In This Community, Betrayal Has Teeth

Outside the door was Wang Chunying.

“Little Four, are you awake?” Wang Chunying called through the door.
“There’s a phone call for you downstairs.”

Another phone call.
Su Lai hesitated for less than half a second before quickly stepping into his flip-flops and jogging downstairs to answer the phone.

Not long ago, he had sent Wang Chunying’s landline number to that unknown text message.
Half out of boredom, half as a test.

Now the phone had actually rung, and the anticipation he’d planted was fermenting.
He picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”

Beep beep beep—
The caller hung up.

Su Lai held the receiver for a moment, dazed.
The sharp, insistent busy tone kept piercing his eardrums, slowly dissipating the grogginess from his afternoon nap.

It seemed the landline phone downstairs had rung only to interrupt his dream.

Did “They” not want him to communicate with Xiao Chang?

Was it Xiao Chang who had pulled him into this contaminated world, or was it “Them”?
Was Xiao Chang real? Or just a figment of his childhood imagination?

Various speculations came flooding in.
Su Lai didn’t dislike chaos and complexity.
He enjoyed solving labyrinth games, except he never obediently followed the path from entrance to exit.
He always found his own way to play.

Wang Chunying stood nearby.
Although she still wore that expressionless face, her murky eyes had softened somewhat.
Especially when she looked at Su Lai, her usually lusterless pupils would brighten slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Wang Chunying asked.

Only then did Su Lai put down the receiver.
“Nothing. A prank call.”
Though he no longer remembered Xiao Chang, he inexplicably felt the word “prank” suited him perfectly.

Wang Chunying: “Little Four, if anyone bullies you, tell Mom. Mom will take care of it.”

Su Lai met Wang Chunying’s gaze.
The protective instinct in her eyes had grown even stronger.

Bai Ke pulled Su Lai aside and whispered.
“Cousin, what’s going on?”
“I heard what you said to the neighbors.”
Bai Ke seemed somewhat anxious.

Su Lai: “And?”

Bai Ke paused for a moment, then evaluated.
“Very satisfying.”
“But I’m panicking.”

The Spring Breeze Community survival rules clearly stated: Do not offend your neighbors, otherwise you may trigger the neighbor’s “Pointing and Whispering” status.
When the “Pointing and Whispering” status is triggered, your family may come to harm.

Seeing Su Lai still unresponsive, Bai Ke grew more anxious.
“Cousin, don’t forget I’m your cousin. I’m part of the family.”

Su Lai nodded.
“I had Mom threaten them.”

Bai Ke: “But Auntie can’t protect us forever.”

Su Lai glanced at him indifferently.
“If you’re worried, you can remove yourself from the household registry.”
“Oh, right. You’re not on the household registry. You have a temporary residence permit.”

Bai Ke panicked.
“That’s not what I meant…”

“If anyone dares to point and whisper, chop off their pointing fingers. Then see how they point and whisper.”
Wang Chunying said this expressionlessly while serving dishes, her tone as casual as if she were discussing what she’d cooked today.

Bai Ke turned around and gave this auntie a thumbs-up.
“Auntie’s the best.”

They sat down at the table.
Four dishes and one soup. Extremely lavish.

Wang Chunying: “Last night when you just got back, Uncle Wang and I weren’t prepared. The meal was simple. Today, I’m making it up to you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”
Su Lai scanned the dishes on the table.
One of them was a pig hock salad with sand ginger and coriander.
Having seen Wang Xiaosi’s textbooks, Su Lai knew these two seasonings were his most hated foods.

For these two seasonings to appear in a lunch specially prepared for Wang Xiaosi indicated that behind Wang Chunying’s increasingly affectionate facade, a trace of distrust still lurked.

She still hadn’t stopped testing her “son.”

Bai Ke only picked up his bowl after seeing Su Lai start eating.
The whole “family” held their bowls without eating, all eyes fixed on Su Lai as he chose his food.
Su Lai had the illusion that he was their “dish.”

But he didn’t mind.
Avoiding the sand ginger pig hock, he savored the barbecue and roast duck.
Wang Chunying’s cooking was excellent.

Bai Ke followed Su Lai’s lead, only picking dishes that Su Lai picked.
The sand ginger pig hock remained untouched.

