Lu Jieyang pulled Wen Di up, then turned to fetch a broom and swept the floor clean.
Wen Di didn’t stop him. He glanced at the remaining sandwiches on the table. “If you won’t eat them, then figure out your own breakfast. I’ll keep those sandwiches for myself.”
He turned, intending to say a few words to Shen Wangqing, but before he could speak, Lu Jieyang—who had just put the broom away—suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him out into the hallway.
Wen Di was taken aback. He only had time to glance back at Shen Wangqing, whose gaze was calm and inscrutable. Turning back, he tried to yank his hand free. “What are you pulling me for? Where are you taking me?”
Once they were alone in the hallway, Lu Jieyang glared at Wen Di, his expression sour. “Why didn’t you wait for me earlier? I told you to wait there.”
Wen Di tilted his head up. “Just because you told me to wait, I have to? I never agreed to it.”
Lu Jieyang was left speechless, his face darkening further. He seized Wen Di’s hands and pulled off the gloves Shen Wangqing had given him. “Someone else’s gloves, and you just put them on? Aren’t you worried they’re dirty? Go give them back to him. Wear mine.”
As he spoke, he began putting his own gloves on Wen Di, who tried to pull back but wasn’t strong enough to break free.
Wen Di frowned, finding this utterly baffling. “If his aren’t clean, then yours are?”
An indescribable irritation welled up inside him.
Lu Jieyang gritted his teeth, holding back, and simply said, “Be good.”
Wen Di studied his unpleasant expression, paused for a few seconds, and watched as Lu Jieyang continued putting the gloves on him. “What’s the difference between wearing yours and his? Aren’t they both just gloves?”
He thought Lu Jieyang seemed a bit strange, not quite the same as when they’d first met yesterday. Could it be that he’d already been affected by the Instance’s eerie influence on just the second day?
But Lu Jieyang hadn’t even been to that room yet. Logically, he should still be a normal human.
In the midst of his distraction, both of Wen Di’s hands were fully gloved by Lu Jieyang.
Now, aside from his face, his entire body was wrapped up tightly. He looked like a little bear.
Only after putting them on did Lu Jieyang’s expression soften slightly. He didn’t let go, still holding Wen Di’s gloved, soft hands.
His tone gentled, carrying a hint of grievance. “Why were you so obedient with Shen Wangqing just now, but with me, you refuse this and that? I even got gloves for you and asked you to wait for me, but you wouldn’t.”
Wen Di bit his lip, his long lashes lowering, looking innocent. “Yao Nana complained to you, so of course I had to find someone to complain to too. Otherwise, who would help me? I can’t fight you and Yao Nana.”
Lu Jieyang was taken aback, feeling both annoyed and exasperated. He wished he could bite this little ghost in front of him, but he couldn’t. Instead, he cupped Wen Di’s face, making him look into his serious, earnest eyes. “You’re talking nonsense again. How could I possibly help her fight you? She was in the wrong to begin with. Even if it weren’t this matter, but something else, I would never hit you.”
After saying this, he seemed to remember something, a hint of unnatural shyness coloring his face. “If you talked to me the way you just did with Shen Wangqing, is there anything you could ask that I wouldn’t agree to?”
Lu Jieyang was only nineteen, in the prime of his youth, bursting with energy and passion that seemed endless. He couldn’t hide what was in his heart, and his feelings were all laid bare on his face.
Wen Di stared at him for three seconds, feeling an inexplicable itch in his heart. “Why… are you so nice to me? Do you want to be friends?”
Lu Jieyang’s face flushed instantly. “Is that okay?”
He nodded eagerly, as if afraid of missing the opportunity. “I do!”
His enthusiasm burned like fire, his deep eyes brimming with intense longing.
Wen Di felt inexplicably warm under his gaze, his heartbeat quickening and his cheeks flushing.
He instinctively took a step back, stammering, “Well… I need to think about it.”
If his hand hadn’t been held by Lu Jieyang, he would have been fidgeting with his fingers.
Lu Jieyang grew even more excited, his eyebrows lifting with joy.
Just as he was about to ask for more, a magnetic yet cold voice suddenly reached their ears:
“Move aside.”
Those two icy, gloomy words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing even the warmest atmosphere and leaving everything chilled.
Turning to look, they saw Fu Zhen.
Fu Zhen had arrived at some point, and it was unclear how much he had overheard.
Beneath his sharp eyebrows, his dark pupils were deep and devoid of any warmth. His eyelids were thin, like blades, and when he looked down at someone, it felt as though you were merely a plaything rather than a person—his gaze was filled with the cold indifference of someone in power.
Lu Jieyang frowned. He had no respect for Fu Zhen’s attitude and hadn’t spoken to him since they met at the foot of the mountain, but he also didn’t want to provoke a direct confrontation.
Fu Zhen walked past them expressionlessly.
But just as he passed Lu Jieyang, he suddenly stopped. His face remained impassive, his voice as cold as ever, yet his words carried an ambiguous tone. “Are you… dating an NPC?”
Lu Jieyang froze for a moment, his face heating up. He immediately glanced at Wen Di, who was staring blankly at the ground, lost in thought and showing no reaction to the comment.
Lu Jieyang’s brow furrowed as he turned back to Fu Zhen. “What? Do you have something to say?”
Fu Zhen averted his gaze. “As long as you don’t interfere with my search for clues, I won’t intervene.”
Lu Jieyang’s frown deepened.
Fu Zhen lingered for a few seconds before suddenly looking down at the silent Wen Di and speaking slowly, “I heard that the anniversary of Shopkeeper Wen’s ex-husband is approaching. Are you reliving the joys of love through the living now?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Jieyang grabbed him by the collar and roared angrily, “Damn it, what the hell are you saying?”
The remark was both disrespectful to the dead and insulting to the living.
This was Fu Zhen’s style—his words were as ruthless as his actions, cutting straight to the heart.
Wen Di, who had been staring at the ground, finally looked up. His small face, once flushed, had turned pale from fright, and his eyes reddened under their gaze.
He bit his lower lip, his eyes watery and pitiful, said nothing, and ran away.
“Damn it!”
Lu Jieyang shoved Fu Zhen away angrily and warned him coldly, “Watch your mouth!”
Without hesitation, he hurried off to chase after Wen Di.
Fu Zhen stood still, straightening his collar, which had been ruffled.
His eyes were pitch black.
He lifted his gaze and stared in the direction the two had gone.
After a long moment, he let out a cold laugh and walked away.
…
Wen Di returned to his room and buried himself in the blankets.
He hadn’t heard a single word of the conversation between Fu Zhen and Lu Jieyang.
193 had been speaking to him just now.
If it weren’t for 193’s reminder, he would have been completely fooled by Lu Jieyang—
As a Player, how could Lu Jieyang truly befriend an NPC? Every action of his had a purpose—all to deceive him and extract clues from him!
Truly worthy of a Player, so adept at disguise! Seeing his sincere expression, he… almost believed it!
Fortunately, he wasn’t an ordinary NPC! He was a minor BOSS NPC who knew their identities!
Wen Di wiped his slightly stinging eyes—all from anger. Whenever his emotions ran too high, he would feel like crying.
The soft touch of the glove against his cheek made Wen Di freeze. Remembering that Lu Jieyang had specifically found it for him, his expression darkened briefly. But within seconds, he angrily tore off the glove and threw it away!