Free Web NovelChapter 229: The Only One That I Trust
I hated that I loved that smile on Lingyun’s face. I could stare at it all day, but I also knew that was his ’I did something you don’t want to know about’ smile.
"What did you do?" I asked, already regretting every decision that led me to waking up at this moment.
"I solved a problem," he answered like that should have been obvious.
I shook my head, refusing to give in to that smile and just smile back and tell him that everything was okay. This was not the time to realize that I was more than half in love with that smile.
"In this house, that sentence usually means something is dead, burning, or both," I replied, rolling my eyes. Yes. That was a normal reaction to the situation... no me wanting to melt into that smile.
He looked genuinely pleased. "Ah! Sugar Plum! You know me so well. And just so you know... the answer was both. Something is dead and something was on fire. Only I wasn’t the only one responsible for the fire."
I rubbed my forehead and immediately regretted it when pain shot through my skull. Apparently nearly dying had not improved my tolerance for nonsense. "Who did you set on fire?" I asked.
Seriously... was there any way to get this day to just end so I could go back to sleep?
I thought about the fact that Meilan was still in my house and I let out a painful sigh.
Lingyun pointed toward the pile of ashes like it should have been obvious and my eyes followed his finger.
Right.
The ashes.
I had somehow forgotten there was a corpse in my living room.
In my defense, there had been a lot happening.
"Why?" I asked.
"He burned the jungle," Lingyun shrugged.
That was the first answer all night that made sense, but the problem was that I couldn’t tell him that.
Lingyun already treated arson like a hobby, and the last thing I needed was for him to start thinking it earned praise.
"He burned the jungle," Lingyun repeated like he was really, really stressing this. "You know, the same jungle that you didn’t let me burn? So I didn’t think that it was fair that he could. Plus you know... the plants ate zombies, blah, blah, blah."
The fact that he sounded personally offended on behalf of my plants and dismissive was both ridiculous and strangely endearing.
I chose not to examine that thought too closely.
"Did you set him on fire before or after everybody started destroying my living room?"
Commander Li answered before Lingyun could.
"After."
"Thank you," Lingyun said immediately. "That distinction feels important."
"I’m not trying to help you. I’m trying to help the truth," replied Commander Li, sounding exactly how I was feeling. I think the two of us were done for the day. Of course, it could also be because Commander Li looked tired enough to age another decade.
I ignored both of them and focused on the room instead.
The more I looked, the worse it became.
The coffee table was ruined.
One of the lamps was missing.
The wall near the entrance hall had a crack running through it.
Several floorboards looked like they had lost a fight.
And the ceiling...
The ceiling still offended me. How was I supposed to fix the ceiling?
I stared at it for several seconds.
Nobody interrupted me.
Good.
Because somebody was about to explain that.
"Who cracked the ceiling?"
Tao Jun looked away and that was all the answer I needed.
Fucking Tao Jun.
I slowly turned my head toward him. The movement hurt enough to make my vision blur around the edges, but some things were worth suffering for.
"You cracked my ceiling?"
"It was redirected force," he explained, his shoulders going back like that was an acceptable answer.
For the record. It really wasn’t.
"That wasn’t the question," I replied, my temper starting to get the better of me.
A few seconds passed before he finally replied with a single word. "Yes."
"Thank you," I grunted, carefully nodding my head. "You get a gold star for telling the truth."
He looked relieved for a second, but for the life of me, I couldn’t imagine why.
"Who broke my coffee table?"
Lin Cheng immediately became interested in a spot on the floor.
Interesting.
Before he could continue pretending he had nothing to do with it, Chenghai sighed "Lin Cheng did," he announced before looking somewhere else. "Although it probably didn’t help that I threw him at it."
I looked at Chenghai.
He looked back.
"You threw him into my coffee table?"
"He was moving toward you."
That changed things.
Not enough to save the table.
But enough that I was willing to assign percentages later.
The room fell quiet again.
I took a careful breath and immediately regretted it. My body still felt like it had been assembled incorrectly, and every movement came with a fresh complaint. Luo Xin was watching me closely, while Yuche looked ready to physically stop me from doing anything more strenuous than blinking.
Unfortunately for both of them, I wasn’t finished.
"Let me make sure I understand this correctly," I said.
Nobody looked happy about that sentence.
Good.
"Meilan arrived with five men. Huang Zedong burned my jungle. Meilan tried to claim my house. Somebody tried to take my crystal cores. Lingyun turned Huang Zedong into a floor decoration. Everyone started fighting in my living room. Tao Jun cracked my ceiling. Lin Cheng helped murder my coffee table." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
I looked around the room, making sure that I was looking everyone in the eyes to the best of my ability. It was hard to do anything when you were lying on your back on the ground. "Am I missing anything important?"
Nobody answered, which was probably wise given everything that was going on.
The baby vine hissed softly against my shoulder.
I looked down at it and scratched beneath one tiny leaf.
"At least you didn’t break anything," I murmured, my voice soft. "You know, you really are the only one here I trust."
The baby vine looked unbearably pleased with itself.
Lingyun on the other hand, did not.
