DLMSWSHH Chapter 52

TL: Hua

Chapter 52: Truth

Zhong Ming stared at Ye Qing, momentarily speechless.

She excitedly flipped open her notebook, which was filled with dense English notes.

“I finally managed to piece together the timeline,” she said breathlessly. “Thank god I studied hard during my undergrad and read through all the documents on European history in the library! Otherwise, I never would have dug up his past—”

She stopped mid-sentence and looked up at Zhong Ming’s face, startled. “Zhong Ming, what’s wrong?”

Zhong Ming exhaled slowly. He realized that, for a moment, he was actually afraid to hear what she had to say.

The priest’s words in the chapel had affected him more than he realized. He was afraid to find out that the Duke was truly a dangerous man. For example—

For example, what? Zhong Ming thought of the man’s smiling eyes, the swing in the backyard, and the look on his face when he spoke of his parents.

He shouldn’t be a bad person, Zhong Ming told himself.

He mustered some courage and said, “I’m fine.” He gestured to Ye Qing. “Let’s talk in the room.”

As the only maidservant, Ye Qing lived in a small single room on the right side of the basement. The room was tiny, containing only a bed and a desk. She sat at the somewhat dilapidated desk, clicked on the lamp, and spread out her notebook.

“I read the books you gave me; there was a lot about the chapel.” Ye Qing pointed to the cramped text. “Classifying ancient European history by religious sect is the easiest method. Based on the descriptions of the prayers in the book—”

Ye Qing chattered on and on. Zhong Ming leaned against the desk with his arms crossed. He tried to follow along at first but soon found himself completely lost. He couldn’t understand her technical jargon, and while his English was decent, it wasn’t nearly good enough to parse academic history notes. Looking at the long strings of English on the paper made his temples throb.

“Wait,” Zhong Ming interrupted honestly. “Ye Qing, I don’t understand.”

Ye Qing stopped abruptly. Seeing his bewildered expression, her mouth formed an “O”. Her old habit had kicked in again! She felt like banging her head against the desk; she always got carried away when talking about her major.

“Just give me the conclusion,” Zhong Ming said sincerely.

Ye Qing’s cheeks flushed. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “In short, the Duke was likely the ruler of an ancient European duchy.”

“Based on my deductions—” She looked down at her notes. “The most likely candidate is the historical Grand Duchy of Hesse.”

Zhong Ming had never heard of it. He frowned. “Where is that? Germany? France?”

“This was before Germany or France even existed as they are today.” Ye Qing flipped a page to show him a hand-drawn map of Europe, her finger tracing a path from the North Sea down to the Mediterranean. “At its peak, the Duchy’s territory stretched roughly from here to here.”

It was a massive expanse of land.

Zhong Ming’s eyes widened in surprise. Even for someone like him, who knew little about European geography, it was clear that the territory Ye Qing was pointing to encompassed many modern-day European countries.

Ye Qing continued, “I don’t know much about the history of the Duchy of Hesse. I only know it was originally established by a Count of Hesse and became a Duchy after numerous wars and expansions.”

She flipped a page in her notebook, showing Zhong Ming a long list of names. “These are the founding Count and his sons. It’s said that shortly after the County of Hesse was established, it split into several states due to infighting among the sons. Later, after generations of continuous warfare, it was reunified as the Duchy of Hesse.”

“I don’t know exactly which heir the Duke is, but he is undoubtedly a descendant of the Count of Hesse.” After hearing this, Zhong Ming fell into a brief silence. His eyes scanned the long string of names, and his head began to ache. These foreigners’ names were each longer than the last; he couldn’t distinguish which one might be the Duke.

He was very interested in what Ye Qing had said about the history of the Duchy of Hesse being divided, his gaze lingering on those names for a long time. Since ancient times, having too many sons rarely led to anything good. Based on the priest’s hostile attitude toward the Duke, the Duke might very well be a descendant of one of those specific lineages.

But that wasn’t the point. Zhong Ming rubbed his temples and asked Ye Qing, “So, what happened to the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the end?”

In his memory of modern society, no such country existed.

At this, Ye Qing paused, her voice dropping slightly. “That is one of the great mysteries of ancient European history.”

“At some point, the Duchy of Hesse simply disappeared.”

Zhong Ming’s eyelashes fluttered as he looked up at Ye Qing.

“Just like the ancient kingdom of Loulan or the Maya civilization, the Duchy of Hesse vanished abruptly without leaving any written records,” Ye Qing said, her expression solemn. “But that’s the strange part. The Duchy was constantly at war with outsiders and had a complete cultural and religious system. A country like that shouldn’t just vanish into thin air. But it did.”

Zhong Ming frowned deeply. “Does anyone know why?”

Ye Qing shook her head. “Historians’ guesses are always the same old clichés, like plagues, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions—” She pursed her lips. “I don’t find any of them believable.”

Zhong Ming slowly lowered his eyes.

What if the Duchy of Hesse hadn’t disappeared but existed in a different form? Zhong Ming couldn’t stop himself from considering the possibility that this “dungeon” was actually a real world. But if so, who was controlling it from behind the scenes? Why were there players? What was really behind all of this?

