PSP Chapter 22: Clearance

Lu Qi didn't speak, but he pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times. At the same time, all players received a message:

【 Congratulations to players 7¹, Alluring Beauty, and Gargoyle for clearing the Xingxing Kindergarten copy.

【 Clearance Evaluation: Perfect 】

【 Survival Point Reward: 80 】

【 Perfect evaluation bonus: 20 】

? ! My mom is a god²! Even the sudden gain of 80 survival points could not divert his attention. Chen Ge was shocked beyond words by the fact that Lu Qi was a god.

I, Chen Ge, code name Gargoyle, found a record-breaking rookie when I casually talk to someone, and I found a record holder when I casually hugged some thighs. How much God must love me, the son of heaven!

Huh, he got another private message?

At this time, Shen Qingcheng was equally shocked. He looked at Lu Qi shakily, as if Lu Qi had struck down not him, but his sincerity.

He lowered his head and wiped nonexistent tears from the corners of his eyes, saying, "You are actually willing to be so cruel to me. Since that’s the case, I still have a last wish that I haven’t told you before."

He raised his head, but the space that Lu Qi had been in had already become empty. Shen Qingcheng's expression dropped, and he frowned and looked around. "Where is he?"

The person who should’ve been cooperating with his performance had disappeared.

Chen Ge said cautiously: "God is gone, um, he just left the dungeon." He almost wanted to tell Shen-ge, God rejected you, but he took the initiative to add me as a friend. If he said it, he would probably be beaten.

God added him as a friend, but he added Shen-ge as a friend. Rounding it up, that means God and Shen-ge had basically added each other as friends! Yes, that was right!

Shen Qingcheng: "..."

Shen Qingcheng was so angry he almost began laughing, and he didn't notice Chen Ge speaking at all. That man… He touched his face. Did he truly look that terrible?

Chen Ge: "Shen-ge, we should also get out of the copy, right?"

Shen Qingcheng nodded, and Chen Ge's figure faded and disappeared in front of him. He pulled out his terminal and looked at the prompt that popped up:

【 You have cleared the Xingxing Kindergarten copy, using 9 days and 10 hours. The remaining time is 10 days and 14 hours. Do you want to leave the copy now? 】

【Yes/No】

He tapped his finger.

【No】

What a joke! He had come here for a retirement vacation, but so far he had just been traipsing across the entire kindergarten. How could he leave now? It definitely wasn’t because playing the game made him emotional.

【 Congratulations to God and Beauty for clearing customs! Ah, my one night of love is over! I thought God would promise to add Beauty as a friend _(:3"∠)_ 】

【Congratulations on customs clearance, scattering flowers³ 】

【 I feel sorry for Beauty, his unbelieving look when he was rejected was so cute 】

【 God gets a perfect customs clearance every time, awesome! 】

【 This time the story line is so heavy, Lele is so pitiful 】

【 Qi Mei is also pitiful. She was treated badly all her life. That child was her only salvation, but he was also killed by that group of scum. 】

【 Qi Mei is quite miserable, but I think what the old lady said is right. Qi Mei is pitiful, but also pathetic and hateful. The final outcome was entirely caused by her own choices 】

【 I understand, but scumbags should just die! ! ! ! 】

【 I don't know when the next live broadcast where I can see God again will come, but I welcome Beauty to meet God again~ 】

【 Wait, why won’t Beauty leave the copy? Does Beauty not know that as long as he does not leave the copy, the story will continue along the story line? 】

【 For the first time I saw an anchor who did not leave the dungeon at the end of the game, this operation is very a⁴ 】

Shen Qingcheng went back to the apartments. As expected, all of the other people had left. After knowing the game was over, they each decided to leave the copy.

Liu Wangyu was quite surprised to see Shen Qingcheng. "You haven't left yet?" He thought that all those teachers had resigned and moved to other schools. "Is something wrong?"

Shen Qingcheng didn't have time to chat with him, "Get up, come somewhere with me."

Liu Wangyu: "Come where?"

