Youmi wasn't new to Chi Hao and didn't pay attention to his tone towards her. She was just a little worried about Jing Minghe. Seeing Jing Minghe nod slightly at her, she assumed they had something to discuss and didn't want to disturb them. She only reminded them, "You two should go back and rest early, don't stay up too late."
After Youmi walked away, before Jing Minghe could speak, Chi Hao stood up first.
"Let's go."
Jing Minghe smiled and stood up, slinging an arm over Chi Hao's shoulder. "Brother Chi, you can read minds, can't you?"
Chi Hao's gaze swept indifferently over Jing Minghe's hand on his shoulder. "It's not hard to guess."
"You really know what I want to do?" Jing Minghe glanced at Chen Yi, then caught up with Chi Hao. "Are you coming with me?"
Chi Hao paused and said sternly, "No more nonsense."
Jing Minghe wasn't very confident about what they were about to do, and he was a bit nervous. Therefore, he intended to ease the tense atmosphere.
He deliberately chased after Chi Hao with a playful smile, "Brother, what exactly do you do outside? I'm really curious, tell me about it. Let's chat and get to know each other."
"Why would you want to know?"
Chi Hao's unexpected response almost made Jing Minghe think he was hallucinating. He couldn't help but laugh, then immediately put on a serious face and replied, "If we know each other, we can cooperate better."
"Cooperate? With me?"
"Yeah," Jing Minghe analyzed himself. "Look, I'm not stupid, and my skills are decent. I'm a good partner, right?"
"Passable."
Jing Minghe was speechless, but he figured hearing "passable" from someone as arrogant as Chi Hao was still something.
Passable was passable. It was much better than being directly rejected. Moreover, he genuinely wanted to team up with Chi Hao. In this game in the City of Death, he wouldn't last long alone.
"Since it's passable," Jing Minghe continued to persuade, "then we can get to know each other..."
Jing Minghe stopped mid-sentence and, at the same time as Chi Hao, they quickly ran to hide behind a nearby stone pillar.
A red sedan chair approached from the direction of the ancestral hall.
The two burly men in red who had taken He Duo before walked on either side of the sedan chair. The sedan chair was not carried but floated forward on its own.
He Duo's cries from inside the sedan chair added to the already too silent and eerie atmosphere of the ancestral hall.
Jing Minghe rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and whispered, "I was just wondering how to find the town mayor's house. I didn't expect them to still be in the ancestral hall."
"We'll talk about getting to know each other later," Chi Hao patted Jing Minghe's shoulder. "We'll follow them."
"Don't follow too closely," Jing Minghe gestured with his eyes to wait for them to move further away before going out. "Be careful they don't notice."
Chi Hao didn't object. He and Jing Minghe waited a moment before stealthily following.
Unlike when they first entered the ancient town, the streets of the ancient town were now deserted, eerily silent.
Jing Minghe and Chi Hao held their breath, their footsteps as light as possible.
Their deliberately light footsteps didn't diminish the terrifying atmosphere of the street but instead added a touch of eeriness.
Fortunately, the town mayor's house was not far from the ancestral hall. After passing through two alleys, they saw the sedan chair float into the side door of a large courtyard. The two burly men stood at the side door for a while before going in.
Jing Minghe and Chi Hao exchanged glances and cautiously approached.
The side door was ajar. It was unclear if it was guarded inside.
"I'll go in and take a look first."
As Jing Minghe spoke, he reached to push the door open. His hand had just touched the doorframe when he suddenly stopped, turned, and pulled Chi Hao to run away. While running, he yelled,
Two roars echoed from behind them. Simultaneously, as far as the eye could see, it was indeed a dead end. Jing Minghe absolutely did not want to admit his jinx. It seemed they had no choice but to fight. Just as he was about to stop and turn back to fight, his vision suddenly went black.
Disaster!
Muddle-headedly, Jing Minghe seemed to hear someone calling him, or perhaps not calling him.
"Young master, young master..."
"Who?" Jing Minghe felt only darkness before his eyes. He was clearly awake. Even at night, it shouldn't be so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. There had been moonlight earlier, and he could see his surroundings while escaping.
"Seven emotions tie to the candle, true heart utterly betrayed."
"What?"
"Save me."
In the darkness, Jing Minghe turned back. "Who are you? Why do you want me to save you?"
"I am with you."
"Where are you?" Jing Minghe quietly tried to discern, realizing he couldn't determine the direction of the sound at all. It was as if the voice was coming from within his own body.
A wave of headache washed over him, and Jing Minghe felt his consciousness gradually fading.
He couldn't help but curse. Before his consciousness completely disappeared, Jing Minghe was still thinking about whether Chi Hao could defeat those two big guys if he collapsed.
He probably could, right? That guy Chi Hao was even scarier than a monster.
"Jing Minghe?"
Huh? Strange. He thought of Chi Hao, and then he saw Chi Hao?
Jing Minghe blinked his eyes, a series of questions popping into his mind: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
"Awake? If you're awake, stop pretending to be stupid."
"Huh?" Jing Minghe clearly saw a fleeting cold smile on Chi Hao's face.
Shaking his head, Jing Minghe asked, "What's going on?"
Chi Hao turned and leaned against a nearby wall, gently rubbing his wrist. "That's what I should be asking you."
"Me?"
"You spaced out again. This time, it was about half an hour."
"What!" Jing Minghe stepped up to Chi Hao. "Are you kidding me? I spaced out? For half an hour? That long? How is that possible?"
Chi Hao glanced at Jing Minghe indifferently, his face sinking, and asked, "Do I have a reason to lie to you?"
Jing Minghe also felt that Chi Hao wouldn't lie to him. Moreover, he had just expressed his intention to cooperate with the other person, and it wouldn't be good to suspect him right after.