Chapter 145: A Confession Interlude

Only after Bai Yuan completely vanished did Qingyan dare to emerge from behind Xiyan. Looking in the direction where Bai Yuan had departed, she let out a long sigh of relief, then turned her head to glare at Xiyan angrily. "Are you out of your mind? I kept warning you right beside you to watch what you say, to watch what you say! What on earth was that nonsense you just spewed?"

Seeing Qingyan’s furious expression, Xiyan found her somewhat adorable in this moment. Without letting his brain process it first, his body made the move.

He suddenly grabbed the arm she was using to point fingers and scold him, and kissed her.

Qingyan had no idea what had just happened, nor did she know how she ought to react. She simply stood there with her eyes wide open, staring blankly at Xiyan.

Xiyan was equally caught off guard, having no time to process what he had just done. His body had simply reacted ahead of his mind. Once it registered, he felt thoroughly bewildered and even a little frightened.

It was entirely possible that Qingyan might want to kill him over this. Although he had previously resorted to certain schemes in an attempt to win her affection, he hadn't done anything of the sort lately, so he had no clue where he stood in her heart.

Moreover, he was now plagued by doubt: why had he suddenly kissed her out of nowhere? Had he actually fallen for her? Or was it merely a sheer instinctual reaction to the immediate situation?

"You..."

"You..."

Xiyan let go of Qingyan, and both of them spoke at the exact same time.

"You speak first."

"You first... Well, I'll go first then..." Xiyan spoke simultaneously with Qingyan yet again. This time, however, he did not yield, because he wanted to give himself a chance to explain; otherwise, he feared he might be beaten to death by her.

"What I just did was actually because..." Xiyan stammered, hesitant and irresolute. At that moment, he had no idea how to explain himself to Qingyan.

Fortunately, Qingyan "helpfully" came up with a solution for him.

She extended a single finger to press against Xiyan's lips, offering a shy, bashful smile before saying, "I... actually like you quite a bit as well..."

This sudden confession from Qingyan left Xiyan completely frozen. He had never imagined that Qingyan would ever take the initiative to confess her feelings to someone.

"I..." Xiyan wanted to say something, but the words died on his tongue, leaving him utterly speechless.

"I don't have any excessive demands of you, nor am I demanding that you be with me. I just wanted to let you know how I feel, and nothing more..." Qingyan interrupted him once more, rattling off a string of thoughts.

"Alright, alright, let's drop this subject. Let's go back to playing the game levels." Without waiting for Xiyan to reply, Qingyan spoke again.

With that, she grabbed Xiyan's hand and pulled him toward an amusement facility not far away.

Looking down at the hand of his that Qingyan was holding, Xiyan felt a strange, inexplicable sensation well up in his heart.

However, since he still hadn't figured out his own true feelings, he didn't give an immediate answer either.

This incident was merely a minor interlude within the instance and did not disrupt anything else the two of them planned to do.

Qingyan led Xiyan to the carousel area. Having learned her lesson from earlier, she came to a halt a good distance away.

This time, no puppet approached them to announce that they had entered a game zone.

Xiyan surveyed the surrounding environment. The area was filled with blooming flowers and lush grass, right in the middle of which sat the carousel. There were ten wooden horses on the carousel in total, yet only six people were currently seated upon them.

"Shall we try this one?" Xiyan asked.

Qingyan thought for a moment and replied, "I can't even see what's written on that wooden sign from here, but once we step inside, we'll have no choice but to play."

That certainly posed a problem. If they wanted to weigh whether the reward points were worth the risk of entering, they couldn't even make that assessment. Whatever trickery had been applied to the sign prevented them from reading its contents from this distance, even though they logically should have been able to.

"Forget it, let's just go in and take a look." A hunch told Xiyan that he would uncover numerous clues within this instance, and that the instance itself did not intend to harm them.

Thus, he stepped inside. It was a gamble of sorts; if he won the bet, he would obtain the information he desired, with his life being the only stake he stood to lose.

As soon as Xiyan walked into the carousel zone, a puppet immediately approached him and handed him a numbered token.

Xiyan flipped the wooden token over, and this time the number satisfied him quite well.

Number 66.

Qingyan followed Xiyan inside, and the puppet handed her a token as well. Her number was 99.

"Why aren't our sequences right next to each other?" Qingyan asked, looking down at the token in her hand with some confusion.

"The numbering tokens for this carousel don't seem to be consecutive at all. Look at this."

Xiyan pointed toward the game notice displayed ahead.

[Carousel]
[Clearance Reward: 100,000 Points]
[Clearance Objective: Ride the carousel for ten minutes]
[Notice: Unlike other games, the numbers in this game are all identical double digits, such as 11, 22, 33. Players who have obtained a token, please take your seats according to the corresponding number on your wooden token.]

"The numbering tokens for this game are truly bizarre. Every other game has consecutive numbers, but this one doesn't at all," Qingyan observed.

"That's why this instance is rather interesting." Xiyan looked forward with a touch of anticipation: once he claimed first place and left this place, what kind of intriguing clues would that fellow named Bai Yuan be able to provide him with?

[Will all queuing players please enter the area in order.]

The puppet responsible for distributing tokens stood before the entrance of the carousel. Passing through this doorway allowed one to approach the carousel and take a seat.

Having been preoccupied with their numbers, the two of them hadn't noticed that a long queue had already formed behind them.

[Are the two of you planning not to go in?]

Prompted by the puppet's urge, Xiyan and Qingyan finally realized they were standing right at the front of the line.

Compelled by the urging, they hurried into the carousel enclosure.

Guided by the rules written on the sign outside the carousel, the two of them found their respective matching numbers and took their seats.

[All players are now seated on their corresponding wooden horses. The game is about to begin. Players are requested to hold tightly onto the horse's neck. If any player feels unwell midway, you may immediately shout "I surrender" to exit the game.]

As soon as the puppet finished speaking, the wooden horses beneath them began to spin. At first, the rotation of this carousel felt no different from one in a standard amusement park.

However, as time went on, after about two minutes, the speed of the carousel began to escalate rapidly—growing fast enough to induce a sickening sense of nausea.