Jing Minghe and his group entered the lounge. They saw two people already in the main hall, a man and a woman, speaking in hushed tones with serious expressions.
Upon seeing Jing Minghe's group enter, the man smiled and nodded in greeting. The woman, however, clearly froze for a moment before quickly walking towards them.
The woman went directly to Chi Hao, her initial somber expression replaced with a cheerful smile. "Chi Hao, is that really you? I never expected to see you here. It's wonderful!"
Jing Minghe glanced at Chi Hao, then at the woman who immediately lit up upon seeing him. A hint of displeasure flickered in his heart. He let out a cold laugh and thought, "To run into someone familiar in this City of Death, and call it 'wonderful'? Is this person missing a screw?"
As the woman was about to reach out and pull Chi Hao's arm, Jing Minghe subtly leaned over, blocking her hand.
Tilting his head, Jing Minghe raised an eyebrow at Chi Hao. "Mr. Chi, is this acquaintance of yours? A friend?"
Chi Hao's gaze fell upon Jing Minghe's eyes. The sudden shift in address annoyed him, and he said coldly, "We know each other."
With that, he walked around the woman blocking his path and headed towards the elevators.
Seeing Chi Hao walk away, Jing Minghe smiled at the woman. "Sorry, my teammate is just like that. Please don't mind him."
"Not at all," the woman replied with a faint smile. "I know him better than you do. This coldness, I'm all too familiar with it."
Jing Minghe used his smile to conceal his scrutiny of the woman. He introduced himself, "My name is Jing Minghe. May I ask your surname?"
The smile on the woman's face gradually faded after Chi Hao left. Now, she merely moved her lips slightly and replied, "My surname is Shen. Shen Rong."
"Miss Shen, hello. From now on, we are teammates," Jing Minghe said, turning slightly to introduce the others to Shen Rong. "This beauty is You Mi. And these two behind me are Tong Zheng and Ke Wuwen."
As they were speaking, the man who had been chatting with Shen Rong earlier also walked over and introduced himself. "Hello everyone, my name is Qiu Zhian."
His gaze swept over Jing Minghe's group. Qiu Zhian asked, "Are you all together?"
"Yes," Jing Minghe replied. "Do you have any questions?"
"No, no. I just didn't expect there to be so many of you," Qiu Zhian seemed like an approachable person, maintaining a polite smile and gentle tone while speaking with Jing Minghe. "Oh, right. We have another teammate named Lu Da. He was injured in the dungeon and went back to his room to rest, so we'll have to introduce you later."
Jing Minghe shook his head. "It's fine. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet."
"Let's go back to rest as well," Shen Rong said to Qiu Zhian, then turned and left directly.
Qiu Zhian smiled apologetically at Jing Minghe's group and explained, "Our last dungeon was quite difficult, and we lost too many teammates. So, those of us who made it out are feeling a bit down."
Jing Minghe offered words of comfort. "It's alright, we understand."
Seeing that Jing Minghe's group genuinely didn't seem to mind, Qiu Zhian nodded apologetically, then turned to catch up with Shen Rong.
After Qiu Zhian had walked away, the previously disappeared portal reappeared. Three men emerged, looking somewhat disheveled. They cast a quick glance at Jing Minghe's group and, without a word, hurried towards the elevators.
"They're probably going to the second floor to buy medicine," You Mi said. "Minghe, I'll go see if they need any help."
"Mhm," Jing Minghe nodded. "Let's go up together."
Earlier on the train, everyone had already received the accumulated rewards from the last two dungeons.
Jing Minghe had obtained a medical card with a good amount of points. He planned to use some of it to buy common medicines and hand them over to You Mi for safekeeping.
As they entered the elevator, Jing Minghe told You Mi his idea. You Mi agreed, "Okay, I'll find a way to get a bigger bag and see if we can fit more medicine."
"Leave that to me," Jing Minghe said. "I remember seeing a portable medical kit at the item vending machine. I'll ask Brother Hao later if he's willing to contribute some points so we can buy it."
"Me, me, me!" Ke Wuwen raised his hand. "Idol, I have points on my item card too. I can contribute all of it."
Tong Zheng chimed in, "Me too."
Jing Minghe looked at Tong Zheng and Ke Wuwen, feeling a surge of joy. His trustworthy team had finally gained two more members. He felt like he could throw a party to celebrate, after all, finding excellent teammates was a rare occurrence.
Jing Minghe nodded with satisfaction. "Thank you for your trust. You don't need to contribute everything. I've roughly calculated that if we include Brother Tong and Wuwen, each person contributing thirty points will be enough."
The other three nodded in agreement.
The elevator reached the second floor. Jing Minghe said to You Mi and the others, "You guys go ahead and research what medicine to buy. I'll go call Brother Hao and be right back."
"Okay."
The three agreed and stepped out of the elevator. Jing Minghe continued up to the fifth floor.
Emerging from the elevator on the fifth floor, Jing Minghe counted to the sixth room and saw his name. Across the corridor from his room was Chi Hao's.
Jing Minghe went into his room first to wash his face. When he came out, he saw Shen Rong standing at Chi Hao's door.
He paused for a moment, then walked over openly. Before he could greet her, Shen Rong turned and left, not even glancing at him.
"Tsk, this woman has a terrible personality," Jing Minghe muttered, though he didn't truly care about others' attitudes towards him. After all, their opinions had no impact on him.
He walked to Chi Hao's door and knocked. "Mr. Chi, what are you doing? I need to discuss something with you."
Jing Minghe heard Chi Hao's footsteps approaching but he didn't open the door. A thought crossed his mind: "Is he angry again? Because of what Shen Rong said downstairs? Are they acquaintances? Or enemies?"
He immediately dismissed the thought.
No, Brother Hao isn't that petty. Although he often gets inexplicably moody, he wouldn't bicker with a woman!
So, why is he walking over but not opening the door? Is he angry at me? But I didn't do anything to make him angry.
Just as Jing Minghe was about to knock again, the door creaked open. Before he could react, Chi Hao pulled him into the room.
"Brother Hao? What are you doing?"
"You're calling me 'Brother' now?" Chi Hao's voice was chillingly cold.
Jing Minghe was bewildered. "Huh? What?"
Chi Hao snorted, his lips almost brushing Jing Minghe's ear. He asked in a low voice, "Weren't you calling me Mr. Chi?"
Jing Minghe's mouth twitched, and a bitter feeling washed over him. So, he really was angry with me.