In this multi-person, multi-perspective, multifaceted storyline, much of the intelligence had already become seriously distorted and confused.
For example, Wang Kun, who had strictly followed the plan and guarded the entrance to Rose Hotel, received the news that Fang Shenyan was dead and Xiao Qian had decided to return. Mei Sheng, who had hidden herself in advance and had now slipped onto the Second Floor, heard sounds of killing and being killed coming from the Third Floor.
But Ji Li, who entered through the front door, saw none of this and heard none of it.
What he had personally experienced was this: Mei Sheng had vanished without a trace; Fang Shenyan was not only alive, but Xiao Qian was still inside the hotel as well. The two supported each other as they came downstairs in a way he could not yet understand.
"Fang Shenyan is dying..."
When these old friends met again, a sharp pain pierced Ji Li's heart. He watched in silence, unable to do anything.
Back in that café, Fang Shenyan had told him that after returning from Orange Lake, he had contracted a terminal illness—late-stage lung cancer, beyond any cure.
For a long time, he had shown no signs of an episode. Even during the Tenth Supervision Event, he had displayed immense power, holding off ten alone on Tianming Bridge and forcibly taking Xiao Qian away from that desperate situation.
In the subsequent Fate matter, this pair, whose bond had only deepened, never appeared openly, yet their traces could be found everywhere.
Fang Shenyan possessed a Sin Object that feared no ghost, yet it could also be said that he had none, because by this point, he had theoretically exhausted all three of his permission coefficients.
His face was now bloodlessly pale, his cheeks hollow and sunken.