Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 58

by Little Panda

Volume 3: Song of the Wanderer

Great Demon King 17

The Game of the Brave

After that thing, Xin Lan found two more body parts in other places inside the cabinet, specifically a calf and a neck section.

“This dismemberment is way too thorough,”

Ren Difei frowned as he took out the flesh pieces that Xin Lan had just found and placed them on the ground.

Actually, he very much wanted to just throw them on the ground, but since he wasn’t tired of living yet, he carefully placed them down and then rubbed his hands.

For normal dismemberment, the head, limbs, and torso would be enough, but this person was particularly unfortunate – even a single arm had been divided into three parts.

Xin Lan didn’t comment; at least it wasn’t chopped into meat chunks, which would have been harder to find.

Leaving that empty, oppressive room, Xin Lan saw Pi Tianzi searching through the living room.

Pi Tianzi held her umbrella close, standing up when she saw Xin Lan and the others.

“I’ve already searched this place once, there’s nothing here.”

Ren Difei said kindly, not just to remind Pi Tianzi but also to improve efficiency.

Pi Tianzi didn’t even look at him and continued searching on her own.

Seeing this, Ren Difei fell silent.

Past the living room, further inside were the dining room and kitchen.

Things like flesh would naturally have some connection to places like the kitchen.

Xin Lan went in, with Ren Difei following closely behind.

Xin Lan opened the refrigerator, which seemed to still be running, and a rush of cold air came out when opened.

Ren Difei bit his fingertip and, before Xin Lan could signal him, took the initiative to grab what was inside.

What was frozen was a head, or more precisely, an incomplete head.

The frozen head had a bluish-white color, with empty eye sockets.

“This person who did the dismembering is too strange. They were so thorough they even dug out the eyeballs. If they were going to go to all this trouble, why not just grind everything up?”

What was the point of dismembering it like this – some special fetish?

“Then what’s the point of playing this game?”

Xin Lan glanced at the head and continued looking around elsewhere.

Ren Difei opened the lower compartment of the refrigerator, but to his disappointment, there was nothing inside.

Xin Lan and Ren Difei searched the entire kitchen and found only a calf section besides the head.

Ren Difei naturally didn’t let the boss lady handle these things herself, carrying the head in one hand and the calf section in the other, feeling so disturbed he could barely walk.

Before entering this bizarre game, he had been just a law-abiding citizen who had done nothing wrong except persistently following celebrities, but after coming in here, there were ghosts and blood everywhere. While it felt thrilling at first, now he just felt mentally exhausted and weak in the knees.

Ren Difei returned to the large room from earlier, piecing together the head and neck.

While he was assembling, Qi Haolin walked in, bringing an arm section and a thigh section, and placed them down.

Xin Lan walked out, and besides the living room and kitchen, there were three guest rooms, all with their doors wide open.

Pi Tianzi was searching through one of them. Xin Lan glanced at the second room which showed signs of being searched, and went directly to the open third room.

The third room’s arrangement was simple – it was a dance studio.

Mirrors covered all four walls, with yellow handrails mounted on them.

“Can any corpse be hidden here?”

Ren Difei looked up and discovered that even the ceiling was covered in mirrors.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

Though that was just how it appeared; whether there actually was anything hidden remained debatable.

However, this floor’s layout was interesting – on one side was a philosophy room, and here was a dance studio.

Could it be some mirror play [referring to roleplay or fetish]?

With all these strange things plus so many mirrors here, it was hard not to speculate.

They had searched almost every corner of this floor, but hadn’t completely assembled the corpse.

“We’ve searched everywhere, are all the parts really on this floor?”

Pi Tianzi anxiously scraped her umbrella back and forth on the ground, looking at the incomplete corpse.

They had found the limbs, head and neck, and the disemboweled torso. Not counting internal organs, it was still missing two hands, two feet, and a pair of eyes.

Xin Lan examined the remains on the ground, narrowing her eyes.

The young man had said to reassemble his body – if they needed to restore it 100%, wouldn’t the internal organs need to be restored 100% as well?

If that was the case, it felt quite nauseating.

After all, the torso was completely empty – forget about the heart, even the liver and kidneys were missing.

To be even more precise, they hadn’t found the testicles either.

The four people examined the incomplete torso: Xin Lan remained characteristically calm, Qi Haolin appeared quite composed, Ren Difei seemed anxious, while Pi Tianzi was agitated.

Qi Haolin was calm because he felt that being anxious wouldn’t help; although he still wanted to get out, he understood clearly that with Xin Lan standing in his way and her combat ability, it was probably impossible for him to get out alive. Rather than that, if they couldn’t complete this task, they might as well all die here together.

Pi Tianzi gripped her umbrella handle tightly and began to think calmly.

Now wasn’t the time to deal with these people yet; she still needed their abilities to piece together this corpse. Better to get through this stage first, then strike later.

If successful, who should she target first?

The driver wearing the green hat? The beautiful woman with the violin? Or the useless weakling with glasses?

