Chapter 88 Old Campus: "His kissing skills are much better than the first time, indeed..."
The man's hand reached into his coat, hooked onto the inner pocket of Xue Chao's school uniform, and pulled him away with a bit of force. His hand, through the rough texture of the school uniform inner layer, pressed against Xue Chao's lean side waist, colder than ice wine.
Xue Chao was dragged to a private room by Jiang Ming and pushed onto the sofa. The door was locked, and when he got up, Jiang Ming pressed him down again. The slit in the flower pot pressed against Xue Chao's lips, and when it opened, a human tongue actually came out. It seemed that his tongue was not for chewing and making sounds, but for stirring people into the mortal world.
The icy liquor swished down his lips and tongue, soaking his festering tongue, and then poured down his throat.
Having experienced the other party's shamelessness before, he simply relaxed his body, even leaning back slightly, to show weakness, and opened his eyes to watch this sunflower run amok.
Then he noticed that Jiang Ming also had his eyes open. A crimson eye burst open above the crack in the flower plate, with a black dot in the middle like a needle point, like a blood-soaked abyss torn open by the sky, and below that abyss was another abyss.
His eyes, as big as Xue Chao's fist, were fixed on the flower plate. The gaze that looked over seemed to envelop Xue Chao's gaze and his entire body, causing the scars that had been smoothed over by the short-term pleasure to feel a fine, dense pain again, which was fed back into the entanglement between their lips and teeth, adding fuel to the fire in this madness.
Xue Chao reached out and half-embraced Jiang Ming's shoulder, his fingertips pinching the junction of human flesh and plant roots, digging in mercilessly. The non-human eyes suddenly blinked, the cold scrutiny disappearing. Jiang Ming lowered himself, making it easier for Xue Chao to pull his head away, and the kiss became tender.
The pain slowly disappeared, replaced by another kind of pleasure. Xue Chao's wounds were constantly being torn open and reconstructed, causing an itchy sensation—the wounds were healing.
It's a healing potion, mixed in that glass of iced wine.
Xue Chao pulled the sunflower head out of its cavity, but more branches and leaves sprouted out, quickly crawling all over Xue Chao's body and binding him. The roots of the sunflower head continued to grow, wrapping around Xue Chao's head several times, blocking his eyes, but the flower head finally stopped in front of Xue Chao.
The posture was somewhat comical, like Xue Chao's head getting stuck in the spring between the doll's head and body, and somewhat eerie, like Jiang Ming's original body and the mutation simultaneously gripping him.
Until all of Xue Chao's injuries healed and he regained his strength, he rudely pushed Jiang Ming's shoulder away.
Jiang Ming wasn't satisfied with his "use and discard" attitude, so she bit him again. Their lips and teeth had barely separated when their breaths mingled, the scents of plants and flowers on their bodies mingling together, even more sticky than their breaths. Yet, Jiang Ming's smile remained unwavering: "Are you angry?"
Xue Chao parted the roots of the plant covered in white bristles in front of him, his blue eyes gazing back at him with a deep, melancholic look: "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Jiang Ming was slightly taken aback. He felt a strange and strange joy at being exposed like that. He readily admitted it, but there was a hint of sinister intent in his still cheerful tone: "That peeping tom plotted against you. If you hadn't figured it out, you would have been dead."
"'Peeping Tom' sounds like an insult to me," the host joked, knowing full well that Jiang Ming was referring to the symbol as part of the All-Seeing Eye system, but he wasn't buying it. "So you're the only one allowed to harm me?"
Jiang Ming was not ashamed, but rather proud: "I'm possessive, you know. I would be sad if you died at someone else's hands."
"You can stab me to death right now."
"You know I wouldn't be that bored." The flowerpot was shoved in front of Xue Chao's face, the plant roots coiling around Xue Chao's neck, as if the rise and fall of his arteries were enough for him to sense the receding wounds. "You looked terrifying, didn't you think I'd be heartbroken?"
"You didn't cause all the heartache?"
Jiang Ming was moved: "As expected, lovers understand each other's feelings—but it's not just heartache, there's also gratitude. Doesn't this make me benefit?"
