After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 55

The Reason

Lin Xingzhu’s expression was a bit strange.

She wasn’t made of wood; of course, she could feel Bai Xiying’s completely unconcealed touch.

Her gaze followed Bai Xiying as she naturally put away the ointment, closed the first-aid kit, and then casually placed the kit somewhere out of the way, showing no guilt whatsoever throughout the entire process.

It was as if she had simply seen it and touched it on a whim.

At this thought, Lin Xingzhu felt the spot Bai Xiying had touched grow warm. She pressed her lips together, her eyes flickering a couple of times.

But glancing at the time on her phone’s lock screen, Lin Xingzhu paused, swallowed the question she wanted to ask, and said with a composed expression: “Go wash up. I’ll find you a set of pajamas.”

She could skip work, but Bai Xiying still needed to get up early tomorrow.

Bai Xiying nodded and reminded her, “By the way, I have a habit when I sleep, you don’t need to find me a bra to wear.”

Lin Xingzhu, who was bending over to find clothes: “…”

Picking out a clean set of clothes, Lin Xingzhu said with perfect composure, “They’re all clean. You can go wash up.”

Bai Xiying glanced over; the three-piece set was complete, and sure enough, there was no bra.

She curled her lips into a smile and reached out to take them.

The sound of rushing water started. Lying in bed, Lin Xingzhu was somewhat lost in a daze.

But by the time Bai Xiying came out, she had returned to normal.

Her gaze was very restrained, not looking where it shouldn’t, and her voice was especially gentle in the quiet night: “It’s getting late, let’s sleep.”

Someone soon lay down beside her. The scent belonging to Bai Xiying was covered by another familiar smell, overlapping to create a heart-stirring restlessness.

Lin Xingzhu suppressed her thoughts and turned off the bedside lamp.

The room fell into darkness.

The next day, the sky was bright.

Lin Xingzhu woke up very early and made breakfast for three. After Bai Xiying finished eating, she saw her off, then retracted her gaze and sat on the sofa, quietly waiting for Jiang Yeye to wake up.

The police had arrived in time last night. Outside their room on the 25th floor, people from the bar had already gathered and were about to break down the door. Even though Lin Xingzhu had shaken off the pursuers on the 18th floor, the commotion that had occurred was likely already discovered by the person watching the surveillance monitors.

Fortunately, Lin Xingzhu had prepared beforehand, never turning off her phone’s location, so the police arrived promptly.

At the time, Jiang Yeye’s condition was still okay; apart from being a bit frightened, she didn’t seem to have suffered much harm on the surface. But Xie Yunya was not so well off. She was drenched in a cold sweat, and it was said that someone had forced her to take some kind of drug.

After leaving the building, Xie Yunya was sent to the hospital, while Lin Xingzhu took Jiang Yeye to the police station to first give a basic statement, then drove back.

But Lin Xingzhu hadn’t missed the apprehensive and guilty expression on Jiang Yeye’s face in the rearview mirror last night.

“Biaojie¹?!”

Pushing the door open to see Lin Xingzhu sitting alone on the sofa, not having gone to work, Jiang Yeye was startled.

Lin Xingzhu nodded. “First, eat breakfast. We’ll talk after you’re finished.”

Jiang Yeye pressed her lips together. After washing the used dishes, she sat opposite Lin Xingzhu like an elementary school student.

“First, tell me what happened on the night you disappeared,” Lin Xingzhu said calmly.

“…After eating, my friend and I planned to walk off the meal, so we decided to follow the GPS for a while. But as we walked, we realized the GPS led us to a small path. It was pitch black over there, and the two of us were a bit scared to keep going. Just as we were about to find another route, several men suddenly ran over, covered our mouths, and pulled us into a car.”

Speaking of this, Jiang Yeye was a little scared. “We were too weak, we couldn’t struggle free at all. With our mouths covered, we couldn’t even make a sound. In the car, after my phone rang, they pulled out the SIM card.”

“And then, we were blindfolded and taken to that building.”

At this point, Jiang Yeye suddenly became agitated. “Biaojie, my friend is still there!”

Lin Xingzhu gestured for her to look at her phone. “I just received a message. Everyone on the eighteenth floor was already rescued yesterday. Your friend should have been picked up by her parents.”

Jiang Yeye breathed a sigh of relief, but then she became indignant again. “Biaojie, you don’t know how terrifying they are! They locked us up, separated the men and women, and at first, they kept starving us and wouldn’t let us sleep. When we had no strength left, they started picking people one by one.”

Thinking of this, a trace of terror flashed in Jiang Yeye’s eyes. “They picked out the good-looking ones and put them together, and separated the not-so-good-looking ones to another side. Then… then they would sell them again!”

Lin Xingzhu maintained a gentle demeanor, watching Jiang Yeye recount what had happened to her over the past two days.

“I heard, I heard that the not-so-good-looking ones were either sold to even farther places, or they would use their organs to make money…” At this point, Jiang Yeye was choking up, tears streaming down her face.

“Biaojie, do you think they will be rescued?” she asked, looking hopefully at Lin Xingzhu, who had remained silent from beginning to end.

After a moment of silence, Lin Xingzhu said, “I hope they can all be rescued.”

The light in her eyes dimmed a little. Jiang Yeye held back her tears and stiffly changed the subject. “The good-looking girls would be taken by them to several other rooms, then watched by a group of middle-aged women. First, it was collective brainwashing, then they were separated for specialized training based on their traits.”

