Chapter 69 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 69

Wu Letong asked the question everyone wanted answered: “Do you have any theories about the killing conditions and the way out?”

Lu Zhizhen froze, falling into thought. Killing conditions… a way out…

That innate sixth sense women possessed sparked in a flash of insight.

“Could it be… jealousy?”

Everyone pricked up their ears.

Even Lu Zhizhen herself found it a little unbelievable, but the more she thought about it—combined with what had happened over the past two days—the more convinced she became.

She gave a wry smile. “That day when I was bathing, I talked with the boss a bit more than usual and even had him help me carry hot water. Then, while I was bathing, I was attacked by a ghost.”

“If the boss hadn’t shown up later and called out from outside the bathroom, I definitely would’ve died in there.”

“Now that it’s been confirmed the boss’s wife is a ghost, the one who tried to kill me was very likely her. The reason she wanted to kill me was probably jealousy—she and the boss have a good relationship, she has possessive feelings toward him, and she doesn’t like other women getting close to him. But at the same time, she doesn’t want to kill people in front of him—or rather, the boss won’t allow her to kill. So the moment the boss appeared, she ran.”

Lu Zhizhen spoke slowly, recalling events as she organized her thoughts. By the end, her tone carried a decisive certainty.

“The way out is the boss.”

Wu Letong’s eyes grew brighter as he followed her analysis. When she finished, he slapped his palm excitedly. “That makes sense!”

Looking back over everything that had happened these past two days, the only truly normal, non-hostile presence had been the boss.

He restrained his wife and son, saved Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli, didn’t lay a hand on anyone except the middle-aged man, and even warned them away from killing conditions…

Thinking this through, Wu Letong straightened his back, feeling rather pleased with himself. “Good thing I insisted back then, against everyone’s objections, on bringing the boss into the village and forming this good karma.”

Huang Wenli offered a perfunctory, half-hearted compliment. “Yes, yes, all thanks to Brother Tong’s foresight.”

It sounded like praise, but coming from her mouth, it felt off.

Wu Letong’s expression darkened. He glanced at her, but for Lu Zhizhen’s sake, he couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. Skipping over her, he turned to the others and set the plan for the next day.

“Tomorrow, we’ll find another chance to test things and see whether the way out really is connected to the boss.”

The newcomers hurriedly agreed.

Lu Zhizhen nodded as well, then glanced at Huang Wenli, frowning slightly.

Wu Letong was eighteen, yes—but he’d survived three worlds. That alone proved he wasn’t as simple as he appeared.

He was calculating, shrewd, and had a strong desire to control the group. He didn’t like others challenging his authority or position.

Yet over the course of the day, Huang Wenli had kept provoking him.

Lu Zhizhen couldn’t understand what she was after, constantly going against Wu Letong…

She resolved that when they went to sleep that night, she would have a serious talk with Huang Wenli and get to the bottom of it.

As for Wu Letong, having received everyone’s affirmation, his mood finally improved. Satisfied, he nodded and led the newcomers back to their rooms to rest.

The night passed in the blink of an eye.

Early the next morning, Wu Letong rose early and took two newcomers to the storage room at the other end of the hallway.

The corpse of the woman in the red dress was gone.

Not surprised at all, he closed the door and led his two tagalongs downstairs to find the boss’s family.

“Da Huang, sit!”

“Da Huang, fetch!”

“Da Huang—”

Ji Xiu and Ji Chunsheng were playing with Da Huang in the courtyard. Their relaxed, cheerful voices drifted inside.

Wu Letong quickly went out to watch.

Dogs naturally possessed strong recovery abilities, especially local mutts—many injuries could heal on their own. Still, this Da Huang, doted on by the Ji family, seemed to be recovering astonishingly fast.

In just two days, it could already walk normally and chase balls around the courtyard.

But Wu Letong soon thought of how strange the Ji family themselves were, and felt it made sense. This was a supernatural horror world—if the dog was a bit abnormal too, that was only natural.

With nothing much to do early in the morning, and eager to ingratiate himself with Ji Xiu, Wu Letong dropped those thoughts and enthusiastically raised his hand, wanting to join them in playing with the dog.

Ji Chunsheng shot him a cold look.

