Chu Qingqing hung up the phone and put away her smile.
After a moment, she sighed.
She went to her father's study and saw that both her older brothers, Chu You'an and Chu Xifu, were already there.
"Have you found out?" Chu Qingqing asked in a low voice.
"We've investigated everyone," Chu You'an tapped the papers on the table, "Although we can't verify their ideological imprints, most of these people... indeed have connections with the Wuchang faction."
"Let's temporarily bring them under control," Chu Jiye spoke, and thus the fate of many people in the clan was decided.
After Chu Debiao fell to his death, the secret guards immediately rushed into the factory, only to find no presence of metal hydrogen.
Even the detonation switch he held in his hand turned out to be just an ordinary car electronic key... This left Chu Qingqing feeling quite embarrassed.
Chu Jiye comforted his daughter, saying, actually, what you did back then wasn't wrong. After all, no one knew for sure if he had buried explosives. What if he had?
Another thing worth discussing is that in Chu Debiao's residence, a list was found: it records the hidden lines buried by the Wuchang side within the Yangdi Chu family.
If you describe the descendants of the Chu family serving in the Longxiang Army as 'each serving their own master,' and during peacetime both sides can still communicate casually, then the spies secretly planted on the side of the Yangdi Chu family belong to the category of 'eager to eliminate them as soon as possible.'
So the information intentionally left behind by Chu Debiao did indeed greatly help the Yangdi Chu family, which led to the family's mixed feelings towards him.
However, Chu Debiao made it clear in the documents that, as an exchange for leaving the list, he hoped the family could take care of his sister and allow her to live out her final days as smoothly as possible.
After being completely transformed into a puppet demon, Jiankang City would definitely dispose of her to ensure she poses no threat, which essentially means killing her.
However, Chu Debiao hopes to delay this process as much as possible, allowing his sister to remain in human form and stay in this world a little longer.
Regarding whether to agree to Chu Debiao's request, everyone doesn't really have any thoughts.
To put it bluntly, the information has already been obtained, and Chu Debiao himself has passed away. The Yangdi Chu family did not agree to any of his requests, so whether to continue providing treatment fees for his sister... it's basically irrelevant to the overall situation and entirely depends on mood.
Finally, Chu Qingqing proposed that she could pay for the medical expenses herself, and Chu Jiye agreed to it.
It was already late, so after finalizing the remaining matters, everyone dispersed to sleep.
Chu Qingqing returned to her bedroom, took out the handgun from her pocket, removed the magazine, and the brass-colored bullets clattered onto the table.
Staring at the bullet for a moment, her eyes were filled with coldness, as ethereal and chilling as the moonlight outside the window.
Changing into pajamas, she sat on the bed and closed her eyes.
Suddenly, in her mind, flashed the image of what she saw when she fired the gun outside the abandoned factory:
Bullet shells, shattered arms, fractured bones, splattered blood... as if casting a thin blood-red filter over everything around.
Chu Qingqing fell asleep peacefully in this bloody glow.
......
Cheng Jinyang opened his eyes.
Roll.
Huh, can't move his body?
After a moment of confusion, he suddenly understood.
It's over. Tonight, after meeting Miss Ah Zhi and Miss Wang, I entered the dream of a third stranger. I just don't know what weird things I will encounter this time...
After adapting to the new environment and mechanisms, Cheng Jinyang realized that his body was actually movable, but he couldn't perform some unconventional actions, such as rolling on the spot.
His body seems to be that of a junior high school student, currently in a classroom. The teacher is giving a lecture, and the students are listening attentively below, maintaining a well-ordered classroom atmosphere.
On his desk lay several books, a piece of rough paper, and a pencil case, indicating that the original owner's family background wasn't particularly affluent... As far as Cheng Jinyang knows, nowadays in school, students with slightly better economic conditions have mostly switched to electronic screens and pens. With one screen in hand, there's no need to carry all those paper textbooks and workbooks, greatly reducing the burden.
Cheng Jinyang looked around again, the students... look rather ghastly, with eyes askew or mouths burst, giving off a very Picasso-esque abstract painting style.
The teacher also turned around, still with abstract facial features, making Cheng Jinyang want to laugh and feel a bit nauseous.
