GBP Chapter 264 New House
Chapter 264 New House
Do you remember this person?
After dinner, Yan Xun went to Lou Yanchuan's room.
The furnishings in the other person's room were very simple, even monotonous, as if they could pack their bags and leave at any time.
His gaze lingered for a moment in Lou Yanchuan's room, landing on some photos that the other man had placed there.
Snow-capped mountains, grasslands, jungles... Lou Yanchuan can be seen in almost every place. In the photos, Lou Yanchuan stares directly at the camera, expressionless, showing no emotion.
Of course, the other party couldn't have taken these photos, so they were all generated by the player based on their character settings.
Yan Xun looked at it for a while, then asked, "How much do you remember?"
"The things that happened before your accident."
“Very rarely,” Lou Yanchuan said. “I only remember rarely going home.”
“She used to live at your house.” Lou Yanchuan pulled out a clue from his memory, “but I can’t remember what she looked like.”
“I’m away from home most of the time and can’t take care of her, so I only provide financial support.”
"You mean, because you're not in the country and spend most of your time traveling around the world, the responsibility of taking care of your retirement is left to... my dad? Or someone else?"
Lou Yanchuan nodded.
“That’s strange,” Yan Xun said. “How could you not remember what your grandmother looked like at all?”
"Haven't you seen her before?"
“In my memory, you were the family of five who lived together regularly.” Lou Yanchuan pointed at Yan Xun. “When I wasn’t home, she spent most of her time with your father.”
“Because she was in poor health, all the images I have of her are of her lying on her side in bed…” Lou Yanchuan said, gesturing for Yan Xun to come to his bedside.
"Lie down," Lou Yanchuan said.
Yan Xun knew he wanted to demonstrate for her, so she lay down on the bed as instructed.
"Move to the side," Lou Yanchuan said again.
Yan Xun turned over again, now facing the wall.
“Every time I see her, it’s like this,” Lou Yanchuan said, “from a great distance.”
"and……"
“Your father told me not to come near.”
“Mom’s health isn’t good. If you’re running around everywhere, what if you pick up some superbug?” Lou Yanchuan repeated what he remembered. “Besides, she just took her medicine and fell asleep. You can just keep an eye on her from a distance.”
That's what he said.
"Wow!" Yan Xun exclaimed in surprise, turning to look at Lou Yanchuan. "My dad can be so mean-spirited?"
"Or has he been dissatisfied with you for a long time?"
Yan Xun speculated about the family's relationships. If Lou Yanchuan, the younger uncle, had been traveling all over the world and never came home before he could walk, leaving the responsibility of taking care of his parents entirely to them—it was understandable that his father might have some resentment towards Lou Yanchuan.
"But you've never seen it even once?" Yan Xun asked.
"Ah."
"Each time, he's either sleeping or he's just taken medication and isn't feeling well."
“That’s a bit strange,” Yan Xun said.
Even if his grandmother was in poor health, she shouldn't have been asleep every time Lou Yanchuan came home, making it impossible for him to see her face clearly.
When she was lucid, did she not leave any words for Lou Yanchuan?
"I think so too." Lou Yanchuan nodded in agreement.
"So I'm going to try and trick him."
Yan Xun gave him a questioning look.
Lou Yanchuan simply smiled but did not answer.
Yan Xun got out of bed, and Lou Yanchuan reached out his hand, "Are you angry?"
Yan Xun: "?"
"You think I'm angry?" Yan Xun pointed at himself, suspecting that Lou Yanchuan had watched too many TV dramas. "Do you think we're acting out a short drama about domineering CEOs?"
"If you're not telling now, you're definitely planning to bring it up at the dinner table tomorrow morning." Yan Xun raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess how you're going to make it up?"
"You were sleeping in the middle of the night, and she appeared in your dream, asking you why you didn't go to see her?"
Lou Yanchuan remained in the same position, holding onto Yan Xun's clothes. After hearing Yan Xun's words, he blinked and said, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you."
He lowered his hand. "Almost."
"I'm going to tell you at the dinner table tomorrow that I dreamt about my mother, and she asked me why I didn't come to see her."
"What do you think his reaction will be?" Lou Yanchuan asked.
"I feel his acting is not good, and I guess he will panic," Yan Xun commented.
I guessed so.
As the two were talking, the system, which had been silent and unresponsive, finally updated with a few notifications—
Congratulations, player, for triggering the quest!
