Chapter 51: Cracks
“I have a question,” Yin Xiran suddenly said.
Her voice was no longer as cheerful as usual, but rather carried a hint of scrutiny.
“Even if everything you said is true, even if we’re dealing with a complete lunatic, even if tomorrow, no, tonight is his so-called deadline…”
She paused, as if she was organizing her words, or as if she was confirming her thoughts.
“But does this kind of thing really need to be solved by us?”
As soon as this question was asked, Chen Dongyang and Yin Qingle were stunned.
Yin Xiran continued, with a certain certainty in her voice:
“Since there are people with superpowers like us in this world, and things like ‘angels’ and ‘vengeful spirits’ exist, then there must be organizations specifically designed to deal with such incidents, right?
Perhaps a secret government department, or some mysterious organization hidden behind the scenes.
In short, when faced with such a mess, there should be adults to handle it, right?
Not high school students like us?
We don’t need to, and shouldn’t, get involved in such a dangerous and unequal confrontation.”
Faced with such remarks, Chen Dongyang and Yin Qingle fell silent and turned their eyes to Jiang Yuxin.
“So?
Are you saying that we should do nothing?
It’s best for us to just go home and hide somewhere safe, hoping that some unknown ‘incarnation of justice’ will come down from the sky and save the world at the last moment?”
Jiang Yuxin’s eyes were calm, but her words were full of undisguised sarcasm.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Yin Xiran’s brows knitted together.
What she hated most was Jiang Yuxin’s always condescending, all-knowing attitude.
She took a half step forward, about to ask something.
“That…”
A slightly awkward voice interrupted the argument between the two that was about to break out again.
Chen Dongyang raised his hand, a look of helplessness on his face.
He looked out the window at the gloomy sky, then checked the time on his phone.
“It’s almost noon now,” he suggested cautiously, “and we haven’t eaten anything since this morning.
How about… we find a place to eat and replenish our energy first, and then slowly discuss the next plan?
After all, people are made of iron and food is made of steel.
You can’t come up with any good ideas on an empty stomach, right?”
Jiang Yuxin and Yin Xiran both cast their gazes at him, their expressions filled with complexities.
Finally, Yin Xiran snorted coldly and turned her head away, tacitly accepting the proposal.
Jiang Yuxin, on the other hand, simply glanced at him indifferently, offering no objection.
So, the four of them temporarily put aside all their disputes and differences and quietly left this apartment full of secrets and filth.
They didn’t walk far before finding a relatively clean-looking McDonald’s nearby.
The restaurant wasn’t crowded, and the warm yellow lights and the aroma of fried food lingering in the air formed a stark contrast to the gloomy and depressing atmosphere of the old street outside, giving them a brief illusion of returning to normalcy.
The four of them found a booth by the window, sat down, ordered their food, and then fell into another round of silence.
In front of each of them was a glass of iced Coca-Cola with water droplets on it, but no one touched it first.
While waiting for the meal to be served, Jiang Yuxin finally broke the silence.
She didn’t look at anyone, but just tapped the table with her fingers again and again, her eyes fixed on the passers-by outside the window, her voice so flat as if she was narrating something that had nothing to do with her.
“If you don’t want to pursue this matter any further, you can take your sister and leave now.”
Her words were addressed directly to Yin Xiran.
Yin Xiran stopped stirring the straw, raised her head and met Jiang Yuxin’s calm gaze.
“After losing you and your sister, our two most important forces, there’s nothing he and I can do alone.”
Jiang Yuxin continued to analyze calmly in her cold voice, “So, I’ll probably choose to give up.
After all, I’m not interested in risking my life for those idiots in this city I don’t even know.”
After she finished speaking, she seemed to remember something, and glanced at Chen Dongyang beside her out of the corner of her eye, and added casually with a somewhat mocking tone:
“But, someone might ignore my advice and go to that place alone to die.”
Chen Dongyang, who was drinking Coca-Cola, choked by her sudden words and nearly coughed.
He raised his head and looked at Jiang Yuxin speechlessly, unable to help but retort, “Hey, Jiang, do you think I’m such a reckless idiot?
I’m not that desperate.
Even if I really wanted to go, I would at least choose to call the police first.”
Jiang Yuxin ignored his rebuttal.
Her eyes were always fixed on Yin Xiran’s face, as if waiting for her answer.
Yin Xiran fell silent.
She stared at Jiang Yuxin quietly, her brows lowered.
She found herself unable to fathom Jiang Yuxin’s true intentions.
‘Was she the kind of person who acted out of a desire to save something?’
No, from her perspective, Jiang Yuxin was clearly goal-driven.
She was someone who would only take action if she wanted to achieve or gain something.
‘Just like when the body was found in the old teaching building, it would have been easy for Jiang Yuxin to find the murderer with her ability, but she just didn’t do it.
She didn’t even bother to think of an excuse.
She just wanted people to believe it by saying she was a mysophobe.
The funny thing is that some people actually believed it.’
After a long while, Yin Xiran finally uttered a sound of astonishment that was a bit self-deprecating.
“Tsk.”
She leaned back in her chair and picked up the cup again, her tone filled with a hint of dissatisfaction and helplessness.
“That’s easy to say.
Even if we really leave now, with your personality, who knows if you will do something behind the scenes?”
She raised her eyes, staring firmly at Jiang Yuxin, “For example, directly use your ability to control my sister and me and turn us into your puppets.
It’s not like you can’t do such a thing.”
Faced with this blunt accusation, Jiang Yuxin was not angry at all, but instead showed a faint smile.
She neither denied nor admitted it.
Chen Dongyang watched the turbulent undercurrents between the two of them and could only sigh inwardly.
He knew that this makeshift team was riddled with cracks from the start.
Each one had their own secrets, their own agendas, their own weaknesses.
But what could he do?
To truly unite them might be even more difficult than defeating that so-called “angel.”
But no matter what, Yin Xiran never said the word “leave” again.
That’s enough.