Xia Jienan’s plan could not be called meticulous. After all, just the day before, he had knocked a few people unconscious. Fortunately, his ability to twist facts and turn black into white was genuinely impressive. Even if someone from yesterday’s group noticed something off, he could always smooth it over in no time.
Ye Yuzhi followed silently behind him, feeling a faint sense of envy toward this kind of social finesse.
If he could do the same, perhaps some problems would be much easier to deal with…
But what problems, exactly? Ye Yuzhi slowed his steps slightly, yet could not recall the answer.
Xia Jienan had already successfully blended into the group preparing lunch, leaving Ye Yuzhi alone to wait in a corner.
Judging by the situation, it would still take some time before the meal was ready. Ye Yuzhi hesitated for a moment, tightened his grip on the gun and headed upstairs.
Vaguely, he seemed to hear the sound of something rolling but when he strained to listen more carefully, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
The feeling was unpleasant, as though something were deliberately slipping beyond the range of his control.
Samuel had told him that the third floor was Anthony’s private area. If Anthony were truly still alive, this would be the place to find him.
Upon reaching the third floor, Ye Yuzhi steadied the gun in his hand and peered inward from the staircase.
The corridor was completely empty. There was no one there. He straightened up and decided to walk in directly.
He pushed open the first room. It appeared to be a reception room. After a brief glance, Ye Yuzhi closed the door again. The second room was empty as well. It was clear that something had once been stored there but everything had since been cleared out.
He shut the door and walked to the last room.
The door was unlocked. He gently reached out and pushed it open. Just as he was about to step inside, the sight within the room struck him like a blow.
There was no Anthony inside… and yet, Anthony was there.
What remained was not Anthony himself but photographs of him… and of Ye Yuzhi.
Though the photos appeared to have been taken when he was very young, the figure in them could hardly be called human, no matter how one looked at it.
After preparing everything on his end, Xia Jienan used the excuse of delivering food to head toward the entrance, intending to get the two people there to drink a cup of wine as well. When he returned to the kitchen, he could not find Ye Yuzhi. Just as he was about to check the wine cellar, he heard a sound behind him.
Someone had closed the door.
Xia Jienan turned around. It was Ye Yuzhi, shrouded in a black robe. He withdrew his hand from the door, though there seemed to be marks on the back of his hand, as if he had been injured.
Xia Jienan’s heart lifted into his throat. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ye Yuzhi shook his head without speaking.
Xia Jienan frowned slightly and walked over to him, reaching for the door. “I’ll go deal with the people at the entrance. That should take care of it. When I come back, we can directly move the people here.”
Ye Yuzhi silently watched him open the door and followed behind him.
Something still felt deeply wrong to Xia Jienan. He suspected that something must have happened. Could it be that Sean had taken advantage of his inattention to go looking for Anthony?
He wasn’t sure. He turned his head, about to say something,
A wooden club as thick as an arm came crashing toward him.
Before losing consciousness, Xia Jienan could only see Ye Yuzhi’s eyes beneath the black robe, deep, hollow and empty.
They were such beautiful eyes, yet they resembled the eyes of a sheep…
That was his final thought. Like the eyes of a sheep, a sheep mistaken for a demon…
When Xia Jienan awoke again, he found himself in a place resembling a stable. Beneath him was a pile of dry hay. His hands and feet were bound and his neck ached faintly.
He propped himself up with his elbows and struggled into a sitting position, surveying his surroundings.
The fact that Sean had turned on him was easier to accept than he had expected. To be honest, he had long prepared himself for this possibility… ever since he learned that Sean’s sanity value was so low.
Even so, it was still hard to accept.
It seemed that things were heading toward the worst possible ending. All he could hope was that Sean had truly sent Du Yun and the others away back then. If they had really been sent off, then perhaps there was still a chance of an FE outcome in this round.
As he thought this, he continued to take in his surroundings.
This place did not look like Anthony’s manor. Sean must have brought him somewhere else. Everything here looked quite old and rundown, yet there were indeed horses not far away, along with an aging horse drawn carriage nearby.
Aside from that, there was a hunched old man feeding dry hay to the horses.
Xia Jienan coughed lightly and spoke up. “Excuse me, sir. May I ask if you could untie me?”
The old man ignored him.
