Xuan Jingyuan clenched his fists, feeling slightly dazed. To be honest, a young body was truly wonderful—brimming with energy and vitality every single day.
In fact, he had almost forgotten what he looked like when he was young.
Just then, he suddenly muttered under his breath, “If I were to be trapped here forever, would I always remain at this age?”
Zuo Lin'an turned to look at him. “What did you say?”
Of course, Zuo Lin'an had heard exactly what Xuan Jingyuan said, but he had to pretend otherwise.
Sure enough, as long as one was human, they would yearn for youth and longevity.
The higher a person's status, the more they feared death.
This was especially true for emperors.
And the Xuan Jingyuan before him was clearly a domineering monarch, yet he was no exception.
Startled by Zuo Lin'an's question, Xuan Jingyuan suddenly shuddered and waved his hand.
“It's nothing.”
Yet right at that moment, Ming Ruofeng and the two girls—who had just been escorted away by the principal—actually returned.
Xu Youyou's eyes widened. “That fast?!”
Zuo Lin'an was also somewhat surprised. Logically speaking, the principal shouldn't have let them off so easily.
Unless...
“It seems we underestimated this Brother Feng.”
Xu Youyou watched as Ming Ruofeng sat down in front of Zuo Lin'an. “Hey man, the principal actually let you guys off? What's your secret? Come on, teach me!”
Ming Ruofeng pointed at his own face. “It's all in the face. All I had to do was play dumb and act pitiful, and the principal immediately forgave me.”
Zuo Lin'an didn't believe a single word.
In his opinion, Ming Ruofeng must have used some kind of specter item, or perhaps the Lin sisters used their talent to force the principal to let them go.
Still, being able to return was impressive in its own right.
“Well, you're certainly something.”
Ming Ruofeng's expression remained as calm and casual as ever, and he quickly got back to the point.
“By the way, have you thought about what I said earlier?”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “What?”
Just as the question left his mouth, he remembered. Ming Ruofeng was referring to Zhang Shenli.
“If you can really pull it off, I'd certainly love to see it happen. But he seems to have quite a few companions. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
Ming Ruofeng's gaze swept over Xuan Jingyuan and Gu Hedao, who were sitting on either side of Zuo Lin'an. “If no one else gets in my way, I can definitely do it. But...”
At this point, he looked back at Zuo Lin'an.
Zuo Lin'an paused. Was he implying that Zuo Lin'an should hold these people back?
What a joke.
With his small frame, who could he possibly stop?
“So, are you playing me?”
Ming Ruofeng suddenly flashed a somewhat enigmatic smile, then slowly leaned closer to Zuo Lin'an. “I told you from the very beginning, I just wanted to find an opportunity to get closer to you.”
Looking at his face, Zuo Lin'an's brow twitched. He reached out and pushed him away.
“Watch your surroundings.”
Ming Ruofeng chuckled, turning back around and ceasing his teasing.
Just now, he had used a one-time consumable specter item: the 【Mind-Beguiling Pill】.
As long as someone ingested it, they would perfectly execute any command he gave within the next minute.
Of course, the commands had to be simple and easy to carry out, nothing too complex.
For example, forgetting the scene they had just witnessed in the classroom.
Or, answering all of his questions truthfully.
Even though it was only a minute, he had managed to extract a great deal of information.
Ming Ruofeng casually picked up his textbook, his expression unreadable.
At that moment, a sudden chill ran down Zuo Lin'an's spine.
It felt as if he were being watched by something dangerous. But this was a dungeon; other than players, what else could possibly target him?
Could it be...
His gaze swept over Ming Ruofeng sitting in front of him.
Forget it, it should be fine.
In any case, he couldn't die.
If anything was likely to be targeted, it would be the card hidden in the secret compartment of his backpack.
Could Ming Ruofeng actually know that he had the card?
Well, it would be best if the card wasn't stolen.
But even if it were stolen, it wouldn't really matter.
No matter which player took it, they would definitely keep it on their person.
Once the Scarlet Dream began, no matter where they hid the card, they would undoubtedly bring it into the dream with them.
When that time came, he would only need to ask the principal to find out exactly who had the card.
Then, he could have the principal lead the charge with the other specters.
And he would take the opportunity to kill that player in the chaos and retrieve the card.
However, that would be too much trouble. It was best if Ming Ruofeng was just acting out of his own whim, rather than having deduced anything.
The next two periods were English class. Zuo Lin'an remained completely checked out, occasionally writing a few random English letters on his textbook out of boredom to pass the time.
At noon.
Xuan Jingyuan quickly left the classroom with Gu Hedao and the others.
In less than a minute, the classroom became completely empty.
Zuo Lin'an watched their departing figures. It was obvious that these people had grown much colder toward him because he had killed Xuan Yi.
Even though, in the eyes of the players, the current him had no memory of turning into a specter and hunting them down in the Scarlet Dream.
And yet...
“Student Zuo?”
“This Student Xu Youyou is a good friend of yours, right?”
“He calls you Brother An?”
“Can I call you that too?”
Zuo Lin'an looked at Ming Ruofeng, who was talking to him with a beaming smile, utterly baffled.
This guy had just dismissed the other female players who wanted to have lunch with him, only to stay behind and pester him.
What was wrong with him?
Had he taken the wrong medicine?
He had literally slaughtered this man in the Scarlet Dream last night. Why was he acting like a masochist now?
Did this guy have some kind of weird fetish?
Zuo Lin'an was startled by his own train of thought.
“What exactly do you want?”
Ming Ruofeng maintained his gentle, breeze-like expression. “Nothing, really. I just want to be friends with you so we can help each other out at school in the future.”
Looking at his sincere expression, Zuo Lin'an didn't believe a single bit of it.
He definitely had an ulterior motive.
Could it be a prerequisite to trigger the special effect of some specter item?
Did Ming Ruofeng even possess that many specter items?
Whatever, he would ignore him for now.
Zuo Lin'an stood up and left the classroom. Xu Youyou shot him a bizarre look, then leaned in and whispered.
“I say, Brother An, he hasn't taken a liking to you, has he?”
Zuo Lin'an was speechless. “Are you asking for a beating?”
Xu Youyou chuckled. “If that's not it, then why the sudden change in attitude? In my opinion, it's probably because of... and that's why he's so...”
It was probably because of what happened in the Scarlet Dream last night, which had sparked his intense interest.
“Why don't you play along a bit and see what he's really up to?”
Zuo Lin'an ignored him. Xu Youyou frequently went off the deep end, and he was already used to it. There was no need to get worked up over something so trivial.
As for this Ming Ruofeng, he had been talking nonsense all morning, and there were too many suspicious points about his attitude. He must have overlooked something.
Ming Ruofeng quickly caught up.
“Student Xu, isn't it a bit rude to say such things right in front of me?”
Xu Youyou apologized without an ounce of sincerity.
“My bad, just talking off the cuff.”
Ming Ruofeng sighed, a perfect mixture of melancholy and anxiety appearing on his face.
“Please don't misunderstand. I just saw how close you two are, and I felt quite envious.”
“Since I was a child, I've been pursued by countless women. Because of that, the men around me always viewed me as an enemy, terrified that if I got close to them, all the women would ignore them and only look at me.”
“So, seeing such a deep brotherhood between you two makes me incredibly envious. I would love to join in as well. I wonder if you two would grant me that privilege?”
Rate on N.U.
