A group of people fighting seemed to disregard everything else, intent on putting the other party in a life-threatening situation.
Ruan Qing was just an ordinary person. Even though a few people hadn’t attacked him and even though Su Zhen had protected him well, just their speed alone made it difficult for Ruan Qing to breathe.
Su Zhen probably also noticed this, and in the midst of the fight, he paused for a moment.
The few people besieging Su Zhen squinted their eyes.
A good opportunity.
They continued to attack, and due to that momentary pause, Su Zhen was directly hit.
Blood instantly oozed from his body, staining his black windbreaker.
And in that instant, a black thread also wound around the figures of Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng.
Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng widened their eyes, but at this moment, it was too late to retreat.
Su Zhen covered his wound and lightly chuckled. He took Ruan Qing and withdrew from the battle. In the next second, the two of them appeared on the rooftop that had just been cut off.
It seemed that the people in the air hadn’t noticed this, and Lu Rufeng and Xia Wuyan were both attacking the corpse?
Their fierce stance made it seem as though the corpse was Su Zhen.
Ruan Qing looked at the two people entangled by the black thread and instantly understood the purpose of Su Zhen’s black thread.
He looked at the black thread, thought for a moment, and reached out his hand, lightly touching it with his fingertip.
The black thread was nowhere near as ferocious as it had been in the battle. It gently wound around his fingertip.
Originally, Su Zhen had been watching the battle, but after feeling Ruan Qing’s actions, he turned his gaze towards Ruan Qing’s hand.
Ruan Qing’s fingers were originally slender and fair, but being entangled by the black thread, they seemed to have delicate patterns, appearing even more fascinating.
It carried an inexplicable charm.
Ruan Qing pulled his hand back, but the black thread tightly clung to his hand, moving in a way that wasn’t clear, rubbing against Ruan Qing’s fingertip.
It even crept up his wrist.
Ruan Qing’s expression remained unchanged, and he immediately pulled his hand away, moving it away from the black thread.
Su Zhen chuckled meaningfully but didn’t say a word.
Ruan Qing covered the fingers entwined around his own hand, his eyes cast downward, concealing the emotions in his gaze.
Did it have a physical form?
A physical form implied it could be severed.
Ruan Qing looked towards the ground; the entire Xishan Residential Area had been severely damaged, and it was almost impossible to find an intact spot.
And the destruction was still ongoing.
Space began to distort, with black voids appearing everywhere, giving an eerie and unsettling appearance.
As if the whole space were on the verge of collapsing.
Ruan Qing looked at Yang Muqing not far away; Yang Muqing still had that innocent and naïve look, as if he didn’t understand the severity of the situation at all, like a child.
But Ruan Qing knew that he absolutely understood. This Yang Muqing was not like a real child at all.
This deepened Ruan Qing’s suspicions even further.
Ruan Qing looked down at the few people lying on the ground.
Should he take a gamble?
Ruan Qing thought for a moment and couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t have much of a choice.
Either clear the stage or lose his freedom.
In the end, it was his miscalculation of Su Zhen’s strength that had landed him in this situation.
Regardless of who won below, it was his failure.
He was so close to the correct answer, just one step away, but he had no opportunity to confirm it at the Xishan Kindergarten.
He could only take a gamble now, betting that his guess was correct.
It probably wouldn’t get any worse than it already was.
Ruan Qing glanced at the tall player in the distance and then lowered his gaze, gripping the small knife and potion in his pocket tightly.
However, just as he was about to take action, his figure staggered slightly, and he almost tumbled over the edge.
Su Zhen, who had been tending to his wounds, caught him. Su Zhen frowned, “What’s wrong? Did you injure yourself just now?”
It shouldn’t have happened; he had clearly protected Ruan Qing well, and those idiots always avoided the person in his arms during their attacks.
Because the floor had been broken into pieces, there were sharp stones on the ground, and Ruan Qing had accidentally stepped on one.
Ruan Qing stiffly nodded when he heard Su Zhen’s words, then shook his head, speaking softly, “It was from when I jumped off the building before.”
Only then did Su Zhen recall the scene of Ruan Qing disappearing after jumping off the building. He wanted to get angry, but restrained himself.
