Chapter 182

Chapter 182

The voice sounded somewhat distant.

Jian Fan couldn’t determine exactly where it had come from. He frowned slightly.

After thinking it over, he looked toward the Stairs nearby and decided to go up to the Second Floor to take a look.

Jian Fan went straight up to the Second Floor.

He planned to search around the Second Floor. Of course, before that, he intended to find a room with a window and check the situation outside. It wasn’t impossible that Qin Nan was outside.

“Jian Fan?”

Jian Fan had just chosen a room. His hand was already on the handle, but before he could press it down, a familiar voice sounded beside his ear.

Unfortunately, the voice did not belong to Qin Nan.

Jian Fan recognized it as Qin Weiyi’s voice.

He turned and looked toward the source of the sound. Qin Weiyi was standing not far away. When he saw Jian Fan, he smiled and called out, “Finally, another living person.”

Jian Fan gave a faint “Mm.”

“I think I heard someone calling Lu Jing’s name just now,” Qin Weiyi said as he walked over to Jian Fan. Then he asked, “Did you see them?”

Jian Fan paused, then replied, “I heard someone calling Qin Nan’s name.”

Qin Weiyi stilled for a moment, then guessed, “Could the two of them have run into each other?”

Jian Fan shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

“What are you about to do?” Qin Weiyi’s gaze fell on Jian Fan’s hand resting on the door handle.

“Look outside,” Jian Fan replied. At the same time, he opened the door in front of him and walked in. Qin Weiyi followed him inside as well.

The room Jian Fan had chosen was a guest room.

It was fairly spacious. Jian Fan only swept his eyes over it once before walking straight to the window.

The curtains were drawn. Jian Fan stepped forward, pulled them open, and turned his gaze outside.

He had entered the villa through the back door, where there had been an empty clearing, a storage room, and a row of rather shabby houses. But now, looking down from this window, what lay outside was a garden with quite a pleasant view.

Jian Fan thought about his own luck and fell silent.

His gaze continued to scan the courtyard below.

Before long, the corners of Jian Fan’s mouth curved upward. He seemed to be in a good mood. “I see them.”

“Who?” Qin Weiyi also stepped forward and looked in the direction Jian Fan was looking.

“Qin Nan and Lu Jing,” Jian Fan replied.

At that moment, Qin Nan was talking with Lu Jing. Since Yellow Hair was supposed to come find them, the two of them didn’t dare wander around, afraid they might miss him later. So they found a rock, sat down together, and started chatting.

Lu Jing didn’t have many thoughts about games like the Realm of Death, but Qin Nan was rather curious about Lu Jing’s past, so he asked a few questions.

The two of them were having a lively conversation.

From where Jian Fan stood, he could only see the two of them sitting off to the side. He had no idea what they were saying, and because they were too far away, he couldn’t make out their expressions either.

“Let’s go. We’ll find them,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Weiyi also took a look. After confirming that Lu Jing was safe for the moment, he let out a breath of relief. And since Lu Jing was with Qin Nan, Qin Weiyi felt somewhat reassured. Qin Nan was loyal, and he had at least some brains.

The two of them left the room and went straight down the Stairs.

Jian Fan had roughly looked around the first floor earlier, so he quickly found the door leading to the courtyard. Once he was outside, he remembered Qin Nan’s approximate location and immediately headed that way.

The courtyard was planted with many flowers and shrubs. The path was paved with small stones, winding and twisting in a way that had its own charm. But for Jian Fan, who wanted to find someone directly, that winding path was rather annoying.

Jian Fan cut straight through the flowerbeds.

Qin Weiyi followed behind him.

Qin Nan and Lu Jing had just reached the part of their conversation where Lu Jing was talking about his first mission after enlisting.

