After Falling in Love with a 2D Character as a Socially Anxious Person - Chapter 16

Over the years, Yan Qili had survived all kinds of swords and spears, plots and schemes. His ability to judge people and things was quite sharp.

 

He never expected that a man would lie through his teeth just to trick girls into giving him their contact information.

 

Before hearing the guy claim that Yannian was in poor health and resting at home, Yan Qili hadn’t doubted him. The guy had said it specifically for the two girls to hear; it was Yan Qili who chose to eavesdrop.

 

But now, it didn’t stop the Living Yama from feeling that the other party was making a fool of him. There was no helping it; he was just that kind of unreasonable person.

 

…

 

Jiayang Shan was talking non-stop, and it looked like he was about to successfully add the two beauties on WeChat, when suddenly someone cut in.

 

“You know Yannian?”

 

Who’s this, being so tactless?

 

Jiayang Shan turned around impatiently, only to see a tall man standing behind him at some unknown point. Jiayang Shan, who was barely 1.7 meters tall even with shoes on, had to look up at the other man.

 

The stranger had a cold face and a wrong expression; he looked very hard to mess with. Having never met someone with such a strong aura in his life, Jiayang Shan put away his displeasure at being interrupted:

 

“You are…?”

 

While speaking, Jiayang Shan glanced at the two girls nearby—could it be one of their boyfriends?

 

By exploiting the desire of girls to get close to their idols, he often used the same script to get beautiful women’s contact information. Just today, he had successfully obtained the contact info of several girls. This script couldn’t fool a cautious or rational person, but there were always those who were inexperienced and believed it.

 

Choosing the right prey was also an art. However, since it was a lie, there was always the risk of being exposed. Jiayang Shan was feeling guilty himself. He didn’t think the man’s sudden interruption was out of curiosity; it felt more like looking for trouble.

 

Yan Qili had no patience for a back-and-forth Q&A with Jiayang Shan:

 

“You call Yannian ‘Uncle.’ Does he know that?”

 

The moment they saw Yan Qili’s face, the two girls Jiayang Shan had been talking to couldn’t hide their excitement. One of them even blushed. Seeing a handsome man whose features were so perfect he seemed to have walked out of a book, how could they care about the ordinary-looking Jiayang Shan?

 

Along the way, many men and women had cast their eyes on Yan Qili. The timid ones only dared to peek; the bold ones dared to take secret photos. The even more straightforward ones simply came up to ask for his contact information. Although, they all returned in defeat.

 

Jiayang Shan couldn’t figure out what Yan Qili was there for. His boastful words had just left his mouth, and now he couldn’t take them back in front of two beauties. He could only nod stubbornly:

 

“Of course, he knows.”

 

Refusing to repent even at death’s door.

 

Yan Qili looked at Jiayang Shan as if looking at an insignificant speck of dust on the ground and gave a cold sneer:

 

“What does he look like?”

 

“Who are you exactly?” Jiayang Shan dodged the question. “Why should I tell you?”

 

He naturally had no idea what Yannian looked like. A description that was too detailed would easily reveal the flaw; he wasn’t that stupid.

 

Yan Qili’s brow lowered, looking down from above: “You’re asking me… why?”

 

It had been a very, very long time since anyone dared to speak to him in such a tone. Meeting Yan Qili’s gaze, Jiayang Shan felt panicked inside, but he still forced himself to hold his ground:

 

“You wouldn’t happen to be a fan of Teacher Yannian too, and you’re trying to trick me into giving you information, are you?”

 

Trick him? Yan Qili found it absurd. How funny—he lived under the same roof as that coward every day; did he need to “trick” information out of this whatever-it-was?

 

Seeing that Yan Qili didn’t speak, Jiayang Shan thought he had guessed correctly and waved his hand dismissively:

 

“I won’t tell you, so you’d better give up.”

 

“I know you like my uncle very much, but he is currently recovering from an illness. He doesn’t want to be disturbed by outsiders during this time, and I can’t just reveal things randomly.”

