Chapter 205
Chapter 205
Zhong Jiangyuan’s ability to pull people back from death’s door was enough on its own to make him highly sought after by countless associations and organizations.
But there were very few people he currently recognized as companions.
One was Xiao Huai, and the other was Shen Yun.
Chen Chong slowly opened his eyes. The first person he saw was Xiao Huai.
Even silhouetted against the light, his features were refined enough to draw a sigh of admiration.
“Oh, Mama, am I in heaven? Why is the angel in heaven a man? I don’t want this.” When Chen Chong delivered those words in a half-dead voice, the others could not help bursting into laughter.
Lu Yuanshi smiled and looked at Xiao Huai. “He called you an angel.”
Xiao Huai turned his head away, speechless. “If I’m an angel, what are you?”
It had only been a joke. Xiao Huai had not expected Lu Yuanshi to answer, but Lu Yuanshi walked up to him one step at a time and placed his left hand over his chest.
He enunciated each word with perfect clarity:
“A believer in the angel.”
Xiao Huai froze for a moment. It was a long while before he spoke. “In [Vampires], were you already watching me back then?”
At his question, the smile in Lu Yuanshi’s eyes deepened.
Lu Yuanshi had seemed to be imitating the scene in which Xiao Huai had deceived Edwin.
He tried to move a little closer to Xiao Huai, and Xiao Huai automatically shifted a little farther away.
“Because I’d like to have a believer too. If you won’t be mine, then I can be yours, can’t I?” Lu Yuanshi chattered on.
Xiao Huai said, “I don’t have a faith.”
“You could.” Lu Yuanshi suddenly leaned in until he was right before Xiao Huai’s eyes, his ink-black gaze as mesmerizing as a black hole.
Xiao Huai said he had no need for one, then turned and walked away.
Lu Yuanshi kept smiling. Even after being rejected, his gaze continued to follow Xiao Huai.
Only after he had been awake for a while did Chen Chong realize he had been spouting nonsense. He sat up in astonishment, his body feeling extraordinarily light.
“I’m not dead?!” His eyes widened as he looked at everyone around him.
Jiang Wenmei patted him on the back. “Without them, both of us would be dead. Hurry up and thank them.”
Chen Chong had clashed with the group before, but they could by no means be called enemies. As soon as he heard Jiang Wenmei’s words, he became respectful.
He stood and gave them a perfectly proper ninety-degree bow. “Many thanks, great heroes, for saving my life.”
Zhong Jiangyuan smiled faintly. “Do you think this is a martial arts novel?”
Chen Chong scratched his head. “Wow, I really thought this was a fatal trial written into my destiny. Ahahaha! Looks like I, Chen Ergou, wasn’t fated to die. Chen Chong, I mean. Slipped out.”
“Stupid dog.” Jiang Wenmei rolled her eyes.
While waiting for Red Mansion’s proprietress, the two sides briefly exchanged information.
For example, the blonde woman was an identity card player, and East City was a dead city.
Then where exactly was the master of the Yang Residence?
Should they return to East City? Perhaps the master of the Yang Residence had been a ghost all along, and the ghost was precisely what they were looking for.
As everyone let their imaginations run free and voiced every kind of guess, the woman in the qipao hurried in through the door.
She asked tentatively, “Master Li?”
Xiao Huai glanced at her and lowered his voice, sounding somewhat displeased.
“The week is almost over, yet you haven’t prepared a single thing I asked for.”
The woman in the qipao had taken such a large sum of money, only to bungle the job. There was little she could do if her client scolded her for it.
She said quietly, “Master Li, I’m truly sorry! We don’t know what happened either. The Yang Residence hasn’t delivered a single corpse, even now. Usually, they would have arrived long ago.”
Of course, she had no idea how formidable the players in this round of [Town of the Blind] were.
Every one of them had their own unique approach to clearing the game.
“My friends will stay here for the night. That won’t be a problem, will it?” Xiao Huai’s tone left the woman no room to refuse.
The woman in the qipao immediately nodded with a smile. “Of course. Master Li’s friends are honored guests of Red Mansion. How many guests are there?”
“Six.”
“Someone prepare six rooms.”
Lu Yuanshi, however, said, “Five will be enough.”
Xiao Huai glanced at him. Lu Yuanshi met his gaze without the slightest concern and added to the woman in the qipao,
“I need to look after Master Li personally. Five rooms will be enough.”
The woman in the qipao did not understand whatever was going on between them. She ventured, “Are you certain the two of you wish to share a room?”
It would be effortless for Lu Yuanshi to sneak into his room.
They might as well do what Lu Yuanshi wanted from the start.
Xiao Huai lowered his eyes and said indifferently, “Mm. Do as he says.”
The woman in the qipao bent slightly at the waist. Some confusion showed on her face, but she still replied respectfully, “Very well.”
She then followed the rope hung along the wall and headed outside.
For the convenience of the blind, bells hung from the rope at designated points. By listening to their chimes, the woman in the qipao could determine exactly where she was.
“Master Li’s room is on the left, and the four rooms on the right are for the other honored guests. If you need anything, simply ring this bell.”
The woman in the qipao held out her hand. A small red bell lay in her palm.
Xiao Huai accepted the bell and gave her a brief word of thanks, then pushed open the door and collapsed bonelessly onto the bed.
The bed was astonishingly large.
After all the chaos that night, he had no idea how much time had passed.
He closed his eyes and vaguely sensed someone lie down beside him. The man carried a familiar fragrance, so Xiao Huai could not be bothered to open his eyes.
Xiao Huai lay there in silence, growing increasingly exhausted. His body felt as heavy as lead.
He liked to conceal his fatigue precisely because he was so adept at disguising himself.
That was why everyone assumed he would never cry out for help.
Xiao Huai would never ask someone to save him. He would only tell others to leave him behind.
That was his method of survival, as well as his attitude toward it.
If a day ever came when his death was truly inevitable, he would find a quiet place and die alone.
Lu Yuanshi’s appearance, however, had changed his life.
Without realizing it, Xiao Huai had stopped hiding his vulnerability and exhaustion.
It was as though only in front of Lu Yuanshi could he strip away layer after layer of disguise.
It was as if Xiao Huai already knew that no matter what he looked like, Lu Yuanshi somehow knew him well.
Whenever this happened, Xiao Huai would always question himself inwardly.
Had they known each other before?
What kind of person had he once been?
No one understood Xiao Huai. At times, even he did not understand himself.
He wanted to know the answer.
Somewhere in the unseen workings of fate, he sensed the answer awaiting him.
The answer would reveal itself on the day he completely cleared the eighteen levels of the game.
He fell asleep, just like that.
His original plan had been to spend another sleepless night searching Red Mansion for clues.
Yet despite himself, he had fallen asleep.
When he woke in the morning, Lu Yuanshi was no longer beside him.
He sat up and rubbed his bleary eyes. His hair was a little messy as he murmured,
“Lu Yuanshi?”
No one answered.
He became fully alert in an instant and rushed out of the room.
“Xiao Huai? You’re awake?” Zhong Jiangyuan happened to be outside.
Xiao Huai looked at him and asked, “Where is he?”