"Are you afraid I'll really die?" Xue Chao glanced at him. "As the host, you're responsible for connecting your fragmented segments, but even that function of a host isn't enough for you. You've realized that my role also connects your fragmented storylines, and you're afraid that if I die, the dungeon won't be able to proceed, and your true goal won't be achieved—it seems your goal is quite far-reaching, requiring me to live a long time. Is there 'snow' in this dungeon? Are you a dog, shedding fur everywhere?"
"Can't I go on an incognito visit and experience life?" Jiang Ming retorted, "You always think so badly of me."
He tucked Xue Chao's long, curly hair behind his ear, took a blue paper butterfly from his bartender's uniform, and pinned it to the side of Xue Chao's hair: "I found the first unit."
Xue Chao reached out, and the branches binding him loosened, but were not completely untied. Xue Chao unfolded the paper butterfly; there was no date inside, but there was a ward number. It was the ward of the "Clinical Angel" that he had seen. The bed at the far end was indeed occupied by a child. He had tried to scare him but failed.
“In the third unit, a little girl in the hospital has the same origami, the one that ‘you’ folded to coax people.” Jiang Ming coaxed patiently, “At first, you used popularity points to negotiate, wanting to end the game before 60 points. When you realized it was impossible, you used the divine weapon again. But the end of the fourth and fifth units does not mean the end of the instance. No one can leave until the ‘story’ is finished.”
Xue Chao laughed and said, "You seem to really want me to kill Sheng Hong, and the laser will blow your head off too? Didn't you steal that head?"
Jiang Ming laughed as well: "I'm a fence-sitter, afraid of being burned to ashes, it's only human nature..."
Their mouths must have been blessed; as soon as they started talking about Sheng Hong's superpowers, there were loud noises every few private rooms, like gunshots piercing through doors. People ran away, their footsteps very chaotic, and some even fell down, but quickly got up again, as if this was a life-or-death escape where not a second could be wasted.
The bar, which was already far from quiet, became even more lively. Well-organized security guards quickly crossed the corridor and rushed into the room. Finding no one there, they became furious and ordered a search of the entire bar.
Xue Chao propped himself up, wanting to hear more clearly, but Jiang Ming's branches gently supported his head, and he could faintly hear words like "goods," "injured," and "ran away."
Xue Chao: "Those who were drugged?"
Jiang Ming: "The bar is indeed responsible for collecting 'raw materials'."
Xue Chao: "Is it Sheng Hong who's running?"
Jiang Ming nodded, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice: "You can go find the broadcasting station now."
Xue Chao paused, the prerequisite for entering the broadcasting station's end segment was the alteration of the instance: "What here is affecting her mind?"
Sheng Hong was willing to use her own corpse as explosives, so why would she be "swayed" by a bar?
Unless something or someone else reveals a deep-seated trauma she has been hiding.
Jiang Ming: "Before the raw materials are sent to the factory, they will be inspected here first. This step is very similar to an autopsy. They are lying naked and flat, and the bright surgical lights are so bright that they can't open their eyes. The effects of the drugs have not worn off, so they can only be manipulated and undergo the first screening, like a slaughter inspection."
Xue Chao: "She won't stand for it."
"So she ran away, but your statement is inaccurate; of course she wouldn't now." Jiang Ming laughed. "Guess how divine weapons are made?"
Xue Chao listened attentively.
“The principle behind divine weapons is to stimulate cell activity and forcibly activate superpowers. If everyone could do it, they wouldn’t become the private property of their masters.” Jiang Ming’s fingertips traced across Xue Chao’s full chest like a light knife. “The body is the firewood, and the spirit is the fire waiting to be lit. ‘Transformation’ is like dissecting the body and installing a ‘small furnace’ in various organs to make the fire gather more easily. But there will be various situations during the process, such as the power weakening, disappearing, or going berserk. Half of the people will be crippled on the operating table. Surviving is already considered a ‘great escape from death.’ She lay there, recalling the humiliation of being treated like a fish during ‘transformation’—Hmm? Why is my heart beating so fast again? Do you like me, Mr. Host?”
His casual tone suddenly turned into a smile, and his terrifying, inhuman red eyes lowered, leaving Xue Chao with no way to avoid it: "After all, you really enjoyed the kiss."
"Your kissing skills are much better than the first time, it was really quite enjoyable." Xue Chao wasn't embarrassed at all, instead, he lightly patted Jiang Ming's flower plate with the back of his hand. "Your face is also good, but you're just too annoying. If you died, it might trigger my necrophilia."
