Chapter 12: The Desolate Village Wedding [10]

◎ Please Have Some Self-Respect ◎

The small courtyard fell into silence once more. They had no way of knowing what fate awaited the people who had been taken away.

“Will they… will they die?” Su Man asked cautiously, her eyes involuntarily darting toward the door as if she feared Nie Yun would return with her group and seize them, too. Even though Zhang Zheng was disliked and Zhou Chen was a fence-sitter, they were still two human lives.

Jiang Nan was preoccupied with thoughts of Luo Ning and didn’t want to answer. But of everyone there, Su Man only dared to speak to her, and her gaze finally rested on Jiang Nan. Noticing this, Jiang Nan’s eyes darkened in thought for a moment before she shook her head and said flatly, “I don’t know.”

Silence filled the air again, with no one knowing how to break the tension.

In the oppressive atmosphere, Luo Ning, with nothing to do, yawned and spoke languidly, “They might die, they might live. It all depends on luck. If you’re so curious, you can go check her house. It’s not like there are many houses in this village.”

No one responded, and they couldn’t see the brief flicker of mockery in Luo Ning’s weary eyes.

“We are all strangers, and we are all adults. We should pay for our own actions. What they’re going through is their own fault.” Li Tao spoke up, showing a disregard for life and a strong dislike for the two. No one objected, as his words weren’t entirely without reason.

Luo Ning’s eyes were indifferent, as if she was detached from the world. But when she reached out and took Jiang Nan’s hand, a playful, amused smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. “I haven’t rested all day. Let’s go, keep me company while I sleep.” Her words were intimate and affectionate, making it sound as if their relationship was something else entirely.

Jiang Nan looked at the hand she was holding, which was warm and delicate. But then, as if she remembered something, she tried to pull her hand away as if it had been burned. Luo Ning looked at her empty hand and then up at Jiang Nan, meeting her wary, cold gaze. She smiled faintly, not asking a question but seemingly waiting for an answer.

The coldness in Jiang Nan’s eyes intensified. She said flatly, “We are just strangers. Miss Luo, please have some self-respect.”

The formal address didn’t seem to bother Luo Ning, but for some reason, Jiang Nan saw a hint of grievance in her eyes. It was gone in an instant, making her wonder if she had imagined it. Then, Luo Ning simply shrugged and said nonchalantly, “Well, I’m tired. I’m going back to my room first.” She didn’t try to hold Jiang Nan’s hand again and turned to go inside.

Jiang Nan snapped out of her daze from that fleeting look, but she quickly dismissed it as a figment of her imagination. This person, Luo Ning, was mysterious and powerful, exuding an aura of extreme danger. She was not a relative, so why would she feel wronged by her?

Just as Luo Ning was about to step into the room, Li Tao, who had just processed their conversation, urgently called out, “Wait a moment.” Hearing this, Luo Ning paused and turned to look at him. Jiang Nan also narrowed her eyes at him. Under the intimidating pressure of their cold gazes, Li Tao inexplicably broke out in a cold sweat. At the same time, this confirmed his suspicion that these two were far from ordinary. A calculated glint flashed in his eyes as he asked, “Where did you two go last night?”

Luo Ning gave a cold laugh and said, “We are not obligated to tell you.” Jiang Nan’s face remained cold, and she said nothing.

Li Tao was annoyed, but he suppressed his anger and tried to persuade them with his self-righteous reasoning. “You said it yourself, this is a game instance, so we’re teammates. Shouldn’t teammates share information? Besides, she’s curious too, right?” He pointed at Su Man, a smug look on his face, but Su Man shook her head and desperately tried to distance herself from him. “I’m not curious, I’m not curious at all.”

Luo Ning and Jiang Nan crossed their arms, their expressions a mocking reflection of each other, as if daring him to continue. Feeling looked down upon by the two women, Li Tao, an office worker who had long been oppressed by his boss, could no longer contain his rage. Pointing at them, he said, “I’m the one who spoke up for you so Nie Yun would let you go. You have to protect me as repayment.” He tried to command others with a sense of superiority, but he fell apart under their stares. In their eyes, he was just a clown.

Li Tao had entered this voluntarily. The conditions given by the system were too tempting, and he didn’t want to be constantly targeted by his boss. When he agreed, he was filled with a sense of good fortune. But ever since he met the headless ghost and saw Nie Yun take Zhang Zheng and Zhou Chen, he started to panic. With his abilities, he couldn’t possibly survive to the end, which meant that the system’s promise was just an empty one. He couldn’t accept this, but now in a moment of crisis, he could only rely on powerful people to get through this instance. The most important thing was to stay alive.

“A grown man who wants two women to protect him. I think he must be completely useless.” Luo Ning glanced at him and mocked him mercilessly. She then ignored his sullen face and walked directly to her room. Jiang Nan gave him a meaningful look, then scoffed, as merciless as Luo Ning. “I never thought there were people this shameless.”

