Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 85: Perfect

On one side, there was a sudden enlightenment, while on the other, three faces were utterly baffled.

After a long, silent exchange of looks, Qian Ai sighed, as if exhaling a non-existent ring of melancholy smoke.

“We, perhaps, need an explanation,” he said on behalf of the other two teammates, raising a white flag of surrender to love.

Xu Wang put away the letter, realizing there was no point in analyzing the emotional differences between the poems to this trio. It was like playing the lute to a cow. Giving them the direct answer was faster. “This is a love story between a tree and a flower—a botanical romance.”

Wu Sheng: “……”

Chi Yingxue: “……”

Qian Ai was both exhausted in body and soul. “Can we pretend I never asked for this explanation…”

“The real substitute was the tree.” Kuang Jinxin felt a bit sorry for his teammates and further explained, “It was using its own branches to protect the epiphytic flower. So every time after the hellfire passed, what got burned were the branches.”

“This matches with the last sentence of the epiphytic flower—’I have never truly been burned by the flames of hell’.” Wu Sheng finally connected the first link of the logical chain.

Xu Wang looked at him approvingly.

“The tree is the real substitute—that’s logical and reasonable. I agree with that.” Advisor Wu, once involved, could grasp the essence and identify the doubts. “But how can we be sure that it loves the epiphytic flower, not Cornina?”

“This…” Kuang Jinxin was stumped by the question, looking at Xu Wang somewhat helplessly.

He had just felt that the captain’s explanation was entirely correct, but now he also found the advisor’s point reasonable.

If the tree loved Cornina and was willing to be a substitute, wouldn’t that also make sense?

Xu Wang bypassed the confused Classmate Kuang and directly asked Wu Sheng, “What did the tree do when we picked the flower?”

Wu Sheng certainly remembered. “It thrashed its branches and launched a brutal attack on us, mainly whipping you.”

“…That’s because I was standing on your shoulders, deeper into enemy territory!” Xu Wang quickly ended the recollection and got back to the point. “If the tree loved Cornina, why would it stop us from picking the flower?”

“It would have been happy for us to take the flower away. Then it and the epiphytic flower could protect Cornina together—double insurance.” Wu Sheng joined in, finally aligning all the pieces. “It was the epiphytic flower itself that fell down in the end. The tree could stop us, but not the flower.”

Advisor Wu might not understand love, but give him a blade of grass, and he could deduce the entire meadow.

“I get it.” Qian Ai clapped his hands, summarizing, “Cornina and Amy liked York, but York is a scumbag and is irrelevant. The epiphytic flower saved Cornina from execution, indirectly causing Amy’s tragic death. Amy turned into an evil spirit to kill Cornina. The epiphytic flower willingly became a substitute, but the tree loved the epiphytic flower, so it became the substitute for the epiphytic flower’s substitute.”

Wu Sheng: “……”

Chi Yingxue: “……”

Kuang Jinxin: “Qian Ge…”

Xu Wang: “Worthy of a man who’s been through the 2/23 red-eye flight first-class Shura field*.”

*Metaphor referring to a chaotic, intense, or fierce situation, typically involving conflicts or struggles.

“My only question now is…” Qian Ai wasn’t dazzled by the praise, looking doubtfully at Xiao Kuang. “You weren’t attacked by the branches like the captain. Why did you think of the branches?”

“It was strange that it was always the flower that was burned, but each time it turned into branches,” Kuang Jinxin said matter-of-factly. “I was always curious about that.”

Qian Ai: “But couldn’t it have been the epiphyte flower’s trickery? No one ever said how a substitute works. Maybe it was deceiving the evil spirit with illusions?”

Kuang Jinxin’s little face scrunched up, seriously contemplating for a long while. “That’s also possible…”

Qian Ai facepalmed.

So you just didn’t really think that much!

“However.” Kuang Jinxin touched his chest. “The first time I saw the charred branches, I felt a sourness here. It was a bit sad, but I don’t know why.”

Qian Ai: “……”

Wu Sheng comfortingly patted his teammate’s shoulder. “Intuition is a luxurious thing. Like wealth, it can’t be forced.”

Qian Ai: “…The second half of your sentence hurts even more.”

“Can I ask a question?” Chi Yingxue, who had been listening quietly, furrowed his brows, not waiting for the others to respond, and threw out his doubts. “Isn’t it weird for a tree to fall in love with the flower it bears? Would you fall in love with your hand?”

Qian Ai, already battered, looked at his own cute fist, then at Chi Yingxue. “What kind of analogy is that…”

Xu Wang and Kuang Jinxin remained quietly in sync, well aware that this was a moment for a scientific explanation.