Wu Letong shuddered and immediately withdrew his words. “No—uh—I just remembered I have low blood sugar. I can’t exercise on an empty stomach in the morning. Never mind.”

Ji Xiu smiled, pretending he hadn’t seen Ji Chunsheng’s threatening glare. “Then go sit to the side. Qiuyue will have breakfast ready soon. Eat first, then we’ll head out.”

Wu Letong nodded repeatedly.

It seemed that not only did the boss’s wife have possessive feelings toward him—his son was just as possessive.

Wu Letong felt more and more confident about the “way out.”

As long as he confirmed the boss was human, then by sticking close to him for the next few days, they should be able to safely clear this world, right?

After breakfast, Wu Letong finally found an opportunity to cozy up to Ji Xiu and subtly probe whether he was human or a ghost.

Ji Xiu smiled. Knowing the full plot but unable to tell Wu Letong directly, he simply followed his lead and revealed a little information to put him at ease.

Wu Letong’s eyes lit up, his heart finally settled.

From that point on, wherever Ji Xiu went, Wu Letong followed, sticking to him like glue—more so than the two newcomers trailing behind him.

Ji Xiu didn’t mind. After helping Wang Qiuyue with the household chores, he picked up a hoe and said he was going outside to turn the soil and replant crops for the year.

As he spoke, he stood there and glanced back at Wu Letong and the others, as if hinting at something.

Three grown men—might as well use them.

Wu Letong: “……”

Carrying a hoe and heading out with Ji Xiu, Wu Letong wore a dreamy expression. He’d never imagined that one day, in a horror world, he’d be helping an NPC farm.

The other two newcomers were equally stunned.

What kind of bizarre plot twist was this?

Only Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli, being girls, escaped this fate and stayed behind at the Ji house.

But staying at the Ji house wasn’t exactly comfortable either. Wang Qiuyue and Ji Chunsheng were both ghosts. If it were Wu Letong, he could probably put on an act, pretend he knew nothing, and talk to them normally.

Lu Zhizhen and Huang Wenli were clever, but they were still newbies—they hadn’t cultivated that kind of nerve yet.

After only half an hour on the first floor, they couldn’t take it anymore and retreated to the second floor.

Three hours later, the wait became unbearable. Huang Wenli clamored to go out and find Wu Letong and the others.

Lu Zhizhen gave her a complicated look. “Wenli, I can go with you, but you really can’t provoke him anymore. That’s not how you pursue a boy.”

Huang Wenli blushed and admitted her fault obediently. “I know. I really won’t do it again.”

Lu Zhizhen sighed.

She’d asked for a long time the night before before finally getting Huang Wenli to admit her thoughts—and when she heard them, she’d been shocked.

Only two days, barely any interaction—how had she fallen for him already?

Was it the bridge effect? Being in danger made her heart race, and she mistook that for attraction, developing feelings for Wu Letong?

But then what were those childish antics?

She thought Wu Letong was good-looking, reliable, and a decent person, so she wanted to try dating him—and to attract his attention, she deliberately went against him…

Sorry, but Lu Zhizhen truly couldn’t understand a teenage girl’s mind.

Considering Huang Wenli was only fifteen, she forgave her middle-school-level behavior and corrected her thinking, telling her not to oppose Wu Letong anymore.

Wu Letong seemed like a straightforward, typical guy with little inclination to dote on girls.

If she kept provoking him, the next person to “test” a killing condition with her life might very well be her.

To be fair, Lu Zhizhen, as someone from the entertainment industry, was quite accurate in her judgment of people.

This was Huang Wenli’s first crush, her first fluttering heartbeat. With no experience, she naturally agreed to everything.

Lu Zhizhen sighed again, then took her downstairs and out to find Wu Letong and the others.

Not knowing the way, and working up her courage, she asked Wang Qiuyue for directions.

Wang Qiuyue’s gaze swept lightly over her face. She smiled gently, reserved and elegant. “It’s simple. Follow the river upstream. When you reach the foot of the back mountain, you’ll find them.”

Lu Zhizhen felt a momentary daze, sensing something odd but unable to pinpoint what. She nodded, thanked the boss’s wife, and went out with Huang Wenli.

The moment they reached the riverbank, both of them froze in place.

Why was there someone washing clothes by the river?

Weren’t they all killed by the boss already?