When Baili Xin walked out of the willow grove, Xia Chi and Shuangmawei were already waiting at the door.
Seeing Baili Xin coming from a distance, Xia Chi rushed over and said, "Brother, we have found something."
The girl with twin ponytails waved the book in her hand and followed. "We found an old book written many years ago in a corner of the library. The author of the book is Ru Mian. It turns out that she is a top student. After graduating from university at the age of 18, she worked in the archaeological team. Many lost treasures were discovered by her."
The light around gradually dimmed and the street lights slowly turned on. Just as Baili Xin's eyes glanced at the girl with twin ponytails' hands, he heard the voices of the librarian and students greeting each other in the distance.
Seeing the librarian about to leave, Baili Xin took a few quick steps to avoid Xia Chi and Shuangmawei and chased after him: "Teacher, please wait a moment."
The librarian stopped as he was about to leave. "Any more questions, teacher?"
Baili Xin: "Are there usually few teachers and students going into the willow forest?"
The librarian laughed awkwardly: "Well, it's because everyone thinks the willow forest is dark and a bit scary. Plus, Mr. Lin is walking around there, so everyone in the school tacitly tries to avoid the willow forest."
"Oh," Baili Xin glanced in the direction of the willow forest from afar. In the dim light, the old body had already merged into the darkness and could no longer be seen. "Send someone to check by the river tomorrow morning. Please."
The librarian didn't understand, but nodded politely: "Okay."
After seeing the librarian off, it was already seven o'clock in the evening.
The system sound arrived as promised.
Ding! Dear Bailixin player, I am glad to see you again. Now I will announce the content of today's task.
Please arrive at the mission location before 8:00 tonight. Due to your lateness last night, your career score has dropped. Friendly reminder: The career score is closely related to whether the player is qualified for the career, so please pay attention to it.
Your mission time is still from 20:00 in the evening to 8:00 in the morning of the next day. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning.
Seeing that the system was about to leave, Baili Xin stopped the system.
This system should be a "colleague" with the escape system, except that the escape system is a private system bound to the player's mind, while this cold system is more like a one-time copy system.
I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but the escape system used to have stronger control over the copy, but now its authority doesn’t seem to be that high.
Baili Xin: We speculate that ten o'clock in the morning is the summary time. The system will evaluate the performance of all players on the previous day and select one person to die based on the performance. Is there such a thing
System: Congratulations, you have discovered our assessment system, just as you said.
Baili Xin: Only one person every day
System: Yes, there is only one person.
Baili Xin frowned slightly: If other players die before the trial, will the people who should be judged still be judged
System: No.
Prisin: Can you tell me who was supposed to die today? Was it Burr? Or someone else
System: Sorry, dear player. I can't tell you who the eliminated employee is, but I can tell you one thing, the player who died today is not the one who should have died. Is there anything else you want to ask
…, Baili Xin: Okay, thank you, I understand.
Another question, can I take a day off
System: Of course you can, but you will lose one day’s performance points, which will most likely affect your daily evaluation.
Baili Xin: Thank you.
System: I wish you a happy game~ I look forward to seeing you again. Finally, I would like to remind you that the evaluation is a comprehensive score, which includes many aspects, such as the completion of professional tasks, the performance of dungeon tasks, etc.
An evening breeze blew by, and the tall willow branches began to sway one after another.
The wind stopped, but the willow branches refused to stop rustling.
After the system left, its words still lingered in my mind.
One person died every day, but on the third day, two deaths were reported, and one person miraculously came back to life after the death.
If the babysitter player was the one who was supposed to die, then the other player who died was either one of the eight people in the group chat, or Sun Ning who did not join the group chat.
If it was really Sun Ning, then it would be easy to explain, but if it was one of the eight of them, why didn't that person tell others about his death and resurrection
Why did he die? Why did he resurrect? How did he resurrect
There is no resurrection item in the game. The only resurrection item is the Heart of the Ocean in your hand. However, after rescuing Red Moon, the Heart of the Ocean went back into CD and cannot be used.
Is that a stand-in doll
What has this player experienced? Or what is he trying to hide
Baili Xin looked at the confused Xia Chi with a deep gaze, and then fell on the excited face of the girl with twin ponytails.
