Was I discovered?
The approaching footsteps were steady at first, then grew hurried. As they drew closer, they suddenly slowed, as if probing cautiously.
"Is that you?"
The town mayor's voice carried over, his tone decidedly unfriendly.
With a cold snort, the mayor gritted his teeth and declared, "You little wench! Show yourself if you dare! Do you really think I'm afraid of you? I killed you once, I can kill you a second time!"
The footsteps grew nearer. Jing Minghe began to consider whether to sneak away or confront the mayor head-on, perhaps apprehending him and extracting clues.
Confrontation it is! Clues are more important.
Jing Minghe made up his mind and was about to act when someone grabbed him from behind.
"Let's go!"
A simple command, and without even looking, Jing Minghe knew who it was.
As Jing Minghe was about to ask how they were supposed to leave, a shout echoed from the distance.
"Help! Fire!"
The mayor, too, was drawn away by the commotion.
Chi Hao pulled Jing Minghe along as they ran. Jing Minghe expressed his displeasure, "Chi Hao, I just overheard their conversation. The mayor and his men are suspicious! We should apprehend them and get to the bottom of things!"
Chi Hao ignored Jing Minghe until they were out of the mayor's house. Only then did he respond to Jing Minghe's earlier suggestion.
"It's not the right time yet."
"Why not?" Jing Minghe asked, confused. "What do you mean, 'not the right time'?"
"Let's go back first."
With that, Chi Hao turned and left. Jing Minghe reluctantly followed, continuing his barrage of questions, "Did you find He Duo? What about the mayor's son?"
"Didn't find him."
Hearing Chi Hao's reply, Jing Minghe hurried to his front, incredulous. "You really didn't find him? Big brother, please don't joke with me."
Chi Hao glanced at Jing Minghe, his look clearly conveying: Do I look like someone who jokes around?
Jing Minghe shrugged. "Alright, you don't look like someone who jokes, but how could that be? The mayor's house isn't small, but it's not so large that you wouldn't find anything."
"That's why I said it's not the right time," Chi Hao patiently explained, a rare occurrence. "Besides, even if you caught them, can you guarantee they'd answer your questions honestly?"
"That's true," Jing Minghe waved his hand. "Then forget it. I was thinking that because I thought I was about to be discovered, but you're right. How could they willingly answer questions when they're captured? It might only make things worse."
The two returned to the ancestral hall. As they passed through the main hall, Jing Minghe glanced at the sundial and let out a questioning sound.
Chi Hao stopped at the same moment Jing Minghe questioned, his gaze also falling on the sundial.
"Strange," Jing Minghe stepped closer to the sundial. "If I'm not mistaken, Chi Hao, this is showing the third quarter of the Chen hour, which is 7:45 AM."
As he spoke, Jing Minghe looked up at the sky. A half-moon still hung overhead, seemingly unmoving.
"Eternal Night," Chi Hao narrowed his eyes. "It truly is Eternal Night."
"I see," Jing Minghe suddenly understood. "I know what the clearing condition is!"
Chi Hao's lips curved slightly. "Your processing speed is indeed rather slow."
Jing Minghe felt a pang of shame. Indeed, before they were selected, he had already learned the clearing condition from Old Man Hu: to bring daylight to Eternal Night Town. However, his attention had been solely focused on the mayor's son.
"But," Jing Minghe asked Chi Hao, "how can we bring daytime to Eternal Night Town?"
"Let's go back and organize the known clues."
"Okay." Jing Minghe yawned as he walked alongside Chi Hao. As they neared the side rooms, they saw You Mi and Shen Yue running out from behind them.
Upon seeing Jing Minghe, You Mi shouted, "Minghe! Mr. Chi! You're finally back! We have a new discovery!"
Hearing this, Jing Minghe and Chi Hao hurried over and asked, "Where?"
You Mi replied, "We couldn't sleep, so we came out to look for clues. When we went around to the back of the side rooms, we found an archway blocked by vines."
"What's behind the archway?" Jing Minghe pressed.
You Mi, however, said, "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
You Mi glanced at Shen Yue and explained, "There are two paths behind the archway, left and right. The six of us split up. Shen Yue, Jia Qi, and I took the left path. Yue Yang, Cheng Jun, and Guo Wei took the right. But after Shen Yue and I had walked for a while, we realized Jia Qi was gone. We thought we were walking too slowly and he had left us behind. So, we continued forward, but then..."
You Mi paused, her brow furrowed. She continued, "Unexpectedly, after walking for a bit, we emerged from the archway. We tried several times, and it was always the same result. Even when we changed direction, we always ended up back here."
"Did you try the other path? Did you not see Yue Yang and Cheng Jun?" Although he already had an idea, Jing Minghe asked.
"No."
As expected, Jing Minghe turned to Chi Hao. "Could it be that only men are allowed behind the archway? Is this thing sexist?"
"Let's take a look," Chi Hao said, and started walking towards the back of the side rooms.
Jing Minghe caught up to him. "Are we taking the same path?"
"Yes."
"Not splitting up?"
"No need."
Before entering the archway, Jing Minghe turned to You Mi and Shen Yue and said, "Since you always get sent back out, don't go in. Wait outside."
You Mi nodded in agreement.
Jing Minghe and Chi Hao passed through the archway and indeed saw two paths, left and right.
"Which way do we go?" Jing Minghe had barely asked the question when he saw Chi Hao already walking down the left path. "Hey, wait for me."
Jing Minghe was feeling a bit sleepy. To stay alert, he decided to strike up a conversation with Chi Hao. "Do you think Sister You Mi and Shen Yue were sent out for a reason? It's definitely not sexism, right?"
"You already have an answer in mind."
"Whether I do or not, it's just my wild guess," Jing Minghe scanned their surroundings. The further they walked, the wider the view became. Although it was dark, the moonlight was enough for them to vaguely make out some things, so they didn't even need lights. "I want to hear your thoughts."
"Not at the moment."
"I don't believe you, really?"
As Jing Minghe pondered how to pry the words out of Chi Hao and get him to share his opinions, a chaotic sound shattered the quiet night.
Hurried footsteps approached from afar.
Following the sound, they saw the panicked figures of Yue Yang and Cheng Jun fleeing.
"What's going on?"
Jing Minghe's eyes widened. He remembered You Mi telling him that Yue Yang and Cheng Jun had taken the right path, while he and Chi Hao were taking the left.
Before Jing Minghe could process this, Jia Qi and Guo Wei also came into view.
Jia Qi's arm was only half there. Guo Wei also seemed to be seriously injured, though it was difficult to tell clearly in the dark.
And their pursuers were flickering white figures.