“The first time was around the Golden Triangle, I think. My teammate and I were responsible for making contact with someone and escorting him safely back into the country. I don’t know the specifics, but it seemed to have something to do with drug enforcement. He’d been undercover for more than twenty years. I’m not exaggerating at all-we basically came straight through a hail of bullets. I had no experience back then and even took a shot. I was covered in injuries, and after I got back, I spent half a month lying in the hospital.”
Qin Nan was a little stunned. “They threw you straight into such a heavy mission on your first try?”

If someone had been just a little weaker, or had slightly worse luck, wouldn’t their very first mission have ended in an instant game over?

Lu Jing smiled. “That was how it was for everyone in our batch. The first time scared the hell out of you, but you got used to it afterward. When the veterans sacrificed themselves, someone had to step up and fill the gap, right?”

Qin Nan was struck by a complicated mix of emotions.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, “What were you doing before you came to the Realm of Death?”

“Looking for clothes. Going on blind dates,” Lu Jing said.

Qin Nan had not expected such a down-to-earth answer.

But Lu Jing suddenly seemed to find an opening and began complaining to Qin Nan. “Blind dates are seriously annoying. I’ve met, what, seventy or eighty women? Half of them thought I was too old. I mean, that’s what I don’t get. Isn’t your age made clear before the blind date? If you think I’m old, then don’t come. The other half thought I wasn’t good-looking enough. Hey, I’m not exactly handsome, but I’m not ugly either, right? And I sent them photos. The photos looked exactly like me. If they already knew I wasn’t their type, then why did they still show up?”

Listening to Lu Jing talk about this, Qin Nan found the whole topic somewhat surreal.

But Lu Jing had clearly gotten into it and kept going.

“Then there were the ones who asked about my job. How could I just tell people about that kind of work? I could only say I was a soldier in the army. As soon as they heard that, guess what? Still not satisfied. They asked how much I made and said it was too little. Asked about a house, asked about a car-heard I didn’t have a car and looked down on me again. I mean, someone like me, what would I even need a car for? To sit in a parking lot collecting dust?”

Lu Jing sighed. “Honestly, I think being alone is pretty good. With my line of work, if I got married and had kids, I’d have people on my mind. Then when I went out on missions, I’d start having worries. I wouldn’t have that same drive anymore.”

“Was someone forcing you to go on blind dates?” Qin Nan asked curiously.

Lu Jing nodded. “Yeah.”

Qin Nan thought that made sense. How many parents in the world didn’t pressure their children to get married?

But then Lu Jing immediately added, “My superiors! Several of them took turns nagging me, all terrified that I’d grow old alone with no one to rely on and end up miserable in my later years.”

Qin Nan: “…”

Sorry for intruding.

Lu Jing didn’t care what Qin Nan thought. He sighed and said, “Actually, I’m pretty rich.”

Qin Nan said nothing, so Lu Jing continued.

“My family is basically all soldiers. Our old family home is in a military compound. In my first year on the job, I scraped together a down payment and bought an apartment. Later, I went on a lot of missions and got commendations, so I received some housing purchase benefits. I had some money on hand too, so I bought another apartment in the city where I worked. Both are fully paid off now. Housing prices have risen fast these past couple years. Calculating it now, the market value of those two apartments is pretty decent.”

Qin Nan’s face went numb. A corporate slave had no right to participate in this topic.

Lu Jing was still going.

“Before I came to the Realm of Death, my superiors forced me to take my leave and told me to go on blind dates. I didn’t find a partner, but I did make the down payment on a villa. I was even thinking of adopting a child from an orphanage later.”

Qin Nan demanded, “Your line of work pays that well?”

He could buy apartments and a villa? That was not how Qin Nan understood things at all.

Lu Jing made an “ah” sound and said, “There’s an odd one out in my family. A cousin of mine works in finance. I don’t really spend money normally, so I just gave it all to him. I don’t know either. Anyway, by the time I came back from the army, the money had turned into this. I had no use for it sitting around, so I bought property.”

Qin Nan: “…”

Sorry for intruding.

He even wanted to ask for that cousin’s contact information.