Because they are in the same situation, they are least wary of players who are trying to break through the level, but what if the other party takes advantage of this blind spot
s419m: What are you thinking about, host
Prisin: I'm thinking about blind spots.
s419m: Blind spot
Baili Xin: I was misled and fell into a misunderstanding. The clear information spread a net in front of me, making me ignore the blind spots in the seams. The Taoist priest told me that Miao Paner died more than ten years ago, and Zaodian told me that the Taoist priest moved there more than ten years ago and often saw a woman with the Taoist priest.
I naturally thought that the woman my elder sister saw was Miao Paner. But what if there were two people? What if Miao Paner died first, and the Taoist priest moved there with another person
s419m: Hmm? Why are there only two of us
Baili Xin: The blind spot from the time difference. When I was at the Taoist priest’s house, I felt an inexplicable sense of disharmony. Now that I think about it carefully, although there are only two people in the album, there is always a third person who we tend to ignore, that is the photographer.
The photos are not staged, but more like casual shots in life. We only see the content of the photos that others let us see, but forget the third person hidden behind them.
There was also the altar, with the sister on the left and the Taoist ancestors on the right. The huge middle space was empty.
s419m: But who is this third person
Baili Xin: Don't forget, the Taoist priest has a master who has never appeared. He only mentioned it at the beginning, and then he kept leading the topic to his senior sister, and intentionally or unintentionally revealed the similarities between his senior sister and Luo Mei. Young, beautiful, elegant, charming, graceful, etc.
The person who took the photo and the person in the middle of the altar should be the same person, the Taoist's master.
s419m: Oh my god, how come there is another master? Who is this master
Baili Xin pursed his lips and pinched his chin, his eyes gradually wandering.
All the information from the past few days flashed through my mind quickly. Standing under the torrent of information, S419M and the escape system could only capture the fleeting tail of the comet.
First of all, we can basically confirm that Miao Paner is Luo Mei, the Lady Yuexian in the basement of the library.
She left school in 1960. In the same year, Rumian died.
Ru Mian is an archaeologist. When I was at the Taoist's house, I only took a casual glance, but I could still find several items in his house that looked very old. I originally thought that these were used for their Taoist practice, but what if this was his master's hobby
Ru Mian built the library with many stone statues. When Master Yuexian left, Ru Mian "died" in the same year. There are many antiques in the Taoist's house. Do you think it's a coincidence
s419m: You mean, Ru Mian is the Taoist priest's "master"? ! But wasn't Ru Mian dead? People even found her body.
Baili Xin: If Lord Yuexian can occupy someone else's body, why can't Rumian, who has some relationship with it, do the same
…s419m, fuck.
Baili Xin: It has been a long time, and perhaps only the parties involved know the secrets of that year. But I guess that Ru Mian did not die that year, but his soul entered another body and left the school with Miao Paner. Later, Ru Mian picked up a Taoist priest, and the three of them called each other Master, Senior Sister, and Junior Brother. This relationship lasted for a long time, but later something may have happened, Miao Paner left first, followed by his master, and finally only the Taoist priest was left.
s419m: So the Taoist priest is the key now
Baili Xin: You can say that, but he may not be willing to tell the truth. The highest level of lies is nine parts truth and one part falsehood. From his words, it can be clearly felt that he has been deliberately weakening and protecting his master. On the contrary, he has been pushing Miao Paner forward. I guess they may have had internal conflicts back then, and this conflict is most likely between Miao Paner and his master.
Between his senior sister and his master, he chose to protect his master.
s419m: This is terrifying when you think about it... But does this have anything to do with the mission
Baili Xin sighed silently: I have a not-so-good guess, I hope it's just a guess.
Escape System: What, what's your guess? It's a bit scary. Can you please stop keeping me in suspense
Baili Xin: I suspect that his master, Ru Mian, has successfully replaced a certain player, occupied that player's body, and is planning to return to the game hall in his place.
s419m: … Holy crap.
Escape System: … I’m shocked too.
s419m: So, it is very likely that Ru Mian was a believer of Yue Xian, and she built an underground palace for Yue Xian, and finally escaped by death. Later, the two had a dispute, and Yue Xian left and changed into Luo Mei's body. But why did Ru Mian want to enter the player's body? It's pretty good here, right? What's the benefit for her to occupy the player's body and enter the game hall
Baili Xin thought without hesitation: Let's change our way of thinking. What if Ru Mian is not a believer, but is bewitched or controlled by Yue Xian? Then many things can be explained? Lord Yue Xian bewitched Ru Mian to build the underground palace. In 1960, Ru Mian might have really died, but was forcibly resurrected by Yue Xian.
