Chapter 122 Yin Peach Blossom (52) "...A-Tan, don't die..."
Xie Tan laughed: "Teacher, do you still care about students' love life in college? This isn't considered puppy love, is it?"
His smile was flawless, even more so than Jiang Linji's.
Jiang Linji laughed as if he hadn't asked, "I don't care about your affairs as young people."
She concluded the conversation by saying, "The Order will fully cooperate with you for our common enemy. It will be a pleasure working together."
"It's a pleasure to work with you."
Xie Tan got up and walked to the door, when he heard Jiang Linji say "Wait a minute." He paused and turned around.
She sat in front of the huge window frame, only her silhouette visible; the rest was obscured by the night, and her expression was indistinct.
Xie Tan had only ever seen himself portrayed in such a way in comics; he finally understood how others felt when they saw him.
It was a chilling, almost nonexistent... oppressive feeling.
However, Jiang Linji simply handed over a stack of papers, smiled, and said, "Give this basic information statistics sheet for your class to the class monitor so the students can double-check it."
Xie Tan agreed and left the office. The deathly silence in the corridor, as if trapped in a layer of the world, dissipated, and even though there was still no one else around, it felt much lighter.
The library must be under Director Jiang's surveillance; Xie Tan suspects that the entire university is under her watchful eye.
Since that's the case, he didn't change his plan to stay and kill time; his public persona wouldn't allow him to care about such things.
Rather, it would be more in line with his public persona to say that he's just casually reading here.
He found a spot by the window where he could see the library entrance. After sending a message to the class monitor, he spent the rest of his time reading a few more books, books that Director Jiang had mentioned before but which he hadn't borrowed yet.
He casually flipped through the pages, but didn't really read anything. He propped his head up with one hand, gazing in the direction from the club base to the library, mentally reviewing the conversation.
Jiang Linji was originally asking him how to deal with the black goat, but later, as if he already knew his plan, he started talking about other things.
Which sentence should we start with?
It started when he said, "It's not just that my eyes resemble hers," and then Jiang Linji advised him not to go to his death and not to follow in her footsteps.
In the previous chapter of the comic, Su Ping led the team to a decisive retreat, while some members hesitated about whether they would be punished, since they were no longer going to pretend.
Su Ping's reply was arrogant and somewhat sarcastic: "There are only so many people in the family right now. If the head of the family doesn't trust them, he can use others... if he can find someone suitable."
The forum started digging deeper. Black Goat was indeed short-handed. For such an important task as the recent inspection and observation, they didn't send many people. Only Su He was sent for the second observation, and the other useless young master was just a burden even if he survived. Once Black Goat was caught up by the cult, it would be surrounded and wiped out before reinforcements could arrive. That's how the cult snatched away those observations.
But the Black Goat family is large and powerful, and with its ability to come back from the dead, it's practically an inexhaustible supply of human weapons. How could it be so short of people?
Moreover, in the Bubble Chapter, the young master from the collateral branch died without winning the resurrection competition or seeking revenge against Xie Tan, the imposter, and the mastermind behind it all. The same goes for Old Man Su; he was sealed in a coffin and burned to death.
Suzhi proved that the "immortality" of the black goat had not been broken.
So it's a partial deciphering, and most of the black goats are already truly dead? The remaining black goats also have their own rules.
That was most likely done by Xiao Liu.
And it was something she obtained at the cost of her life.
So in Jiang Linji's eyes, he was going to repeat her mistakes and do it all over again.
What exactly did she do?
Xie Tan rubbed his temples, closed his eyes for a while, and then remembered what Jiang Linji had said about Lu Jinzhao.
He shouldn't have wavered at all.
Although his encounter with Lu Jinzhao was indeed intentional, it wasn't the elaborate conspiracy that others imagined; he simply wanted to get some screen time from the protagonist.
He knew better than anyone that his complicated feelings for Lu Jinzhao had nothing to do with the entanglements of his character in the plot, but were simply because of his own cowardice and... Lu Jinzhao was just too good.
So this multiple-choice question is quite simple: what does the mischievous god in the mirror have to do with him? He only knows Lu Jinzhao, and can only see Lu Jinzhao.