 

After looking at Jiayang Shan for a few seconds, Yan Qili suddenly let out a laugh. The wrist hanging at his side turned slightly.

 

“Uncle,” one after another…

 

The coward probably wouldn’t be willing to acknowledge this cheap nephew who was cursing him with a terminal illness.

 

 

The venue was huge, covering thousands of square meters, and was divided into multiple zones. An Jing couldn’t get in touch with Yan Qili and didn’t know which section he had wandered off to, so he could only search along the direction he had left.

 

Normally, when Yan Qili stood in a crowd, he was a standout presence that allowed one to lock onto his position at a glance. But today, there were too many external distractions. It was hard for An Jing to find Yan Qili among the various cosplayers and people in exaggerated outfits.

 

The calls he made and the messages he sent all vanished like stones in the sea. With all the external factors added up, the anxiety in An Jing’s heart accumulated as time passed.

 

Why wasn’t he answering the phone? He had his phone on him; with Yan Qili’s sharp senses, it was impossible for him not to see the messages. Did he not want to reply, or did something happen and he couldn’t be bothered?

 

…

 

“It looks like a fight started over in Zone C.”

 

“What’s the situation?”

 

“Don’t know, let’s go see.”

 

The crowd of gossip-seekers hurried toward Zone C. An Jing, who was wandering around like a headless fly, paused and looked toward Zone C.

 

A fight? With an ominous feeling in his heart, An Jing didn’t hesitate to run toward Zone C.

 

Whoa. The person An Jing overtook was stunned for a second and laughed to his friend:

 

“That speed! In this day and age, everyone really does have a burning heart for gossip.”

 

As soon as they hear about a quarrel or a fight, their ears stand up longer than anyone else’s. His legs were practically spinning.

 

An Jing hurried to Zone C and saw the man standing head and shoulders above the crowd. He almost couldn’t catch his breath. It really was Yan Qili! The heart that had been hanging in suspense all this way finally died completely.

 

A circle of people surrounded Yan Qili so tightly that not even air could get through. An Jing stood on his tiptoes but couldn’t see exactly what was happening inside. He could only vaguely see that Yan Qili was grabbing a man by the collar. He had no idea how that person had provoked this killing god.

 

Lacking the courage to ask the onlookers, and unable to bring himself to shout Yan Qili’s name in public, An Jing was forced by necessity to squeeze into the crowd with numb hands and weak feet. He lowered his head and squeezed in while whispering:

 

“Excuse me, sorry, let me through, sorry…”

 

Having physical contact with so many strangers was a very uncomfortable thing for An Jing. But Yan Qili was inside, and he couldn’t care about that anymore. He was the one who suggested coming here; he had to be responsible for Yan Qili.

 

“Yan… Yan Qili.” Finally reaching the inner circle, An Jing immediately grabbed Yan Qili’s arm.

 

Yan Qili, who was holding Jiayang Shan’s clothes, looked at An Jing who had suddenly popped out of the crowd and gave a “Tsk”:

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

Weren’t you scared and uncomfortable? Instead of finding a quiet place to crouch down, why are you squeezing into the crowd?

 

An Jing looked at Jiayang Shan, whose face was turning red under Yan Qili’s grip, then looked at the man and lowered his voice anxiously:

 

“I should be asking you that!”

 

In front of everyone, what are you doing?! Without waiting for Yan Qili to answer, An Jing reached up to pry his hand away: “No matter what, let him go first.”

 

“Let’s talk things out properly.”

 

Oh no. He was so busy teaching the Living Yama about modern high-tech and social security laws that he forgot to teach the most important thing: the Criminal Law! Fearing that Yan Qili might accidentally snap the unlucky Jiayang Shan’s neck with one move, An Jing’s hands couldn’t stop shaking. Yan Qili didn’t know his own strength; if he caused something bad to happen to the person…

 

Yan Qili remained unmoved: “Why should I let go?”