Knowing that she couldn't get rid of Yuexian, Ru Mian had to go with Yuexian. Perhaps to vent her anger, she picked up an abandoned Taoist priest on the way. Although the reason for the disagreement later was unknown, it should be that Ru Mian still couldn't get rid of Yuexian's control after she left. You can't die, and you can't escape alive. It's understandable that Ru Mian wanted to break free from Yuexian's control and enter the player's body to leave this world. It's not without precedent for a copy NPC to enter the game lobby, Samael is one of them.
s419m: This speculation is quite consistent with the timeline and logic.
It paused for two seconds, feeling something was wrong.
Suddenly it screamed: Wait! There's an NPC among the players?! Doesn't that mean that without us knowing, a player was quietly killed and replaced? And we don't know who that player is yet? Should we stop him? When the game time is over, he will just follow us into the game hall? Will he stab us in the back
Baili Xin: We can't just let him go. His hands are covered in blood. The man in sunglasses must have seen it right. The murderer who killed the girl is Ru Mian. This is probably not her first time killing someone, and it won't be the last. Remember that all the dungeon bosses had more or less deals with the system? After he enters the game hall, he is likely to join forces with the main brain system. Letting such a cunning person out will threaten us.
s419m: But we don’t know who that player is.
… Baili Xin rubbed his brows and said, “You’ll know. As long as you are a human, you will have flaws.”
Baili Xin had been standing there in a daze for quite some time.
Twin Ponytails and Xia Chi looked at each other, and saw confusion in each other's eyes.
The girl with twin ponytails lowered her voice and asked, "What happened to him?"
Xia Chi: "Uh, this might be a brainstorming session."
The girl with the twin ponytails looked at Baili Xin and said, "He looks so mysterious. Is he like this often?"
Xia Chi: "Uh, I'm not sure about that."
"My work time is almost up," the girl with twin ponytails looked at her watch, "The murderer should be Ru Mian. Now I have to wait for news from the other side. Is it appropriate for me to disturb him now? Will it affect his train of thought?"
Xia Chi: "Who knows? Why don't you try to bother me?"
The girl with twin ponytails swallowed her saliva and was about to walk over bravely when she suddenly saw the young man opposite who had been in a daze blink his eyes and stared straight at the two of them with his clear eyes.
The street lamp above his head happened to light up at this moment, and the dim light instantly fell on the young man's body, instantly enveloping him in dim light.
The young man's skin was originally white, and under the dim light, it had a delicate texture like white jade. His sharp features were hidden in the light and shadow, adding mystery to his already delicate and beautiful face.
Like an elf under the moon.
"Do you want to read this book?" The twin-tailed girl was so nervous that she stuttered. "It contains an introduction to Ru Mian. She, she, she used to be an archaeologist and dug up a lot of things. She once dug up an ancient temple buried dozens of meters underground. Take a look at this."
Baili Xin took the book with a smile. He leaned against the telephone pole with his body relaxed, his right leg slightly bent and against the pole.
Under the soft street light, the young man slowly opened the book.
This is not a development book of X University, but a book on archaeology.
It is not just the biography of Ru Mian alone, but the biography of several outstanding figures in archaeology, one of whom is Ru Mian.
The introduction to Ru Mian only took up a dozen pages. Baili Xin turned to the introduction to Ru Mian according to the catalog index.
Ru Mian was born in 1920. He was an excellent student since childhood. He took the college entrance examination at the age of 15 and was admitted to the Department of Archaeology of Peking University and Tsinghua University with the highest score in the country.
After graduating from university at the age of 18, he naturally joined the archaeological team. After three years of work, he successfully became the team leader and continued to study archaeology.
There are many photos attached to the article, including photos of her at work and the cultural relics she dug out. Some of these cultural relics have been preserved and displayed in the most central museums in the country, which is of far-reaching significance.
She was a rising star in the world of archaeology. When people in the industry recall her, they are full of praise for her and they all feel sorry for her death and fall.
