I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Jing Qizhen: “Good luck, bunny!”

Angelina asked, “But isn’t the fairy tale kingdom itself dangerous?”

The March Hare had come out of the rabbit hole, which connected to the fairy tale kingdom from ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.

In the story, Alice, a harmless little girl, embarks on a magical journey through the fairy tale kingdom. But now, instead of a defenseless girl, they were a group of armed adults. As soon as they appeared, they’d probably be treated as enemies and captured, wouldn’t they?

Jing Qizhen glanced at the still-trapped March Hare in the ruins and hinted, “It’s bound to be dangerous.”

Even dealing with just one March Hare had taken their entire group quite a bit of effort and they only managed to subdue it because the villa collapsed, giving them a geographical advantage.

If they entered the fairy tale kingdom, even leaving aside the combat abilities of the Red Queen herself, there would certainly be many enemies as dangerous as the March Hare—chaotic, unpredictable, and inherently powerful. Their best bet might be to either escape quickly or surrender outright to avoid unnecessary casualties.

The March Hare looked pleadingly at Jing Qizhen.

It had answered all of Jing Qizhen’s questions honestly, hoping he would let it return home.

But Jing Qizhen stayed silent and the others crowded around, bombarding the March Hare with more questions.

Professor Jones asked, “Was the poisoned apple Sophia ate brought by you?”

The March Hare replied, “The kitchen lost the red apple! Rabbits don’t eat that! And why would I take the red apple out? The kitchen was still looking for it and returning the apple could’ve earned me a favor!”

Angelina shook her head. “No one’s getting that favor now. But if you don’t mind the apple core, you might still be able to find it.”

Everyone else: “…”

Hearing the March Hare’s response, Professor Jones couldn’t help but look grim as he recalled Sophia’s death.

Caroline asked, “What about the Witch’s glass slippers and her potion? What’s the story there?”

The March Hare suddenly shrieked, “What are you talking about? How could there be a witch here? Oh, those unwelcome witches in the palace!”

The March Hare’s intense reaction piqued Jing Qizhen’s interest. He shifted his focus and asked, “At the Prince’s ball, were most of the guests invited princesses?”

The March Hare, still nursing its bruises, proudly nodded. “Of course! The Prince is only supposed to marry a true princess.”

Si Jiayang muttered, “I feel like I’ve heard that line before.”

Jing Qizhen turned his gaze to Caroline.

Earlier, this proud young lady shattered everyone’s perception of fairy tales with her recounting of ‘The Little Mermaid’.

Caroline, slightly agitated, retorted, “Why is everyone looking at me!? I’m just talking about fairy tales and actual plot points from them! In ‘Cinderella’, those two lying stepsisters actually cut off their toes and heels to fit into the glass slippers!”

Jing Qizhen replied, “That’s something I could never wrap my head around as a kid. Even if they managed to fool the Prince temporarily, wouldn’t such a glaring issue like missing toes get exposed eventually?”

Utterly unfazed by fairy tale logic, Caroline said bluntly, “According to the fairy tale’s rules, as long as someone can fit into that slipper, they’re the Prince’s bride. And besides, why is Cinderella’s family the only one who could fit the slipper? Couldn’t another girl elsewhere have the same size? Anyway, once the wedding’s done, even a prince wouldn’t have the leverage to back out so easily.”

Jing Qizhen: “…” Social expertise, I’m impressed.

Though Jing Qizhen understood that children’s fairy tales couldn’t be analyzed with an adult’s logic, Caroline’s rationale still left him speechless.

Suddenly, Lu Lingxi spoke cautiously, “Are we really planning to bring the Prince into the fairy tale kingdom to attend that ball?”

Gu Leshan chimed in, “Based on the March Hare’s explanation and Little Jing’s analysis, after the Prince’s ball, the fairy tale plotlines should come to an end, right?”

Jing Qizhen shook his head. “Probably not. There’s also the issue of time gaps.”

Lu Lingxi and the others responded in near unison, “Time gaps?”

Jing Qizhen nodded, “Yes. The Prince’s sudden disappearance caused chaos in the palace. The Red Queen’s apple was lost, peas were spilled, and the March Hare and the Maid left to search for the Prince. This constitutes one timeline focused on the Prince.”

Manman immediately caught on and added, “You’re saying there’s another timeline centered on the princesses?”

Jing Qizhen nodded slightly. “Exactly.”

Following Jing Qizhen’s reasoning, Lu Lingxi quickly pieced it together.

Lu Lingxi: “And different princesses have their own timelines. Upon receiving invitations to the Prince’s ball, princesses and noblewomen prepared to attend. To shine at the ball, someone might acquire magical glass slippers from the Witch. Meanwhile, the despairing Little Mermaid, hearing of the ball, turns to seafoam in sorrow. The Witch curses Sleeping Beauty, making her likely to miss the ball entirely.”

The deaths of Sophia, Sean, and Williams clearly correspond to the Princess plotlines in fairy tales.

Jing Qizhen even suspected that obtaining the Princess role came with a fatal countdown—an inevitable death timer. While the Princess’s identity granted an invitation to the Prince’s ball, if the Prince couldn’t be found to attend the ball before the timer ended, the Princess would meet her demise.

Old Xiao sighed, “Compared to the Prince’s timeline, the clues in the princesses’ timelines seem completely fragmented!”

Jing Qizhen explained, “That’s because there’s only one prince but more than one princess. So the Prince’s timeline is singular but hectic, while the princesses’ timelines are chaotic and overlapping.”

