Chapter 57
It was the first rain after the start of spring, dancing and leaping in the air like playful children, dotting the small puddles accumulating on the roadside and creating a field of ripples.
There were exceptionally many people on Saturday. They crowded into the convenience store on the street to take shelter from the rain. Jiang Liu took the ice cream from the clerk and handed it to the person beside her.
At that time, Yang Caisi’s face had not yet fully matured, looking very much like the girl Jiang Liu had once dreamed of. Her small face had a bit of baby fat, and her eyes were more radiant and clear than the spring rain. She was staring blankly at the hurried pedestrians on the street.
“What are you thinking about?” Jiang Liu pushed her to sit on the long bench in the store and couldn’t help but ask.
Yang Caisi looked a little disappointed. “You promised to take me to the amusement park today.”
The rain had come suddenly and showed no signs of stopping. She had finally managed to get some time off from school to go out and play, so it was only natural for her to be disappointed now that her wish had fallen through.
Jiang Liu turned her head to look at the rain outside the window and couldn’t help but reach out and stroke her hair a few times. It felt extremely good.
“I’ll take you to play next time.”
She said, then looked down to see that Yang Caisi was still sullen. She couldn’t help but pull a palm-sized velvet box from her pocket and hand it to her as if performing a magic trick.
Yang Caisi’s eyes widened in an instant. She reached out as if to take it, but then hesitated and pursed her lips, looking at Jiang Liu in surprise. “For me?”
Jiang Liu’s lips curved into a smile. She coolly opened the box with one hand, revealing the sparkling pendant inside.
“Happy birthday.”
The scene that followed gradually blurred. She remembered Yang Caisi seemed to have said something, but when she tried to recall it, it became a distorted, abstract fragment.
Jiang Liu watched herself in the memory take a bite of ice cream. It was sweet, just like Yang Caisi.
***
A curse brought Jiang Liu’s thoughts back to reality. Looking back, she saw it was Zhang Xiaochen.
He and Zhao Ziming were following Jiang Liu’s instructions to smash the cameras. They had just started on the first one when they were spotted by a One-Eye floating in mid-air. Taking advantage of the fact that Yang Caisi and the other two were entangled with the Ghost Hands and had no time to deal with it, it charged towards them at high speed.
Zhang Xiaochen had been trapped for two days and was already thirsty and hungry. He hadn’t even had time to drink a sip of water before he had to fight. His reactions were a bit slow now, and he didn’t even notice the One-Eye pouncing from behind, his mind completely focused on the camera.
At the critical moment, Zhao Ziming turned and shielded him, tightly holding that Peach Wood Cross and waving it around wildly.
Zhang Xiaochen couldn’t help but curse, “Still holding that damn thing! Run!!!”
He was trapped precisely because that thing had failed. Why didn’t this kid learn his lesson?
After saying that, he threw the camera on the ground a few times, not caring whether it was broken or not, and grabbed Zhao Ziming’s collar to run.
The latter was choked by the pull and flailed around a few times, his face turning red as he shouted, “This thing is different from ghosts, it works!”
As he spoke, he didn’t know where he got the strength from, but he suddenly broke free from Zhang Xiaochen and pounced on the One-Eye. The cross pressed right on its eyeball, and like a highly corrosive liquid, it burned the One-Eye, making it thrash up and down.
The sticky blood all over him made Zhao Ziming retch a few times. He fought back his nausea and shouted at him, “I’ll protect you, smash the camera quickly!”
Seeing that the two over there were fine, Jiang Liu breathed a sigh of relief and turned her attention back to fighting the Ghost Hand.
Yang Caisi beside her was a step ahead and had already dealt with one. She was now looking at her with an indescribable expression and suddenly said, “You can still get distracted at a time like this?”
Her voice was remarkably similar to the one in her memory, stripped of that feigned coldness, her words exceptionally familiar, without any complaint, just pure helplessness.
Jiang Liu stared at her for a few moments, her hands gradually accelerating. Not to be outdone, she chopped off another finger and took a breath while the Ghost Hand was in a frenzy before finally speaking, “When is your birthday?”
Yang Caisi raised an eyebrow and gave her a questioning look.
Although she didn’t know why Jiang Liu was asking this, she still answered without hesitation, “I forgot. Probably in the spring.”
The two of them worked together to deal with the other Ghost Hand, and the entire photo studio finally calmed down. No more bizarre monsters appeared. Jiang Liu pulled up the tablecloth to wipe her hands and finally had time to properly size up the person opposite her.
Her gaze slowly roamed over Yang Caisi’s body, finally settling on the Willow Seal pendant. She said meaningfully, “The necklace looks nice.”
At the mention of this, a flash of nostalgia quickly crossed Yang Caisi’s eyes, and her expression softened in that instant. “Of course.”
Looking at her expression, Jiang Liu actually found it a little cute and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Seeing some of Yang Caisi’s stray hairs scattered in front of her eyes, sticky from sweat and impossible to shake off, she couldn’t help but take two steps forward. With her clean hand, she tucked them behind her ear, paused for a moment, and then ruffled her soft hair.
It was as smooth as the finest silk, and Jiang Liu couldn’t get enough of it. She thought to herself that it was indeed about the same feel as she remembered, a pity it was now short hair.
Yang Caisi was suddenly stunned.
Jiang Liu performed this extremely intimate action so smoothly, without any awkwardness.
