Chapter Six Prelude

  "What's going on?" Ou Yangxiu said to others in the Time Building.

  "There is nothing abnormal."

  "Is that so......" Ouyang Xiuxiu sighed, and the moment he stepped into the Time Tower, he understood that it was impossible to hide anyone in this building. The first floor of the building was empty, with only a ladder leading up to the large clock above, while the door upstairs was always locked and could not be opened. In other words, the remnant shadow was not here at all.

  However, for safety's sake, Ouyang Xiuzi and the others checked again. Now they are going to the last building, Tongzhilou, to check once more.

  "Huh? Where's Meng Han and Wang Bo?" Ouyang Xiu asked, just as they were about to depart, only to discover that their numbers had suddenly halved.

  "They're gone!" Zhou pointed outside the door, "to the restroom..."

  Before he could finish speaking, a loud crash drowned out Zhou Zheng's voice. Looking up to see what had happened, they saw that the large doors had been flung open and Yuan Li rushed in hastily, her face looking relieved as she ran towards them, panting heavily as she said: "Quick... let's go quickly, or it will be too late!"

  "What?" Ouyang Xiujue exclaimed in surprise, taking out his phone from his pocket to check the time, and found that it wasn't even 7:30 yet. He asked back, "It's not even nine o'clock yet, what's the hurry? It's impossible for Canying to arrive ahead of schedule."

  "No... it's not!" Yuan Li shook his head, "It's... an exhibition."

  "Didn't we say 8 o'clock?"

  "Grandma moved up the time, starting at 7:40, and closing the doors of Shadowless Tower at 7:35. This way, no one can get in or out, it's a trick to deal with the residual shadows."

  "Alright then, you go first, we'll wait for Wang Bo and Menghan."

  "I came here before and told them," said Yuan Li, "even Zheng Hanfei, Di Luo and others have gone, now it's just you guys left."

  Upon hearing this, Ouyang Xiu could only nod and follow Yuan Li in a hurry towards the Shadow Pavilion. The remaining time was limited, so they still didn't know if they would make it on time.

  ……

  "Zheng Hanfei, Qu Menghan, you..." After entering the Shadow Building, Ouyang Xiu was slightly surprised by Zheng Hanfei's attire. The previously somewhat shabby suit had disappeared and was replaced by a more luxurious one than Ouyang Xiu's own. Qu Menghan and Wang Bo also changed into their respective luxurious clothes, making Ouyang Xiu look somewhat shabby in comparison.

  "Your clothes are over there!" Zheng Han pointed to a room in the back, "Madam Yuan Cui said that we'll also be going on stage today, so we can't dress too shabbily. She's prepared a set of clothes for each of us."

  "See you later." With that, Ouyang Xiuhurriedly walked into the room. It seemed that Ouyang Xiucared about his attire at times.

  "Hey, Xiao Han Fei!" At this time, Zhou Zheng called out to Zheng Han Fei, who looked a bit surprised and couldn't get his words out.

  "Zhou... Zhou Zhengtang, how did you end up here!"

  "Of course I'm here to see the exhibition." Zhou Zheng said matter-of-factly, then whispered a few sentences in his ear: "Of course, I also came to see how your battle with Lingyin is going."

  This is the real purpose. Zheng Han rolled his eyes at him, and Zhou Zheng could only smile awkwardly in response.

  "Here!" Qu Menghan handed Zheng Hanfei a glass of juice, "First quench your thirst and relieve tension, so you won't be at a loss for words when you go on stage."

  "I'm not a kid." Zheng Hanfei smiled and took the juice, glancing at Qu Menghan's second-longest finger among her five fingers - her index finger was wearing a ring. He subconsciously asked: "This ring is..."

  "Matching with the outfit." Qu Menghan fluttered in front of Zheng Hanfei like a little girl, seemingly showing off, "How's that, looks good, right?"

  Zheng Hanfei nodded, a silver ring with a white diamond inlaid on it, about the same size as the star in the shadow. He had to admit that wearing it on Qu Menghan's hand was aesthetically pleasing.

  "Is this... pineapple juice?!" Zheng Hanfei's face turned a bit strange after drinking the fruit juice, and he complained to Qu Menghuan, "Why did you give me this."

  "Of course, I'll give it to you! Don't you know? Pineapples contain a special amino acid called "happy hormone", which can help the body overcome mental depression and relieve tension."

  "I'm not used to drinking pineapple juice." Zheng Hanfei returned the fruit juice to Qu Menghuan, and suddenly his pupils contracted slightly, as if he had seen something strange.

