Because everyone had achieved their respective goals, this meal could be said to have been thoroughly enjoyable for both hosts and guests.
After finishing, Bruce’s family watched Sules’s reaction while speaking to Claire, “Claire, we’re sorry, but we’re out of salt. Could you go out and buy some for us?”
Sules understood immediately—they wanted to send Claire away to act more freely.
That meant Claire’s portion was indeed without issue, so she felt reassured.
She gave Claire a meaningful glance, signaling her to comply with their request.
Claire was clearly reluctant, unwilling to leave Sules alone in such a dangerous place.
She had already learned of the scheme Ryan and the others had planned.
She knew they intended to do something sinister to Sules.
If she left now and Sulesi’s plan was discovered, it surely wouldn’t end well.
So she absolutely could not leave.
Sulesi knew Claire was fiercely protective of her and couldn’t force her.
She could only smile apologetically at Bruce’s family and say, “Claire hasn’t been to the continent much and going alone isn’t good. How about I go with her to buy the things?”
Ryan and the others originally wanted to keep Sules there, so if she left, all the medicine they had given would have been wasted.
Naturally, they couldn’t agree.
“We weren’t thinking clearly; Claire should stay then.”
Ryan’s eyes flicked, and another idea occurred to him.
“Claire, my dad’s bedroom is a bit messy. Could you help tidy it up?”
Having already refused once, Claire found it hard to say no again.
Sules whispered something to Claire, and only then did Claire reluctantly nod and go with Bruce’s father to the inner room.
Because Claire was a martial artist, Sules wasn’t worried about her safety and calmly waited for Ryan to make his move.
As expected, Ryan did not disappoint.
He repeated the same trick—asking her and Reid to go to her room to fetch something.
Then, in a blink, he locked the door, intending to wait for the medicine to take effect and have a fiery confrontation with Reid.
Sules sat on the bed in the inner room and couldn’t help but laugh.
Reid and she were trapped in this room, unable to leave.
Barring accidents, Claire and Bruce’s father were locked together elsewhere.
So, in a way, Ryan and his mother were also trapped in a confined space.
If something happened along the way and they couldn’t come to the rescue in time, that would be understandable, right?
Reid looked at Sules with confusion, “Captain, why are you laughing?”
Sules suppressed her smile.
“Nothing, I just feel something very interesting is about to happen.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Ryan’s panicked voice came from outside the door, “Mom! Mom, what’s wrong? What are you doing?!”
Reid’s expression changed instantly, thinking something serious had happened.
He immediately got up and rushed to the door.
But it was already locked from the inside—there was no way out.
After fumbling with the doorknob twice, Reid shouted desperately, “Who locked the door? Damn it, open it! Brother! What’s going on outside?!”
Ryan was at a loss, too.
He didn’t understand why his mother suddenly had a flushed face, a look full of desire, and threw herself at him.
Of course, he wasn’t a fool and quickly realized his mother must have taken an aphrodisiac.
Although he couldn’t understand how the aphrodisiac, supposedly given to Sules, ended up inside his mother’s stomach, there was no time to think now—he was about to be overpowered!
In the next moment, Ryan’s expression changed sharply.
He felt a heat flow through him, and his body moved uncontrollably toward his mother.
His last conscious thought was, “Damn it! Did she put aphrodisiacs in everyone’s food?!”
Sules leaned leisurely against the headboard, making no sound to disturb Reid.
She calmly watched—or rather listened to—this farce unfold.
Outside, moans gradually drifted in—faint, ambiguous.
Although Reid had never done anything like this before, he knew enough to suspect something from the sounds.
He blushed deeply and turned to Sules.
“Captain, did you hear those sounds outside?”
Seeing his expression, Sulesi knew he had no idea that the ‘fairy fight’ outside was actually his brother and mother.
Tsk, such a naive child.
She clicked her tongue, quietly pulling out a clothes drying rod from behind her back, a faint smile tugging at her lips as she reminded Reid, “Do you remember your brother’s shouts just now? Now guess who those two people making the noises outside are?”
Reid froze for a moment, then widened his eyes in disbelief.
He rushed to the door, knocking furiously and shouting, “Brother! Brother, are you and Mom still there? Who’s outside? Please answer me!”
Sules held the wooden rod, tiptoeing behind Reid and swung it hard at his head.
Reid didn’t even have time to turn before darkness claimed him.
Sules dropped the rod, clapped her hands lightly, and looked down at him with a superior smile.
