Chapter 268
Chapter 268
Mu Xin had already taken a straw and a spoon from the nearby food counter and handed them to Qin Nan.
Qin Nan accepted them somewhat awkwardly.
He tried the spoon first.
Although Jian Fan was unconscious, he still seemed to retain some awareness. When Qin Nan spooned some water into his mouth, Jian Fan quickly swallowed it.
After that single sip, Jian Fan soon opened his eyes.
His gaze abruptly met Qin Nan’s.
For some reason, Qin Nan was reminded of the mortifying thing he had nearly done.
Scratching his head awkwardly, he said, “You’re awake. Looks like the Flower Prince’s information was right.”
Jian Fan sat up on the sofa and asked, “What were you doing?”
“Huh? Wasn’t I saving you?” Qin Nan asked in confusion.
Jian Fan fell silent.
He looked at Qin Nan with an indescribably complicated expression.
“You didn’t think I could only wake up if you kissed me, did you?” Jian Fan asked.
Qin Nan froze. “You even knew about that? You were conscious just now?”
“What do you think?” Jian Fan replied.
Qin Nan fell silent.
The two stared at each other, speechless.
Except Qin Nan’s silence also contained a trace of utter despair that made him want to die on the spot.
He had thought his humiliation was over. Instead, the moment Jian Fan spoke, Qin Nan experienced an even more devastating wave of embarrassment.
In the story, the Stepmother Queen and Snow White were lovers, so naturally they had no qualms about such things. That was why, out of all the possible ways to give Snow White water, the Queen had chosen mouth-to-mouth. But when it came to waking Jian Fan, the kiss was secondary. The important part was giving him water.
Standing off to the side, Mu Xin cleared her throat. “Well, all that matters is that he’s awake. The process isn’t important. We only care about the result.”
Qin Nan did not want to speak.
“Don’t talk to me. Just let me be alone for a while.” Qin Nan lowered his head and buried his face.
This was just… far too embarrassing.
Jian Fan had already risen from the sofa.
He was a little embarrassed as well, but he rarely showed his emotions on his face. Since he wore a cold expression most of the time anyway, it was impossible to tell. As a result, Qin Nan seemed to be the only one dying of embarrassment.
“Did you complete the mission?” Jian Fan asked.
Qin Nan raised his head again and stared at him with a look of utter despair. “Can’t you at least give me a moment to recover first?”
Jian Fan fell silent.
“Give me the page fragment, then you can recover,” Jian Fan suggested.
Qin Nan fell silent.
Annoyed, Qin Nan took out the page fragment and shoved it at Jian Fan. “Here, take it.”
Jian Fan accepted it.
After that interruption, Qin Nan’s embarrassment faded a little.
They were in the Realm of Death. What was there to be so hung up about?
Didn’t rescue breathing require mouth-to-mouth contact too? Besides, this had only been a misunderstanding. He had not actually kissed Jian Fan.
And Jian Fan clearly did not care at all, did he?
With that thought, Qin Nan got up from the floor and moved closer to Jian Fan to see what was written on the page fragment from his mission.
“That golden birdcage was ultimately drenched in blood.
The begonia blossoms entwined around the birdcage gradually withered away as well.
Everything seemed to have come to an end.
The Prince suddenly found it all laughable.
He let out a laugh, then turned and walked away, leaving the withered begonia blossoms and the decaying birdcage behind.”
Qin Nan stared at the passage in surprise. “What’s going on here? The Prince still didn’t manage to revive the begonia blossoms in the end, but isn’t his reaction a little strange?”
“We’re still missing some crucial pieces,” Jian Fan said.
Mu Xin sighed. “This is getting complicated.”
“We can forget about Xia Zeqin and Fang Kang. Shi Chen is still unconscious, so the only leads we can pursue are Yang Zhen, Lin Junruo, Qin Weiyi, and Lu Jing,” Qin Nan said.
Every last one of them posed a problem.
Lu Jing’s mission had been triggered, but the two swindlers had vanished without a trace. As for the other three, they still had no idea how to trigger their missions in the first place.
“What do we do?” Qin Nan asked Jian Fan.
Jian Fan shook his head.
“Let’s keep looking for clues. We still have time.” It was the only reassurance Mu Xin could offer.
But the moment she said that, Jian Fan suddenly looked up.
Caught off guard by his stare, Mu Xin asked cautiously, “Did I say something wrong?”
“Time,” Jian Fan said.
Mu Xin was confused. “What about it?”
“We don’t have any,” Jian Fan replied.
Mu Xin stared at him blankly.
Jian Fan did not elaborate. “We can’t keep going like this. There’s less than an hour and a half left before the mission ends. Even if we complete it, we’ll still need time to uncover the truth hidden behind this dark fairy tale. We can’t afford to waste any more.”
“Then what do we do?” Qin Nan asked.
Jian Fan swept his gaze over their surroundings. “Think about what’s strange about this ball.”
“What?” Mu Xin and Qin Nan asked at the same time.
Jian Fan’s eyes remained calm. “Once we complete our missions, we’re released from our roles. That’s why the Flower Prince no longer recognizes Mu Xin. That part makes sense. But why did the gunshot cause all these NPCs to forget what happened?”
“So the ball could continue?” Qin Nan guessed.
Jian Fan let out a brief laugh. “Then tell me this. Do you think the Prince remembers?”
Qin Nan fell silent.
That was a good question.
Did the Prince remember?
He probably did. If he did not, he should have continued as though the gunshot had never happened, remaining at the ball to search for the Stepmother Queen. But if he remembered, why did none of the NPCs at the ball remember anything?
“What are you getting at?” Qin Nan asked.
Jian Fan gave him an exasperated look. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“There’s something wrong with every NPC who stayed behind?” Qin Nan followed his train of thought.
“You could put it that way. There’s something wrong with the NPCs, and there’s also something wrong with the Prince. But those are two entirely different kinds of problems,” Jian Fan said.
Qin Nan understood what he meant.
There was one reason behind the NPCs’ abnormal behavior, while the Prince’s abnormality concealed something else entirely.
This ball held far too many mysteries, and the key to escaping this world might very well be hidden behind them.
They could not rely solely on the clues the Realm of Death provided upon completing their missions. They needed to take a shortcut and uncover some clues on their own first.
“Just tell us what to do,” Qin Nan said.
Jian Fan surveyed the ballroom, and a smile tugged at his lips. “Cause trouble.”
“Cause trouble?” Qin Nan and Mu Xin were both puzzled.
“First, let’s find Lu Jing and the others,” Jian Fan said.
If they wanted to cause trouble, the three of them alone would not be enough. More precisely, the requirements for the troublemakers Jian Fan had in mind were far too high for any of them to meet.
As for the people who did meet Jian Fan’s criteria…
Lu Jing, and Yang Zhen.