bookcurios Chapter 300 The Mastermind
Chapter 300 The Mastermind
Chapter 300 The Mastermind
Cun Tou had learned from his relatives that once the substitute spell was successfully cast, the substitute must never come into contact with the funeral industry, otherwise it would aggravate the evil energy on him and directly backfire on his master.
“If I remember correctly…” Yan Xun said slowly, “Lou Yanchuan went to work at a funeral company because of the crew-cut guy causing trouble.”
The master was so clear about the process of casting the spell, and he knew that Xie Qingdu must not come into contact with the funeral industry after the spell was cast. However, he still talked a lot about Xie Qingdu to Cuntou, instigating Cuntou to ostracize Xie Qingdu, and even causing Xie Qingdu to lose his job and have to find a higher-paying job to replace him.
At this time, Xie Qingdu's bar colleague happened to tell him that his family owned a funeral company and that the pay was generous, so Xie Qingdu could work there.
Yan Xun hesitated and asked, "Could this colleague also be a spy planted by the master?"
Or is it really such a coincidence?
After the spell began, Xie Qingdu lost his job due to a disturbance caused by a crew-cut man. Just then, a colleague from the bar introduced him to a job that solved his immediate problem, but coincidentally, this job was incompatible with the spell.
"Since the master performed a ritual to drain the luck of so many people from a distant relative, the other party must trust him a lot."
"They believed everything he said."
Yan Xun still remembers Xie Qingdu telling him that the distant relative advised him not to be troubled by negative emotions and never to work in the funeral industry.
Judging from Xie Qingdu's attitude, he clearly regards this as gospel.
He would never have gone to work for that funeral company if he wasn't really short of money.
Xie Qingdu's reaction was also due to that distant relative.
If distant relatives were to brainwash Xie Qingdu in this way, it was because of the master's instructions.
According to others, Xie Qingdu's distant relative was a well-known philanthropist who had been sponsoring impoverished students for a long time.
Excluding the possibility that he was genuinely a kind person, this can only mean that he has known that master for a long time, and the master had already arranged for him to absorb other people's luck. At the same time, the master also told him that if he wanted to truly ward off disaster, it would be best to find a substitute.
He also said that he was not capable enough to act as a substitute to change someone's fate, and told him to go to Granny Shi for help.
That's how things unfolded afterward.
"I reckon he was already suffering the consequences while he was at the Anxin Sanatorium," Yan Xun said. "Looking at it this way, isn't there something wrong with this sanatorium too?"
“My grandmother is a living dead, and Xie Qingdu’s relatives have been harmed by witchcraft.”
“The staff at the sanatorium should know very well what the condition of the people living there is…” Yan Xun said, then suddenly remembered Duan Songen, who had once worked at Anxin Sanatorium.
Since the other party works at this sanatorium, they should be very familiar with the nature of the sanatorium.
Furthermore, his father made his fortune through the "reincarnation" business in Luoyin Village—
“Duan Songen should know about her father’s business,” Yan Xun said, “and also know the condition of the patients in Anxin Sanatorium.”
"From this perspective, she should know who Xie Qingdu is," Yan Xun said.
Duan Songen's father and the master were old acquaintances, and together with Dr. Du, they planned the business of reincarnating wealthy people. So she should also know who was the person who advised her distant relatives before.
"She had previously said that because of her family's bankruptcy, she had to pay off her family's debts, and she was receiving a constant stream of debt collection calls and text messages."
"She told Xie Qingdu the truth?" Yan Xun shook his head first. "Impossible. She wouldn't benefit at all from telling Xie Qingdu these things."
"...She must have used this to blackmail the master."
"They said the master set a trap for a distant relative and Granny Shi, asking the master to give her enough money to pay off her debts, even if it was just because her father had done business with the master."
"She and Du Yun might have been high school classmates," Lou Yanchuan reminded him.
After Xie Qingdu's death, Du Yun, who had been called by Xie Qingdu for help, also disappeared from the campus—the person who explained why he disappeared was Duan Songen.
The other party identified themselves as Du Yun's high school classmate, conveying the reason for Du Yun's disappearance on behalf of Du Yun's mother.
"She must have done this on the instructions of the master."