With both of them ridiculing him, Li Tao clenched his fists, veins throbbing on his forehead as he tried to hold back.

“Well, I’m going back too.” Su Man was also scared by his shamelessness. She awkwardly said her goodbyes and went back to her room. Li Tao looked at the closed doors, his face darkening. He let out a cold snort and returned to the empty room across from them. The two unfortunate people seemed to have been forgotten by everyone.

Back in the room, Luo Ning seemed genuinely tired, just as she had said. She went straight to bed, not even glancing at the food that Nie Yun had sent over, as if nothing in the outside world concerned her.

Jiang Nan looked at the figure sleeping with her back to her… She was the one who had complained about being hungry just a moment ago. Jiang Nan also had no appetite. She looked at the person on the bed with complex emotions, her chopsticks idly poking at the food, but she didn’t eat a single bite. Su Man was too afraid the food was poisoned to eat it.

Su Man cautiously looked at Luo Ning. Seeing that she was asleep, she then saw Jiang Nan lost in thought. After a moment, she didn’t ask what Luo Ning and Jiang Nan had done last night, but instead whispered to Jiang Nan, “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about dying.” Jiang Nan said slowly, her eyes calm as if she wasn’t joking.

Su Man: ??

Jiang Nan’s gaze gradually shifted away from Luo Ning, looking at who-knows-where, lost in who-knows-what thoughts. Melancholy was etched on her face. Her silvery hair was stirred by the wind. In the dim light, she was like a withered poppy, blooming on the other side of death.

Something flashed in Su Man’s eyes. She spoke softly, “I don’t know what you’ve been through, but when you entered here, you must have had some unachievable wish. Only by living can you make it a reality.”

“No,” Jiang Nan said, looking at the distant mountains outside the window, the circling black crows, a sealed and ominous place.

Su Man: “Huh?” She looked at Jiang Nan in confusion. A warm ray of sunlight shone through the window and landed on Jiang Nan, giving her a soft glow, but it still couldn’t disperse the calm gloom in her eyes.

“I have no wish,” Jiang Nan said flatly. Her presence here was an accident, but if she had to name a wish, it would be to find the person who saved her.

Su Man was stunned for a moment, then said, “But everyone has a wish.” That, more accurately, should be called a desire.

“I am not a person.” Jiang Nan’s voice was still very flat, as if she was stating a fact.

Su Man: ??

Su Man then realized that Jiang Nan might not want to chat with her, which was why she said those things. She lowered her head and twisted her skirt, looking a little uneasy. She glanced at Luo Ning and, after a long while, whispered again, “Don’t you think she’s strange?”

Hearing this, Jiang Nan’s thoughts gradually returned. She made a questioning sound, then narrowed her eyes and spoke with a different meaning. “She’s not a person either.”

But this time, Su Man shook her head seriously and denied it. She then pointed at Luo Ning, who had her back to them, and frowned as she seriously explained her point to Jiang Nan. “I felt uncomfortable when I first saw her, the same feeling I had when I saw that headless ghost. And she has a faint scent about her.” Su Man’s brows were furrowed, as if she was struggling to describe it.

Jiang Nan was stunned and instinctively asked, “What scent?” Jiang Nan only knew that Luo Ning had the same jasmine scent as the person who had saved her.

Su Man looked at Luo Ning again. Seeing that she showed no signs of waking up, she hesitated before saying, “The scent of death.”

At her words, Jiang Nan seemed to really smell a faint scent in the air. It was a rotten smell, the smell of a rotting corpse. However, it was hard to say whether it was coming from Luo Ning. Jiang Nan withdrew her gaze from Luo Ning and looked at Su Man across from her. Her light-colored eyes seemed to be able to see through people. The gloom between her eyebrows dissipated a little, and she spoke with a half-smile, a sense of oppression that made one’s heart tremble. “I’ve always been curious, why do you always wear a mask?”

The moment she said this, a look of panic flashed in Su Man’s eyes. She subconsciously covered her face, her gaze avoiding Jiang Nan’s. “It’s… nothing,” she stammered.

The rotten smell in the air grew stronger, along with a faint scent of something scorched, filling the room and making one’s nasal passages uncomfortable. But just as Jiang Nan furrowed her brows, the next second, the unpleasant smell was replaced by the fresh scent of jasmine. A figure flashed through Jiang Nan’s mind. She subtly glanced at Luo Ning, who was still sleeping with her back to her.

After a long while, seeing that Luo Ning showed no intention of joining their conversation, she looked back at Su Man, her gaze calm and composed, as if she was quietly waiting for her answer. Su Man’s eyes met Jiang Nan’s, and she seemed to be scalded. She quickly flinched and stammered, “I… I…” For a long time, she couldn’t say anything more.

No one noticed the flash of scarlet light in her lowered eyes.