Zhong Ming’s mind was a mess of tangled threads. It felt as though he had finally managed to lift one corner of the mystery, only to find even larger mysteries hidden beneath.

Seeing his pale face, Ye Qing tried to comfort him. “Don’t think too much about it. Maybe the game company just loosely adapted some history—”

Just then, a knock at the door interrupted her.

Though there was a knock, the person outside had no intention of waiting for permission. After two casual taps, the door was pushed open.

“Good evening.” Li Yizhi’s face appeared from behind the door, smiling at them both. “What secrets are you two little ones whispering about?”

Ye Qing gasped, scrambling to hide her notebook. Zhong Ming turned around, sighed, and said to her: “It’s fine. No need to hide it from him.”

Ye Qing paused, looking at Li Yizhi with suspicion; she still couldn’t bring herself to trust the man. Li Yizhi sauntered in, eyes crinkling as he leaned an arm against the bookshelf above Zhong Ming, intentionally or not framing him within his shadow. He glanced at Ye Qing and the notebook she was clutching like a treasure, then turned back to Zhong Ming.

“What are you talking about that I’m not allowed to know?”

Zhong Ming looked up, meeting Li Yizhi’s half-smiling eyes. After a moment, he tilted his head and said softly to Ye Qing: “Tell him what you just told me.”

Ye Qing was beyond reluctant. She was prejudiced against Li Yizhi, feeling that this smiling man was full of bad intentions. Ultimately, she chose to trust Zhong Ming and repeated her findings to Li Yizhi.

After listening, Li Yizhi’s almond-shaped eyes widened. He leaned back as if genuinely surprised, exclaiming, “Wow, he has such a grand background?”

Ye Qing blinked, feeling that Li Yizhi’s attitude was a bit strange. In the next instant, she heard Zhong Ming say coldly: “Stop playing dumb.”

Zhong Ming crossed his arms, looking at the feigned surprise on Li Yizhi’s face with a cold expression.

“You knew about this all along, didn’t you?”

Ye Qing’s face paled in shock. She watched as Li Yizhi instantly dropped the surprised act and looked down at Zhong Ming with a curl of his lips.

“You figured it out?”

Zhong Ming’s expression remained icy, every line of his face taut.

Li Yizhi found him stunningly beautiful even when angry. He almost wanted to hear Zhong Ming scold him some more. He looked down and said softly, “Didn’t I tell you? I haven’t spent all these years here for nothing. It’s normal to know a few things.” He tried to coax Zhong Ming. “Baby is so smart. You found it out all by yourself without any help. I’m much dumber than you.”

Zhong Ming frowned. “This was all Ye Qing’s hard work.” The greasy tone of Li Yizhi’s words sent a wave of goosebumps up his arms. His voice grew colder: “And stop acting like this.”

Li Yizhi felt a thrill.

He rolled up his sleeve and thrust his arm in front of Zhong Ming. “Good scolding, baby. If you’re still mad, just hit me right here. I won’t move an inch.”

Zhong Ming looked at the sturdy, muscular forearm. He thought to himself that if he hit it, his own hand would be the one that hurt. He was so angry his face turned a pale, icy white.

Ye Qing, standing nearby, couldn’t take it anymore. She stood up with a start and squeezed herself between Li Yizhi and Zhong Ming.

“Stop flirting with Mommy!” Ye Qing slammed her notebook onto Li Yizhi’s head. “You pervert! You creep!”

Li Yizhi hadn’t expected her to suddenly attack, and he used his arm to block the notebook. The notebook was heavy and hard, leaving a red mark on his right hand.

“Damn!” Li Yizhi took half a step back, looking at the aggressive Ye Qing in disbelief. “Watch your mouth, little girl!”

He leaned over to look at Zhong Ming, who was hidden behind Ye Qing. “Baby, control this girl. She’s got the strength of an ox—”

“What did you say!”

Ye Qing’s cheeks flushed bright red. She grabbed a desk lamp, looking ready to hurl it at Li Yizhi.

Zhong Ming hurried to stop her. He glanced at Li Yizhi. “Both of you, stop talking.”

Though the words were meant for both, he only looked at Li Yizhi. Ye Qing immediately shot back a smug expression.

Li Yizhi: … I really felt like cursing.

“Don’t change the subject.” Zhong Ming looked at Li Yizhi. “What else do you know about this game?”

Li Yizhi replied, “I’m inclined to believe the Duke is a real person who existed in history.”

His straightforward answer startled Zhong Ming for a moment. Li Yizhi leaned down, picked up the notebook Ye Qing had dropped, and flipped to the page full of names.

“Remember I told you that most players are hired by large corporations specifically to clear the game?” He pointed to one of the names on the list. “At least one of the companies I know of shares this name.”

Zhong Ming’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

Western culture has a tradition of inheriting names and surnames. Beyond the surname, many families pass down given names. For example, newborns might be named after deceased elders; a grandfather might be named Robert, and a grandson might be named Robert Jr. Thus, names often persist in a family for a long time. Some businesses that started as family operations kept the family name even as they expanded into multinational corporations.

