“Why am I the only one with pocket money? That’s not fair at all! Whatever Meimei gets as a reward, Gege should have too!”
A thread of malice flickered in Lin Yue’s dark eyes. She didn’t believe Ye Shu could produce so much money. Besides, she could already smell that Mama carried no more scent of hell currency.
“Alright, alright! Xiaobao and Yueyue are both Mama’s children; of course Mama treats you the same. Neither of you will miss out on pocket money.”
Remembering that she mustn't refuse her children’s requests, Ye Shu took out a few more hell notes, not a bill more or less, just the perfect amount—one thousand.
Lin Yue: “...”
The older brother: “...”
Lin Xiaobao, who’d been wearing a sinister grin, stopped short on the spot, holding the money in a daze, stunned and unable to come back to himself.
Mama actually still had money!
Lin Yue said, “Mama, I want you to play dolls and puzzles with me.”
Her daughter pointed to the human bones laid out section by section on the pink-tiled floor of her room, and the dolls bound up tightly like mummies with bandages.
Ye Shu replied, “Five hundred hell notes. Yueyue can play by herself; don’t disturb Mama.”
Lin Xiaobao piped up, “Mama, play basketball with me. You used to love watching Xiaobao play.”
Her son removed his own head and hugged it to his chest.
Ye Shu spread her hands calmly. “I can’t see.” And then, just as calmly, she gave her son a handful of ghostly bills.
For the rest of the day, whenever the siblings tried to make demands, Ye Shu simply bought them off with cold, hard cash.
Lin Yue and Lin Xiaobao: “...”
It wasn’t that they didn't want something; it was just that Mama gave too much.
Even the nanny, standing off to one side, ended up with wads of notes and was too busy gathering up her own fortune to notice if Ye Shu broke any rules. She even ventured out to Donghu Market and returned with several boxes of health supplements.
Inevitably, Ye Shu threw a handful of bills her way as well.
“Candied fruit preserves... ka-ka-ka... go buy more canned fruit...”
The household was utterly peaceful.
When Lin Qingyue returned, he saw Ye Shu lounging on the sofa while the two children massaged her legs and shoulders. The nanny stood respectfully by, her twisted features shaped into an obsequious smile.
He couldn’t help but wonder if this was truly the infamous, terror-laden dungeon that had made so many players tremble in fright.
Had even the monsters learned to fawn and grovel?
As usual, he was impeccably dressed in a dark suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and looking every bit like a devoted husband, calling out lovingly, “Darling, why are you ignoring me? Have I done something wrong?”
The moment Ye Shu saw his face, her expression turned grave, but she brushed it off as if nothing had happened.
Utterly ignored, Lin Qingyue’s face betrayed nothing. He stepped closer, maintaining his gentle smile. “Wife, why won’t you talk to me? Did I do something wrong?”
Ye Shu paid him no mind, instead picking the mung bean sprouts out of her boxed meal and eating them silently.
Did he do something wrong?
Everything about him was wrong.
His words sounded intimate, but his actions had always been merciless.
No, her true husband was someone else entirely. She couldn’t let herself be swayed by this impostor.
There was a good chance Lin Qingyue was the culprit, but for now, her greatest problem was that she simply couldn’t defeat him.
She was always pragmatic, never letting hatred cloud her judgment.
That monster could move freely across dungeons, impossible to kill. Abandoning her would be a waste...
Perhaps her only option was to endure, to somehow survive the five days required in this game.
After all, she still had her spicy-skewers meal set, with over thirty sticks left—each one enough to restore two stamina points. She would make it to the fifth day, one way or another.
Or—maybe—she could find her real husband...
If this man had taken her husband’s place, it must mean something terrible had happened to her real spouse. Lin Qingyue must have been the murderer.
If the blind wife couldn't see her husband’s face, and this impostor went to such trouble to disguise himself, and they even slept in separate rooms, it made sense she hadn’t recognized him. But did that mean their daughter and son were murdered too?
The husband’s body... it must be hidden somewhere in this house!
If not in the study, then where else could it be?
[Ding ding! Congratulations, Player, you have uncovered 33.3% of the truth of the dungeon ‘Sweet Home.’ Keep up the good work!]
Ye Shu’s gaze shifted to the foyer—she remembered seeing a shadow in the bathroom.
She’d noticed an odd chill while using the toilet, at first blaming it on the supernatural. Now, it seemed all too likely that her husband’s corpse was concealed behind the bathroom mirror.
Lin Qingyue’s eyes blazed as he stared at the table where everyone ate in silence.
It was the first time this deranged woman had treated him like air.
The two children ate the nanny’s latest braised stew, behaving perfectly, while the nanny, after finishing her chores, retreated to her room. Yet from the hallway, one could still hear the crunching of bones from inside.
Lin Yue swallowed even the stewed bone, the meat so tender it slipped right down.
Ye Shu also noticed that her daughter’s black rabbit doll had not left her side even once. There might be a clue inside.
Taking advantage of Lin Qingyue’s absence, Ye Shu picked up the doll. It felt oddly hard inside—definitely not stuffed with cotton. Some parts felt oddly squishy... and a sticky sensation clung to Ye Shu’s hand.
She brought the hand to her nose, and a wave of putrid stench slammed into her senses.
Suddenly, she understood exactly what was hidden inside!
......
Elsewhere in the ‘Sweet Home’ dungeon world...
Half a million players were eliminated in a single day—from a starting population of a million.
Most newcomers didn’t have time to react. Before they even learned the rules, the daughter found them, their eyesight returned, and their minds were contaminated—gradually assimilated by the game. Doomed to remain forever in the supernatural realm.
Pang Pangzi hid behind a closet door, listening to the click-clack of high heels approaching. The doorknob twisted, and his daughter’s sweet voice drifted through: “Hubby, where are you? Stop hiding—come out! The nanny’s made stew; just smell how delicious it is!”
He swallowed hard, fighting to keep his thoughts at bay.
When the stew had been served, he couldn’t help himself and accepted the food from the nanny. Only by the time he realized his mistake, he found a bloody, severed hand bone in his own portion, and the children’s plates were filled with eyeballs...
The nanny forced him to eat the stew.
Left with no other option, Pang Pangzi used his items.
“Hubby, how can you hide from me? Haven’t I done enough? I work all day to support us and hired a nanny for our two children. What more could you want... ka-ka, come out!”
Peeping through the closet’s jalousie slats, he watched his wife transform—black fumes hissed from her mouth and nostrils, her teeth jagged and pointed. Under her red dress, eight long, hairy spider legs unfurled, making her a monstrous spider-abomination.
Pang Pangzi broke out in a cold sweat.
The rules said the bedroom was a safe zone—but he’d forgotten to lock the door.
His wife stalked straight over to the closet, threw it open, her blood-red lips tearing into a wild grin. “Found you!”
The closet door swung wide—empty, nothing inside but clothes.
Suspicious, her black eyes swept the room before she shut the closet again and turned the bedroom upside down, not finding a trace of Pang Pangzi. Only then did she leave.
Pang Pangzi stayed cowering there, too scared to come out, in case she doubled back for a surprise attack.
......
Meanwhile, with Ye Wanwan—
She too was hiding in a wardrobe, knees pulled to her chest, terrified as someone battered on the door outside, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She peered at her status screen: a revival card clearly shown among her inventory, and an item that could swap a player’s position. She hesitated a moment, wrestling with her choices, as if making a monumental decision.