Chapter 896: I, Who Exist for You 32

A hotel half a block from the Western restaurant.

Yishen lowered his lashes, shielding the emotion in his eyes; his attitude was aloof and cold as he calmly gazed at Zhu Yan opposite him.

"You have something to say, it's about the Time Exchange."

Having seen through her thoughts, Zhu Yan showed no guilt, instead openly admitting.

"Yes, I deliberately approached you with a purpose."

"But before that, I want to tell you something else."

Zhu Yan stared fixedly at Yishen's eyes, "Don't you think Jin Chen's appearance is too much of a coincidence?"

"How is it that just as he appeared, the Time Exchange's conspiracy followed close behind, even putting your life at risk?"

"If Jin Chen hadn't appeared, you would merely have been accused of plagiarism."

As Zhu Yan spoke, Yishen's expression grew colder, even bleak and oppressive.

The sound of the porcelain cup being set down made Zhu Yan's unfinished words stall; she looked up in surprise, meeting Yishen's already impatient eyes.

"Then isn't your approach also a coincidence?"

Yishen's voice carried a hint of weary laziness as his face turned cold and stern.

"On what basis do you think that just your one-sided account is enough for me to doubt Jin Chen?"

"Just who are you?"

The atmosphere fell silent.

"I..."

Zhu Yan leaned back, her forced smile fading, and even as she spoke there lingered a faint sense of longing.

"I was once a partner of the Time Exchange long ago, but now I only wish this wretched place would be destroyed."

"I know you're willing to trust Jin Chen now because you like him, but... as someone who's been there, I still want to remind you: falling for someone you shouldn't is never a good thing."

Yishen was unwilling to believe his words, yet he felt curious about whom Zhu Yan meant by 'someone you shouldn't like.'

"What do you mean by 'someone I shouldn't like,' and what else do you know?"

"Jin Chen is a character you created yourself, yet he does not belong to you," Zhu Yan said sharply.

"He is cooperating with the Time Exchange, so as someone naturally blessed with great Fortune Value, you will surely end up as a sacrifice."

Yishen frowned, the emotions pent up in his heart growing more numerous and complex.

Zhu Yan added, "Let me tell you, I've survived in this world for several hundred years, and at the beginning I also developed feelings for a member of the Time Exchange."

As he spoke of the past, he lifted his head to gaze at his own reflection in the glass, his expression overflowing with longing.

"I trusted him completely; he said my Fortune Value could let him live longer, so I gave him everything."

"But in the end, it still couldn't withstand being used."

Yishen: "Did he kill you?"

"His older brother killed me, because he wanted to leave the Exchange, and I too thought we could stay together like this."

Zhu Yan's expression grew ever more complex, the emotion in her eyes Dazed, as if trapped in memory and unable to break free.

"I was deceived; he told me he would die for love if I died, but he didn't, as if he had forgotten this feeling."

Yishen looked at Zhu Yan, feeling increasingly strange—this didn't seem like reminiscence but rather like recounting an unwilling story.

"The expression when recalling oneself is completely different from when narrating another's story."

But Yishen didn't call her out, merely asking, "So you went to all this trouble sharing your story just to drive a wedge between me and Jin Chen?"

Zhu Yan didn't hide it: "Jin Chen is the person currently cooperating with the Time Exchange; he's no different from them."

Yishen fell silent once again.

Even a firm conviction could not withstand the random thoughts that arose after hearing those words.

Yishen knew he was naturally highly sensitive, so he strongly resisted accepting information that could easily sway his thoughts, just like today.

In the end, he still wavered in his trust of Jin Chen.

Even a faint trace would be enough for the Exchange's detectors to pick up.

Zhu Yan glanced at the wristband on her hand, a flicker of satisfaction too slight to notice crossing her lips; when she lifted her head again, her previously tangled emotions had been sorted out.

By chatting with Yishen, he sent the feedback information to Yi Xi.

The Western restaurant.

Yi Xi felt his lips were about to bubble from talking, yet Jin Chen simply would not loosen his tongue.

He also wouldn't be led into his tricks; from start to finish he always had his own set of ideas.

Fortunately, the fluctuation signal returned by Number Two was already enough to open the Spacetime Gate.

As Jin Chen's creator, if even Yishen's trust in him is unsteady, then once the Spacetime Gate opens, Jin Chen will be easily sent back to the world inside the book.

Although he couldn't kill Jin Chen himself, which was a pity, Yi Xi thought, sending him back to the void world is hardly not a punishment.

Jin Chen keenly sensed the sudden excitement of the person opposite him,

He sat up straight, wary, his already aloof tone turning even more chilling.

"According to what you just said, after Hua Cishu split from the Time Exchange, his soul has always drifted in the void, yet he can still, through a link with stories, control what he wants."

"Do you want to find him?"

Yi Xi changed his earlier slightly appeasing tone: "No, I don't want to find him."

"Hua Cishu is mysterious and unfathomable, and can even alter others' lives through writing; getting involved with him is certainly no good thing."

"I just want… to kill you!"

As soon as Yi Xi's words fell, he immediately flicked the wristband given by the director, but Jin Chen, already on guard, seized his arm and shoved him away violently.

Jin Chen's pupils emitted a fierce, cold, yet thought-provoking glow: "Playing little tricks under my eyelids, I see you don't even want to live."

He grabbed the fork on the table, its sharp blade flashing, and in Yi Xi's anguished cry, drove it deep into his wrist.

Fresh blood spurted; Jin Chen's gaze was cruel as he glanced at the thing Yixi wore on his hand.

「Is this thing given to you by those damn bastards from the Time Exchange? 」

Yixi collapsed on the ground, gasping; he had never suffered such a serious injury—a fork had stabbed his wrist, the pain so intense he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

But from the moment Yixi began cooperating with the Time Exchange, his consciousness was no longer fully under his own control, just like Xuyuchuan originally.

Yixi glared fiercely at Jin Chen, his voice broken and vicious: 「You killed Xuyuchuan—you deserve to die! 」

He didn't utter a single word about the thing on his wrist.

0731 returned at this moment, so startled by the bloody scene that he burped.

【How did this turn into a fight…… Host!! Hurry up and leave!】

0731 suddenly shouted loudly, detecting an unusual suction here.

Jin Chen stared in shock, lifting his head to look at the source of the power fluctuation—the private room's main door.

This suction force, he found himself completely unable to resist.

Yixi laughed maniacally, forced himself to sit up, and flung open the book hidden in the sofa.

「As long as you're not in this world, my revenge will be considered fulfilled! 」

「That monster Yishen, no one is left to protect him! 」

Jin Chen realized what he intended to do, he unleashed spiritual power from his wrist, yet still could not resist.

At the critical moment, Jin Chen left Yixi severely wounded, took off the band from his wrist, and was completely sucked into the book.