C92 — Trouble at the Airport

Chi Lian sat crouched beside Yang Yunyun’s corpse, her emotions in utter turmoil.

She was heartbroken, terrified, and full of questions.

How had things escalated to this point?

Over the past few days, Yang Yunyun had been sleeping in the same bed with her.

Chi Lian had, in her dazed state, occasionally brushed against her and noticed her body was freezing cold. She’d just assumed it was the air conditioner, and kept turning the temperature up.

But each time she raised it, Yunyun would wait until she was asleep and quietly turn it back down to the lowest setting. The room had become like an ice cellar.

Thankfully, Chi Lian spent most of her time buried under the covers. Yunyun had even found her the thickest blanket and tucked it around her, placing a windproof little hat on her head.

Oddly, Chi Lian didn’t feel cold — she’d actually slept quite well.

Now, remembering the meticulous care Yunyun had given her — the bond they’d built together while chasing dreams in a big city — Chi Lian’s tears fell like rain.

Overwhelmed by grief, Chi Lian had no energy left to worry about anything else.

Cheng Xubo, on the other hand, had no emotional attachment to Yunyun. Beyond the horror of the situation, he felt nothing else.

He stared at the scattered pieces of Yunyun’s body, completely at a loss for what to do… when suddenly — someone knocked on the door.

Most people would panic in a situation like this.

Cheng Xubo panicked hard.

His mind instantly conjured the image of police officers banging at the door.

He opened the game app — thankfully, although he couldn’t summon his pushcart, his skills still worked.

Quickly, he stuffed Yunyun’s body parts into a small ceramic jar he found in the kitchen.

It sounded absurd — but thanks to his “Spatial Transfer” skill, it was completely feasible.

And so, Yang Yunyun — piece by piece — was stuffed into a jar less than 30 cm tall.

Cheng Xubo shoved the jar into a cupboard and only then opened the door, visibly flustered.

Outside stood a large, burly young man who barked,

“It’s past two in the damn morning — are you done chopping already? If this keeps up, I’m calling the cops!”

Turns out — it was just a neighbor, not the police.

Cheng Xubo nearly collapsed with relief. He smiled apologetically, bowed repeatedly, and swore it would never happen again.

Then, in a show of sincerity, he sent the neighbor a 200 yuan red packet as an apology.

The neighbor, seeing such a polite and generous response, didn’t press further.

Smiling, he accepted the money and left without further complaint.

After closing the door, Cheng Xubo collapsed, utterly drained, next to Chi Lian.

Only now did the two of them finally have a chance to check their phones.

On the other end, after hearing the full story, Mu Sichen and He Fei both fell into stunned silence.

“…So that’s what happened,” He Fei mumbled.

Though not the sharpest in real-life logic, He Fei did watch a lot of anime — and had seen more than his share of detective shows.

He spoke slowly, his tone a little hesitant:

“So, Yunyun came over to take care of Chi Lian.

Then she suddenly disappeared.

The last place she was seen was at Chi Lian’s apartment.

That very night, a man named Cheng Xubo — who lives over 200 km away — shows up at her apartment.

In the middle of the night, someone hears bone-chopping sounds.

The neighbor gets woken up and comes over to confront them.

He’s given a 200 yuan red packet — not cash, but transferred via chat app, meaning the transaction date is logged forever.”

Having laid out the chain of events clearly, He Fei concluded:

“If the police start investigating…

Cheng Xubo might very well become the prime suspect in a murder and dismemberment case.”

Cheng Xubo’s face went pale as chalk. He stammered:

“So… does that mean I’ve become a murder suspect?!”

He Fei replied:

“Theoretically, as long as they don’t find the body, there’s no evidence.

Good thing you used a spatial storage skill.”

But Cheng Xubo’s voice quivered as he argued:

“Spatial storage skills have time limits too! One day, tops — and my energy will be depleted soon.

Besides, I didn’t kill Yang Yunyun! Her body… it was already decomposing. You could tell she’d been dead for days.

There’s no way I’d be the suspect!”

He was trying to be logical, but his voice betrayed his panic.

But what was the point of arguing with He Fei?

He wasn’t a cop, nor was he part of Yang Yunyun’s family.

Mu Sichen and Chi Lian were no longer concerned with who the murderer was.

Chi Lian, the more she thought about the past few days, the more uneasy she felt.

She slowly realized: Yang Yunyun had already been dead when she came to her apartment.

If she hadn’t been in such poor shape — sleeping most of the time in a freezing room — she would’ve noticed something was wrong.

But the air conditioner had been kept on the coldest setting the whole time.

Chi Lian had assumed it was just Yunyun’s weird temperature preference, and hadn’t thought much of it.

