Chapter 16 Suspicion

　　Jiang Cheng held Xia Meng hostage, wandering around the studio building before finally letting her go, grandly claiming he was showing her the empire he had built for her.

　　Two cars, front and back, with a total of seven or eight people, were now staring at them with fierce eyes. The fatty involuntarily swallowed.

　　Each of these people, taken individually, might not be a match for the doctor, but together, plus Xia Meng, the fatty felt that relying only on the doctor and himself, they probably couldn't hold out.

　　He repeatedly winked at the doctor, hinting that he should quit while he was ahead.

　　Perhaps the doctor's conscience stirred, and after feigning reluctance for a while, he finally released Xia Meng.

　　To the fatty's surprise, Xia Meng seemed to have lost interest in retaliating against the doctor. She merely glanced coldly at the doctor, then at him, before turning and leaving.

　　Without saying a word.

　　"Doctor," the fatty sidled up, speaking to Jiang Cheng, who was sitting on the sofa. "Why did you provoke her? We should be thanking the heavens she's not looking for trouble."

　　Jiang Cheng picked up his water glass, only to find it empty.

　　The fatty immediately scurried off to boil water. Before long, he returned with the kettle and filled the doctor's glass to the brim.

　　Finally, he tossed in a few token bits of broken tea leaves.

　　"Didn't you notice that Xia Meng's gaze at me... was different from before?" Jiang Cheng suddenly said, after taking a small sip of tea.

　　The fatty wore a pained expression. "Doctor, if you're about to say she likes you, I advise you to shut up now." He paused, then continued, "Even if she liked me, she could never like you."

　　"Tch." Jiang Cheng immediately became unhappy, but seemingly remembering something, he didn't react. Instead, he continued, "Based on her personality, she wouldn't let what happened just now go so easily, but you saw the result. She just left."

　　Jiang Cheng looked at the fatty. "Why?"

　　"She... perhaps she has something more important to do." The fatty guessed.

　　"Since coming out of that instance, she's been restless. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to catch her so easily," Jiang Cheng continued. "She wasn't like that before we went in."

　　"Also." He looked at the fatty, put down his teacup, and frowned slightly. "Why did they let us go so easily?"

　　"Let us go?" The fatty asked, surprised. "Doctor, I think if you hadn't been so clever as to grab Xia Meng first, we might not even be alive to talk right now."

　　Seeming to realize it was useless to discuss these things with the fatty, Jiang Cheng stated bluntly, "The time we spent in the nightmare translates to only a few minutes, or even less, in reality. I don't believe he couldn't wait that little bit of time. What could be so urgent that he had to leave immediately?"

　　The fatty immediately understood that the doctor was referring to the middle-aged man.

　　The man had left a deep impression on him, especially the line about cutting his flesh off piece by piece to feed to the doctor.

　　He instinctively felt that it wasn't a joke.

　　Moreover, it was clear that the doctor was also very wary of him.

　　"Doctor," the fatty blinked and asked in a strange tone, "are you saying he's still around, that he didn't leave?"

　　"Mm."

　　"Then what's he after?"

　　Jiang Cheng looked up at him, not speaking.

　　After a moment, the fatty's expression changed, and he said to himself, "It's because if he were here, it would be difficult for us to escape, so he simply didn't show his face, letting us go so we'd feel more at ease."

　　Taking out a pen from his pocket, Jiang Cheng placed it on the table. The fatty immediately recognized it as the one used to hold Xia Meng hostage.

　　"Otherwise, I can't understand why he would leave a pen in the room," Jiang Cheng said, staring at the tabletop.

　　"He wanted to let us go, but he couldn't make it too obvious," the fatty swallowed, feeling for the first time that he was keeping up with the doctor's train of thought. He asked excitedly, "Is that it, Doctor?"

　　Not directly answering his question, Jiang Cheng turned his head to look out the window. "He also arranged for people to safely escort us back, under the guise of protecting Xia Meng."

　　Leaning back on the sofa, he exhaled and said, "How thoughtful."

　　"Doctor, no matter what, as long as he doesn't harm us, that's all that matters." The fatty licked his lips, seemingly recalling certain scenes, and said with lingering fear, "Speaking of which, this time was really dangerous. That You Qi was too dangerous. If all of Scarlet were like that..."

　　"If all of Scarlet were that kind of trash, they would have been wiped out long ago," Jiang Cheng interrupted.

　　That kind of trash...

　　The fatty raised his head in confusion, looking at the doctor.

　　Jiang Cheng frowned, appearing somewhat impatient, but finally said, "You Qi wasn't anything special. He just had the advantage of information. If the positions were reversed, he wouldn't have been a match for An Xuan or Zuo Jing at all."

　　The doctor's words opened up a new avenue of thought for the fatty. After a moment of reflection, he realized that the doctor was right. This could be seen from how miserable You Qi's death was.

　　Moreover, An Xuan seemed completely unaffected after killing him.

　　"Doctor, are you saying... You Qi isn't Scarlet?" The fatty asked, his eyes widening. "The real Scarlet is someone else?"

　　"I don't know." Jiang Cheng said bluntly. He took out a piece of paper and wrote some words on it with the pen.

　　Then, he walked over to the desk, picked up his phone, and took a picture of the paper. "Investigate this person," the fatty heard Jiang Cheng say into the phone.

　　After a pause, the fatty saw the doctor pick up the phone again and add, "Don't use that last guy. Find someone reliable."

　　"Is it Brother Pi Ruan?" The fatty immediately realized. He seemed very loyal to the doctor. The last time the doctor needed someone investigated, he had also asked him.

　　Although the result wasn't perfect.

　　The fatty glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost 2 a.m. Brother Pi Ruan should be asleep by now, but to his surprise...

　　"Ji... Doctor Jiang," Pi Ruan's voice rang out. In less than half a minute, he had sent the doctor a voice message.

　　"Just... just relax, you... you know how I... I do things, right?"

　　The fatty stared in disbelief. What was Brother Pi Ruan doing up so late? His voice sounded as if he had been plowing fields all night.

　　"He's usually free during the day," Jiang Cheng said casually, without looking at the fatty, after putting away his phone. "His tasks are heavier at night."

　　Seeming to realize something, the fatty shuddered, feeling unwell.

　　After a long while, he returned to the main topic. "Doctor," the fatty blinked and asked, "besides us and Xia Meng, Chen Qiang is the only survivor. Are you suspecting him?"

　　"What do you think?"

　　Taking out a blue notebook, Jiang Cheng walked over, opened it on the table, and sat down opposite the fatty.

　　Then, he pulled a pencil from the notebook's binding.

　　This simple action actually gave the latter a feeling of being favored.

　　The fatty subconsciously straightened his back and said seriously, "Doctor, I don't think Chen Qiang is Scarlet."

　　Jiang Cheng nodded as he scribbled in the notebook. "I think so too."

　　Slowly, the fatty's gaze shifted to the notebook. He saw... a person's face appearing on it.