HBWnovel Chapter 257 Garbage Cans
Chapter 257 Garbage Cans
As soon as Yan Xun approached the house, he saw the handprints on the door.
The handprints were messy, and the "person" knocking on the door looked very anxious.
Shuangshuang seemed oblivious to these strange, clearly inhuman handprints, and simply shouted, "Sister Shufan, we're here!"
A series of noises suddenly broke out in the house, and then Yan Xun saw the bamboo pole. He looked at the three of them with some helplessness and said, "Come in."
"Something went wrong."
Yan Xun and Lou Yanchuan exchanged a glance, while Shuangshuang happily pushed open the door and entered the house.
Yan Xun pushed Lou Yanchuan and followed behind Shuangshuang... As soon as they entered the house, Yan Xun saw Du Yun cleaning up the mess in the living room, and the shirt-wearing man lying on the ground.
"Just you two?" Yan Xun asked. "Where are the others?"
He looked at the broken glass and the clear footprints on the ground. "Something came in through the window?"
Yan Xun walked over to the shirt-clad man lying on the ground. He remembered that this man was his roommate with the buzz cut, who was currently unemployed and looking for work... He squatted down and reached out to check his breathing.
"died?"
“No,” Du Yun said, “she just fainted.”
As he spoke, he began to complain to Yan Xun.
"When this person saw the neighbor with a mournful face, he didn't even tell us right away!" Du Yun became more and more angry as he spoke. "When the downstairs window was smashed, we heard noises upstairs as well."
"They went upstairs."
Du Yun glanced at the unconscious man in the shirt as she spoke, "The rest of us are downstairs."
"Fortunately, the security guard who answered the phone was normal," Du Yun said. "That thing had just come in, and the security guard came over and took him away."
Yan Xun listened for a while, then asked, "What does that thing look like?"
“It’s like a neighbor,” Du Yun said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a neighbor who lives in a house with a black roof and walks his dog.”
"That's exactly what he looks like."
"However, he looked a bit terrifying at the time."
Du Yun hesitated as he spoke, "...he had a head on his neck."
"What kind of mind does he have?"
“…that dog,” Du Yun said, trembling as he spoke, as if he had seen something utterly incomprehensible.
Yan Xun imagined the scene for a moment, then looked at Du Yun, "Aren't you a game streamer? You've never played a horror game?"
"Dude! That's a dungeon setting!" Du Yun couldn't help but complain. "I don't even like playing games!"
"Besides..."
“I checked the game I was streaming yesterday when I got home,” Du Yun told Yan Xun. “I found a clue in the game I’ve been playing recently: the protagonist often dreams that he’s being chased by dogs.”
"When I woke up, I found that I had been bitten by a dog."
He looked at Yan Xun and said, "Gradually, the protagonist discovers that the dog in his dream looks more and more like someone he knows."
"Moreover, the marks on his body from being bitten by dogs were getting worse and worse, and the pain and wounds from his dreams were appearing on his body in reality."
"To be honest, the NPC's appearance immediately reminded me of the protagonist's nightmare."
As Du Yun spoke, he looked down at the unconscious man in the shirt and asked, "Do you think he's an NPC?"
"It's impossible for someone who isn't an NPC to forget something like this, right?"
Bamboo pole stood silently to the side, staring blankly out the window.
Lou Yanchuan was also by the window. He looked at the silent bamboo pole and said, "Thank you for yesterday."
He was referring to the bamboo pole that helped at yesterday's party.
Bamboo Pole was probably not used to people expressing their gratitude so directly, and he hurriedly waved his hand, "No, no need." He lowered his head, "I, I didn't help much."
Lou Yanchuan simply said, "How could that be?"
"After Yan Xun got home, he even praised you to me."
Bamboo Pole seemed surprised that Yan Xun would talk about him with his uncle after returning home, and immediately looked up, "...What did he say about me?"
"He said you look familiar and endearing, like the stray dogs he used to see in the countryside," Lou Yanchuan said.
Bamboo Pole hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, seemingly wondering if it was a compliment. But then he thought that the other person was Yan Xun's elder, so he probably wouldn't lie to him.
So he habitually scratched his cheek with his finger again, "...Thank you...?"
Yan Xun looked up and saw that Lou Yanchuan was lying to people again.
He walked over and pushed Lou Yanchuan away. "What did he just say to you?" he asked Zhugan.
Zhu Gan looked at Yan Xun, then at Lou Yanchuan sitting in a wheelchair, and hesitated before repeating what he had just said.
Yan Xun looked down at Lou Yanchuan.
