By the time everyone made their way back to the village chief's house, the sky had already turned a warm orange. Dusk enveloped the entire village, and curls of smoke rose gently from the chimneys of every household.
At dinnertime, everyone gathered in the main hall of the chief's house.
Not long after, Qu Ling returned along with the village chief.
The edges of her clothes were stained with soot from the fire, her hair was slightly disheveled, and her face showed some exhaustion from running around. However, her expression remained calm, as she didn't want the others to notice anything amiss.
Qu Ling went straight to her room to clean herself up quickly, then came downstairs to take her seat and eat in silence, not saying a single word the entire time.
The village chief, on the other hand, said a few words at the dinner table about the inventory of losses and the progress of the investigation.
The calculated losses weren't too severe, but rebuilding the apiary would take some time.
However, there was absolutely no progress regarding the investigation into the origin of the fire.
Everyone had their own thoughts, and dinner was a quiet affair, with only the soft clatter of dishes.
After resting for a bit after dinner, Bai Ci took her toiletries and headed to the bathroom at the end of the hallway to wash her hair and take a shower.
Before she left, the atmosphere in the second-floor girls' guest room was just as it had always been, filled with an undisguised, tense standoff.
Xie Lai was still somewhat antagonistic and guarded, her gaze toward Qu Ling full of aloofness.
Qu Ling couldn't be bothered to deal with her either, sitting on her bunk with her eyes closed to rest.
Washing her hair and showering took only about half an hour. By the time Bai Ci returned, the atmosphere in the guest room had completely changed.
The two of them were still sitting on opposite sides of the platform bed. While the atmosphere wasn't exactly warm and harmonious, the previous sword-drawn tension was gone, as if they had reached a tacit understanding in private to maintain a delicate peace.
Xie Lai's eyes kept darting toward Bai Ci as she returned through the door. She looked as though she had something to say but didn't know how to start, hesitating for a long time without making a sound.
Watching from the side, Qu Ling grew impatient. Unable to stand this dithering, she was the first to break the silence. “Stop agonizing over it. I'll say it.”
“I found evidence at the scene of the fire. The fire at the apiary was set by Wang Dong. I'm one hundred percent sure.”
She looked at Bai Ci, who had just walked in, her tone crisp and direct, without any preamble.
Bai Ci didn't bother hiding her expression, letting out a genuine look of surprise.
She nodded slightly, quietly waiting for Qu Ling to elaborate.
Xie Lai quickly nodded in agreement, wanting to prove how credible Qu Ling's words were. Unfortunately, her mouth moved faster than her brain: “Yes, yes, yes! Wang Dong is one of those detestable Malicious... Outlaws—”
In her haste, she had blurted out the exclusive term used within the player circle to describe a certain type of person.
The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her slip of the tongue. Her face stiffened slightly, and she scrambled to cover up her mistake. “I mean, he has a malicious, venting kind of personality. He just likes to cause chaos and stir up trouble on purpose, finding joy in throwing off everyone else's rhythm. His mindset is extremely extreme.”
“In other words, he's the kind of person who derives pleasure from creating chaos,” Qu Ling added, seizing back control of the conversation.
In a way, she was helping patch up Xie Lai's slip-up.
On the surface, Bai Ci nodded, putting on a thoughtful expression as if agonizing over whether this accusation was credible. In truth, she was highly skeptical, with doubt taking up the lion's share of her thoughts.
After all, compared to the last member of the Malicious Outlaws she had encountered, Wang Dong looked like a completely honest guy.
Ever since they entered Tianmi Village, Wang Dong had mostly worked in silence, never trying to steal the spotlight or getting involved in conflicts. He was so quiet he was practically invisible.
He was the ultimate low-profile, nice guy of the team.
If Qu Ling hadn't accused him herself, she would never have associated this introverted man with a player from the Malicious Outlaws who deliberately sowed discord.
Could it really be like the old saying—silent dogs bite deepest?
The more law-abiding and quiet someone seemed on the surface, the more extreme their hidden thoughts were?
Or was this actually Qu Ling's scheme?
Was she intentionally throwing Wang Dong under the bus to deflect attention and cover up her own clues?
Countless suspicions swirled in Bai Ci's mind, but her face remained frozen in the shock of hearing that Wang Dong had started the fire.
She didn't know if Qu Ling was lying or using some clever spin, so she decided to keep her guard up and continue playing the role of an NPC.
On the other side, Qu Ling's heart was also filled with mixed emotions, feeling like she had a lump in her throat.
She silently reviewed her choices. The more she thought about it, the more absurd it felt. Every single choice she had made was perfectly logical, so how on earth had things ended up like this?
Originally, Xie Lai was visibly inexperienced and immature. A novice like her was prone to making mistakes and could even drag down the team's overall rhythm at a critical moment.
So, choosing to cooperate with a veteran like Wang Dong was a perfectly normal decision, right?
But what she hadn't expected was that Wang Dong, this seemingly honest, decent-looking fellow, would actually harbor such dangerous ideas.
The fire at the apiary today was entirely Wang Dong's doing.
He had planted evidence at the scene pointing to her, wanting to dump all the blame on her head.
If she hadn't had her class bonuses, allowing her to quickly steal and hide the evidence before the other villager NPCs saw it...
...she would have been facing the villagers' interrogation with no way to clear her name.
After her thoughts swirled briefly, Qu Ling suppressed the frustration in her heart and quietly waited for Bai Ci's reaction.
If Xie Lai hadn't mentioned that Bai Ci was the one helping push the investigation forward on her end, Qu Ling wouldn't have wanted to deal with an NPC in the first place.
Bai Ci put on a thoughtful expression, and after a moment, she spoke. “In my impression, Wang Dong shouldn't be the kind of person with that sort of personality.”
“If your accusation is correct, Qu Ling, then the most likely explanation is that he has also been replaced.”
As she spoke, she frowned slightly, her tone carrying a hint of confusion.
“I just don't understand why he would deliberately burn down the apiary. If he has been replaced, logically speaking, he should be on the same side as the villagers.”
Hearing this, Qu Ling was both shocked and bewildered.
“Replaced? Replaced by what?”
Qu Ling turned to look at Xie Lai, her eyes filled with questioning and anger.
What was wrong with this girl?
They had been talking for nearly half an hour. Even subtracting the time spent reaching their cooperation agreement in the beginning, they still had about ten minutes left.
Yet in those ten minutes, Xie Lai hadn't mentioned a single word about something that was so obviously a fundamental and crucial piece of information.
Now, it was Bai Ci's turn to look confused.
Huh? You guys hadn't even talked about this yet?
That didn't make sense. Wasn't this the very reason Xie Lai had actively joined the investigation in the first place?
When Xie Lai introduced herself to Qu Ling and explained why she was participating in the investigation, shouldn't this information have naturally come up?
So, had Xie Lai intentionally concealed this information?
But what was she hoping to gain from that?
Could she be hoping to use this information gap to trap Qu Ling at some point?
Bai Ci couldn't figure it out for the moment, but since this matter was directly tied to her primary motive and driving force, and was a key part of her persona, she absolutely had to speak up.
Therefore, regardless of whatever schemes Xie Lai might have, for the sake of maintaining her own persona, she had to lay it out.
Rate on N.U.
