Chapter 256
Chapter 256
After Zhou Jingying picked Mu Xin up off the ground, she transferred her to her other palm.
Sitting in Zhou Jingying’s hand, Mu Xin stared at the enormous woman before her, then glanced at Lu Jing, Qin Weiyi, and Lin Junruo beside her.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. They were her people.
“What happened to your wings?” Lin Junruo asked in shock.
After leaving the Prince, Zhou Jingying had regrouped with Lu Jing and the others and briefly explained what had happened. They had unanimously decided to come back and search for Mu Xin.
After all, the Flower Prince could appear at any moment.
Before they even got close, however, Lu Jing heard someone calling his name. The cry had cut off abruptly, but Lu Jing had always been confident in his hearing. He led Qin Weiyi and the others toward the ballroom entrance, where they caught the latter half of Mu Xin’s performance with the Flower Prince.
Mu Xin sighed. “Don’t ask. The Flower Prince took them away. Oh, right. My mission was triggered too.” Just thinking about it gave her a headache.
“What is it?” Lu Jing asked.
Mu Xin sighed again. “Earn the Flower Prince’s forgiveness and become his bride once more.”
Lu Jing: “???”
Aside from Lu Jing, who looked utterly bewildered, Qin Weiyi and the others remained remarkably calm. Even Lin Junruo, though she hadn’t guessed it beforehand, understood immediately once Mu Xin revealed the mission.
“Your acting was quite good. You still have a chance of completing the mission,” Zhou Jingying said.
Mu Xin froze.
An internationally acclaimed actress had just praised her acting. What greater honor could there be?
Then Zhou Jingying asked, “Are you studying acting?”
Mu Xin shook her head. “I’m a senior in high school.”
Zhou Jingying: “???”
“You’re very talented. Perhaps you should consider becoming an actress,” Zhou Jingying suggested sincerely.
Mu Xin hadn’t given it much thought. Besides, they were currently trapped in the Realm of Death. Unless they escaped, none of that mattered.
So she merely smiled without replying.
Zhou Jingying had only mentioned it in passing anyway.
Their top priority was still getting out of this world.
Mu Xin’s mission had now been triggered, which meant that out of the five of them, only Lin Junruo and Qin Weiyi still had no idea what their missions were.
Lin Junruo sighed. “Do I need to find the Prince from my story too?”
Mu Xin considered it for a moment. “It could also be your stepmother or wicked stepsister.”
Lin Junruo looked at the ballroom full of potential NPCs and rubbed her brow. “This is going to be hard.”
Qin Weiyi said nothing.
He couldn’t make a sound even if he wanted to. He had it worse than anyone.
Noticing the gloomy atmosphere, Zhou Jingying offered some reassurance. “We may not need to gather every piece of information required to clear this world before we can leave. If your mission hasn’t been triggered, you aren’t in danger of being erased. That’s a good thing in its own way. All we need to do is gather as many clues as possible.”
Mu Xin nodded. “She’s right. I’ll stay with you for a while and see if we can find anything useful. I’ll go back to the Flower Prince later.”
There was no need to constantly remind him of her presence. If she overdid it, it might have the opposite effect.
Time was limited, but Mu Xin still thought it would be best to spend a little while apart from the Flower Prince.
Zhou Jingying nodded in agreement.
The group immediately resumed their search.
They would look for information about the two swindlers while also searching for clues that might trigger Qin Weiyi’s and Lin Junruo’s missions.
Meanwhile, Qin Nan and the other three were searching all over the ball.
Unfortunately, they weren’t having much luck.
The four of them regrouped.
“I’ve already tried just about everyone who looked roughly the right age, but not a single one of them knows Little Red Riding Hood.” Yang Zhen scratched at the red cap on her head, irritation creeping into her voice.
She turned to Jian Fan. “Think about it. Aside from the grandmother, is there any other key information we’re missing?”
Jian Fan did not answer.
Judging by how the others’ missions had been triggered, Yang Zhen’s mission should have activated when she received the food. But it hadn’t. That meant she still needed to progress further into the story.
The food was meant for Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother, but there was no grandmother at this ball. If it wasn’t the grandmother, then…
“Then it has to be the Wolf,” Qin Nan said.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Qin Nan looked at Jian Fan.
The Wolf presented a serious problem.
First of all, most of the guests at the ball had roles such as Prince or princess. They hadn’t seen anyone who looked remotely like a Wolf. Second, wasn’t Xia Zeqin’s role the Wolf? If Yang Zhen could only trigger her mission by coming into contact with Xia Zeqin, or if their missions were connected, that would be bad news for them. There were simply too many unknowns when it came to Xia Zeqin.
“The Wolf? The one that ate Little Red Riding Hood?” Although Yang Zhen had never read the fairy tale, she had heard enough of the story to immediately understand what Qin Nan meant.
Neither Jian Fan nor Qin Nan replied.
Yellow Hair could more or less guess what they were thinking.
Before he could speak, Yang Zhen beat him to it. “So we need to find that Xia Zeqin guy and work with him?”
“If working with him is the only option, then I think we should put your mission aside for now,” Qin Nan said calmly.
Yang Zhen stared at him in confusion.
She raised an eyebrow.
Qin Nan continued, “You won’t be erased as long as the mission isn’t triggered. At worst, we’ll miss out on one piece of information. But if Xia Zeqin really is necessary to trigger your mission, working with him could easily end with all of us becoming his stepping stones. It’s not worth the risk.”
Yang Zhen had no idea what kind of history they had with Xia Zeqin. Still, after spending this much time with them, she had come to trust them, at least to some extent. If that was what they believed…
“We’ll wait for Xia Zeqin to come to us,” Jian Fan suddenly said.
“Hm?” Qin Nan murmured in surprise.
Jian Fan continued, “If Yang Zhen’s mission is connected to Xia Zeqin, then Xia Zeqin’s mission must also require Yang Zhen. If he wants the information, he’ll have to approach her.”
Yang Zhen caught on.
“You want me to pretend I’m not working with you and that I’m still on my own?” she asked.
Jian Fan nodded. “We’ll wait for him to make the first move.”
“But Xia Zeqin… are you sure he’ll actually approach Yang Zhen?” Qin Nan asked.
Jian Fan shook his head. “No.”
“If he figures out that he needs me to trigger his mission, why wouldn’t he come find me?” Yang Zhen asked incredulously.
The corner of Qin Nan’s mouth curved faintly. “That’s just how he is.”
“If he doesn’t approach Yang Zhen, we’ll have no choice but to abandon this lead. But if he does, we can put on a little act for him. We might discover something useful,” Jian Fan said.
Yang Zhen nodded. “All right. I’ll do as you say.”
The group quickly settled on their plan. Just as they were about to resume searching for clues–
“I found you.”
All four of them: “???”