| WRIAWW | Yet, You Hold Hands? | 78
Zong Le left as soon as he said without delay.
In truth, his movements weren’t particularly fast, and his writing speed was quite slow.
By the time he finished, almost everyone else had already handed in their review cards. Of course, this might have been because Zong Le genuinely thought the movie was quite good, so he took a little extra time to carefully write down his thoughts.
The other survivors, who were just treating this as a task, had far less enthusiasm, some even wrote "trash movie" on their review cards before handing them in. After all, it was just a task. They didn’t see the NPCs as real people, let alone bother putting effort into something they could easily breeze through.
By the time Zong Le finished, the main cast had already gone to the dressing room to prepare for the next segment and the media interviews, audience Q&A, and the live review reading session. For this part, they couldn’t just wear their ordinary costumes from the movie, they had to dress in formal attire.
"Sir, the dressing rooms are upstairs. No outsiders are allowed inside."
Just as he reached the stairwell, a waiter in a tailcoat stopped him.
Zong Le smoothly pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it over. "Hello, the director asked me to come up."
At the sight of the card, a flicker of understanding passed through the waiter’s eyes. He exchanged a few words with his colleague behind him before apologetically saying, "Please wait a moment. I need to confirm this with the director first."
This entire scene was quietly observed by Bluebeard and Su Yuchen, who had been following from a distance.
Bluebeard scoffed. "See? I told you he was pretending. Look how smoothly he pulled that off, he must’ve done it countless times before. Who knows what 1st sees in him. Someone of that status could snap their fingers and get any survivor they want. It’s not like he’s anything special. He just has a pretty face. Do you know how many so-called ‘geniuses’ have fallen in the Infinite Space? I’ve seen plenty of his type."
"Okay. Remember what I told you to do. After you are done, bring him to movie theater next door."
While the other survivors were busy gathering information, Bluebeard led Su Yuchen to scout out the entire layout of Taile Cinema. They discovered that the movie theater next door was locked and had no screenings scheduled for the entire day, it was perfect for their purposes.
Bluebeard knew the principle of picking on the weak. He couldn’t touch Joshua, but Zong Le really out of his reach?
Having spent so many years in the Infinite Space and rising to the level of a veteran S-level survivor early on, Bluebeard had long grown accustomed to acting as he pleased. It has been many years since he last tasted the taste of humiliation and today, he was determined to pay it back tenfold.
Though Su Yuchen was reluctant, he had no choice but to nod. "Got it."
As Zong Le waited by the wall, he suddenly sensed a faint movement behind him.
He felt someone’s hand stealthily reaching toward him, so he shifted slightly to the side, effortlessly avoiding the touch. When he turned around, he was met with Su Yuchen’s stunned, speechless expression.
"Did you need something?"
Zong Le’s tone was perfectly casual.
Su Yuchen opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He stared at his own hand in disbelief before looking back at Zong Le. Even though he was only a C-level survivor who hadn’t mastered any advanced skills, he was still an agility-based type.
And he had approached from a blind spot. How could Zong Le, another C-level, dodged him so effortlessly, as if he had eyes on the back of his head?
"Uh, yeah. There is something I wanted to talk about."
Since Bluebeard's items required physical contact to take effect, Su Yuchen had originally planned to touch him quickly and leave. But now he had to keep maneuvering here, and he was momentarily at a loss for words.
Zong Le noticed his hesitation and asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Just then, the waiter returned, gesturing for them to enter. "Please come in."
Su Yuchen could only mumble that he wasn't feeling well and shamelessly followed behind.
Zong Le didn’t dwell on his odd behavior, instead whispering, "I’m going upstairs to gather some intel. If you’re not feeling well, you can go find silver-haired...Joshua."
Ever since completing the Blue Ocean Apartment mission, Joshua has become a representative of saving the wounded in Zong Le's heart. Whether it was missing limbs, stomachaches, or insomnia, a single healing spell from the 1st would guarantee a cure.
But this well-intentioned suggestion only angered Su Yuchen.
The latter sneered, "Do you think everyone can just casually ask the 1st for healing like you can?"
Zong Le was speechless. "Why not?"
He knew that in order to establish his own kind-hearted saintly image persona, the silver-haired bad guy always accepted injured survivors during the mission. In other words, no matter what kind of person it is, if they ask for treatment in public, Joshua will not refuse.
Of course, it's hard to say in private.
"What do you know?!" To Su Yuchen, this sounded like pure bragging. "The 1st protects you and backs you up. Of course someone privileged like you can say that. But for low-level survivors like us, how could we dare?"
The more he spoke, the more resentful he grew.
Truthfully, without Zong Le around, Su Yuchen was just one of countless ordinary survivors struggling to stay alive. But Zong Le’s presence made him feel like a clown.
"Why would Joshua protect me? I don't know him that well and we are not even friends." Zong Le felt utterly wronged.