……
Lin Wen looked at Fang Shuo across from her and asked, "When did you go fishing for goldfish too?"
Two goldfish were swimming around in the bathtub at home. She clearly remembered that there was nothing in the bathtub yesterday.
Fang Shuo awkwardly touched his nose. "I saw that they all bought pets at the market, and I was thinking that we should buy some too."
He counted on his fingers with Lin Wen about the players who had bought pets, "Yan Xun and the others caught goldfish, Shu Fan has a rabbit, and I saw Du Yun carrying goldfish home from the balcony earlier."
“I asked him why he was also catching goldfish, and he said he was bored and there was nothing else to do in this community.”
"But I feel like he's lying."
"He's a game streamer, he has so many games waiting for him at home, and besides, I've never seen him interested in catching goldfish before."
Fang Shuo explained his reasoning, "I guess they must have discovered some clues, maybe related to the animals sold at the market."
"This market is only open two days a week on weekends, so I thought I'd play it safe and try to catch some goldfish like they do."
Upon hearing this, Lin Wen felt that Fang Shuo's words made some sense. Just as she was about to discuss the task arrangements with Fang Shuo again, she noticed that Fang Shuo was avoiding her gaze.
"I'll go cook," Fang Shuo said.
Lin Wen nodded, watching Fang Shuo's departing figure until she was completely gone, before speaking to the voice in her head—
"You're saying that Fang Shuo killed me to gain fame, which is the secret of our family?" Lin Wen wasn't surprised by this answer.
"Yes," the voice said to Lin Wen.
"After leaving that lakeside villa, he plotted to kill you, all for the sake of fame."
Perhaps sensing Lin Wen's suspicion, the voice continued, "He witnessed the murder of Xie Qingdu by the crew-cut guy and his gang, and even participated in it."
The voice was so specific, so immersive, as if he were there himself.
Although Lin Wen had some guesses about what happened in the villa, she didn't know the specifics because she had little contact with Xie Qingdu and the others.
Upon hearing the voice say that such a tragedy had occurred at the lakeside villa, my first reaction was—
Does Fang Shuo know?
"Since he already knows that he has communicated with the master, and even remembers that he went to the villa in Hubei, is it possible that he has already obtained that part of the memory?"
Lin Wen still remembers that on their first night in the villa, she and Fang Shuo made a pact that they would share any new clues they found.
Since they live in the same house and are searching for the same secret, there is no competition between them. Sharing clues with each other is the only way for their house to complete its mission as quickly as possible.
But now, Fang Shuo has actually broken their initial agreement, which makes Lin Wen even more grateful that she did not share the voice in her head with Fang Shuo on the first night of the alliance.
—Although she still revealed some information, such as that we should be careful of Yan Xun.
The voice in her head told her that his previous host had been tricked and died tragically in the instance because of Yan Xun.
Lin Wen didn't really believe it at first, until the voice told her a lot of details about the instance, including how Yan Xun extracted information and then abandoned the host at the last moment.
To make her believe in it even more, the voice told her the name of its previous host.
"Wen Yuanzheng," the voice said, "my previous host was Wen Yuanzheng."
"You're a new player; you should have heard of this name."
Lin Wen had certainly heard of this name. Although the other party was also a new player, he had a high score in completing tasks and was quite famous among new players. However, she did not expect that he would fail to pass the advancement dungeon in the end.
"Wen Yuanzheng was able to pass the dungeon so smoothly because of my help," the voice said. "I'm here to avenge him."
Be careful of Yan Xun.
Lin Wen was a little skeptical. "Wen Yuanzheng passed the level because of your help?"
Although she didn't say the rest of her words aloud, the meaning was clear; simply put—
You think you can take over?
Perhaps because he had encountered too much doubt, the voice did not get angry because of Lin Wen's suspicion. On the contrary, he calmly talked about some details of Wen Yuanzheng's passage through the dungeon.
The details were so specific that even how the clues were discovered were explained to the voice.
Lin Wen finally put aside 80% of her doubts and asked, "What should I call you?"
You can just call me Grandpa.
The old man said to Lin Wen, "Wen Yuanzheng is like half a family member to me. We've been through so many trials together, I never expected..."
'That's why I must avenge him.'
"You can freely enter and exit the instance?" Lin Wen noticed this. "Did you specifically follow Yan Xun in?"
