Chapter 86

“That’s just wonderful,” Lin Changqing said with a smile, gritting his teeth. “I was almost dug up and severed along with that one swing of your hoe.”

“That’s impossible, you carry a ‘token’ with you, don’t you?” Yuan Lan smiled and hugged Lin Changqing, patting him on the back twice like they were close buddies, then let go and continued to smile, saying, “Besides, I believe A-Qing isn’t the kind of trash who can be killed so easily.”

Lin Changqing said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Thank you so much for having such confidence in me.”

“Of course, you’re my favorite person~” Yuan Lan said, then suddenly looked as if he remembered something. “But, A-Qing, you’ve been demoted. You’re number two now!”

He gestured towards Bai Xuechao with his hand, his tone lively like a child showing off a new toy, “Ta-da—my favorite person now is little Xuechao!”

“Thank you, I’ve long wanted to take off the crown of being number one,” Lin Changqing said as he followed the direction of Yuan Lan’s hand and looked at Bai Xuechao again.

This time, he carefully sized up the other person.

The young man’s features seemed to have been personally carved by the gods, exquisite and beautiful. His crimson eyes were more beautiful than any expensive and brilliant red diamond. His skin was an unhealthy pale, and his snow-white, soft hair shimmered like silk under the sunlight, its ends brushing against his long, slender neck.

At this moment, the young man’s face was devoid of any expression. His quiet appearance added a certain ethereal quality to him, making him look like an exquisite ball-jointed doll displayed in a glass case.

The other’s appearance was very much in line with Yuan Lan’s aesthetic, but that alone would only make him one of Yuan Lan’s many toys, destined to become another piece in his collection after death.

Yuan Lan hated idiots and liked smart people.

To truly catch Yuan Lan’s eye, one first had to have a clever mind; second, one had to possess great strength, with a special ability of at least level 7, and as far as he knew, although no one had managed it yet, being able to injure Yuan Lan would absolutely thrill him; finally, one had to be interesting to Yuan Lan.

Yuan Lan’s standards for what was “interesting” were varied and whimsical.

The previous “favorite” person—that is, him, Lin Changqing—had interested Yuan Lan because of the ability he evolved at level 6 of his special ability: he could, through an oath set by his special ability, temporarily project his consciousness onto the oath-taker, and even briefly use their body.

He didn’t know what was so interesting about the young man before him that had caught Yuan Lan’s fancy, but to him, what was more important was the other’s identity—

Based on the intelligence provided by Boss Sun earlier, Duan Xingzhi telling him to return the person after learning he was from the Apocalypse Society, and Yuan Lan’s way of addressing the young man, there was no doubt that this young man was Bai Xuechao—one of the four cadres of the Dark Organization, who was frail and sickly, raised within the organization since childhood, and had considerable connections with Jiang Yunyi.

After being nurtured by the Dark Organization for so many years, he would just switch sides like that?

Lin Changqing didn’t believe it. With Yuan Lan’s intelligence, he wouldn’t so easily believe that Bai Xuechao had joined the Apocalypse Society. There was only one possibility—

Yuan Lan wanted to play with Bai Xuechao.

Lin Changqing wrapped his arm around Yuan Lan’s neck, guiding him out of the hospital room. He smiled at Mu Xinyue, who wanted to follow, and said, “I have something I want to discuss with the boss alone.”

The two of them left the room and walked some distance down the corridor.

After Lin Changqing confirmed that the people in the room wouldn’t be able to hear them from this distance, he said to Yuan Lan in a low voice, “Do you need me to place an oath on Bai Xuechao?”

“Are you worried?” Yuan Lan leaned leisurely against the wall, the corners of his lips curling into a slight arc. “No need.”

Sunlight shone through the corridor’s stained-glass windows, casting bizarre and colorful patterns on the floor.

Lin Changqing’s dark phoenix eyes gazed at Yuan Lan as he earnestly advised, “You know, the one you brought back isn’t some docile little kitten, but a venomous snake.”

“Of course,” Yuan Lan straightened up, his golden eyes, reflecting the colorful light from the stained-glass, curved. He said meaningfully, “But a venomous snake that has had its fangs pulled out no longer deserves to be called a venomous snake. Besides, are you sure you can pull out its fangs?”

He moved closer to Lin Changqing and said, “You weren’t here last night, so you didn’t see what I looked like when I returned.”

“What?” Lin Changqing hazarded a guess, “A little disheveled?”

“Very disheveled,” Yuan Lan placed a hand over his own chest, a somewhat intoxicated expression appearing on his face, as if recalling something wonderful. “A hole was pierced right here.”

Lin Changqing was startled, “He can hurt you?”

“Mhm~” Yuan Lan nodded with a smile.

Lin Changqing said, “I saw that he’s already wearing the X-bracelet.”

However, Yuan Lan’s next words sent another jolt of alarm through him: “How can you be sure that he’s truly helpless against that bracelet?”

“You don’t know. Back then, we only fought briefly, and he already learned to predict my movements,” Yuan Lan patted Lin Changqing’s shoulder and turned to walk back towards the hospital room, passing him. “And he succeeded.”

“Wha…!” Lin Changqing’s narrow eyes almost went round. He caught up to Yuan Lan, “And you still dare to keep him?”

Yuan Lan’s lips curved into a wide smile, and he pressed his hands to his chest in a heart-cupping gesture, exuding a playfulness that belied his age. “He’ll definitely bring me more surprises. Just thinking about it makes me super—excited!”

This time, Lin Changqing was truly left speechless.

He told himself to forget it. Yuan Lan was just this kind of person; he would do incomprehensible things for the sake of fun, but he had never messed up, and that was enough.

The two returned to the hospital room.

