PTYS Chapter 68

Shen Qingqiu thought she had mentally prepared herself, but in reality, she hardly slept that night. The reason was simple: she was worried about Xiao Muyu.

The arrow had struck deeply, and in an environment without medicine, it was extremely dangerous for Xiao Muyu. The wound getting infected alone could be fatal.

For the fifth time, Shen Qingqiu woke up and told herself that she was just performing her duty. It was only natural that she couldn’t rest properly while Xiao Muyu, who had saved her, was injured. It made sense to get up and check on her.

Her actions were faster than her thoughts. By the time she finished thinking, she found herself standing beside Xiao Muyu’s bed, reaching out to touch her forehead.

The abnormal temperature in her palm changed Shen Qingqiu’s expression; her brows furrowed tightly.

Xiao Muyu also had a restless night. The pain from the wound prevented her from sleeping deeply, and Shen Qingqiu’s frequent touches to her face and forehead during her drowsy moments made it even harder to sleep.

When she felt the cool touch on her forehead again, Xiao Muyu opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Shen Qingqiu’s face, her brows furrowed so tightly they could catch a fly. Xiao Muyu felt a light itch in her heart, as if a feather had gently brushed it.

Morning had arrived. Xiao Muyu coughed, her throat dry from not drinking water all night. She felt feverish, her wound swollen and hot, throbbing with pain. Struggling to sit up, she was immediately supported by Shen Qingqiu, who spoke with concern, “You have a fever. How do you feel? Are you very uncomfortable?”

Xiao Muyu, looking weak, responded softly, “I think the wound is infected. My body feels tired, but I can manage.”

Shen Qingqiu saw her sitting on the edge of the bed and squatted down to help Xiao Muyu with her shoes. She held the shoes in her left hand, ready to put them on for Xiao Muyu.

Xiao Muyu quickly moved her feet away, speaking softly, “You don’t need to. I… I can do it myself.”

Half-squatting, Shen Qingqiu looked up at her briefly before lowering her head again, saying, “You injured your left shoulder. The wound just started to scab. Bending and lifting your arm will strain it. You’re an ordinary person. The injury from that arrow is too much for you.”

Shen Qingqiu’s face grew darker, her tone increasingly heavy. With only her left hand available, she awkwardly placed Xiao Muyu’s ankle on her thigh and put on her shoes.

Feeling her ankle being held, Xiao Muyu’s expression turned uncomfortable. She averted her gaze slightly and said softly, “Aren’t you an ordinary person too? How could you endure having your arm broken?”

Shen Qingqiu paused for a moment before looking up with a smile, her tone reverting to its usual annoying playfulness, “So, Muyu, do you feel sorry for me?”

Xiao Muyu’s breath caught, and she glared at her, “Feel sorry for you? For not being ruthless enough with one hand?”

She pulled her foot back and struggled to stand. Shen Qingqiu cautiously supported her, “Take it slow.”

Xiao Muyu looked frail, her steps unsteady. Shen Qingqiu took a deep breath, her emotions complicated, “Why did you take that hit for me? In this world, getting injured often means death.”

Xiao Muyu was momentarily stunned. Shen Qingqiu was right; self-preservation was paramount. Although they were teammates, it wasn’t to the extent of risking one’s life for the other.

In other words, as a teammate, it made sense to help Shen Qingqiu. The best action last night would have been to push her away.

However, given the arrow’s speed, Shen Qingqiu couldn’t have dodged unscathed. So, Xiao Muyu chose to teleport and take the hit instead.

This wasn’t a conscious decision. Her body reacted before her mind could.

When they emerged, Zhang Yangfeng, Yang Rui, and Huang Junfeng were already up. All three looked exhausted, with fatigue evident in their expressions, but Xiao Muyu’s condition seemed the worst.

Seeing Xiao Muyu, Yang Rui’s worry was evident. She looked Xiao Muyu up and down, “Miss Xiao, are you alright?”

Xiao Muyu’s face was devoid of color, her pale lips cracked and dry, her overall demeanor sickly.

She shook her head, “I can hold on. Qu Muxi and the others should appear soon. We’re almost through the plot. Once we figure out the remaining parts, we can clear the game.”