Su Zhen forcefully lifted Ruan Qing’s pant leg as it reached up, revealing slender, pale legs. There was a gruesome scar on his knee, with nearly all the skin gone.
Ruan Qing’s skin appeared to rarely see the light, delicate and pale to the point of a sickly beauty. In contrast, the scar looked extremely red and horrifying, almost terrifying.
The wound was still bleeding at this moment, running down the leg like a blooming flower of death, with a vivid red color that could almost burn your eyes.
Just moments ago, Su Zhen had a fatal injury, but he didn’t even furrow his brow as if he had no sense of pain. But now, his brow furrowed as if Ruan Qing’s leg injury was his own.
Su Zhen held Ruan Qing against his chest, easing the pressure on the wound. “This medicine might hurt a bit. Bear with it.”
Su Zhen had some medicine with him, but he never used it except for life-threatening wounds. Moreover, the medicine he carried for efficiency was painful to use. But he never really felt the pain.
He gently poured the medicine powder onto Ruan Qing’s wound.
“Ugh!” Ruan Qing, pained by the stimulation, instinctively lifted his head, his body trembling slightly, his brow furrowing into a knot, and his vision blurred momentarily. His eyes also welled up with tears.
Su Zhen knew this medicine was painful. He looked at Ruan Qing, about to say something comforting, but was stunned.
Perhaps because of the pain’s stimulation, the person in front of him had a faint blush at the corners of his eyes. Long eyelashes quivered lightly, and his eyes were misty, giving him a somewhat pitiful look.
It was strangely captivating.
Making one want to add more color to them, making him only able to beg for help helplessly.
Perhaps due to their proximity, a faint, elusive scent of orchids filled the air, deepening these somewhat sinister thoughts.
Su Zhen looked at the person before him with his picturesque features, and his gaze fell on Ruan Qing’s pale, thin lips. Unconsciously, he leaned a bit closer.
Ruan Qing slightly recoiled and turned his head to avoid it.
However, Su Zhen didn’t give him a chance to avoid it. He immediately reached out, pinched Ruan Qing’s chin, twisted his head, and leaned down to kiss him.
But just as he was about to kiss him, a syringe pierced toward Su Zhen’s heart and a small dagger thrown toward his neck.
Su Zhen reacted extremely quickly. The moment Ruan Qing planted the needle, he immediately immobilized Ruan Qing’s hands.
Su Zhen glanced at the syringe in Ruan Qing’s hand, then looked at the person in front of him and lightly chuckled. “Did you think I would fall for the same trick a second time?”
However, in the next moment, the dagger Ruan Qing threw earlier swiftly flew into the air and cut off the black threads connecting Su Zhen to Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng.
Su Zhen’s movements froze, and he looked at the tall player who had thrown the dagger not far away, his eyes filled with almost tangible hostility.
But because the black threads were severed, he lost control of Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng and they instantly appeared behind Su Zhen.
At that moment, Ruan Qing pushed the drug out of the syringe as Su Zhen was momentarily distracted.
The liquid in the syringe, once pushed out, instantly turned into mist, causing Su Zhen’s strength to loosen for a few moments.
This time, Ruan Qing easily broke free from Su Zhen’s restraint. He tilted his head and gave Su Zhen a faint smile.
Then he reached out and pushed Su Zhen, sending him tumbling off the high building.
The tall player had long since disappeared, and so had Yang Muqing.
The drug could only weaken a person’s strength for a few seconds, and Su Zhen quickly regained his strength, evading the group’s attacks.
They fought together once again, with Su Zhen still being the primary target, but this time it was not to capture him, but to kill him.
Perhaps because Ruan Qing was standing on the rooftop with no chance of escape, the group merely avoided the rooftop and didn’t pay attention to him.
Ruan Qing also had no intention of fleeing and obediently stayed on the rooftop, watching.
Perhaps less than five minutes passed when a massive explosion came from the direction of Xishan Kindergarten.
Upon hearing the sound, Ruan Qing looked towards Xishan Kindergarten.
After the explosion at Xishan Kindergarten, it was instantly engulfed by an almost sky-blocking shadow, a magnitude larger than what Xia Wuyan could control. There was simply no comparison.
Like the difference between a gnat and a giant tree.
