After Clearing the Infinite Flow, I Tamed the Mad Dog Boss - Chapter 37

The boy beckoned. Qin Xian went in first. The other officers exchanged glances, then followed behind him.

The villa had looked magnificent enough from the outside. Its interior was even more extravagant—the dream house of countless childhoods brought to life.

The first floor was an internet café and arcade. Rows of high-end desktop computers—the sort students could only dream of touching—stood alongside every variety of game console. Several refrigerated cases nearby were packed with Coke, beer, and other drinks. Large words had been pasted across the doors:

*FREE—UNLIMITED.*

The second floor was a supermarket, its shelves crammed with everything from snacks to cosmetics and personal-care products.

The third floor held countless food stalls. The smell of deep-fried food drifted all the way downstairs.

The fourth and fifth floors contained numerous rooms, though their interiors could not be seen.

Several boys were sitting at computers on the first floor, swearing furiously at their game screens.

“So, yeah. The place is exactly what you see,” said the boy who had let them in. “Play whatever you want. Do whatever you like.”

“Anything?” Qin Xian asked. “Can I read a book?”

The boy’s expression changed at once.

“If you want to die,” he said darkly, “go ahead and read.”

A hint of innocence appeared on Qin Xian’s calm face. “I meant web novels.”

The boy folded his arms, irritated. “Are you messing with me? I’m done talking about this crap. I’m going to play games.”

Xun Guangfan and the other officers all looked at Qin Xian. They knew little about Domains and did not dare act recklessly.

“Mr. Qin, what should we do next?” Xun Guangfan asked.

“That boy just told you. Do whatever you like, as long as you don’t behave like good children.”

Qin Xian took a Coke from one of the drink cases, opened it, and drank several mouthfuls. He was as relaxed as if he owned the place.

Seeing him drink something from an unknown source, Xun Guangfan hovered beside him with one hand half-extended.

“Mr. Qin, is that really safe? What if someone poisoned it?”

Qin Xian smacked his lips, recapped the bottle, and answered calmly, “It’s probably fine. On the surface, this Domain is trying to lure us into degeneracy. It hasn’t revealed its killing move yet. I need to use the opportunity to get some real rest. Do as you like.”

He walked to a sofa in the lounge, lay down on the spot, and closed his eyes.

He truly was mentally exhausted. He had not rested properly in a long time, and the previous battles had consumed far too much energy.

Xun Guangfan and the others looked at one another. In the end, they paired off, made a circuit of the villa inside and out, and questioned the students about the place.

When Qin Xian woke from his light sleep and checked the clock, more than three hours had passed.

Much of the fatigue had faded. His thoughts were clearer.

He sprang from the sofa, finding this eighteen-year-old body remarkably light.

Xun Guangfan was sitting on another sofa with a phone. The moment he saw Qin Xian wake, he rose at once, plainly eager to share what they had learned.

Truthfully, it felt rather nice not to gather every scrap of intelligence himself.

In the Infinite Flow World, no one could be trusted. Qin Xian had always relied on himself. But the people traveling with him now were police officers serving the public.

What a reassuring feeling.

Before Qin Xian could ask, Xun Guangfan began his report.

“Mr. Qin, we’ve looked through the villa. The fourth and fifth floors are small apartments, one room for each person. We have rooms too. A lot of the students stay in their rooms and never come out. Only a small number hang around outside. According to them, there are sixteen students here. With the six of us, the total is twenty-two.”

He raised the phone in his hand.

“There’s internet access, but we can’t contact the outside world. Messages won’t send, and calls won’t connect. I checked the games those kids were playing. They can go online and get matched against opponents, but anything they type into the chat disappears without a response. We didn’t learn much else. It’s basically what that boy said: you can do whatever you want here, but good students who like studying and obeying rules aren’t welcome.”

Qin Xian nodded. “Did you check every part of the building?”

“Not yet. We only made a quick circuit.”

“Understood. Get some rest and recover before nightfall. I’m going to the bathroom.”

Following the signs, Qin Xian found the restroom.

It was slightly out of place in the villa. With several stalls lined up beside one another, it looked more like a school bathroom. Perhaps the villa itself had been shaped by the imaginations of students.

But why did this restroom have a storage closet?

He wondered whether Xun Guangfan and the others had checked it.

Qin Xian tried the door and found it locked.

He lowered his gaze to examine it. The lock used an ordinary single spring latch, with the slanted face pointing outward. A small, rigid card would be enough to push it back.

After using the bathroom, Qin Xian searched outside. On the second floor, he found packets of cookies that included small scratch-off cards.

He finished the cookies in a few bites, kept the card, and returned to the first-floor restroom.

The latch yielded easily.