Jiang Ming, with the rigor of an academic, said, "If you're dead, you can't kiss passionately anymore."
Xue Chao raised his chin: "I allow your tongue to rise from the dead."
The two exchanged lewd banter, and the security team searched the rooms one by one. Jiang Ming, with his large, round face, leaned in again, seemingly still bothered by his "terrible kissing skills the first time" and wanting to prove himself again. The tall, burly bodyguards, with knives, forks, and sticks as their heads, barged into the private room without any regard for the situation.
Xue Chao clearly heard Jiang Ming scoff in disappointment. His eyes and the slit in his mouth vanished instantly, and the sunflower-like head that had circled several times landed on his shoulder. The man, slightly taller than him, nestled in his arms, then feigned reluctance, utterly embarrassed: "Guest... I'm just a waiter selling wine, please don't..."
The bar's bodyguards might be experienced and knowledgeable, or the monster might have no sense of shame and disregard the fact that someone had forced a woman into prostitution, before searching the private rooms.
Xue Chao turned his head and looked directly at the three-tiered cart parked at the door.
The cart was covered with a cloth to cover up the truth, revealing hands, feet, hair, etc. When it stopped suddenly, an eyeball popped from the third layer to the first layer. One of the severed fingers was wearing a couple's ring. When Deng Dayun ran away, Xue Chao saw that the student in bed number 3 was wearing the same ring.
The fingers are rather thick, and the nails are short; they belong to the student in bed number 3.
The student in bed number 3 walked sideways like a crab in the bar, familiar with the bartenders and customers, acting like a half-host, not like someone who would be separated from the family.
Unless he is a "traitor" suspected of being implicated by others.
Xue Chao feigned annoyance and pushed away the clingy lunatic. Jiang Ming thought he was just shy because of the crowd, which made him even more excited. But he knew he couldn't push him too far, so he backed away the roots and leaves, straightened his head, and continued to stick to him, teasing him in a low voice, "It's okay, it's even more prickly like this..."
Unable to find Jiang Ming, the bodyguards withdrew one after another. Xue Chao gently kicked Jiang Ming to the ground, then stood up and gestured "please" to the security team: "You're not going to cause any more excitement."
Jiang Ming looked up. The bodyguards had already turned their backs, but the gleaming blades and baseball-shaped bodies reflected his face.
They went back inside and dragged him out without saying a word.
Jiang Ming was grabbed by the back of his collar and dragged along the ground. He pretended to struggle in fear, but secretly made a heart shape with the branches that hadn't been pulled back from his neck.
Xue Chao left the private room and went down to the second basement level. The dance floor was bustling with people, like a bunch of chopsticks swaying up and down, each one with its own undulation. Fang Tailai was just coming down from the bar, which was also the shop.
"A female classmate gave this to you. She said it was inconvenient for her to be here. She's a player too, right?" Fang Tai saw him reach out and knew it was him. He handed Xue Chao a file folder.
"What does he look like? What's his name?" Xue Chao opened the stack of photos, took out a pile of pictures of bar staff being drugged and their organs being harvested, and he had a good idea of what they were like.
Aside from the evidence of the organ donation incident, there was also a photo of a hotel, which had been torn up, leaving only an unclear half.
There was no sound. Xue Chao looked up as if sensing something, and saw Fang Tailai covering his face, his hands trembling slightly: "...How should I know? She clearly sneaked in, afraid of being seen. She wore a hooded hat, bigger than my previous 'head'. She spoke in a low voice, a good student who should put up a sign saying 'No Entry' in this place."
Xue Chao was at a loss for words: "What symptoms are these?"
"...I'm so ashamed and mortified by seeing handsome guys." Fang Tailai slapped his face, the force making it numb. "Which factory did such a good renovation? Can I go back to the furnace and be remade too?"
"An organ factory?" Xue Chao waved the file folder.
Fang Tailai immediately regained her faint sense of death; she stopped pretending as soon as she left the dormitory building: "No need."
"Then let's go."
Fang Tailai always felt that his "Let's go" was followed by countless difficulties, and resisted, saying, "Huh?"
"The fourth unit has also been altered; the broadcasting station is now located in the teaching building."
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