Manman joked, “Honestly, the Witch is pretty busy too—crafting glass slippers, brewing potions, and cursing Sleeping Beauty on the side!”

Jing Qizhen suddenly froze and exclaimed, “Manman just reminded me! There’s also the Witch’s storyline in the fairy tales!”

Si Jiayang commented, “The Witch does have a strong presence in fairy tales but so far, we haven’t directly encountered her. We’ve only seen her magical items.”

Jing Qizhen pondered for a moment and then shook his head slightly. “I think the Witch has already appeared.”

Si Jiayang: “Huh? How do you figure?”

Jing Qizhen explained, “The Witch is a hands-on character. Think about it; the glass slipper in ‘Cinderella’, the cursed spindle in ‘Sleeping Beauty’… And remember in ‘Snow White’, the queen herself was also a witch, which is why she owned a magical talking mirror! When the mirror declared Snow White to be the most beautiful, the jealous queen used her powerful abilities as a witch to create the poisoned comb and apple by herself…”

Caroline frowned. “Are you trying to say that the Witch is the Red Queen?”

Jing Qizhen blinked and carefully clarified, “The Witch may not necessarily be the Red Queen, but the Red Queen is likely a witch.”

The straightforward logic made Caroline pause in thought and stop arguing.

Si Jiayang asked, “So, our next step is to find the Prince, right?”

Jing Qizhen didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned back to the March Hare. “You and the Maid came to find the Prince, but you haven’t succeeded—”

Before he could finish, the March Hare wailed, “Oh no, don’t bring that up! I will find the Prince!”

Jing Qizhen raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Oh? How do you plan to do that? Tell us.”

The March Hare replied, “The Prince and Princess will naturally be together! That’s why I’ve been looking for the Princess!”

Jing Qizhen: “…”

No wonder this rabbit kept returning to the villa. Because there were three or four fairy tale princesses here!

Si Jiayang couldn’t help but marvel, “I just realized, this rabbit knight has some truly wild logic…”

Jing Qizhen asked, “So you don’t know what the Prince looks like and you have no way to find him directly, do you?”

The March Hare stubbornly puffed out its chest and declared, “The noble Sir Rabbit will not fail! I will bring the Prince back!”

After a moment of contemplation, Jing Qizhen suddenly said, “How about I help you?”

The March Hare’s red eyes widened in shock, almost as if it misheard. “What did you just say…?”

Jing Qizhen replied calmly, “I’ll help you find the missing Prince.”

The March Hare asked cautiously, “Do you know who the Prince is?”

Jing Qizhen shrugged. “I don’t. You don’t either. But someone in the royal palace must know—like the Red Queen, for instance.”

The March Hare hesitated but eventually nodded. “Of course the noble Red Queen knows!”

Jing Qizhen smirked. “Perfect. That simplifies things.”

He turned to Lu Lingxi and beckoned. “Little Lu, do you still have the Polaroid camera with you?”

Lu Lingxi immediately nodded and fished the camera out of his pocket. “Yep, still plenty of film left!”

Jing Qizhen took the Polaroid camera and first aimed it at Yun Shuanghua, who was still munching on the barbecue. He snapped a clear full-body photo.

He handed the photo to the March Hare. “Take these photos of everyone who might be the Prince back to the Red Queen. Tell her that the missing Prince is attending a masquerade ball in disguise, so you brought back pictures of everyone.”

The March Hare nodded dumbly and stared at the photo in Jing Qizhen’s hand, its gaze flitting back and forth.

Jing Qizhen didn’t even spare himself. Except for the housemaid who was confirmed to be the Maid, he photographed everyone individually to give the March Hare a whole collection of photos for identifying the Prince.

The others: “…”

They couldn’t believe this plan was even possible!

With the Prince-finding plan agreed upon, the atmosphere between Jing Qizhen’s group and the March Hare eased considerably.

Having finished their barbecue, they dug around the rubble a bit more to finally free the trapped March Hare.

The thoroughly battered March Hare crawled out of the debris and seeing how slow Jing Qizhen’s group was, it quickly and deftly cleared the rabbit hole beneath the rubble by itself.

Thanks to the layer created by the villa’s first collapse, most of the rabbit hole’s entrance had been obscured, preventing large amounts of debris from blocking the passage inside.

The March Hare brushed off its little red vest, though the golden chain of its pocket watch hanging on its chest was now covered in dust. Because the villa had thoroughly crushed it earlier, when the March Hare tried to shake off the dirt, it ended up smacking itself painfully, letting out an instinctive cry of ‘Ouch!’ Its three-lobed mouth split with pain.

The guilty Manman muttered, “…Why even bother?”

After cheerfully accepting the stack of photos of ‘the Prince’ from Jing Qizhen, the March Hare didn’t leave immediately. Instead, it turned to look at the Maid, making her visibly tense up with nervousness.

Jing Qizhen noticed the March Hare’s intent and promptly stated, “The Maid has to stay here to cook for us!”

The March Hare wasn’t inclined to argue with Jing Qizhen. After all, this was a human who had a terrifying fondness for roasting rabbits, a very dangerous individual in its eyes.

Seeing how insistent Jing Qizhen was about keeping the housemaid around, the March Hare muttered something under its breath, then quickly grabbed the stack of photos and hopped into the rabbit hole. As it left, it declared, “Once I find the Prince, the Red Queen will surely reward me!”

Jing Qizhen, unfazed, offered a half-hearted encouragement, “Good luck, bunny!”