Wan Jie Hospice Care Company

"Brother Xiang, you're awake?!"

Anling was so excited she almost cried.

The instant Xiang Yu opened his eyes, An Ling felt the entire world recede like the tide, slowly returning to its original state. Those tiny ceramic figures, which had just swelled to the size of a palm, shrank back to the size of a palm.

"The safe intake of caffeine for humans is 400 milligrams." Xiang Yu could clearly feel his heart pounding against his ribs.

"That's about the amount of eight small packets of instant coffee."

"I probably chewed three times that amount in one go. If I could fall asleep after that, something would be a miracle..." he added, his gaze sweeping over the pairs of frozen porcelain figures. "No, wait, it really does seem like something is a miracle."

"Then why tie yourself to the skateboard... I know, it must be to make the enemy lower their guard!" An Ling's mind raced, and suddenly she seemed to have figured it out for him. She let out a long sigh of relief and relaxed completely.

"Ah, no," Xiang Yu answered frankly, without a trace of guilt. "I just wanted to lie down for a while and was too lazy to move. So I'm planning to have you be my rickshaw driver for a bit."

"?"

"And—" Xiang Yu's tone suddenly turned serious, "We'd better not talk right now. Your body…"

He suddenly stopped speaking halfway through his speech.

An Ling followed his gaze and looked down, only then noticing that her left calf had somehow turned into a smooth, cold white porcelain piece, the glaze creeping quietly up her skin.

In just a few moments, she will turn into something like the pair of porcelain dolls kissing at her feet.

She had just felt somewhat relieved, but now her heart was in her throat again.

Xiang Yu also observed this phenomenon, but his body's transformation was relatively slow. Currently, only his left foot felt somewhat stiff, and his sense of touch had become much duller. He estimated that it had almost turned into ceramic.

"Besides directly causing the body to explode, it can also assimilate people into its partners... It has two methods of killing!" An Ling said at this moment.

However, she didn't speak directly to Xiang Yu, but rather almost talked to herself.

Sure enough, this act of talking to oneself did not accelerate the assimilation process.

Xiang Yu immediately understood An Ling's idea: as long as the two of them don't look at each other while talking, and their topics aren't closely related, it shouldn't be considered a "conversation".

This girl may look a bit dull, but she's actually quite quick-witted.

However, she was wrong about one thing.

"This bizarre method of murder has always been the same—glazing." Xiang Yu murmured casually to the air, "The previous people died that way too..."

A single piece of evidence is insufficient.

But now, with four pieces of evidence, including his own, laid out before him, the path to the truth involuntarily unfolded in his mind.

Their deaths were varied—the former were pale and stiff, like exquisitely crafted porcelain dolls; the latter two were torn apart by flying blood and flesh, exploded into pieces. Seemingly unrelated, but if you throw them all into the "kiln" to look at them... they will find a common underlying color.

The former becomes pale and stiff, while the latter two explode directly.

So it's quite obvious that the former was actually in the process of being successfully assimilated, while the latter was burned due to some factors...

Glazing.

When porcelain is placed in a kiln, firing and frying are common occurrences, which are related to the raw material, shape, and firing temperature.

If we apply this principle of porcelain firing exactly to this strange incident, everything will make sense.

If the clay body struggles violently and runs away during the ceramicization process, like a couple running for their lives, the clay body cannot withstand the surging internal stress and will naturally explode into dust on the spot.

If they remain motionless and slowly burn until the very end, they will solidify into a pair of stiff, cold porcelain figures that will never be separated.

As for the one who confessed, he also caused a stir... He doesn't have reliable evidence for that yet.

Upon hearing Xiang Yu's words, An Ling began to think, and after a brief brainstorming session, she grasped the outline of the answer.

"Hmm..." An Ling's eyes suddenly lit up, "I think I have a way..."

"Hmm..." Xiang Yu nodded, signaling her to continue.

"Let's... let's kiss..." Anling said with difficulty, "to do the same thing as these little people."

"..."

Xiang Yu slowly turned his head and gave her a look of concern for a fool.

"Isn't that...right?" An Ling was somewhat deflated by that look, her voice growing softer and softer. "The stories I've heard before all say that a kiss can break a curse, that love can move the heavens..."

"You really want to fall in love with me that badly? You can't even come up with such a lame excuse." Xiang Yu said, grinning.

No, that's not it!

But just as they were bickering, An Ling's ceramicization process accelerated dramatically!

Normally, it would have taken a full minute for the white porcelain to spread from her calves to her knees. But in the blink of an eye during their banter, the cold glaze had already climbed all the way up her thighs.

Xiang Yu narrowed his eyes.

really!

The rate of ceramicization is consistent with the rate at which feelings intensify or change.

If it's a situation where one gets carried away and impulsively expresses their feelings, they might instantly become like porcelain, but their body can't withstand it and thus explodes.

That poor boy who confessed his love might die in this way.

A high school student's passionate confession... it's quite normal to be impulsive.

In other words, as long as one has a longing for love, one will inevitably begin to be ceramicized; it's just a matter of how fast or slow it goes.

Like An Ling. Her mind was full of studying, but she was still a high school girl with budding romantic feelings. No matter how pure and detached she was, she couldn't completely get rid of those thoughts about love.

Subconsciously, they probably still yearn for a sweet romance.

Xiang Yu himself, however, took a rather indifferent view of this aspect, which is why his ceramicization process was pitifully slow.

Now that the rules have been broken to this extent, the solution to the impasse is obvious.

Xiang Yu smiled slightly, took a deep breath, and slowly closed his eyes.

—Flow.

In an instant, he blocked out all external interference, and even erased countless distracting thoughts from his mind.

At this moment, his mind was in a state of "emptiness".

Beside her, An Ling noticed that her glaze was suddenly fading faster and panicked. She looked up abruptly, wanting to tell him to stop thinking about her, but the words caught in her throat.

The corner seems to be completely unaffected by ceramization.

His eyes were clear, his expression indifferent, and his demeanor devoid of any emotion, as if he shouldn't exist in this world.

Even more incredibly, the layer of white porcelain that had solidified on his feet was visibly peeling away inch by inch.

An Ling's eyes widened.

Brother Xiang... he really does have superhuman strength!

"These ceramic figurines must be the source of the rules. If that's the case, let's smash them and see what happens."

Xiang Yu thought to himself.

He then slowly walked forward and reached out to touch one of the pairs of ceramic figurines.

Ignoring the accelerated ceramicizing process, An Ling warned from behind, "Brother Xiang, you'll burn your fingers if you touch it!"

Xiang Yu nodded, but without pausing, steadily reached out his hand.

"Tsk."

It was as if a red-hot branding iron had been pressed onto his fingertips; a wisp of smoke instantly rose from his fingertips.

Seeing that Xiangyu had been burned, the ceramic figurine kept emitting a series of small, piercing "chirp chirp" laughs.

"No dating early, focus on your studies!"

"Prevent early..."

next moment.

Xiang Yu slammed his fist into the ceramic figurine!

With this punch, Xiang Yu chose to burn 200KJ of energy, equivalent to about 50g of TNT.

It is roughly equivalent to the explosive charge of a Type 86 hand grenade.

"boom!!!!!"

The white porcelain, along with the laughter, was reduced to dust in a sudden burst of fire.

In the smoke and dust, Xiang Yu stood quietly, looking at the small pile of white debris at his feet:

Whether I'm in a relationship or not is none of your business.