Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 84

Deladen almost followed Lin Qiao out of there, but the old-fashioned carriage sent by the brothel was too small. Its square shape resembled a grey urn, and it simply couldn’t fit more people. Even the carriage driver had to drive from outside. In fact, the brothel’s driver also acted as a thug. Most of them were the favorites of the brothel’s managers, and they held high status. These people were all ruffians, with their own gangs, and even Deladen had to give them some respect.

So the driver boldly tipped his hat to Deladen and flirted, “If you like our girls, you can come more often. The Claurus Cleaning Company welcomes you.”

The carriage carrying Lin Qiao gradually moved away amidst a few shouts. Even in the daytime, the entire city was shrouded in fog. Occasionally, the sky would clear up, but what people saw was not the blue sky, but the black smoke billowing from the chimneys.

Lin Qiao opened the small window on the carriage wall and looked outside. If he were a native NPC girl, he should have used a fan to cover his face at this moment, but Lin Qiao wasn’t, so he didn’t know that.

Outside the window was the local customs of this world. If the game was set in the Victorian era, then this country should be in a state of vigorous development. After all, this industrial revolution laid the foundation for Y country’s world hegemony. Unfortunately, new productive forces always stimulate new classes, and conflicts between old and new classes lead to social instability.

Although this country possessed the world’s concentrated wealth, it had clear class distinctions, concentrated wealth, and a significant wealth gap. This could be seen from the scenes on both sides of the street. Some people were dressed in riches, with waistcoats, shirts, leather shoes, and suits. These people frequented high-end places, such as restaurants, jewelry stores, butcher shops, bakeries, or pubs, etc.

Others were ragged, starving, and shoeless, with blankets wrapped around them and muddy legs. The beautiful ladies wore exaggerated hats and crinolines, and they powdered their faces white, patting them with something like modern powder puffs. However, they didn’t wear lipstick because, in this period, it was considered a mark of “lower-class women.” In fact, if they just looked down at the poor women in the corners, they would know that poor girls simply couldn’t afford such things.

The carriage Lin Qiao was riding in traveled under a large number of Gothic Revival-style red sandstone buildings, with a river beside it. A big river crossed the entire city. Y country is an island nation, and not far from this river is the sea, so the local area has built a large number of docks, ships, and bridges. Transportation was not that developed, but the “traffic lights” had been invented. The entire device was made of cast iron, painted in gold-green, and even had pineapple-shaped ornaments on top. It looked very different from modern traffic lights, and the settings required manual operation. Notices about the traffic lights were posted everywhere. However, the effect… was far from satisfactory. Carriages were unwilling to follow traffic rules, and it was evident that this set of “traffic lights” had been placed here not long ago, with the person in charge of operating it in a fluster.

Lin Qiao could hear the “driver” who was driving his carriage cursing. Suddenly, a loud noise came from the intersection, and people screamed. It turned out that the traffic light device exploded due to improper operation. The most terrifying thing was that cars had been invented, but the earliest form of cars was very different from the modern ones. They didn’t even have a carriage, only a few large wheels, and their aesthetics were not very good. So most people still preferred to take carriages. This loud noise caused the horses to be frightened and started a commotion. Some horses of carriages ran wildly, crashing into each other. The screams of ladies, the scolding of gentlemen, and the cries and calls for help of several children were mixed together. Lin Qiao heard some passers-by exclaiming with schadenfreude: “Oh, look, a few little ones were hit into the river.”

“It’s very cold now, will they freeze to death in the river?”

“What bad luck, never seen such unlucky children.”

“Don’t worry, they are not from good families, just a bunch of poor devils from the orphanage. In this world, let all the poor devils die.”

When encountering someone falling into the water, especially children, the first reaction of these people was not to help but to gawk. The riverbank was already crowded with people, most of whom were calming the carriages and the wealthy people inside. After all, in this era, those who could ride in carriages and not be sent to the orphanage had some assets and could get by. Lin Qiao couldn’t stand by and do nothing. He crawled out of the carriage.

The “driver” immediately became alert: “What are you going to do? Run away?”

Lin Qiao then had the chance to look at this so-called “driver.” The man was in his twenties, tall and hairy, wearing a cashmere overcoat. Although he didn’t have a full beard, his red hair was messy. His gaze at Lin Qiao was filled with admiration, and his tone softened: “You see, your first customer is Deladen, that rich man. If you work a little harder, you can hook him for a few months.”

“A higher-class girl only needs to serve five or six customers. If you get close to them, you might even marry one of your customers. Don’t do anything foolish.”

“A pretty girl like you, if left alone on the street at night, will be taken advantage of and end up pregnant.”

Lin Qiao slowly took off his shoes, revealing a pair of decent cotton socks, given by Deladen. After thinking for a moment, Lin Qiao also took off his socks and removed the extra clothes that were cumbersome, leaving only the inner layer.