But for some reason, whenever he thought of that black mist, he couldn't be completely resolute. Something weighed on his nerves, tugging at him from time to time, making him uneasy. When he came to his senses, he would despise himself.
The Smoke Mirror, the Mocker in the Mirror, Lu Jinzhao, what is he really like...?
Xie Tan looked up as if sensing something. Lu Jinzhao had arrived at the library entrance at some point and spotted him immediately, smiling and waving at him.
He smiled back, packed his things, and left with him. After delivering the watch along the way, it was already late at night when they returned to the neighborhood.
"Is A-Tan unhappy?" Lu Jinchao asked, peeking out after finishing his sharing of the day.
Xie Tan pushed his body, which was about to turn away, back to normal: "No, why do you ask that?"
He seemed no different from usual, and even the vice-leader couldn't spot his flaw.
"Because my boyfriend's emotional radar in my head is beeping?"
"Is that your hair sticking up? Look down."
Lu Jinzhao obediently lowered his head, and Xie Tan smoothed his hair.
“It’s intuition.” Lu Jinzhao opened Xie Tan’s hand and intertwined their fingers. “Tell me if you have anything to say.”
"Um."
"Ah Tan is just giving me the runaround."
"Is this also what your emotional radar is telling you?"
"It's like a boyfriend's emotional radar; don't miss the most important words."
Yes, yes.
"That's all? Ah-Tan thinks he can just run away like this..."
"Today," Xie Tan suddenly called his name.
Lu Jinzhao stopped in his tracks, only to be pulled down by his collar and kissed by Xie Tan, leaving him no time to ask any questions.
“…Ah Tan is really cunning.” Lu Jinzhao lowered his eyes, wiped the water off Xie Tan’s lips with his fingertip, and sighed, “Then we’ll wait until you want to say it.”
Xie Tan, panting, regretted using this method to shut him up... Was there really such a big difference in their physical strength? Should he exercise more?
Tsk, forget it. He firmly believed that this was due to the high and low energy carried by genes.
As the weather grew cooler and the temperature difference between day and night increased, Xie Tan felt her face getting hot and wanted to tie her hair up. So she shook their clasped hands, signaling Lu Jinzhao to let go.
Lu Jinzhao didn't loosen his grip, but swayed back and forth playfully, as if they were a childish elementary school couple.
"Don't pretend you don't understand." Xie Tan tapped the back of his hand with her fingertips. They've been holding hands all this way, what's wrong with letting go for a while?
"It's not safe at night, it's too dark."
"You know how busy you've been lately, why don't you go back to the dorm and avoid all that hassle?" Xie Tan had suggested earlier.
"No, I want to go with Atan."
"I'm so old, why would I be afraid of getting lost?"
"Even if I get lost, I'll find Atan." Lu Jinzhao's coquettish and spoiled voice suddenly turned serious.
Xie Tan turned to look at him. Lu Jinzhao rarely smiled at times like this, as if afraid that Xie Tan would think he was joking.
He suddenly remembered that two days ago, after a long day of classes, he was exhausted, but this guy started kissing him nonstop, like he was doing breath-holding exercises for him... or rather, a fun and challenging kind of exercise.
He finally collapsed on the sofa, panting. Seeing Lu Jinzhao still looking energetic, he was unusually annoyed and weakly complained, "I'm exhausted."
Lu Jinzhao's sweet smile vanished instantly, and she fell silent.
Xie Tan belatedly noticed his silence and turned to look at him, only to see Lu Jinzhao say earnestly, "Next time we won't kiss for so long... Ah Tan, don't die."
Xie Tan was completely stunned, and his heart softened unbelievably.
He pulled his listless boyfriend over, patted Lu Jinzhao's hunched head, and took the initiative to wrap his arms around him, giving him a long, tender kiss to comfort him.
Is Lu Jinzhao always very serious about this kind of thing, or is there a hidden anxiety about it?
Every time this happens, Xie Tan can't do anything about it.
Xie Tan's gaze softened as he let Lu Jinzhao lead him, while coldly suppressing the turmoil he had felt along the way, treating those complex and unclear emotions as flowing water, letting them naturally dissipate.
Who cares if a mirror is magical or not...
A scream suddenly came from behind the building in front, followed by angry curses in a panic. The voice was very familiar; it was the neighborhood committee auntie who had taken good care of him.