Lou Yanchuan looked up. "Isn't that what you think?"
"Where did this old vinegar come from?" Yan Xun wondered. He felt that Lou Yanchuan's words were sarcastic and he didn't know what he was implying.
"How much do you remember about that person's appearance?" Yan Xun asked Zhugan.
Although Zhugan didn't understand why Yan Xun was asking him the same question he had just asked Du Yun, he still answered honestly, "That person has a dog's head on his neck."
"I haven't seen him."
"But they said he was the neighbor who lived in the black roof."
"I often walk my dog in the community."
As he spoke, Bamboo Pole seemed to grow somewhat frightened, "Isn't this place... a little strange?"
"Can we move?"
"Move away?" Du Yun scoffed upon hearing this. "Move to where?"
"We can't leave."
A question appeared on Zhugan's face. "Why?"
Bamboo Pole is an NPC, not a player, so of course he doesn't have the concept of being unable to leave.
“We signed a contract,” Du Yun said. “You can ask Cun Tou if you don’t believe me.”
“Everyone who moves in signs an agreement. We prepay 50% of the purchase price. If we can stay here for 30 days, we can buy the house here at half price.”
“If you leave early, this money will not be refunded.” Du Yun looked at the bamboo pole. “If you are willing to give this money to Cun Tou, you can leave at any time.”
Yan Xun thought that this should be the version of the explanation for the NPC.
Sure enough, Bamboo Pole became very hesitant after hearing this.
Although he didn't know how much the crew-cut man had spent to buy the house, it was definitely not something he could afford right now.
"...But this place is really strange," Bamboo Pole added. "Don't you guys think so?"
“That might be why people living in this community suddenly become rich,” Lou Yanchuan, sitting in a wheelchair, suddenly said. “It’s not that every resident who moves in here will have a miraculous encounter and receive a windfall within three years.”
"There was another clause in the original purchase agreement that not only could the homeowner not leave, but each resident could not be away from the house for more than 36 hours. Otherwise, the community would judge that they had the intention to leave, the agreement would be void, and the money would not be refunded."
As Du Yun spoke, he seemed to hear footsteps. He turned around and looked at the crew-cut man and Shu Fan and the others coming down the stairs. "Right?"
“You are the homeowners, so you should have seen this agreement.”
Both the crew-cut man and Shu Fan nodded.
The man with the buzz cut glared at the bamboo pole and said fiercely, "Don't even think about sneaking away."
Shu Fan then looked at Yan Xun and Lou Yanchuan, "You two don't know about this agreement?"
Perhaps sensing that there were many suspicious points in this community, Shu Fan simply took out the paper agreement from his pocket and handed it to Yan Xun.
Yan Xun took it and glanced at it.
Just as Du Yun had said.
If anyone withdraws early, the agreement is void, and the half-price prepayment will not be refunded.
But if residents can spend 30 days quietly here, they can buy a house here with a down payment.
No member of the family may leave home for more than 36 hours without a valid reason; otherwise, they will be deemed to have breached the contract by the community.
After reading the agreement, Yan Xun returned it to Shu Fan.
Looking at Yan Xun's expression, Shu Fan knew that the other party was completely unaware of the agreement.
The agreement was signed by Yan Xun's parents, who are NPCs in the instance, not players, so of course they wouldn't bring it up on their own initiative.
Yan Xun's parents knew about the agreement, so it was impossible for them to leave home for 36 hours.
Shuangshuang is a primary school student, and Lou Yanchuan is disabled. Both need to be accompanied by others when they go out. For Yanxun's parents, there is no need to deliberately inform them.
Yan Xun himself is a third-year college student on vacation. If he were to be away from home for more than 36 hours, he would most likely inform his parents. Since he didn't, it proves that he didn't need to, so Yan Xun's parents didn't tell him about it.
Yan Xun thought about it and felt that this instance was unexpectedly insidious.
The NPCs playing his parents didn't deliberately hide it, but they also didn't bring it up.
If Du Yun hadn't mentioned this agreement when he saw the bamboo pole and wanted to leave... Yan Xun wouldn't know when he would have learned about this hidden rule.
"Hasn't Lin Wen and the others arrived yet?" Duan Songen asked, looking around the living room. "Did something happen to them?"
“We happened to run into the two of them before we arrived,” Yan Xun said. “But we parted ways halfway there because of the thick fog.”
Shu Fan looked at the two wheelchairs in the room. "You brought him home?"
"Ah."
"Doesn't that rule mean we have to go home?" Yan Xun looked puzzled. "I'm worried something might go wrong, so I can only take him home first."