Her heart began to beat violently again, and she heard that voice by her ear, “You look much better like this. Why pretend to be so cold?”
The end of her sentence was slightly raised, sounding surprisingly familiar and tender.
Yang Caisi was in a daze for a moment and subconsciously asked, “You like me like this?”
She thought Jiang Liu wouldn’t answer, but unexpectedly, the person stroked her chin and said seriously, “Much livelier. I don’t know why, but I feel like this is how you should be.”
Jiang Liu blinked, a little curious as to why the Yang Caisi who, in her memory, would be sullen about not being able to go to the amusement park, had become like this.
Facing her probing gaze, Yang Caisi suppressed her racing heart, gently averted her eyes without answering directly, and instead changed the subject. “You’ve met Qiao Ke.”
Her tone sounded a little strange. Jiang Liu could even detect a hint of barely perceptible grievance in it.
Jiang Liu couldn’t bear to see a beautiful girl like this and explained seriously, “It was just a normal meeting. Don’t be angry.”
She had never been in a relationship, but she had seen plenty of romance dramas. Hadn’t she seen a pig run, even if she’d never eaten pork?
If she had only been curious about Yang Caisi before, it had now clearly transformed into some affection. Jiang Liu was not one to run away from things. Since they both had these feelings, there was no need to be secretive.
Recalling the brief touch in the photo world just now, Jiang Liu felt that she didn’t dislike Yang Caisi’s touch. In fact, she was a little—
She swallowed slightly, her ears can’t help but feel a little hot.
Jiang Liu felt that she had conveyed her intentions very clearly.
Who knew that Yang Caisi, who had confessed under the identity of Xiao Si, now seemed not to understand, as if she hadn’t heard her explanation, and just said matter-of-factly, “This instance has been tampered with by him.”
Several question marks immediately appeared above Jiang Liu’s head.
Looking at Yang Caisi’s exceptionally serious expression, she was at a loss for a moment.
What’s wrong with you, sis? I’m talking about feelings with you, and you’re talking business with me?
Where’s your boldness from when you saved my contact as ‘wife’? Look at me!
Jiang Liu screamed inwardly, but Yang Caisi looked left and right, just not at her, and only asked suspiciously, “Are you listening carefully?”
“…”
Jiang Liu coughed lightly, thinking that this matter wasn’t urgent anyway. There would be plenty of opportunities after getting out, and besides—
She looked at the blood and gore all over the floor, the scattered limbs, and thought that this really wasn’t a good place for it.
Jiang Liu took a deep breath and quickly composed her thoughts. “Are you referring to the incomplete clues?”
She had noticed this early on. Originally, she just thought that the Advanced Instance was different from before, but hearing Yang Caisi say this, she finally understood that this mission was indeed not right.
Yang Caisi nodded, a hint of hesitation on her face, as if she wanted to say something but was struggling with whether to speak.
Just as she was thinking, a scream came from the other side. “Sis! Come and see!”
Jiang Liu quickly turned around and saw that she didn’t know what the two of them had done, but the layered Ghostly Shadows around them had disappeared, and several unconscious figures had appeared on the ground out of nowhere.
Interrupted like this, Yang Caisi quickly made up her mind and said decisively, “You clear the level first.”
Jiang Liu hummed in agreement and hurriedly walked towards Zhao Ziming.
Looking at her hurried back, Yang Caisi let out a soft sigh of relief and looked down at the palm of her hand, which had been hidden behind her back all this time. It was already covered in red marks from her nails.
She understood what Jiang Liu meant.
In the past, she had been eager to get Jiang Liu’s approval, wishing she could express all her feelings. But when this moment really came, Yang Caisi actually retreated.
Now was not the most appropriate time, and besides, tricking someone with amnesia into a relationship—wouldn’t that be a bit immoral?
Yang Caisi frowned slightly and looked down at the pendant exposed on her chest. It was gradually sparkling as the lights were restored. The two willow trees on it were nestled against each other, just like they used to be.
Given Jiang Liu’s personality, she wouldn’t have brought up the necklace so abruptly. Had she remembered something?
By the time she finished her struggle and walked over, Jiang Liu was kneeling on the ground, checking on the condition of those people.
“Forty-four, no more, no less,” Zhao Ziming counted over there, his voice very excited.
This was the number of photos hanging on the first floor, plus one Dunzi who had been pulled in.
Jiang Liu responded with a grunt. When she stood up, her expression was much more relaxed. “They’re just unconscious, nothing serious.”
Zhao Ziming immediately nodded, then as if remembering something, he swallowed and said eagerly, “That Zhou Yuan is the supervisor! He told me himself! And Xu Meng, Zhu Yan, and the others…”
“I know.” Jiang Liu interrupted him and turned to look at the stairwell, narrowing her eyes slightly.
That strong feeling of being watched was back again.
Someone was waiting for them upstairs.
Jiang Liu glanced at Yang Caisi, a subtle curve appearing on her lips. “Let’s go. We shouldn’t keep the host waiting.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the curtains moved without any wind, and the small door hidden behind them opened silently, as if in response to her words, waiting for them to enter.
Jiang Liu took the first step, then as if remembering something, she half-turned and took Yang Caisi’s hand, ignoring the dried blood on it, and then walked up the stairs step by step.
Behind her, Zhang Xiaochen and Zhao Ziming exchanged a glance, both coughing and looking at the sky and the ground, as if they hadn’t noticed the interaction between the two, and just quickly followed her.