Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Yezi reacted instantly, darting back into the courtyard.
Every player held their breath and stared outside. After waiting a while without anything happening, the old craftsman sat down and resumed weaving his lantern.
He did not start over for them. Teaching students took far too much time, so they would have to follow along as best they could. At this rate, learning the craft would take forever.
Yezi’s face darkened. Apparently, there had been no danger. The old man had simply thought she was standing beneath the lantern for too long.
They could forget about taking that lantern, but they needed one if they wanted to go outside.
None of them had ever done this kind of work. By the time they finished lanterns of their own, it might already be the final day.
“Sister Miaomiao, it’s done. You can take this one for now.” Just as everyone had racked their brains into a dead end, the usually inconspicuous Lin Zhu rose from beside the craftsman with a paper-covered lantern in hand.
The lantern was round, bright red, and exquisitely made. Everyone stared in shock.
“Y-you… You know how to make lanterns?” This was the first time Qi Jiajia had ever looked so astonished. She had always dismissed Lin Zhu as a dull bookworm, only for him to unleash a spectacular hidden talent without warning.
Lin Zhu pressed his lips together in an embarrassed smile and gave Qi Jiajia a meaningful look.
Only then did Qi Jiajia remember. When Lin Zhu first introduced himself, he had said his upgraded Item allowed him to learn any knowledge or skill inside an instance.
At the time, Qi Jiajia had thought the Item was utterly useless. She never expected it to prove invaluable now.
If Lin Zhu had not learned how to make lanterns, someone would have had to risk their life searching for clues. Not even a veteran player could guarantee a safe return.
Cheng Miao accepted the lantern and patted Lin Zhu on the head. “Excellent work.”
Lin Zhu rubbed his head with a silly grin, then reminded her, “Sister Miaomiao, the paper is supposed to dry in the shade after it’s pasted on. We don’t have time for that, so the lantern might not be very sturdy. You should come back early.”
Cheng Miao nodded and inspected the lantern. It was well made, which put her somewhat at ease.
She turned to Qi Jiajia. “You and Lin Zhu stay here. Brother Qin and I will go take a look around.”
Qi Jiajia shot Qin Musong a vicious glare. Within their team, he had shed his alpha-wolf hide and behaved more like a loyal Labrador.
Fine. She knew Qin Musong was a better fighter and more suited to the job than she was.
Lin Zhu had no idea why Qi Jiajia was angry again. He quickly handed her some silk paper. “Jiajia, could you cut this for me? It’ll go faster that way.”
Qi Jiajia accepted the paper with a sinister expression and said nothing.
Cheng Miao tugged one of Qi Jiajia’s tiny topknots, lit the candle inside the lantern, and handed it to Qin Musong.
Qin Musong had a steady stance, steady hands, and faster reactions than Cheng Miao. No one was better suited to carry the lantern.
Cheng Miao and Qin Musong slipped swiftly through the gate, leaving the other players staring at Lin Zhu as though he were some rare animal.
Fortunately, Lin Zhu had tremendous composure. As a top student, was he not already accustomed to attracting attention?
He simply focused on his work. His hands moved quickly and deftly, earning repeated thumbs-ups from the old craftsman.
“Hey… Um…” After Li Fei’s death, Zhang Lele and Xiao Xu had begun sticking together. The two approached Lin Zhu with flushed faces, while an equally embarrassed Song Yu trailed behind them.
Lin Zhu looked up. When the three continued hemming and hawing without getting to the point, he frowned in confusion.
Beside him, Qi Jiajia slapped a bamboo strip against the lantern frame Lin Zhu had woven, producing a series of sharp smacks.
“They want you to make two lanterns for them. They may be useless when it comes to the mission, but they’re still afraid of dying. Cheng Miao said lanterns were important, so they want a protective charm.”
One sentence exposed all three of their intentions. Zhang Lele and Xiao Xu lowered their heads in embarrassment, while Song Yu stubbornly protested, “Who says I’m useless?”
Qi Jiajia looked up impatiently and flung the bamboo strip to the ground. Her voice was ominous and sharp. “If you get a lantern, will you go out and search for clues?”
Song Yu fell silent. He had no intention of going outside.
Carrying a lantern might prevent certain accidents, but who could say for sure? Might was the important word.
He simply wanted a lantern for peace of mind.
Lin Zhu looked at the three people Qi Jiajia had shamed into silence, then lowered his gaze to the lantern in his hands.
Lin Zhu’s looks were actually quite popular with young women. He simply spent so much time behind Cheng Miao that few people noticed him.
Now that he stood on his own, everyone finally realized he was not a sapling that needed a great tree to shelter it from the storm. He was an oak growing vigorously in his own right.
“I can’t. This skill has a time limit. I can only make as many lanterns as possible for my own team. If you need one too, instead of standing there waiting to take someone else’s finished work, you should hurry over and learn.”
Lin Zhu deftly wove the bamboo strips in his hands, his voice clear. “I still have the skill right now, so I can guide you.”
Zhang Lele and Xiao Xu had already felt ashamed to ask. At his response, they hurriedly thanked him, faces red, and sat down to copy his movements with clumsy hands. Su Shuang, who had been watching for quite some time, sat down beside them as well.
“The bamboo strips are already prepared, so we’ll weave the frame, bind the bamboo rings, and then cover the lantern. Paste on cotton gauze first, followed by a second layer of machine-glazed paper. We need these lanterns urgently, so skip the painting. There’s no time to apply tung oil either.”
Lin Zhu deliberately slowed his movements so the two young women could follow along.
Qi Jiajia watched coldly for a moment, then lowered her head and resumed cutting the gauze.
Song Yu stood awkwardly where he was and scratched his head. He was terrible at crafts and could not even fold paper. Work like this would be the death of him.
Qin Wen gave the previously inconspicuous Lin Zhu a long look. Then he patted his younger brother’s head, signaling Qin Wu to go learn as well.
Yezi, standing nearby, also felt somewhat awkward. With Cheng Miao gone, only the seemingly frail Lin Zhu and a little girl remained in charge.
She had planned to use a mixture of threats and persuasion to get a lantern made for her. Once it was done, there would be nothing Cheng Miao could do upon her return.
Unexpectedly, Lin Zhu had both pride and backbone. And that little girl…
Yezi frowned. She had not even acted on the thought yet, but the girl had looked at her with a ghostly chill, as though she could see straight into her mind.
What kind of little girl had eyes like that? She looked more like an infant ghost that had crawled from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Her murderous aura was even heavier than that of the towering man who had left with Cheng Miao.
Yezi truly had no idea where Cheng Miao had found these teammates.
While Yezi continued calculating, Qin Wen crouched nearby and watched Lin Zhu weave the lantern.
He rubbed the bridge of his prominent nose and was about to speak when a small ball brushed past him and bounced into Lin Zhu’s lap.
Lin Zhu looked up. The sunlight was dazzling, and a streak of white flashed across his lenses.
He looked toward the ball’s owner. Lian Ge glided toward him as though walking through a light mist.