Even in modern times, while many conglomerates use professional managers, the actual controlling interest often remains with a single family. In a capitalist society, many old aristocrats have survived this way, moving from the limelight into the shadows of the financial world.

Li Yizhi said, “The families behind these companies likely share a bloodline with our dear Duke.”

He closed the notebook and shrugged. “Who knows how the Duke offended these relatives? They’re willing to pour money like water into recruiting players year after year to clear this dungeon.”

He paused, then looked at Ye Qing as if suddenly remembering something. “Ah, of course, idiots who can be tricked into signing a contract don’t count.”

Ye Qing, who still hadn’t received the base salary promised by her company and had nearly died: ….

Zhong Ming’s brow furrowed. “So this isn’t actually a game at all?”

Li Yizhi crossed his arms. “From what I know, other gungeons are indeed games. But I suspect they are a sort of selection mechanism, meant to pick out the strongest and most desperate players from each batch to tackle the boss level.”

He looked at Zhong Ming and made a downward slashing motion with his hand. “Meaning, to kill the Duke.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Ming’s heart sank. He thought of the Duke’s usual indifference toward the players. If this were true, the Duke’s attitude was dangerously careless.

Meanwhile, Li Yizhi looked at Ye Qing again and added, “Oh, and people like her who are thrown in as cannon fodder don’t count.”

Li Yizhi cocked an eyebrow. “After all, you always need some people to test the waters and help the truly useful ones figure out the rules.”

Ye Qing felt like she had been kicked twice for no reason.

She hated Li Yizhi even more now. With Zhong Ming behind her, she felt much bolder and immediately snapped back: “So, you must be one of those carefully selected players then?” She raised her voice. “Who knows how many terrible things you’ve done in the past!”

Ye Qing seemed to have a “Counter-Li Yizhi” bug; she didn’t speak much, but every word stepped right on his nerves. At her words, the expression on Li Yizhi’s face shifted abruptly.

The smile slowly vanished from his lips, and a dark shadow fell over his eyes as he stared coldly at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing immediately shuddered, hiding behind Zhong Ming like a startled rabbit, her hands clutching tightly at Mommy’s skirt.

Li Yizhi stared at Ye Qing, his lips twitching as if he wanted to say something, but he forced himself to hold back because Zhong Ming was there.

His expression was so terrifying that Ye Qing’s mind immediately filled with movie tropes of thugs threatening civilians. Feeling her life was in danger, she screamed: “Mommy, save me!”

Zhong Ming finally snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at the trembling Ye Qing hiding behind him, then turned to the grim-faced Li Yizhi and sighed.

“Don’t take it out on her.”

Zhong Ming spoke in a “she’s just a child” tone. Li Yizhi’s face remained tense; he didn’t seem inclined to let Ye Qing off the hook. It was one thing for him to admit to Zhong Ming that he’d done bad things, but quite another to have someone else point it out.

Ye Qing was scared to death. She felt she wouldn’t survive the night.

Zhong Ming’s expression didn’t change. He looked at Li Yizhi, took two steps toward him, lowered his eyes, and said softly: “I believe you are a good person.” Zhong Ming looked at Li Yizhi’s tensed profile. “And you wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”

Li Yizhi froze for a second, then his expression softened visibly. He relaxed his body, reached out to take Zhong Ming’s right hand, and lowered his head in a clumsy hand-kiss.

“Of course not.”

Ye Qing watched as Zhong Ming effortlessly tamed Li Yizhi with nothing more than a friend zone card, and she was utterly awestruck. Yet, a sliver of worry began to take root. She really, truly did not want Zhong Ming and Li Yizhi to start dating!

Zhong Ming withdrew his hand. Looking at Li Yizhi, who had regained his smile, he lowered his gaze and said flatly: “I told you not to do that.”

Li Yizhi curled his lips into a smirk, his eyes full of admiration as he traced the cold, reserved profile of Zhong Ming’s face. After a long moment, he reached out and hovered his arm behind Zhong Ming, guiding him toward the exit.

“It’s late. Don’t waste any more time on this brat; I’ll walk you upstairs.”

Ye Qing protested, “Who are you calling a brat! I’m walking Mommy too!”

She was now at a hundred and twenty percent alertness regarding Li Yizhi, doing her absolute best to ensure the two of them were never left alone.

Li Yizhi paused and smiled at Ye Qing, his eyes looking sharp enough to kill.

It was indeed getting late. Zhong Ming glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was nearly midnight. He nodded and said: “Let’s go together then.”

By this time, most of the servants had already gone to bed, leaving the basement eerily quiet.

Li Yizhi carried an oil lamp, leading Zhong Ming toward the staircase, hoping to squeeze in a few more words with him. However, just as he opened his mouth, he suddenly sensed something. He whipped his head around, the oil lamp swaying violently from the sudden movement.

Zhong Ming asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

Then, he turned his head, following Li Yizhi’s gaze toward the top of the stairs, and his eyes suddenly widened.

There, at the top of the short, steep flight of stairs, stood the Duke, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

The flickering, precarious bulb on the ceiling cast a cold white light across the man’s pale face.