Chapter 112 – The Great Scholars Will Argue My Case for Me

“Don’t be scared, Xi!”

“I’ll protect you!”

Zhao Xinning stepped forward and punched the ghost face.

With a crisp crack, her fist went straight through it.

Lin Xi: “…”

Zhao Xinning pulled her fist back. “Oh, it was just a prop.” She turned to comfort Lin Xi. “Don’t be scared. It wasn’t real.”

Su Xiangxue: “…”

“Um, Miss Xinning, of course it wasn’t real.”

“There aren’t any real ghosts in a haunted house, just like there aren’t any wives in wife cakes1.”

The two of them looked together at Lin Xi, who had been screaming in terror, her face deathly pale.

Lin Xi was more than a little embarrassed. She stopped pretending and laid all her cards on the table.

“I’m sorry!”

“My courage was all an act!”

“I’m just a wimpy coward who’s scared of horror stuff!”

“There, now you both know. I’m weak, I’m a liar, and I’m covered in flaws from head to toe.”

Since her shortcomings had already been exposed, Lin Xi decided she might as well go all in and let the two of them lose their rose-tinted view of her.

“Saint Love Xi” underwent her ultimate devolution and turned back into “Haki Xi.”

But after Lin Xi finished speaking, neither Zhao Xinning nor Su Xiangxue said a single word of criticism.

Zhao Xinning simply pulled Lin Xi into a warm hug.

“Adorable!”

“A frightened Xi is super, unbelievably adorable!”

Su Xiangxue, meanwhile, calmly adjusted her glasses.

“Miss Lin Xi, only someone like you could admit your own flaws so openly. That is true courage.”

“After all, facing your own flaws takes far more courage than facing these fake ghosts and monsters.”

Lin Xi: “…”

Wait, what? You two already came up with every possible argument for me???

So the great scholars really will argue my case for me, huh???

Lin Xi had been scared out of her wits, frightened enough to confess her own flaws. Yet not only did it fail to make Zhao Xinning and Su Xiangxue see her as less charming, it somehow raised her charm points instead.

Zhao Xinning held her for quite a while before finally letting go. “Let’s keep exploring.”

“Xi, if you’re scared, just hold my hand tightly.”

Lin Xi was so grateful she could have cried. Angel-sama was the real Sun Goddess!

Holding Zhao Xinning’s hand, the three of them continued deeper into the haunted house.

“Ah, I just broke one of the haunted house props. I won’t have to pay for it, right?” Zhao Xinning asked.

“No,” Su Xiangxue said. “When you bought your tickets, didn’t you notice the notice printed on them?”

“As long as you don’t hit the staff, you don’t have to compensate them.”

Zhao Xinning: “…”

“I’ll be careful and not throw punches randomly.”

Lin Xi said admiringly, “Xinning, you’re so brave. When did you start learning martial arts???”

Lin Xi had guessed right. Zhao Xinning really had started learning martial arts.

She wanted to train herself into a “special forces soldier,” pushing herself to the absolute ceiling of what an ordinary person could achieve.

Only then, when “pests” appeared around Lin Xi, would she have the ability to eliminate them herself.

“I just thought it seemed interesting, so I tried it for fun,” Zhao Xinning explained casually.

Having trained in martial arts, Zhao Xinning wasn’t afraid of the haunted house. Su Xiangxue, as a veteran player, wasn’t afraid either.

Only Lin Xi, the tiny newbie, was trembling in fear.

Still, with two reliable companions by her side, she no longer screamed and panicked helplessly whenever she got scared.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!-“

A scream no less miserable than Lin Xi’s rang out from ahead.

“Haha, so I’m not the only one who got scared like that.” Lin Xi felt just a tiny bit of schadenfreude. “This haunted house really is terrifying.”

Judging by the sound, the other person was not far ahead.

When Lin Xi and the other two arrived, the person who had been scared was still squatting on the ground, not yet gone.

Beside her was another girl, patting her on the head and trying to comfort her.

“Big Sis!”

“It’s all fake. How did you get this scared?”