Main Quest: Follow the rules and survive for 15 days! (D)
Side Quest 1: Discover the Secret Hidden in Your Home (C+)
Side Quest 2: Discover the Secrets of Other Residents (A)
"This triggers the mission?" Yan Xun looked at the system notification that suddenly appeared. "So the key point really is my grandmother at home?"
He looked at the three quest prompts that appeared at the same time, "Even if I don't complete the side quests, as long as I survive for 15 days, I can still clear this dungeon?"
“That’s how it is for a D-level dungeon,” Lou Yanchuan said. “The dungeon map indicates that the difficulty of this dungeon is between D and C levels, which should include these two side quests.”
"Most players should have completed the first two tasks, but not many people have completed the third task, so the dungeon level is determined in this way."
After thinking for a moment, Yan Xun understood the difficulty of the second side quest.
Other players may try to stop you from finding the truth.
Unlike the first two tasks that everyone can complete, the second side quest should be completed by only one group of players.
In order to prevent other teams from completing side quest 2, even if someone has already discovered the secret in their own home, they will deliberately hide it so that the rest of the team cannot find any clues.
"Since the main mission is to survive for 15 days, it seems that the danger level of this community will increase later on," Yan Xun said. "And we need to be careful to prevent any family members from disappearing for 36 hours without reason."
As Yan Xun finished speaking, both of their phones vibrated—
【A Loving Family (10)】
[Du Yun: Have you received the task notification?]
Yan Xun glanced at the group members and found that only Zhugan was not in the group.
The muscular man in the house with the buzz cut was also inside.
[Buzz cut: Let us survive for 15 days.]
[Du Yun: It seems we received the same information.]
[Du Yun: Strange, there was no mission notification before, why did it suddenly appear at night?]
[Yan Xun: Could someone have triggered a crucial clue to the mission?]
[Du Yun: ! That makes some sense!]
[Du Yun: Which of you triggered the key clue?]
[Shu Fan: We didn't find anything special, and we didn't find any other clues in the house.]
[Buzz Cut: Fang Shuo and Lin Wen haven't shown up yet, could it be...?]
[Yan Xun: Possibly, but if we survive for 15 days, will the difficulty of this dungeon continue to increase?]
[Du Yun: No need to think about it, it will definitely improve.]
[Du Yun: But when I got home, I found a new clue. I discovered that I used to frequently donate to charitable organizations.]
As Du Yun spoke, she sent some screenshots of donations and certificates to the group.
Yan Xun opened it and took a look. He found that they were all donation certificates and thank-you notes from a certain year, which he had given to a certain stray animal organization.
If you calculate the time, Du Yun has been donating for almost 8 consecutive years.
[Du Yun: I didn't expect I to be so kind-hearted.]
[Shu Fan: Have you received any side quest notifications?]
[Fang Shuo: Received. I didn't find any clues either. I wasn't replying to messages just now because I was looking for clues in the house!]
[Fang Shuo: Could it be related to Du Yun? Isn't he a philanthropist? My hidden mission is to uncover the secrets hidden in my home.]
[Fang Shuo: What are your side quests?]
[Yan Xun: Same.]
[Yan Xun: Strange, a side quest appearing in the instance means someone must have triggered crucial information. Could the secret in Du Yun's family be related to the donation?]
The muscular man probably learned about their conversation from the man with the buzz cut, and soon shared it in the group chat.
[Muscular Man: Me too. After entering the instance, I found myself standing in front of this house.]
[Muscular guy: I was an athlete in high school, not in the same department as them, but we just happened to be assigned to the same dorm...]
Yan Xun glanced at the muscular man's message.
[Yan Xun: Where are the others? @Cuntou, are you guys together?]
[Buzz Cut: I don't know, I couldn't find my graduation certificate, and I can't remember that part of my memory.]
[The man in the shirt: Anyway, we're not in the same department.]
[The man in the shirt: I don't know about the bamboo pole, I didn't ask. There's nothing in his room; I just went to check.]
[Yan Xun: He's not in his room?]
[Man in shirt: I'm off to work.]
Zhu Gan, however, had to work at night. Yan Xun looked at the messages in the group chat, then glanced at Lou Yanchuan, who hadn't spoken in the group, and asked, "What do you think?"
“Someone in the group is definitely lying,” Lou Yanchuan said. “Once the news about the side quest came out, everyone knew that everyone had a secret at home, and in order to prevent others from completing side quest 2, no one would tell the truth.”