“The epiphyte flower is not a flower born from the tree. It just happens to be attached to the tree. It brings more moisture to the tree, while the tree provides it a place to live.” Advisor Wu pointed out, emphasizing to the new teammate, “They are two different plants, free to fall in love.”

Chi Yingxue: “…Thank you.”

The subtle, indescribable feelings that had been present since joining the team were climbing up one level after another.

“Captain, we’ve clarified the love line, but how do we ‘submit our answer’?” Kuang Jinxin’s brows, which just relaxed, knotted again.

“I’m not sure.” Xu Wang glanced at the epiphyte flower on the ground. “But at least we should return it, right?”

Qian Ai didn’t catch on. “Return it where?”

“To the tree.” Xu Wang said, righteously, “This is a love story between a tree and a flower. If we keep the flower and force them apart, wouldn’t we be like Fahai*?”

*Fictional Buddhist monk and a major character in the Legend of the White Snake. In the story, he’s determined to destroy the marriage between the two main characters and eventually seals the White Snake under Leifeng Pagoda.

“……” With precise examples and vivid analogies, Qian Ai wanted to argue but was powerless to refute.

Returning the flower to the tree naturally meant re-entering the painting.

The group hurriedly returned to room 1310, but there was no next step.

The room, which used to catch fire at the drop of a hat, had become as cold and deserted as if it had been long uninhabited.

The painting on the wall was still there, but its colors were dull and ordinary, no longer vividly and eerily lifelike.

Qian Ai looked at his captain with difficulty. “Force our way in?”

Xu Wang swallowed, imagining the pain of hitting a solid wall. “It’s just a challenge. No need to risk our lives…”

“Is there any other way to return the flower to the tree than by going back into the painting?” Kuang Jinxin asked.

Xu Wang could only think of this approach, but it was obviously not the right one.

“Not necessarily.” Wu Sheng, who had been silent, spoke up.

All four companions turned to look at him.

He, however, suddenly walked to the window, looking down at the chaotic lawn below, and said, “Come here and take a look.”

The four gathered around, puzzled, crowding at the window.

Wu Sheng pointed to a patch of intact lawn, which the excavator was slowly approaching, and asked, “Does this look familiar?”

The surviving patch of lawn, about the size of a basketball court, had a large tree on it. The tree was lush, providing cool shade below. Compared to the rest of the lawn, which was riddled with holes and fallen grass, it looked like an oasis.

Such an obvious hint made it clear to the four that they had to understand Wu Sheng’s meaning. Otherwise, they might as well be clueless.

But—

Qian Ai: “Isn’t this a bit far-fetched?”

Kuang Jinxin: “Sheng Ge, you can’t just see a tree and say it’s the one from the painting.”

Chi Yingxue, recalling the sense of intellectual superiority Wu Sheng exuded earlier in their discussion, curled his lips and imitated him. “Evidence.”

Wu Sheng: “First, this area was the village before the castle was built; second, this tree and the design of the entire front lawn don’t blend, it stands out suspiciously; third, look closely at its branches, several spots are clearly sparse, showing signs of being broken by external forces; fourth, I remember what it looks like.”

From the moment it swung its branches to attack Xu Wang, Wu Sheng had deeply imprinted this tree in his mind, recognizing it even if it turned to ash.

Qian Ai rolled his eyes. “You should’ve just said the fourth point.”

Kuang Jinxin was eager to try. “Shall we go down now?”

Xu Wang, holding back his urge to praise profusely, solemnly patted his advisor on the shoulder. “Not bad.”

“……” Chi Yingxue looked at the four people in front of him, feeling a chill up his spine for the first time.

This blind trust without logic—is this some kind of cult?

“Boom—”

An explosion erupted unexpectedly!

The blast was from the last piece of the lawn. Due to the close proximity of the explosion, the shockwave shattered the glass right in front of the five!

The upturned grass and soil flew in the smoke, and the five tensed up.

The key point plot point to their line may just be a passerby to someone else’s task line. Those digging and blasting didn’t care about which tree was significant to them!

The friends hurriedly opened the window, but the smoke and dust made it impossible to see anything clearly. They could only faintly hear fighting and shouting… Fighting?

[Owl: Someone used a [(Defense) Magic Bean] on you~~]

The notification of being targeted by equipment caught the puzzled companions off guard. Before they could react, a giant green beanstalk sprouted outside the window and quickly grew to their window height. Its large leaves stretched out flat and smooth, as if inviting them.

At the same time, the smoke cleared significantly.

The remaining piece of lawn was also blasted into a pit, but oddly, only the tree remained, along with a square meter of grass around it, like an island in the ocean.

Its branches crazily swayed in the sunlight, repelling challengers trying to approach.

The five people below had given up on blasting and sent four people to fight it, while one person, driving an excavator, was secretly approaching the tree from the side!

