TTAETSC Chapter 27.3 - The Candy Was Poisonous?!

Translator: Deyonna

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The little octopus, who was busy scrubbing his suckers in the water, suddenly shook, popped his head out of the water with a splash, and found that the midnight snack was actually speaking!!!

Oh, right. This world is inherently magical.

A talking midnight snack was also very normal.

Ye Yunfan suddenly felt very numb.

"Speak up, what's the matter?"

Yuan Ye's tone was impatient. As he spoke, he glanced back at the "little jellyfish" in the basin, as if to confirm that the little guy was unharmed. Fortunately, the "little jellyfish" still looked as lively as ever and was even curiously poking its head out toward them.

After glancing at the strange little evolved species several times, the black bird felt a lingering fear. After a long pause, it spoke up cautiously and solemnly.

"The bait is in place. Before returning to the Main City, they hope you can bring back a big fish."

Bait?

What bait?

The little octopus was shocked. His ears pricked up, and he stood there dazed for a good while. A faint guess stirred in him, but he didn't dare think it through.

"..."

Yuan Ye frowned slightly and said nothing.

The black bird paused, and its voice grew smaller and smaller.

"This time, the investigation corps is undergoing a major reshuffle and needs fresh, clean blood. She has passed the five-year probation and is one of the candidates. So…"

The words stopped there, left hanging.

Smart people don't need to speak too explicitly in conversation.

Ye Yunfan quickly deduced that the meaning behind the words was that "her" value was very high.

—So she has to live.

Fresh, clean blood, the investigation corps, and Yuan Ye's recent intersections…

So the "she" in the crow's words could easily be guessed.

B-level investigation officer Chen Xinyue.

Chen Xinyue is the bait, and Yuan Ye is the fisherman. The person behind the scenes who wants to stop Chen Xinyue from returning to the Main City to uncover the truth is the big fish that Yuan Ye wants to catch!

Ye Yunfan's mind buzzed for a moment.

Suddenly, he understood many things.

Why Chen Xinyue's team had been suddenly transferred from the Eastern Military District to the southern border.

Because she had been chosen as bait by the higher-ups.

So the sacrifice of Chen Xinyue's team was not due to bad luck. Perhaps it was inevitable. Her dead team members were the flesh and blood torn from the bait by the big fish.

Yuan Ye's appearance at this supply station may also have been inevitable. Perhaps he had been waiting here for a long time, at that lighthouse.

And his help for Chen Xinyue may indeed have come from the sympathy, righteousness, and sense of responsibility Ye Yunfan had guessed about before.

But the most important reason was certainly that Yuan Ye had received orders in advance, orders related to Chen Xinyue.

Therefore…

Ye Yunfan's heartbeat quickened as his train of thought spun faster and faster.

Therefore, everything that had happened at this supply station in just a few days was probably known to the Main City early on, and they may even have set a trap in advance based on that information.

The nature of this whole ordeal might be a game between the Main City and some unknown forces.

Yuan Ye was a pawn, and Chen Xinyue was a pawn too.

Her team members, the civilians at the supply station, and even the military investigators who were driven to die for the death gratuity were all sacrifices.

The Main City may have had two purposes. One was the recent major reshuffle in the investigation corps that the crow mentioned, with Liang Kun's death gratuity scandal possibly being the fuse and Chen Xinyue the spark.

It was just that Liang Kun was very difficult to deal with. He resolved the confrontation with Chen Xinyue, not only cleansing the money with human lives, but also, now, Chen Xinyue seems to have no intention of reporting him.

The second purpose was the "big fish" Yuan Ye was about to catch. Chen Xinyue was the bait, and Yuan Ye was the fisherman.

This plan killed two birds with one stone, attacking one problem from two angles at once.

"..."

The little octopus unconsciously curled his tentacles. It was the first time he had felt the terror of humans in this world.

It was not rampaging monsters or unknown mutations, but humans themselves, still scheming and fighting in the dark in such a harsh, barbarous, and dangerous world.

Ye Yunfan began to doubt again, questioning whether this world with players was a game or reality.

The silence in the room lasted half a minute before Yuan Ye's cold voice rang out.

"Understood."

The black bird seemed extremely afraid of him and shrank its head. Then it suddenly walked outside and brought in a small wooden box from beyond the door.

"I'm really sorry. There was a bit of a detour on the way, so the delivery is a little late this month."

This month? That means it would be delivered every month?

Ye Yunfan caught the keyword. He stared at the box, eager to know what was inside.

Yuan Ye reached out, opened the box, and took out a very exquisite and familiar glass candy jar.

"!!!"

The little octopus's heart suddenly shook.

[Ahhhh!]

[Jar! Jar!]

[Jar! Jar!]

The little tentacles were so excited they couldn't control themselves.

"That... cough, cough. I'll take my leave first."

The two-headed black bird vomited blood on one hand and respectfully stepped back with the other.

Yuan Ye ignored it, twisted open the lid of the jar, tore open one candy, and put it in his mouth. At that moment, he noticed a scorching gaze coming from the basin.

The youth first thought the "little jellyfish" was looking at him, but after a careful check, he realized the other party was looking at the glass candy jar in his hand.

Ye Yunfan's heart pounded madly, but he quickly tried hard to restrain his instincts, because that glass jar was almost identical to the one he had seen in the water before!

Could Yuan Ye have left it there?

No wonder he had felt at the time that everything around him was very old, except that jar, which was particularly new, so new that it shone brightly.

However, that jar was empty and unsealed, while the jar in Yuan Ye's hand was filled with exquisite candies.

The little octopus looked very carefully. The candies were wrapped in transparent plastic with a shiny, iridescent sheen, and all were cute and delicate in shape.

There were little bears, cat paws, bottle gourds, watermelons, strawberries, and so on…

At a glance, they were all the kind of candy designed to delight children.

Ye Yunfan paused blankly. A strange familiarity and warmth surged in his heart, because he could make these little things too.

In the year he had just entered university, Ye Yunfan hurried back to his hometown without time to buy candy for the little kids in the village. So on the first day of the lunar new year, early in the morning, those little devils pulled him off to the town to buy some.

Unfortunately, the shops were closed on the first day of the lunar new year.

So in the end, the trustworthy Brother Xiaoye, who could not break his promise, boiled sugar syrup at home and made them one by one himself.

But what he made back then was not as exquisite and good-looking as these. The color of his sugar syrup was very uniform.

Whereas the candies wrapped in beautiful candy wrappers were colorful, like limited-edition custom-made ones from high-end stores.

Seeing the "little jellyfish" staring intently, Yuan Ye thought it also wanted to eat. He walked over, crouched down, picked one from the jar, peeled it, and handed it over.

"Here."

Ye Yunfan paused for a moment, then reached out a little tentacle to take it.

Then the tentacle slowly wrapped around the candy. Soon the small piece of candy melted in the mucus and was quickly absorbed by the tentacle.

Sweet, strawberry-flavored, very delicious.

The eyes of the little octopus lit up, but right after, a familiar notification panel popped up.

[Reminder: Detected ingestion of unknown toxin.]

[Health Value -10]

[Unlocked toxin resistance.]

[Toxin Resistance +1]

[Toxin Resistance: 1]

Ye Yunfan was suddenly shocked.

The candy was poisonous?!

He immediately looked up at Yuan Ye, his eyes filled with shock. The latter's face showed a hint of confusion, with a slight bulge in one cheek, clearly showing that he was still holding a candy in his mouth.

He didn't seem to feel unwell. He looked as though he were holding an ordinary candy in his mouth.

Ye Yunfan's heart sank. He had always known Yuan Ye's background was not simple, and that often meant he had made quite a few enemies.

Did he really not know those candies were poisonous?

Was it Yuan Ye's superiors, or his enemies?

Ye Yunfan wasn't sure, but judging from Yuan Ye's oblivious appearance, he guessed that the other man probably didn't know.

—He should let him know!

The little octopus made up a plan and acted at once. He suddenly shuddered and flipped over the water basin.

Plop—

The little octopus lay on the ground, then "plop" flipped over, exposing his belly. Then he "painfully" twisted and turned, pretending to have a stomachache.

Stomachache, stomachache, poisoned, poisoned!

The little octopus shouted in his heart.

Yuan Ye tilted his head slightly, his heterochromatic eyes filled with confusion. After a moment's thought, he decided this scene resembled the big dog Lita raised, which lay on the ground asking for a belly rub.

So Yuan Ye set the candy jar aside, reached out his hand, and rubbed the belly of the "little jellyfish."

[Rub, rub!]

[Comfortable!]

[Comfortable, comfortable~~~]

The little tentacles were so comfortable they hummed without stopping.

Ye Yunfan was swept up in the mood and unconsciously enjoyed it with narrowed eyes. But a few seconds later, he snapped out of it.

Hold on!

He wasn't acting coquettish to ask for a belly rub. He had a stomachache. It was the candies that were poisonous!

Ye Yunfan closed his eyes in pain.

He regretted not having a mouth!

Soon, the little octopus seemed to have made a resolute decision. His tentacles wrapped around the young man's fingers, swiftly hooked onto his sleeve, and climbed up to his shoulder.

Yuan Ye was startled for a moment, but did not stop or resist.

During the climb, the little octopus's body quickly grew, almost more than twice its original size. In the next second, two of his tentacles forcefully clamped down on the young man's jaw.

The enlarged tentacles were almost as wide as two human fingers, and their strength had increased significantly. Almost instantly, a third tentacle pried open Yuan Ye's lips and swiftly, deftly slipped inside.

"...?!!"

Yuan Ye was completely unprepared. His pupils dilated suddenly, and he looked like a startled bird, wanting to step back at once. But he was squatting, so in his shock he fell straight backward onto the ground.

Thud!

His back hit the ground with a slightly dull sound.

The wet, slippery, cold foreign object slid into the most sensitive part of his mouth, and his tongue could feel the suction cups sliding past. Yuan Ye's pupils dilated violently, his whole body trembling, and he lost the ability to resist.

"Nng…"

Within just a few seconds, Yuan Ye could clearly feel the pink tentacle stirring and searching inside, missing almost no corner. He reflexively tried to push the other party out, but to no avail. Instead, he was forcibly suppressed.

The sweetness of the candies that had spread around his mouth now had a viscous taste. After a few seconds, the tentacle finally found a half-melted candy under the base of his tongue. It encircled the small candy and gently pulled it out. But even with this gentle action, when the tentacle withdrew, it inevitably brought out some sticky, sweet saliva.

"Cough, cough…"

For a moment, the whole room fell silent. All that remained was the young man's choking cough, heavy gasps, and ragged, trembling breaths.

☰