Ruan Qing’s lips curled slightly, and the gleam in his eyes scattered. ‘System, submit the answer.’
‘No one killed Xiao Xi.’
The mechanical voice of the system sounded, [Answer correct. Congratulations, player, you have cleared the ‘Xishan Residential Area’ instance.]
That’s how it happened.
Ruan Qing vaguely sensed something unusual when he saw Qi Xi’s corpse.
Could an immortal, a never-aging being, really be killed?
And if he’s already dead, could his body truly be restored?
What if Qi Xi never died in the first place?
This was what Ruan Qing wanted to verify, and he suspected that Qi Xi resided within Yang Muqing’s body.
Qi Xi likely didn’t appreciate Xia Wuyan’s inhumane experiments, but his soul couldn’t return to his own body, so he would possess the children chosen by Xia Wuyan every time.
It’s because of Qi Xi’s influence that the gu insects couldn’t immediately start bloodsucking.
And because of Qi Xi’s influence, Xia Wuyan needed to hire assassins to kill the targets.
Otherwise, why bother hiring assassins if the gu insects only started bloodsucking after an hour, which wasn’t a long time at all.
Clearly, the tall player validated his thoughts.
He had hinted at hypnotizing the tall player before, to get the plan to this stage.
After Ruan Qing answered the system’s question, he opened his arms, closed his eyes, and leaned backward, allowing himself to fall.
This instance was Qi Xi’s domain, and it’s going to be quite exciting once the other regained control of his body.
It’s a shame he couldn’t witness it firsthand.
[Congratulations to the player for clearing the instance “Xishan Residential Area,” with a reward of 600 points.]
[Congratulations to the player for correctly identifying the killer of Xiao Xi, with a reward of 600 points.]
[Due to player character death, deducting points: 500.]
[Points calculation: -300.]
Ruan Qing frowned when he saw the deduction of 500 points.
How was this 500 calculated? Did he die five times?
Ruan Qing thought for a moment and then checked the mission panel. In the end, he decided to give it a try.
Since his points were still negative, making it impossible to enter the system’s main city area, Ruan Qing could only choose to re-enter another instance.
A group of people fighting seemed to disregard everything else, intent on putting the other party in a life-threatening situation.
Ruan Qing was just an ordinary person. Even though a few people hadn’t attacked him and even though Su Zhen had protected him well, just their speed alone made it difficult for Ruan Qing to breathe.
Su Zhen probably also noticed this, and in the midst of the fight, he paused for a moment.
The few people besieging Su Zhen squinted their eyes.
A good opportunity.
They continued to attack, and due to that momentary pause, Su Zhen was directly hit.
Blood instantly oozed from his body, staining his black windbreaker.
And in that instant, a black thread also wound around the figures of Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng.
Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng widened their eyes, but at this moment, it was too late to retreat.
Su Zhen covered his wound and lightly chuckled. He took Ruan Qing and withdrew from the battle. In the next second, the two of them appeared on the rooftop that had just been cut off.
It seemed that the people in the air hadn’t noticed this, and Lu Rufeng and Xia Wuyan were both attacking the corpse?
Their fierce stance made it seem as though the corpse was Su Zhen.
Ruan Qing looked at the two people entangled by the black thread and instantly understood the purpose of Su Zhen’s black thread.
He looked at the black thread, thought for a moment, and reached out his hand, lightly touching it with his fingertip.
The black thread was nowhere near as ferocious as it had been in the battle. It gently wound around his fingertip.
Originally, Su Zhen had been watching the battle, but after feeling Ruan Qing’s actions, he turned his gaze towards Ruan Qing’s hand.
Ruan Qing’s fingers were originally slender and fair, but being entangled by the black thread, they seemed to have delicate patterns, appearing even more fascinating.
It carried an inexplicable charm.
Ruan Qing pulled his hand back, but the black thread tightly clung to his hand, moving in a way that wasn’t clear, rubbing against Ruan Qing’s fingertip.
It even crept up his wrist.
Ruan Qing’s expression remained unchanged, and he immediately pulled his hand away, moving it away from the black thread.
Su Zhen chuckled meaningfully but didn’t say a word.
Ruan Qing covered the fingers entwined around his own hand, his eyes cast downward, concealing the emotions in his gaze.