Xia Jienan shifted slightly on the hay and continued, “I have some urgent matters to attend to. I’m really sorry. I can pay you…”
At the mention of money, the old man snorted through his nose but still paid him no attention.
Xia Jienan took a deep breath and silently recited in his mind, “I want to use Investigation.”
【Investigation 32/60. Normal success. You notice some seemingly insignificant details.】
His gaze was drawn toward something. Xia Jienan noticed a small tax slip hanging from the pocket of some clothes nearby. Half of it was tucked inside the pocket, the other half dangling outside, just enough to reveal the name written on it: “Finn Car..”
Finn Carl…
Xia Jienan narrowed his eyes slightly. Foreigners often shared the same given names and the surnames were different anyway… but he decided to trust his intuition this once.
Suddenly, he spoke again. “Doesn’t Mr. Carl want to save his own son?”
The old man’s movements halted. He tossed the hay in his hands into the trough and turned to look at him, his hawk like eyes sharp and piercing. “What are you trying to say?”
He guessed right.
Xia Jienan let out a quiet sigh of relief. What he feared most was someone who wanted nothing at all, someone like that would be the hardest to deal with.
He forced a smile and said, “If nothing unexpected happened, the one who brought me here should be your discarded piece, Sean, right? The son you abandoned back then because you had no money.”
Finn strode several steps forward and grabbed him by the collar. “Kid, you’d better not provoke me. Make it clear to yourself, your life is in my hands right now.”
Xia Jienan was unconcerned. “That’s true. You are indeed a ruthless man but do you know what Sean went through after you abandoned him?”
Finn’s grip tightened.
Xia Jienan let out a short laugh. “I’m afraid you don’t, do you? He was bought by Anthony Hospital and used as a container for experiments. Those people tortured him constantly just to keep him in a state of fear and extreme emotion and you, haha, what were you doing at that time?”
“You’re asking to die…”
“Mr. Finn, it’s not that I’m asking to die. It’s that you deserve to die.” Xia Jienan looked at the man before him with cold, unwavering eyes. “You abandoned your wife and child and now, when your son is in danger again, you still have the leisure to hide here, worrying about your own dignity while threatening another innocent person. After all these years, you still haven’t grown at all.”
Finn flew into a rage. He suddenly slapped Xia Jienan hard across the face and threw him back onto the hay. Like a trapped beast, he paced back and forth inside the stable. “What do you know… what do you know?!”
“Yes, I know nothing.” Xia Jienan sat up and said calmly. “Then let someone like me, who knows nothing, go. Let me go save Sean. At the very least, I’m definitely more concerned about his safety than his own father is.”
Xia Jienan knew full well that these words were meant only to provoke Finn. He never forgot who he was and he understood clearly… that even if he were released, he might not necessarily go and save Sean.
If Sean really did something irreversible… he would have to stop him, even if it meant killing him.
When Du Yun had mentioned it before, Xia Jienan had not taken it seriously yet now, as he spoke these words aloud, he felt a rare tightness grip his chest.
Just an NPC, he reminded himself.
What he needed to do now was to win Finn’s trust.
“…What do you know.” Finn said this as he turned his head toward Xia Jienan. Only then did Xia Jienan notice that tears had already welled up in the man’s reddened eyes. “Do you think I don’t want to save him?”
“After finally seeing him again… after thinking I would never…” He choked, then suddenly took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. “He told me to send you away. You have to come with me now.”
“I won’t go.” Xia Jienan sighed. “Since you also want to save him, why don’t you go yourself?”
Finn shook his head. “It can’t be done.”
“It’s already too late…”
As if responding to his words, the edge of the sky outside the stable suddenly became shrouded in a ring of light, yellow on the inside, black on the outside.
The light was like the gaping maw of a colossal beast, swallowing the entire sky whole.
Xia Jienan and Finn turned to look outside at the same time.
