Volume One, Chapter One Hundred and Three: Come Play a Game

The mother and daughter turned in unison to look at Zhang Xiaoqi.

“I didn’t mean to kill my little brother! I really didn’t!”

Hongxia looked utterly disbelieving. Ever since her youngest son had gone missing, she had suffered from weak legs and found it hard to walk.

Looking at her eldest son, who was sobbing so hard he could hardly breathe, her face drained of all color. She tugged at the corner of her mouth with numb fingers. “Daqi, what are you saying?”

That secret had always lain on his heart like a shadow, haunting him wherever he went. Now that he finally had the chance to speak it aloud, Zhang Xiaoqi actually felt a faint sense of relief. “Back then, I was playing hide-and-seek with my little brother and sister. I never imagined my little brother would hide inside the water vat. By the time I found him, he had already drowned.”

He repented again and again, but no amount of remorse could bring his little brother back to life.

Seeing her eldest son knocking his head bloody against the ground, Hongxia staggered over to him. “Daqi, this isn’t your fault. It’s mine. I never should have left your younger brother and sister in the care of you, an eight-year-old child, just so I could go shopping. It was my fault!”

Mother and son clung to each other and wept.

Zhang Xiaolei stood rooted to the spot, dazed. She raised her head and looked up at the apple tree overhead.

In the breeze, its branches swayed softly, and white blossoms fell like fine rain, settling over him, all over his hair and shoulders.

In a trance, she thought she saw her little brother. His childlike face wore a bright, innocent smile.

He said, “Goodbye.”

Afterward

Hongxia took her son to the police station and turned him in. Since he had been a minor and lacked criminal capacity at the time of the incident, and because he confessed voluntarily with a good attitude, he was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended.

Hongxia and Zhang Xiaolei dug up their little brother’s remains from beneath the apple tree. After cremation, they kept his ashes at home.

One afternoon, Zhang Xiaolei sat before her little brother’s memorial tablet with a book in her hands. “Brother will be back in one hundred and fifty days. When that time comes, our family can be together again.”

—

Qin Yu sighed softly and glanced up at Mu Ling.

Mu Ling immediately understood and vanished from where he stood.

When Qin Yu enlarged the next viewer, she found the screen pitch-black.

She frowned. “Sir, if you don’t turn on your camera, I can’t read your face. My divination may be off.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

From the screen came a strange doubled voice, one layered before and after the other, both male and female.

Qin Yu’s nerves tightened. She looked at the livestream and saw that six of the remaining eight windows were blacked out.

Her expression sharpened at once. Her delicate brows drew together.

Seeing that Qin Yu had finally noticed the anomaly, the harsh synthetic voice in the darkness continued, “Seems you’re not entirely stupid. As you suspected, these people are all in my hands.”

“An outright kidnapping? Are kidnappers really this bold these days?”

“Brother, do you have something you can’t say? Tell us. Our master is very capable—she can help you. Don’t do anything foolish...”

Qin Yu kept her palm resting on her knee, silently working through possibilities, but the limited information gave her nothing useful.

The kidnapper, on the other hand, saw the barrage of comments and let out a fit of creepy giggles.

“You’ve kidnapped so many people, so it can’t just be for attention, right? Say it. What do you want?”

The greater the stakes, the calmer Qin Yu appeared.

The laughter on the other end ceased, and a voice full of ungrudging admiration said, “I like talking to clever people.”

Then came a series of clicking sounds from the darkness, like a lighter being struck.

But the screen remained black; nothing could be seen.

From the other end came the sound of someone smoking.

After a few seconds, the voice spoke again. “No calling the police. The moment I sense that you’ve alerted them, I’ll have these six people buried with me!”

On the other side of the screen, some viewers had still been weighing whether to call the police. Hearing that, they hesitated even more.

Qin Yu agreed without the slightest pause. “No problem. They won’t call the police.”

“Is it really okay not to call the police?”

“Master, maybe we should still call them? That’s six lives. If something goes wrong, it’ll be hard to take responsibility.”

“You’re saying it so openly—are you afraid the kidnapper won’t notice?”

“...”

“If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

Qin Yu was so certain because when she had briefly glanced at the people she invited onto the mic, she had not seen any sign of death.

Seeing how cooperative she was, the voice on the other end went on, “Master of Summer Quilt, how about we play a game?”

“What game?”

“This game is called hide-and-seek. Try to find where I’ve hidden the people, will you?” The voice paused there. “Of course, I’ll give you some clues. As soon as you find one, I’ll release one person at random. How about it?”

Qin Yu had no choice. “Fine.”

“First stop: Golden Chubby Kindergarten. I’ll be waiting for your answer~”

With that, the dark screen was cut off.

The person on the other side had already left the call.

“Golden Chubby Kindergarten? That name sounds familiar. Haven’t I heard it somewhere?”

“Didn’t you hear about the Primary Colors incident?”

“What primary colors? I’m completely lost.”

“It was... just thinking about it makes me tremble with rage! To lay hands on children that young—it’s utterly inhuman!”

“I remember now! That kindergarten isn’t far from my home. When the story broke, I was so glad I hadn’t sent my child there!”

Qin Yu skimmed through the comments and roughly confirmed that an indecent assault on children had likely occurred at that kindergarten.

She looked at the blacked-out screen and fell into a brief, quiet thought.

Then she said, “I’m going to Golden Chubby Kindergarten next. I’ll temporarily close the call-in, but the livestream will continue.”

Just as Qin Yu rose to her feet, Lu Hualing came over holding a small airplane model.

Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, her expression asking, What is this?

“Watch.”

With a mysterious look, Lu Hualing took Qin Yu’s phone and mounted it onto a drone.

Very soon, the drone took flight. Without Qin Yu having to hold it up, it automatically captured her angle, and every shot ensured that Qin Yu appeared right at the center of the frame.

Lu Hualing clapped his hands with a proud, pleading look. “This is a drone I specially had custom-made for the master. It can track your movements from every angle with absolutely no blind spots!”

Qin Yu’s eyes lit up. Her voice turned solemn. “Lu Hualing...”

Lu Hualing’s heart gave a little jolt. He was a bit scared. “W-what...?”

“Well done. I’ll save your life for free once in the future.”

Lu Hualing: ...

Master, maybe listen to what you’re saying.

It was indeed very practical, but if possible, he hoped never to run into danger.

What neither of them knew was that the comments had already exploded.

“Aaahhh! A man! There’s a man in the master’s livestream!”

“This man is actually pretty handsome! And he looks kind of familiar!”

“Isn’t that Young Master Ying? The nephew of the head of the Lu Group?”

“Who is that? I’m late—can someone explain?”

“The top supporter.”

“But the top supporter is a string of gibberish, isn’t it? The account was deleted.”

“I smell scandal...”

“Well, young master, as well-matched as you two are, could you step aside and let my wife shine alone?”

“Continuing to eat popcorn...”

“They’re not a couple. Master of Summer Quilt is just staying at the Lu residence temporarily for something.”

“What? They’re living together? My god!”

“For something. Not living together.”

“How do you know? Why don’t you tell us in detail?”

...

Lu Group.

The atmosphere in the company was especially grim today.

In the CEO’s office, Lu Jinyuan glared at a certain account ID, his eyes nearly spewing fire.

He picked up the internal line. “Help me ban a few accounts.”