Translator: Cinder Translations
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At this point, Fan Li, who had boarded the bus first, realized that Jiang Cheng and the chubby man hadn't followed. He turned around, looking at them with a strange expression.
But the chubby man had no time to care about him now. He noticed that Conductor Zheng was locking eyes with Jiang Cheng, and his face was becoming increasingly grim, his gaze growing more malicious.
A few more seconds passed, and without any action from the driver, the door suddenly slammed shut with a loud "bang."
The speed of it startled the chubby man.
The bus quickly drove off, leaving only two deep tire tracks on the ground.
"Something's wrong! This is wrong!" The chubby man, terrified by Conductor Zheng's gaze, was trembling all over. Comparing the current situation to what happened with Sister Nuan, he suddenly shouted in delayed realization, "This is a trap! Conductor Zheng isn't human either; he's a ghost!"
Jiang Cheng ignored him, only watching the bus disappear into the distance, shaking his head slightly.
Back at the villa, Jiang Cheng went straight to the iron door leading to the third floor. The chubby man wanted to ask Jiang Cheng several questions but didn't have the chance to open his mouth.
Jiang Cheng reached out, and the iron door unexpectedly opened.
It wasn't that Jiang Cheng had pushed it open; a hand from inside had turned the lock and pulled the door open.
"It's you!"
As the door opened, the chubby man exclaimed in shock.
Standing behind the door was Chen Xiaomeng, still looking as innocent and harmless as ever. She opened the door, Jiang Cheng stepped in first, and after a moment of hesitation, the chubby man followed.
Just as Sister Nuan had said, the third floor was indeed a dark room, with no windows. The only light came from two thick white candles, each the size of a baby's arm.
By the faint candlelight, they could see that the room was quite large, even bigger than the master bedroom. Several meters away, embedded in the wall, was a pure black iron door.
Upon seeing this iron door, the chubby man finally relaxed completely.
The black iron door gave him an inexplicable, eerie feeling—one that couldn't be faked.
"I'm curious, how did you realize it was a trap?" Chen Xiaomeng sat in a chair, resting her chin on one hand while casually pointing toward the back of the villa with the other.
She didn't seem nervous at all. In fact, there was a hint of excitement in her eyes—not directed at the chubby man, but at Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng sat in the chair opposite her, looking at her as he spoke, "Although your setup was convincing—you left a rope on the stairs, cut the rope in the storage room, and hid it behind the firewood to create the illusion that you all escaped through the back door."
"But what puzzled me was, if you had already left, why did the ghost impersonating Sister Nuan still appear in your bedroom? That didn't make sense."
"Also, your master bedroom had been meticulously cleaned. I couldn't think of any reason why a ghost would need to do that."
Chen Xiaomeng smiled, "But after all that, you were still tricked into leaving the villa. You just didn't get on that bus at the last moment."
Jiang Cheng shook his head, "You're wrong."
"Oh?" Chen Xiaomeng was surprised, "What's wrong?"
She thought Jiang Cheng was just being stubborn, like a dead duck still trying to argue. It had been a long time since she'd met someone this interesting in the dream world.
"There are three things wrong. First, I wasn't tricked into leaving the villa; I went willingly."
Jiang Cheng then explained, "There were tire tracks left in the muddy ground behind the villa, but no footprints from where you supposedly walked. So, you never left the villa—this was all a ruse."
"Second, only you were deceiving us, because Sister Nuan is already dead."
As he spoke, he took something the size of a coin from his pocket and tossed it in front of Chen Xiaomeng, whose smile had faded by more than half.
It was a button.
Square-shaped, made of tortoiseshell, and quite rare.
"I found it in the master bedroom. When I found it, there were still broken threads attached to it," Jiang Cheng said. "If I remember correctly, it belongs to Sister Nuan's coat."
"I think when I reached your room's door, that ghost had just killed Sister Nuan. During her struggle, this button flew off, and after the ghost left, you cleaned up the room to prevent us from discovering that Sister Nuan was killed by the ghost, creating the illusion that you two had already escaped the mission."
Jiang Cheng stopped talking after this.
The smile on Chen Xiaomeng's face had completely disappeared. After a moment, she asked in a deep voice, "What's the third point?"
"The third point is also the most important one." Jiang Cheng sat upright, his gaze steady. Even the fat guy standing beside them couldn't help but feel tense.
"I want to know... who gave this ugly, short, self-righteous, dumb, and flat-chested woman the courage to plot against me?" he said, staring at Chen Xiaomeng.
The fat guy froze. He knew Jiang Cheng was an unpredictable person, but he didn't expect him to be this sharp-tongued.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment. Chen Xiaomeng opened her mouth wide, unable to utter a single word.
"Alright," Jiang Cheng retracted his neck, leaned back comfortably in his chair, and lifted his chin. "Now, I ask, you answer."
"Answer your sister!"*
Chen Xiaomeng grabbed the porcelain bottle beside her and threw it, but Jiang Cheng dodged it with just a tilt of his head. Her face flushed red, and it looked like she was ready to fight him.
After dodging, Jiang Cheng calmly said, "I advise you to think carefully. This is a locked room, and it's just the two of us—alone. If you don't cooperate with me, something very unfriendly might happen."
Chen Xiaomeng sneered, "You're threatening me?"
The fat guy licked his lips and interrupted, "Hey brother, you're not the only man here. There's me too."
Jiang Cheng glanced at the fat guy and continued speaking to Chen Xiaomeng, "Right, there's a fat guy here too. Think it over."
Chen Xiaomeng's face gradually turned pale. She quickly glanced at the iron door behind her, but Jiang Cheng's voice came again, "Don't think about running. That door is 5 meters away from you, but I'm only 3 meters away. Catching you would be a piece of cake."
Chen Xiaomeng was so furious that she laughed. "There's less than 10 minutes before the door opens. I don't believe you'll do anything!"
Jiang Cheng stroked his chin, as if suddenly enlightened, "Oh, there are still 10 minutes, huh." He stood up, revealing a meaningful smile. "It won't take that long. 30 seconds is enough."
The fat guy suddenly widened his eyes.
Chen Xiaomeng clenched her fists tightly, her body trembling, either from rage or fear. After a while, she gritted her teeth and said, "What do you want to ask? Hurry up."
Jiang Cheng smacked his lips and sat back down, looking somewhat regretful.
"How did you open that door?"
Chen Xiaomeng glared at him fiercely and snapped, "After you left yesterday, the ghost that killed Sister Nuan dragged her body in here. I followed it inside."
(End of the Chapter)
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