Yuan Lan spread his arms and announced happily, “Just now, A-Qing said we should hold a welcome party for little Xuechao. I thought about it, and the last time we had a team-building event was the last time. It’s time for another wonderful and exciting gathering!”

Listening to him speak was like listening to him speak. There were too many things to mock that Lin Changqing was left speechless.

When did he ever say he wanted to hold a welcome party?

Moreover, every time Yuan Lan organized a team-building gathering for fun, he would mess with them relentlessly. Mu Xinyue and Yu Ruolan, one a love-brained girl with a one-sided crush on Yuan Lan and the other Yuan Lan’s childhood friend, wouldn’t say anything, but the others would surely blame him for it!

Lin Changqing opened his mouth, “I didn’t, I…”

“Didn’t A-Qing say he really welcomes little Xuechao?” Yuan Lan bent down to get closer to Lin Changqing, looking up at him and blinking innocently. “Could it be that A-Qing suddenly regrets it? If you go back on your word like this, the new member will be disheartened!”

Bai Xuechao: Thanks, not disheartened.

“To not even have a proper welcome ceremony, is the Apocalypse Society really such a cold place—little Xuechao might think that, you know?” Yuan Lan stood up straight, one hand on his heart, the other making a gesture of wiping away tears under his eye, and said in a tone more exaggerated than a stage play, “If little Xuechao holds a grudge because of this and can’t integrate well with us, I’ll be very hurt too!”

Lin Changqing couldn’t take it anymore and stepped forward to cover his mouth.

He smiled, a vein threatening to pop on his forehead, “Stop talking, boss. I was the one who suggested the welcome party, okay?!”

From Lin Changqing’s reaction, Bai Xuechao had already guessed that their conversation just now wasn’t about this. Lin Changqing hadn’t suggested holding a welcome party for him, and it seemed that team-building gatherings in the Apocalypse Society weren’t very popular, at least not with Lin Changqing.

He asked, “What’s the welcome party like?”

“See!” Yuan Lan pulled Lin Changqing’s hand away. “Little Xuechao is super excited too!”

Lin Changqing recalled their gatherings. Yuan Lan had beautifully called the Apocalypse Society a harmonious big family that should, of course, set aside one day a month to get together for a meal. His face almost turned green. He chose his words carefully, “Um… our gatherings are very lively, and the food is great.”

Six cadres plus two candidates, a total of eight victims, of course it was lively.

The food was also excellent, except for the occasional hidden weapon.

He continued, “We also play games, um, they’re quite interesting.”

The games were very interesting. Participants might die—oh, no, with Mu Xinyue around, how could anyone die? Half-dead, perhaps.

Lin Changqing concluded, “And there are little gifts at the end.”

Anyway, after opening them twice, he never opened them again, because nine times out of ten, it was some kind of prank prop. He heard that Yu Ruolan had gotten something nice before, but he didn’t want to bet on those odds.

Bai Xuechao seemed thoughtful, “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Lin Changqing said earnestly.

“Alright,” a smile appeared on Bai Xuechao’s pale, beautiful face, and his melodious voice, like a clear spring, rang out, but the words he spoke were devilish, “In that case, I will definitely thank you at the gathering for proposing to hold a welcome party for me.”

Lin Changqing’s expression flickered, and he decisively refused, “No, that won’t be necessary.”

Bai Xuechao smiled, “It’s alright, I always repay my debts of gratitude.”

Lin Changqing: I think you’re the type to repay every grievance.

Lin Changqing also realized that this fellow had seen through the charade, so he cast a pleading look at Yuan Lan.

Yuan Lan saw his signal for help, but instead of helping, he added insult to injury, “Then I’ll also announce before we start that this welcome party was A-Qing’s idea!”

Lin Changqing: “…”

In the end, I was the one who shouldered it all.

“Then, A-Qing, contact the others and ask them what they want to eat,” Yuan Lan assigned this task to Lin Changqing, then turned to look at Bai Xuechao, his gentle voice sounding out, “What would you like to eat? The chefs in our Apocalypse Society are all very skilled; they can make anything.”

Lin Changqing silently added in his heart: And if they can’t make it, they have to learn, or they’ll die.

Bai Xuechao said casually, “Shaomai.”

“Sure!” Yuan Lan then looked at Mu Xinyue, who was rinsing her mouth at the sink in the corner, and asked loudly, “Miss Mu, what do you want to eat?”

Mu Xinyue said, “I’m on a diet. A vegetable salad.”

“Okay~” Yuan Lan finally leaned in front of Yu Ruolan and asked with a gentle smile, “What about little Yu?”

Only then did Lin Changqing notice that Yu Ruolan was also there!

“Little Yu, you’re here,” Lin Changqing deleted the message he was about to send to Yu Ruolan and greeted her with a sheepish smile. “When did you get here? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I want to eat egg tarts and ginger milk curd,” Yu Ruolan answered Yuan Lan, then looked at Lin Changqing and said in a small voice, “I’ve been here the whole time.”

Lin Changqing: Well, this is awkward.

He could only say, “Sorry, I didn’t notice.”

“It’s okay,” Yu Ruolan replied.

She was already used to it.

Lin Changqing ran a hand through his hair and found an excuse to escape, “Well, I’m going to take a shower and change. See you tonight.”

“See you tonight~” Yuan Lan slapped him on the back.

Just a few steps away, Lin Changqing’s phone suddenly vibrated twice in his palm.

He glanced at the message and stopped in his tracks, turning back to say, “Boss, the Dark Organization, through that Boss Xu I was just negotiating business with, has requested to speak with you.”

“Eh~?” Yuan Lan glanced at Bai Xuechao, who remained expressionless upon hearing ‘Dark Organization,’ and said to Lin Changqing, “Sure, when?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep