Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Landlord Sister

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It won’t happen… that kind of thing won’t happen.

Looking at trending topics and news content, it seems the incident definitely occurred around 7 PM. If her brother had listened to her properly, he should have already logged out of the game to eat dinner by then, and probably just hadn’t seen the messages on his phone yet…

Sitting in the car on her way home, Jiang Yueli kept refreshing various news sites that were blowing up with updates.

This wasn’t some publicity stunt by a gaming company, even authoritative relevant departments had issued official announcements confirming it was real.

Mass disappearances of game players…

How could such a thing happen?

And it had to be this particular game. Judging by how enthusiastically her brother had described the game before its launch, he was clearly deeply immersed in and passionate about it. Would someone who loved a game that much really log off properly to eat dinner?

The answer was obviously no.

Even as Jiang Yueli tried hard to deny it, the alarming news combined with her knowledge of her brother made her increasingly uneasy.

Across various news media, family members of the missing people had already come forward with statements. The disappeared included sons and daughters, fathers and husbands, mostly gaming enthusiasts who had vanished into thin air after using the gaming helmet.

In the morning, all the news had been about the game’s promotions and reviews; by evening, it had turned into coverage of an extremely serious incident.

Even now, the electronic screen inside the taxi was broadcasting the latest updates on the incident from various channels.

“Sigh, what’s happening these days? People disappearing after playing a game, strange incidents seem to be happening more and more often lately.” While waiting at a traffic light, the driver glanced at the screen and couldn’t help lamenting.

Jiang Yueli sat in the back seat, tightly gripping her phone, not making a sound.

“Fortunately, you young ladies don’t like those kinds of games. What do they call it, fully immersive gaming? Sounds impressive, but otherwise who knows which family’s young daughter might have gone missing, leaving their family desperate and not knowing what to do,” the driver added.

“Ah, mm…” Jiang Yueli nervously swallowed and responded with a faint voice.

This immediately made her think of something else.

Even before receiving her university acceptance letter, she had already checked her admission information online and had fortunately connected with a senior student named Lan Xingyao. From her profile pictures, that senior had a rather petite and cute figure.

Senior Lan had promised earlier that evening to send her materials about the school and dormitory layouts, but after mentioning she was going to try out a recently released game, there had been no reply until now.

Earlier, while shopping with her friend Lin Ruoxi, she would occasionally look down at her phone, hoping to see a message from her senior.

When it came to the latest popular game, there was only one possibility.

Could it be that Senior Lan had also experienced some accident after playing that game…?

“Senior…”

The car ride home would take about 20 more minutes.

But after considering everything that had happened, Jiang Yueli became increasingly restless. She quickly picked up her phone and called the big sister who lived next door, who was also their current landlord.

Though that sister typically kept an inverted sleep schedule, and Jiang Yueli wasn’t sure if she would be awake now.

“Hello, Sister Yan?” Jiang Yueli held the phone to her cheek.

“Hmm? What is it, Little Sister Yueli? Why are you suddenly calling me at night?”

After the call connected, a mature woman’s slightly lazy voice came from the other end.

Jiang Yueli quickly said, “Sister Yan, um, sorry to disturb your sleep. Could you please check if my brother is at home? I’m still out and heading back now. I sent him messages earlier but got no reply, and his phone calls aren’t being answered either…”

“Oh, I was wondering, why would you still need to make a phone call when you live next door?”

He Yan sat up in bed, then comfortably stretched, crossing her long fair legs on the bed before adding with a laugh, “Is Yueli worrying too much about our Xuanbao? Boys need their private time too. While his sister is out, he might be busy relieving some stress…”

“That’s not it! I-I know, but it’s not like that! My brother was also playing that Floating Island game or whatever, the one on the news!”

Game? Having just woken up, He Yan was clearly unaware of the topic currently trending online.

But hearing the urgency in Jiang Yueli’s voice, she climbed out of bed, opened her wardrobe, put on only a coat over her underwear, slipped into a pair of cotton slippers, and walked to the neighboring room to knock on the door.

Typically, someone like Jiang Yuxuan with limited mobility wouldn’t go out much.

“Xuanbao, are you there? Your sister is calling you, saying you didn’t answer.”

“Anyone home? Say something if you’re there.”

“Hmm? I’m coming in now, so don’t be embarrassed if sister catches you doing some handiwork, okay?” After knocking several times with no response, He Yan began to frown.

Then she took the door key from her pocket and directly opened it to enter.

The house was completely silent. The living room lights were off, Jiang Yueli’s room door was open and dark, while only Jiang Yuxuan’s adjacent room showed some light through the door crack, though without any of the usual keyboard clicking sounds of gaming or working.

He Yan walked to the bedroom door and puzzledly opened it.

What she saw was only the still-lit computer screen and an empty chair.

The screen was still displaying the official website for 《Floating Island: Fragments of the Stars》…

He Yan scanned the room and found no one. She noticed that Jiang Yuxuan’s crutches were still nearby, making it clear he hadn’t and couldn’t have left the room, yet strangely, there was no sign of him.

On the bed lay only a VR gaming helmet, still flashing a blue indicator light in the darkness…

“Xuanbao?” He Yan stood frozen in place, widening her eyes in disbelief.

What was going on? He really had disappeared…!?