Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

"Hehehe... I'll be waiting..."

Grand Duke of the Underworld uttered his last words, and then fell silent.

Space distorted, and several figures fell from the sky.

Xing, with her sharp eyes, noticed that Estella was hurtling towards her, so she quickly reached out and caught her, dodging out of the falling area to avoid being hit.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that everyone who had fallen, including all the dolls in the Black Tower, had returned safely to the ground.

Clearly, it was all done by Qi Zhimu.

"Aista? Aista?"

"She's alright, she just fainted temporarily."

Just as Qi Zhimu was about to wake Aisda, he noticed a faint light appearing behind him, and at the same time, footsteps came from another direction.

"...Ms. Ruan Mei?"

Qi Zhimu was somewhat surprised to see her here.

Ruan Mei stepped forward slowly, her gaze passing over Qi Zhimu with feigned calmness before turning to the ghostly blue flames that had materialized not far away.

"Feel sorry."

The sudden apology left both Qi Zhimu and Xing completely bewildered.

Ruan Mei extended her fair arm toward the dark blue flame, emitting a suction force that retracted it.

Looking at Qi Zhimu again, a faint sense of guilt welled up on her face.

"The Netherfire you just scattered secretly stole this Phase Flame from my hand, and is using its power to appear and disappear unpredictably on the space station."

"Strictly speaking, it was my oversight that caused this commotion; otherwise, it would have been difficult for the Alfredo you mentioned to have single-handedly created this situation."

Ruan Mei was not lying.

Because I've been preoccupied with Qi Zhimu lately, I haven't properly contained the Phase Spirit Flame, which allowed the Netherfire Grand Duke to exploit the situation.

Qi Zhimu didn't detect any trace of a lie and made no comment, simply shaking his head slightly before pinching a spot on Aisda's neck.

The latter slowly woke up.

Finding herself lying in Xing's arms, she blinked a few times in a daze before finally coming to her senses.

"Don't worry, Estella, it's alright."

After listening to Xing's quick account, Estella looked at Qi Zhimu gratefully and immediately contacted Alan to ask him to send someone to pick up the staff members who had been missing for some time.

While waiting, Qi Zhimu looked up to check the surveillance camera numbers for this area and asked Aistar to extract the relevant clips and create a video.

Except for Qi Zhimu, who could only see his back, the entire process of the disappearance of the Netherfire and the reappearance of the missing persons was crystal clear.

Have Estelle arrange for someone to post the video in the group chat. Once it spreads, it will thwart the Darkfire Duke's plot to undermine the people's morale.

After these steps were completed, defense officers arrived one after another and took away the missing persons who were on the verge of death from excessive shock.

Fortunately, none of them were in mortal danger.

As for the dolls, it doesn't matter where they are; they'll be dealt with when Black Tower returns.

"You go back with Estella first, I have things to do."

"Going to kill Duke Netherfire? Can I come along?" Xing's eyes lit up.

"It's inconvenient to take you along," Qi Zhimu politely declined with a smile.

"That's a pity..."

Xing shrugged regretfully, then said goodbye to him.

Soon, only two people remained.

"I have other matters to attend to. Goodbye, Ms. Ruan Mei."

Qi Zhimu glanced at the graceful beauty standing beside him, put on a polite, business-like smile, and walked away.

"Wait a moment... Ah... Mr. Zhi Mu." Ruan Mei subconsciously called out to him.

"What?" Qi Zhimu paused in his steps.

"The weapon you used to attack the Netherfire...may I take a look?"

Recalling the scene she had witnessed not long ago, Ruan Mei's pupils trembled slightly.

I was both excited and incredulous.

But she couldn't show these emotions, she couldn't...

Qi Zhimu felt confused, but it wasn't an unreasonable request. He casually took out the zhongruan, which he usually used as a club or shield, and tossed it to Ruan Mei.

Seeing Qi Zhimu's completely uncaring actions, Ruan Mei felt as if something was gnawing at her heart, causing a sharp pain.

She took the ruan and examined it closely, confirming the marks she had left herself, and her eyes involuntarily reddened.

Afraid of being seen by Qi Zhimu, she suppressed her tears and did not look up for a long time, pretending to continue observing.

So it turns out... Amu wasn't just a gift from Black Swan and Mirror Stream.

However, the gifts they gave were merely ornaments, while hers, as the teacher...

But it was Amu's go-to weapon for casual swinging...

Although she knew her students didn't remember the true origins of these items, this differential treatment still suffocated her.

Back then, Amu cherished and protected it so much.

By reviewing his memories, we can see that even after more than a hundred years, he still kept the zhongruan (a type of Chinese lute) given to him by his teacher as good as new.

The contrast with that moment is hard to accept.

It's okay, it's okay... at least it works for Amu.

Ruan Mei comforted herself in this way.

On the bright side, it can help Amu, and rounding up, it's as if it has accompanied Amu for thousands of years.

Can a black swan event achieve this?

Can mirror flow achieve this?

The gifts they gave were merely vases for display and decoration, serving no practical purpose whatsoever.

After such a deep self-hypnosis, Ruan Mei finally raised her chin and began to play the melody.

The tranquil, gentle, and poetic sound of the strings quietly stirred up feelings in Qi Zhimu's heart that he didn't know the source of.

It's a strange feeling.

Seeing that Qi Zhimu still didn't react much, Ruan Mei finally lost her composure and played a jarring melody.

"Feel sorry……"

She stepped forward and returned the zhongruan to Qi Zhimu.

Qi Zhimu took it and blurted it out.

"This song seems to have a hidden past, and you... look somewhat sad."

Not only did the melody gradually change, from tranquil and gentle to sorrowful, but Ruan Mei's current red-rimmed eyes and the appearance of tears about to spill out made it clear to anyone that she had a story to tell.

Qi Zhimu's words only brought tears to Ruan Mei's eyes.

She couldn't control her emotions and wanted to hug Qi Zhimu.

However, Qi Zhimu subconsciously took a half step back.

Ruan Mei froze on the spot, her expression gradually becoming blank.

"...Ms. Ruan Mei?"

Qi Zhimu's gaze grew increasingly strange, finding the genius before him quite peculiar.

You were trying to hug him just now, weren't you?

…Those whose hearts are deeply stained by sadness often need a hug, he understands.

But their relationship doesn't seem to be that good.

"I'm sorry for losing my composure..." Ruan Mei wiped her eyes, her voice sounding very off.

In a short period of time, she has apologized three times.

"Mr. Zhi Mu reminds me of my... student. The piece he just played was the first one he learned from me thousands of years ago..."

"Unfortunately, fate played a cruel trick on him; his life was full of hardships..."

Ruan Mei did not continue speaking.

My condolences.

Qi Zhimu could only utter these two words, and didn't feel he had any right to say anything else.

But what I was really thinking was: So the "Ruan" in Ruan Mei's name is because she can also play the ruan...

……

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