Watching the trajectory of Su Lai’s chopsticks, the maternal affection in Wang Chunying’s eyes grew firmer.

“Xiao’er, why are you like Little Four? Don’t like cilantro and sand ginger?”
As she spoke, like any mother, she moved the dishes her child disliked closer to herself.

Wang Chunying’s conviction deepened.

As usual, Uncle Wang turned on the TV and watched the static-filled screen with great interest.

The crackling static flowed through the silent dining table.
Uncle Wang’s murky eyes reflected the TV static, as if pixelated.

“Little Four, about Uncle Wang…”
Wang Chunying hesitated as she spoke.
Compared to last night’s deathly stiff face, Wang Chunying now had more “living” vitality.

Uncle Wang’s body immediately tensed.
The watermelon juice splashed on him in the morning hadn’t been wiped off.
On his white T-shirt, it looked like traces left by spurting blood—stains that could never be scrubbed clean.

Su Lai: “What the neighbors say is all bullshit.”
“As long as Uncle Wang makes Mom happy, that’s what matters.”
He said it lightly, picking his chosen roast duck wing into his bowl.

Uncle Wang’s tense shoulders immediately relaxed.
His gaze finally shifted from the TV screen.
“Little Four has really grown up.”
“I’ll fix your e-bike tire for you in a bit.”
Having been a driver before, Uncle Wang was also good at repairing tires.

Just then, the static on the TV screen flickered.
A low-resolution image gradually emerged.

The host in burial clothes appeared again.
He faced the camera with his eyes rolled upward, looking like someone who had died with their eyes open.
Finally, he had to forcefully dig at his eye sockets with his fingers to slightly adjust their position—

“The following is an urgent announcement.”
“This afternoon, a resident of Spring Breeze Community rushed out of his home carrying a watermelon knife.
As of now, the resident is still wandering the streets armed with the knife.
According to reports, the resident, surnamed Xu, is a local living at 174 Huai’an Lane.

The broadcast footage cut to the scene.
A grainy shot showed a fat middle-aged man holding a half-meter-long watermelon knife, angrily walking through the urban village alleys.
Behind the windows of the residential buildings he passed, pairs of eyes watching the spectacle were faintly visible.

The man’s fat jiggled; the watermelon knife smeared with red sticky liquid quivered.
There was an absurd harmony with the swaying camera and dim color tone.

“b*tch… reporting me… I’ll kill you…”
The man kept repeating these gnashing words, echoing through the alley along with the sound of water dripping from his clothes.

The footage cut back to the studio.
The host’s lips curled into a stiff smile.

“Recently, due to the hot weather, conflicts between neighbors have been frequent.
Nearby residents, please be safe and try to avoid conflicts with neighbors.
Maintaining a harmonious community environment is the shared responsibility of us all.”

The special bulletin ended.

Bai Ke: “Cousin, isn’t 174 Huai’an Lane where Bei Yao and that Director guy rent? I remember she mentioned the landlord’s surname was Xu.”

The broadcast said the tenant and landlord had clashed, which led this middle-aged man surnamed Xu to take to the streets with a knife.

“This morning, Bei Yao mentioned reporting the peeping landlord. Could the landlord have already found out about the report?”

* * * *

Half an hour earlier.

Director Jia, who had less than 3 hours of survival time left, left early and returned alone to the rental house.

The rental room was dark and cramped.
Even on non-rainy days, the damp, musty smell lingered, especially pungent.
Staying in a room like this for too long could rot even a living person.

Landlord Brother Xu sat in the main room’s living area.
The ceiling fan above whirred noisily.
Even at noon, sunlight couldn’t penetrate the windows.
The TV screen was the only light source in the room.

Brother Xu was very fat.
He lay on the sofa staring at the blank TV, looking like a pile of pale, rotting meat, exuding an unpleasant sweaty odor.

On the coffee table in front of him was a large plate of watermelon.
In front of the watermelon plate lay a fruit knife.

Director Jia glanced at his system interface, pinched his nose, and walked over.
“Brother Xu, there’s something I think I should tell you.”

Brother Xu’s murky eyes didn’t even move.
He had absolutely no interest in this Director Jia.