Now, realizing how close she’d been to a corpse for days — sleeping beside it, touching it — a wave of cold fear washed over her.

But then she remembered Yunyun’s final words…

And saw the freshly chopped ribs in the kitchen.

Chi Lian broke down completely.

Even if she had become a “monster,” Yunyun had still been her best friend.

She had done everything she could to care for her.

Through tears, Chi Lian asked:

“Captain Mu, earlier you asked me how I found the game My Ideal Town… did you think of something?”

Mu Sichen’s expression was heavy.

He understood all too well the pain of losing a loved one — and deeply sympathized with her grief.

But the living had to keep moving forward — especially when they were already entangled in a deadly web.

He forced himself to stay calm and asked,

“Was it Yunyun who gave you the game?”

Chi Lian panicked a little:

“I—I don’t know. I can’t remember. I just remember… after work one day, I was playing games with some friends. We were looking for something casual and stress-relieving in the group chat.”

“Someone sent the link to the official game site, and I clicked it.
But… I can’t remember who sent it. Not even a little. Isn’t that strange?”

Chi Lian was flustered. Cheng Xubo was too.

Even though they were adults who’d worked for years, they were still just ordinary people.

And ordinary people weren’t prepared to face things like this.

It was completely normal for them to panic and lose control in a situation like this.

Mu Sichen sighed and said gently,

“I’ll book the earliest flight for tomorrow morning. We’ll figure things out once I’m there.”

He strongly suspected that Yang Yunyun had something to do with the game — but without seeing things firsthand, he couldn’t jump to conclusions.

He needed to see her body with his own eyes.

“I’m coming too!” He Fei piped up immediately, his curiosity outweighing common sense.

Mu Sichen tried to talk him down:

“You’re still not fully recovered. Just stay in the dorm and rest.”

But He Fei was stubborn:

“No way. We’re a team of four. We can’t split up.
Besides, if you leave and I’m here alone, I’m less safe — what if I get dragged into some dream or something?”

“…Fine.” Mu Sichen gave in.

So the two of them started booking tickets for the earliest flight out the next morning.

But it was summer break, and booking same-day flights meant the prices were outrageous.

They had to dump everything they’d earned in the past few days from boosting accounts, and even dip into Mu Sichen’s tuition savings for third year.

The moment they hit “Pay,” Mu Sichen felt his blood pressure spike.

He Fei came from a decent family, but his parents didn’t exactly spoil him with cash.

They’d buy him things he needed, but his personal spending money was limited.

So when he saw 2–3k yuan vanish from his account in one go, his heart physically ached.

Now the two broke brothers stared miserably at their bank balances.

“Let’s not take a cab to the airport… let’s ride a shared bike,” He Fei suggested pitifully.

Mu Sichen, the even poorer of the two, stayed calm:

“Don’t joke around. You’re in no condition to ride a bike.”

(Which implied: If it weren’t for your weak body, I really would’ve ridden there.)

Their flight was at 7:30 AM, and it was already 3:00 AM.

The airport was far, and they had to leave by 5:00 to be safe.

They threw a few clothes and toiletries into their backpacks, and tried to grab two hours of sleep to recharge.

At 5:00 sharp, they ran downstairs, begged the half-asleep dorm supervisor for the key, and bolted out of the building — chased by the old man’s cursing.

 

“Calling a cab?” He Fei looked at Mu Sichen.

“It’s going to cost at least 100 yuan to get to the airport.”

“Call it.” Mu Sichen said solemnly.

He Fei used the app to order the ride, then squatted by the campus gate and grumbled,

“Why are we doing world-saving work, but living like paupers?”

Mu Sichen felt the pain too.

Even though he could apply for a student loan next semester — and he was likely to get approved — the fact that he had to apply again was crushing.

He’d already worked so hard and saved enough, only for all his planning and effort to be blown apart by this sudden situation.

There was barely any traffic that early in the morning, and few red lights on the way to the airport.

It took them just over half an hour to arrive.

They split the cab fare and walked into the airport with their backpacks.

But the moment they stepped inside, Mu Sichen felt something was off.

He noticed several uniformed individuals checking passengers’ ID.

Their outfits weren’t those of regular airport staff, and didn’t match any known law enforcement uniforms either — they seemed to belong to some highly specialized department.

Mu Sichen’s first thought was: They must be looking for a high-profile criminal… Don’t let this affect our flight.

He tensed, hoping it had nothing to do with them.

Confident in their innocence, both he and He Fei calmly handed over their IDs.

But the uniformed officer didn’t return the documents — instead, they kept them.

 

“My ID…” He Fei stared helplessly as his card was taken.

“We’d like to invite you both for a cup of tea and a little chat,” the man said politely.

So they were here for them.

Mu Sichen’s heart skipped a beat — but he kept his expression neutral and asked,

“Why?”