  "What's wrong? Is there something strange on my face?"

  "It's nothing!" Zheng Hanfei shook his head, and then took out the notice letter. For some reason, he seemed to have found a clue to crack it in his mind.

  "Is this the notice?" Zhou Zheng hurried to Zheng Hanfei's side, quickly scanning the contents of the card with a smile, "I didn't think it would be so difficult, no wonder you guys thought about it for so long and still couldn't crack it."

  "Can Zhou Zheng Tan solve it?" For some reason, Zheng Hanfei had a hint of expectation towards this "Dragon of China".

  "Except for the time you spent figuring it out, I still can't understand the rest of it at a glance."

  This sentence made Zheng Hanfei instantly petrified, staring at Zhou Zheng with a helpless gaze, wondering if he had misjudged the person. What he said was all nonsense and didn't help him solve his problem at all.

  "How are these clothes?" At this time, Yuan Li led Di Luo and Shao Le over, looking at the somewhat dull atmosphere of the crowd, and asked out loud. It seemed that he wanted to liven up the atmosphere here.

  "Alright, thank your grandmother for me." Zheng Hanfei put away the notice and seemed to remember something, saying: "By the way, how's your sister?"

  "Are you worried about my sister?" Yuan Li looked at Zheng Hanfei with a gaze that only men could understand, his face full of mockery.

  Unfortunately, he didn't understand a truth that the IQ of detectives is inversely proportional to their EQ. For someone like Zheng Hanfei, his EQ was close to zero. Even when his second personality took over, not only did he have no EQ, but also no emotions at all. Do you think Zheng Hanfei could comprehend this?

  "Huh?" Zheng Hanfei was somewhat perplexed, "What's there to worry about? I'm just asking, if you don't want to tell me, then forget it."

  "Hehe, just kidding." Yuan Li seemed to understand that Zheng Hanfei's EQ was a bit low, so he said; "She's already awake, it's just that she was scared by the residual shadow and doesn't want to attend the exhibition anymore. I guess she's now sitting at her desk, reading reasoning books."

  When Zheng Hanfei heard what Yuan Li said, his heart felt a bit more at ease. After all, Yuan Yu's situation was due to the residual shadow trying to get close to him and getting hurt in the process. Logically speaking, he also had some responsibility for it. Now that the other party was fine, the guilt in his heart decreased significantly.

  They say that time flies when chatting, and before you know it, Ouyang Xi had already walked out of the room. His handsome face was paired with elegant clothes, attracting many gazes. With his light blue detective eyes and silver-gray short hair, he immediately became the focus of the scene.

  Why did I feel like he deserved a beating the more I looked at him? This was Zheng Hanfei's first reaction, as if something similar had happened before.

  "It seems I've let you down!" Ouyang Xiū didn't pay attention to those gazes, and directly walked to Zheng Hanfei's side saying: "I didn't inspect the Tóngzhī Tower at all."

  "I knew this would happen, don't worry, although there are many rooms there, I and Yuan Li and Di Luo have thoroughly checked the place, and there's nothing unusual at all." As he spoke, Zheng Hanfei patted his shoulder, as if telling Ouyang Xiuxiu not to mind these things.

  Because in their eyes there was only reasoning, everyone ignored them and chatted happily. Among them, Shao Le's voice attracted the attention of the two: "Do you know? I have a foreign friend who once said that Chinese is indeed a unique language, and his example was very touching."

  "Oh? What example?" A young man next to Shao Le asked, his excitement evident on his face, indicating that they were discussing a topic of interest to the youth.

  "It's the character for 'wood', he said this character has branches and leaves on top and roots at the bottom, that's why it's called 'wood'."

  "Of course!" The young man looked puzzled, "Because 'mu' is originally a pictogram."

  "I haven't finished yet." Shao Le stretched out his hand to signal the young man not to interrupt him, "He also said that if you add another 'wood' character next to the 'wood' character, it becomes 'forest', meaning many trees. And if you continue to add a 'wood' character on top of that, it becomes 'dense forest', meaning even more trees."

  "What he said is indeed a good example."

  Wood? Forest? Woods? Could it be... Zheng Hanfei took out the notice again, carefully read the second-to-last sentence on the notice, and a faint smile gradually appeared at the corner of his mouth.

  It seems... you've broken through another layer! In the venue, a silhouette disguised as someone else also smiled faintly upon seeing this. But can you break through the final layer?