Chapter 188: Chapter 164: Deception_2
Pei Qiuyu had always remembered how she had taken care of Yang Xiao before, so she decided to give the sister the opportunity to perform.
Of course, he didn’t explain too much to Xu Yu, as he had his own plans.
In order to deal with Sun Shengnan and her people, Xu Yu also needed the help of Yang Xiao and his friends, so she agreed to Yang Xiao’s requests. Principal Wu had a wide network of contacts in the town, so this small favor was not a problem.
It wasn’t until after Xu Yu had left that the two of them opened the door. Song Yan didn’t close the door and made a round of inspections in the room, especially in places like the bathroom and under the bed and in the wardrobe. Thankfully, everything was normal.
After meticulously closing the door and locking it, Song Yan sat down on the bed with a huff and angrily dialed Yu Mi’s room number. The phone rang for a long time, but the other party didn’t pick up.
"Heh, daring to give me the slip, are you afraid to answer the phone?" Song Yan laughed angrily and took out his cellphone, planning to give Yu Mi a lesson she would never forget.
But before he could make the call, Yang Xiao stopped him and handed him a cup of warm tea, "Song, calm down, let it be."
"Let it be? If I don’t show her how formidable I am, how will she know how many eyes Lord Horse has?" Having made a close call with death, Song Yan was very angry now.
Yang Xiao sipped his tea with a smile and shook his head, "Song, think about it, what would you say when you call? After all, we’re the ones who deceived her first. She saw through our ruse and didn’t fall for it, and now we’re furious with embarrassment. However you put it, it doesn’t sound good."
While he knew this to be true, Song Yan couldn’t swallow his anger. He hadn’t expected the honest and straightforward Yu Mi to learn to deceive, seeming to be quite the actor.
"Alright, alright, let’s talk about something serious," Yang Xiao patted Song Yan’s shoulder and sat down across from him, his expression unusually solemn, "Do you think Xu Yu is reliable?"
Hearing this, Song Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise, "What, you suspect she’s deceiving us? That everything she said was a lie?"
"Not necessarily deception, but I worry she’s using us. And there are some things she may not have told us the truth about, particularly regarding her relationship with Teacher Wang."
"A teacher-student romance?" Song Yan’s eyes widened.
"No, I mean her connection with the current Teacher Wang... um... it may be much closer than we think," Yang Xiao said in a hushed tone, "Don’t you find it strange? Our Teacher Xu seems to have a very accurate grasp of Ghost’s patterns of action."
"How so?"
"Think about it, if you were Principal Wu, what would you do before going to pick up Xu Yu?" Yang Xiao asked.
"I’d call first, asking what Teacher Xu Yu was doing and where she was," Song Yan replied, putting himself in the situation and answering based on normal human logic.
"Right, but do you remember what Principal Wu said? He said that as soon as he drove to the school, he bumped into Xu Yu. Does the Ghost have the ability to predict the future?"
"You’re saying someone leaked the information," Song Yan caught on, "It’s Xu Yu! She’s the one who lured the Ghost here!"
"Yes, that seems to be the case. Before, I was just curious, but after she took us to her secret base, I was sure," Yang Xiao continued, "Think about it. After all, we are actors brought in by Sun Shengnan, and if this movie wraps up successfully, we all benefit. So from any angle, Xu Yu should be extremely wary of us."
"But what happened? We merely hinted at some interest in cooperating, and she fell for it, directly taking us to her secret base."
"To put it another way, if we wanted to harm her, we would only need to control her, report the situation of the basement to Sun Shengnan on the spot, and then wait for Sun Shengnan to bring people over to catch the thief red-handed."
"Heh, knowing the kind of person Sun Shengnan is, she would turn the town upside down even without evidence. If she caught Xu Yu illegally printing flyers, she’d probably be able to send her to jail. After everything that’s happened, it makes no sense for Xu Yu to be that stupid."
"Keep talking," Song Yan swallowed hard.
