Tong Zheng looked enlightened upon hearing Jing Minghe's words. "So that's how it is. Simple."
Jing Minghe, amused by his success in teasing Tong Zheng, felt an urge to laugh. However, he caught sight of Chi Hao's increasingly cold face in the elevator door, his eyes fixed on him, glinting with a chilling light.
Jing Minghe strongly suspected that if gazes could kill, he would be a corpse by now.
He couldn't quite fathom why Chi Hao, of all people, was suddenly so angry. No, that wasn't right. How could Chi Hao get angry? Wasn't he always as calm as an unfeeling machine?
After asking Jing Minghe for advice, Tong Zheng intended to subtly observe Chi Hao. But he felt a chill down his spine. Turning around, he met Chi Hao's gaze.
He felt an ice-cold chill penetrate to his bones from that stare. Shivering, he immediately turned back and moved closer to Jing Minghe.
He mused to himself that it was much easier to get along with someone like Minghe. But then again... why did the temperature in the elevator seem to be dropping? Was he imagining things?
The elevator stopped on the fifth floor. Tong Zheng's room was the closest to the elevator. As soon as he stepped out, he bid farewell to Jing Minghe and quickly returned to his own room, as if fleeing from something.
Chi Hao and Jing Minghe entered Jing Minghe's room.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, Jing Minghe was feeling drowsy again. He walked to the bed and sat down, asking lazily, "Boss Chi, what did you need me for?"
Chi Hao stood by the cabinet, looking down at Jing Minghe. "Ask."
"Hmm?" Jing Minghe was confused and chuckled, "Ask what? Didn't you have something to ask me?"
"Not asking? Then forget it."
As Chi Hao spoke and turned to leave, Jing Minghe finally understood what he meant and quickly called out to him.
"Wait," Jing Minghe stood up, casually picked up a bottle of ice water from the bedside table, and handed it to Chi Hao. He grinned, "Brother Chi, your little brother has many questions he wishes to ask. I hope you won't hesitate to impart your wisdom."
Chi Hao let out a cold laugh. He didn't take the ice water, but stepped back and stood still. "Ask."
Jing Minghe raised an eyebrow and took a sip of the ice water himself. "Firstly, thank you for saving me. Secondly, the first question, where did you find that sachet? And why did you give it to me?"
"At your feet."
"My feet? Impossible," Jing Minghe immediately denied. "I searched the entire stage back then and didn't see that sachet at all."
Chi Hao said unhurriedly, "It fell off you."
"Off me?" Jing Minghe didn't quite believe it, but coming from Chi Hao, he couldn't help but believe him. Chi Hao wouldn't be so bored as to lie about something like this. "Then why didn't you tell me at the time?"
"How could I have said it?" Chi Hao retorted.
Jing Minghe thought about the situation at the time. "It seems it wouldn't have been easy to explain. But since you picked it up, why didn't you keep it yourself, but insisted on giving it to me?"
"It fell off you, so it naturally went back to you."
"...Alright."
The explanation didn't seem much different from no explanation at all.
Even so, Jing Minghe still wanted to ask all his questions. "So, the second question, who was the shadow standing behind the round table during the selection? Why did you say he could help us wake up the mayor and the others? Third question, how did you come up with the idea of using a ritual to free Lan Zhi?"
"My guess is that the shadow was the mayor's son himself, or more accurately, a surge of resentment condensed from his anger towards his uncles. I said he could help wake them up because when I found you on the night they searched the houses, he was standing beside you." Su Dan Novel Network
Chi Hao paused, then continued, "As for the ritual, if you had asked Yue Yang and the others about what they saw when they went to get the basin, you would have figured it out too."
At this, Jing Minghe recalled that when Yue Yang and Guo Wei returned with the basin, he hadn't asked many questions. One reason was that he was tired and wanted to rest first before questioning them further. Another was that given Yue Yang and Guo Wei's condition at the time, it wasn't appropriate to pry, and even if he had asked, they might not have been willing to elaborate.
Later, he had dozed off while examining the basin. By the time he woke up, Chi Hao already had a plan of action, and he didn't have time to ask any more questions.
Jing Minghe nodded. He agreed with the answers to these two questions.
Finally, Jing Minghe's voice became softer, lacking confidence, as if he were asking Chi Hao, but more like asking himself, "Why did I have hallucinations related to Lan Zhi? And in the final ritual, why did I replace Lan Zhi?"
Jing Minghe hadn't expected Chi Hao to answer this last question, but he heard Chi Hao say, "Perhaps it's a game setting. They chose you, it was just a coincidence."
Chi Hao's guess coincided with his own musings, and Jing Minghe couldn't help but stare at Chi Hao for a moment longer.
After letting Jing Minghe stare at him for a full five or six minutes, Chi Hao finally spoke, "Anything else?"
Jing Minghe smiled and shook his head. "No more. Thank you, Boss Chi, for clarifying. No, wait, there's one more, but it's unrelated to the instance."
"Oh?"
"Why are you willing to explain so much to me?" Jing Minghe leaned closer to Chi Hao. "Logically, we've cleared the instance, and it shouldn't affect future instances. You could have easily ignored my questions, since I can't do anything to you."
"You guess."
Chi Hao left these two words behind and walked out of Jing Minghe's room without looking back.
Jing Minghe was speechless. "If you don't want to say it, fine. But asking me to guess, is that fair?"
·
Jing Minghe strongly suspected that time in the lounge flew by. Before he knew it, it was time for them to enter the next instance.
After getting off the train, everyone entered the light gate in succession.
After Jing Minghe passed through the light gate into the instance, he found himself standing in the bathroom of a house, facing a mirror. The person in the mirror was him, and yet not him.
It was him because the face in the mirror was indeed his.
It wasn't him because the person in the mirror had different hair than his original hair. The tips reached his shoulders, the color was a light blue. One side was tucked behind his ear, while the other hung down naturally, making his already not-so-sharp face appear even more delicate.
Jing Minghe clicked his tongue in displeasure.
What kind of ridiculous style was this? He was a champion underground boxer, and this frail image was completely beneath him!
While complaining internally, he continued to observe. The clothes he was wearing were not the ones he had on when he left the lounge. A form-fitting dark purple long t-shirt, with shimmering thin sequins all over the sleeves, reflecting colorful light. Loose dark blue satin trousers, and black leather shoes adorned with rhinestones. Jing Minghe got goosebumps just looking at them.
It was simply unbearable to look at.
"My heavens," Jing Minghe sighed helplessly, "What kind of styling is this?"
So, the more important question was, what kind of instance was this? Why was he in a bathroom? And where were the others?