Confidence

Aunt Zhou's reaction was entirely beyond Zhang Yuanqing's expectations—it even sent a chill down his spine. He sensed her emotions carefully and confirmed that her bewildered confusion was not feigned; she genuinely had no knowledge of this. Did Aunt Zhou simply not remember Brother Bing ever going missing, or was the person who filed the report not a member of his family? The one who discovered his disappearance and promptly called the police had to have been a close relative, and since the report was filed at the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau, it should have been Uncle Lei and Aunt Zhou. Zhang Yuanqing leaned toward the possibility that after Brother Bing returned, he used some means of a Spirit Realm walker to wipe that stretch of memory from his parents. Well, there was no skill among Spirit Realm walkers that strictly erased memories, but among psychic-domain abilities, plenty could make someone forget a memory—such as a Musician's hypnosis or a Bewitching Demon's charm. As for the Illusionists and Night Wanderers, who were the strongest in the psychic domain, neither had such methods. A Bewitching Demon's charm could only warp cognition upon reaching the Saint stage, so given Brother Bing's level back then, the only method available to him would have been hypnosis... Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts raced. "Yuanzi, what exactly did you mean just now?" Aunt Zhou pressed, deeply concerned for her son. "It's nothing, Aunt Zhou. You're tired—get some sleep first." Zhang Yuanqing reached out, moved his hand in front of her eyes, and snapped his fingers. Aunt Zhou's gaze instantly went blank. Supporting her as she sat on the sofa, Zhang Yuanqing dissolved the grief and pent-up gloom weighing on her heart. Aunt Zhou sank into a deep slumber. "Auntie, come over to Brother Bing's place. Aunt Zhou might have been hypnotized. I need your help to awaken her forgotten memories," Zhang Yuanqing called to notify his aunt. Less than ten minutes after hanging up, Jiang Yu'er appeared amid a miniature cyclone of rising red strings. Wearing running shoes, pencil pants, and a white knit sweater, she looked youthful and vibrant. Zhang Yuanqing immediately told her the whole story from start to finish. His aunt gave a soft "Mm" of understanding, stepped slowly to the sofa, and called out gently, "Aunt Zhou, Aunt Zhou, it's Yu'er..." After calling three times in succession, Aunt Zhou faintly opened her eyes, looking vacantly at Jiang Yu'er. "Yu'er, you came to see me too?" Jiang Yu'er nodded, her tone gentle. "Aunt Zhou, do you remember Lei Yibing ever going missing in the past?" Aunt Zhou's expression stayed blank for several seconds as if searching her memories. She shook her head. "No, A'bing never went missing before." Jiang Yu'er glanced at her nephew, then turned back and asked, "Think again. Did Lei Yibing go missing three years ago?" Aunt Zhou still shook her head. "No." "I understand. Aunt Zhou, go to sleep," Jiang Yu'er said softly. Her voice carried a soothing, calming power. Aunt Zhou closed her eyes and went limp against the sofa, letting out soft snores as she drifted into a deep sleep. Jiang Yu'er looked at her nephew and shook her head. "She was never hypnotized." *Now this is bizarre...* Zhang Yuanqing's brows knitted tightly. "So the person who filed the report wasn't Aunt Zhou or Uncle Lei? Then who could it have been?" With a solemn face, Jiang Yu'er analyzed, "Why did you assume Aunt Zhou and Uncle Lei were hypnotized in the first place? If I were the Deceitful Eye Judge, I wouldn't need an operative planted in the police bureau to delete electronic files and destroy paper records. I could just order Lei Yibing to go withdraw the case himself, cleanly resolving everything without leaving any hidden risks. "By the same logic, Lei Yibing had no reason to hypnotize his parents either." Zhang Yuanqing grew increasingly bewildered. "The reporting party wasn't Aunt Zhou and Uncle Lei, and the Deceitful Eye Judge had no need to delete the files... Neither makes sense. Why did this happen? Was there an inside story behind Brother Bing's disappearance back then?" This caught him completely off guard. He thought to himself, *Brother Bing, you're a supporting character who lives entirely in dialogue—how do you have so much drama?