Chapter 19

The situation was far worse than Jiang Liu had anticipated.

Of the two brothers, Cheng Ji was nowhere to be found, and Cheng Da had fainted from fright.

Through the window behind Xu Meng, the faint moonlight cast down, revealing countless shadows lurking in the darkness, silently surrounding the house.

The rustling sound of trembling branches and vines was everywhere, leaving almost no room to escape.

Xu Meng had just been rescued from under the sofa, and her legs were still weak from being pinned. Her eyes were fixed on the dark figures outside the window, and she stood frozen, not daring to move. “This… this is too creepy.”

No one in the room responded. A clanging sound came from somewhere, like someone chopping ribs in the middle of the night, adding a touch of eeriness to the dim night.

Zhang Xiaochen was already on edge. The sudden noise scared him half to death. He swallowed hard and turned around nervously, shouting to boost his courage, “Who! Who’s there!”

As his gaze swept over, the scene behind him was revealed. He felt a chill run from the top of his head down his spine, and his scalp tingled, his hands and feet turning cold—

Jiang Liu stood silently in the dark, her hair disheveled, holding a kitchen knife.

The heavy knife seemed to come alive in her hand. With a flick of her wrist, she swung it out, leaving a blinding reflection in the moonlight.

Zhang Xiaochen’s legs went weak, and he almost fell to his knees.

Jiang Liu, who had been about to call out to him, was speechless.

Her movements paused for a moment. Looking at Zhang Xiaochen’s foolish appearance, she was both angry and amused.

How could this person be so cowardly? A kitchen knife was enough to scare him into kneeling and kowtowing to her?

Seeing that he was still maintaining that dazed expression, Jiang Liu clicked her tongue and commanded in annoyance, “It’s not New Year’s yet, so you can skip the grand ceremony. Hurry up and help!”

It was understandable that Xu Meng couldn’t move because her leg was injured, but how could he have the nerve to just stand there like an idiot? Didn’t he see that Zhao Ziming had already started kicking the chairs?

Her tone was fierce, but it was the same Jiang Liu he was familiar with.

Only then did Zhang Xiaochen breathe a sigh of relief. He belatedly realized his back was covered in cold sweat and felt annoyed at his own cowardice.

He hadn’t been scared by the strange flowers, so how could a single glance from Jiang Liu make him almost give up resisting?

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and went over to help.

Fortunately, there was a lot of wooden furniture in the room. With the three of them chopping and kicking, it quickly broke down into usable pieces of wood. Jiang Liu arranged them in a circle around the sofa and lit them, temporarily scaring away the strange flowers.

It was already the height of summer, and sitting in a circle of bonfires made them sweat profusely, but no one complained. They all sat inside and breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhao Ziming coughed, out of breath, his voice a little tired. “This isn’t a long-term solution.”

The living room was only so big, and it was already a tight squeeze for five people in the circle of fire. If this continued, either the fire would go out and they would be surrounded, or the fire would get too big and burn the house down.

Neither of these outcomes was what they wanted.

Jiang Liu was sweating profusely from the heat. She casually took off her outer jacket and threw it aside, leaving only a pure black top underneath. It revealed a patch of her shoulder, red from the heat, and below that, her slender but strong arms.

“Let’s just hold on for a while. It’s almost dawn.”

In the firelight, her beautiful face flickered in and out of view, exuding a powerful beauty that made it almost impossible for the others to look away.

It had nothing to do with attraction, but was simply an appreciation for this stunning, pure beauty.

While the others were in a daze, Xu Meng suddenly cried out, pointing to a spot on Jiang Liu’s upper left arm, her face changing color.

“What… what is that?”

Everyone followed her finger—on Jiang Liu’s arm, a blooming flower totem had appeared at some point.

Tattoos were common, but for a flower pattern to appear out of nowhere at this moment, combined with their current situation, it had an indescribably eerie feeling.

Jiang Liu couldn’t help but lower her gaze. The white camellia on her arm bloomed in the firelight, its layered petals fully unfurled, as if it had taken root in her skin and was blooming with all its might.

Her fingertips lightly brushed over the totem, and Jiang Liu’s heart sank.

She didn’t know when this thing had appeared. It didn’t hurt or itch, and she hadn’t noticed it at all. If Xu Meng hadn’t mentioned it, she probably would have never discovered it.

“I don’t remember you having a tattoo.”

Zhang Xiaochen stared at the flower, his scalp tingling. He swallowed and spoke softly.

Earlier, in the Theater Garden, Jiang Liu had been injured on the same arm. They had all seen it.

Jiang Liu grunted in acknowledgment, her brows furrowed in thought. Suddenly, she remembered something.

The one that woke her up today was also a camellia. Not only did it not attack her, it even helped her.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but look at Xu Meng. “Why were you pinned downstairs?”

Xu Meng didn’t look well. She rubbed her temples and said in a low voice, “I had some trouble sleeping, so I thought I’d go downstairs for a glass of water. Who knew those flowers would come to life.”

When she came down, everything was still normal. It was only when she was sitting on the sofa with a glass of water that she felt something was wrong. There were always dark shadows flashing in the corner of her eye.

Having experienced the terror of the bloody hands in the Theater Garden, Xu Meng was much braver than before, so she decided to stay and see what was going on.

