Chapter 377: Hua Jian Lei

The guy stared for a moment, sizing up Ying Duo—how did he show up to the banquet in just a sweatshirt? And the servants actually let him in?

Could this kid be an Undead too?

"...... You don't know?"

Ying Duo shook his head; the man felt a chill under Ying Duo's golden eyes, and already nervous, he blurted everything out.

"Undead are invaders from another world; they somehow take over living bodies, pushing out the original owners."

He swallowed, lowering his voice further.

"No one knows when a familiar person nearby will turn into someone else—they might look and sound identical, but inside they're no longer the same person!"

Ying Duo listened, his golden eyes showing no ripple.

"What does the Dome say?"

The man continued: "The Dome says the Undead are dangerous, invading our world, so they've been rounding them up; a few days ago they issued a notice urging everyone to report anyone acting strangely..."

He paused, then added:

"I think the Dome's decision is right—our friends and family are being replaced for no reason, so we should detain them all, study them, and prevent this from happening again."

Ying Duo fell silent for a second.

"So, will the Dome come to save us?"

"Of course," the man nodded repeatedly, lowering his voice, "the Dome will surely save us—after all, they've captured so many Undead, and it's not like they're demanding they all be released."

His words suddenly stopped; earlier Ying Duo's gaze had made him break out in goosebumps, and now he felt that stare growing even more chilling.

"...... Why are you staring at me like that?"

Ying Duo withdrew his gaze. "Nothing."

He paused, then asked another question.

"The Dome issued a notice about the Undead—what about the Church?"

"The Church? I don't know—never mind that the Dome's already been rounding up Undead; they only just released a statement, and the Church probably can't even handle its own troubles right now."

Ying Duo nodded, then turned his golden eyes to the master of ceremonies still issuing orders at the center of the banquet hall, without asking further.

Undead.

Invader.

Taking over living bodies.

The Dome captures them and sends them to labs, while the Church collaborates with the Undead.

According to what Fang Zhiyan said earlier, it's very likely the Undead came to this world thanks to the Church's doing.

Ying Duo ran through the information point by point; the situation was truly a tangled mess, with the Church and the Dome acting like two brats frantically blaming each other.

One thing is certain: after he bombarded Tianmian City, anomalies definitely appeared, and the Church and Undead's arrival in this world is surely connected.

The problem is, the Dome's attitude toward the Undead isn't necessarily any better.

Then why is the Dome mass‑capturing Undead for research?

He still has too little information...

Yang Yixie could just go ask Fang Zhiyan directly, but who knows how much of his answer is true.

Still, we ought to ask the Xirensheng lot.

Come to think of it, if they're all trapped in here, we'd have to rely on outsiders to figure out a rescue.

He isn't unable to act, though...

Ying Duo quietly moved to the window; to better enjoy the high‑altitude view, this part of the banquet hall has many such floor‑to‑ceiling windows.

Can this glass withstand a few of his bullets?

No matter how you say it, we're miles up in the sky, and without Lu Mu, that makeshift glider he tossed together earlier has long since vanished somewhere in Tianmian City.

Hmm... is there something up here he could jury‑rig into an invincible frame?

——————————————

The night wind howled, tossing Hua Jian Lei's white‑pink hair into wild disarray as he leaned on the railing, fingering the crumpled invitation, his pink peach‑eyes occasionally glancing toward the passage behind him.

Surely he can't have failed to recognize what he wrote?

In that regard, Yang Yixie really wronged the Xirensheng lot—they never actually shared his photo with Hua Jian Lei and the others in real life.

But the Xirensheng lot can't help it—once they saw the Church's fresh wanted poster, they flaunted it everywhere; if Hua Jian Lei hadn't stopped them, they might have hung Ying Duo's warrant on the Dome's big screen.

So, are the lower‑city sisters unfriendly, or the upper‑city rich ladies just not attractive?

Why is he either babysitting or wiping people's butts every day?

At last the passage stirred; Hua Jian Lei's eyes lit up, he straightened up, and a habitual teasing smile spread across his face.

"You finally showed up—I thought the banquet ladies had bewitched you and made you forget there's still someone......"

His words caught in his throat, because the person who stepped out of the passage wasn't the one he was waiting for.

But a young man with a stern expression and sharp eyes.

Yang Yichen.

Hua Jian Lei blinked, and while he was still processing, Yang Yichen had already stepped up, glanced him over with undisguised contempt.

From his silver‑pink hair to his lazy, slouching posture, the face that clearly frequents high‑end places, and the invitation he's still toying with in his hand—

Every detail set off alarms in Yang Yichen's radar.

"Are you the one who wrote the note?"

Yang Yichen's voice was icy; Hua Jian Lei blinked, his gaze sweeping over the face that resembled Yang Yixie by at least seventy percent, then he smiled.

"It's me, but I wasn't looking for you." His tone was light, making Yang Yichen's eyes grow even colder.

Yang Yixie rarely mentions his real‑life situation to them; although he'd suspected something when he saw the two together, Hua Jian Lei never imagined he'd dump his completely unrelated older brother on them.

What's that guy up to?

But what's more important now is——

They had arranged to meet Yang Yixie, but the one who showed up was their older brother.

In other words, Ying Duo didn't come.

So where is he now?

Hua Jian Lei's eyelid twitched.

He deliberately chose this time, just so that before anyone starts causing trouble at the banquet, he could call Ying Duo out.

He knows that guy is not easy to deal with, especially hating when others make decisions and arrangements for him, but he also knows that person's talent for disrupting others' plans.

Can their airship reach the destination smoothly?