"The neighbor Auntie next door warmly invited me to her house and introduced her daughter to me. I felt it would be rude not to go," Qin Nuo said.
"Is it that beautifully dressed Auntie? I've seen her, she seems a bit strange," Li Qianqian said.
"Maybe."
Qin Nuo replied casually, letting Li Qianqian in to sit in the living room while he went to change his clothes.
"What kind of person is your classmate? Male or female, easy to get along with?"
Li Qianqian seemed very anxious about social interactions, bombarding him with questions as soon as she entered.
Qin Nuo came out wearing a windbreaker, old and loose, probably belonging to his scoundrel father. He zipped it up; the weather in Younan Town was always chilly, even when the sun was shining brightly.
"They should be easy to get along with. We'll see when we get there."
...
In the village, many houses were packed closely together, with alleys of various sizes crisscrossing between them. Finding a specific one could be a headache, but fortunately, Li Qianqian was familiar with the area and easily led Qin Nuo to Beiping Alley.At the very end of the alley was a white brick house, abandoned for a long time.
Pushing open the rotten wooden door, it fell apart, raising a cloud of dust.
The inside was long deserted.
Li Qianqian looked puzzled, "Are you sure this is the place?"
Qin Nuo was also a bit surprised. He checked the house number at the corner of the door; it was indeed No. 36 Beiping Alley.
An old man passed by the entrance of the alley, and Qin Nuo went over to ask him.
"Oh, you mean that family... years ago, their child went missing, and the parents moved away, leaving the house abandoned for a long time."
The old man was a bit hard of hearing and only understood after Qin Nuo repeated himself several times.
Qin Nuo asked, "Do you know where they moved to, Grandpa?"
"I'm not sure about that."
The old man shook his head, his gaze falling on Li Qianqian, squinting as he studied her carefully.
Li Qianqian wasn't scared, her eyes showing a hint of confusion.
"Girl, I think I've seen you before. Didn't I hold you when you were little?" the old man asked.
Li Qianqian shook her head, "Grandpa, I don't know you."
"Is that so? Maybe I remembered wrong."
The old man chuckled and walked away.
Qin Nuo watched the old man leave, squinted his eyes, and turned back towards the house, with Li Qianqian following behind.
Inside was a mess, garbage everywhere. Li Qianqian covered her nose and mouth, looking around, "Is this some kind of prank?"
"It's not a prank, and we didn't find the wrong place."
Qin Nuo said, the child the old man mentioned must be Yanan.
"Qianqian, just sit anywhere for a moment. I'm going to look around."
Leaving these words, Qin Nuo headed upstairs, while Li Qianqian stood there, realizing there was nowhere to sit.
Upstairs, the air was stifling. Qin Nuo opened the balcony doors and windows, his gaze sweeping the living room.
Stepping on the rotten wooden boards, he suddenly felt a sharp pain; he had stepped on a nail, piercing through the rubber sole and injuring his foot.
The wound wasn't deep, and Qin Nuo treated it simply, planning to leave, but a broken photo frame caught his attention in the gap between the boards.
He picked it up, looking at the family photo inside, his expression changing before furrowing his brows tightly.
"What happened, did you get hurt?" Li Qianqian came up upon hearing the noise.
Qin Nuo discreetly put away the photo frame, hiding it under his coat, and shook his head, "Just a minor scratch, let's go downstairs, it's too stuffy here."
Back on the first floor, Qin Nuo casually asked, "Qianqian, do you know someone named Yanan, a classmate of mine?"
"I don't know any of your friends, why?" Li Qianqian asked.
"This was his home." Qin Nuo said, one hand in his pocket, the other rummaging through the surroundings.
"Did he move away?" Li Qianqian asked.
"I have a feeling something might have happened to him."
Li Qianqian blinked, seemingly searching for comforting words, but Qin Nuo waved it off, "Let's go back."
"Just leave like this?"
"Yanan isn't home, what are we staying here for? To have dinner with some invisible guests?"
"Are you talking about ghosts? They don't scare me."
Qin Nuo chuckled and walked out of the house, with Li Qianqian following, looking bewildered.
After parting with Li Qianqian, it was already dusk when Qin Nuo returned home.
He placed the photo frame on the table, staring at the family photo inside, lost in thought for over ten minutes.
His right hand revealed a blood eye, and the Blood-Eyed Ghost looked at the photo frame, asking strangely, "Has this photo frame given you the answer?"
"Many things have surfaced, but some pieces are still missing."
Qin Nuo took out two items he obtained from a previous mission.
A music box and a crescent pendant.
"The message these items convey is simple. From the moment I played the first role, that mysterious principal has been playing an important role by my side."
"The music box, why is there one in Li Xiaoming's room? Why does Li Xiaoming's mother seem familiar?"
"It's simple, because this music box belongs to Li Xiaodie. As for when that guy started playing Li Xiaodie, I don't know. But I have to admit, their acting is so convincing that I didn't notice anything unusual about Li Xiaodie."
"Then why is it in Li Xiaoming's wardrobe?" the Blood-Eyed Ghost asked, puzzled.
Qin Nuo shrugged, "There could be many reasons. Maybe Li Xiaodie sang with the music box every night, disturbing Li Xiaoming's studies or sleep, so he stole it in a fit of anger and hid it in the wardrobe."
"Mo Fang might have just glanced at it by chance, leaving a vague impression, which is normal."
"What about the crescent pendant?"
"Is it that invisible female teacher who gave you a finger bone?" the Blood-Eyed Ghost asked.
"Who else could it be?" Qin Nuo got up to pour himself a glass of water, then sat back down.
"That's just your guess."
Qin Nuo picked up the crescent pendant, smiling, "Not entirely a guess."
"Li Xiaodie's words are law. For an ordinary game instance NPC to have such power is absurd. Moreover, when playing the invisible female teacher, that guy slipped up once."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost was intrigued, "How did they slip up?"
"The last time we talked, she mentioned wanting to replace my girlfriend and be the one to accompany me for the rest of my life."
"But in reality, Liang Zisu was playing Liang Zifeng and never mentioned his girlfriend Xiao Feng'er to anyone. How did she know?"
The Blood-Eyed Ghost suddenly realized, "Whoa! Why didn't you catch her then?"
"Realized too late, couldn't help it."
"Besides, there are too many uncertainties. Even if I caught her, it would just be a stand-in played by the mysterious principal. Catching the real one would be the end of this hide-and-seek game!"
Qin Nuo leaned back in his chair, hands crossed, "That Shi Yu also noticed, but didn't dare to act. Probably thinking the same as me."
"What's the point of them playing these roles?"
"For them, it's probably just for fun."
"They enjoy playing roles around players without the players noticing, a testament to their confidence and pride in their acting skills."
"But for some meticulous players, there are always flaws."
Qin Nuo said, flipping the photo frame again, his eyes fixed on the people in the picture.
"Considering these two examples, the mysterious principal must now be playing someone close to Qin Feng."
Qin Nuo's eyes sparkled, a strong gleam flowing in his pupils.
"In other words, among the people I've interacted with recently, one of them is the mysterious principal!"