"No one in the group is mentioning that there's a second side quest," Yan Xun said.
The reason no one mentioned it is simply that the players are unsure whether they are the only ones who received this quest 2, or whether others have received it as well.
For a D-level dungeon, the rewards for completing an A-level quest are enough to tempt these new players, even to the point of taking risks.
"I'm going out for a bit." Yan Xun put down his phone.
Do you know where the supermarket is?
"Anyway, it's not too far from this community," Yan Xun said.
"Even if I don't know, other people in the neighborhood will."
Yan Xun said, then pushed open the door and left.
"Let's go to a high-level dungeon next time," Lou Yanchuan suddenly said.
Yan Xun turned around.
Lou Yanchuan pointed to his leg, "This dungeon has too many restrictions."
"...I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic." Yan Xun said, puzzled. "But I can handle this kind of task of finding clues by myself."
Lou Yanchuan stared at Yan Xun for a while, his gaze as if he were looking at some alien or prehistoric behemoth.
Yan Xun: "?"
What's wrong now?
He realized that he really didn't understand Lou Yanchuan's unpredictable personality.
"It's nothing." Lou Yanchuan took a deep breath. "Be careful and come back soon."
……
Yan Xun had just passed by her parents, who were sitting on the sofa watching TV, when her father looked up at her and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Let's go out and buy some snacks," Yan Xun said. "I heard there's a supermarket nearby."
“It’s a convenience store,” Dad nodded. “I happened to pass by it on my way home from get off work.”
"At the entrance of the residential area?"
“Just keep walking along the road with the red roof, and you’ll see the gate,” Dad said, then turned his attention back to the television. “Come back as soon as you’re done shopping.”
His mother was watching TV the whole time, and when she heard Yan Xun say he was going out to buy snacks, she only looked up at him.
Perhaps because Yan Xun hadn't moved for a while, his mother looked up with some surprise, "Why aren't you going yet?"
"I have no money," Yan Xun said, stretching out his hand in front of the couple. "Give me some pocket money."
"You silly child," the father said, but still took some change from his coat pocket and handed it to Yan Xun. "Is this enough?"
Yan Xun glanced at it a few times, then said, "That's enough."
He then waved his hand again, "I'm going to the supermarket first, you don't need to wait for me."
Neither the couple paid attention to Yan Xun's words, but as Yan Xun turned to leave, he glanced at the carpet behind the sofa one last time.
Both the sofa and the lamps next to it cast shadows on the carpet.
Yan Xun's parents, who were sitting upright on the sofa, did not leave any shadows on the carpet.
……
There is a street lamp every 5 meters in the community.
Perhaps because it was getting late, there were no neighbors to be seen on the street. If it weren't for the villas with their lights still on, the whole community would have been so quiet that it seemed like no one lived there.
Yan Xun glanced at the location of the red roof and took a picture, then posted it to the group chat.
[Yan Xun: I'll go find the bamboo pole and see if I can find any clues.]
Whether it was due to poor photography skills or the actual environment, in Yan Xun's photos, all that could be seen was the glaring red rooftop, with everything around him blurry, as if ten vengeful spirits might come out at any moment to claim his life.
[Buzz cut: You're this (thumbs up)]
[Du Yun: Thumbs up]
Behind a string of thumbs-up replies, Yan Xun saw the message from Lou Yanchuan.
[Lou Yanchuan: Be careful, and come back quickly.]
[Yan Xun: @Lou Yanchuan, I understand, Grandpa Lou.]
He didn't stop walking while sending messages in the group, and soon he arrived in front of the red-roofed house—this should be Lin Wen and Fang Shuo's house.
Yan Xun saw the lights on in the house, and the "囍" character that hadn't fallen off the window.
Whether it was the eerie glow of the streetlights at night or something strange about the house itself, Yan Xun stood there staring at it for a while, then looked up at the other houses with red roofs and suddenly noticed a similarity.
—These houses with red roofs all look pretty much the same?
He looked at the remaining red-roofed houses one by one.
They discovered that these houses, both in appearance and in the decorations at the entrance, were identical to Lin Wen and her companion's house.
Even the "囍" character that hadn't completely fallen off the window was there.
If you really want to point out a difference, it's probably that the double happiness symbols on some windows have completely fallen off, while others have just been pasted on, making them look like newlyweds who have just moved in.
Yan Xun stood under the streetlights, looking at the houses with red roofs.
Does that mean that only married or soon-to-be-married couples can stay in the red-roofed house?