【You witness an incomprehensible and bizarre phenomenon. Sanity check 1/10】
【85/79, failure. 1d10 = 6. San = 73.】
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Nycreth
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Guerrero’s Lair (1)Chapter 2 · Guerrero’s Lair (2)Chapter 3 · Guerrero’s Lair (3)Chapter 4 · Guerrero’s Lair (4)Chapter 5 · Guerrero’s Lair (5)Chapter 6 · Guerrero’s Lair (6)Chapter 7 · Guerrero’s Lair (7)Chapter 8 · Guerrero’s Lair (8)Chapter 9 · Guerrero’s Lair (9)Chapter 10 · Guerrero’s Lair (10)Chapter 11 · Guerrero’s Lair (11)Chapter 12 · Guerrero’s Lair (12)Chapter 13 · Guerrero’s Lair (13)Chapter 14 · Guerrero’s Lair (14)Chapter 15 · Guerrero’s Lair (15)Chapter 16 · Guerrero’s Lair (16)Chapter 17 · Guerrero’s Lair (17)Chapter 18 · Guerrero’s Lair (18)Chapter 19 · Guerrero’s Lair (19)Chapter 20 · Guerrero’s Lair (20)Chapter 21 · Guerrero’s Lair (21)Chapter 22 · Guerrero’s Lair (22)Chapter 23 · Interlude (1)Chapter 24 · The interlude (2)Chapter 25 · The interlude (3)Chapter 26 Part 1 · Calling in the Wind (1)Chapter 26 Part 2 · Calling in the Wind (1)Chapter 27 · Calling in the Wind (2)Chapter 28 · Calling in the Wind (3)Chapter 29 · Calling in the Wind (4)Chapter 30 · Calling in the Wind (5)Chapter 31 · Calling in the Wind (6)Chapter 32 · Calling in the Wind (7)Chapter 33 · Calling in the Wind (8)Chapter 34 · Calling in the Wind (9)Chapter 35 · Calling in the Wind (10)Chapter 36 · Interlude (4)Chapter 37 · Interlude (5)Chapter 38 · Interlude (6)Chapter 39 · Interlude (7)Chapter 40 · Interlude (8)Chapter 41 · Interlude (9)Chapter 42 · Welcome to Doville (1)Chapter 43 · Welcome to Doville (2)Chapter 44 · Welcome to Doville (3)Chapter 45 · Welcome to Doville (4)Chapter 46 · Welcome to Doville (5)Chapter 47 · Welcome to Doville (6)Chapter 48 · Welcome to Doville (7)Chapter 49 · Welcome to Doville (8)Chapter 50 · Welcome to Doville (9)Chapter 51 · Welcome to Doville (10)Chapter 52 · Welcome to Doville (11)Chapter 53 · Welcome to Doville (12)Chapter 54 · Interlude (10)Chapter 55 · Interlude (11)Chapter 56 · Interlude (12)Chapter 57 · Interlude (13)Chapter 58 · Interlude (14)Chapter 59 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (1)Chapter 60 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (2)Chapter 61 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (3)Chapter 62 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (4)Chapter 63 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (5)Chapter 64 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (6)Chapter 65 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (7)Chapter 66 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (8)Chapter 67 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (9)Chapter 68 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (10)Chapter 69 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (11)Chapter 70 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (12)Chapter 71 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (13)Chapter 72 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (14)Chapter 73 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (15)Chapter 74 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (16)Chapter 75 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (17)Chapter 76 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (18)Chapter 77 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (19)Chapter 78 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (20)Chapter 79 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (21)Chapter 80 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (22)Chapter 81 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (23)Chapter 82 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (24)Chapter 83 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (25)Chapter 84 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (26)Chapter 85 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (27)Chapter 86 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (28)Chapter 87 · The Tunnel in the Dark Night (29)Chapter 88 · Tunnel in the Dark Night (30)Chapter 89 · Interlude (15)Chapter 90 · Interlude (16)Chapter 91 · Interlude (17)Chapter 92 · The Promise of Hamelin (1)Chapter 93 · The Promise of Hamelin (2)Chapter 94 · The Promise of Hamelin (3)Chapter 95 · The Promise of Hamelin (4)Chapter 96 · The Promise of Hamelin (5)Chapter 97 · The Promise of Hamelin (6)Chapter 98 · The Promise of Hamelin (7)Chapter 99 · The Promise of Hamelin (8)Chapter 100 · The Promise of Hamelin (9)Chapter 101 · The Promise of Hamelin (10)Chapter 102 · The Promise of Hamelin (11)Chapter 103 · The Promise of Hamelin (12)Chapter 104 · The Promise of Hamelin (13)Chapter 105 · The Promise of Hamelin (14)Chapter 106 · The Promise of Hamelin (15)Chapter 107 · The Promise of Hamelin (16)Chapter 109 · The Promise of Hamelin (18)Chapter 110 · The Promise of Hamelin (19)