The Fusion’s Truth

“Are you Jiang Yan? Or… Mu Jinran? Or rather, are you an existence where the two of them are fused together?”

Hearing this question, the man’s heart sank, much like the moment he was pushed away.

Looking at Ye Shengge’s face filled with disbelief, he knew he could no longer hide it.

In this situation, no matter what he said or did, he wouldn’t be able to eliminate the other’s suspicion.

He simply threw caution to the wind, looking at Ye Shengge helplessly as he spoke slowly: “Sigh, you saw it. I originally didn’t want you to know this early.”

Without a single word of defense, he admitted it quite frankly.

But for Ye Shengge, this frankness was less comforting than if he had continued to search for excuses to justify himself.

Holding onto a final shred of hope, he stared intently at the dungeon boss’s face and asked in a low voice: “Are you really the two of them fused together?”

In reality, whether it was him or the dungeon boss, both knew the answer to this question in their hearts, yet he stubbornly wanted to hear the answer from the other’s mouth.

But this time, the other party did not answer his question, only staring at him in silence.

Ye Shengge looked back at him just as seriously, his gaze not wavering for a single second as he asked once more: “Who exactly are you?”

“Isn’t it better to know nothing?” The man sighed lightly, saying helplessly: “Knowing some things isn’t good for you. Besides, if you truly want to know that badly, there’s no need to be in such a hurry, right? I told you, I would tell you in a few days.”

As for how many days, he didn’t state it clearly.

What was certain, however, was that the day would definitely not be now, but rather after he had confirmed that the youth would be trapped in the dungeon forever.

By then, even if the youth knew his identity, it wouldn’t matter much.

But the youth was too disobedient; he had actually taken advantage of a lapse in attention to plot against him.

He was very angry, yet he couldn’t bring himself to do anything to the youth.

“It’s not better. You’re a liar!” Looking at that face that was both familiar and strange, Ye Shengge was so angry he could hardly speak.

Jiang Yan was one thing, but to think Mu Jinran was also a part of the dungeon boss!

Whenever he recalled how he had been played like a fool by the dungeon boss, even stupidly trying to make excuses for the other party, he was so angry he wanted to beat the person to death.

This was truly too much!

How could someone manage to pretend to be a taciturn yet very kind person on one hand, while wearing another layer of skin to scare him half to death and constantly doing shameful things to him on the other?

The dungeon boss probably laughed for a long time in his heart, seeing him trembling with fear while treating the culprit like a life-saving straw.

“I didn’t lie to you on purpose.” The man saw through Ye Shengge’s thoughts at a glance. He habitually explained to the youth: “These are all coincidences. I can only fuse for very short periods, and there are many restrictions.”

Speaking of which, his split state wasn’t without weaknesses. Those two soul fragments both loathed the other half of themselves, even finding ways to trip the other up and attempting to kill each other.

It wasn’t hard to imagine that under such circumstances, getting the two fragments to fuse voluntarily required a lot of time, which was why the original deadline for helping with revenge was extended to seven days.

But ever since meeting Ye Shengge, his two halves had been provoked into voluntary fusion more and more frequently.

Today was no different; if Ye Shengge hadn’t run away, there was no way Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan would have fused.

However, this rapid fusion also resulted in the flaw of self-contradictory personalities. As the main body, he would also be affected, sometimes leaning toward Mu Jinran’s personality and sometimes becoming like Jiang Yan.

Furthermore, the fusion time was very unstable, with the possibility of splitting again at any moment.

If he hadn’t happened to find Zhou Yue meeting with the youth, he definitely wouldn’t have chosen to appear again at such an unstable time, let alone be influenced by the split personalities to commit such an incomprehensible, low-level mistake when faced with the youth’s full-of-holes provocation.

But this explanation was completely unacceptable to Ye Shengge.

“Make Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan come out.” He stared intently at the man in front of him, speaking stubbornly.

In fact, even without him saying so, the dungeon boss was already unable to maintain the fused state.

His words merely accelerated the collapse of this fused entity.

A black mist enveloped the man, completely blocking Ye Shengge’s probing gaze.

A few seconds later, the black mist dissipated, revealing two figures that had been hidden.

Ye Shengge looked closely.

Who else could these two be but Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan?

It really was the two of them!

Liars!

“Don’t be angry, I can explain.” As soon as he broke away from the fusion state, Jiang Yan hurriedly squeezed to Ye Shengge’s side, speaking words of apology in a humble manner.

But this trick was completely useless on the current Ye Shengge.

He gave a cold snort, then turned his gaze toward Mu Jinran, who had been silent since the beginning, and asked in a low voice: “Why did you lie to me?”

Jiang Yan was one thing; he had already prepared himself mentally for that. But he couldn’t accept Mu Jinran.

No matter how many times the thought that Mu Jinran might also be suspicious rose in his heart, he would automatically make excuses for the other party. He had never thought to suspect Mu Jinran.

After all, in his heart, how could the person who silently helped him carry books, found him a dorm to stay in, and covered his eyes so he wouldn’t see dead ghosts be the dungeon boss?

Yet, reality had given him a harsh slap.

