Chapter 731: The Liar

Qi Xia looked at the little boy kneeling on one knee in front of him, his face expressionless.

The people around were also a bit puzzled by this scene. Zheng Yingxiong was taking off his crown from his head and holding it to his chest, appearing to be submitting to Qi Xia.

Chen Junnan was clearly still angry, his expression suggesting he wanted to curse out loud, while Qiao Jiajin kept reaching out to pull him back.

"Why are you kneeling?" Qi Xia asked.

Zheng Yingxiong slowly lifted his head, his eyes filled with complex emotions. In that moment earlier, he had sensed that the aura on the man in front of him didn't seem human.

"I... I want you to help me save someone," he said.

"What's in it for me to help you?" Qi Xia asked again.

"I don't know if I'm useful to you, but I'll do everything I can to help you," Zheng Yingxiong said earnestly.

"You're not useful to me," Qi Xia said coldly, his gray-white eyes piercing Zheng Yingxiong like needles. "Go back to where you belong."

"You were the one who called me here!!" Zheng Yingxiong shot up to his feet. "Why are you lying?"

"What...?"

"The aura on you is so heavy, it's about to drown the whole city..." Zheng Yingxiong said anxiously. "Don't you really need us?"

"I called you here...?" Qi Xia frowned slightly, reaching up to touch his forehead. "It seems my memory is still incomplete... Strange, how did Chu Tianqiu manage that...?"

Seeing Qi Xia's odd demeanor, everyone was at a loss for a moment.

"Ha..." Qi Xia suddenly smiled. "It's not hard... I'll just go ask him..."

He turned his head toward Di Hou, who was hiding nearby, and with just a glance, made Di Hou shiver uncontrollably.

"I'm leaving," Qi Xia said.

"Oh..." Di Hou mumbled, cigarette in mouth, eyeing Qi Xia the whole time.

"Stop them," Qi Xia said in a tone that brooked no refusal.

Di Hou bit down on his cigarette and swallowed hard, then nodded.

Qi Xia turned and walked out the door on his own, while the others just stood there staring blankly.

"Damn it, Lao Qi... you stop right there..." Chen Junnan rolled up his sleeves and took a few steps forward. "Explain yourself before you go..."

Di Hou snapped back to attention and quickly stood up, rushing over to pull Chen Junnan back.

"Hey..." Di Hou said hoarsely, "Let him go."

"Lao Hou, this is between him and me now..." Chen Junnan looked extremely agitated. "At first, I thought I'd been tricked, but then I realized I hadn't... I was still riding that wave of excitement... and now he tells me I was tricked again... What does this guy take me for? A fool?"

"I don't know about your personal business with him," Di Hou said, scratching the stubble on his face, "but he told me to stop you... and that's my business with him."

"You bastard..." Chen Junnan gritted his teeth, unable to break free from Di Hou's grip. "Lao Hou... you saw it all... I've been busting my ass for that guy, and he goes and screws me over... Are you really going to do his bidding?!"

Di Hou listened silently and nodded slightly, as if thinking it over, but his hand didn't loosen.

Qi Xia paused for a moment, then pushed the door open and left the casino.

"You..." Chen Junnan nodded after seeing this. "Fine, fine... Lao Hou, I don't blame you. Let go now, and whatever happens outside this casino is none of your concern. This guy has been lying to me all along—I need him to give me an explanation..."

Qiao Jiajin slowly stepped forward and said, "Jun Nan Zi... do you want to calm down first?"

"Lao Qiao! What's there to calm down about?!" Chen Junnan shouted. "Are you the one who's been fooled by this monkey? It's not just me—you got tricked too!"

"Jun Nan Zi... think about it carefully..." Qiao Jiajin said doubtfully. "What exactly did he trick you on?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Chen Junnan held up a finger. "First, seven years ago, he told me he'd found a way out and made me keep someone locked up for seven years, then he just vanished. What was that supposed to mean?"

"Well..." Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. "He said, 'I found a way out,' not 'I'm leaving right now'... So in the end, he didn't leave, right..."

"Yeah! He didn't leave! He went..." Chen Junnan started to say, then glanced at Di Hou and changed his words. "But so what? Whatever he was doing, he didn't take you with him! He promised me! Even if he was just asking for directions, he should've dragged you along..."

"But he came back after asking for directions, didn't he?" Qiao Jiajin said with a smile. "Jun Nan Zi, maybe this was all part of Qi Xia's plan. He didn't trick us."

"You're way too optimistic..." Chen Junnan sighed. "But Lao Qi has always been an 'unfortunate one'... When he came back, he had no memory at all. We have no idea where he's been these past few years..."

"Jun Nan Zi, you've always known Qi Xia is an 'unfortunate one'... right?" Qiao Jiajin said with a laugh. "So we don't know the full situation yet—you can't just say he tricked you."

"Fine, fine..." Chen Junnan was almost convinced by Qiao Jiajin but held his temper. "Let's set that aside for now. What about just now...? We agreed to start over, and I was busting my gut to help him... So what did he say earlier?"

"Just now..." Qiao Jiajin paused, then smiled in resignation. "No matter what Qi Xia said, that little kid said he was lying, so let's just not listen to him and stay put."

"You..." Chen Junnan looked into Qiao Jiajin's clear eyes and was momentarily speechless.

Tian Tian walked over to Zheng Yingxiong and gently touched his head. "Yingxiong, why did you say Qi Xia was lying?"

"I can smell it," Zheng Yingxiong replied expressionlessly. "Whenever people lie, their aura gets heavier, and Qi Xia's aura has always been abnormally heavy, even spreading over the whole city. He was definitely lying just now."

Everyone looked at Zheng Yingxiong and noticed that even the way he referred to Qi Xia had changed.

"A heavy aura spreading over the whole city?"

The group exchanged glances. If it was about a heavy aura... the air in this city was indeed terribly polluted, but was that because Qi Xia was lying?

Or... was it from the kid's "ling xiu"?

"Kid..." Chen Junnan frowned and asked, "Has your nose ever been wrong?"

"Never," Zheng Yingxiong said. "He was definitely lying—it's just that I don't know exactly where."

Chen Junnan lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "If that's the case... then I have to follow him and see for myself."