for a moment, then seriously said, "What excites one person may not excite another."
What's more, when they had first met, this girl had seemed so cute and naïve, giving the impression of being pure and easily bullied. Who would have thought she'd be such a hard-core fan in secret?
It's no wonder in a Scripted Murder Game, the players chosen are all acting talent.
While Yang Ming internally commented, his hands weren't slow in stealing data; the Manor Owner's computer contained a lot of stuff, and without time to sort through what was useful and what wasn't, he had to copy everything wholesale.
Having finished with the letters, Tan Xiaohe turned to the bookshelf. Although she was up to a lot, her movements were so light that they didn't make a sound.
In the silent, pitch-dark study room, only the gleam from the computer screen shone, its brightness turned down to the lowest.
Each person carried on with their own task, tacitly making no unnecessary noise. However, at the next moment, a sudden "click" echoed in the deathly quiet space.
Whoosh!
Tan Xiaohe's head shot up, and then she swiftly moved to the side of the door, silent as a shadow.
She pressed her ear against the door to listen, then gestured to Yang Ming.
As soon as that inexplicable noise was heard, Yang Ming had already started packing up the computer and his tablet, but now, he couldn't find a place to hide!
The entire study was visible right from the entrance; the desk was in front of the window, one wall lined with tall bookshelves, the other with sofas and a coffee table for guests, clean and simple, with nowhere to hide a person!
Even though the villa was soundproofed very well, the rustling sounds just outside the door, accompanied by the faint murmur of conversation, had already begun to filter through.
The person who had just tried the doorknob, upon finding the door locked, seemed to be getting a key ready.
Tan Xiaohe deftly twisted her body to return to the room and casually stuffed the book she had taken back into the shelf. Then, she went to the window and quietly opened it.
She pointed outside the window.
Jump out?!
Yang Ming's eyes widened as he looked at her; and before he could react, the girl had smoothly vaulted out, her Nightwear blending her quickly into the night.
Click...
The faint sound of a key entering the lock seemed clearer than ever before.
Yang Ming gritted his teeth, clambered onto the windowsill, and as he swung his legs over, he realized that Tan Xiaohe, who had just jumped out, was holding onto the window ledge, moving sideways towards the next room's window.
The room next door was the master bedroom, with the windows of the two rooms only about half a meter apart.
Tan Xiaohe moved to the edge while gripping the study's window ledge, then stretched out her left hand to touch the master bedroom's ledge and quickly shifted her fulcrum there.
Yang Ming, still holding onto the windowsill mid-air, had to admire the girl's strength.
Supporting the entire weight of her body with her hands was no small feat. He quickly closed the window, and at that moment, the study room's door opened completely with a click.
Yang Ming didn't have time to peek to see who entered. He carefully moved to the edge of the windowsill, and then he was stumped.
His hands were already tired, and now he was supposed to hang on with one hand and move his body across!
By this time, Tan Xiaohe had finished moving across and was gently pushing the master bedroom's window; finding it able to open, she propped up her upper body and climbed in.
Yang Ming: "…"
This girl must actually be a martial arts expert.
Thump—
Suddenly, the lights in the study were turned on!
The warm yellow light instantaneously spilled out of the window, and a pair of hands that had been perfectly hidden in the darkness were exposed under the light, their four fingers grasping the window ledge tinged with a dull yellow hue.
Yang Ming was startled, not daring to gamble on whether the person would come to the window to check. If discovered, he could hardly explain himself.
He took a deep breath, then clenched his teeth and reached out his left hand to grab the window ledge next to him, the veins on the back of his hand bulging from the exertion. At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out from the master bedroom window and grabbed his wrist.
Tan Xiaohe looked at him with a face full of disdain.
…
Meanwhile, while a Spider-Man like drama unfolded on one wall of the villa, in the pitch-black courtyard, a person stood there, silently watching them.
After witnessing the agile girl jumping and flipping through the window and timely pulling up her companion, that person also raised their hand and silently applauded.
Compared to themselves, others' missions seemed even more thrilling.
Then, they glanced over at the study with its lights turned on, the silhouettes of two people reflected on the window.
Only someone inside the villa would dare to turn on the light in the middle of the night, and moreover, it had to be someone with a clear conscience.
Xu Shuo withdrew his gaze, not wasting any more time. He turned around, picked up a shovel, casually brushed the long hair that had fallen over his eyes, and then vigorously drove the shovel into the soil.
…
In the master bedroom, after finally flipping inside, Yang Ming lay on the floor gasping for breath, looking at Tan Xiaohe who was searching the master bedroom as if nothing had happened.
"You really have good stamina," he commented.
Tan Xiaohe scoffed with disdain: "Regular exercise. I guess you're just a fragile homebody in real life."
Yang Ming didn't reply, just covertly rolled his eyes and began to survey the master bedroom.
The master bedroom in the villa was very spacious, twice the size of the study, with two windows—one beside the sofa and coffee table, and the other by the bed.
The window connected to the study was on the side of the sofa. Yang Ming, sitting on the sofa to rest, looked towards the bed through the night-vision goggles and saw a raised arc that resembled the shape of a person.
"Hey..." Yang Ming's voice trembled as he spoke softly.
"What now?" Tan Xiaohe, who was rummaging through the drawers in the coffee table, asked without lifting her head.
"Look at the bed, doesn't it seem like there's someone lying there? Isn't this master bedroom only occupied by Mr. Guo? Didn't their female host already pass away? And their son has his own room, right? And that person, they're also already dead, aren't they…" Yang Ming was becoming increasingly incoherent.
"Idiot, the butler had moved his master here from the dining room earlier," Tan Xiaohe said, making him feel like an utter fool on the spot.
Yang Ming: "…"
"Alright, don't waste time here; you go check that wardrobe over there," Tan Xiaohe added.
The system had said the task was to find the treasure in the manor, but it did not specify what the treasure was. Was it actual gold and jewels, a stack of cash, or some other cultural relic or antique?
They had no choice but to search everywhere—perhaps they would suddenly trigger the mission.
Yang Ming looked at the wardrobe next to the bed, suspecting that this girl was doing it on purpose. He moved over slowly, trying not to look at the corpse on the bed.
But sometimes, eyes have a mind of their own!
Yang Ming glanced fearfully at the body covered with a white cloth, glanced at the body again, and then… something seemed off?
He moved closer and finally got a clear view of the slight protrusion on the white cloth—it appeared to be a flower.
"That old butler brought Mr. Guo in and even put a rose on top. Is their relationship that special?" Yang Ming whispered to Tan Xiaohe, who was in the darkness.
"What?" Tan Xiaohe paused, then immediately ran over to look.
On the bed, where Mr. Guo was covered with a white cloth, at the position over his chest lay a withered and decayed rose.
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