Playing the Mute Transfer Student - Chapter 5

I sat in the car, exhausted in both body and mind.

Watching the streets pass outside the window, I reviewed every clue I had and searched for a new angle.

I never noticed the driver studying me through the rearview mirror and secretly typing something into his phone.

While we waited at a light, a familiar figure appeared on the street.

Jiang Shuo was carrying a chicken in one hand, strolling toward a narrow alley.

As I stared, a chime suddenly sounded in my head.

【New location detected. Would the player like to follow the NPC Jiang Shuo to obtain additional clues?】

I pushed open the car door without a second thought.

Caught completely off guard, the driver shouted after me in panic. “Young Master, where are you going? Come back!”

When it became obvious I had no intention of stopping, he immediately changed tactics.

“I’m begging you, Young Master! At least remember to report where you’re going to the Eldest Young Master! I have elderly parents and young children—if I lose my job…”

His voice faded far behind me. I was afraid Jiang Shuo would get away and take this chance to explore with him.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be in a hurry. I caught up before long.

After calming my nearly exploding heart, I swallowed, held my breath, and followed at a cautious distance.

Perhaps because it had rained earlier that day, the air grew colder and damper the farther we went into the alley.

The sky darkened. A chilly wind swept past, and I couldn’t help rubbing the gooseflesh on my arms.

If following him meant I could find more useful clues…

In the instant my attention slipped, my footsteps stopped.

Jiang Shuo had vanished.

Only a dead end remained ahead.

An inexplicable chill crept down my back.

The next second, someone clapped a hand heavily onto my shoulder. My heart almost leaped out of my throat.

I turned around with slow, rigid movements.

Jiang Shuo stood behind me. In the dim light, his handsome, aloof face looked strangely pale.

“Little mute,” he said, “have you thought through what happens to people who follow me?”

Jiang Shuo half dragged, half hauled me away.

When we stopped outside a certain shop, my eyes widened.

I hadn’t expected…

Jiang Shuo’s family to run a funeral-goods store.

A middle-aged man sat by the entrance smoking a long-stemmed pipe. After taking the rooster from Jiang Shuo, he began draining its blood without so much as looking at me.

Jiang Shuo seemed used to it.

“Dad, this is my classmate. He’s mute.”

Only then did his father spare me a glance. He nodded and grunted in acknowledgment.

I followed Jiang Shuo into the shop, carefully examining the surroundings.

Besides coffins and funeral wreaths, the place was crammed with paper offerings of every kind—gold ingots, grand houses, golden boys and jade maidens whose eyes had not yet been dotted in…

A cold gust swept through. I shivered.

After passing along a narrow corridor, we entered the rooms at the back. An altar table stood in the living room, with a memorial portrait behind it.

The instant I saw the face in the photograph, my eyes flew wide. Terror stopped even my breath for a beat.

The delicate young man in the portrait had originally been looking straight ahead with a shy smile.

Now his eyes had turned sideways to stare directly at me.

The moment our gazes met, the cold, clammy atmosphere around me surged. It felt as though something had silently crawled onto my back.

Seeing me frozen in place, Jiang Shuo gave a disdainful snort.

“One memorial portrait is enough to scare you like this?”

I came back to myself and slowly blinked.

When I opened my eyes again, the young man in the photograph was normal.

Still shaken, I tried to convince myself it had been a hallucination caused by the scenario’s unusually high difficulty.

I took out my phone and typed.

【Who is he?】

For some reason, the face looked oddly familiar.

After reading my question, Jiang Shuo stared at me with icy contempt, as though I were some monster guilty of an unforgivable crime.

“Young Master Chen certainly has a convenient memory.”

I expected him to continue. Even a few sarcastic remarks might have yielded another clue.

Instead, he said nothing more.

Jiang Shuo took a cup of instant noodles. When he saw me still standing there in a daze, his lip twitched.

“If you want some, make your own.”

I couldn’t leave yet.

I fetched a cup for myself, copied what he did, and sat down at the dining table to prepare it.

Jiang Shuo and I faced each other in silence while I ate in small bites.

Halfway through the meal, a torrential downpour suddenly broke outside. Columns of water hammered the ground.

Through the blurred glass, I could almost smell the earthy tang of rain gathering in the night.

Thunder exploded without warning.

For one instant, the dim room turned a terrifying white.

My heart tightened.

Jiang Shuo was staring straight at me.

“You’re not leaving tonight,” he said.