Translator: Cinder Translations
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Jiang Cheng had been walking around the studio building with Xia Meng in tow, both upstairs and downstairs, before finally letting her go, claiming he was showing her the empire he built for her.
There were about 7 or 8 people following in two cars, all of them staring at them with sharp eyes. Fatty unconsciously swallowed.
If any one of these people were singled out, perhaps even a doctor could handle them. But if they attacked together, and with Xia Meng involved, Fatty felt that he and the doctor alone wouldn't be able to handle it.
He repeatedly tried to signal the doctor with his eyes, suggesting that he should stop while things were still good.
Maybe the doctor had a moment of conscience. He reluctantly lingered a bit longer before finally letting Xia Meng go.
To Fatty's surprise, Xia Meng seemed to have lost interest in retaliating against the doctor. She merely shot him and Fatty a cold glance before turning and walking away without saying a word.
"Doctor..." Fatty leaned in, speaking to Jiang Cheng, who was sitting on the sofa. "Why did you provoke her for no reason? It's a blessing she didn't cause trouble for us."
Jiang Cheng picked up his water cup, only to realize it was empty.
Fatty immediately ran off to boil some water, and after a short while, returned with the kettle and poured water into the cup, adding a few broken tea leaves for good measure.
"You don't think Xia Meng's look at me was different from before, do you?" Jiang Cheng said after taking a small sip of tea.
Fatty grimaced. "Doctor, if you're trying to say she likes you, I'd advise you to shut up. Even if she does like me, there's no way she likes you."
"Che." Jiang Cheng frowned, obviously displeased. But it seemed like he thought of something and didn't argue. Instead, he continued, "According to her personality, something like what happened just now wouldn't have been easily settled, but as you saw, she just walked away."
Jiang Cheng looked at Fatty. "Why?"
"Maybe she has something more important to do," Fatty guessed.
"Ever since she came out of this copy, she's been uneasy. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so easily caught by me," Jiang Cheng continued. "She wasn't like this before going in."
"Also..." He looked at Fatty, put down his tea cup, and frowned slightly. "Why did they let us go so easily?"
"Let us go?" Fatty was surprised. "Doctor, if it weren't for you being so smart and catching Xia Meng first, we might not even be talking right now."
Sensing that discussing this with Fatty wasn't productive, Jiang Cheng got straight to the point. "The time we spent in the nightmare world translates to only a few minutes in reality, even less. In such a short time, I don't believe he wouldn't have been able to wait. What was so urgent that he had to leave immediately?"
Fatty immediately realized Jiang Cheng was referring to the middle-aged man.
This person had left a deep impression on him, especially with that line about cutting off his flesh and feeding it to the doctor.
He instinctively felt that wasn't a joke.
And it was clear that the doctor was also cautious around him.
"Doctor," Fatty blinked and asked curiously, "Do you mean he's still here? He hasn't left?"
"Mm."
"Then what does he want?"
Jiang Cheng looked at him without speaking.
After a moment, Fatty's eyes changed, and he mumbled to himself, "It's because if he's here, we can't escape. So he's probably hiding and letting us go to make us feel safer."
Fatty took out a steel pen from his pocket and placed it on the table. Jiang Cheng immediately recognized it as the pen used to hold Xia Meng hostage.
"Otherwise, I can't figure out why he would leave a pen in the room," Jiang Cheng said, staring at the table.
"He wanted to let us go, but didn't want to make it too obvious," Fatty swallowed nervously, feeling he had finally caught up with the doctor's thoughts. "Is that it, doctor?"
Jiang Cheng didn't directly answer him. He turned his head and looked out the window. "He also arranged for someone to protect Xia Meng under the pretext of keeping her safe, ensuring we make it back safely."
Leaning back on the sofa, Jiang Cheng sighed. "How considerate."
"Doctor, as long as he doesn't harm us, that's fine," Fatty licked his lips, recalling some past moments and sounding uneasy. "That You Qi is really dangerous, if all the people from Deep Crimson are like him..."
"If all of Deep Crimson's people were like him, they'd all be dead by now," Jiang Cheng interrupted.
Fatty raised his head in confusion, looking at the doctor.
Jiang Cheng frowned, clearly impatient, but still spoke. "You Qi wasn't special. He just had an advantage in information. If the positions were reversed, he wouldn't stand a chance against An Xuan or Zuo Jing."
The doctor's words opened a new thought process for Fatty. After thinking for a moment, he realized Jiang Cheng was right, especially since You Qi had died so horribly.
And An Xuan seemed perfectly fine after eliminating him.
"Doctor, do you mean You Qi wasn't from Deep Crimson?" Fatty asked, eyes wide. "So the real person from Deep Crimson is someone else?"
"I don't know," Jiang Cheng said bluntly. He took out a piece of paper and began writing with the steel pen.
Finally, he walked over to the desk, picked up his phone, and took a photo of the paper. "Find this person,".
After a pause, Jiang Cheng added, "Don't get the same one from last time. Find someone reliable."
"Is it Brother Pi Ruan?" Fatty immediately reacted. He seemed very loyal to the doctor. Last time, the doctor had him find someone.
Although the result wasn't perfect.
Fatty glanced at the wall clock. It was almost 2 AM. Brother Pi Ruan should be asleep by now, but to his surprise...
"Doctor Jiang," Pi Ruan's voice came through almost immediately, not even half a minute later. He had already sent a voice message.
"Don't worry, do you not know how well I handle things?"
Fatty stared in confusion. Why was Pi Ruan awake at this hour? And why did he sound so tired, as if he had worked in the fields all night?
"He generally doesn't have anything to do during the day," Jiang Cheng explained, not even looking at Fatty. "But his tasks at night are more intense."
Fatty suddenly thought of something and got a chill down his spine.
After a while, he turned back to the topic. "Doctor," he blinked and asked, "Of the people who survived, besides us and Xia Meng, there's only Chen Qiang left. Do you suspect him?"
"What do you think?"
Jiang Cheng flipped open a blue-covered notebook, walked over, and spread it out on the table before sitting across from Fatty.
He then pulled a pencil from the notebook and began drawing.
This simple action made Fatty feel somewhat flattered.
Fatty instinctively straightened up, seriously saying, "Doctor, I don't think Chen Qiang is from Deep Crimson."
Jiang Cheng nodded while drawing in the notebook. "I don't think so either."
Gradually, Fatty's gaze shifted to the notebook. He saw a face start to appear on the page.
(End of the Chapter)
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