Did it have a physical form?
A physical form implied it could be severed.
Ruan Qing looked towards the ground; the entire Xishan Residential Area had been severely damaged, and it was almost impossible to find an intact spot.
And the destruction was still ongoing.
Space began to distort, with black voids appearing everywhere, giving an eerie and unsettling appearance.
As if the whole space were on the verge of collapsing.
Ruan Qing looked at Yang Muqing not far away; Yang Muqing still had that innocent and naïve look, as if he didn’t understand the severity of the situation at all, like a child.
But Ruan Qing knew that he absolutely understood. This Yang Muqing was not like a real child at all.
This deepened Ruan Qing’s suspicions even further.
Ruan Qing looked down at the few people lying on the ground.
Should he take a gamble?
Ruan Qing thought for a moment and couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t have much of a choice.
Either clear the stage or lose his freedom.
In the end, it was his miscalculation of Su Zhen’s strength that had landed him in this situation.
Regardless of who won below, it was his failure.
He was so close to the correct answer, just one step away, but he had no opportunity to confirm it at the Xishan Kindergarten.
He could only take a gamble now, betting that his guess was correct.
It probably wouldn’t get any worse than it already was.
Ruan Qing glanced at the tall player in the distance and then lowered his gaze, gripping the small knife and potion in his pocket tightly.
However, just as he was about to take action, his figure staggered slightly, and he almost tumbled over the edge.
Su Zhen, who had been tending to his wounds, caught him. Su Zhen frowned, “What’s wrong? Did you injure yourself just now?”
It shouldn’t have happened; he had clearly protected Ruan Qing well, and those idiots always avoided the person in his arms during their attacks.
Because the floor had been broken into pieces, there were sharp stones on the ground, and Ruan Qing had accidentally stepped on one.
Ruan Qing stiffly nodded when he heard Su Zhen’s words, then shook his head, speaking softly, “It was from when I jumped off the building before.”
Only then did Su Zhen recall the scene of Ruan Qing disappearing after jumping off the building. He wanted to get angry, but restrained himself.
Su Zhen forcefully lifted Ruan Qing’s pant leg as it reached up, revealing slender, pale legs. There was a gruesome scar on his knee, with nearly all the skin gone.
Ruan Qing’s skin appeared to rarely see the light, delicate and pale to the point of a sickly beauty. In contrast, the scar looked extremely red and horrifying, almost terrifying.
The wound was still bleeding at this moment, running down the leg like a blooming flower of death, with a vivid red color that could almost burn your eyes.
Just moments ago, Su Zhen had a fatal injury, but he didn’t even furrow his brow as if he had no sense of pain. But now, his brow furrowed as if Ruan Qing’s leg injury was his own.
Su Zhen held Ruan Qing against his chest, easing the pressure on the wound. “This medicine might hurt a bit. Bear with it.”
Su Zhen had some medicine with him, but he never used it except for life-threatening wounds. Moreover, the medicine he carried for efficiency was painful to use. But he never really felt the pain.
He gently poured the medicine powder onto Ruan Qing’s wound.
“Ugh!” Ruan Qing, pained by the stimulation, instinctively lifted his head, his body trembling slightly, his brow furrowing into a knot, and his vision blurred momentarily. His eyes also welled up with tears.
Su Zhen knew this medicine was painful. He looked at Ruan Qing, about to say something comforting, but was stunned.
Perhaps because of the pain’s stimulation, the person in front of him had a faint blush at the corners of his eyes. Long eyelashes quivered lightly, and his eyes were misty, giving him a somewhat pitiful look.
It was strangely captivating.
Making one want to add more color to them, making him only able to beg for help helplessly.
Perhaps due to their proximity, a faint, elusive scent of orchids filled the air, deepening these somewhat sinister thoughts.
Su Zhen looked at the person before him with his picturesque features, and his gaze fell on Ruan Qing’s pale, thin lips. Unconsciously, he leaned a bit closer.
Ruan Qing slightly recoiled and turned his head to avoid it.
However, Su Zhen didn’t give him a chance to avoid it. He immediately reached out, pinched Ruan Qing’s chin, twisted his head, and leaned down to kiss him.