The old man told Lin Wen about the existence of the dungeon map, "That's Wen Yuanzheng's item. I kept an eye on it, and now it just so happens to come in handy."
"But isn't this a beginner-level dungeon?" Lin Wen asked. "Why would he want to steal a dungeon map like this?"
"Wen Yuanzheng also said this was just a beginner-level dungeon map," the old man said sadly. "But he didn't believe it; instead, he thought Wen Yuanzheng was lying and snatched the map from him."
He told Lin Wen, 'You must be careful of him.'
To convince her, the old man added many details about Yan Xun's "wicked deeds," such as that Yan Xun knew Su Yumin, and that Pei Xingyan, a player who had once entered the retrospective assessment, also had some impression of Yan Xun.
"Can I tell Fang Shuo?" Lin Wen asked.
She felt that she and Fang Shuo were in the same boat and should form an alliance if necessary.
"Of course," the old man said, "Yan Xun is a dangerous person; you all must be careful."
So Lin Wen told Fang Shuo all this truthfully, but Fang Shuo didn't completely believe her, just like Lin Wen had at the beginning.
Seeing how obedient Lin Wen was, the old man promised that once she left the instance, he would help her become a player as skilled as Wen Yuanzheng.
"Can you hear what I'm thinking?" Lin Wen asked.
"When I talk to you, can you know what I'm thinking?"
"Just like when you talk to the system, you have to speak in your mind for me to hear you," the old man said.
Lin Wen nodded, "That's a bit troublesome."
"What are the clues in this instance?" she asked the old man.
"Well..." the old man hesitated, "I just entered this instance myself, and I still need to slowly find the clues."
"Oh……"
Although Lin Wen didn't say anything, everything was understood—she had begun to doubt the old man again.
Perhaps Lin Wen's perfunctory attitude was too obvious, so the old man finally gritted his teeth and unleashed his first trump card.
"Your role in this instance is different from everyone else's," the old man said. "You're an NPC."
"There's a party at the White House tonight. You can go and find out what the other players are saying," he told Lin Wen. "All NPCs are people who go out to work; only players stay home all the time."
'This is a good opportunity; you can pretend to be an NPC and catch them off guard.'
That evening, at a party in the White House, Lin Wen met Yan Xun.
The other person was a tall, thin young man with a listless, half-dead look. He had black hair growing out on top and white-gold hair bleached to a faded color on the bottom half.
Perhaps due to frequent late nights, he had very noticeable dark circles under his eyes, seven or eight piercings in his ears, and a striking moth tattoo on his arm. However, probably because of his good looks, his slender figure, and slightly pale complexion, he looked like a magazine model from the era of the fashion world's popular "eccentric beauty."
Perhaps sensing her gaze, Yan Xun's eyes inadvertently swept over her.
She could even feel the tension in the old man's mind when their eyes met.
The tension was so intense that her heart started racing.
Fortunately, Yan Xun quickly looked away and did not notice Lin Wen's unusual behavior in the corner.
"Is it him?" Lin Wen asked.
"It's him!" the old man said.
Be careful.
Perhaps realizing that Yan Xun had noticed him, the old man suddenly became very quiet, which made Lin Wen a little uncomfortable.
"How could he possibly find you?" Lin Wen asked curiously.
This is an old man who only exists in his mind, and even the system didn't notice him. How could Yan Xun possibly sense him?
The old man didn't speak until Yan Xun was far enough away from them, then he said, 'He knows.'
"Ok?"
I said, "He knows I exist."
“I know he knows you exist.” Lin Wen felt like she was reciting a tongue twister, “But this is after Wen Yuanzheng was exposed…”
“No,” the old man interrupted her, “he had already discovered me before Wen Yuanzheng was exposed.”
'He's a very perceptive person.'
'You must be careful enough not to do anything unnecessary to ensure he doesn't find out about me.'
Lin Wen felt that the old man was exaggerating. On the night of the party, she had spoken with Yan Xun and discovered that the young man in the wheelchair was also a player—she had previously thought he was an NPC.
Yan Xun was easier to communicate with than she had imagined, and also bolder than she had thought.
The other party quickly found an excuse to test the players they thought were NPCs.