“Bei Yao told us about what you did last night.”
Director Jia steeled himself and spoke.
“Bei Yao—the female tenant renting with me.”

Brother Xu’s eyes finally moved.
“What about last night?”

“The thing about watching naughty movies and chatting.”
Director Jia said.

An uneasy silence filled the air.
The smell of rotting watermelon fermented.

Brother Xu turned around, staring motionlessly at Director Jia standing behind the sofa.
His gaze, like a dead fly, made Director Jia’s scalp tingle.

“Bei Yao is going to report you.”
“She recorded everything that happened last night.
You standing behind the curtain, the things you said to her… it’s all crystal clear…”

Director Jia chose his words carefully, completely devoid of the arrogant father-figure attitude he had shown his teammates.

While nervously observing Brother Xu’s reaction, he anxiously glanced at his own resident affection progress bar.

Though snitching wasn’t a glorious act, in his over forty years of life, snitching was what he had done most.

Director Jia thought: It wasn’t his fault.
His gender and appearance were naturally disadvantaged; it was hard to gain resident affection.
He had to use some tactics to make the residents feel he was “one of them.”
Only then could his affection hope to rise.

He needed affection.
He needed to survive.
So snitching wasn’t such a big deal…

“Have you seen the video she recorded?” Brother Xu asked him, his tone unexpectedly calm.

Director Jia was momentarily stunned, then quickly shook his head.
“Don’t believe rumors, don’t spread rumors. I never watch unverified content.”

The next second, Brother Xu, who had been sprawled on the sofa, suddenly stood up.
He grabbed that half-meter-long watermelon knife and rushed out of the self-built house in a fury.

“b*tch! I kindly rented her a room, even worried she couldn’t sleep well late at night, asked a few caring questions, and she wants to report me!”
“Flies don’t bite a seamless egg. She seduces me late at night, and it’s my fault?!”

Director Jia: “…”
Who compares themselves to a fly?

The moment Brother Xu slammed the door and left, the system issued a prompt—

[Congratulations, player, for gaining the trust of original resident Brother Xu. Earned Resident Affection * 30.]

30 affection points!
This was even higher than he had anticipated.
Director Jia was overjoyed.
He felt he had mastered the secret to earning affection.

[Please note! Your whistleblowing has triggered a berserk state in the original resident NPC.]
[Under the influence of the berserk state, the NPC will attack the suspected reporter.]

Reporting a secret could cause the reported NPC to fly into a rage.
This reaction was perfectly reasonable.
But the NPC’s rage was directed at the reporter.
Director Jia had already disassociated himself from the reporter and gained Brother Xu’s trust.

Sacrificing teammates who weren’t really comrades to protect oneself—this was survival instinct.
The more Director Jia thought about it, the more reasonable his snitching seemed.

But from now on, he’d have to be wary of Bei Yao…

* * * *

Bai Ke, clearing the dishes, looked worried.
“Cousin, do we have a traitor among us players?”

The answer to this question was already obvious.
No one outside the players knew about Bei Yao’s intention to report the landlord.

Bai Ke felt lucky that he had gone home with Su Lai to charge the e-bike.
If he had stayed mixed up with that group of players, he’d definitely be in trouble now.

However, this incident did confirm one rule: once an original resident NPC finds out they’ve been reported, they enter a berserk state.

This meant that reporting itself also carried a risk.

Su Lai didn’t answer Bai Ke’s question.
Instead, he turned to Wang Chunying.
“This Brother Xu from 174 Huai’an Lane—do you know him?”

Wang Chunying sneered, her mouth twisting.
“Pervert Xu. Notorious for his harassment. Quite a few girls in the urban village have fallen victim to him.”
“He even stole a pair of my stockings and two aprons once.” Wang Chunying’s face stiffened.

Su Lai thought for a moment, then nodded with the same stiff expression.
“I’ll get them back for you.”

Wang Chunying was momentarily taken aback, then waved her hand.
“Don’t bother. They’re not worth much.”

Su Lai: “It’s not about the money. Can’t let Pervert Xu get off easy.”

The deathly stiffness on Wang Chunying’s face softened a little more.
Looking at her expression, Su Lai had the illusion of a corpse slowly warming up.