Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 90

Di Qian, disguised as a man, was wrapped in a tattered coat and wore a patched hat. She ate irregularly and walked barefoot through the mud, tailing someone. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao was dressed in high-quality, soft Western attire, eating the freshest fruits and drinking the cleanest spring water. He didn’t have to toil to entertain guests; the more he disdained them, the more they pursued him.

Lady Claurus constantly reminded Lin Qiao, “Don’t smile at them. Your smile is reserved for the wealthy!” “Be arrogant! Be like a noble swan. As for Mr. Deladen, who’s always after you, you can have lunch with him, but never dinner.”

“He’s just your stepping stone. Do you know how famous you’ve become? If you entertain the poor, your status will be that of the poor.”

“I want Claurus Cleaning Company to have high-end goods too, and you, Qiao! You’re our little darling, the signboard for us to move up a notch.”

Lady Claurus’s favoritism towards Lin Qiao was blatant, or rather, her naked preference for money. The Western-style dress Lin Qiao wore, though tailored into a maid’s uniform, was incredibly opulent, increasingly resembling a modern-day erotic uniform. His daily life consisted of eating, sleeping, accompanying guests for meals, walks, and enjoying ballet performances.

Lady Claurus specifically hired tutors to teach Lin Qiao etiquette, literature, and art. She didn’t demand mastery, but at least she wanted Lin Qiao to be knowledgeable enough to understand what the upper-class people were talking about. This showed how ambitious Lady Claurus was. Naturally, the other girls in the company felt envious. However, they also knew that, to some extent, they and Lin Qiao were a community of interests. If Lin Qiao could enhance the reputation of Claurus Cleaning Company and open the door to high society, all the girls’ salaries would increase. Moreover, Lin Qiao was genuinely harmless. The jewelry and other items men gave him, which he didn’t need, he would give to the other girls.

Sweet only wished Lin Qiao would be a bit stingy and not scatter money around foolishly all day, leaving himself poor. In response, Lin Qiao would take out his savings: “Brother Sweet, don’t be jealous. This is for you.”

If it were someone else giving him money, Sweet would accept it without hesitation and mock the giver as a sucker. But with Lin Qiao, he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He would spend a little but, unlike before, he wouldn’t spend all the money he had. Instead, he would save some and hide it away. Sweet thought that if something ever happened to Lin Qiao, that naive little fool, he could use the money to buy Lin Qiao’s freedom.

So Sweet began to save money, even limiting himself to just one beer at the tavern. When other gang members noticed this, they teased him mercilessly.

“Is Sweet getting ready to get married? Has he set his sights on one of the girls from Claurus Cleaning Company?”

“That’s not a wise choice, Claurus! You can’t afford her ransom.”

“Unless she gets kicked out, but then she’ll probably die soon from some incurable disease.”

“Why get married at all? You can just have fun with women for money. Otherwise, you’d have to support children, and if you’re too poor, they’ll end up in the poorhouse. In the end, it wouldn’t matter whether you had a wife or not.”

Sweet found this annoying and waved his hand dismissively, “Get out of here!”

The sudden movement caused him to bump into someone’s arm, and the surroundings fell into an eerie silence. Sweet turned around and saw the rising star of late, a guy who had given himself a nickname called “Yatagarasu.” This guy was a real fighter, not afraid even when facing someone with a gun. He was ruthless and independent, seemingly young but very experienced in killing, to the point that even the gang leader was a bit wary of him.

Sweet instinctively hid his money bag. Yatagarasu glanced over, rubbed the mole on his nose with his finger, and was wearing a coat without a hat. Although he was slightly shorter than pure Westerners and had a youthful, somewhat youthful face, he looked very tough with the bruises from fighting.

Yatagarasu seemed not to want to cause trouble and left the tavern silently. Sweet breathed a sigh of relief but felt uneasy. He hastily ended his revelry and made his way back to Claurus Cleaning Company at top speed.

However, halfway there, he was taken down. The assailant directly grabbed Sweet’s money bag and punched him in the cheek. Sweet cried out in pain but was quickly muffled by the attacker, who covered his mouth and nose with one hand and grabbed his neck with the other.

Sweet recognized his assailant—it was… Yatagarasu.

Sweet didn’t want to accept his fate. He could have begged for mercy, said he wouldn’t pursue the matter, shown weakness, and offered to regularly pay tribute to Yatagarasu in exchange for his life. But Sweet didn’t say any of that. The money was meant for Lin Qiao, saved for him…

Unbeknownst to Sweet, as his consciousness began to fade from being choked, he blurted out what he truly felt, calling out Lin Qiao’s name.

Suddenly, Yatagarasu let go, even lifting Sweet up and patting his back: “You said these are whose?”

Sweet regained his senses: “They’re… yours.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he was punched by Yatagarasu: “You just mentioned Lin Qiao, right? Do you know him? Where is he?”

