Chapter 33

“Bzzz bzzz bzzz…”

Jiang Xiao was jolted awake from his coma by a strange noise. His whole body was weak, his head heavy and groggy. He was dizzy and disoriented for a long time before gradually coming to his senses.

…That bastard Jiang Mu. Not only had he threatened him with a Gun, but he’d also drugged him unconscious.

When he awoke, it was still dark before his eyes. He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep.

Jiang Xiao got up from the bed, his limbs still feeling residual soreness and weakness. Fighting through the discomfort, he rose.

Thankfully, Jiang Mu hadn’t gone completely insane this time and chained him up. Otherwise, Jiang Xiao would really want to hit someone.

“Jiang Mu.” Jiang Xiao said coldly. “Resorting to this trick every time something happens, are you even a man? Tell me, what do you want?”

Silence filled the room.

…The man had actually just left like that? He was really that reassured about him.

Speechless, Jiang Xiao got up, fumbled his way to the door, and pushed it—

It wouldn’t open. Locked.

What about jumping out the window? Forget it. Jiang Mu’s room was on the fourth floor. Even a normal person would have difficulty jumping down from here, let alone Jiang Xiao, who was completely in the dark.

What did Jiang Mu mean by locking him up here all the time? Locking him up was one thing, but he had to knock him out too. Jiang Xiao was understanding him less and less.

The floor heating in the room was turned up very high. Initially, Jiang Xiao didn’t notice anything, but after stumbling around, he was actually so hot he started sweating. The sweater on his body felt excessively thick now.

…How did he remember that Jiang Mu’s room shouldn’t be this hot?

Jiang Xiao took a few more steps. The sensation under his sock-clad feet was soft. Frowning, he crouched down, and his fingers touched the floor—

Thick Carpet met his touch, not the cold marble floor.

Something was wrong.

This wasn’t Jiang Mu’s room.

Jiang Xiao recalled again. When Jiang Mu had caught him, the man’s voice was low and hoarse, as if forcibly suppressing pain. But he had only kicked him once. Could one kick be that damaging?

All these anomalies caused Jiang Xiao’s doubts to surge.

Things shouldn’t be like this.

Bo Xiting wasn’t someone who made promises lightly. He should have had the confidence to stall Jiang Mu.

If his guess was correct, the person who discovered him and knocked him unconscious absolutely couldn’t be Jiang Mu. Otherwise, why would the other go to the trouble of knocking him out and bringing him to a strange room?

But who else could that person be?

Thinking it over, it seemed only Ying Weizhu was left.

Having been stood up and rejected several times, coupled with Ying Weizhu’s vengeful, grudge-bearing personality, it was highly likely he would disguise himself as someone else to take Jiang Xiao away.

Yet something still seemed off.

What exactly… was it?

“Bzzz bzzz bzzz…”

Jiang Xiao’s pants pocket suddenly vibrated.

Jiang Xiao abruptly remembered—this was the sound that had woken him up!

Because of Qin Guan’s words, Jiang Xiao had kept his Cell Phone on his person at all times, guarding it carefully, never letting anyone see it.

Proven right now.

In his pocket, he also carried the round ball he’d felt from under Jiang Mu’s bed. He had no idea what it was for.

Fumbling blindly, Jiang Xiao pressed the answer button. A voice came from the other end of the phone:

“Young Master Jiang, the matter you asked me to investigate has results!”

Jiang Xiao calmly gave a “Mn.”

“There were two people in the car that hit you at the time. One was the driver, and the other was your roommate, Qin Guan,” the person said. “The driver claimed he’d drunk alcohol by mistake then, which was why he accidentally hit someone. But after investigating, it was found he hadn’t drunk any alcohol at all!”

“In the end, he admitted he was put up to it. But that person wasn’t Qin Guan. Qin Guan had hailed a cab leaving the school and happened to get into that car. That driver was actually instructed by someone else.”

At this point, the person suddenly became hesitant, as if the following words were difficult to utter.

Jiang Xiao patiently asked: “What happened next? Continue.”

