Chapter 267
Chapter 267
Mu Xin froze for a moment when she heard Qin Nan.
Then she lowered her head and raised her hands, looking them over before glancing at her surroundings. Her face lit up, and she sprang off the couch. “I’m really back to normal? Oh my God, I’m finally myself again!”
Qin Nan smiled. “I guess that’s the upside of being freed from your character.”
With that, Qin Nan’s attention returned to the fragment Mu Xin had received after completing her mission.
“What’s written on Mu Xin’s fragment?” Qin Nan asked.
Jian Fan had originally intended to read it, but Mu Xin’s mention of Qin Nan’s mission had distracted him. He still hadn’t opened it yet.
Now that Qin Nan had brought it up again, Jian Fan unfolded the fragment.
The three of them read the words written upon it.
“A pot of begonia blossoms sat in the Prince’s chambers.
“For some unknown reason, the begonia blossoms looked rather listless.
“The Prince cherished them dearly, watering and fertilizing them every day.
“On the day he met the Little Princess, the Prince had also been tending to the pot of begonia blossoms in his chambers.”
“Begonia again.” Qin Nan frowned and muttered, “I’m starting to suspect the heroine isn’t the Little Princess at all, but this Begonia.”
Jian Fan considered it for a moment. “That’s entirely possible.”
“Huh?” Qin Nan hadn’t expected Jian Fan to agree with what had merely been an offhand remark.
It wasn’t as though Qin Nan had never seen stories about flower spirits or flower fairies before. There was nothing particularly strange about such characters appearing in a fairy tale. The problem was, even if the Begonia was the heroine, surely she couldn’t remain a flower the entire time.
Jian Fan had already begun laying out his analysis.
“When the Little Princess was locked in the cage, the begonia blossoms flourished more than ever,” Jian Fan said. He took out all the previous fragments and pointed to the relevant passages. “The Little Princess was losing her life force, while the begonia blossoms were growing increasingly vibrant.”
“You mean the Prince killed the Little Princess because he wanted to save these begonia blossoms?” Mu Xin immediately understood what Jian Fan was suggesting.
The Little Princess’s lost life force had flowed into the begonia blossoms, and the Prince clearly treasured them above all else. Once the two facts were connected, the conclusion was obvious.
Qin Nan found the theory plausible as well.
“In other words, for one reason or another, whether it was love or something else, the Prince wanted to revive the begonia blossoms. He was willing to sacrifice the Little Princess to do it. But judging by what happened, even the Little Princess’s death wasn’t enough to fully revive them. That means the Prince will probably go after other people next,” Qin Nan reasoned.
Mu Xin quickly picked up the thread. “There was an earlier passage where the Prince said they all had to submit to him, and the Little Princess said he would end up a failure. That was probably because the Prince committed all kinds of atrocities to save the begonia blossoms, making his subjects resent him and eventually even rise against him. As for why the Little Princess called him a failure, it could be because he’d already lost the people’s support. Or perhaps she knew something he didn’t. No matter how desperately the Prince tried, what he wanted to accomplish might never have been possible in the first place.”
“That all makes sense, but what does any of it have to do with clearing this world?” Qin Nan asked, perplexed.
This was clearly a dark fairy tale, but what connection did it have to this world?
Jian Fan fell silent.
Mu Xin thought for a moment. “Could the key clues be written on the other fragments?”
“Then our luck is… pretty terrible, isn’t it?” Qin Nan said.
Mu Xin fell silent as well.
Jian Fan took it in stride. He gathered up all the Fragmented Story Pages and said, “We still have your quest to complete.”
At the mention of that quest, Qin Nan’s expression stiffened. “You really want to do it?” he asked tentatively.
Jian Fan looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t we? If we can’t collect all twelve clues, then we can’t afford to let a single one slip through our fingers. Besides, your quest isn’t particularly difficult.”
Qin Nan was speechless.
His quest really was simple. The information Mu Xin had brought also proved that Jian Fan would be fine. They even knew how to wake him up. There was indeed nothing to hesitate or worry about, but…
Qin Nan glanced at Jian Fan.
His gaze fell on Jian Fan’s lips before he silently looked away.
They were both grown men, after all. This was going to be awkward.
Jian Fan, meanwhile, had no idea what to make of Qin Nan’s strange expression.
“We should hurry. We don’t have much time left,” Jian Fan urged.
Qin Nan nodded.
He reached up and removed the apple from his head.
It had clearly been nothing more than a tiny decorative apple, but the moment it entered Qin Nan’s hand, it transformed into a full-sized one.
Now that he had made up his mind, Qin Nan no longer hesitated. He handed the apple directly to Jian Fan.
Jian Fan accepted it and took a bite without hesitation.
The apple was sweet, but as its sweetness spread through his mouth, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
He frowned and barely managed to keep control of his body long enough to walk over to a nearby sofa and sit down. After that, his mind went blank. His vision darkened, and he collapsed unconscious on the sofa.
The moment Jian Fan lost consciousness, the familiar voice of the System rang out in Qin Nan’s mind.
“Ding! Congratulations, Player, on completing your quest. You have been released from your assigned character role and may now play the game freely.”
“Ding! Quest complete. Player has received one quest reward: a Fragmented Story Page.”
A Fragmented Story Page appeared in Qin Nan’s hand.
But he was in no mood to examine its contents. Although Mu Xin’s information indicated that Jian Fan was in no danger, Qin Nan still couldn’t help worrying while Jian Fan lay unconscious. His first priority was waking him up.
Qin Nan put the page away, then walked over to the refreshment table and casually picked up a glass of water.
He took a sip and held the water in his mouth. Then he returned to the sofa, dropped to one knee, and leaned down toward Jian Fan.
Mu Xin was standing nearby. When she saw what Qin Nan was doing, she froze. “Qin Nan, what are you doing?”
Qin Nan ignored her.
All he wanted was to wake Jian Fan as quickly as possible.
It had taken him long enough to work up the nerve. He couldn’t let Mu Xin interrupt him now, or he would never find the courage to try a second time.
Just as he was about to carry out this momentous task that transcended worlds, Mu Xin spoke again.
“Don’t tell me you think you have to give Jian Fan the water mouth-to-mouth to wake him up,” Mu Xin said incredulously.
Qin Nan froze.
He paused and looked up at Mu Xin.
Realizing that Qin Nan truly had misunderstood, Mu Xin gave a helpless laugh. “The key to waking him up is giving him water. That’s all.”
Qin Nan was speechless.
He wanted the ground to swallow him whole.