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After Saving The Universe A Thousand Times: Chapter 28
Chapter 28: Mirage 5
Dong Jin looked at Lei Ming, who was clearly waiting like a hunter by the door, and for a moment, he felt a little caught in a dilemma.
Now, taking out his phone to livestream like before was definitely too late, but for him to risk his life on the second day of the instance to solo a boss… Not to mention whether he could even win, just thinking about such a foolish thing made him feel like he was at a huge loss.
At this moment, Lei Ming on the other side wasn’t in a hurry to make a move either. He simply stared at Dong Jin’s pitch-black eyes with interest and continued speaking:
“Not long ago, Xin Ge asked me outside the theater if I killed her scammer boyfriend. I told her, ‘I’m not interested in trash that would dirty my hands,’ and told her to hurry back to rehearsals.
“Probably because someone saw this unpleasant scene, not long after, someone came over to tell me that Xin Ge had broken the rules by bringing in some blind guy without a ticket. At the time, I was wondering which freeloading scumbag seized the opportunity so precisely right after the last scammer ran off with her money, and even had the audacity to sneak into my theater. I didn’t expect it to be you…”
Speaking of which, the reason Lei Ming managed to catch Dong Jin today was entirely on a whim.
The one who reported to him was someone who wanted to replace Xin Ge as the new lead singer.
In truth, Lei Ming couldn’t care less about Xin Ge’s personality or how she handled matters. He didn’t even care about humans. The only reason he kept this actress around was because her voice was passable and could enhance the performance quality of his next big show.
So, when Xin Ge absurdly came to question him about her missing boyfriend, Lei Ming, who hadn’t given her a second thought, naturally wouldn’t get angry over such a thing. He simply sneered and mocked her with a few words before walking into the theater on his own.
The fact was, as he had ridiculed, that scammer boyfriend of hers, who took the money and ran, was so dirty that just touching him would disgust Lei Ming, let alone taking pity on Xin Ge and helping her deal with him.
As long as it didn’t interfere with his play, how much Xin Ge got scammed for had nothing to do with him.
But the premise of all this was—*as long as it didn’t interfere with his play.*
When he heard that Xin Ge had absurdly brought someone into the theater, Lei Ming, not wanting his theater to turn into a mess, immediately sent someone to find out what was going on.
At the time, he was already prepared to throw both Xin Ge and the blind guy out of the theater together, but unexpectedly, Xin Ge had someone deliver this explanation to him:
“Even if you’re a monster,you should have some conscience, right? He’s staying at the same inn as you, found something you dropped, and even braved the rain to bring it back to you. Now that it’s still raining outside, what’s the harm in letting him rest for a bit in the private box and listen to some opera?”
Never mind how a blind guy could’ve found something Lei Ming dropped. If he came specifically to return it, then why would he go out of his way to find Xin Ge and inexplicably end up in the theater’s private box?
Even someone who wasn’t particularly sharp like Lei Ming couldn’t help but doubt Xin Ge’s intelligence at that moment.
But in the next second, he couldn’t be bothered to think about Xin Ge’s seemingly waterlogged brain anymore.
—Because he had guessed the blind guy’s identity.
Staying at the same inn as him and daring to use him as an excuse, there was only one person: Dong Jin.
Thus, there was this scene of him blocking the door at this moment.
After lazily explaining the cause and effect, Lei Ming, standing at the door, glanced meaningfully at Dong Jin’s still slightly damp hair and his increasingly pale and strikingly beautiful face under the dim lighting of the theater.
After a moment, Lei Ming spoke, his tone seeming both like praise and mockery:
“If it’s you, let alone that overly compassionate woman Xin Ge, it wouldn’t be surprising no matter who brought you in.”
In dramas, the most exaggerated phrases are often used to describe unparalleled beauty. And with the breathtaking level of Dong Jin’s face, he wouldn’t even need to pretend to be blind—who could resist extending a helping hand after seeing him in the rain?
