Apology (14)

Cen Yao hesitated for a moment before speaking up awkwardly.

“Earlier... when I sent you flying, I wasn't paying attention.”

She paused, then added another line.

“And what I said about your legs earlier, that was also my bad.”

“I'm sorry.”

The tool shed fell silent for a moment.

Zhu Lingxi stood to the side, as quiet as a small, pale Nuo statue.

Pei Tinglan held the potion bottle, his fingertips gently tracing the cold glass.

After a moment, the corner of his mouth twitched up.

“I accept your apology. I hope there won't be a next time.”

Cen Yao: “...”

She shouldn't have felt guilty.

Not even a little bit.

Pei Tinglan unscrewed the potion and took a slow sip.

The bitter taste of the potion suppressed the metallic tang of blood, and the cut on the corner of his lip quickly began to heal.

After speaking, she couldn't help but glance at the vine wheelchair again.

“I'll compensate you with a new wheelchair.”

Pei Tinglan finally looked up.

He looked at her, a gloomy coldness weighing down his beautiful eyes, though his tone was very light.

“Get me a normal one. Don't make it so ugly.”

Cen Yao looked down at the vine wheelchair she had woven.

It was actually decent.

Even if it looked a bit like a torture device used by a forest witch to kidnap a prince.

But it worked.

Zhu Lingxi, who had been watching from the side, suddenly spoke up earnestly. “I think it's quite nice.”

Cen Yao was instantly touched.

Lingxi was still the best.

Pei Tinglan gave Zhu Lingxi a cold look.

Zhu Lingxi looked back at him a beat late, her expression calm.

“Young Master Pei, do not be angry. Vine wood has life energy; sitting on it is much more auspicious than a dead object.”

Pei Tinglan: “...”

Cen Yao was silent for two seconds before she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Pei Tinglan looked at her expressionlessly.

Cen Yao immediately shut her mouth.

But she couldn't suppress the curl of her lips.

Not at all.

Right then, a sudden flurry of hurried footsteps came from outside the tool shed.

All three of them fell silent at the same time.

Cen Yao raised her hand, gesturing for them to keep quiet.

Outside the gaps in the broken wooden planks, several shadows of cat-headed employees slowly drifted past.

Axes dragged along the ground, making a harsh, scraping sound.

They didn't leave immediately.

Instead, as if they knew someone was hiding inside, they began to slowly circle the tool shed.

A moment later, a very low female voice suddenly sounded from outside.

“Is anyone there?”

“Help me, I'm hurt...”

The voice was very weak, sounding as if she was trying her best to suppress her pain.

If Cen Yao hadn't just seen those cat-headed employees wandering around outside with her own eyes, she would have almost believed a player had actually fled here.

No one in the tool shed moved.

Zhu Lingxi's eyelashes drooped slightly, her fingertips pressing gently against the Nuo mask at her waist.

Pei Tinglan leaned back in his vine wheelchair, not even lifting an eyelid.

The female voice outside paused, then changed to a man's voice.

“Is there someone inside?”

“I'm a player too.”

“Open the door, quick! I have clues about this dungeon!”

Cen Yao's expression remained unchanged.

Clues?

This bait was laid out incredibly bluntly.

In her heart, she gave their acting a three out of ten.

No more than that.

The voice outside the door changed again.

This time, it was the sound of a young boy crying.

“Please, I don't want to die...”

“The cat-headed employees are right behind me, they're about to catch up!”

“Open the door!”

The crying grew increasingly shrill and desperate.

They even began pounding on the door.

The rotting wooden door shook violently under the pounding, but it stood firm.

Magic accumulated at Cen Yao's fingertips as she silently stared at the door.

Soon, the pounding stopped.

The crying outside stopped along with it.

After a brief, dead silence, the shrill laughter of the cat-headed employees squeezed through the cracks of the door.

“Not opening the door, are we?”

“Naughty little cats, not saving your companions.”

“You were so eager to save people just now.”

“Why aren't you saving them now?”

A trace of thoughtfulness flashed in Cen Yao's eyes.

Pei Tinglan also finally looked up.

Zhu Lingxi said softly, “They are trying to lure us out.”

Cen Yao didn't need her to say it to see that.

The question was, why?

Clearly, those cat-headed employees had already caught up to the outside of the tool shed.

Clearly, they knew someone was inside.

Yet, they didn't charge straight in.

Instead, they stood outside, using one disguised player voice after another to lure them into opening the door and stepping out.

Cen Yao slowly looked toward the door.

Was it a restriction of the rules?

They couldn't enter?

So this abandoned tool shed counted as a temporary safe house during the dungeon's night?

Or was it because the Shielding Spell, Silence Spell, and Scent-Obscuring Spell she had cast earlier were working, allowing them to only sense a general location but not actually confirm where they were?

Zhu Lingxi was also lost in thought.

She looked toward where she had placed the stick of incense earlier.

The incense was unlit, but it lay quietly beside the rotting sacks.

The surroundings were cold and gloomy, yet that tiny patch of ground seemed gently protected by something.

Was there something wrong with the tool shed itself?

Or was the lingering pain here so overwhelming that it made the cat-headed employees wary?

Pei Tinglan cast his gaze down at the vine wheelchair, then looked at the magical traces Cen Yao had left at the door.

A cold sliver of contemplation flickered in his eyes.

“They can't come in.”

His voice was very soft.

It wasn't a question, but a deduction.

Cen Yao looked at him.

Pei Tinglan curled his lip.

“If they could enter, they would have done so long ago.”

“Lip-syncing at the door for so long with such terrible audience appeal, yet still refusing to leave the stage—that's not dedication, they just have no other choice.”

Cen Yao: “...”

The cat-headed employees outside the door were still laughing.

The laughter crawled in against the wooden planks, shrill and greasy.

“Come out.”

“There are lots of coffee cherries outside.”

“If the little kitties don't eat the cherries, they'll starve to death.”

“Come out...”

None of the three moved.

The tool shed was so quiet that they could only hear each other's hushed breathing.

The coaxing from outside lasted for a long time.

From calling for help, to crying, to exchanging clues, and finally to threats and intimidation.

They switched through many voices.

Male and female, old and young.

Cen Yao stared blankly at the door.

“Ridiculously fake.”

Seeing that there was still no response, the voices outside finally quieted down, bit by bit.

In the end, only the low, angry chuckle of a cat-headed employee remained.

“The little cats will have to come out eventually.”

“The manager will be waiting for you.”

The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

The sound of axes dragging along the ground also slowly vanished into the darkness.

Inside the tool shed, the three of them still didn't let their guard down immediately.

Only after it had been quiet outside for a long while did Cen Yao let out a breath.

She didn't withdraw her magic, merely leaning against the wall as she sat down.

“It seems we can't go out tonight for the time being.”

Zhu Lingxi nodded.

“It is taboo to wander at night.”

“Especially here, where the resentment is sleeping beneath the soil.”

She paused, then added another line.

“If they wake up, they won't be easy to coax.”

Pei Tinglan said coldly, “Then don't sing them any lullabies, lest they do an encore.”

Zhu Lingxi looked at him seriously.

“I don't know how to sing lullabies.”

Pei Tinglan: “...”

Cen Yao silently turned her head away.

She barely managed to hold back her laughter.