“I… I was starved for a long time, and I was separated from my friend. I was so scared… I was afraid you and uncle wouldn’t be able to come and save me. I was afraid I would really be brainwashed with drugs by them…” Jiang Yeye’s tears finally couldn’t be held back, falling in large drops. “Last night, that manager was about to force-feed me the drug, but it was Xie-jie who blocked it for me.”

Lin Xingzhu silently patted her and handed her a tissue. “She was sent to the hospital yesterday.”

The white tissue was soaked through. Jiang Yeye forced a stiff smile. “Yes, we all escaped.”

Seeing her gradually calm down, Lin Xingzhu finally asked about what she had discovered yesterday. “Was this all you wanted to tell me last night?”

“…”

The blurry tears were wiped away. Jiang Yeye pressed her lips together and looked up at her cousin, who had been so considerate of her emotions. Meeting those seemingly all-knowing eyes, the feelings of guilt and shame in her heart could no longer be contained.

“There’s more.” She lowered her head and confessed in a small voice, “I want to say sorry to you, Biaojie. On the day I disappeared, when we were eating together, I couldn’t resist, and I drank alcohol again.”

“…It was because I drank that we originally wanted to get some fresh air to sober up, and we both misread the GPS while following it.”

After speaking, she buried her head and said no more, awaiting Lin Xingzhu’s reprimand.

So that’s what she was feeling guilty about.

Lin Xingzhu’s feelings were a bit complicated. She had advised Jiang Yeye not to drink outside, one reason being that she was a minor and it was bad for her health, and the second being a layer of concern for her safety.

But she had forgotten that at Jiang Yeye’s age, it was a time of curiosity about everything. Without truly learning a lesson, they might not take such advice to heart at all.

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Lin Xingzhu said, looking at her. “The one you should truly be sorry to is yourself. You drank, and under the influence of alcohol, you indirectly ended up in this situation.”

She paused, then added, “Although the criminals exist, and they are the most detestable, and the victim should never be blamed when something happens. But as your family, I still want to say that you are under eighteen. When you are out, especially at night, you should be more on guard, particularly since you’ve just arrived in this city, and the people you are with might be strangers you’ve never met before.”

Watching Jiang Yeye’s expression grow more and more guilty under her words, Lin Xingzhu’s voice was gentle and steady, with no hint of condemnation. “It’s not your fault, but I want you to know, through your own experiences these past two days, to be able to truly take some things to heart and remember them firmly.”

The air fell silent, with only the sound of Jiang Yeye’s sobbing.

“I… I’ll remember, Biaojie, woo—”

This time, Lin Xingzhu handed her the whole tissue box.

Once she had cried herself calm, she said, “I told my dad after I picked you up yesterday. But I didn’t tell your parents these past two days because I was afraid they would worry. Now that you’ve been found safely, you can decide for yourself whether you want to tell them or not.”

“…” Jiang Yeye sniffled, her voice nasal. “Let’s just forget it. I don’t want them to worry again.”

“Then we’ll do as you say.”

Jiang Yeye nodded.

“Do you want to go to the hospital for a check-up too?” Lin Xingzhu asked.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Yeye was also a little worried, so she nodded and said okay.

Lin Xingzhu didn’t delay, immediately taking the changed Jiang Yeye to the hospital.

On the other side, at Hurricane Studio.

She had specifically brought a laptop with her today.

Wang Xiaoxiao saw it at a glance. “Still not done yet?”

Bai Xiying pressed her lips and nodded.

And now it was the fourth to last day; the submission deadline for the preliminary review was tomorrow at midnight. And she needed to submit her work before midnight tomorrow.

One small hook had been cast out; now Bai Xiying was going to cast a bigger one.

She had deliberately brought her things. Thinking about the abnormality she had sensed with her computer a few days ago, a gentle smile touched the corners of her lips. “This is my first time participating, so I always want to strive for perfection. There are some small details I plan to quickly revise today if I have the time.”

Wang Xiaoxiao expressed her understanding. “That’s great. Who wouldn’t be nervous participating in such a large and famous competition for the first time! You can do it!”

After speaking, she quietly leaned closer to Bai Xiying and said, “I’ll keep watch for you when you’re slacking off.”

Bai Xiying’s expression was touched. “Thank you, Xiaoxiao-jiejie. You’ve always helped me so much. When I treat you to a meal later, you absolutely must not refuse!”

Wang Xiaoxiao, who was about to refuse, changed her tune upon hearing this. “Alright! I definitely won’t be polite then, I’ll make you treat me to a big one!”

Hearing this, Bai Xiying’s lips curved, and this time, the smile held a bit of sincerity.

The memories of her past life were already blurry and faded. There were only fragments of memories concerning Wang Xiaoxiao; it seemed she was a colleague she wasn’t very close to.

But vaguely, Bai Xiying remembered that once during her period, the other woman had gotten her a cup of hot water. In the studio at that time, where she was viewed strangely because of the Mu Muqing incident, it had seemed particularly special.

And from their interactions since her rebirth, Bai Xiying could also see that Wang Xiaoxiao genuinely wished her well.

She curved her lips, exchanged a few more words with her, and then started to work.

Hurricane Studio had a lunch break. Usually, everyone would either be outside or resting inside the studio. Bai Xiying decided to use today’s lunch break to make more revisions.

After lunch, Bai Xiying took the laptop she had brought today, found a quiet, empty spot, and began to modify her work with a USB drive plugged in.

Her faint, almost imperceptible smile was reflected on the clean screen.

Mu Muqing, you must be getting impatient, right? The time is today, isn’t it?

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