Just then, his gaze suddenly noticed a figure by the window.
Chu Qingqing.
More precisely, it's a younger version, around eleven or twelve years old, with a face that resembles the present time's individual, just slightly more youthful, but clearly showing signs of being a beauty in the making, unaffected by any peculiarities in the surrounding features.
Just her demeanor... to be more precise, her expression, is completely different from the Chu Qingqing that Cheng Jinyang knows.
In reality, Chu Qingqing, aside from the typical fake smile expected of a young lady from a aristocratic family, has a style that is quite confident, decisive, and swift.
But at this moment, in the dream, Chu Qingqing is huddled, timid, and introverted, with her gaze mostly shifting around, like a frightened little rabbit. Cheng Jinyang really wants to capture her in this state, then return to reality and ask Miss Qingqing what she feels after seeing it.
Well, he will probably be hunted down.
Considering his two previous dream experiences, Cheng Jinyang knew that what he most needed to do now was not to delve into others' deepest secrets revealed in dreams, but to... make sure to hide his own existence well. Otherwise, once he left the dream, others would come for offline PK him!
The bell rang as the class ended, and the teacher left the classroom with the lesson plan. The students stood up, chatting and laughing in groups of three or five.
Cheng Jinyang didn't get up; he just sat quietly in his seat, discreetly keeping an eye on Chu Qingqing's whereabouts.
At this moment, a few crooked-mouthed teenagers had also gathered around him, chirping and chatting. They must be the original host's friends.
However, Chu Qingqing was alone. More precisely, as soon as class ended, all the students in front, to the right, and behind her left their seats, leaving her sitting there as if she had been isolated by the entire class.
So Cheng Jinyang roughly guessed what the problem was.
School violence.
Just don't know if it's cold violence or hot violence.
The so-called 'cold violence' refers to 'social death,' where everyone refuses to communicate with you, treats you as if you don't exist, and expresses disgust and rejection towards you. As for 'hot violence,' it involves intentionally picking fights with you, insulting, pushing, or even physically attacking you.
Cheng Jinyang looked around again, feeling that there seemed to be more elements of cold violence... Just as he was thinking this, he saw a certain arrogant girl approaching menacingly with three other girls.
Tsk.
He instinctively planned to intervene, but upon second thought, if he rushed over and appeared in front of Chu Qingqing, being recognized by her as entering her dream, wouldn't it repeat the same mistakes as the previous two times?
At that moment of hesitation, he didn't manage to get up. He only heard a loud slap, and Chu Qingqing fell to the ground, along with the desk and chair being overturned.
"Bitch, how dare you come to class?" The leading girl delivered a heavy kick to her, and the other three girls followed suit by stomping on her with their shoes, one of them was even wearing short high heels... It almost made Cheng Jinyang lose his composure; using high heels to step on someone, that's too cruel, right?
Chu Qingqing, who was curled up on the ground after being hit and feeling pain, suddenly burst out of strength from who knows where and fiercely grabbed the leading girl's calf, biting down hard.
"Ah!!!" The girl screamed in agony, vigorously kicking at the side of Chu Qingqing's head, trying to force her to let go. Other girls also hastily grabbed nearby chairs, compasses, and other blunt or sharp objects, continuously smashing or stabbing her body.
However, Chu Qingqing clenched her teeth and did not let go. Or rather, the more wounds she had, the tighter she clenched her teeth, with a posture of wanting to die together with the other party, fiercely tearing at the girl's calf.
In that moment, Cheng Jinyang saw the determined gaze she fixed on the leading girl through her bangs.
Those are a pair of beautiful eyes, but the whites around them are almost completely red, with bloodshot veins as if they were about to burst.
It's like a desperate beast, forced to fight for its life with all its might.
Cheng Jinyang suddenly stood up, quickly dashed out of the classroom, and saw a passing teacher in the corridor. Although still crooked-nosed and lopsided-mouthed, at least they could be distinguished from students by their height and clothing.
"Teacher, someone in our class is hitting Chu Qingqing, and there is blood already." He said succinctly.
The teacher exclaimed in surprise, clearly not expecting this, and quickly followed him into the classroom.