 

An Jing: “???”

 

Seeing that Jiayang Shan was almost unable to speak, An Jing was anxious and panicked. He reached up to pry at the arm:

 

“Yan Qili, let go first!”

 

An Jing didn’t use much force. In fact, even if An Jing used all his strength to stop him, as long as Yan Qili wanted to, he could still easily snap Jiayang Shan’s neck and make him pay for his nonsense and refusal to repent.

 

Yan Qili had originally planned it that way. If he wasn’t happy, no one else should expect to be comfortable. But when An Jing’s soft, weak-looking palm touched him, Yan Qili’s mind wavered.

 

An Jing was shaking. And he was shaking very hard. Yan Qili lowered his eyes and met An Jing’s incredibly panicked eyes.

 

How to describe An Jing’s gaze at this moment? Those lively deer-like eyes seemed to be filled with a thin mist, with a plea mixed into the nervous panic… it made one’s heart soften.

 

Their eyes met, and the strength in Yan Qili’s hand unconsciously loosened. A strong will to live allowed Jiayang Shan to seize the opportunity, break free from Yan Qili’s grip, and retreat while clutching his neck and coughing:

 

“Cough, cough, cough—”

 

Yan Qili ignored Jiayang Shan. He narrowed his dark blue eyes and asked An Jing:

 

“What are you afraid of?”

 

Afraid of him? Or afraid of the others? After Yan Qili let go, the image of him in silver handcuffs crying behind bars finally vanished from An Jing’s mind.

 

An Jing said with lingering fear: “I was afraid you’d get arrested.”

 

Yan Qili: “?” Who would dare?

 

An Jing didn’t have time to explain to Yan Qili and asked in a low voice what was going on. Why did he start using his hands when everything was fine?

 

Yan Qili glanced at Jiayang Shan and said coldly: “I didn’t like the look of him.”

 

Now it was An Jing’s turn to have a head full of question marks. Just because you don’t like the look of someone, you’re going to choke them to death? I didn’t set you to be this tyrannical back then, did I?!

 

“Are you sick?!” Jiayang Shan, who had just caught his breath, couldn’t help but shout after hearing that: “If you’re sick, go get treatment! Why are you going crazy on me?”

 

Jiayang Shan clutched his neck, suspecting Yan Qili really had something wrong with his brain. Who just starts a fight without warning when things were being said just fine? Like a lunatic. Who did he offend?

 

Jiayang Shan was both scared and angry, but the brief exchange just now had taught him the huge disparity in strength between himself and Yan Qili. Clearly, Yan Qili didn’t look like he was using much force earlier, but he couldn’t break free for the life of him. The other party had easily suppressed all his struggles and resistance.

 

Hearing Jiayang Shan’s words, Yan Qili looked at An Jing expressionlessly. He didn’t say anything, but An Jing instantly understood the meaning in his eyes—See? He’s looking for death himself.

 

Looking at Yan Qili’s expression that suggested letting Jiayang Shan die was a gift from the Living Yama, An Jing: “…”

 

An Jing had a headache: “How did he offend you?” The stares from the people around him were like needles on his back, so he kept his voice very low and soft.

 

Yan Qili gave a cold huff, obviously not wanting to talk.

 

Jiayang Shan, seeing so many people arrive, believed Yan Qili wouldn’t dare do anything else to him and immediately cried out his grievance:

 

“Everyone can testify! I don’t even know him, and he’s acting like a psycho.”

 

The two girls Jiayang Shan had approached were also quite spooked by the sudden turn of events and weakly raised their hands:

 

“We can testify. In the beginning, it was…”

 

Huh? Hearing half of it, An Jing tilted his head slightly.

 

Knowing Yannian, having him on WeChat but with no nickname, unable to find him for the moment… What a familiar conversation.

 

After the two finished explaining the whole story, An Jing looked at the aggrieved Jiayang Shan, the confusion in his eyes growing deeper.

 

Uncle… Uncle? Since when did he have such a relative?