Qinian rested his forehead against the hollow of Jiang Nuan’s shoulder. After a moment, he finally released her, though clearly reluctant to do so.
When Jiang Nuan’s feet touched the ground, her legs were still weak, and she immediately grabbed the easel beside her for support.
Qinian was quick to react. He raised a hand and steadied the wobbling easel for her.
His ears were still a little red, and his face was full of indignation. “My brother definitely did that on purpose.”
Jiang Nuan held back a laugh. “Your brother sent you to find someone, not to pin her against an easel.”
“I found you,” Qinian said righteously. “But he never said I couldn’t say a few extra words after finding you.”
“That was your idea of saying a few extra words?” Jiang Nuan glanced at the scattered drawing paper covering the floor, her face warming slightly. “Qinian, this is a restricted area.”
Qinian raised a brow. “That sounds exactly like something my brother would say.”
“Then you should call me Sister.”
“I’d rather die!” Qinian blurted out, almost on reflex.
Jiang Nuan stopped teasing him. She beckoned him over. “Let’s go.”
Qinian huffed, but still came a few steps closer, took her hand, and led her toward the door.
The door to the activity room swung open. Outside, it was eerily quiet. The wet, soft sound of something crawling along the floor had disappeared.
The corridor was so dark it seemed to have no end. The flashlight on their terminals illuminated the floor at their feet, but they could see no more than a meter ahead. Beyond that meter, it was no different from having their eyes shut.
Farther away, there was nothing at all.
A ball of fire sprang to life in Qinian’s palm.
As the flames flickered, they lit up half his face and dispelled a little of the darkness around them.
He instinctively moved half a step in front of Jiang Nuan and said in a low voice, “Stay close.”
“Aren’t you afraid of the dark?” Jiang Nuan asked, turning her head toward him.
Qinian didn’t so much as blink. “Being afraid of the dark doesn’t conflict with protecting you.”
He paused, then added, “This little bit of light only reaches about a meter, at most. If something rushes at us from outside, I can at least take the first hit. Then I’ll burn it.”
Jiang Nuan smiled and took his hand with her free one. “We’ll cut it down together.”
Qinian lowered his eyes to their clasped hands, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. “All right.”
The two of them lightened their steps and proceeded along the corridor.
Qinian’s palm was scorching hot.
Strangely enough, with a ball of fire guiding her, the pitch-black corridor suddenly didn’t seem like such a big deal.
The light from their terminals and the glow of the flames fell across the floor, occasionally revealing scraps of paper and tables pushed against the walls.
Everything remained motionless.
Too motionless.
Jiang Nuan even began to miss the sound of that thing crawling along the floor.
At least a sound meant the danger was somewhere definite.
This deathly silence, on the other hand, made every hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
Qinian suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” Jiang Nuan halted as well, her gaze sweeping sharply over the space ahead.
Qinian’s expression turned a little unnatural. His eyes moved across the rooms illuminated by the firelight.
“Nuannuan.”
“Hmm?”
“Come with me to the bathroom.”
…
Jiang Nuan wondered if she had heard him wrong. “What did you say?”
“I wanted to go when I passed through here to find you,” Qinian said, raising a hand to rub the tip of his nose. “But it was too dark inside. Going in alone would be… inconvenient.”
…Inconvenient.
How would having her accompany him to the men’s room make it convenient?
Jiang Nuan stared at him for several seconds.
“How old are you this year?”
Qinian answered instinctively, “Ten—”
He stopped and quickly corrected himself.
“Twenty-two!”
“Last time on the White Whale, you said you were twenty-one.”
“I—I just had my birthday a couple of days ago!”
Jiang Nuan rolled her eyes. “I’ll wait outside the door. Go in by yourself.”
Qinian fell silent for a moment. “…Fine.”
He led Jiang Nuan to the bathroom entrance, then waved his palmful of fire inside first.
The light shone in, revealing only a row of sinks and mirrors.
Qinian turned back to Jiang Nuan. “Stay right by the entrance. Don’t wander off.”
“Yes, yes, I know. Go already.”
Qinian glanced at her once more before turning around and entering the men’s bathroom.
The door closed behind him, and the corridor fell silent again.
Jiang Nuan held up her terminal, its light illuminating only a small patch of floor in front of her.
Farther away, the darkness was thick enough to swallow everything. The corridor was so quiet that all she could hear was her own breathing.
Exploring a horror academy, with one of her companions stopping to use the bathroom halfway through.
The writer of this lousy instance had better not let her catch them.
Jiang Nuan lowered her eyes to the terminal. Less than two hours of normal time had passed since they entered the instance.
And yet it was already pitch-black outside.
She remembered Ji Chuying saying there would be a dorm inspection at night. After reuniting with Qi Sui and Qinian, they would probably have to make another trip to the dormitory.
The inspection was one thing, but she was also thinking about the suitcase. Her instincts told her that it contained an important clue.
There was something she had never been able to figure out.
Under normal circumstances, the monsters in the restricted area should have lured people into breaking the rules, then used that opportunity to kill them.
But Ji Chuying had led her there, testified for her in front of Teacher Zhao, and even taken the initiative to tell her the rules for the dorm inspection.
…Why?
Jiang Nuan suddenly thought of another question.
At present, the only light in the corridor came from her terminal’s flashlight.
That wasn’t a light source inside a room. Going by what had happened before, those things that crawled along the floor should have been closing in on her.
Yet she had been standing there for at least a minute, and not a single sound had come from them.
…Why was that?
The light from the terminal suddenly wavered, and footsteps sounded beside her.
Black combat uniform, and that excessively handsome face—it was definitely Qinian.
“Let’s go.” Qinian took her hand again.
Jiang Nuan closed her fingers around his. The moment her palm touched his, her brows knitted.
The hand in hers was icy cold.
Qinian’s body temperature had always been high, as hot as fire.
Maybe he had just washed his hands?
That was what Jiang Nuan told herself, but the more she thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Even if he had just washed his hands, half a minute had passed. His hand should have warmed up by now.
“Qinian.”
The person in front of her didn’t turn around. “Hmm?”
Jiang Nuan stared at him. “Bring out the fire. We can use both lights. Then we’ll be able to see farther down the corridor.”
Qinian didn’t answer. He simply kept holding her hand and walked two more steps.
Jiang Nuan came to an abrupt stop.
The person ahead was pulled to a halt. Slowly, he turned his head.
The light from the terminal swept across his face.
It was indeed Qinian’s face.
But as Jiang Nuan looked at him, a chill spread from her back through her entire body.
Those eyes were too calm.
Moonblades condensed in her palm. She tried to pull her hand free, but the hand holding hers tightened its grip.
“Qinian” suddenly lunged toward her.
The moonblade in Jiang Nuan’s right hand had only just formed when he seized her wrist and forced her arm upward, slamming it against the wall.
Her back struck the cold wall. At the same time, the other hand of her opponent cushioned the back of her head.
Why would this monster bother with a superfluous gesture like that?
She lifted her leg and tried to kick him, but he seemed to have anticipated it. His knee blocked her movement, trapping her between himself and the wall.
Furious, she snapped, “Who are you?”
“Qinian” lowered his eyes to the hand he was still holding. His expression was so shadowed that it was impossible to make out.
After a moment, he spoke—but the unfamiliar tone sent a chill down Jiang Nuan’s back.
“So this is how you are when he holds your hand.”
He raised his eyes. There was none of Qinian’s usual warmth in them, only a gloom so repressed it was almost out of control.
“Not even a moment’s hesitation.”
