After steadying himself, Qiao Jiajin immediately stood beside Qi Xia, his gaze cold and sharp as he stared at the female corpse, wary of any sudden danger.
The group fell completely silent as they stared at the standing corpse in the room, none daring to utter a word.
The corpse’s body creaked unnaturally, and when its eyes opened, they revealed only eerie whites, devoid of pupils. The onlookers could only retreat slowly in fear.
Like a recharged robot, the corpse suddenly extended its left hand and swiftly wrote five words on the table in front of Qi Xia:
“Dragon wants to see you.”
After finishing, the corpse collapsed again, face-first onto the floor with a dull *thud*.
Everything happened in mere seconds, leaving everyone in stunned silence.
“Wh-what did it write?” Zhang Shan snapped out of his daze and turned toward Qi Xia.
Seeing the words, Qi Xia immediately wiped them away with his hand.
“You—” Zhang Shan froze at the sight of Qi Xia’s action. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What’s wrong?” Qi Xia asked calmly.
“No, I mean—what the hell did it write?!” Zhang Shan said, baffled. “This corpse barges in like a mad dog, scribbles something, and you just wipe it off without even asking?”
“I didn’t see words,” Qi Xia replied nonchalantly. “It looked like scribbles. I thought it was just dirtying your table, so I cleaned it.”
“You—”
“Besides, dead people writing is bad luck,” Qi Xia added. “No harm in wiping it away.”
Qiao Jiajin thought for a moment, then quickly stepped in to hold Zhang Shan back. “Hey, big guy, I think Liar here makes a good point! What kind of dead person barges in just to write something? You’re acting like an idiot insisting on seeing it—what if she wrote ‘Rot in Hell’ or something?”
“Wait—what?!” Zhang Shan was even more confused. “You’re saying this corpse broke in just to curse at us in the middle of the night? That makes no damn sense!”
“What if it *did*?” Qiao Jiajin grinned. “So just let it go! Besides, I took a quick look too—it really was just scribbles!”
As they argued, Chu Tianqiu appeared at the doorway, draped in an outer coat. He surveyed the scene as if completely ignoring the corpse and asked Zhang Shan, “What enemy attack?”
“Uh…”
Zhang Shan turned and briefly explained the situation.
“Oh…” Chu Tianqiu finally glanced at the female corpse on the floor. “Zhang Shan, if it bypassed you to write in this room, those words weren’t meant for you.”
“Eh…” Zhang Shan hesitated. “Damn, I guess that makes sense.”
“Everyone, disperse,” Chu Tianqiu said. “Maybe it was just a message for Qi Xia that wasn’t meant for the rest of you.”
“A… message? Using a corpse?” Zhang Shan couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“Probably some kind of ‘echo’ ability,” Chu Tianqiu reasoned. “If someone with that kind of power wanted to attack ‘Paradise,’ they wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble. Stop worrying.”
The group found his logic sound, and since this clearly wasn’t an attack, the onlookers quickly dispersed. Zhang Shan also left after exchanging a few words with Chu Tianqiu.
Once the crowd was gone, Chu Tianqiu gave Qi Xia a meaningful look and asked, “Do you need anything from me?”
Qi Xia lowered his head in thought before answering, “Not for now.”
“Alright.” Chu Tianqiu nodded and shut the door behind him.
Alone now, Qi Xia walked to the bed and lightly stroked his chin, pondering the implications of what had happened.
*”Dragon wants to see you.”* The meaning was unambiguous—there was no room for misinterpretation.
But the method used was worth considering—writing.
*Writing again.*
This was a way to completely evade surveillance by “Qinglong” and “Tiangou,” meaning whoever sent the message wanted it kept secret.
Qi Xia had wiped the words immediately precisely because he feared someone might foolishly read them aloud on the spot.
If that happened, the entire carefully orchestrated plan would be ruined.
But why would Dragon go to such lengths…?
Qi Xia stared at the sky for a long while before Qiao Jiajin finally spoke beside him: “I saw it too.”
“Oh…?” Qi Xia nodded—he hadn’t planned to hide it from Qiao Jiajin anyway.
“That guy doesn’t sound like a good person,” Qiao Jiajin said. “What are you gonna do?”
“Not many options,” Qi Xia replied. “Chances to talk to him are rare, especially when he’s the one reaching out.”
“Alright!” Qiao Jiajin didn’t hesitate. “Liar, I’m coming with you!”
“Uh…” Qi Xia chuckled dryly. “You can’t go there.”
“Can’t go…?”
“Fists, I need you for something important,” Qi Xia said.
“Important?”
“Ever flown a kite?” Qi Xia asked. “Soon, I’ll be falling asleep here, and your job is to wake me up. I’m the kite—you’re the string.”
“I… don’t really get it,” Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Aren’t you meeting someone? Why sleep?”
“That’s how you meet him,” Qi Xia explained. “Keep an eye on me. If I seem off… wake me up immediately.”
Without waiting for a response, Qi Xia walked to the side and began arranging a few desks together.
“W-wait!” Qiao Jiajin grabbed his arm. “Liar… this sounds hard to pull off. What counts as ‘off’? What’s *normal*?”
“No idea,” Qi Xia admitted. “I don’t know what he’ll do, so we’ll have to improvise.”
“Then—”
“Trust your instincts,” Qi Xia said, patting Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder. “If you feel something’s wrong, wake me. If I seem fine, let me sleep.”
Qiao Jiajin had the sense that Qi Xia was heading into extreme danger—yet he was entrusting his life to him.
“Liar, if I *don’t* wake you… what happens?”
“Hard to say,” Qi Xia shook his head. “*He’s* different. At best, I lose my mind. At worst… I disappear completely. So we have to be careful.”
“Sounds way too dangerous,” Qiao Jiajin said grimly. “Liar… do you *have* to go?”
“Yes,” Qi Xia nodded. “This is a risk I have to take. Besides, even if he hadn’t reached out, I have things to say to him.”
With that, he climbed onto the desks and lay down in a comfortable position.
“Hey, Liar,” Qiao Jiajin asked one last thing. “This might be rude, but… how heavy a sleeper are you? How should I wake you?”
Qi Xia smiled slightly and turned his head. “I’m exhausted—I might sleep deeply. So hit me.”
“Hit…?” Qiao Jiajin blinked, then slowly raised his fist. “Like *this*?”
“Yep,” Qi Xia confirmed. “Hit me like you mean it.”
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