But just as he was about to kiss him, a syringe pierced toward Su Zhen’s heart and a small dagger thrown toward his neck.
Su Zhen reacted extremely quickly. The moment Ruan Qing planted the needle, he immediately immobilized Ruan Qing’s hands.
Su Zhen glanced at the syringe in Ruan Qing’s hand, then looked at the person in front of him and lightly chuckled. “Did you think I would fall for the same trick a second time?”
However, in the next moment, the dagger Ruan Qing threw earlier swiftly flew into the air and cut off the black threads connecting Su Zhen to Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng.
Su Zhen’s movements froze, and he looked at the tall player who had thrown the dagger not far away, his eyes filled with almost tangible hostility.
But because the black threads were severed, he lost control of Xia Wuyan and Lu Rufeng and they instantly appeared behind Su Zhen.
At that moment, Ruan Qing pushed the drug out of the syringe as Su Zhen was momentarily distracted.
The liquid in the syringe, once pushed out, instantly turned into mist, causing Su Zhen’s strength to loosen for a few moments.
This time, Ruan Qing easily broke free from Su Zhen’s restraint. He tilted his head and gave Su Zhen a faint smile.
Then he reached out and pushed Su Zhen, sending him tumbling off the high building.
The tall player had long since disappeared, and so had Yang Muqing.
The drug could only weaken a person’s strength for a few seconds, and Su Zhen quickly regained his strength, evading the group’s attacks.
They fought together once again, with Su Zhen still being the primary target, but this time it was not to capture him, but to kill him.
Perhaps because Ruan Qing was standing on the rooftop with no chance of escape, the group merely avoided the rooftop and didn’t pay attention to him.
Ruan Qing also had no intention of fleeing and obediently stayed on the rooftop, watching.
Perhaps less than five minutes passed when a massive explosion came from the direction of Xishan Kindergarten.
Upon hearing the sound, Ruan Qing looked towards Xishan Kindergarten.
After the explosion at Xishan Kindergarten, it was instantly engulfed by an almost sky-blocking shadow, a magnitude larger than what Xia Wuyan could control. There was simply no comparison.
Like the difference between a gnat and a giant tree.
Ruan Qing’s lips curled slightly, and the gleam in his eyes scattered. ‘System, submit the answer.’
‘No one killed Xiao Xi.’
The mechanical voice of the system sounded, [Answer correct. Congratulations, player, you have cleared the ‘Xishan Residential Area’ instance.]
That’s how it happened.
Ruan Qing vaguely sensed something unusual when he saw Qi Xi’s corpse.
Could an immortal, a never-aging being, really be killed?
And if he’s already dead, could his body truly be restored?
What if Qi Xi never died in the first place?
This was what Ruan Qing wanted to verify, and he suspected that Qi Xi resided within Yang Muqing’s body.
Qi Xi likely didn’t appreciate Xia Wuyan’s inhumane experiments, but his soul couldn’t return to his own body, so he would possess the children chosen by Xia Wuyan every time.
It’s because of Qi Xi’s influence that the gu insects couldn’t immediately start bloodsucking.
And because of Qi Xi’s influence, Xia Wuyan needed to hire assassins to kill the targets.
Otherwise, why bother hiring assassins if the gu insects only started bloodsucking after an hour, which wasn’t a long time at all.
Clearly, the tall player validated his thoughts.
He had hinted at hypnotizing the tall player before, to get the plan to this stage.
After Ruan Qing answered the system’s question, he opened his arms, closed his eyes, and leaned backward, allowing himself to fall.
This instance was Qi Xi’s domain, and it’s going to be quite exciting once the other regained control of his body.
It’s a shame he couldn’t witness it firsthand.
[Congratulations to the player for clearing the instance “Xishan Residential Area,” with a reward of 600 points.]
[Congratulations to the player for correctly identifying the killer of Xiao Xi, with a reward of 600 points.]
[Due to player character death, deducting points: 500.]
[Points calculation: -300.]
Ruan Qing frowned when he saw the deduction of 500 points.
How was this 500 calculated? Did he die five times?
Ruan Qing thought for a moment and then checked the mission panel. In the end, he decided to give it a try.
Since his points were still negative, making it impossible to enter the system’s main city area, Ruan Qing could only choose to re-enter another instance.