The “driver” froze for a moment, swallowing hard: “What are you doing? Do you want to sleep with me?”

The girls from the brothel would indeed have a fling with the guards. After all, besides preventing the girls from escaping, the guards could also help the girls buy things if they had a good relationship.

The “driver” thought he was having a romantic encounter, but Lin Qiao just glanced at him and smiled: “I’m going to save those kids. Wait for me.”

The “driver” thought he had heard wrong, but Lin Qiao ran swiftly, wearing only the white dress inside, like a beautiful little bird. A “girl” running in the street in such a disheveled state in public was enough to attract attention. Many people noticed Lin Qiao running.

Some conservative old gentlemen covered their eyes, indignantly saying: “God, what a moral decay.” Although he said that, the old gentleman couldn’t help but peek: “When did lower-class women become so uncontrolled? I must go and scold this shameless woman myself.”

There were also people with crosses on their chests, looking disgusted. They insulted Lin Qiao to the extreme, calling him a “licentious, wanton, shameless” hussy. But their eyes were glued to Lin Qiao, not letting go for a moment. So-called sanctimoniousness and hypocrisy were just like this.

The “driver,” who was dazzled by Lin Qiao’s smile, came to his senses and hurriedly chased after him, only to see Lin Qiao jump over the railing and dive into the water, swimming towards the struggling children.

Saving NPCs in a horror game is a very foolish act. Lin Qiao’s actions would be considered overly virtuous, not rational enough, and seemingly not an excellent player. But Lin Qiao had his own considerations. First of all, he couldn’t get over his own conscience. Secondly, he remembered that there were no orphanages in this period, only poorhouses. The children who fell into the water were from the poorhouse. Lin Qiao hadn’t finished collecting clues in the brothel and couldn’t leave. Maybe these children were a good breakthrough.

Then, he was an illegal immigrant, and he had a system to help him. He wouldn’t really put himself in danger. Finally, Lin Qiao couldn’t determine whether that child was… that guy.

Lin Qiao interrupted his thoughts and approached a little girl in the cold river, grabbing her and swimming towards the shore. The little girl was scared and clung to Lin Qiao, who struggled to pull her up. There was a small gangway near the bridge where people could climb up. The people above just watched, or rather, they were densely packed around, watching the events unfold in the water from the other side of the railing.

The little girl had no strength to climb up, and Lin Qiao was too small to lift her. Helplessly, Lin Qiao showed his little face to a man wearing a round hat nearby and said, “Can you help me, sir? Please.”

The round-hat man frowned impatiently, but his attitude changed dramatically when he saw Lin Qiao’s face, and he immediately helped pull the little girl up. When the round-hat man wanted to say something to Lin Qiao, he found that the other party had gone to save other children again.

The round-hat man seemed to be a sailor, took off his clothes and jumped in. His companions teased, “Why are you joining in, Bild?”

The round-hat man laughed and whistled, exclaiming, “The one who saved the people is an incredibly beautiful girl, with black hair, fair and smooth skin. God, I can assure you she hasn’t worn any makeup at all, and her lips are so red. I really want to take a bite.”

The other sailors were tempted and followed suit to help. The “driver” anxiously arrived at the dock, where the people recognized the “driver”: “Sweet, are you also here to join in the fun?”

Without a word, Sweet jumped into the water. Lin Qiao saved another boy there. After all the children were rescued, Lin Qiao was searching for something on the water surface. Suddenly, his expression changed and he dived underwater, only to see a child sinking.

The boy had golden hair and blue eyes, resembling Nelson from the first game. Lin Qiao swam over and grabbed him. The system had exchanged a stamina item for him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the strength to save so many people. When Lin Qiao grabbed the blonde boy, he saw that the boy’s eyes were actually open. Lin Qiao hugged the boy’s waist and surfaced. When he looked again, the blonde boy had closed his eyes and fallen into a coma.

Lin Qiao was pulled by the “driver” and swam towards the dock together. The “driver” was very strong and directly lifted Lin Qiao up so that he could climb onto the dock.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Lin Qiao, who was only wearing his inner dress.

After being soaked in water, it clung to his body, outlining his smooth waistline. Since Lin Qiao hadn’t worn a corset when he went into the water, his waist was naturally slender and well-proportioned, not in a sickly way, but a harmonious, naturally thin waist.

Lin Qiao had a head of black, seaweed-like long hair, with delicate features and an exotic charm. His facial features were as beautiful as a doll’s.

During this period, Y country’s aesthetic was very morbid, with child prostitutes being prevalent.

Women also carried vials of medicine, wiped their tears with handkerchiefs, and pretended to be weak and delicate, as if they were chronically ill and frail. Even their clothes had a fantasy-like elegant atmosphere.

So someone like Lin Qiao, who seemed like a mermaid from the water or an elf from the forest, was absolutely eye-catching.