Chi Yingxue was the first to jump onto a leaf, and seeing his teammates not moving, he raised an eyebrow lightly. “Aren’t you coming down?”

Xu Wang then understood. “Your stationery?”

Of course, they had to go down, but their new teammate’s action was too fast!

Chi Yingxue gave a leisurely smile, skipping the obvious question and moving to the next step: “Leave the excavator to me.”

Just these simple words were spoken lightly, but full of anticipation and deep happiness.

As the last companion stood firm on the leaf, the [Magic Bean’s] tall stem suddenly changed direction. Its branches and leaves grew crazily towards the battlefield!

In the blink of an eye, Xu Wang and the other three were delivered right under the tree, even closer to the trunk than the four who were besieging it!

Meanwhile, Chi Yingxue had already jumped onto another leaf and was now approaching the excavator from another direction!

The moment Chi Yingxue landed, he leaped up, not caring whether the excavator’s tracks might crush him, and jumped directly onto the back of the excavator!

The four companions under the tree didn’t even see his movement clearly when they heard a “crash” of shattering glass.

The other team of four, still confused about the sudden arrival of the four from the sky, were further perplexed by the noise behind them. The driver of the excavator was already controlled by the person who had broken through the shattered window.

Chi Yingxue held the driver’s neck with one arm, not using any weapon, nor threatening, just lightly uttered the word, “Stop.”

From under the tree, Chi Yingxue looked as gentle as if he was playfully interacting with the other person.

But at the moment he broke into the window, the excavator indeed stopped.

“What are you doing—” The four under the tree were anxious. From their perspective, their teammate didn’t even struggle before surrendering, which was utterly baffling!

Xu Wang and his companions didn’t quite understand either, but they were pleased with the result.

Only the person in the excavator knew he was already struggling to breathe. The ghostly attacker used minimal force to precisely press the most vital spot on his neck, putting him in a terrifying state of gradually decreasing oxygen, but not to the point of death.

That light command to “stop” was even more chilling.

Because the attacker’s eyes were smiling.

Not the satisfaction of defeating an enemy, but a pure, bone-chilling joy.

The four under the tree didn’t wait for their excavator teammate’s response. Frustrated, they decided to deal directly with Xu Wang and his team. “Are you guys bored, so you’re meddling in our task line?”

“It’s not meddling. Sorry, but this is also our task line.” Xu Wang gently patted the tree trunk, as if telling it they had arrived.

The leader of the four, clearly quick-tempered, was furious. “We’ve been working hard all night, and you come to reap the benefits?!”

“Reaping the benefits? Did you dig all these holes?” Xu Wang was almost tortured by curiosity. “What exactly is your line?”

“Career line.” The quick-tempered one gasped. “To dig up the lawn and turn it into a lake.”

Xu Wang: “Turning the hotel front lawn into a lake?!”

Quick-Tempered: “After we’re done here, it’ll be called the Swan Lake Castle Hotel!”

Xu Wang: “…What kind of bizarre career line is that?!”

Quick-Tempered: “You ask me, but who the hell do I ask?!”

“Whoosh—”

The sound of a sharp weapon slicing through the air interrupted the communication between the two teams.

However, the sound originated from under the tree and was aimed at the excavator!

Xu Wang only saw a flash of cold light and had no time to catch the assailant. He shouted towards Chi Yingxue. “Be careful—”

But his warning wasn’t as fast as the weapon!

Before his words could finish, the cold light had already pierced through the front glass of the driver’s cabin with a “thud” and stabbed directly into the arm that Chi Yingxue was using to hold the driver!

A long nail!

This long nail was even more ferocious than the ones they first encountered at the Endless Sea lighthouse!

Nearly 4/5 of it had pierced Chi Yingxue’s arm!

Despite this, Chi Yingxue didn’t move at all.

The person being restrained had the most say in this. The nail, right before his eyes, was firmly lodged in the arm holding him, yet the grip on his neck didn’t loosen even slightly.

There was just an instinctive tremor—extremely slight—so slight that it sent chills down one’s spine.

The restrained man suddenly dared not look at his captor. He even instinctively wanted to warn his teammates not to attack blindly anymore. This person was dangerous, more than anyone they had encountered before.

However, his firsthand information couldn’t reach those under the tree.

“Your teammates want to save you,” Chi Yingxue whispered into his ear, word by word. “Then you should die.”

The grip on his neck gradually tightened.

Desperately, the restrained man grabbed at the arm holding him and, at the end, even pressed the long nail deeper!

But in the end, it was all in vain.

At the brink of death, the restrained man finally heard a heavenly voice—

[Owl: Dear~ I’m giving you an early holiday. Sending you home.]

The eight people under the tree only saw the struggle of the one being sent home, but they didn’t see the violence of the sender. There was no intense action, no ferocious expression. It was calm from start to end. After sending the person home, he even put down his arm pierced by the nail and smiled through the small hole in the glass.