Baili Xin was distracted by a conversation with a friend. In the old man's memoirs, he said something intriguing about Ru Mian:
[Her departure is a loss to the archaeological community. She has always been a steadfast presence in my mind. She once told me that suicide is a sign of cowardice, so I never thought that she would end her brilliant life by suicide. Because she was such a strong person, when she was in her twenties doing archaeological work, she once fell off a rope ladder and broke more than a dozen ribs, but she never cried out in pain. I feel sorry for someone who walked through the gates of hell and survived, but died because of public opinion.]
Baili Xin flipped back and saw the text introduction.
She once had an unfortunate accident during an archaeological exploration. She fell from a height of 20 meters into a dark underground palace while exercising with a rope. What she dug out during that exploration was an ancient temple.
The book also contained several photos of the ancient temple. Baili Xin squinted his eyes and took a look. He found that the layout and structure of the ancient temple were not very similar to the Temple of Lord Yuexian that he had entered a few days ago. They were exactly the same.
The moon-flying fairy statue in the center of the ancient temple has been eroded by wind for many years, and its surface is full of pits and potholes. At the four corners of the fairy statue, there are four maid statues standing firmly there.
Baili Xin was no stranger to these four maid statues. They were the maid statues placed at the four corners of the four square secret rooms in the basement of the library.
Another photo shows a manifesto carved on stone.
[The moon is the best among all the heavens and earth.]
[We believers, the sincere Moon Fairy will respond to any request.]
[A temple was built beside the water, with the eyes as the roof, to worship the Moon Fairy with piety.]
[I am grateful to Master Yuexian for ensuring that my people have a good harvest and good weather.]
[I pray that Master Yuexian will bless my people to live a hundred years and have many descendants.]
[… ]
The text behind is already blurry and only these few sentences can be seen clearly.
Xia Chi: "It is very clear now. Lady Yuexian is this stone statue. Rumian has a deep connection with this stone statue. It was Rumian who dug it out. Rumian once fell off the rope and narrowly escaped death. It may be that escape from death that made her become a believer of Lady Yuexian."
"Didn't the man in sunglasses say that he dreamed of Ru Mian's face? Brother, do you think that Ru Mian has gone crazy and thinks that he is Master Yuexian? Is that why he keeps using Master Yuexian's name to cheat people? In fact, there is no Master Yuexian. Ru Mian is Miao Paner, and now Luo Mei."
Xia Chi became more and more excited as he spoke, "Brother, the murderer must be Ru Mian, right!"
I am so smart that I have figured out such a difficult problem. I am the MVP today!
Praise me now!
A flash of inspiration: …
There's no hope, alas.
Blissin: …
Oh, I forgot to tell Xia Chi that Ru Mian and Miao Paner are two different people.
forget it. I'm done here.
The girl with twin ponytails also looked at Baili Xin with sharp eyes.
Baili Xin felt like he had something stuck in his throat. He swallowed stiffly and nodded silently under the expectant gazes of the two people. "I think your analysis makes sense. It is very likely that Ru Mian is the murderer. You two have really done a great job today."
Xia Chi and Shuangmawei's faces lit up with joy, and they happily held hands and spun around in circles.
So happy, I feel like my life has reached its climax.
Baili Xin: "..."
s419m: Um, the possessed person should be able to exclude these two people, right? Ru Mian is not that stupid, right
Baili Xin's mouth twitched:...
____________________________
Studio.
God Xin could no longer hide his desire to kill Xia Chi.
Please be considerate of Xia Chi. This may be one of the few moments in his life when he can make a brilliant deduction. Although from Xin Shen's expression, it is very likely that his deduction is wrong. But... he is in a good mood now.
Ru Mian, Miao Pan'er, Luo Mei... these names are similar, all of them have three "shui" and one "mu".
Hmm? Really. Who learned it from whom? Miao Paner's original name should be Lin Paner, right? Later, she changed her surname.
There is a sentence in the manifesto: "Build a temple beside the water, and use the eyes as the roof." Eyes are round, which coincides with the round roof in the underground palace of the library. If it is beside the water, isn't there a small river next to the willow forest
You said that when Ru Mian fell, she was going to die, and it was Master Yuexian who appeared and saved her. She became a believer of Master Yuexian, so she used her reputation and power to rebuild the ancient temple.
I think it's possible. It's at such a high place, about 20 meters! Who can survive after falling from 20 meters to the ground
Yuexian saved Rumian, could it be because the name "Rumian" just happened to have "moon" and "water" in it? Could this Yuexian have obsessive-compulsive disorder
…Well, the angle is tricky and the idea is unique.