“It may be hard for you to believe, but that person said…”

“The one who instructed him was the Eldest Young Master of Wen Family, Wen Xu.”

The person finished and waited for a while. Receiving no response from Jiang Xiao, he couldn’t help but ask anxiously: “Young Master Jiang, you don’t believe me? I’ve always been a person of the Jiang Family, I absolutely couldn’t be lying. I was also very shocked when I learned this. Young Master Wen had such a good relationship with you, how could he possibly send someone to hit you… Could there be some misunderstanding here…”

Jiang Xiao was silent for a moment before speaking: “I didn’t say I don’t believe you. Don’t be nervous.”

“I’m just… like you, somewhat incredulous.”

If he thought about it correctly, this person was probably a plot device NPC in the game sent to deliver clues. He was unlikely to be lying.

Ying Weizhu had also said that Wen Xu was the one who orchestrated the car accident, but Jiang Xiao hadn’t believed it at the time.

Among all these people, Wen Xu was the one least likely to want to kill him.

Besides…

Jiang Xiao pulled up the Mission Panel. It clearly stated: You narrowed the suspects down to three people.

So Jiang Xiao had naturally assumed the car accident was the work of one of those three.

He hadn’t expected that even this kind of mission prompt could contain misleading wording with subtle tricks. So close, he’d almost fallen for it.

“Since that driver has already confessed, do you think we should continue the investigation?”

Jiang Xiao thought for a moment: “Investigate that driver a bit more, see who else he met with before. Right, I have a few more things I need you to look into for me.”

Seeing that the person was about to end the call, Jiang Xiao absolutely couldn’t let this clue-collecting repository slip away so easily. If the call hung up, trying to call back would be harder than reaching the heavens.

“Yes, Young Master Jiang, go ahead.”

“First, the plagiarism scandal Ying Weizhu got caught up in—find out exactly who was pulling the strings behind the scenes;”

“Second, this hotel where I’m staying—investigate who the owner is, then get a detailed floor plan. Also, I need you to verbally describe the layout and setup of this hotel for me;”

“Third…” Jiang Xiao paused. “Help me look into Bo Xiting and Jiang Mu. When was the last time they met or communicated via phone call before coming to this hotel.”

“I’ve noted everything down. Young Master Jiang, rest assured, I guarantee I’ll get results as fast as possible.”

“If I don’t answer, call back in an hour,” Jiang Xiao emphasized. “Don’t call back-to-back.”

“Understood!”

Jiang Xiao didn’t expect the other party to be able to find out everything. But even getting some of it would be very important information.

But… how could it be Wen Xu?

Jiang Xiao couldn’t figure it out.

Judging from these people’s relationships with him, Wen Xu shouldn’t have any hatred value towards him. After all, he was already his boyfriend now, unless he had done something to provoke Wen Xu’s anger.

But Jiang Xiao couldn’t think of anything at all that would have.

If that were the case, though, his blindness also made perfect logical sense.

Because he didn’t die in the car accident, and Wen Xu couldn’t kill him again in the hospital, so he might as well poison him and make him lose his sight.

Then bring him to such a desolate, uninhabited place. Jiang Xiao had absolutely no self-sufficiency. Even if he were killed, no one would know. Afterwards, a little cleanup of the scene, stage it to look like suicide… likely no one would say anything.

…Talk about a poisonous-scorpion boyfriend!

Wen Xu seemed refined and genteel, a man of decorum. Never imagined he could be so utterly ruthless in private.

Jiang Xiao was practically developing PTSD about dating right now. See? If you don’t date, fine. But if you do something wrong to your boyfriend, you could get killed.

But Wen Xu was already dead.

Even if he wanted to verify it, there was no way now.

If they believed Bo Xiting—that he didn’t push Wen Xu down—then Wen Xu might have slipped and fallen accidentally. Or perhaps…

He wanted to commit suicide?

This absurd thought popped into his mind but was immediately chased away.

No. Wen Xu had absolutely no reason to commit suicide.

