Chapter 135: The Alter Ego Says He Loves Me (24)
Lin Chuan ate until he was half-full, then was hauled away by Xiao Ji.
He followed obediently behind Xiao Ji. “Bro, I didn’t say anything.”
Xiao Ji hummed. “I know.”
Just as the two reached the backyard courtyard, they heard people arguing upstairs.
“Was it you guys?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Hand it over, or I’ll make you suffer.”
“Why don’t you try me?”
Xiao Ji quickened his pace and looked up at Xiao Yinnian, who was confronting Chang-ge on the upper floor.
He spoke up. “What’s happened?”
As he spoke, he and Lin Chuan strode upstairs.
Chang-ge stared at Xiao Ji, his tone dangerous. “The three of you were the latest to arrive at the play this afternoon. Something went missing from our room. It shouldn’t be too much to ask to search your room, right?”
Xiao Ji didn’t speak, but Xiao Yinnian let out a questioning “oh.”
“You lost something and want to search my room? Then if I search your room, it shouldn’t be too much for me to break one of your legs, right?”
Chang-ge sneered. “I dare you to try and hit me.”
Xiao Yinnian looked at him with a strange expression. Then, he suddenly reached out and punched him squarely on the left side of his face.
“These days, people really will make any kind of request.”
Chang-ge was stunned by the unexpected punch. Just as he was about to hit back, Xiao Ji grabbed him by the throat with one hand, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall behind him.
Lifting a grown man with one hand—all the onlookers fell silent.
Even though Xiao Yinnian had long known that Xiao Ji’s strength was extraordinary, seeing him take action now, with the veins bulging on the back of the hand choking Chang-ge, he couldn’t help but swallow hard.
The pressure on his carotid artery and the fear of suffocation enveloped Chang-ge, causing his entire face to turn the color of pork liver.
No matter how hard he struggled, to Xiao Ji, it was no different from a mayfly trying to shake a tree.
Xiao Ji let go just before Chang-ge completely suffocated. Watching Chang-ge collapse onto the floor with weak legs, he said calmly:
“Get back to your room. If you dare come out again tonight, I’ll strip off your skin and have you perform in a shadow play.”
After speaking, Xiao Ji led Xiao Yinnian and Lin Chuan back into their room.
“Tonight, two rooms don’t have talismans. Conservatively estimating, four people are going to die,” Lin Chuan said, counting on his fingers as he looked at the door.
Xiao Yinnian and Xiao Ji exchanged a look.
“Not necessarily. That guy Chang-ge brought so many people in to act as his bodyguards; he certainly won’t be willing to just wait for death.”
Xiao Ji mused for a moment and asked Lin Chuan, “In the mission world, are there any consequences if you kill your own companions?”
Lin Chuan pursed his lips. “There will be retribution. It might not be immediate, but you’ll definitely be haunted.”
“If the killer has some special means to escape the world where he committed the murder, then there shouldn’t be any issues later, because when someone dies in a mission world, they are left there forever.”
Xiao Ji looked at Lin Chuan. “Then can someone who dies in a mission world use any special means to leave?”
Lin Chuan met Xiao Ji’s gaze and shook his head. “I don’t know about that. Bro, why are you asking?”
Xiao Ji said calmly, “Nothing, just asking.”
It was the same saying: if you dare to plot against others, you must be prepared to bear their revenge.
Chang-ge and the two who stole the rat in the morning all deserved to die.
Although Xiao Yinnian had anticipated that Chang-ge wouldn’t wait for death, he never expected that just after the oil lamps were extinguished at night, the sound of someone running and crying for help would echo from the hallway.
Before long, the sound arrived at the door of Xiao Ji’s trio.
It was that crazy woman.
“Save me, save me! That heartless bastard wants to kill me to save his own life!”
Xiao Yinnian’s brow twitched as he looked at Xiao Ji. “What should we do?”
Xiao Ji frowned, got out of bed, and walked to the door. “Why should I save you?”
The woman was not stupid and quickly said, “If you save me, I’ll trade key information with you. I’ve made an important discovery!”
Xiao Ji had no grudge against this woman. Logically, where she died had nothing to do with him.
But this woman had secrets. Her eyes seemed to be able to see things differently. If he could pull her in as a teammate, it might yield twice the results with half the effort.
So, he opened the door and happened to encounter one of Chang-ge’s accomplices chasing the woman with a knife.
The man saw Xiao Ji and became hesitant. “Don’t mind other people’s business. This woman is no saint.”
Hearing this, the woman immediately exposed him. “Bullsh*t! You just saw that I was alone and easy to bully! Something went missing from your rooms, so you want to slaughter me and use my corpse as a talisman!”
“Heartless bastards—to even think of such a rotten idea. Are you really not afraid that I’ll become a ghost and take your lives?”
Having been exposed, the man dropped his pretense and sneered. “In this hellhole, I realized long ago: living one more day is what matters.”
After speaking, he looked at Xiao Ji. “Don’t block my path to survival, or I’ll fight you to the death.”
The crazy woman narrowed her eyes and gave Xiao Ji a nudge. “Give him the thing in your room to buy peace.”
Xiao Ji glanced at her. “Are you sure giving it to him will buy peace? There are still two other people in this room.”
The crazy woman said firmly, “Give it to him. I’ll stay with you tonight and guarantee you’ll be safe.”
Xiao Ji’s trust in this woman’s claim was zero.
But right now, he had a backup plan, and he needed the key information she mentioned.
So, he said to the man, “I’ll give you the thing in my room in exchange for her life.”
Hearing this, the man mused for a moment, and both he and Xiao Yinnian inside the room spoke at the same time:
“Really?”
“Are you sure?”
Xiao Ji turned his head to look at Xiao Yinnian and nodded.
Xiao Yinnian and Xiao Ji met eyes for a moment. He got out of bed, picked up the dead rat from the other bed, and handed it to the man at the door.
His expression, however, was somewhat grim.
The man took the dead rat as if he had received some treasure, cradled it in his arms, dropped his knife, and left briskly with a look of joy.
Xiao Yinnian said to Xiao Ji, “I’m going to get the things from the woodshed.”
Xiao Ji nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
After speaking, he said to Lin Chuan, “Watch her.”
The crazy woman waved her hand. “No need to watch. I won’t run.”
Xiao Ji ignored her and went to the woodshed with Xiao Yinnian.
However, once they reached the woodshed, the two discovered that the bundle containing the dead sparrow and the dead cat they had left there this morning was gone.
Xiao Yinnian’s face instantly turned pale. “Someone took the things.”
Xiao Ji, however, still appeared calm. “It’s fine. If they took them, they took them. Let’s go back.”
Xiao Yinnian didn’t blame Xiao Ji for giving away their rat to save that crazy woman, but he felt uneasy. “Then tonight, what if…”
“It won’t happen.”
Xiao Ji interrupted him. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Besides, I have a hypothesis that I just happen to need this opportunity to verify.”
Translator’s Note: The phrase “mayfly trying to shake a tree” is a translation of pífú hàn shù (蚍蜉撼樹), an idiom for someone overestimating their strength. The “woodshed” is chái fáng (柴房). Xiao Ji’s “hypothesis” usually leads to something cool, so stay tuned!
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