________________________________________
At eight o'clock in the evening, Baili Xin arrived at the professional mission location.
This is a residential house. The previous resident committed suicide due to depression. The owner was scared and finally chose a haunted house sleeper to replace the resident.
Not long after, Shen Mo sent him a message, saying that he had gone to make the contact according to his previous instructions, and indirectly asked about the whereabouts of the missing girl.
He then called the police, who arrived and arrested the contact person.
After that, we just need to follow the clues to completely eradicate that huge underground kingdom.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, Shen Mo arrived at his residence.
As soon as the door opened, Shen Mo walked in, looking exhausted, breathing heavily, and it seemed that he had run here.
"I asked," Shen Mo said as he found a sofa and sat down. "The girl borrowed money from them, saying that she wanted to have an abortion. She was a college student, and someone got her pregnant. She didn't dare to tell her family, so she found the underground organization through someone's introduction. Guess who the man who played with her was?"
Baili Xin took out a bottle of mineral water from his backpack and handed it to Shen Mo: "Could it be Chen Ping?"
Shen Mo took the water and raised his eyebrows, "How did you guess that?"
Baili Xin took out the old phone from his backpack and flipped to the top two text messages in front of Shen Mo: "I'm just guessing. You asked me this in this way, so it's very likely that this person is someone I know. And among the people I know who has a bad private life and knows that organization, only Chen Ping has the highest probability. I'm just guessing."
Shen Mo: "Oh, it was me who sold myself out."
He stared at the text message on Baili Xin's phone, frowning tightly, "Little male dog? Little female dog? Who is this person?"
Baili Xin: "This is the phone I found in Chen Ping's room. The little male dog should refer to Chen Ping, and the little female dog... Never mind, I don't want to talk about it. After Chen Ping died, this phone was vacant for a while. Later, when this phone came into my hands, the person on the other end started talking to me. Do you want to see what I sent him?"
Shen Mo replied with certainty: "Yes!"
After handing the phone to Shen Mo, Baili Xin stood up and walked to the bathroom.
He had just washed his hands when the toilet in the cubicle suddenly made a flushing sound.
Baili Xin glanced at the closed sliding door and turned to leave.
At this moment, there was a knock on the sliding door in the toilet, which was supposed to be empty.
Boom boom boom.
Boom boom boom.
The sound is dull and heavy, not like it was made by hand.
Baili Xin stopped and stared at the sliding door silently, but his hands did not move.
Perhaps realizing there was no response, the knocking on the sliding door suddenly became more intense, and even the sliding door began to tremble.
Baili Xin just watched, unmoved.
He remembered that the career mission introduction said that the deceased committed suicide in the bathroom.
The knocking on the door continued for a long time before it stopped. Seeing that there was no sound, Baili Xin put his hand on the sliding door and opened the toilet.
The ceramic-paved toilet was very clean, except for some dust from not being cleaned for a long time.
On the gray ground, there was an obvious trace of a day. The trace started from the sliding door under his feet, along the edge of the toilet, and finally disappeared into the toilet.
"Gurgle."
"Gurgle."
"Gurgle."
A strange noise suddenly came from the toilet.
Baili Xin took a look inside and saw a pair of blood-red eyes hidden under seaweed-like hair, staring at Baili Xin through the small hole in the toilet without blinking.
When their eyes met, the little ghost suddenly screamed, shrank its head, and hid deep in the toilet.
Baili Xin: “???”
When did I become so awesome
"You are really brave, aren't you?" A hoarse voice suddenly came from behind.
Baili Xin subconsciously turned around, but before he could see who was coming, he felt a force pushing him backwards and he fell hard onto a cold object.
He subconsciously lowered his head and saw that the toilet, which had been open just now, was covered by the man's foot, and he was sitting on the toilet lid.
Baili Xin raised his head and saw that Shen Mo's eyes had turned into vertical pupils.
this…
It seems that the little devil is not afraid of himself, but the snake spirit behind him.
Shen Mo stared down at Baili Xin, hooked his finger on the sliding door and pulled it handsomely, and the sliding door instantly made a loud bang.
"There's a new message on your phone. I'll check it for you. You don't mind, do you?" The man leaned against the sliding door with one hand, slightly bent over and looking down at the young man.