"Oh, so you still hold hands with someone you are not close with, right?"
If Joshua had been there, he would’ve given Su Yuchen a round of applause.
Zong Le blinked. "Is holding hands something you can’t do with others?"
"What do you think?"
Su Yuchen was sure that he was playing dumb, and he became more and more jealous. He was determined to use the tool on Zong Le. So he rushed towards him without saying a word, and frantically lunged with his hands, looking like a duck who fell in water.
Zong Le: ?
Okay, he really must be sick, he’s even having seizures now. It's not contagious, right?
He was a little worried.
Because of this concern, every time Su Yuchen got close, Zong Le sidestepped effortlessly. In the end, Zong Le remained untouched, his clothes perfectly neat, while Su Yuchen was left panting.
"Aren't you a strength-type?!"
Su Yuchen felt that his mentality was about to collapse, but he didn't expect that at this time, Zong Le suddenly said: "Don't make a sound!"
In the silence, the argument inside the dressing room became unmistakably clear.
"Do you dare say An Ping’s death had nothing to do with you?!"
"How is it my fault? Wasn’t it you who coaxed her into the director’s bed and let her get exploited?"
"Then why didn’t you oppose me back then? Did you object to using her in exchange for resources?"
"If not, with An Ping's face, she would have snatched your female lead role long ago. Don't forget, you only got this part because of me."
The female voice fell silent for a moment before replying, "If that's the case, then the whole crew is at fault. On the day when the filming ended in the countryside, everyone deliberately got her drunk."
"So what if we did? Didn't you exclude her during the shoot?"
"So what does her death have to do with us? Isn't it all because of her own weak mental state was unable to bear it?"
Listening to this quarrel, Zong Le could only shake his head helplessly.
Even if he was not good at analyzing, he could pretty much deduce what kind of situation the actress playing the matchmaker had endured in this crew.
"Another crew full of bad people..."
Now that the evidence and arguments are sufficient, he wondered if he could send the director to prison for rehabilitation.
As Zong Le pondered what charges to pin on the crew, he turned to see Su Yuchen glaring at him furiously.
"Don't you like holding hands with others at will? Give me your hand!"
Looking at the expression on Su Yuchen's face, Zong Le hesitated before deciding not to argue with someone clearly unwell.
He extended his hand plainly. "Here."
This time, Su Yuchen was stunned.
His earlier act hadn’t been subtle, anyone could tell his intentions were far from good. Yet the dark-haired youth still offered his hand. Was he naive or what?
Despite his thoughts, Su Yuchen placed his hand over Zong Le’s.
The warmth between their touching fingers signaled the prop’s activation.
The result that he had worked so hard to achieve before was now easily achieved, leaving Su Yuchen momentarily dazed.
He couldn’t help asking, "You just... gave me your hand? You know that I... want to harm you, right?"
This was one of Bluebeard’s props called the Temptation Mark. Its effects were quiet despicable, it was similar to aphrodisiac, and can produce aphrodisiac effects. Many unwilling survivors who’d caught Bluebeard’s eye had fallen victim to this very trick.
"I know," Zong Le replied nonchalantly. "Are you done? Can I take my hand back now?"
There was no other meaning for cooperating. Su Yuchen simply seemed pathetically weak in his eyes. Even if he felt the prop’s effects, Zong Le did not feel any discomfort except a little heat.
Of course, being modest by nature, he saw no need to mention this. There was no point in hurting his feelings.
"...You’re really strange."
It was Su Yuchen’s first time seeing someone so nonchalant about being targeted.
He was in a complicated mood, and in the end, perhaps the little bit of his human kindness won over him.
He stopped Zong Le who was about to go to the director's room, "Hey, consider this a warning. Bluebeard’s planning to attack you, he told me to lure you to movie theater No. 2. If you can still think straight later, run away by yourself and don't rat me out."
With that, Su Yuchen turned and left Zong Le standing alone.
Little did he know Zong Le was actually in a good mood.
He had originally wanted to obtain evidence of Bluebeard's crimes, and just as he was feeling drowsy, someone delivered a pillow. Naturally, he was thrilled.
"Great, let's package them all up and send them in to expand the prison."
Thinking this, Zong Le headed toward the dressing room where the director was.
But halfway there, a staff member came running in a panic, shouting as he ran: "Director Liu! The body in the restroom has disappeared!"
"What? How did the body disappear?" Zong Le asked.
"I don't know! It was there one second and gone the next! And someone locked the cinema doors, no one can get out now. We're trying to figure out what to do!"
The staff member knocked but got no response, so he simply pushed the door open.
As soon as the door opened, Zong Le couldn't help but frown.
A pungent smell of blood wafted out from inside.
Looking inside, the director was lying on the ground, his body was covered with red strings, his eyes were rolled back, and his face was full of fear. He had been dead for some time.
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