Chapter 89 The Light

A day passed quickly. In the afternoon, someone called to make an appointment with the doctor, but the doctor declined with an excuse.

Pi Ruan had brought an abundance of ingredients, and Fatty cooked another table full of delicious food, which the doctor devoured with gusto.

Fatty felt that even if he ate his fill, he couldn't match the doctor's appetite.

"Why aren't you eating?" After eating his fill, Jiang Cheng, who was resting on the sofa to digest, glanced at Fatty, who was still chewing slowly, not even halfway through his bowl of rice.

There was plenty of food today.

"I'm not very hungry, Doctor," Fatty said evasively, turning his head to look out the window.

It was getting dark, and the room wasn't lit. The last rays of the setting sun were about to fade, and the world was about to be ruled by night again.

The best thing about taking in someone like Fatty was that he couldn't lie. Even if he tried, he couldn't fool Jiang Cheng.

Just like now, Jiang Cheng only glanced at his profile and knew he was thinking about the little beggar.

Whatever he was thinking was written all over his face.

"They buried the little beggar in the end," Jiang Cheng said. "Buried her on the hillside behind the yard." He paused. "I saw it with my own eyes. I'm not lying to you."

Fatty turned his face, his eyes red-rimmed, and looked at Jiang Cheng, as if trying to determine the truth of what he was saying.

Jiang Cheng sighed helplessly and suggested, "How about... I swear?"

"Don't use your parents or family," Fatty said. "I know you don't have any."

"Tsk." Jiang Cheng frowned, grumbling that the world had changed, and even a clumsy fatty like him knew how to scheme.

"Doctor," Fatty said seriously after a pause, "do you think... if we hadn't shown up, would she not have died?"

"That's a pointless question," Jiang Cheng said directly. "It's not like we wanted to go."

"Besides, even if we hadn't shown up, wouldn't someone else have? She was just a..." He stopped abruptly, then changed his tone and said, "That child was a key figure. As long as a player triggered it, her fate was sealed."

Fatty's head drooped, and Jiang Cheng didn't know if he was listening.

"You saw the ending. The most important step in this mission was to gain the child's trust. Otherwise, even if you knew the brocade pouch was on her and snatched it, it would only be the other half, which was useless. I suspect that half might even have a trap."

"The person who gained the child's trust would eventually transform into the groom, put the phoenix coronet on Xuanji, and fulfill her regret." Jiang Cheng paused and said, "If I'm not mistaken, that young master Huang must have been a good person in life, and he took good care of the child, which is why she trusted him."

"Just like she trusted you," Jiang Cheng said, looking at him.

Fatty seemed to recall the child's kindness to him, and his eyes became even redder. Finally, he looked away, avoiding eye contact with the doctor.

"When I was in my hometown in the county," Fatty said in a low voice, "I also had younger siblings. They were very good to me, always following me around. Our family wasn't well-off, so I had to go out and work odd jobs to supplement the family income. Even if I came home late, they would wait for me to eat together."

"Every time I came home at night, I could see a light they left for me through the window," Fatty described. "It was a small, orange light, because that saved electricity. There would be a row of little heads by the window."

He seemed to recall the scene, and his expression softened. "They would gather together to wait for me, and then compete to open the door for me. Whether or not I brought them gifts, they were just as happy."

"They told me... I was the best gift Heaven had sent them." Fatty looked up at Jiang Cheng and said, "Doctor, I saw the same light in that child's eyes as I saw in my sister's."

After a long silence, Jiang Cheng nodded. "I understand."

After a moment, Fatty seemed to realize he had lost his composure. He quickly rubbed his eyes and chuckled, "Doctor, I guess I'm just getting old. I get sentimental over everything. My younger siblings should all be adults now, maybe even married."

"Haven't been in touch for a long time?"

Fatty rubbed his face hard. "What's the point of contacting them when I'm in such a mess?" He looked away and said softly, "Wouldn't that just be annoying?"

"Alright, alright," Fatty said, waving his hand. "Doctor, let's not talk about this. Let's talk about something serious. When are we going to..."

The next second, Fatty noticed that the doctor's eyes had suddenly changed. He immediately stared at the door, and after a moment, a knock sounded.

But there was no politeness in the sound.

Then, the door was pushed open, and a long shadow was cast on the ground. The person hadn't even approached yet, but you could already feel the frost on his body.

"It's you?" Fatty sat up in shock.

The middle-aged man strode in, found a seat as if he were at home, and without any hesitation, picked up Jiang Cheng's chopsticks from the table and took a piece of fish, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.

"Sit down," he said naturally, without looking at Fatty.

Fatty pursed his lips and sat down obediently after seeing that the doctor didn't react.

"Just eat a little," Jiang Cheng said reluctantly, looking at him. "You really don't treat yourself like an outsider!"

The middle-aged man took out a tissue and wiped his mouth, then turned his head to look at Jiang Cheng and said coldly, "Goodbye." He made to get up and leave.

"Wait!" Jiang Cheng asked, "I've completed the mission. According to our agreement, shouldn't you tell me something?"

The middle-aged man said mechanically, "But I'm an outsider."

Fatty looked at the middle-aged man as if he were an alien, wondering if he had taken the wrong medicine. How did his ability to choke people become comparable to the doctor's in such a short time?

Jiang Cheng said dramatically, "How about you be my insider?"

The middle-aged man didn't argue with him and said directly, "Last time, it was just a fervent follower of Crimson who entered the nightmare, not the real Crimson, so our agreement cannot be fully fulfilled."

Fatty swallowed. "You're not thinking of breaking the agreement, are you? You're not exactly young, you can't talk like..."

The middle-aged man glanced at him, and Fatty swallowed the rest of his words.

"What do you want to know?" the middle-aged man asked, looking at Jiang Cheng.

"Benefits," Jiang Cheng said without thinking. "What benefits can you get from entering the nightmare?"

He had been wondering about this before. Being dragged into the nightmare without knowing was one thing, but why were there people like Xia Meng who actively entered the nightmare and kept farming it for clues?

It was like farming a dungeon in a game.

It couldn't be explained simply by the safety paper or the clue newspapers.

After thinking for a few seconds, the middle-aged man nodded. "Good question."