Both the crew-cut man and Du Yun had strange expressions upon hearing this.
However, a buzz cut makes it even harder to hide anything; the expression on his face practically screams, "I can't hide anything!"
You really think of him as your uncle?
Du Yun's expression improved slightly. He coughed, looked at Yan Xun, and then at Lou Yanchuan, who was sitting in a wheelchair. "Isn't this too much trouble?"
"If dense fog occurs frequently..."
His gaze lingered on the wheelchair where Lou Yanchuan was sitting. "Why don't you split up?"
Yan Xun understood Du Yun's meaning. Rather than having Lou Yanchuan, a burden, restricted everywhere, it would be better to let him stay at home and avoid getting in the way.
Lou Yanchuan could naturally understand Du Yun's veiled meaning.
He reached out his hand, "Yes, we can split up."
"I'm troubling you quite a bit."
Yan Xun thought to himself, "Why is this old man being sarcastic and insincere again?"
If other people on the forum knew that Guild Master Huisu was like this, they would have no idea how completely their illusions would shatter.
Thinking of this, Yan Xun suddenly spoke up, "There's nothing I can do, he's the one I'm clinging to?"
Du Yun: "...Huh?"
"he?"
“Hmm,” Yan Xun said. “I’ve always wanted to join the Retrospection Guild. He told me that he has connections in Retrospection.”
"As long as we team up, they'll pull strings for me and let me join the backtracking feature directly."
"Right?" Yan Xun said, looking down at Lou Yanchuan, "Is that what you promised me?"
"Not only can I help you with the backtracking, I can also make you the president," Lou Yanchuan said.
"...No???" Du Yun couldn't take it anymore. "Brother, can't you wake up??"
"He already knows people who can access the Time Traveler instance, and he can help you get in directly through connections. Why would he need you to guide him through a D-level dungeon?" Du Yun suspected that Yan Xun was just good-looking but actually not very bright. "Think about it carefully."
"We already have this relationship, why would I need your help to clear dungeons?"
The crew-cut man was also speechless. "If he knew someone who could trace back time, I would be Li Wu."
"Don't talk nonsense."
Shu Fan and Duan Songen didn't speak. They knew about the Retrospection Guild, but they weren't very interested in such a large guild.
Duan Songen looked at Yan Xun, then at Lou Yanchuan, "So you two knew each other before?"
Lou Yanchuan nodded, "We met in another instance."
"...I remember this instance wasn't a random instance, was it?" She looked at Yan Xun, then at Lou Yanchuan, "How did you two get in together?"
She quickly realized something, "You came in through the instance map?"
"You're not a new player?" she asked Yan Xun.
Yan Xun raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, "It is indeed a dungeon map."
"But it was a gift from someone else."
"Who would be so kind as to give away dungeon maps so casually?" Duan Songen seemed skeptical.
“I helped a player I met in the dungeon before,” Yan Xun said after thinking for a moment. He looked at Duan Songen’s somewhat wary attitude and asked, “Are you worried that I stole it?”
Duan Songen: "..."
She was struck by a revelation and could only remain silent.
"Don't worry," Yan Xun reassured him, "I don't steal useless things like dungeon maps."
Just as Duan Songen was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Yan Xun said again, "I only take the props."
Du Yun, unsure whether Yan Xun was joking or serious, glanced left at Yan Xun and right at Lou Yanchuan, trying to glean some specific information from Lou Yanchuan.
"Is he joking or...?" Du Yun asked.
Lou Yanchuan, sitting in his wheelchair, looked at Du Yun in surprise. "Of course it was a joke."
Du Yun thought about it and realized he had overreacted a bit.
If Yan Xun really wanted to steal the props, he certainly wouldn't have announced it so openly.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to smooth things over by saying that Yan Xun was just joking and that the two of them shouldn't take it to heart when he heard Lou Yanchuan say something else.
"What's so great about your props that we'd like to steal?"
Lou Yanchuan sat in his wheelchair, looking at Du Yun and then at the remaining players. "Their levels are too low; there's no need to steal them."
“Our Yan Xun…”
"Only items of rank A or higher, right?"
Du Yun: "..."
No way, is this guy an idiot?!
Du Yun was displeased, but Lou Yanchuan's tone sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.
It wasn't until he saw Yan Xun's impatient expression, as if he wanted Lou Yanchuan to shut up, that he suddenly understood what this sense of déjà vu meant.
It's just like some pet owners who hold their kittens and look down at them, saying—
"My cat would never eat the junk food you give me!"