“Nine days ago, there was a murder at the company where Mr. He Fei was interning.
The police should have informed you at the time: unless necessary, don’t leave town.
You could be called in to give a statement at any time.”

Mu Sichen replied as harmlessly as possible:

“This is necessary. We have urgent matters. And our flight’s about to take off — we’re poor students, that ticket wasn’t cheap.”

“I understand. It’s the 7:30 flight, right? It’s not even 6 yet.
You’re not checking any luggage, so you can check in online now.
As long as you cooperate, you should be able to catch your flight.”

The man was courteous and clearly well-prepared.

But Mu Sichen had a hunch that cooperating wouldn’t be so simple.

Still, they did as instructed — checked in online, picked their seats, and followed the officer to a quiet office deeper inside the airport.

“Let me introduce myself,” the man said with a friendly smile.

“I’m Lin Wei. I work for the National Special Incident Bureau.
I’m a few years older than you, so you can call me Old Lin, or Comrade Lin — whichever you prefer.”

Mu Sichen didn’t smile.

“You already know our names, and even our flight schedule.
If you wanted to talk, why not come to our dorms in the daytime?
Is before 6 a.m. really a reasonable time for this?”

Lin Wei answered calmly:

“We just took over the case last night.
We combed through all the involved personnel and noticed you were leaving the city.
So we rushed to the airport to intercept you.
Don’t worry — we just have a few questions.”

He then added,

“Are you aware that Ms. Su, the assistant of the deceased from nine days ago,
was also found dead in her home three days later?”

Mu Sichen’s eyes narrowed.

As for He Fei — he was genuinely shocked.

He hadn’t known.

The company had closed temporarily after the general manager’s death.

Employees weren’t seeing each other, and information wasn’t spreading.

He Fei had only just started working there, and barely knew his coworkers.

So he had no idea that “Sister Su” — that friendly assistant — was also dead.

The two exchanged a glance — and in each other’s eyes, they saw a mixture of resignation and “we knew this was coming.”

 

After the general manager’s death, they had already suspected that Sister Su wouldn’t last long either.

Even though Mu Sichen had purified the contamination on her, she had become far too involved — even capable of using the butterfly hairpin to enter He Fei’s dreams.

That meant she wasn’t just an ordinary follower anymore.

She could use the butterfly’s power.

Even if she hadn’t formally reached the level of a “dependent,” she was far beyond a mere “follower.”

Her soul had become deeply entangled with the butterfly’s pollution.

Purifying her meant removing that power — and that also meant the last thread tethering her to life had been cut.

Mu Sichen had hoped she could survive…

But in the end, it seemed she was doomed.

Mu Sichen still managed to hide his emotions — but He Fei had no such restraint.

And since He Fei was bound to give something away anyway, Mu Sichen didn’t bother pretending anymore.

Lin Wei easily read the truth in their eyes.

He said calmly,

“The police sealed off all information about Ms. Su’s death.
Other than her family and the friend who found her body, no one should’ve known.
But judging from your expressions, it seems you just heard — and yet you’re not surprised.”

Like hearing that someone with a terminal illness had finally passed — sorrowful, but expected.

He Fei panicked a little and started babbling:

“It’s not like that… The general manager and Sister Su were close.
If the GM died from, uh, kidney failure or something…
Then maybe she wasn’t in good health either.
So I figured…”

“Stop.” Mu Sichen pressed down on He Fei’s shoulder.

“If you have this much energy, go take a nap.”

He knew Lin Wei was well-prepared.

If they kept lying, it would only expose more.

And truthfully, Mu Sichen was tired — deeply tired.

Ever since learning about the truth of the world’s erosion, he had been carrying a burden far beyond what a student should.

In the other world, he had been chosen by the system — he was a town mayor there, someone with power. He could fight and act.

But here, in the real world?

The general manager was dead.

Sister Su was dead.

Yang Yunyun was dead.

And the four of them were involved in all of it.

Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo were now suspected of murder.

They were just ordinary people.

They were never meant to carry the weight of life and death.

Mu Sichen wanted to tell the truth.

But he wasn’t sure if he could — or what Lin Wei already knew.

After some thought, he asked,

“Do you know a game called My Ideal Town?”

He had clearly intended to say My Ideal Town — but when the words came out of his mouth, they changed into the name of a different game entirely.

Mu Sichen heard himself say the wrong title — and couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

He shook his head and said,

“I have nothing to say.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to say it —

He literally couldn’t.

But then, Lin Wei spoke up:

“I heard you say the name of a matching puzzle game…
But your mouth shape looked like you were saying My Ideal Town.
I read lips, though I might be mistaken.
Was I right?”

Mu Sichen and He Fei’s eyes lit up instantly.

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