Sweet thought Yatagarasu wasn’t satisfied with just the money and wanted more, so he said: “He is… very important to the gang.”

Yatagarasu looked at Sweet, his pupils cold like a snake’s in the dark. He was impatient with this beating around the bush and grabbed Sweet’s neck again: “You’re so talkative. Others should know too.”

Sweet quickly said: “He’s at Claurus Cleaning Company!”

Sweet wasn’t betraying Lin Qiao; he was trying to dissuade Yatagarasu: “He’s very important, a cash cow, and knows many gentlemen from high society.”

“If you harm him, not only will Claurus Cleaning Company not let you go, but the gang won’t either.”

Yatagarasu frowned: “Who said I wanted to harm him? I just… should know him.”

Yatagarasu threw the money bag into Sweet’s arms, asked him to point the way, and headed towards the “cleaning company.”

Unaware of all this, Lin Qiao was about to meet Di Qian again. Di Qian still sneaked over from the stable and met Lin Qiao near the back window of the apartment. Lin Qiao pretended to be “clueless” and generously handed over money: “How’s it going? Have you found any new clues recently?”

Di Qian took the money without looking up: “Do you think clues are that easy to find?”

“Look at my clothes; I don’t even have shoes. You, on the other hand, are living it up here.”

“I’m struggling out there all by myself, and their patrol teams are constantly looking for poor people to lock up in the poorhouse.”

“I have to dodge them while gathering clues, almost risking my life.”

“But I’ve discovered that they’re extremely corrupt here. As long as you have money, you can get anything. Remember the mummy party we talked about last time? If I want to infiltrate it, this amount of money won’t be enough.”

Lin Qiao put on a troubled face: “I’ll try to earn more money.”

Di Qian didn’t know that Lin Qiao would share jewelry and other items with the other girls in the house, nor did she know how much Lin Qiao actually earned. After taking the money, she planned to leave without revealing any clues. Lin Qiao rested his chin on his hand, looking extremely naive and easy to deceive.

However, as Di Qian turned her back, Lin Qiao suddenly said: “I’ve noticed there are many homeless children outside these days. I even saved a boy named Nelson.”

“Although they’re all NPCs, I hope you can check on him. Can you bring him to see me?”

Di Qian agreed, but her heart pounded. She wasn’t sure if Lin Qiao had discovered something. Was it the newcomer’s foolish sympathy for NPCs, or was he hinting that he had already interacted with the so-called homeless children?

Could interacting with these wandering urchins trigger some clue-related quest? Or was there something unusual about the boy Nelson?

The more uncertain Di Qian felt, the more she wanted to see for herself, to determine whether Lin Qiao was a naive new player with a soft spot for NPCs or a cunning player pretending to be simple-minded.

Lin Qiao yawned, his mouth opening just a little, very delicately. Thinking his yawn seemed a bit unmanly, Lin Qiao deliberately opened his mouth wider. Suddenly, something flew into Lin Qiao’s mouth. He immediately closed his mouth and began to cough painfully.

He had no idea what it was. It tasted sweet in his mouth, but what could it be? Some kind of bug? Lin Qiao was both choked and uncomfortable when suddenly someone flipped over from the window, picked him up, and patted his back. Lin Qiao was terrified and kicked the person, then looked up angrily. He saw a familiar face—it was Yatagarasu!

Compared to the last game, he hadn’t changed much, still a teenager with a lean but smooth set of muscles. In his coat, he looked broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted. Lin Qiao clung to his hand and coughed desperately until he finally spat out the candy and gasped for breath.

But Lin Qiao quickly realized something. Players didn’t remember their past game experiences. Yatagarasu shouldn’t remember him now, right? So why did he suddenly show up? Was it to seek cooperation?

Yatagarasu looked a bit embarrassed. He had just wanted to play with Lin Qiao because he found him cute, but it had almost ended in disaster. Seeing Lin Qiao’s silent, curious, and naive expression, Yatagarasu hesitated and said, “I’m Yatagarasu.”

“You probably don’t know me. Actually, I don’t really know you either.”

“But I know your name. I must have met you in a previous game and cooperated with you so well that I made an effort to remember your name.”

Yatagarasu tilted his head. “I don’t know how well we got along to make the last me cut off seven of my heads just to remember your name.”

Lin Qiao was taken aback. Such a high price? Yatagarasu had eight heads, which meant eight lives. Although he didn’t know how many heads Yatagarasu had used up before, now he had only one left for Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao sincerely worried, “Does it hurt? How many lives did you trade for my name?”

“You know, I could have forgotten you. Was it worth it for you to do this?”

Yatagarasu was silent for a moment, then smiled, “Not that many. I had four heads left when I used them to remember your name. It hurt quite a bit when I cut them off.”

“I don’t know why I did it, but I did.”

“You’re really cute. Open your mouth again for me.”