The moment the door opened, bitter cold washed over him, and a suspicion immediately took shape.

He walked deeper inside, passing a pile of cleaning supplies. Behind a metal cabinet, he found something covered with a sheet.

Judging by its size and the contours beneath the fabric, it was unmistakably human-shaped.

Without a change in expression, Qin Xian crouched and gently lifted one corner of the sheet.

More than ten minutes later, Xun Guangfan and the others arrived in response to his message.

They stopped short at what they saw.

A girl’s body had been laid out on the floor. Her face was pale. A ring of terrible bruises circled her neck, shaped very much like fingers.

One officer crouched to examine her.

“She was strangled. Time of death was probably yesterday…”

Xun Guangfan frowned. “Mr. Qin, if a child dies in an illusion like this, will they also… in reality?”

He looked at Qin Xian, a trace of hope still lingering in his eyes.

Qin Xian crushed it directly.

“They may die in reality too. It’s also possible their body remains alive, but they never wake up.”

The officers’ spirits visibly sank.

Qin Xian sighed and added, “But it depends on the nature of the Domain and the cause of death. If the body isn’t completely dead when we get out, certain items may still save them.”

The chance of that was almost infinitely close to zero.

But there was no need to say something so discouraging right now.

“Really?”

Xun Guangfan brightened slightly. “The chances are still low, though, right? Either way, we have to keep any more children from dying. We need to find out exactly what happened. I’ll question them…”

As Xun Guangfan and his teammates left, Qin Xian followed silently, sensing the vivid warmth of life around them.

How nice.

They still cared so much. They were still so eager to save people.

Qin Xian had felt nothing at all when he saw the body.

It had been like a player discovering a dead NPC in a game. His only thought was what to do next to advance the quest.

The moment Xun Guangfan stepped outside, he ran into the boy who had greeted them at the door. He approached with a friendly expression.

“Hello. What’s your name?”

The boy had a cigarette between his lips, but his answer was civil enough. “Guo Jiarong.”

A warm smile appeared on Xun Guangfan’s youthful face. He looked like the easygoing boy in class who got along with everyone.

The instant Guo Jiarong saw that smile, his expression soured.

“What the fuck are you, some goody-two-shoes? That smile is disgusting. Don’t talk to me.”

He immediately turned and walked away.

Xun Guangfan stared after him in confusion, then looked toward two girls doing their nails on a nearby sofa.

The moment their eyes met, both girls raised their middle fingers and rolled their eyes.

“Do I… really look that well behaved?” Xun Guangfan asked, baffled. “Why won’t they talk to people who look well behaved?”

The other officers looked at one another. Male or female, all wore the same black T-shirts and short black hair. Now that they had been made younger, every one of them looked fair-skinned, neat, and clean-cut.

Qin Xian gave his assessment. “You really do look like good students. Forget it. I’ll ask.”

He strode straight toward Guo Jiarong and grabbed him by the collar.

Using sheer presence to force the boy backward, Qin Xian loomed over him.

“Is that any way to talk to my underling? Who the hell do you think you are?”

Guo Jiarong stared up at him.

The person before him had delicate features and fair skin. He looked slender, almost frail. But when anger entered those eyes, the cold in them was genuinely terrifying.

That was not the gaze of a student.

It was fiercer than the gangster Guo Jiarong had once followed—and that man had gone to prison for murder.

Shrinking back, he struggled to answer defiantly. “Wh-what class are you from?! You’re new here—don’t you understand the rules? Fuck, fuck, you’re really hitting me?! Boss! Boss, help! Someone’s beating me up!”

Several boys playing games shot to their feet. One of the larger ones snatched up a baseball bat from beside his chair and charged over.

“Fuck! You dare hit my brother? Get him! Beat him to death!”

A gang of teenagers rushed forward with bats and chairs raised.

Qin Xian was about to release Guo Jiarong and fight back when the police officers behind him charged out.

Within moments, they had every boy pinned to the floor.

Xun Guangfan rolled up his sleeves and pointed at the boy beneath his foot.

“Idiot. You really think you’re somebody? Our boss is way more badass than any of you!”

Qin Xian: “…”

He froze for a moment.

Then he remembered that police officers dealt with street punks more often than almost anyone. They frequently went undercover for investigations as well. Playing gangsters was effortless for them.

The boys on the floor struggled to raise their heads.

Qin Xian stood before them with his arms folded, his long hair making him look almost like a girl. Behind him, the young men and women all wore vicious expressions. One of the more muscular men even pulled off his shirt one-handed, revealing a powerful bare torso.

Oh no.

Had a gang of actual hardened delinquents just arrived?

They had looked so obedient a moment ago!