Chapter 25

Lu Xiaoyao and the others still went through the back kitchen into the backyard this time. As soon as Lu Xiaoyao entered the back kitchen, she saw food being cooked on the stove, and the aroma of food filled the air.

Even though they had repeatedly told themselves that it was all fake.

But the scent was still so tempting.

"Is this food real or fake? The more I smell it, the more real it seems."

As soon as Lu Xiaoyao finished speaking, she received speechless expressions from her companions.

"Not to mention you had a vegetable and tofu bento for lunch, and a green pepper and pork bento. It's really unscientific that you're craving food now."

After Julian finished speaking, he glanced at the food simmering on the stove, then thoughtfully looked at Mu Chen, who was sitting outside the door with his back to them. Suddenly, he put his finger to his lips, signaling his companions to be quiet.

Then, he tiptoed to the stove and opened it. He could see braised pork with cabbage. He took a small bowl and scooped some out.

"What are you…"

"Shh."

Julian didn't say anything directly. He opened the door, held up an umbrella, and went out. Hu Yue seemed to understand something and whispered in Lu Xiaoyao's ear, "He wants to see what's really being cooked in the bowl."

After speaking, she also took an umbrella and followed Julian's footsteps with Lu Xiaoyao. Standing at the doorway he had violently拆除 (chai chu – demolished) last night, Julian looked back upstairs. Charlie was using brightly colored cloth to signal from upstairs.

[All normal].

"Wow, where did they get the umbrellas? They're quite eye-catching."

Looking at Julian and the other three each holding a big red umbrella, Charlie asked curiously.

"What?"

The other two girls leaned over and also noticed the three bright red umbrellas. They were sure they hadn't brought them themselves.

"It's good for blocking the view. I can't see who's under the umbrellas, I can only distinguish them by their legs."

Leng Youyou was a little dissatisfied with the new equipment of the players. They had gone out in the rain last night, so how did the daytime group get red umbrellas?

"These umbrellas..." Wang Wenfei frowned as she looked at them, "They obstruct the view and affect hearing. They're useless but pretty!"

Unaware of what the three upstairs were thinking, the three below stepped into the vegetable garden. The surroundings were still desolate, but without the gloom of the night.

Besides the muddy water, there was nothing on the ground that could hurt the eyes.

Julian glanced at the stew he had just held in his hand—a bowl of clean water.

There wasn't the disgusting and dirty scene they had imagined. It was just a bowl of plain water.

If the previous food had been like this, then it could be understood why they couldn't get full eating at the restaurant.

Who can get full just by drinking water?

"Really, Mandison!"

Lu Xiaoyao, holding an umbrella, pointed at a white transparent figure in the distance and reported her new discovery to everyone.

"It's really him."

The three of them walked up to the ghostly Mandison. Seeing that he didn't react to them, they sighed in their hearts.

Sure enough, Mandison the player had already logged off. What was left here was not a player, but—"Why is such a ghost appearing?"

Julian was very alert and suddenly turned around and looked around, but saw that the surrounding area was flat and empty, and there was no one.

"Maybe it's here to provide some clues?" After Lu Xiaoyao guessed, she continued to stare at Mandison and couldn't help but shout, "Mandison?"

Hearing Lu Xiaoyao's shout, the ghostly Mandison suddenly raised his hand, his almost transparent arm pointing to a collapsed area in the corner of the vegetable garden.

They followed his gaze and saw a collapsed fence wall.

"Let's go take a look."

Without delay, the three of them carefully walked to the corner of the vegetable garden, which happened to be in Charlie's blind spot...

"What are they doing?!"

Charlie watched as the three figures holding red umbrellas disappeared from his sight.

"There are footprints here, and the direction seems to lead to the woods next to the inn..."

Everyone looked at the deep footprints near the collapsed fence. At this time, the footprints on the ground were already filled with a lot of rainwater, and some of the footprints had become more and more blurred by the rain.

"Should we track them?"

Lu Xiaoyao looked at Julian and Hu Yue, and saw that they had already taken out their daggers. They looked up and stared intently at the direction the footprints extended, as if they were agreeing to Lu Xiaoyao's question.

"D-do we need to notify those upstairs?"

Lu Xiaoyao could tell that the two of them were eager to try and were ready to step over the collapsed fence.

She held up her umbrella and turned around, only to find that the wall in the backyard, including the kitchen and the houses inside, blocked their view of the second floor, cutting off contact.

"Let's notify them."

Julian still had this much clarity. He turned to look at Lu Xiaoyao, clearly wanting Lu Xiaoyao to go and notify them, while he and Hu Yue went ahead.

"Then... then don't go too deep if you follow them. The woods over there are dark... I'll come back after I tell them."

Lu Xiaoyao's animal-like survival instinct made her feel a strong sense of unease when she looked at the dense forest in the distance.

"We know, we'll see if the footprints really disappear into the forest. We won't go in."

Hu Yue also said this, and Lu Xiaoyao nodded reassuringly. She quickly returned the way she had come, not forgetting to remind them again before leaving, "I'll come find you after I notify them. Don't go in!"

After watching Lu Xiaoyao leave safely, Julian and Hu Yue exchanged glances and left the vegetable garden together, following the footprints towards the woods.

···

"What did you say?!"

Lu Xiaoyao stood in the backyard and looked up at Charlie and the others at the second-floor window, and replied, "They went to the wasteland to track the evil spirit's踪迹 (zong ji - trail), and I'm going to follow them too~"

After speaking, Lu Xiaoyao waved her hand and was about to turn around and leave.

"Wait a minute!" Leng Youyou was really worried about Lu Xiaoyao, and stopped her, "I'll go with you!"

After speaking, she turned around and left the window, got her equipment ready, and asked Lu Xiaoyao to wait for her to go together.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Leng Youyou finally came downstairs and joined Lu Xiaoyao.

Her dagger had been broken in the vegetable garden last night. Lu Xiaoyao looked at the weapon she was holding for a long time before realizing it was a kitchen knife.

"You..."

"Cough!"

Leng Youyou coughed softly, feeling a little embarrassed by Lu Xiaoyao's surprised gaze, "Necessity knows no law. I've already obtained the boss's consent to borrow the kitchen knife."

"I'm not concerned about that."

Lu Xiaoyao looked at the kitchen knife in her hand, thought for a while, and said, "Let's go out first."

After speaking, she put the umbrella over Leng Youyou's head.

It wasn't until they entered the vegetable garden that Leng Youyou understood what Lu Xiaoyao meant by "let's go out first."

She realized that the sharp kitchen knife she had just been holding was actually a rusty and not very sharp broken kitchen knife.

Leng Youyou: "..."

But now they couldn't waste any more time. Lu Xiaoyao looked in the direction she had come from and found that not only had Julian and Hu Yue left, but also, looking from afar, Lu Xiaoyao couldn't see anyone at all.

"This is bad! They promised not to go in!"

In this situation, Lu Xiaoyao immediately became anxious and quickened her pace, and Leng Youyou was also forced to speed up to prevent herself from being hit on the head by the umbrella.

Following the two people's footprints all the way to the edge of the woods, at the last moment, Leng Youyou grabbed the anxious Lu Xiaoyao and pointed to the figure holding an umbrella diagonally in front of them, and said, "Look, isn't he right there?"