Pi Tianzi no longer blamed the driver in her heart. On the first night after entering, she had wanted to blame him – if it weren’t for that driver, they wouldn’t be in this situation. But things had progressed to this point, and she had killed the person she wanted revenge against. Her heart no longer held any grievances. In other words, without this driver, she might not have been able to get her revenge at all.

Perhaps the driver could be killed later, but the green hat on his head might have some unknown function, and it felt risky to leave him alive.

Pi Tianzi’s calculating demeanor was completely visible to Xin Lan’s eyes.

But in Xin Lan’s view, she was just a insignificant clown, not worth mentioning.

Xin Lan checked the time; only two hours had passed.

She returned to the living room and lay down comfortably.

After all, they had one day – twenty-four hours – with still over twenty-one hours left, so there was no worry.

Even if they couldn’t find everything, it didn’t matter – she’d just torture Qi Haolin to death before then.

Yu Wanyan sat in the empty space on her sofa. Xin Lan’s hand accidentally touched hers – that cold, soft hand reminded her of someone from a previous mission world where she had succeeded in face-slapping.

Come to think of it, that person was from long ago.

So long ago that she could barely remember their face anymore.

It wasn’t really important, just someone she’d met for a while. Xin Lan hadn’t deliberately thought about it, but at this moment, at this point, the memory just came to her.

Yu Wanyan curiously watched Xin Lan, who seemed to be spacing out. After their hands touched, Xin Lan immediately pulled back, appearing somewhat absent-minded, though she quickly returned to her usual self.

She had been following Xin Lan like a ghost [bèi hòu líng – literally “behind spirit,” meaning following very closely], wanting to speak out of boredom but not knowing what to say.

After Xin Lan left that room, Ren Difei followed and collapsed onto the sofa, rubbing his stomach, looking somewhat dispirited.

Ling Jiu saw Ren Difei’s action and wondered if Xin Lan was hungry.

Ling Jiu: Host, want me to get you some fried chicken?

Xin Lan: Is there anything besides fried chicken?

Ling Jiu: French fries, hamburgers, Colonel’s chicken nuggets, black pepper chicken nuggets, boneless chicken strips, chicken cutlets…

Xin Lan: Whatever, just bring something.

Xin Lan suspected Ling Jiu had opened a fried chicken shop in her simulation space.

Pi Tianzi and Qi Haolin were still in the room and hadn’t come out. Xin Lan glanced over, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

At this moment, Qi Haolin was in the room, trying hard to convince Pi Tianzi to work with him against the others first.

“One’s just a coward with glasses as his prop, and the other’s a woman with a violin. What are you afraid of? Why do you need me to help you deal with that woman?”

“She’s not simple. You haven’t faced her yet – that violin in her hands is extremely powerful. I can’t beat her alone.”

Qi Haolin concealed part of the truth; if he admitted he’d been taught a lesson by Xin Lan’s fists, Pi Tianzi would surely mock him.

“How powerful is it?”

“It can create small tornadoes out of nowhere.”

“According to what you’re saying, you were defeated by her, so why didn’t she kill you? Isn’t this supposed to be an elimination game?”

“Not everyone is as ruthless as you.”

“Are you saying I’m vicious?”

Pi Tianzi smiled.

“How do I know you won’t backstab me when we’re dealing with her together?”

“I definitely won’t, I swear.”

Pi Tianzi didn’t speak for a while, then finally nodded.

Qi Haolin sighed in relief and smiled, but when he turned around, his smile suddenly turned sinister.

Whatever was in that body had to die. If one person couldn’t handle her, surely two people could?

After Ling Jiu notified her that the food was ready, Xin Lan got up to head to the guest room.

“Don’t follow me.”

These words were meant for both Ren Difei and Yu Wanyan.

Yu Wanyan was somewhat confused but stopped in her tracks.

Ren Difei was even more bewildered, sitting uneasily on the sofa and nervously shaking his leg.

Xin Lan went to the room full of mirrors, closed the door, had Ling Jiu activate the absolute domain, and began eating chicken nuggets.

Fried chicken with ice cola. After eating her fill, Xin Lan wiped her hands and mouth with a wet wipe. When she opened the door to leave, Ling Jiu gave her a mint candy.

You could say it was a very dedicated and professional system indeed.

As Xin Lan came out, she brushed past Pi Tianzi. Pi Tianzi’s gaze swept over her, but Xin Lan walked past, completely ignoring her.

After Xin Lan sat back down, Ren Difei’s shaking leg immediately stopped.

Yu Wanyan was somewhat curious about what she had done, but never asked.

Time passed minute by minute. Xin Lan leaned back on the sofa, pretending to doze, when suddenly she heard Ling Jiu’s excited voice in her mind.

Xin Lan: …What’s wrong with you?

Ling Jiu: Host, remember that forum post I told you about?

Xin Lan: About the host who cheated on their partner in the mission world?

Ling Jiu: Bingo! Hahaha, the original poster said their host got car flip [fān chē – internet slang meaning to fail or get exposed], it’s killing me with laughter!

Xin Lan: How did they get caught?

Ling Jiu: Seems like that host called out another man’s name during their intimate moment. The other host is so pitiful.

Their situation is exactly the same color as Qi Haolin’s hat right now.

LP: Re-translated on January 26, 2025