Jing Minghe and Zhujian entered the hall, closed the door, and sat facing each other beside the statue of the Earth God.
"Jing Minghe," Zhujian said softly, "close your eyes."
"Okay."
Jing Minghe slowly closed his eyes. He felt a coolness enter his eyes, and then the stinging pain gradually subsided.
When the coolness completely disappeared, Zhujian's voice reached his ears again, "You can open them now."
Jing Minghe nodded and slowly opened his eyes. He saw the flickering candlelight on the altar, and the familiar yet strange face that belonged to Jiang Zheng. But he knew this person was not the human Jiang Zheng, but the evil ghost Zhujian.
"Can you see now?" Zhujian asked softly.
Jing Minghe looked at Zhujian's eyes and nodded, smiling, "I can see. Thank you."
Zhujian shook his head, "You're welcome. I just hope I can help you."
"Why are you helping me?" Jing Minghe remembered the big wolf that was inexplicably docile and obedient to him. According to Zhujian, that wolf was also considered Zhujian.
"I don't know," Zhujian thought for a moment and explained, "I only know that when I was in wolf form, the moment I saw you, I felt a sense of closeness and familiarity."
Closeness and familiarity?
These two words thoroughly confused Jing Minghe. This place was the City of Death, another system's异空间 created by the system that ruled their world. Here, everything except the unlucky players thrown in should, in theory, just be data. So why would the evil ghost Zhujian in this instance feel familiarity and closeness towards him?
It made no sense, Jing Minghe thought inexplicably. I'm not data!
Seeing the doubt on Jing Minghe's face, Zhujian gave a wry, helpless smile, "Actually, I can't explain it either why I have this feeling. Perhaps it's some kind of destiny."
"?!"
Destiny? No, no, such words shouldn't be spoken lightly.
"In short, this feeling just arose spontaneously. I felt you were familiar, didn't want you to get hurt, and instinctively wanted to protect you."
The more Jing Minghe listened, the more his heart pounded. An NPC in the instance was saying he wanted to protect him. This was more terrifying than encountering any demons or ghosts!
*Bang!*
The hall door was suddenly pushed open. Chi Hao stood at the entrance exuding a chilling aura, his gaze towards Zhujian as if he wanted to devour him alive the next second.
Jing Minghe was inexplicably puzzled, wondering why Chi Hao was suddenly so angry. He turned to Chi Hao and asked, "Brother Hao, is something wrong?"
"Are you done talking?"
When Chi Hao looked at Jing Minghe, his expression instantly softened, filled with gentle concern. The speed and magnitude of the change made Jing Minghe highly suspect that he had just imagined it, and that Chi Hao wasn't angry at all.
After all, he couldn't find any reason for Chi Hao to be inexplicably angry.
"Almost," Jing Minghe stood up and asked Zhujian with his eyes if he had anything else to say.
Zhujian only wanted to spend a little more time talking to this human who made him feel so familiar before he disappeared. Since someone was unhappy, he wouldn't insist. Moreover, he didn't want to make Jing Minghe awkward.
So, when Jing Minghe looked at him inquiringly, he shook his head slightly.
"Do you have anything else you want to do?" Jing Minghe asked.
"No, I just want to be alone for a while, is that okay?" After a moment of hesitation, Zhujian added, "You can have someone watch me. I won't run."
Jing Minghe smiled and said, "It's okay, I trust you."
"Thank you," Zhujian said softly, "Thank you for helping me find liberation. I am truly grateful."
Ke Wuwen, who was standing outside, heard Zhujian's words and his eyes widened. They were here to destroy him, and this ghost was thanking them?
Jing Minghe walked out of the main hall. Youmi stepped forward to confirm, "Minghe, you can see now?"
"Yes."
"That's great," Ke Wuwen said happily, "My idol can finally see."
Saying this, he leaned closer to Jing Minghe to observe carefully, "Your eyes aren't red anymore. Do they still hurt?"
"Don't worry," Jing Minghe patted Ke Wuwen's head and smiled, "They're completely healed. Yes, being able to see really feels good."
Ke Wuwen grinned, "Of course. Jiang... that ghost, I'll go thank him."
After speaking, Ke Wuwen went around Jing Minghe and cautiously entered the hall.
"You should rest," Chi Hao reminded him.
"Rest?" Jing Minghe turned to look at Chi Hao, "Now?"
Chi Hao nodded, "If there's nothing else, you should rest."
Jing Minghe smiled helplessly, "Alright. This instance was a bit difficult in the early stages, but it went smoothly afterward. Nothing else should happen. Let's find a place to rest."
After a night passed, before dawn, at the turn of day and night, Zhujian voluntarily walked up to everyone. Jing Minghe saw that Zhujian hoped he would do it himself, and he had no reason to refuse. So, he took the blood jade pestle handed to him by Youmi and stood opposite Zhujian.
As he plunged the blood jade pestle into Zhujian's chest, Jing Minghe said softly, "If there's a chance, I hope we can meet again."
"Yes."
Zhujian's figure gradually faded. However, everyone clearly saw that he had a smile on his face from beginning to end, as if telling Jing Minghe with his smile that he was truly grateful for Jing Minghe helping him find liberation.
As Zhujian's figure completely dissipated, a portal of light appeared behind them.
But this time, they didn't rush to leave the instance. They stood in place for a while until Jing Minghe said, "Let's go, we should go back and rest."
Tong Zheng shrugged and smiled, "I hope this time, it won't send us directly to the next instance."
"It shouldn't," Jing Minghe said, and was the first to step into the portal.
Chi Hao followed closely behind Jing Minghe.
Tong Zheng, Youmi, and Ke Wuwen entered in sequence.
Seeing the familiar train station, everyone silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Ke Wuwen looked back at the portal. Of his teammates from before, only he remained.
Jing Minghe sensed Ke Wuwen's emotions, walked over, and ruffled his head, saying, "What? Still not used to this sort of thing?"
"Of course not," Ke Wuwen pouted, "My adaptability is great. No matter what kind of instance I encounter, I can adapt quickly. Idol, I swear, I definitely won't hold you back."
"Yes, I believe you."
"Get on the train," Chi Hao reminded him.
Jing Minghe saw that as Chi Hao reminded him to get on the train, he seemed to want to help him, but withdrew his hand halfway. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Habits are indeed frightening.
Now that he could see, he clearly saw that Chi Hao, like before, still had a cold face, and his entire being seemed to exude an aura of "stay away from me."
So, was Chi Hao's gentleness truly a hallucination caused by his inability to see?
He felt a little disappointed.