“Wow~ You look just like someone I know!”

Hearing Lu Xiaoyao’s overly familiar line again, Mingmei’s lips couldn’t help but twitch.

Mu Chen, standing beside her, slightly raised the corners of his mouth, but quickly suppressed it when Mingmei noticed.

“I have a pretty generic face. I look like everyone.”

Mingmei replied to Lu Xiaoyao with a deadpan expression, half-heartedly maintaining her persona.

However, she was surprised to see Lu Xiaoyao give her a look of pity.

Mingmei: ?????

What was Lu Xiaoyao imagining this time?

“You guys get settled in first. I’ll head home and come find you around lunchtime.”

Seeing Lu Xiaoyao chatting with the shop owner, Wang Wenfei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She hadn’t expected the owner of the guesthouse to be the mysterious merchant, so staying here shouldn’t be a problem, right?

With that thought, she bid everyone farewell and turned to head into the village. Mu Chen and Julian stood there. Seeing Julian staring silently at Wang Wenfei’s departing figure, Mu Chen spoke up.

“I think there’s something off about her.”

Julian could only confide such intuitive guesses to Mu Chen. The other two girls were close to Wang Wenfei, so voicing his suspicions so bluntly could easily upset them, or even make them think he was the problem.

“After the midday rest, we can take a stroll through the village…” There was no need to finish the sentence; Julian understood Mu Chen’s meaning.

What surprised him more was that Mu Chen didn’t even ask why he suspected her or what evidence he had.

Seeing Mu Chen head directly to the counter, accept the keys and room number Mingmei handed him, and go upstairs, Julian followed. Then, Lu Xiaoyao and Merita also took their keys and went upstairs.

As they went upstairs, Merita turned to Lu Xiaoyao and asked suspiciously, “Doesn’t it bother you that this boss looks so much like Mingmei?”

“Bother me about what? It’s fine. I remember both Meimei and Da Lao said they sold the copyright for their image models to the game company, so it’s not surprising that there are NPCs in the game that look like them.”

“Oh, really? But Mingmei is really good-looking; it’s possible she was chosen by the game company for modeling.” Merita nodded, feeling like something was off, but since Lu Xiaoyao and Mingmei were so close and she had said that, she didn’t press further. However, in the end, she still reminded her, “But, is an NPC with her face just a normal character?”

“Probably?”

Lu Xiaoyao scratched her head; she wasn’t sure about that.

Some of her memories from entering the game were suppressed, so she was really vague about that.

Thinking about it, Lu Xiaoyao sighed and said, “But this NPC miss is so pitiful. She’s so pretty, but the designer gave her a setting where she thinks she has a generic face? Oh my god, I wish I had Meimei’s kind of generic face, okay?”

Having said that, Lu Xiaoyao sighed and shook her head repeatedly, “So tragic, beauty without knowing it! How tragic must it be to live like that?”

Merita: “…” It wasn’t that bad, was it?

Mingmei, watching Lu Xiaoyao’s comments through the live stream: “…”

The audience in the live stream: […]

How could Lu Xiaoyao’s focus be so strange?

[Kid! Listen more to what the miss next door is saying!]

[Listen to her analysis!]

[How can someone so good-looking be a normal character?]

[That's right! Someone so good-looking, clearly sells boxed lunches! Dog head~]

…

After going up to the second floor, Lu Xiaoyao and the others entered their room. She and Merita shared one. A huge floor-to-ceiling window faced north, and opening it led to a balcony with a direct view of the lush, green Crescent Moon Mountain in the distance.

Lu Xiaoyao took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air with the moist scent of soil and the fragrance of leaves. It was simply a natural oxygen bar!

“Oh my god, this is so great. Is this game company taking pity on us, giving everyone a welfare round for the New Year?”

As Lu Xiaoyao murmured while gazing at the scenery outside the balcony, Merita had already taken a turn around the room.

The room wasn't large, but it had complete utilities and a separate bathroom. She saw Lu Xiaoyao standing on the balcony and walked out as well. However, on the balcony, she looked up and saw no light on the ceiling, but two unlit torches hanging on the wall.

“This is… decoration?” Merita stepped forward suspiciously. Before she could reach out to touch it, she already faintly smelled the scent of lamp oil.

The torch in front of her wasn’t just a simple decoration; it looked like it could actually be used. .oγg

“What’s wrong?”

Lu Xiaoyao saw Merita facing away from her, staring at the wall, and something seemed off.

“You can actually use torches here? Aren’t they afraid someone will be curious and actually use it and set the house on fire?”

Although this guesthouse building was built entirely of brick and stone, a lot of wood was used in the details, such as the floors. The doors, windows, and balcony railings were all made of wood.

“Then don’t touch them~”

Lu Xiaoyao shrugged, patted her shoulder, and said, “Relax, since the owner did this, she must have her reasons. If you’re really curious, just go downstairs and ask her~”

“Okay.”

Noticing that Lu Xiaoyao and the others had already paid attention to the torches through Lu Xiaoyao’s live stream, Mingmei smiled slightly.

Whether they came down and asked her about it later or not, they would probably know if they went to the village for a stroll in the afternoon.

Near noon, as Lu Xiaoyao and her group were almost finished tidying up upstairs, Wang Wenfei came out of the village with a bad complexion and arrived at the shop.

Although Mingmei's place was a guesthouse, she had already decided not to provide any food other than boxed lunches.

However, the kitchen could be borrowed.

So, she watched Wang Wenfei carry the food she had brought into the kitchen, looking like she was going to cook for Lu Xiaoyao and the four of them.

Lu Xiaoyao and Merita went downstairs and saw this scene, and sure enough, they forgot about asking Mingmei about the torches they had talked about upstairs and immediately went into the kitchen to help.

Afterward, Julian also went in to ask if there was any heavy work he needed to do. Only Mu Chen stood in front of Mingmei, without moving.

“Boss, do you have any ready-made meals here?” Even though everyone knew each other, Mu Chen and Mingmei tacitly pretended not to recognize each other at this time.

“Yes, but they’re quite expensive. Are you still willing to buy them?”

For the first time, Mu Chen didn’t hear the mysterious merchant prompt even after she said that. His gaze fell on the face in front of him again. Seeing the sly look that flashed in Mingmei’s eyes, Mu Chen reached out and gently scraped the tip of her nose when no one was around.

“I’ll buy them no matter how expensive they are.”

[Ding—Congratulations, player, you have discovered the mysterious merchant. Please select the items you want to purchase within the limited time.]

The transaction system opened, and Mu Chen saw the boxed lunches and their selling prices. Suddenly, he laughed.

With a teasing tone, he asked, “A bamboo shoot and pork boxed lunch for 1000 star coins, a sliced boiled chicken boxed lunch for 1500 star coins, guess—will Uncle Yan Hui be scolded to death by the players?”

You know, unlocking this new game only cost 99 star coins!