Everything he had subconsciously ignored because he didn’t want to believe it turned out to be the correct answer!

Mu Jinran looked at Ye Shengge in silence for a long while before speaking, his voice slightly hoarse: “I’m sorry.”

Aside from “I’m sorry,” he didn’t know what else he could say.

He also wanted to tell Ye Shengge that this wasn’t his intention, that it was more Jiang Yan’s fault, and that he had thought about stopping it but couldn’t.

But anyone could tell how hypocritical those words were.

Although they split into two individuals, Jiang Yan and he were essentially the same person.

It was just that Jiang Yan did the things he had always wanted to do but hesitated over, while he hypocritically tried to stop Jiang Yan while contradictorily enjoying doing the things to Ye Shengge that he had once craved but couldn’t get.

It was truly despicable—so despicable that even he couldn’t help but loathe himself. He clearly knew these things were wrong, yet he couldn’t stop, like an addict.

“Is ‘I’m sorry’ useful?” Ye Shengge was very angry right now.

Although the dungeon boss had hidden by his side and never done anything to harm him, being deceived in his feelings was even more unbearable to him than being directly harmed.

He had truly considered Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan as some of his few good friends. Even the decision to endure fear and terror to take risks and find clues was made because he wanted to protect his friends.

Who would have thought that the person being played like a fool all along was him? Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan were the masterminds behind the scenes who didn’t need his protection at all. All the efforts he had made probably looked like a joke in their eyes.

The more Ye Shengge thought about it, the angrier he got: “If you two truly feel sorry, then stop following me. I don’t want to see you again.”

Although there was an element of spite in those words, they weren’t wrong.

If Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan truly felt sorry for him, they should stop staying by his side and let him find a random place to stay until he submitted the answer to leave the dungeon, never to meet again.

That way, no one would know he had been played like a fool by the boss of this dungeon, and no one would know that the boss of this dungeon had begged for his forgiveness many times.

Everyone would be better off.

“No. Aside from leaving, you can have anything you want.” The Jiang Yan standing to one side suddenly spoke up, fearing that the hypocrite who was so good at putting on an act would actually agree.

From the moment Ye Shengge said those words, he had a bad premonition. He felt that this “I never want to see you again” meant he truly wanted to leave completely and never see them again.

Jiang Yan trusted his intuition very much.

He absolutely could not let Ye Shengge leave, otherwise, they would never see him again.

But from the moment Ye Shengge discovered the dungeon boss’s identity, the initiative was no longer in their hands. As long as Ye Shengge wanted to, he could submit the answer and leave this dungeon at any time. The only reason he was standing here arguing with them was because he couldn’t swallow his anger.

Ye Shengge heard Jiang Yan’s words but ignored him, instead staring intently at Mu Jinran, wanting to see what his thoughts were.

Mu Jinran didn’t speak, seemingly acquiescing to Jiang Yan’s decision.

The three stood facing each other.

The atmosphere grew tense in an instant.

Just then, Mu Jinran suddenly spoke: “I’m sorry, but you can’t leave.”

“Stay here forever.”

As these words fell, Ye Shengge noticed that within the hazy black mist that suddenly gathered, the figures of Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan were slowly overlapping.

It looked like they were going to fuse again.

The moon was blocked by thick layers of clouds. The black mist turned into a circle and then spread wider and wider, acting as if it would completely envelop the teaching building.

They all knew that this fusion was different from before.

Once the fusion was successful, Ye Shengge would be completely trapped in this small space.

The system suddenly spoke: [Watch out for the black mist! It will cut off the connection between you and me.]

Once the black mist spread, they would all be finished.

Looking at the black mist spreading further and further around him, Ye Shengge spoke calmly: [I want to submit the answer. The anonymous person is the fused entity of Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan.]

As long as he submitted the answer, he could leave this dungeon.

It was a pity. He had originally wanted to say a few more words to Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan and wait until dawn before submitting the answer to leave. But the other party clearly didn’t want to give him that chance and even wanted to forcibly keep him in this dungeon. Since that was the case, there was no need for him to stay.

[Please confirm, Player, whether to submit the answer.] The system’s mechanical voice was as calm and indifferent as ever, without a hint of emotion.

Ye Shengge’s tone was firmer than ever before: [I am certain.]

The black mist spread wider and wider.

Just a little more and it would completely envelop the teaching building.

The system’s voice rang out again:

[Congratulations to Host Ye Shengge for successfully completing the task of finding the anonymous person.]

[Dungeon exit in progress. Five, four, three…]

[Ding! Due to interference from unknown factors, exit is temporarily impossible.]

[The system is working hard to repair… repair expected to be completed in three minutes… please wait patiently for the time to exit the dungeon…]

Looking at the black mist that was only seconds away from completely enveloping the building, Ye Shengge felt completely unwell.

How come there was no interference earlier or later, yet it happened right when he submitted the correct answer and was about to leave the dungeon!

Most fatally, the black mist had already completely descended.

At the same time, the system’s broadcast—which was emitting a static sound from the interference—also vanished instantly.

The black mist enveloping Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan dissipated completely.

The person inside asked him with a smile: “Isn’t staying here forever good? Why do you always want to leave?”