Shifan stared, dumbfounded, at Ling An and Tide Sis's seamless teamwork.
He swallowed hard, his gaze drifting involuntarily toward Jiu Li nearby, who had also been drawn by the commotion and was looking their way.
The moment their eyes met, Shifan looked away.
Faced with his former best friend, he blamed himself for the experiment's failure and could no longer bring himself to meet Jiuli's eyes.
He felt guilty.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" Ling An asked when he saw his expression.
Then, with a single sentence, he cut off whatever Shifan might have been considering next. "These Tacet Discords of mine aren't cheap. Especially in Jinzhou these days, scarcity only drives up the price. If you want to give up, you'd better check whether you have enough money in your pockets first."
Tacet Discords-and even Echoes-were anything but cheap.
"O-okay, but..." Shifan tried walking toward Jiu Li, but after two steps, he stopped after all and said miserably:
"No, Jiu Li won't forgive me. After all this time, I'm still just a coward who runs away!"
Ling An felt rather helpless listening to him. Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and shifted slightly aside.
The next second, Jiu Li came charging over like a gust of wind, his fist clenched.
He drove a fist hard into Shifan's face.
It was no light punch. Shifan staggered two steps before clutching his face and staring in disbelief at Jiu Li, who had rushed over from the side.
"You bastard, snap out of it!" Jiu Li shouted at Shifan, pain in his eyes.
Beside them, Ling An and Tide Sis both tactfully took a step back and gave Jiu Li's face-smashing fist of friendship a thumbs-up.
"I never blamed you for my injury, because right from the beginning, I felt