Yang Rui nodded. She now had 72 points. They had guessed the murderer, earning an extra 20 points. Finding the identities of five more people last night added 5 points, and solving the corpse’s mystery added 15 points.

However, Zhang Yangfeng had 54 points, and Huang Junfeng only had 50. They needed to keep looking for more points.

“Should we go straight to find Qu Muxi and the others, or look for more clues?”

Huang Junfeng, his neck bandaged, also looked unwell. Last night’s events had shaken him greatly.

“They’ll come to us. Let’s check another location first. You might earn some more points,” Xiao Muyu said slowly, glancing at Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Qingqiu said nothing, simply supporting her and speaking softly, “Watch your step, walk slowly.”

Other than Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, the others didn’t know there was a back door, so they were quite puzzled.

When they saw the locked door, they finally understood.

Yang Rui was surprised, “How come we never noticed this door before?”

“Let’s not waste time. Open it and see what’s inside,” Shen Qingqiu urged, taking out the key.

The rusty lock clicked open, and the door creaked before swinging against the walls.

Entering, they found a path leading to a quiet grove. Though it hadn’t rained that morning, the orphanage grounds were bright, giving a post-rain feel, yet the grove was unexpectedly dark.

Huang Junfeng shivered, “This place is creepy. It’s so gloomy and scary.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a harsh bird cry startled him, making him crouch in fear. Yang Rui also clutched her chest.

Shen Qingqiu was equally startled. After a moment, Xiao Muyu spoke softly, “It’s a crow.”

“A crow? Then that crow meat…” Zhang Yangfeng suddenly realized, “Crows eat carrion. The cafeteria had so many crows; they couldn’t have appeared from nowhere. So there must be a place nearby that keeps them well-fed?”

Zhang Yangfeng moved forward, and a rustling from the bushes was followed by a swarm of crows flying out, cawing fiercely.

Huang Junfeng and the others ducked in fear, while Shen Qingqiu pressed Xiao Muyu’s head to her chest, shielding her.

The crows didn’t attack, merely flying past them and disappearing, leaving only a few feathers behind.

Shen Qingqiu scanned the surroundings warily. Xiao Muyu lightly pushed her, prompting her to let go. She looked down, her eyes filled with unintended tenderness and concern, “Did it hurt your wound?”

Xiao Muyu shook her head.

The three people who stood up from the ground looked at each other in confusion. Yang Rui couldn’t help but nudge Zhang Yangfeng, “Look at them.”

Zhang Yangfeng was taken aback and felt a bit wronged. After all, he was the one who pulled Yang Rui down to squat. Besides, Xiao Muyu and the others weren’t a couple.

After the crow flew away, the five of them cautiously approached and were stunned by what they saw.

It was a mass grave!

Days of heavy rain had eroded the ground, revealing several white bones protruding from the mud, and even some skeletons with empty eye sockets staring blankly at the intruders.

Yang Rui felt a tightness in her chest and instinctively grabbed Zhang Yangfeng’s arm. “These are all buried people…”

Over there, Shen Qingqiu instructed Xiao Muyu to stand aside and not move. She walked over to take a look. After about twenty steps, she found a cluster of graves. Unlike the randomly discarded bodies before, these graves were clearly tended to, with wooden markers for each one.

The names on the markers—Xiao Mei, Xiao Jiao—were deeply etched in her mind within these few days, and their appearances felt so real.

Shen Qingqiu looked around and then turned, saying, “Found it, the graves of Qu Muxi and the eight children.”

Huang Junfeng quickly jumped over, and Xiao Muyu also walked over slowly after hearing this.

Indeed, it was the graves of Qu Muxi and the children, but except for Qu Muxi’s grave, the other eight children’s graves had been dug up.

“Who would be so wicked to dig up their graves? Old Sang was supposed to guard them,” Huang Junfeng said in surprise.

“They weren’t dug up; they broke out from inside,” Xiao Muyu stated the fact.

“Huh?”

“The signs of overturned soil weren’t caused by digging but by something coming out from within. Look at the entrance, the soil is piled around it,” Zhang Yangfeng squatted down and examined, explaining.

“Dig them up,” Shen Qingqiu looked at Huang Junfeng and the others and said concisely.

Huang Junfeng pointed at himself in shock, “You want me to dig up the graves?”

