# Chapter 167: No One Can Be Trusted
"Let me do it," Tang Yuan said, scratching his head. "If letting the Government Hall people find the female guide means we can clear the instance, then higher risk probably means better game rewards."
"It's settled then!" Wang Qiao said hurriedly, then turned to Sun Jirou. "Anyway, the items are in your hands. If something happens, you two have to take the lead."
Sun Jirou gave him a cold look and walked off first.
Tang Yuan and Yang Sheng followed behind her, with Wang Qiao and Gao Baimei in the middle, while Xu Huo and Tao Chengxin brought up the rear.
Passing by a restaurant, Xu Huo called out to the people ahead. "It's almost afternoon. Are you hungry? Let's eat something before we go."
Wang Qiao and the others turned to look at the discounted dishes posted on the restaurant's door. Their faces twitched. Gao Baimei said sourly, "Some people are just rich. Not like us—we can only afford cheap food."
The nearby shops were all high-end establishments. Yang Sheng spotted a place at the street corner ahead and said, "Let's go there."
Sun Jirou wasn't short on money, but after a brief hesitation between Xu Huo, Tao Chengxin, and Tang Yuan's group, she chose the latter.
Tao Chengxin winced inwardly as she followed Xu Huo into the restaurant.
Once they were in a private room, Tao Chengxin sat there staring intently at Xu Huo. He remained expressionless as he sat down, drank tea, and ordered food, completely ignoring her gaze.
Tao Chengxin conceded defeat and had to speak up first. "Why do you want to split up from them?"
"Why are you following me?"
"Compared to those people, you're more cunning," Tao Chengxin said. "Actually, you don't really want those two items, do you?"
"What makes you say that?"
"You're afraid the old lady might have tampered with the items." Tao Chengxin said confidently, then paused and added somewhat dejectedly, "You were right. My special effect is completely useless, because my trait also judged the old lady's words as truth."
"She and the female guide said different things, but neither of them lied. Yet only one of those two facts can be true. My trait made a mistake."
"It might not be your trait that's wrong," Xu Huo said. "You don't know Fairy Tale City in advance, so you have no basis for judging truth from falsehood. Apart from factual recognition, you can probably only tell if someone is lying by their heartbeat response."
"If that's the case, it's easy to deceive you."
Tao Chengxin's eyes widened slightly, then she quickly asked, "So who do you think is telling the truth?"
"I don't trust anyone." Xu Huo glanced at her. "The food is here."
Tao Chengxin swallowed her words and waited until the waiter had finished serving and left before pressing on. "You mean they're all lying?"
"Doesn't that mean we can't even complete the first two tasks?"
"Lying doesn't mean it's not the correct story," Xu Huo said. "The instance requires finding the person who tells the correct story. It doesn't demand one hundred percent truth."
"Both the female guide and the old lady are talking about the Great Contamination from twenty years ago. They barely qualify as people telling the correct story. As long as we find the teeth, our task is complete."
"Then doesn't that mean the old lady from the Delicious Sausage Shop was telling the truth?"
"Truth or falsehood doesn't matter. We just need to find the teeth." Xu Huo said.
Tao Chengxin rubbed her head. "No, I still don't get it. According to you, both could be true or false. The item 'Angel's Fangs' that the old lady mentioned might not even exist. Aren't we just being tricked into finding someone for her? And we have to take a huge risk!"
"Didn't we get two items out of it? It's not a total loss." Xu Huo said flatly.
Tao Chengxin stared at his calm face, gazing at him for a long time before saying, "I used to think other people were fools. Now it seems I'm not so smart myself."
Xu Huo gave her an approving look.
This time, Tao Chengxin didn't get riled up. Instead, she silently picked up her chopsticks and ate.
After finishing their meal, they ran into several tourists carrying large bags and small parcels, ready to leave Fairy Tale City. Xu Huo helped carry their luggage to the entrance before coming back to settle the bill.
"Four thousand. Two thousand each." He said to Tao Chengxin.
Tao Chengxin reluctantly paid.
When they reached the street corner, Sun Jirou and the other five had already been waiting for a while.
"Are we just going to wait here for someone to find us?" Gao Baimei asked.
"We've already been to that sunflower courtyard. No one was there. There's no other choice but to wait." Sun Jirou didn't think the female guide would have returned there after they left.
"Finding someone is simple." Xu Huo spoke up. "Let's go to True Love Square. Maybe she's waiting for us there."
"Are you stupid? How could she still be there!" Gao Baimei blurted out. "Isn't she afraid of being found by the Government Hall people?"
Xu Huo smiled. "She has something she wants, so she'll definitely be out and about. Since none of you have a better idea, we might as well try our luck."
Tang Yuan and Yang Sheng exchanged glances. The former said, "We still have time before the instance ends tomorrow. Let's go to True Love Square first. If we don't find her, we'll go to the sunflower courtyard."
With no other options, they turned back toward True Love Square.
"...After her husband died, the wife also jumped into the sea. At the place where they perished, flowers bloomed across the ocean surface..."
The girl in the white dress was really at True Love Square.
Sun Jirou was shocked but also hesitant. The other party was so brazen, clearly unafraid of the Government Hall players. If they brought the access card in, would the Government Hall really have a way to deal with her?
At that moment, Xu Huo stepped forward with a smile and handed her a golden-pink flower he had bought on a whim.
The girl in the white dress took it with a smile. "It's been a long time since anyone gave me flowers."
Sun Jirou and the others were suspicious of her identity and had no interest in talking to her. Tao Chengxin, however, said bluntly, "No way? A beauty like you, and no one gives you flowers?"
The girl in the white dress twirled the flower stem. "Since my husband died, no one has given me this kind of golden-pink flower."
"Married young, huh." Tao Chengxin seemed unfazed by the mention of death.
"Did you find what I asked for?" The girl in the white dress changed the subject.
"It's not convenient to talk here. Can we go to your place?" Sun Jirou interjected.
The girl in the white dress didn't say much. She turned and led them back to the previous courtyard. When she opened the door, the sunflowers in the yard all turned in unison.
"Even a teleportation door isn't this convenient." Tao Chengxin muttered.
The girl in the white dress acted as if she hadn't heard her and invited them in for tea.
The courtyard had changed again. Previously, a small patch of sunflowers stood right in front of the house, but now the sunflower field seemed to have been enlarged. They walked for quite a while before seeing a building. It wasn't a residence, though—just a greenhouse. Passing through the greenhouse, they finally saw a two-story small building.
The rocking chair they had seen during the day was still in the room, but the old man was gone.
After brewing tea, the girl in the white dress sat across from Xu Huo. "Did you find my cat?"