"So there’s only one reason—she’s not worried that we’ll harm her, in other words, even though she’s a lone weak woman, she’s not afraid of us two grown men," Yang Xiao took a deep breath and looked at Song Yan with a complex expression, "Do you know why the Xu Yu in the car, despite the risk of exposure, was so anxious to leave?"
"He needed to rush back to protect the real Xu Yu. While we were discussing the case with Xu Yu, that ghost was just outside the door."
Song Yan’s face turned pale; he had thought about running away before, but now it seemed that he might run right into the ghost as soon as he opened the door. However, there was still a crucial matter that Song Yan needed to confirm, "Chu, you... you saw through it from the start, didn’t you?"
Yang Xiao shook his head with a wry smile, "You’re overestimating me, I only figured it out not long ago, and of course, it’s just my speculation."
"I was thinking about this question: Our Teacher Xu Yu has a very close connection to the ghost, and might even be able to manipulate it to some extent. So, could it be that as long as we have Teacher Xu Yu’s approval, we’re safe and completely free from the ghost’s menace?" Yang Xiao was still somewhat a newcomer, this being only his second time entering the Nightmare World, and he wasn’t as experienced as the veteran Song Yan in this regard.
Upon hearing this, Song Yan decisively shook his head, "No, it won’t be that simple. I’ve looked at many survivors’ reports about their experiences in the Nightmare World, and there’s a general consensus that unless it’s a disguise, ghosts are almost impossible to communicate with. They exist purely based on their obsessions; killing and vengeance are instincts etched in their bones. Even for those innocents who get involved unintentionally, they show no mercy."
"That means, even if Xu Yu can communicate with the ghost, the extent is very limited, let alone influence the ghost’s attacks on us," Yang Xiao said.
"In theory, that’s correct," Song Yan nodded.
"Alright, we’d better rest well tonight; tomorrow is likely to bring a fierce battle. Don’t worry too much; tomorrow we’ll know Xu Yu’s true attitude toward us—I mean her real attitude," Yang Xiao put down his teacup, as if something had occurred to him.
"What do you plan to do?" Song Yan truly felt that saving Yang Xiao was the right decision. This person had brought him quite a few surprises and had saved him many times, albeit indirectly.
"Nothing much, just cast a hook. Now, let’s see if any fish will take the bait," Yang Xiao stood up and went to the washroom to clean up.
The next morning, Yang Xiao and Song Yan were woken up by a knock at the door. There had been no one keeping watch last night. Opening the door, they found the innkeeper standing outside.
"Delivered from Song’s Pharmacy at the street corner. They said it was something you ordered," the innkeeper said sleepily, wearing fluffy slippers, and without further ado, handed over the bag he was carrying. After that, he yawned and went back to catch up on his sleep.
Upon opening the bag, it contained gauze, bandages, narrow medical tape, Mercurochrome, medical disinfectant alcohol, hemostatic medicine, and many other items, along with a black marker. These were all from the instructions given to Teacher Xu Yu last night, and it seemed everything had been taken care of.
Shortly after checking the medical supplies, they received a phone call from Principal Wu. Yang Xiao went over the details with Principal Wu very carefully. After last night’s contact, Principal Wu had a fairly good impression of Yang Xiao and Song Yan and was very cooperative.
Later, Principal Wu gave Yang Xiao a call to say everything had been arranged according to Yang Xiao’s instructions and told him not to worry. After thanking Principal Wu, Yang Xiao wrote down the number with the marker on the medical supply bag. The handwriting was a bit sloppy but legible.
"It rained last night, didn’t it?" Yang Xiao suddenly asked.
Song Yan was taken aback by the question—it was an obvious fact. The next second, Yang Xiao dipped his finger in the tea water and gently smeared it across the middle of the number on the bag. The middle two digits immediately blurred, and with a grin as if his plan had succeeded, Yang Xiao said, "Alright, it’s time for our main character to make an entrance."
"Go find Yu Mi, be gentle."
