Chapter 246
Chapter 246
Fang Kang lowered his head and stared at the water far below.
His gaze slowly searched beneath the surface, but he saw no trace of the Golden Ball.
Yet Fang Kang was certain it had fallen into the tank. Now he needed to return to the water, find it, then repeat his earlier ordeal and somehow climb back out.
Remembering that climb…
Fang Kang wanted to black out.
Why had the quest waited until after he escaped to announce itself? Why not while he was still in the water? He would even have accepted halfway through the climb. Why strike him with this devastating blow at the precise moment he thought he had escaped the tank and earned a new life?
Fang Kang desperately wanted to faint and ignore everything.
But he could not.
He stared at the water and finally leaped back in through his tears.
The bitterness in Fang Kang’s heart felt immeasurable.
Back inside the fish tank, he began searching for the Golden Ball. Meanwhile, Qin Nan’s group briefly exchanged the clues they had gathered during the past hour.
“So to clear this world, we first have to trigger our quests and obtain enough information to leave,” Yellow Hair concluded after hearing everything.
Qin Nan nodded. “We’ve triggered two quests so far. Mine is on hold because we can’t be sure Jian Fan won’t die after eating the Poisoned Apple. Jian Fan’s and Yellow Hair’s quests should come after mine. Lu Jing’s has triggered, but finding the two swindlers won’t happen immediately. As for the rest…”
Everyone looked around at one another.
“Mine probably requires the Flower Prince to appear,” Mu Xin said.
Her quest had not triggered, but its plot had begun. The details should emerge with the Flower Prince’s arrival.
Jian Fan nodded. “Probably.”
Lin Junruo thought for a moment. “Does mine require waiting until after midnight?”
That reminded Qin Nan of Jian Fan’s earlier theory about the deadline.
“No,” Jian Fan rejected the idea. “Qin Nan’s and Lu Jing’s deadlines are both before midnight, so yours shouldn’t be an exception. Something about your situation is unusual. There must be another trigger we’ve overlooked.”
Lin Junruo agreed and nodded.
“Do I need to find Grandmother first?” Yang Zhen asked.
Qin Nan nodded. “Probably. If the item appeared, there has to be a reason.” His gaze then shifted between Qin Weiyi and Zhou Jingying.
Qin Weiyi looked numb.
Countless theories circled his mind, but he could not utter a word, making them useless.
For all his thoughts, he had no real idea how to trigger his own quest.
He had exchanged his tail for legs and lost his voice. A considerable portion of his plot had already occurred, yet nothing unusual had happened since.
Jian Fan had no idea either. At last, he looked toward Zhou Jingying–or more precisely, at the basket in her hand.
Zhou Jingying understood his meaning and tightened her grip on the handle.
Yellow Hair followed Jian Fan’s gaze. Soon everyone was looking at Zhou Jingying.
One thing was obvious: as The Little Match Girl, Zhou Jingying would probably trigger her quest by striking a match.
Zhou Jingying understood too, but she did not dare gamble.
She had already suspected this and abandoned the attempt out of fear of death. Nothing had changed. Striking the match might reveal a clue, but it might equally lead to her death.
“Won’t you try?” Yang Zhen asked in confusion when Zhou Jingying did nothing.
Zhou Jingying remained silent, but her white-knuckled grip on the basket made her refusal plain.
“What are you afraid of?” Jian Fan asked.
Zhou Jingying looked up. “When The Little Match Girl burned through all her matches, she died in the freezing winter.”
Yang Zhen had not known Little Red Riding Hood, so naturally she did not know The Little Match Girl either. Hearing this, she froze.
She understood Zhou Jingying’s fear but still did not share it.
If someone refused to try because they feared death, how could they fight the Realm of Death?
Besides–
Yang Zhen looked into the basket. “There are plenty of matches. Lighting one isn’t the same as lighting all of them, is it?”
Zhou Jingying said nothing.
Jian Fan glanced at her, then quickly withdrew his gaze. “There’s no hurry. We’ll wait for Mu Xin’s quest.”
Since he himself hesitated to try the Poisoned Apple for fear of death, there was nothing to criticize about Zhou Jingying refusing to trigger her quest for the same reason. Jian Fan would not force anyone, so he changed the subject.
No one objected.
Qin Nan looked toward Your Highness, who now stood on the platform.
“We don’t need to rush. Isn’t there an obvious clue right in front of us?” he said.
Everyone turned toward Your Highness.
With one exception.
Zhou Jingying.
She had not expected everyone to simply move on after hearing her reason. The reaction left her stunned.
In the worlds she had experienced before, teammates would have applied every possible argument to pressure her into trying. Whether she died had never mattered to them. Now, seeing everyone accept her refusal, Zhou Jingying was briefly at a loss.
No one noticed her feelings.
Their full attention had shifted to Your Highness.
He stood atop the platform and began with ceremonial pleasantries, wishing everyone an enjoyable evening. Qin Nan’s group had still been speaking at the time. By the time they focused on him, the meaningless courtesies were ending.
With those formalities complete, the true subject began.
Your Highness swept his gaze across the ballroom before stating his purpose. “Besides inviting all of you here today, I arranged this ball for another reason. I have an important matter in which I need everyone’s assistance.”
Qin Nan’s group immediately focused.
They were about to learn who Your Highness sought.
“I’m looking for a woman. She likes wearing black. Her heart is cruel, but she is beautiful. She once nearly became my mother-in-law.”
Your Highness revealed the woman’s identity one word at a time, and that information…
Qin Nan froze.
Qin Nan…
Qin Nan’s composure shattered.