Chapter 83

Xue Fu still had something she hadn’t told William. For example, before leaving, Shi Jian asked her, “Do you love him?”

She was, of course, referring to William.

Xue Fu replied quickly at the time, smiling as she told Shi Jian, “No, I don’t.”

How could a canary love its owner?

A canary only seeks mutual benefit. Xue Fu understood this clearly.

She did feel William was a good owner—flawless, really. In such a harsh, dangerous environment, he was a rare optimal choice.

She regarded William as an excellent owner, so when she saw that he also liked Shi Jian, she could wave him over without any resentment.

“Come on, come on, here’s a cozy warm nest, sweet spring water, and tasty millet.”

“Come and eat together.”

Xue Fu remembered that after she answered, Shi Jian looked at her with those gem-like beautiful eyes and said, “Hopefully, you don’t love him.”

Xue Fu pushed away her messy thoughts and said to the sponsor, “Shi Jian rejected you. You won’t bother her, right?”

William, upon learning that Shi Jian had refused his olive branch, could hardly be without regret.

Shi Jian, in both appearance and temperament, perfectly fit William’s aesthetic.

More precisely, Shi Jian fit most people’s aesthetic preferences.

However, William was a man of self-restraint. Since Shi Jian had no feelings for him, he could only quietly let go.

“Don’t worry, I’m not that tasteless.”

William shook his head, then stretched out his arm toward Xue Fu. “Let me take you to buy jewelry. Didn’t you say you liked something before?”

“All right.”

Xue Fu linked her arm with William’s.

Xue Fu and William, Shi Jian and Tang Tian walked in completely different directions on the same floor of the mall.

The canary leaned on her owner, continuing to enjoy his support, while the starlet twirled her long hair, ready to fight fiercely.

Xue Fu glanced back secretly at Shi Jian, who walked away with a confident stride.

From her heart, she felt that Shi Jian with that spirited, proud expression was really handsome—but she herself couldn’t do it. She couldn’t be like that.

...

Shi Jian didn’t try to persuade Xue Fu; everyone was an adult with their own path to choose.

She asked Xue Fu that question because she still had a good impression of her.

Although Shi Jian’s points and popularity were not yet as high as William’s, she had no doubt this was only temporary.

Soon, she would rank higher than William!

What William? Just a defeated rival under her command.

But for now, she needed to break into the top 100 first.Standing in front of the screen that only displayed the top 100 streamers, Shi Jian calculated her points, thinking resentfully.

In the following two days, nothing else happened. William and his group didn’t seek out Shi Jian again. After resting and discussing, Shi Jian and Tang Tian decided to enter a new game instance.

Shi Jian was eager to meet her audience again.

The medicine from the mall was still very effective—Shi Jian’s body was left without a single scar, perfectly intact, which gave her a boost of confidence.

Otherwise, she might have lost her mind and wanted to go back to that instance to dig up the dead male streamer.

Since Shi Jian had upgraded to a mid-level streamer, this time they didn’t need a team card. Shi Jian and Tang Tian made an appointment with the staff and entered the new instance together.

Shi Jian had worried at first whether, like in the Renxin Hospital instance, they would be separated at the start.

Fortunately, they were not. When Shi Jian opened her eyes, she saw Tang Tian next to her.

Tang Tian was also awake and sighed with relief after confirming Shi Jian was beside her.

“Shi Jian!”

Tang Tian’s eyes lit up as she ran closer, then the two began to examine their surroundings.

...

They were now in a forest, densely wooded with lush vegetation. The grass was about waist-high, and the tall trees blocked out the sky.

Besides the various plants, the most immediate impression was—

Such thick fog.

Shi Jian didn’t know what time it was in the instance but judged by the light it was probably either early morning or evening. Yet the fog was unusually dense.

Shi Jian felt visibility around was extremely low.

There were other people nearby—about seven or eight—who also silently surveyed the surroundings and glanced at Shi Jian and Tang Tian. It was clear they were all streamers.

After surveying the environment, Shi Jian took immediate action. She solemnly took something out of her phone inventory.

Because Shi Jian stood out so much, many streamers’ eyes focused on her, and her action made many on edge.

What was she doing?

Had she discovered something special? Was something about to happen?

The streamers’ nerves instantly tensed, and the faint dizziness from just entering the instance vanished.

One streamer, more sociable, couldn’t hold back and asked Shi Jian, “Hello, may I ask, did you discover some danger?”

Shi Jian looked at them puzzled. “Danger?”

“No, no.”

Was there danger right from the start of this instance?

The other streamers looked confused. “Then what are you holding?”

Shi Jian showed it. “Mosquito repellent.”

She gestured for Tang Tian to stand a little farther away to avoid bothering others, then sprayed mosquito repellent thoroughly on both of them, from head to toe.Shi Jian furrowed her delicate brows and glanced around with a hint of disdain. “There are so many trees and bushes here, there must be a lot of mosquitoes.”

Getting bitten would be bad.

It wasn’t just about the itchiness; the main issue was the bumps they left behind.

Shi Jian’s skin was fair and smooth, like creamy jade, but even the most beautiful skin would look bad with mosquito bites.

Shi Jian absolutely wouldn’t let that happen!

Tang Tian also didn’t want to get bitten and happily turned over, asking Shi Jian for some mosquito repellent.

Tang Tian thought: Her sister always manages to pull out things she never expected but are extremely practical.

...

After Shi Jian finished spraying the mosquito repellent, the instance officially began. First, a guy wearing glasses with a sunny demeanor anxiously shouted:

“Junior classmates, have you seen the group message?”

Shi Jian put the mosquito repellent back into her inventory, inwardly exclaiming, wow.

This time there was character setting involved, role-playing required.

As an excellent actress, Shi Jian quickly got into the scene and responded first, “Not yet, what happened?”

She also adopted a serious expression.

With someone to play off of, the sunny guy—who was the senior driving the plot—continued, “The instructor finally replied to us in the group. The good news is he’s still alive. The bad news is he got injured halfway and can’t find his way back. Right now, he’s resting in a small cabin, and his phone is dead…”

Following the senior’s cue, Shi Jian and the others checked their phones.

The app-assigned phones showed the group mentioned by the senior, fitting the scene perfectly.

It read “XX University Botany Practical Group,” and with the instructor named Dr. Kong, there were 11 people in total.

By reviewing the chat history, Shi Jian found that they were all second-year graduate students under Dr. Kong, who had brought them here to film a rare orchid in the misty forest.

However, yesterday their instructor suddenly went missing. After anxiously searching and contacting all day with no result, they finally received his reply.

None of them were new to instances, so they were somewhat familiar with the process.

“The forest is huge and easy to get lost in, and now the instructor is injured…”

After everyone had read the message, the senior looked at the group excitedly, “The instructor has always been very good to us. Now that we know he’s in a small cabin, what should we do?!”

His last words were passionate and rousing.

Although the senior hadn’t interacted with Shi Jian for long, he had a good impression of this proactive and well-behaved junior.

So he proactively threw the topic to Shi Jian.

He trusted she could handle it and keep the process going.

Shi Jian didn’t disappoint. She quickly took up the cue and spoke righteously:

“We should call 110 and stay put to wait for police rescue!”The senior nodded approvingly at this top responder, “Right, of course we should immediately go look for the instructor. Let’s pack up quickly and set off, don’t delay the rescue…” rescue the instructor.

But the senior quickly realized something as he watched Shi Jian’s smile fade.

If he remembered correctly, she said they should wait in place?

Shi Jian: That’s right, she said that.

Of course, in this situation, waiting in place for rescue is the right choice.

When it comes to emotional stirring, everyone else is just a little brother in front of her.

Shi Jian said, “Senior, you just said the forest is big and easy to get lost in. We don’t even know where the cabin is. What if we get lost too?”

“Professional matters should be left to professionals.”

“If we get lost here too, it will only add more pressure to the professionals.”

“Better to wait here. Even kindergarten kids know this.”

Audience in the livestream, if you agree, press 1.

“The instructor is more experienced than us. If he can get injured in the forest, what’s the difference if we recklessly rush in, like the Calabash Brothers rushing to save Grandpa?”

Shi Jian mocked.

The Calabash Brothers rushing to save Grandpa? That’s just rushing to get killed.

The misty forest is like a white net waiting for them to enter, and the so-called instructor is the bait.

Shi Jian just noticed their side has a camp, tents; they can camp here safely, definitely safer than going deeper into the forest.

The senior was momentarily speechless.

But he still had a move. After clearing his throat twice, he tried to morally pressure Shi Jian. His tone grew urgent with some other emotions mixed in.

“Junior, what you say makes sense, but I personally think you shouldn’t be so rational. The instructor…”

Before he could finish, Shi Jian anticipated what he’d say and told him, “The instructor cares about us, we all know that.”

“If he were still able to talk to us, he would scold us severely and wouldn’t want us to make such reckless sacrifices.”

Shi Jian: Such a good instructor would never want to see his students act irrationally and recklessly out of misplaced courage.

Call it courageous if you want, but normally, that’s just foolish.

Shi Jian: She has already grasped the logical thinking a good instructor would have. Character analysis is her specialty, and she’s very good at it.

“Senior, be more mature. While you were arguing with me, I already sent a help message to the police.”

Senior: “…”

Why did he even ask her to respond?