Chapter 165

Chapter 165

“No.” Jian Fan shook his head again.

“What did you think of?” Qin Nan immediately looked at Jian Fan.

He needed the Big Shot to help them sort through how this whole thing had unfolded.

“Whether or not we come into contact with the Time-Space Junction isn’t something that is guaranteed to happen,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Weiyi nodded and continued, “In other words, in the original chain of events, without our involvement, it still ended with Zhao Yingguo dying and taking revenge. So now that Li Xiting has discovered us, what will she change?”

Jian Fan said, “Nothing.”

“Why?” Qin Nan was the first to voice his confusion.

“We’ve already gone back to the day it happened,” Jian Fan replied.

Qin Nan suddenly understood, but confusion quickly crossed his face again. “Then what use is Li Xiting discovering us?”

“It isn’t that Li Xiting discovered us,” Jian Fan corrected him, then went on, “It’s that she told us she was different from ordinary people.”

Everyone froze.

In truth, things were not as complicated as they had imagined.

This was a game, like a dungeon whose parameters had already been fixed. The setup was that they entered these spaces from the past, encountered Li Xiting, and Li Xiting would discover them and say those words. But whether or not she discovered their group would not change the established facts as a whole.

Otherwise, if events changed, would the Escape Room still exist at the end?

If it didn’t, then what were they even playing?

Of course, it was also possible that after they changed history and the Escape Room ceased to exist, their entire group would be erased on the spot.

That was not impossible, but since all of them were still perfectly fine right now, it meant that possibility could not be the case.

“Let’s go,” Jian Fan said again.

Li Xiting and Zhao Yingguo had both returned to their dorms and were each inside their own rooms. They had no keys, so they couldn’t get in. Even if they did have keys, opening the door now would probably scare the girls to death. Besides, Jian Fan believed that the information this point in time was meant to give them was probably limited to this.

The six points in time were simply moments when important events had occurred.

From what they knew so far, February 27, 2014, the day Zhao Yingguo perished together with everyone else, was clearly important.

As for the point in time before them now, it should be December 3, 2013, when Dormitory 6103 had been cleared out, leaving only Zhao Yingguo behind. That was probably also why the Dormitory 6103 they saw was completely empty.

As for the time and space Qin Weiyi and the others had passed through earlier, the date was uncertain, but something had happened there as well: Li Xiting had brought back the Hair Ribbon Zhao Yingguo had lost in the dormitory supervisor’s room and returned it to Zhao Yingguo.

Although they still didn’t know what made that incident important, it had to be a key point.

They needed to visit all three remaining points in time before they could be sure.

The group headed for the Time-Space Junction once more.

Soon, they appeared at a new point in time again.

This time, the point in time they appeared in was September 21, 2011.

That was not hard to confirm.

Because when Jian Fan and the others appeared in the corridor, most of the girls coming and going were wearing camouflage uniforms. Zhao Yingguo was too.

Clearly, they had just entered university and were taking part in military training.

At this moment, Zhao Yingguo had not yet experienced those terrible things. A sweet smile hung on her face as she walked together with Li Xiting and two other girls.

The four of them chatted and laughed, clearly getting along quite well.
“Yingguo, I think Shen Jin likes you.”

A girl suddenly spoke up.

Zhao Yingguo let out an “huh?” and asked blankly, “Who is Shen Jin?”

“Come on, Yingguo, seriously? Shen Jin! That super handsome guy from the major next door. When school started, he was even featured on our university’s official account for having the most beautiful smile!” the girl replied at once, brimming with enthusiasm.

Zhao Yingguo frowned and shook her head. “I don’t even know him. Yueyue, why would you say he likes me?”

The Yueyue Zhao Yingguo was referring to was her roommate, Wang Yueyue.

Wang Yueyue smiled mysteriously. “I’ve seen it several times. During military training, Shen Jin kept secretly looking at you. And also, the ice water the class monitor treated us to this afternoon? Shen Jin was actually the one who asked the monitor to buy it. He definitely likes you. He wanted to bring you water. The rest of us were just included along the way.”

As soon as Wang Yueyue finished speaking, another girl-probably the other roommate in their dorm, Shen Hong-immediately nodded. “I think so too. Shen Jin definitely likes Yingguo. Didn’t you guys notice? During the lunch break, Shen Jin kept walking past our classroom window.”

Zhao Yingguo frowned slightly and said, “Don’t say things like that. I don’t even know him. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Or maybe he likes one of you?” As she spoke, Zhao Yingguo hooked her arm around Li Xiting’s and said with a cheerful smile, “Maybe he likes our Xiting.”

When Wang Yueyue and Shen Hong heard that, they exchanged a glance and nodded. “That does seem possible too.”

Zhao Yingguo was the cute type, while Li Xiting was the gorgeous beauty type.

Li Xiting’s brows drew together.

Although Wang Yueyue and Shen Hong said that, the two of them had clearly already decided that the person Shen Jin liked was Zhao Yingguo. That last line was merely going along with what Zhao Yingguo had said.

Listening to all this, Lin Junruo was surprised. “Don’t tell me Zhao Yingguo was bullied so much because of this Shen Jin?”

It sounded ridiculous, but such a melodramatic development did seem to make sense.

Looking at Li Xiting’s expression, Lin Junruo had already pieced together an entire trashy melodrama in her head.

Li Xiting liked Shen Jin, Shen Jin liked Zhao Yingguo, so Li Xiting started messing with Zhao Yingguo. Reasonable enough, right? As for why Li Xiting hadn’t died in the end, perhaps it was because she was smarter and had managed to keep herself out of it.

“It’s not that simple,” Qin Nan suddenly said.

Lin Junruo turned to look at him. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you notice? Wang Yueyue and Shen Hong are obviously closer to Zhao Yingguo,” Qin Nan said.

Lin Junruo paused, then looked back at the four girls. On closer inspection, she realized Qin Nan was right.

Li Xiting was walking on the far left. Beside her was Zhao Yingguo, while Wang Yueyue and Shen Hong were on Zhao Yingguo’s right.

The four of them were indeed chatting and laughing, but most of the time, it was Wang Yueyue, Shen Hong, and Zhao Yingguo talking. They rarely took the initiative to include Li Xiting. Not only that, the two had been so eager to gossip moments earlier, but as soon as Zhao Yingguo brought Li Xiting into it, they seemed to lose interest all at once. After that line-“That does seem possible too”-neither of them said anything more.

Their attitude was already obvious.

There was no way Li Xiting hadn’t noticed.

As for Shen Jin, Lin Junruo thought back for a moment. When Wang Yueyue mentioned that Shen Jin liked Zhao Yingguo, Li Xiting hadn’t seemed to react much. It was only after Zhao Yingguo brought her up that her expression changed. So…