Shen Qingcheng: "Come dig up Qi Anle's body."

Of course Liu Wangyu refused to go. He would have to be mad to dare touch Qi Anle's body when he knew Qi Mei already wanted to kill him! He was already planning to sneak away when his injury was a little better.

Shen Qingcheng’s lips curled into a smile and he pinched the recently opened injury on his fingertip. "If you don't go, I'll call Qi Mei out to kill you right now."

The two left the apartment building to go to the cafeteria. The clouds in the sky were dipping lower and lower, as if they were about to fall onto their heads. The wind gradually picked up, the whistling sounding like wailing souls were walking through the buildings, and the trees on both sides were blown down.

Shen Qingcheng stopped right when he passed the playground.

On the other side of the playground, separated by a net, was the children's play area. There were many seesaws and slides, things that children liked. The old lady's grandson, Leilei, was playing with marbles on the ground.

He glanced at Liu Wangyu, who was sitting in a wheelchair, and whose hat and mask couldn’t cover up the wound on his right face, and asked him, "Do you know who that child is playing with?"

Liu Wangyu: "Shen-laoshi, is there something wrong with your eyes? How could there be a second person there?"

Shen Qingcheng didn't speak, and just looked back at the child lying on the ground.

The child flicked his index finger, and the marbles rolled to one side and stopped under a red mushroom. The kid named Leilei didn't notice them, standing up and shouting at the structure, "Come on, come on!"

Suddenly, the marbles that had stopped under the mushroom actually began rolling again, just far enough to return to the little boy. But no matter how they looked, there was no one under the mushroom structure.

Only then did Shen Qingcheng say: "It's Qi Anle." He glanced at the man's face, which had been bitten so badly that he couldn't read his expression. "Scared?"

Liu Wangyu froze and did not speak.

They didn't stay long by the playground, continuing on the road to the cafeteria. They made many detours, but finally came to an alley with no way forward. The alley was not wide, at most one small truck could fit, and at the end there lay several blue plastic buckets, stained with oil.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, carrying the stench of kitchen waste from the plastic buckets and a faint fishy smell to their noses.

Liu Wangyu's face became paler as he got closer to the alley. When he saw the plastic buckets at the end of the alley, his face went as pale as paper. Drops of cold sweat fell from his forehead and trickled into the wound on his face, but despite the burning sensation he didn’t move to wipe it away.

Liu Wangyu: "What exactly are you trying to do?"

He didn't understand. When those people were still there before, Shen Meiren had shown little interest in these things, so why did he start meddling when they left? Since he chose to stay to teach, he should understand that the less trouble, the better!

"I just want to let those people who should be buried in peace to be at rest," Shen Qingcheng said. There was nothing else he could do--who asked him to be so kind? "Alright, it's time for you to act."

Liu Wangyu: "What?"

Shen Qingcheng was very surprised, and displayed his clean, neat appearance. "Could it be that you wanted me to dig under those trash cans?"

Liu Wangyu didn't want to figure out how Shen Meiren knew that Qi Anle's body was under the trash cans. He would have endured it if he had asked him to do something else, but asking him to dig out Qi Anle's body? No way, unless he wanted to die.

Liu Wangyu: "Impossible." He pushed his wheelchair around and was about to leave the alley, but his body completely froze when he saw the person blocking the alley.

Drop⁵.

Drop.

The bean-sized raindrops finally fell, smashing small pits on the dusty ground, and the air was full of the smell of dirt and dust.

Qi Mei was floating expressionlessly in a white dress at the entrance of the alley, her feet not touching the ground. The rain washed red marks off her body, and they dripped down the skirt to the ground, forming a small puddle. Her entire figure seemed to have just stepped out of a pool of blood.

"It's raining." Shen Qingcheng looked left and right. There was a shed outside the cafeteria. A few uncleaned vegetable leaves were on the ground, so it was probably the place to unload the vegetables. He walked over to hide from the rain.