Even for someone like him, a monster… At this moment, Lei Ming’s tongue unconsciously slid over his sharp canine teeth.
The hunting desire that he had barely extinguished last night began to stir again, as if reigniting.
“Dong Jin, I’ve been singing my solo for so long now. Have you figured it out yet? About the thing I left with you.”
Dong Jin glanced at the watch on his wrist without betraying any emotion.
Trial-takers needed to provoke a certain level of emotional fluctuation in monsters to gain the qualification to kill them.
In the past two days, Lei Ming had indeed shown some scattered emotional fluctuations toward him, but even now, Dong Jin wasn’t sure if the total fluctuation value was enough to qualify him to attack Lei Ming.
He only had about 70 days of life left—didn’t he have to use it sparingly? It would be a joke if, after sacrificing his lifespan with gritted teeth, he ended up like that unlucky trial-taker he encountered on the first day, unable to even break through the monster’s defenses.
This pitifully short remaining lifespan made Dong Jin unconsciously move his left wrist slightly.
At the moment, hidden quietly on the inside of his wrist against the watch was a kitchen knife he had stolen from the inn’s kitchen. Although it couldn’t compare to the throwing knives he usually used, this long-range weapon paired with the “Eye of Truth” still made for a perfect match.
As long as he could break through Lei Ming’s defense, breaking out head-on wouldn’t be a problem.
Even though he was secretly seeking the angle to strike and preparing for a decisive blow, Dong Jin maintained an innocent smile and said:
“Is there a chance that what you left with me… is your heart?”
The moment this cheesy pick-up line left his mouth, Dong Jin himself felt a little nauseated.
He was certain that if this had been Lei Ming before he lost his memory, he would’ve been disgusted by such a soft and saccharine line, sneering coldly and asking if Dong Jin had a death wish.
But this was the Lei Ming after memory loss.
So, Dong Jin’s hundred tested, hundred effective manipulative words rarely failed to angerthe other party this time. Instead, after hearing it, not only did Lei Ming not refute him, but he even responded to Dong Jin, half-serious, half-playful:
“I’ve always liked dazzling things. If you’re willing to become the absolute star of the next big performance, maybe I really might be moved by you.”
What fucking big performance? The one where you flee for your life and die in a fake tsunami?
Are you moved by me, or are you just happy about my death?
In Dong Jin’s emotionless gaze, this verbal confrontation, hiding its murderous intent, came to an end. The next second, the first to make a move wasn’t Dong Jin, who had been preparing all along, but Lei Ming, who had previously appeared so nonchalant.
There is no denying that, even though this god acts however he pleases, his sense for battle is excessively sharp.
After all, it is an instinct for survival etched into his very bones.
Apart from this instinct for battle, Lei Ming’s fondness for drama, especially the beauty of tragedy, also seems to linger in his memory.
So, even though Lei Ming’s monstrous body itself is the best weapon, he still gave up using his sharp claws and casually pulled a fully bloomed black rose from a vase, arrogantly using the pure black petals as blades.
Dong Jin had nothing to say about Lei Ming’s approach, which seemed to have even chosen the way he would die.
Because during the battle, Dong Jin confirmed one thing.
Thinking of this, he not only didn’t avoid the petals in Lei Ming’s fingers, sharper than blades, but instead smiled and took a step forward, deliberately exposing his throat to the sharp edges of the petals.
In that instant, the pure black rose petals swiftly and precisely aimed for his throat. Yet, when the petals truly reached his throat, they didn’t even leave the slightest trace of blood.
“As expected…” Dong Jin thought. When he threw the kitchen knife at Lei Ming’s weak spot earlier, he had already realized that the emotional fluctuations Lei Ming had toward him over the past two days were entirely insufficient, making it impossible for him to break through Lei Ming’s defenses.
At the same time, Dong Jin also noticed that the petals that grazed his cheek earlier hadn’t harmed him either.
Recalling Lei Ming’s deliberate glance at the watch on his wrist before making a move last night, Dong Jin instantly realized that the prerequisite for monsters killing people was the same as people killing monsters.