Baili Xin was suddenly confused: "What news?"
Shen Mo's golden pupils shrank twice, and he stuffed the phone into Baili Xin's hand. "This thing, I'll ask you to go to the hotel room to find him."
Baili Xin took the phone and took a look. It was the latest news at twelve o'clock noon today: If you want to see me, come to room 2394 of the Shengkai Hotel.
Baili Xin: "..."
Is this bastard trying to cause trouble? Why didn’t he send the room number earlier or later, but sent it when Shen Mo was looking for it
"Um, do I need to explain?" Baili Xin wanted to be self-righteous, but under the man's golden vertical pupils, he felt guilty.
Shen Mo curled the corners of his lips with a fake smile: "It depends on you."
Baili Xin: "..."
The storm is coming and the wind is blowing in the building.
Help!
"I catch ghosts, you know, and I devote my heart to the great cause. Then I found this evil spirit from Chen Ping. I suspect it killed many people, so I pretended to be with it. I swear I have nothing to do with it."
"You believe me, right?" After saying that, Baili Xin looked at Shen Mo seriously.
Shen Mo's pupils flickered, and he suddenly chuckled, "Do you need my help?"
The topic changed so quickly that Baili Xin was a little confused for a moment, "What can I help you with?"
Shen Mo stretched his hands under Baili Xin's armpits to restrict his movements: "I will help you get a feel for getting a room, so that you won't be tied up and at a loss when the time comes."
He bent down and pressed his cool cheek against Baili Xin's face. A blood-red snake tongue stretched out from his mouth and gently licked Baili Xin's slender neck.
Baili Xin's whole body suddenly convulsed. In a daze, he subconsciously asked, "In the toilet?"
The man's deep laughter filled my ears. "Where do you want to do it? On the sofa? On the bed? On the floor? Or do you want to try both?"
Baili Xin blinked dully, and his head exploded with a buzzing sound.
_____________________________
Studio.
I believe that only children have to do multiple-choice questions, adults have to do them too.
I agree. It's not like there hasn't been one before. Not to mention people who have done it on the sofa, in bed, and even in the sea, they have nothing to fear.
The screen is going to go black again soon, and I'm calm about it.
Oh, it's numb.
_____________________________
Looking at the eyes so close to him, Baili Xin's confused mind finally reacted: "Were you kidding me just now?"
Shen Mo: "You didn't even open the text message, how do you know the room number? But it's a pity that the person this monster wants is now in my arms. Do you think it will be mad to death?"
Shen Mo held Baili Xin with both hands and exerted force. Baili Xin felt dizzy and then he sat on Shen Mo's lap.
Shen Mo sat on the toilet lid with his big horse and golden knife, his eyes still with vertical pupils staring at him steadily, without a trace of evasion, "Are my eyes scaring you?"
Baili Xin looked carefully at the pair of golden eyes. Around the vertical pupils, many colorful spots of light lingered on the edges of the spindle-shaped vertical pupils and kept shrinking.
Those eyes were bright and clear, like the sun.
And those light spots are just like solar flares.
"so beautiful."
Baili Xin stared at the pair of golden pupils in a daze, and his hands instinctively touched the man's cheek.
The man finally let go of the heart that had been in his throat. He took a deep breath, hesitated for two seconds, and then said frankly: "I want to tell you something. Actually, I am not a human."
Baili Xin: "I already knew this. You are not a human, you are a snake. A silver snake that likes to crawl on my bed late at night. Do you think I am a heater?"
The man smiled sheepishly: "Actually, I'm not a snake either. To be precise, I'm a mountain god."
"The snake form is my incarnation. I have lived for thousands of years and witnessed the changes and upheavals of the world. As the number of beliefs I accepted decreased, my power was reduced a lot. Later, I entered the human world and integrated into it."
"I transformed into Shen Mo, was discovered by a scout by chance and entered the entertainment industry, and became an actor without knowing it."
Baili Xin looked carefully at the man in front of him.
The man's fine black hair cast a shadow on his smooth forehead. Under his long eyelashes, in the shadows, the man looked at Baili Xin with flickering eyes.
Beneath the calm expression, a hint of uneasiness was revealed.
He was nervous. He was worried that the young man opposite him might be afraid and reject him. He was worried that the young man might run away after knowing his true identity.
The man subconsciously held the young man's waist tightly, fearing that the young man would run away.