CH 146

Chapter 146 – 1992-2020

Although they finally got out of the orphanage, the range of activities available was very small, practically only on one street.

The street where XX Primary School is located is only one or two kilometers from the beginning to the end. In addition to the primary school, there are various stationery stores, snack bars and several residential buildings on both sides of the road. It took only ten minutes for Lian Qiao and Little Apple to walk from one end of the street to the other and they already had a rough idea of ​​the layout of the whole street.

Like the orphanage, there are barriers at the end of the street, and if you step out, you will be teleported back to the other side of the street. It seems that the scenes in this dungeon all have this routine. As RenDong grows up, new scenes will be unlocked in the future.

There are pros and cons to this setup. The advantage is that the scene is small and it is more convenient to collect clues. The disadvantages are also obvious. Once a ghost appears, there is nowhere to hide.

Fortunately, their teammates are almost dead. In addition to being haunted by ghosts, they don’t need to be wary of teammates for the time being.

The two walked into the stationery store next to the elementary school and began to look for clues. The proprietress was a chubby, middle-aged woman, amiable and kind, and she is good at doing business with elementary school students. At this time, the peak period of schooling had just passed and her business was very deserted. Seeing this young pair, she was very happy to chat with them.

Little Apple asked a few words casually and quickly understood the situation of the elementary school.

It turned out that the orphanage was in the school district of this elementary school, so when Little RenDong reached the right age, he automatically entered this school. In those days, school districts were not as strict as they are now. After RenDong finishes elementary school, there will be a small entrance exam to decide which junior high school to enter.

Although the schools at that time were known as quality education, the examinations were still based on examinations. In order not to let their children lose at the starting line, many parents have sharpened their heads and sent their children to special classes since elementary school. The same is true for XX Primary School. Excellent teachers are all flocking to the special classes but the quality of teaching in the class where Little RenDong is located was really worrying.

After hearing this, Little Apple felt infinitely moved. She is a few years younger than RenDong  but they were born in similar ages and she has also gone through this road of entrance exams. Thinking about it now, she misses it very much.

“Hey, isn’t your RenDong…” Little Apple turned her head but, before finishing her sentence, she suddenly realized that Lian Qiao was absent-minded, so she changed her words in surprise, “Did you find something?”

Lian Qiao didn’t answer for a moment, just frowning and not revealing what he was thinking. Until Little Apple patted him on the shoulder, Lian Qiao was taken aback and subconsciously wanted to take out the crowbar. However, the crowbar was in the backpack and RenDong had already brought it into school. When he pulled it out with his backhand, it turned out to be empty and he couldn’t help being shocked.

Little Apple said: “Calm down, don’t be surprised, okay? It’s daytime now!”

“…” Lian Qiao came back to his senses, looked around, and found that the fat proprietress was looking at him in surprise.

“Ahem.” Lian Qiao coughed unnaturally and asked Little Apple, “What did you say?”

Little Apple stuck out her tongue, “I was so scared by you, I forgot what I wanted to say.”

Lian Qiao casually let out an “oh” and suddenly remembered something. He walked up to the fat proprietress, and asked: “Boss, how is your business normally?” 

She laughed and said, “Of course it’s good! Our location is good, close to the school. Every day after school, students flock in and business is booming!”

Lian Qiao glanced at the food basket on the counter, then pointed to the bread inside and said: “These snacks are also very popular with children, right?”

“That’s right. The bread here is all custom-made from the bakery. For children, it must be fresh and hygienic!” The fat proprietress smiled. She looked amicable, with sincere enthusiasm in her  words, “But sometimes the business is so good that the bakery doesn’t even have time to deliver the goods!” 

“My child also like to eat this kind of small bread.” Lian Qiao’s brows tilted up and bent into a gentle arc, “It’s a pity that their school is tightly controlled and parents are not allowed to come in and out during school hours. Alas, I’m really afraid that he will be hungry during class!”

Little Apple: “…” Although I don’t know what you are doing but you are really getting into the play.

The fat proprietress had a good impression of Lian Qiao already and, when she heard what he said as a good father, she immediately said enthusiastically: “Aiya, then why don’t you give him some pocket money and let him buy it himself!” 

“Can he come out during class time?”

The fat proprietress smiled and leaned over, lowered her voice and said mysteriously: “Actually, the back door of our store is open to the school. You tell him, if he wants to eat, come and knock on the back door!”

As soon as the words came out, Little Apple’s eyes lit up instantly.

It turned out that Lian Qiao wasn’t talking nonsense!

The guards prevented Lian Qiao from entering the school, so Lian Qiao wanted to find an alternate way in! But as a stranger, if he rashly asked the proprietress if there was a back door, the proprietress would definitely not say out of vigilance! No wonder he wants to get close to the proprietress and pretend to be a parent!

At this time, Little Apple sincerely admired Lian Qiao. For the first time, she realized that Lian Qiao not only had explosive force but his mind was also extremely powerful!

Lian Qiao chatted with the proprietress for a while and, seeing that there were no more clues to uncover in the store, left with Little Apple.