Qi Mei's appearance was to be expected. They were going to move her son’s body, so of course she would come out, he just hadn’t expected Qi Mei to aim at him.

Qi Mei's figure disappeared from the alley entrance, and when she reappeared, she was already behind Shen Qingcheng. She stretched out her hands, her ten fingernails long and sharp, and she reached towards Shen Qingcheng's back with a ferocious expression.

"I advise you not to act rashly, you aren’t my match." It was a surprise to Shen Qingcheng that he had been targeted first, considering that he had left Liu Wangyu unprotected. But after all, while Liu Wangyu could be killed at any time, if he died, that would be the end⁶.

The black nails at his back paused, and then darted forward more fiercely.

"Alas, there is no Lu-dage to save me this time." Shen Qingcheng muttered to himself regretfully without turning his head.

He twisted to the right, and a thin silver needle appeared. The bottom of the silver needle had several folded talisman papers attached. The paper was just ordinary white paper, but the talismans were drawn with his own blood.

"Mama Rong's Silver Needle. This is the first time I’ve used it, so forgive me if it doesn't work well."

The silver needle was thrown back suddenly, and it impacted Qi Mei's chest accurately. The moment the pieces of talisman touched Qi Mei, they ignited.

"Ah!" Qi Mei flew back, screaming shrilly.

The fire on her body was blue and green, and not only didn’t decrease in the slightest under the scouring of the heavy rain, but on the contrary, burned more and more intensely.

Seeing that she hadn’t given up, Shen Qingcheng rushed towards her, reminding, "If you waste any more time and Liu Wangyu runs away, don't expect me to dig Qi Anle up for you. Do you want your son to sleep under the trash forever?"

Qi Mei pulled out the silver needle and threw it on the ground, her palm burnt black. "Men can't be trusted!"

Shen Qingcheng: "Then what if I said I could send Qi Anle to reincarnation?"

Qi Anle was Qi Mei's weakness, and that fact would not change, whether Qi Mei was dead or alive.

The fingertips stopped ten centimeters from Shen Qingcheng's neck. Qi Mei stared at him with scarlet eyes, and after a moment, she threatened, "If you dare lie to me, I will kill you." Then she turned around and grabbed Liu Wangyu.

Shen Qingcheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that he should’ve put more blood drawings on the talismans, but bloodletting hurt! Well, if he had known earlier, he would’ve added more water and drawn a few more.

The audience in the live broadcast room did not know what he was thinking, and they were all in a state of shock and confusion.

【 This is Beauty? 】

【 This is the our weak, calling out for Lu-dage when in danger, Beauty? 】

【 Our Beauty is not only not weak, he can also make female ghosts fly with one needle :) 】

【Our beauty is not only not weak, he can send little devils to reincarnate :) 】

【 Niubi⁷, Beauty is the real master! 】

【 Isn’t it bullying for a tianshi to play a supernatural game, hahahaha 】

【 I now want to know how God will react when he finds out Beauty’s true face, lighting a cigarette 】

【 God, come back, you were deceived by Beauty! 】

TLN:

¹ Specifically the number 7, not the character for it. Is this significant? IDK.

² Meant as an exclamation of how unexpected it is that a god is so close to them. Does not mean he views Lu Qi as him mom.

³ Similar to “lighting candles” but opposite meaning--this poster is celebrating.

⁴ As in “alpha”.

⁵ Slightly different dripping onomatopoeia (da instead of di).

⁶ Actual line is “after passing this village, there will be no such store” (过了这个村儿，没这个店儿), which is from 儿女英雄传. Means that if the opportunity is missed, it won’t come again. I guess she wants to torture him a bit more first?

⁷ Niubi (牛逼) means awesome/formidable.

All system messages now have brackets regardless of whether they are written or spoken because formatting is hell and I need some semblance of consistency or I will go insane.

Considering italicizing all of the random switches into first person POV, but once again, formatting is hell.

Comments should now be up! SPAG corrections are welcome and appreciated. Previous/Next chapter links have also been added. LMK if any links are wrong/dead.