Chapter 65 Making a mountain out of a molehill: How can someone make "eavesdropping" sound so sophisticated...

Qi Zhixia is not unintelligent; on the contrary, she is very intelligent.

She noticed the unusual emotions of the three people in front of her—especially Luo Chuange's—and deduced that perhaps the first instance had caused them indelible psychological trauma.

Qi Zhixia nodded slightly twice, her tone softening a little.

"Then let me ask."

Her grey-blue eyes turned towards Gu Keke.

"In the second instance, what was the hair color of the player who was last killed by the demon in Area A—yellow or purple?"

"yes……"

Just as the answer was about to slip out, it came abruptly cut off.

Gu Keke lowered her brows, her whole demeanor revealing a look of confusion.

"Are these the two colors? I think they were red?"

Seeing that her deliberate distraction had been easily seen through, Qi Zhixia felt relieved.

But her overly rational mind still compelled her to complete the entire verification process.

She turned her head slightly and met Liang Jun's gaze, who had been staring at her the whole time.

"Sister Jun, when we were in the corner of Zone B, what color was the last empty spot Zhang Weiming and his group had left?"

"blue."

Liang Jun's voice was steady, without the slightest fluctuation, as casually as answering "Have you eaten?"

The details in the copy matched perfectly, and the identity verification was also flawless, which put Qi Zhixia at ease.

She leaned back in her wheelchair, completely relaxed, and the hand that had been tightly gripping the brooch opened slightly.

"I'm so sorry, my behavior just now may have offended you, but I was only thinking about everyone's safety."

"We understand."

Liang Jun smiled faintly, her complexion much rosier than before, "In this kind of environment, being meticulous is always a good thing."

Despite this, the atmosphere among the people sitting on the bench became rather subtle.

After Liang Jun finished speaking, no one else responded; the sound of their intertwined, drawn-out breathing was particularly prominent.

Old Ren, who was being stared at by Wang Jianping, also felt a little uncomfortable. He chuckled twice, sat up straight, and stretched a little.

"You young people are really sharp; I didn't expect you to remember even such details so clearly."

He seemed to be trying to ease the tension among the crowd, and blurted out without thinking, "If it were me, I would probably have been exposed as a fake by now."

What is said unintentionally may be taken to heart by the listener.

What was meant as a self-deprecating joke took on a different meaning when it reached the ears of the people involved.

Even Wang Jianping, who hadn't spoken for a long time, couldn't help but cough twice.

"Old Ren, there are some things that don't need to be said."

Old Ren gave an awkward laugh and shrunk back down to sit in the corner of the bench.

After a moment of silence, Liang Jun changed the subject.

She looked up at Qi Zhixia, the weariness still lingering in her eyes. "Summer, can we take a look at that brooch now?"

"Ah! Of course!"

Qi Zhixia then remembered that she was still holding an object tightly in her hand, so she quickly leaned forward and handed the brooch to them.

Liang Jun casually took the exquisite metal brooch.

A fine layer of water droplets covered the smooth metal surface, and the warm temperature was felt by every cell in the palm.

Liang Jun gently wiped away the surface water stains with her fingertips, which finally exposed the relevant clues.

Every detail of the embossed bumper cars is exquisitely crafted, and the metal material is very solid, showing no signs of being indistinguishable from the real thing.

Liang Jun then handed the brooch to Gu Keke, who tentatively weighed it and roughly judged that it was made of gold.

Perhaps because the two had already touched the item, their respective systems did not respond to any information after a long period of touching.

Just as Gu Keke handed the brooch back to Liang Jun, Qi Zhixia suddenly spoke up: "Jun-jie, why don't you keep this brooch for yourself?"

Liang Xun seemed somewhat puzzled. "Why?"

"In the dungeon, there are some things you might think of more thoroughly than we do."

Gu Keke and Luo Chuange, who had worked closely with Liang Jun, both nodded in agreement after hearing Qi Zhixia's point of view.

"This brooch should be a key item. If we can successfully pass the third level, we should conservatively estimate that we will get at least six more similar items."

Qi Zhixia continued to explain, "These key items are all with you, so not only are we at ease, but even if we really need to use them, it won't take up too much time."

Her argument was logical, well-founded, and highly persuasive. Even Lao Ren, who hadn't worked with Liang Jun much before, nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"Yes, Xiao Liang, you can take it."

But Liang Jun shook her head and then put the brooch back into Qi Zhixia's hand.

"It's safer for you to keep the brooch."

Qi Zhixia wanted to try again, but Liang Jun interrupted her.

“I know what you’re trying to say,” Liang Jun leaned a little closer to the center, “but at the moment, the full potential of this brooch hasn’t been realized.”

"We cannot be sure whether its use is limited to marking playable items, or whether it can be used in practice as an item in the store later on."

At this point, Liang Jun glanced at the two men and one woman sitting in front of them and deliberately lowered her voice.

"Perhaps there is also the possibility that players might steal items from each other."

Upon hearing this, Gu Keke subconsciously glanced in the direction of Lao Ren, and when their eyes met, he hurriedly looked away.

Luo Chuange, on the other hand, had been thinking intently. His mind worked quickly, and almost the instant Liang Xun finished speaking, he picked up on his own idea.

"Therefore, if we want to minimize the losses in this situation, it is a relatively safe approach to hand it over to Qi Zhixia."