Quick-Tempered’s team were shocked, especially the one who had sneakily attacked with the nail, feeling a chill creeping up from his feet.

In this silent moment, a muffled sound suddenly came from the bottom of the big pit in front of the tree, and the entire front lawn of the hotel, full of pits, started to shake!

Xu Wang and the other three instinctively stepped back, leaning against the tree trunk, seeking a sense of security.

Quick-Tempered’s team had already been pushed to the edge of the big pit during the recent scuffle. This shake made them lose their balance and tumble down!

The soil was soft, so falling in wasn’t a big deal, but before they could get up, the bottom of the pit suddenly collapsed rapidly, swallowing the four into a bottomless abyss!

It didn’t stop there. Like a contagion, all the pits began to collapse endlessly, one after another, eventually turning the entire front lawn of the hotel into a gigantic, bottomless pit. The only two places that survived were where Xu Wang and the tree stood and a small patch of ground where the [Magic Bean] was rooted, right below the window of room 1310!

The excavator had long fallen in and disappeared.

The dust settled.

Chi Yingxue had somehow escaped and stood on a Magic Bean leaf, pulling the nails from his arm and casually throwing them into the pit.

His natural demeanor and casual action were like peeling off a band-aid.

After removing the bothersome nail, Chi Yingxue rode the leaf down to join his teammates under the tree.

The four companions under the tree: “……”

In those few minutes, they questioned: who were they, where were they, what had they gone through…

Wu Sheng was the first to react. He took off his backpack, pulled out the medical kit, and handed it to the new teammate, without the need to ask if he needed help.

With his combat skills, Wu Sheng was confident he could handle it himself.

Sure enough, Chi Yingxue skillfully stopped the bleeding and bandaged himself in one go, even meticulously cleaning the blood stains around the wound with an alcohol swab.

“You’ll still need to go to the hospital when we get out.” Xu Wang couldn’t help but worry.

Chi Yingxue nodded, but his expression showed he wasn’t taking it too seriously.

“What did you use just now?” Qian Ai finally recovered a bit from the shock of wiping out the opponents.

Chi Yingxue: “[(Offense) The Collapse of Heaven and Earth*].”

*(天塌地陷) Idiom referring to the sky falling and the earth cracking and collapsing. It’s a metaphor for major changes or serious situations.

Qian Ai looked at the huge pit on the ground. Indeed, the earth collapsed. Then he looked up at the blue sky and clouds. “Where’s the heaven collapsing?”

Chi Yingxue tilted his head. “Do you want to experience it?”

Qian Ai felt a chill on his back. “No need!”

Chi Yingxue smiled slightly. “It’s a one-time stationery. Since it didn’t bring down the heavens when I used it, if you want to experience it, you’ll have to wait until next time.”

Qian Ai: “……”

It was evident the new teammate was in a good mood, good enough to start joking.

But Xu Wang still felt sorry, not just for the teammate’s injury but for the stationery. “We didn’t need such a destructive weapon to deal with them.”

Chi Yingxue looked at him and smiled knowingly. “Okay, next time, I’ll save the powerful stationery for the right moment.”

“……” Xu Wang didn’t know what to say. Difficult-to-communicate teammates were troublesome, but why was this transparent teammate also unsettling?

In the now peaceful front lawn of the hotel, a breeze blew, rustling the tree leaves.

Xu Wang followed the sound and looked up. The tree cast a mottled shadow.

He calmed his heart and carefully took out the epiphyte flower. He held it in both hands, presenting it to the tree as if returning something precious.

The tree remained still.

Even the rustling of the leaves stopped at this moment, like an anxious person holding their breath, waiting for hope or disillusionment.

Finally, the epiphyte flower slowly emitted a faint blue light in the sunlit gaps of the tree branches and disappeared from Xu Wang’s hands. In front of the tree, a person with blue hair appeared.

It gently walked under the tree and opened its arms, slowly embracing the trunk.

The sun outlined a beautiful profile on its face.

The five companions watched its figure fade and eventually disappear.

On the tall tree trunk, a cluster of light blue flowers quietly attached itself. The lush branches and leaves sheltered it, fully protecting it.

[I once loved you… But may God bless you, that someone else will love you like I did.]

The first letter of this love line was the tree’s heart for the flower.

Deep affection, despair, yet still hoping the other could be happy.

But probably, there’s no need for that “someone else who loves you like I did” anymore.

Xu Wang quietly looked at the tree.

Your heart, it has understood.

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The author has something to say:

So, this is a love line of a tree loving a flower. Also, Wu Sheng, a man who chose the love line, is destined to embark on a path of solving mysteries. (～￣▽￣)～

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