Chapter 315: 315
This is…
Facing the question of the Mouth of Truth, Violetta answered no, then smoothly withdrew her hand.
The scene before him genuinely shocked Fu Qian.
In the fairy tale of Snow White, when asked who is the fairest of them all, he thought it was a gimme question. Surprisingly, the answer turned out to be no.
Because she’s too young to trigger the age of realization?
That’s also a reasonable explanation.
...
Or maybe this girl isn’t the real Snow White?
Fu Qian frowned as he looked at Violetta, his mind filled with a thousand thoughts.
Most crucially, this girl seriously considered before choosing no, which really didn’t fit with his understanding of little brats.
“I got it!”
At that moment, Violetta didn’t think too much. With a joyous cheer, she jumped in front of Fu Qian and spread out her hand.
In the palm of the young girl’s pale hand lay a piece of colorful, twisted plastic wrap.
“Is this… candy?”
Fu Qian asked.
Can’t blame him; the shape was too iconic, and it fit well with the concept of a reward.
“Yep!”
Violetta nodded vigorously, eagerly peeling off the outer wrapping and revealing a sparkling, translucent, pale yellow cube.
It actually was a sugar cube!
Fu Qian nodded, but the next moment, his eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
What’s this smell?
As Violetta unwrapped it, a strange aroma faintly wafted into the air.
Could it be durian candy?
A sense of alarm washed through Fu Qian, but Violetta was already eagerly leaning in.
She held the candy under her nose and took a deep sniff, her face showing sheer bliss.
Really? You just had more than one dessert not long ago.
Within Fu Qian’s bewildered gaze, Violetta looked like she was about to drool.
However, just before she put it into her mouth, she stopped.
Her gaze turned to Fu Qian, as if she was struggling mightily within her heart.
“Here, you have it.”
In the end, she bowed her head and handed over both the sugar cube and the wrapper.
“I don’t really like sweets that much.”
Fu Qian shook his head, not really afraid that the thing was poisonous. Although he didn’t understand, seeing the girl’s reluctant expression, he really didn’t want to take away her pleasure.
“You eat it. It’s candy made by my mom; it’s really tasty.”
Hearing Fu Qian’s refusal, Violetta swallowed hard again but still firmly shook her head.
“Mom said, good things should be shared with others.”
It’s actually a creation of her mother?
Upon hearing the girl’s words, Fu Qian’s interest piqued.
It’s related to the target person!
Fu Qian swiftly took it and shook it in his palm.
The sugar cube was neat and clear as crystal; at first glance, it even looked like a crystal dice.
The appearance was indeed nice, but the smell was really not praiseworthy.
Now with a closer sniff, Fu Qian realized his earlier guess was conservative; this thing was far more exaggerated than durian.
At this moment, waves of odd scent were turning into tides, constantly assaulting his senses.
It’s hard to believe it’s candy, but he kept it anyway; it might come in handy later on.
In the girl’s reluctant gaze, Fu Qian quickly rewrapped the candy and slipped it into his pocket.
“Let’s continue.”
Violetta bit her lips, watching wide-eyed as Fu Qian completed everything.
“Good!”
Fu Qian looked back at the Mouth of Truth by his side but ultimately decided not to put his hand inside it.
He had already received one reward; there was no need to be too greedy.
He wasn’t the protagonist blessed with a halo, and this place was full of strangeness; taking such a risk wasn’t wise.
Perhaps Violetta’s words were meant as a reminder to him.
As a man very much aware of his own limitations, Fu Qian knew his integrity was far more exaggerated than Pinocchio’s. It wouldn’t have been surprising if something bizarre had happened had he really reached inside.
“Violetta?”
“Hmm?”
“How do you know this is the sugar made by your mother?”
Following behind Violetta, the seemingly endless descent began once more as Fu Qian walked and asked.
“The taste, the sugar my mom makes has a very special flavor, I recognized it immediately.”
“That’s true, I indeed haven’t encountered it before.”
“Right? Every time she makes it, Mom has to climb a really tall tree and gather lots of materials… I want to help, but each time she tells me to just wait at home…”
Climbing a tree to make sugar?
As Violetta rambled on, Fu Qian listened with growing suspicion.
However, before he could ask more, something caught his eye out of the corner of his vision—
Huh?
Turning his head instinctively, Fu Qian noticed a flash of red at a distant spot in the corridor, silently facing in their direction.
Was that scarecrow actually following behind them all this time?
Could it be some kind of haunted house setup, where the staff would come up and tap on the shoulder if one moved too slowly?
As someone with a strong divergent thinking ability, Fu Qian quickly started speculating.
The problem was, this thing wasn’t a haunted house staff member, and given its habit of appearing and disappearing unpredictably, it was hard to say what would happen if caught by it.
Amid his thoughts, Fu Qian suddenly realized something else and quickly turned back— the corridor, adorned with vivid patterns, was now completely empty, and Violetta was nowhere to be seen.
Fu Qian would bet that he hadn’t looked away for more than two seconds.
Although there was a corner in the corridor ahead of him, both directions were clearly visible.
But she had vanished.
Not only that, but when he turned to look back, the red-clothed scarecrow had also disappeared.
There was no sound, so it didn’t seem like an attack had occurred.
At the same time, the mission hadn’t failed, indicating that she hadn’t died.
But he didn’t have much time left; in a place like this, once separated, the difficulty of finding each other again was immense.
Walking a few steps along the corridor while thinking, Fu Qian confirmed that what lay ahead was a real hallway, not an illusion.
Seeing no apparent problem, where could she have gone?
Look…
The next moment, Fu Qian seemed to catch onto something.
Instead of rushing to chase, he took a few steps back to the last spot where he remembered seeing Violetta.
Then, facing the empty corridor, he recalled Violetta’s height and slowly crouched down.
As his viewpoint lowered bit by bit, the patterns on the floor and walls underwent a noticeable shift within his line of sight.
Under a special overlapping concealment, they strangely pieced together another passageway, just slightly skewed in angle.
Visual misdirection, huh? It was truly unavoidable.
Impressed, Fu Qian nodded his approval and moved forward along the skewed corridor.
There must be more than one passage at this corner; it’s just that from his height, only one was visible, and from Violetta’s height, another one was visible, but they were not the same.
After walking a dozen steps like this, Violetta’s blue dress reappeared in his field of vision, standing motionless a short distance ahead.
Besides her, surprisingly, there was another pair of familiar faces— the Torrance Couple, both standing still as well, blocking the path that he must take.