Then could it be…

He deliberately fell to create the illusion that he had died?

But according to the description, the spot where Wen Xu fell faced directly over the Cliff. Falling from there, no one could have survived. They’d probably be left without even a corpse.

Could Wen Xu fly?

Does he know resurrection magic?

Is he a dragon?

All sorts of bizarre and ridiculous ideas began filling Jiang Xiao’s mind. Just then, “Creak—” The door was pushed open.

“Why are you sitting on the floor? Aren’t you cold?” Jiang Mu asked. His throat seemed uncomfortable; his voice was a bit low and hoarse. Although it wasn’t unpleasant, compared to Jiang Mu’s original voice, it was only sixty percent similar.

Jiang Xiao sat on the floor with his knees hugged, coldly retorting:

“I’ll sit wherever I want. None of your business.”

Jiang Mu didn’t speak but walked over to Jiang Xiao, lifted him up by the waist, and, ignoring Jiang Xiao’s struggles, placed him back on the bed.

“Don’t fuss.”

He seemed to have just come in from outside; his cuffs and collar still carried the cold wind and snow. The chill made Jiang Xiao’s fingers, which had clutched his clothes in panic, recoil slightly.

But even carrying Jiang Xiao seemed to be somewhat strenuous for him. Jiang Xiao could feel that towards the end, the other was clearly reaching his limit.

But that was normal. After all, Jiang Xiao was also an adult male over 1.8 meters tall who exercised regularly. Although he looked slender in clothes, he was actually not light to carry.

“You pointed a Gun at me just now, wanted to kill me, and now you’re telling me not to fuss?” Jiang Xiao said incredulously. “Jiang Mu, aren’t you going a bit too far?!”

Jiang Xiao was curious to see just how long Ying Weizhu planned to keep playing this “pretending to be Jiang Mu” game with him.

With Ying Weizhu’s arrogant personality, he’d likely have trouble keeping up the act soon.

Jiang Mu didn’t speak.

Only his faint breathing could be heard in the air.

Jiang Xiao: “…”

Was he really that heavy? He had to pant for half a day after one carry.

“I was just joking with you.” Jiang Mu spoke again, his voice much steadier. Then, the back of Jiang Xiao’s hand was poked by something hard. Subconsciously, Jiang Xiao quickly grabbed it. His fingers squeezed slightly, and the object crumpled flat.

“Just a rolled-up paper tube.”

Jiang Xiao: “…”

Jiang Xiao was truly about to explode from sheer embarrassment and anger.

“When are you going to let me go?” Jiang Xiao said stiffly.

“Isn’t it nice staying here?” Jiang Mu continued to ask calmly, occasionally letting out low coughs, as if he had a cold.

“It’s not safe outside.”

“That’s still safer than staying here with you,” Jiang Xiao said. “At least Bo Xiting wouldn’t treat me the way you do. You’re just a madman—”

“Do you think Bo Xiting is some good person then?” Jiang Mu suddenly chuckled. The sound was very light but held a strangely sinister quality. He said softly, “You just like his type, is that it?”

“Do you know what Bo Xiting has done to you? What’s in his camera—do you know?” Jiang Mu’s pace was slow throughout, but like a small hammer, it struck his heart with a light yet heavy blow, carrying an inexplicable, inorganic creepiness.

“His camera is full of you.”

“He stalked you, secretly photographed you. Do you actually like that sort of thing too?”

“If you don’t believe it, you can go check his video camera yourself—”

“Oh, I forgot. You can’t see.”

A pair of hands brushed over Jiang Xiao’s cheek, like petting a mischievous cat—gentle as a breeze. But the voice was like a continuously forming typhoon, on the verge of losing control.

Jiang Xiao even suspected those hands actually wanted to strangle his neck.

Jiang Mu lowered his eyes, gazing at Jiang Xiao.

“Xiaoxiao, even so, you still think Bo Xiting is better than me?”

In this moment, Jiang Mu’s tone inexplicably made Jiang Xiao associate him with someone who absolutely shouldn’t be here—

Wen Xu.