Lu Jinzhao and Xie Tan exchanged a glance and were about to rush over when a scream rang out from the other side—it was a child's voice.
The air had turned cold without anyone noticing. In the silence, Xie Tan heard a crisp sound of something falling, like someone's bowl suddenly dropping to the ground, sending chills down his spine.
The streetlights overhead flickered twice and then went out.
"Let's split up," Xie Tan decided immediately.
Lu Jinzhao hesitated.
"It's just a ghost story." Xie Tan patted his face reassuringly. "We'll meet here in a bit."
For him, ghosts and monsters were actually the least threatening.
Lu Jinzhao pursed his lips and nodded, "I'll do it as soon as possible." He then ran quickly toward the building in front.
Xie Tan ran in the opposite direction.
Fog started to roll into the neighborhood, and all the lights in every house went out, making the windows look like the dark mouths of monsters.
Xie Tan turned the corner and suddenly stopped. Familiar faded terracotta figurines surrounded him, bowing and holding betrothal gifts, their painted faces bearing strange smiles.
One of them didn't have a head yet; it must be the one that shattered with that sound just now.
Aren't these things in Summer Garden?
Xie Tan suddenly remembered that Jiang Linji had asked the Cultural Relics Bureau if they had contacted him... So that's what he meant.
He drank the talisman water and exchanged his birth chart with the young lady for seven days. Today was the last day, but he was distracted by the extra time in the past and forgot about it, but he didn't forget about the wedding preparations.
Ugh, what a hassle.
He heard adults calling out ahead, looking for a child. He looked ahead and saw a child crying with snot and tears all over his face, calling "Daddy." He ran towards the sound, grabbed an anxious hand, and was pulled out of the fog.
All was quiet, the fog obscured his vision, but the nearest building had familiar red "double happiness" characters pasted on its black windows, as if he had entered another world.
Xie Tan felt slightly relieved. It seemed that his pheromones had attracted the monster, and the child had taken the opportunity to run away.
He turned back, but the road was swallowed up or rather disturbed by the fog, and he kept walking the same route over and over again.
Moreover, every time he turned a corner, terracotta figures would stand in a pose to block him, their postures constantly changing and their numbers increasing, as if his pheromones were attracting all the burial objects.
He couldn't find the place he had agreed to meet Lu Jinzhao, but he arrived at Building 9 first. He saw black tentacles writhing in the window, like thick weeds growing on the ground, with eyes in the suction cups rolling around, inviting him to come in.
[Endless Summer]?
It doesn't seem to be the main body, but just the debris from its severed tentacles.
Behind him came a series of crisp, rhythmic impacts. The terracotta figures were no longer content with "love at first sight" and were actively chasing after him. Xie Tan noticed that some of them were already holding red wedding dresses. The thought of who would wear them made his scalp tingle, and he decisively slipped into the building entrance.
A red veil suddenly fell, covering his head. His vision went black, and he fell backward, sitting on the ground.
After realizing what had happened, he pushed some things aside with his hands and found himself not in the stairwell, but sitting in a bridal sedan chair.
The sedan chair is embroidered on both sides, so even sitting inside, one is surrounded by gold thread intaglio, clusters of flowers, and even the faint fragrance of a hundred flowers, as if they were all real flowers in full bloom.
Xie Tan heard the footsteps coming and going, but he couldn't find him.
The rich fragrance of a hundred flowers temporarily masked his faint pheromones.
Gradually, the sound stopped coming from this direction. Xie Tan lifted a corner of the gauze curtain of the sedan window, but could only lift that corner, as the rest was covered by needle and thread, and the front curtain was completely nailed shut.
All I could see outside was pitch black; nothing could be seen except for darkness, as if I had vanished into nothingness.
His thoughts drifted away inexplicably, recalling the time he was locked up as a child... He couldn't quite pinpoint which time it was, since it had happened so many times that he eventually became numb to it.
He only remembered that when he was locked up, he would look out and if it was nighttime, it would be especially... especially dark.
As a child, he would imagine that the darkness would seep in, spread towards him, and then devour him...
Wait, that black stuff really is drifting in.
Xie Tan watched helplessly as the black mist seeped into the sedan chair through the gap he had created and reached towards him.
...and then she pressed her hand against his face.
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