“Tsk, so pitifully stupid.”
Judging the time, it should be about right.
Sules dragged Reid’s unconscious body back a little and sat down on the bed, waiting calmly for rescue.
“Bang!”
A loud crash sounded as Claire burst in, her gaze locking immediately on Sules.
“Are you alright?!”
Sules lightly kicked the unconscious Reid by the bed and said innocently, “Do I look like something’s wrong with me?”
Only then did Claire relax.
“I knocked out Bruce’s father. Ryan and Bruce’s mother are still in the living room… So, what do we do now?”
Sules was about to answer—of course, with the goods in hand, it was time to run—but just as the words formed, she heard an unexpected noise—
Someone was opening the door from outside.
Sules raised an eyebrow and exchanged a quick, wary look with Claire.
Bruce’s family only consisted of four people, all here now, so who could be opening the door just then?
Though unsure, Sules immediately commanded, “Find a place to hide. Don’t reveal yourselves!”
If the visitor was a guest or a relative of Bruce’s family, standing out in the open would make escape difficult.
The windows in this room had already been sealed by Ryan to prevent Sules’s escape.
Claire hid under the bed; Sules slipped into the cabinet.
Both held their breath, listening as footsteps paused briefly outside, then drew closer.
But even at this point, Sules sensed something was wrong.
Normally, any visitor entering someone’s home—even a thief—would not remain so calm after hearing two people fighting outside.
At the least, their steps would quicken nervously; at worst, they would call out.
Yet this person merely paused, their footsteps unchanged, calm as could be…
Sules suddenly widened her eyes and covered her mouth.
She realized something she hadn’t noticed before—the moans outside had stopped!
She felt she was on the verge of a breakthrough and dared not move.
Sweat had already broken out on her forehead.
The footsteps grew louder, clearly moving toward this room.
Soon, Sules felt a heavy pressure as the atmosphere darkened.
Someone had entered the room.
The cabinet was closed; she couldn’t see outside.
She pressed her lips tightly, silently praying not to be discovered.
Then came the sound of a “puchi”—a sharp stab—causing her body to stiffen.
If Sules guessed right, that was the sound of a knife piercing clothes or flesh.
Reid and the others outside had likely been killed!
If nothing else, only she and Claire remained alive in the house.
This was a murder and cover-up!
Sules inwardly cursed herself for getting involved.
She licked her dry lips and strained to listen to the sounds outside, trying to gauge what was happening.
The footsteps circled inside the room; the person hadn’t left.
The steps stopped, followed by the subtle sound of knees hitting the floor—someone was kneeling, peering under the bed…
Wait! Claire was hiding under the bed! Had that person discovered her already?!
Sules’s heart leapt.
Forget everything else—she grabbed the rod that had knocked out Reid and cautiously pushed the cabinet door open just a crack.
Sure enough, a man in a brown leather jacket stood with his back to her, holding a bloodied kitchen knife.
He knelt by the bed, peering beneath it with a sideways glance.
Seeing Claire’s dangerous situation, Sules quietly stepped out, ready to use the same trick to knock the man out.
But the man was alert and immediately sensed her presence.
He jumped up and grabbed her hand.
Sules froze when she saw his face.
But she reacted quickly, shouting behind him, “Now!”
Startled, the man spun around—but there was no one behind him.
By the time he realized he’d been tricked, it was too late.
Sules’s rod struck him hard on the head.
At the same time, Claire crawled out from under the bed and threw a couple of punches to confirm the man was fully unconscious.
Only then did Sules exhale in relief, loosening her grip and sitting back on her heels.
Her gaze fell on Reid not far away, drenched in blood, blood still flowing endlessly from his neck—clearly already a corpse.
Claire was terrified, asking, “Sules! What do we do? There’s a dead person! Should we seek help from Hai Shen Sheng Dian? Or go to the guild? The guild should help, right?”
Sules took a deep breath to calm herself.
Although this was her first time seeing a corpse and she felt panicked, she was the type who became clearer-headed the more anxious she got.
After a moment’s thought, she said, “A dead body in the East Sea isn’t a big deal. The guild definitely won’t care. Seeking help from Hai Shen Sheng Dian costs money, and it’s unnecessary. We didn’t kill him, so we have no guilt.”
“Besides, isn’t the current situation actually advantageous to us?”
Claire looked puzzled.
“How so?”
Sules pointed at the man with the thick beard—the murderer.
“I know this person.”