Now that they knew the whereabouts of the two ghosts, Song ng and Feng Cheng, Gu Mian and company didn't hesitate any longer, promptly setting out from school towards Yifa Square.
At the sa ti, Wind Blows Butt Cool and Moonfall Crow Cries were still on their phones, discussing clues about the instance.
The mall was currently crowded. Wind Blows Butt Cool sat on a public bench, prudently observing his surroundings. "I wonder if there's any connection between the way out of the instance and the personalities of our love interests. You see, each of our love interests has a unique personality."
Moonfall Crow Cries, clutching her cell phone tightly, asked, "It has to do with their personalities?"
"Like your love interest Feng Cheng, who's an insecure high-school student," Wind Blows Butt Cool speculated. "If you keep encouraging him, boosting his self-esteem and making him brighter, he might not co after us to harm us."
"That's hard to say." Moonfall Crow Cries thought things weren't that simple. Ghosts weren't so easily appeased by re coaxing. What if she managed to cheer up that insecure high school student, and he then enthusiastically ca looking for her? What would she do then?
"Speaking of which, have you noticed that many students seem to be frequenting this mall?" Wind Blows Butt Cool stared at a group of people nearby who were clearly students. Could there be a school around here?
Their respective love interests were a college student and a high school student. The two had discussed earlier that it would be better not to approach schools to avoid bumping into them.
"Did you notice if there was a school around here when you ca into the mall?" Moonfall Crow Cries suddenly seed agitated.
"I was in a hurry when I ca in and didn't notice." Wind Blows Butt Cool had already risen. "There might indeed be schools nearby. We should move away from here."
His love interest, Song ng, was a poverty-stricken college student who had recently told him she was planning to find part-ti work. If Song ng was studying at a nearby school, then the likelihood of her working part-ti at this mall was very high. Wind Blows Butt Cool definitely didn't want to bump into his love interest; he was afraid that if they t, she would kill him on the spot.
The two quickly acted on their plan and left the mall, swiftly walking west along the main road.
Despite it being broad daylight with a fair number of people going back and forth, their fear of encountering their love interests kept them vigilantly scrutinizing their surroundings, attracting a few sideways glances from passers-by.
By now, the two had reached the vicinity of Paradise. The Paradise entrance was crowded with people queuing for tickets. A child in the crowd was crying and throwing a tantrum on the ground because his parents wouldn't buy him cotton candy. Several young couples, hand in hand, were queuing at the entrance, occasionally throwing glances at the child creating a ruckus on the ground.
This place was really noisy; the two n picked up their pace to leave as quickly as possible.
Just then, Wind Blows Butt Cool's cellphone buzzed—it was a ssage from Song ng.
He imdiately stopped to check his phone.
Song ng: "School and part-ti work are really tiring, and ti is so tight. After class, I have to rush to the shop on my bike and still almost end up late. I barely made it in on ti. Fortunately, the manager didn't see , or else I would've been scolded again."
"Your love interest sent you a ssage?" Moonfall Crow Cries peered over at his phone.
Upon receiving Song ng's ssage, Wind Blows Butt Cool took the opportunity to indirectly question her about her workplace. "Both school and part-ti work sound tiring indeed. Where do you work that the manager is so stern?"
He wanted to find out Song ng's workplace and then stay far away from that area.
Nearby, the child who hadn't gotten his cotton candy was still crying and making a fuss, the noise starting to annoy Wind Blows Butt Cool. He took a few steps to the side, moving next to the ticket office and putting so distance between himself and the noisy child.
Soon, Song ng sent another ssage: "I work at a bakery near our school. I can't talk anymore; the manager's watching , and I need to start working."
The ssage didn't specify the exact location, but at least he knew it was near a school. He just had to be careful not to go near any schools.
Thinking this, Wind Blows Butt Cool texted back: "Alright, go on then. Rember to ssage when you get off work."
After sending the ssage, he didn't imdiately turn off the screen. Instead, he stared at his phone for another two minutes, making sure she wasn't going to send any more ssages before finally looking away.
He didn't dare miss any of Song ng's ssages. It would be bad if he missed one, didn't reply, and angered her.
Wind Blows Butt Cool put his phone away. Just as he was about to say sothing to Moonfall Crow Cries, he noticed her staring intently at the ticket office not far away.
He followed her gaze and saw a man in a red shirt standing by the window of the ticket office. The man had his back to them and was anxiously talking to the ticket seller inside.
Their location was not too far from the ticket office, so they could vaguely hear the conversation happening there.
The man in the red shirt was hurriedly asking the ticket seller, "Could you tell the location of the Sunshine Insurance Company around here, the one that signs labor protection contracts?"
He sounded very anxious, and his voice was loud enough to make the tourists queuing nearby cast puzzled glances at him.
Wind Blows Butt Cool also found it strange. This is clearly Paradise; why would this man co here asking about insurance contracts? Is there sothing wrong with his head?
The ticket seller seed a little upset too. He looked at the tourists around him and then, lowering his voice, started speaking to the man at the window. His voice was so low that Wind Blows Butt Cool could catch only bits and pieces of the conversation.
"...asking this for? ...you should go back... you don't work here..."
The man in the red shirt seed to realize that his voice had been too loud. He lowered his voice this ti and leaned in to whisper sothing to the ticket seller.
Next, Wind Blows Butt Cool saw the ticket seller's expression suddenly turn to horror. He even jumped out of his seat, exclaiming, "What?! He's here?!"
The sudden outburst startled the tourists outside the ticket office, who wondered why the ticket seller was suddenly acting so erratically.
Wind Blows Butt Cool watched as the ticket seller's face turned from white to red, then to green. He looked extrely upset. His expression was like soone whose ancestral grave had just been desecrated.
Then, the ticket seller stopped selling tickets, rushed out, grabbed the man in the red shirt by the window, and quickly pulled him off in a certain direction.
That's when Wind Blows Butt Cool got a good look at the man in the red shirt. There was a scar on his left cheek. He looked kind of familiar.
Wait a minute!
Wind Blows Butt Cool stared in the direction the ticket seller and the man in the red shirt had disappeared, his eyes wide. "Is he... isn't he that..."
"Yes," Moonfall Crow Cries, who was standing next to him, was also staring intently in the direction the two n had disappeared. She spoke in a barely audible whisper, "That's Zhao Tiankuo."
At the start of the instance, they had been shown photographs of all the love interests, and Moonfall Crow Cries had committed all their faces to mory, which is why she had recognized Zhao Tiankuo the mont he had rushed over to the ticket office window.
"He is the love interest of the player whose nickna is 'Doctor', right?" Wind Blows Butt Cool tightened his grip on the phone in his hand. "I wasn't expecting us to run into him."
"But he didn't look much like a ghost just now," Moonfall Crow Cries remarked, puzzled. "I've never seen a ghost in an instance display such a wide range of emotions. I an, didn't you see how anxious Zhao Tiankuo looked when he was walking over to the ticket office? It was as if a ghost was chasing him."
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