“Even if it were real, what would you have to be afraid of?”

From the back alone, Lin Xi recognized the girl crouching there at a glance. “Miss Shanshan!”

Yang Shanshan, who had been scared into a full emo spiral, turned her head. “Huh?! Miss Lin Xi!”

Su Xiangxue and Zhao Xinning both knew Yang Shanshan too. The three of them were the “Big Three” of the “Lin Xi Fan Club.”

Yang Shanshan immediately stood up and greeted Su Xiangxue and Zhao Xinning, then said, “What a coincidence, running into you here.”

Lin Xi told Yang Shanshan that she and Zhao Xinning had run into Su Xiangxue at the station, and the three of them had come here together to have fun.

Yang Shanshan, in turn, told Lin Xi that she was here with her little sister.

Lin Xi understood. With Yang Shanshan’s hardcore Otaku personality, she would absolutely have holed up at home on the weekend. Her little sister must have dragged her out.

Lin Xi looked at the young girl beside Yang Shanshan. “Wow, Miss Shanshan, your little sister is so cute.”

She reached out and gently patted the girl’s head, asking with a beaming smile, “Little girl, what’s your name?”

Smack! Yang Tongtong slapped Lin Xi’s hand away in disgust. “You dare touch my head?! Do you have a death wish-“

Lin Xi: “…”

Mmph! Quick as a flash, Yang Shanshan clapped a hand over her sister’s mouth. “Her name is Yang Tongtong. She’s going through a rebellious phase, so please don’t be angry, Miss Lin Xi.”

“Hahaha…” Lin Xi laughed awkwardly. “No, I was the one in the wrong. I touched Little Sister Tongtong’s head without asking her first.”

Lin Xi solemnly apologized to Yang Tongtong.

Yang Tongtong pried her sister’s hand away and said coldly, “So you’re Lin Xi???”

“That’s right,” Lin Xi asked back. “You know me?”

“Sis talks about you all the time-” Before Yang Tongtong could finish, Yang Shanshan covered her mouth again.

“I, um, I have mentioned Miss Lin Xi to Tongtong before, but not that often! Please don’t think I’m some kind of weirdo…”

Yang Shanshan was genuinely panicking, terrified that her little sister would expose all her secrets.

Lin Xi didn’t mind at all. If anything, she thought Yang Shanshan’s little sister was both cute and interesting.

One look was enough to tell that this girl was nothing like her socially anxious older sister, Yang Shanshan.

“Sis!” Yang Tongtong once again pried Yang Shanshan’s hand away. “Stop trying to keep me from talking.”

Yang Shanshan shot her sister a look, warning her not to run her mouth.

Yang Tongtong sized Lin Xi up. “No face, no figure-“

Once again, Yang Shanshan blocked her mouth and apologized to Lin Xi.

“My little sister is lying through her teeth!”

“Please don’t be angry, Miss Lin Xi. You’re very cute! And you have a great figure too!”

Yang Shanshan warned her sister in a low voice that if she kept talking nonsense, she would never take her out to play again.

Yang Tongtong had no choice but to obey, and at Yang Shanshan’s insistence, she apologized to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi wasn’t angry. A little sister in her rebellious phase was pretty cute too.

Zhao Xinning and Su Xiangxue didn’t take offense at a little girl either. The two groups decided to team up and continue exploring the haunted house.

Lin Xi and Yang Shanshan, the two most terrified of haunted houses, were protected in the middle.

Yang Tongtong and Zhao Xinning led the way in front, while Su Xiangxue brought up the rear.

Before long, another round of “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!” rang out.

It did not come from Lin Xi.

Nor did it come from Yang Shanshan.

It came from the haunted house staff.

Yang Tongtong and Zhao Xinning, who were leading the way, had beaten someone until they cried.

Lin Xi: “…”

You had to pay compensation for hitting people, right???

Footnote:

1. Wife Cake(老婆饼): A traditional Chinese pastry whose name literally means “wife cake”; the joke is that, despite the name, it contains no actual wife.