Shen Qingqiu glanced at him coldly, “Why? Is there a problem?”

“This is too unethical,” Huang Junfeng grumbled, knowing there must be a reason behind Shen Qingqiu’s order, but he couldn’t resist arguing.

Shen Qingqiu snorted, looking at her right hand, “If my hand wasn’t injured, I could even lift the skull, let alone dig up the grave.”

Huang Junfeng didn’t think Shen Qingqiu was joking. He and Zhang Yangfeng found tools and spent a long time to dig up the children’s graves.

The bodies were still inside, placed in simple coffins, each just over a meter long, with their lids removed, exposing the already decayed skeletons inside.

Seeing the children’s skeletal remains, they found it hard to connect these bones with the lively kids they once knew.

Yang Rui was both scared and heartbroken. After a while, she gritted her teeth and said, “If it weren’t for those beasts, they would still be alive, studying, playing, and loving their dolls.”

“Those beasts died too easily, it’s disgusting,” Huang Junfeng said with contempt and anger.

“So the things that crawled out of the coffins were their dolls?” Yang Rui asked in a daze.

“Exactly.”

Suddenly, Huang Junfeng screamed, eyes wide with terror, pointing behind everyone but unable to speak.

Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu turned around together. Behind them stood Qu Muxi and the eight children, all staring expressionlessly at them.

The nine faces were deathly pale, eyes dark, making them look terrifying.

“You know everything?” Qu Muxi asked coldly.

Shen Qingqiu held a dagger in her left hand, staring at them gravely.

Xiao Muyu didn’t look at Qu Muxi but focused on Xiao Mei, speaking softly, “Yes, we know everything. The corpse in the kitchen last night came to find us.”

Xiao Mei’s expression changed briefly, but she remained silent.

Xiao Muyu ignored Qu Muxi, speaking only to Xiao Mei, “We dealt with it, locked that disgusting thing in the washroom. Since they died there, they should stay dead there.”

“You saw the scene inside, their bodies. Don’t you think we were cruel?” Qu Muxi asked again.

Xiao Muyu looked at the children, her eyes filled with sorrow. She shook her head, “They deserved it, but we are sorry. You shouldn’t have faced this, shouldn’t have gone through this.

You are just children. Adults should have protected you, but they didn’t. You were abandoned, and even when you found a home, you weren’t protected. The ones who were supposed to protect you ended up like this.”

Xiao Mei’s expression cracked, tears streaming from her dark eyes—a sign of extreme pain for a ghost.

But she quickly became fierce again. This time, it was Xiao Mei who spoke, gritting her teeth, “They didn’t give us justice, so we took it ourselves. We were obedient, did whatever they asked.

But he hit us, scolded us when he was unhappy. We didn’t complain because he gave us a place to sleep, food to eat.

But he was too bad, too bad, bullying Xiao Jiao just because she was simple-minded. He tricked and bullied her. Not only him, but those people, they were disgusting, they deserved to die!”

Her fury was palpable, a whirlwind of malevolent energy swirling around, making the forest feel ominous.

“I know, so you made a wish for her, to make her smarter, right?”

The others were shocked and frightened, Shen Qingqiu stayed on guard, but only Xiao Muyu faced Xiao Mei, speaking to her directly.

These words strangely calmed Xiao Mei. The wind slowly died down, and Xiao Mei’s expression turned sorrowful as she looked at the vacant Xiao Jiao.

“Even though she’s simple-minded, she’s still a person. She feels fear and pain, but she can’t avoid it or express it.”

“Xiao Mei, you are a good child.”

“Does tearing those eight scum to pieces make me a good child too?”

She suddenly interrupted Xiao Muyu viciously, floating right in front of Xiao Muyu’s face. Shen Qingqiu wanted to intervene but was stopped by Xiao Muyu.

Xiao Mei’s long hair fluttered in the wind, and her eyeless gaze was almost touching Xiao Muyu’s face, making Yang Rui’s legs go weak with fear.

“Yes.”

“You’re lying!” Xiao Mei screamed in rage, almost tearing at the person in front of her, but Xiao Muyu’s next words left her stunned.

“Because I’ve done the same thing. When no one helps you, you handle it yourself!”