"That's right."

Liang Xun affirmed, her eyes shining brighter, "If I remember correctly, Director Wang's prop wheelchair can prevent all physical harm, right?"

"Um."

Wang Jianping reached out and stroked the wheelchair handle. "This is a game item from the system shop. I've already told you about it before, and if nothing unexpected happens, your system should already have this information stored."

Liang Xun nodded. "Although both Director Wang and Summer are protected by the props, Director Wang still has two seals on him whose effects we haven't yet determined. Everything is still unknown, so handing them over to Qi Zhixia for safekeeping is the most reasonable solution."

After expressing her views, she didn't forget to ask Qi Zhixia for her opinion, and Qi Zhixia immediately said that she had no problem with it, and everyone else agreed.

With everyone's unanimous approval, Qi Zhixia prepared to pin the brooch back to its original position on her collar.

"Wait a moment."

Liang Jun called for a halt, her gaze probing inside her outer garment. "Don't put it on the outside; it's best to tuck it into the inner layer of clothing."

No lengthy explanation was needed; Qi Zhixia immediately understood.

She then casually pulled open the collar of her outer garment and placed the brooch on the inner fabric.

After doing all this, Qi Zhixia breathed a sigh of relief. But as she looked up and glanced around, she inadvertently made eye contact with the player in front of her.

The feeling of being stared at made her hair stand on end. Qi Zhixia reflexively let out a low cry and subconsciously pulled her outer collar shut.

What are you looking at?

After being caught red-handed by Qi Zhixia, the middle-aged man and the slightly younger man wisely turned around.

But the older woman seemed to know she was in the wrong, and following the principle of "not hitting a smiling face," she shyly introduced herself.

"Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Chunhua, and I am also one of the players participating in this instance."

The woman's attitude was extremely appropriate, seemingly deliberately lowering her status as much as possible in order to gain the other party's favor.

But clearly, Qi Zhixia wasn't buying it.

Her expression was indifferent, and her gray-blue eyes looked at the other person without any brightness.

"I know, so what are you looking at?"

Unexpectedly, the other party didn't play by the rules, and Jiang Chunhua laughed awkwardly. She tried to make conversation by saying, "Young lady, are you a foreigner? I didn't expect you to speak Chinese so fluently. Have you lived here for many years?"

Qi Zhixia's patience is being worn down little by little.

"I don't have time to chat with you about everyday things."

After being turned away several times, Jiang Chunhua's expression was not pleasant. She could only put on a bitter smile to maintain her last shred of dignity.

"Well, I overheard you talking about how the amusement park staff gave you a brooch. So I got curious and wanted to see it. Is that alright?"

Having revealed his true thoughts, Jiang Chunhua no longer concealed them, his lowered gaze subtly glancing at Qi Zhixia's collar.

Did you overhear that by accident?

Qi Zhixia gave a cold laugh.

This was the first time she had ever seen someone make "eavesdropping" sound so respectable.

She blurted out, "No."

Jiang Chunhua seemed to have expected this outcome. Her facial expression didn't change much, but her probing gaze showed no sign of wanting to be withdrawn.

"Don't worry, little girl, we're not bad people. We're just curious and want to see..."

"I said no..."

"Can."

Qi Zhixia had just interrupted Jiang Chunhua's request a second ago, but the next second, Liang Jun stopped her from refusing.

Jiang Chunhua's eyes immediately filled with light. She quickly glanced at Qi Zhixia, who seemed to have just realized who the team leader was, and her gaze towards Liang Xun was filled with flattery.

"Oh, little girl, you're so much easier to talk to. I could tell at a glance that you're different from everyone else..."

Qi Zhixia tried her best to control her facial expressions, but she had difficulty controlling her slightly trembling voice.

“Sister Jun, you…”

Liang Jun pressed down slightly with her right hand behind her back.

This gesture could be used to soothe or to calm someone down—Qi Zhixia, who caught the gesture in a second, fell silent and stopped talking.

Liang Jun's lips curled up slightly, revealing a polite yet somewhat aloof smile.

"That's fine, but in exchange, we'd like to admire your spoils."

Upon hearing the words "spoils of war," Jiang Chunhua's slightly loose skin twitched.

She feigned composure, but the subtle, almost imperceptible twitching at the corner of her mouth betrayed her.

"What spoils of war? What spoils of war are you talking about...?"

Subconscious micro-movements do not lie.

Liang Xuan noticed that when Jiang Chunhua said this, her expression was detached, and her eyes even unconsciously turned to the left a few times.

The young man sitting to her left also seemed to be busy with something. Although the back of the chair partially blocked her view, Liang Jun reasonably guessed that he was probably stuffing something into his pocket.

Liang Jun turned her gaze back to Jiang Chunhua.

Her smile remained, but the aloofness and coldness intensified.

"Are you saying that you haven't participated in any amusement park rides yet?"

Jiang Chunhua grasped at a straw as if it were a lifeline, and regardless of who had given him the straw, he desperately climbed up the stalk.

"Yeah, yeah...we haven't tried any of those attractions you mentioned yet, so where would we get our spoils, hahaha..."

"If you've never played this before, why are you at the emergency aid station?"

Liang Jun snorted coldly, "Are you looking for trouble when you're not?"

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Author's Note: Xia: Great! It's that sharp-tongued sister, we're saved! (starry-eyed)