As soon as he left the shop, the smile on Lian Qiao’s face disappeared instantly. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his pupils focused on another building like a sniper scope, then he pointed ahead and said, “Go to that snack bar and have a look.”

Seeing his face change in a second, Little Apple suddenly had another feeling in his heart. A strange feeling.

This person… seems a little unfathomable?

When encountering something related to Xu RenDong, Lian Qiao will burst out with infinite tenderness and infinite courage. But as soon as he turned around, he would immediately calm down again. When he is calm, he is like an experienced hunter. His eyes are like scopes that can always grasp the key points at the first time. Every step he takes and every decision he makes is extremely correct and timely, just like …

It’s like holding the perfect pass strategy in your hand.

Could it be…

When Little Apple thought of this, she felt a little creeped out. But soon she pushed the horrible thought out of her mind.

Perfect strategy? How is that possible!

After playing the instance together for so many days, she witnessed Lian Qiao’s dangers in battle. Lian Qiao’s victory is not without price – he still has three ghost hand prints on his back!

That’s the curse placed on him by the vicious little girl who stole the toilet paper. Before the little girl died, she cursed him to die three days later. At that time, Lian Qiao stepped on her ghost head and cursed: “Three days? I’ll turn you into ashes right now! Let’s see what you will do to me in three days!”

However, even though the little girl was defeated, a ghostly handprint appeared strangely on Lian Qiao’s back.

Three days later, Lian Qiao already had three ghostly handprints on his back. Xu RenDong didn’t know about this matter and Lian Qiao didn’t allow her to talk about it.

Lian Qiao didn’t care about the ghost hand prints and, after entering the snack bar at this time, he began to inquire about the news with a smile.

Is he really not worried that he will die, or has he already thought of a way around it?

Thinking of this, Little Apple was puzzled again. Did Lian Qiao have something hidden up his sleeve?

Lian Qiao didn’t get any useful information in the snack bar but he didn’t come out empty-handed. He took two boxes of steamed xialongbao buns from the boss and pushed one of them in front of Little Apple.

“Let’s eat something to replenish your strength.”

Little Apple picked up the chopsticks but had no appetite to eat. Lian Qiao glanced at her, obviously noticed the worry in her eyes, but didn’t ask her, just pointed to an abandoned building at the end of the street: “I plan to go there in a while, it might be dangerous. You can stay and wait for me here.”

But Apple let out a chuckle: “I said, why did you treat me to steamed xiaolongbao? It turned out to be a supply refuel before the battle.” There must be supplies before the battle…

Hearing this, something seemed to come to Lian Qiao’s mind, the corners of his mouth slightly curled up and his eyes filled with a gentle smile.

No matter how stupid Little Apple is, she knows that he is thinking of Xu RenDong. The sudden dog food caught her off guard, she felt like a stick had been stuck in her throat and the steamed buns in her hand were no longer fragrant.

Little Apple was also very courageous. The abandoned building was an unfinished building and the upper half was empty and not yet closed. The lower half is fenced off to prevent outsiders from entering. There is also a sign outside the fence: Danger! Don’t come near!

Lian Qiao walked around to the back of the unfinished building and found a hole in the iron fence. There are rust spots around the hole and there are also traces of artificial tearing. It looked like it was just a small rust hole at first but, because no one took care of it, so it was opened up by many people. At this time, even adults can easily get into the hole.

There is also a sign at the entrance of the hole which says: “Dangerous! Do not enter!”

Lian Qiao frowned and said, “Isn’t there anyone taking care of this? There is an elementary school next to it. If you think it is dangerous, seal the hole! What’s the use of putting up a sign!”

Little Apple said helplessly, “It’s just a setup to invite you to take a look… do you really think you’re a parent?”

Lian Qiao’s face was full of displeasure, too lazy to answer Little Apple. He lowered its head and climbed into the hole. Little Apple followed. When she looked up, she was facing the entrance of the unfinished building.

The inside of the entrance was pitch black, like a beast opening its mouth wide, its black throat bottomless. It’s a classic horror game scene.

Little Apple felt a little apprehensive. It’s not that she has never played horror games and she is also a frequent visitor to haunted houses, but all of them are based on the premise of knowing that she is absolutely safe.

But it’s different now. This is a world haunted anytime, anywhere! Except for the three of them, the other dozen or so people were all dead!

—No, in fact, there should be more than a dozen dead people. She learned from Lian Qiao that this is the last dungeon for the two of them and so the difficulty must be Hell Level, so there cannot be only a dozen or so players participating.

There was only one answer: as early as the first winter night, countless players got lost in the snow, or froze to death, or were slaughtered by ghosts.

They didn’t even get to meet the other teammates!

Little Apple took deep breaths repeatedly, doing mental preparation for herself. Lian Qiao didn’t have as much psychological burden as her and had already checked the surrounding environment.

Soon, he found a plastic foam box in the pile of broken bricks and rubble.

“This is…” Little Apple looked at the food left in the white foam box in surprise, “…a boxed  lunch?”

Lian Qiao just glanced at it, and quickly said: “The food is still fresh. That means there’s someone inside.”