“Then the sofa was overturned. I lost my grip on the glass and spilled boiling water on my hand, and then I was pinned underneath and couldn’t move. I couldn’t see anything, I could only hear Zhang Xiaochen calling for help.”

Thinking about her experience just now, Xu Meng’s eyes widened in fear, and she patted her chest, still shaken.

A flash of inspiration struck Jiang Liu, and an idea slowly formed in her mind.

Her gaze fell on Xu Meng’s hands—

They were clean, with no signs of burns at all.

Xu Meng saw the look on her face and belatedly realized something.

“That’s not right. I clearly remember spilling the water, and then it felt like something wrapped around me…”

She looked at her clean hands, a little dazed, but she couldn’t remember what had happened at that moment.

Jiang Liu glanced at her, then suddenly reached out and rolled up her sleeve.

On her clean arm, a gardenia flower was vividly displayed.

Xu Meng cried out in shock, staring at the flower in disbelief. “What on earth is going on?”

Jiang Liu rubbed her temples wearily. “You guys check yourselves too.”

Zhang Xiaochen and the other man didn’t dare to delay. They quickly checked their own arms, looking them over three or four times before shaking their heads.

Then they looked at Jiang Liu—

She was bent over, examining the sleeping Cheng Da. On his left arm, a string of purple windflowers was faintly visible.

Unlike the other two, Cheng Da’s flower seemed to be in some kind of internal struggle, appearing and disappearing, looking very unstable.

And what was even more serious was—Cheng Da had a fever.

The group looked at each other, only Zhao Ziming sighed. “I told you it’s best not to bring newcomers. This is all from experience. Newcomers are prone to accidents.”

Though his words were dismissive, his hands were already fumbling through his clothes, and he pulled out an anti-fever injection from somewhere.

Jiang Liu was surprised. “You carry this with you?”

Zhao Ziming glanced at her. “Anything can happen in an instance. Of course, you have to be prepared. Did you really think I get by just by hugging someone else’s thigh?”

Jiang Liu chuckled. She hadn’t really thought that, she was just surprised he was so well-prepared.

This guy seemed a bit unreliable, and his tone was infuriating, but he actually had real skills.

If nothing else, just the fact that he rushed forward to help as soon as he was rescued and started looking for wood without being told, his B-rank was well-deserved.

Zhao Ziming seemed to sense what she was thinking, and his eyebrows shot up, his tone becoming smug again. “What, have you discovered my extraordinary qualities? You should have realized it sooner.”

Jiang Liu couldn’t help but facepalm. Seeing that he was about to launch into some nonsensical lecture, she cut him off.

“What’s the use of the ranks, anyway?”

Zhao Ziming glanced at her a couple of times, then raised his chin and generously began to explain. “Since you asked, I’ll tell you.”

“There are four comprehensive evaluation ranks: A, B, C, and D. They’re the most significant standard for evaluating an individual’s strength. C-rank is common, equivalent to a passing grade. Most people can achieve it.”

In contrast, B-rank was rarer, mostly held by experienced veteran players. As for A-rank—they were as rare as a phoenix’s feathers.

Zhao Ziming’s gaze swept over the group, his lips pursed slightly, his usual flippant tone turning serious. “The lottery station is a very special place in the public area. You don’t spend points there, you spend luck.”

The higher the comprehensive rank, the greater the chance of winning. According to probability, an A-rank player had a nine-in-ten chance of winning. For gamblers desperate to survive, this was practically a walking life-saving charm.

Luck couldn’t be traded, but lottery tickets could. So once a high-rank player appeared, they would often be targeted.

Jiang Liu couldn’t help but frown, her tone a little sharp. “In that case, couldn’t I just clear the instances by relying on lottery tickets?”

Given the style of this game, there couldn’t be such a big loophole, right?

Zhao Ziming clicked his tongue. “You think the lottery station is your family’s business? You can only buy one ticket after successfully clearing one instance, and the grand prize is random every day.”

Not to mention how long you’d have to wait to run into the limited-time Clearance Pass reward, even if you were lucky enough to get one, the instance rating would automatically be calculated as the average rank—C-rank.

Compared to desperately trying to accumulate clears on their own, it was better to find those high-rank players with clears.

Zhang Xiaochen understood, and his heart sank like a stone into an icy abyss. Even in the middle of a fire, he couldn’t dispel the chill. “So even in the public area, we’re not safe?”

Zhao Ziming gave him a half-smile, his eyes scrutinizing him. “How do you think I ended up targeting her?”

As soon as a player registers for a room, their rank is recorded. As long as someone is determined… they can always find out.

Zhao Ziming sighed and looked at Jiang Liu with a complicated expression. After a long hesitation, he said, “I just wanted to test your skills. After all, teaming up with a player who is excellent in all aspects is beneficial in every way. You get it, right?”

Who knew Jiang Liu would be so unlucky? With a ninety-nine percent chance of winning, she drew a garbage ticket, forcing him to divert his attention to take care of newcomers.

Although he didn’t say the last part of his complaint, the resentment in his eyes was palpable.

Jiang Liu coughed lightly, looking at the sky, the ground, anywhere but him.

If that was the case, then maybe she was a little unlucky?

It must be a problem with the game’s probability! It had nothing to do with her!

In the time it took to exchange a few words, the rustling sounds outside the window gradually died down. The group looked out the window and saw the sky in the distance turning a fish-belly white.

Dawn was breaking.