In other words, as long as the emotional fluctuations Lei Ming felt toward him hadn’t accumulated to a certain level, Lei Ming, as a monster, couldn’t truly kill him either.
“…Aren’t you even the least bit afraid?”
At this moment, Lei Ming, filled with killing intent and gripping the sharp petals but unable to advance an inch further at Dong Jin’s throat, asked with a grim expression.
From the moment he intentionally released his killing intent to block the door, to choosing to engage in aimless small talk with Dong Jin, and then suddenly launching an unprovoked attack, it was all to gradually increase Dong Jin’s psychological pressure, pushing his fear to the threshold that would allow Lei Ming to attack him.
He hadn’t expected that this human, who had endured his killing intent for two days, would still remain so composed.
Of course, Dong Jin noticed Lei Ming’s astonishment, but he couldn’t explain it.
He couldn’t exactly say, “During a thousand midnights in the past, the killing intent you unleashed toward me was far more terrifying than this,” to the extent that he had long trained himself to ignore this oppressive feeling, could he?
So, at this moment, Dong Jin simply picked up the scattered rose bouquet on the ground and, using the technique he employed to throw knives, began hurling the roses one by one in Lei Ming’s direction.
Lei Ming, who stood just a step away, merely stood there, silently watching Dong Jin pick up and throw roses. Even as the roses grazed past his hair, cheeks, and neck at high speed, this monster didn’t so much as move his feet—he didn’t even furrow his brow.
In response, Dong Jin let out a soft scoff before saying directly, “That’s my answer—if you’re not afraid, why should I be?”
Since neither of them could hurt the other, what reason was there for either of them to fear the other?
After speaking, Dong Jin turned around without looking back and walked toward the door.
This time, Lei Ming, still standing in the private room, did not stop him.
Even though he had already guessed that Dong Jin went to such lengths to infiltrate the theater because he had likely noticed something, it was meaningless to try and stop him when he couldn’t attack him.
After Dong Jin’s figure grew farther and farther away, Lei Ming casually took off his tattered coat and stepped forward, preparing to leave the opera house.
However, just as he was about to step out of the private room, he caught a faint reflection on the marble wall and suddenly turned his head.
He saw that on the wall behind him, the black rose branches had been fully embedded into the wall, while the remaining black rosebuds outside had quietly formed a heart shape, silently hanging by the wall.
—This was undoubtedly a masterpiece of strength and beauty.
Dong Jin had previously lied when he said he left his heart with him there.
In the end, he had truly returned a heart made of roses to him.
This human… the killing intent that had dissipated earlier surged back again, doubling in intensity each time.
At this moment, Lei Ming couldn’t even tell whether it was purely the desire to kill or something else entirely.
If Dong Jin were still in the private room right now, he would notice that Lei Ming’s emotions had undergone an enormous fluctuation in an instant. If they were to fight again now, the outcome might not be the same as before.
Lei Ming realized this as well.
After noticing that his emotional fluctuations might have already reached the threshold for Dong Jin to attack him, he no longer carried that indifferent and superior demeanor.
Amid the ever-growing killing intent, this monster, who had always been indifferent to humans, rarely began to think about how to stir a person’s emotions.
Upon reflection, the only time Dong Jin had shown a relatively obvious emotional reaction toward him was when they first met on the third floor of the guesthouse. At that time, Lei Ming had neither exuded killing intent nor spoken threateningly, so Dong Jin couldn’t have been moved by fear.
If it wasn’t fear, then what was it?
With that thought, Lei Ming raised his eyes again to look at the heart-shaped black roses on the wall—could it be because of the most laughable thing humans possess: love?
In any case, he currently had no other way to kill this human, so why not give it a try?
Didn’t that so-called organizer recently come up with a “No Heartbeat Challenge”?
Fine. Let them gamble their lives on this, engaging in a deadly challenge where a single heartbeat would mean death.
And he would never be the loser.
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