* Harboring doubts, Zhang Yuanqing returned home with his aunt and banged heavily on his uncle's door. When his uncle opened the door and saw the two arriving together, he immediately launched into a rap: "Yo, yo, useless Yuanzi and useless little sis—" Jiang Yu'er cut him off roughly. "Useless your head! Half a lifetime of singing, dancing, and rapping, and you still can't hit a multisyllable rhyme. Get your ass out into the hallway, I have questions for you." Before his uncle could reply, his aunt-in-law's displeased voice drifted from inside: "Yu'er, how can you talk to your brother like that? No matter what, he's still your older brother—show some respect!" Zhang Yuanqing chimed in quickly, "Auntie, Auntie, don't worry, with me here she won't dare cross the line." His aunt-in-law hummed with satisfaction. "Yuanzi is the sensible one after all." The three stepped out into the hallway in silence. His uncle bounced his leg restlessly. "What's the matter?" Zhang Yuanqing quickly recounted Chen Yuanjun's discovery from the night before and the details of his morning visit to Aunt Zhou. "Uncle, when you ran into Brother Bing back then, did you notice anything unusual? I feel like there's another secret behind him," Zhang Yuanqing asked. So far, his uncle was the only one who had dealt with Brother Bing after he became a Spirit Realm walker, and the two had played the Demon Lord together. In a sense, Brother Bing had been part of his uncle's scheme. His uncle ought to have a deeper understanding of Brother Bing's situation. "There's something like that?" His uncle's bouncing leg slowed down unconsciously. "I watched A'bing grow up too. After I found out he turned Fallen, I kept an eye on him for a while, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary." In other words: *I don't know either!* Now the Deceitful Eye Judge had returned to the Spirit Realm, Brother Bing had sealed himself beneath the abyss of the Mystery of the Five Elements, and the mole who deleted the records had long been rooted out and executed during Fu Qingyang's major purge with the Tiger Tally... Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a few seconds and sighed. "Forget it. None of this matters for now. At least we know Brother Bing's whereabouts clearly. We can ask him once we rescue him." He shifted the conversation to his trap for hunting down the Southern Sect elders. "Uncle, lend me a Dominator-tier item. I'm planning to host an auction at Wanbao House." His aunt and uncle listened to his plan, after which his uncle mused, "The only thing you need to watch out for is preventing Ling Tuo from glimpsing future trends. Otherwise, he'll turn the tables and lay a trap to slaughter you." The three looked at one another in silence. The most terrifying thing about Ling Tuo was the silence of his pieces. You never knew what he was plotting, and you never knew when he would stab you in the back. One could be a thief for a thousand days, but one could never guard against a thief for a thousand days. Zhang Yuanqing deliberated for a few seconds. "That's where you need to control the field, Uncle. "Didn't you reach an agreement with the Grand Marshal? If Ling Tuo dares to make a move, you two can use the opportunity to turn the tables and kill him instead. Taiyin's authority is concealment; in terms of raw combat power alone, he doesn't stand out among demigods. "Besides, we can use this to test Ling Tuo's reaction. If he doesn't intervene, it means he has no plans to target me in the near future, or he has a far deeper scheme. If he turns the tables to trap me, it means that guy already sees me as a thorn in his side—in which case I'll just follow the boss straight into the White Tiger Soldiers' faction instance to level up." His uncle appraised his nephew and gave an approving nod. "Yo, yo, not bad. You're starting to look like a chess player." Zhang Yuanqing snorted. "Ling Tuo is the Lord of Taiyin, not the Lord of the Stars. His Stargazing isn't omnipotent, and it's impossible for him to truly anticipate every single move. In the past, he could only bully me by relying on status suppression. "He can't divine me when I enter the Night Wander state, he can't divine plots hatched inside Spirit Realm instances, and he can't divine figures unconnected to him by karma. As long as we use these blind spots well, we have hope of standing against him." *** Soup-Brewing Province, Wanbao House. Inside the quaint little shop that resembled an old hardware store, Zhang Yuanqing placed an icy-blue bead onto the counter. "A Fire Thief-tier item. Let's use this as the auction's grand finale." The bead was the size of an egg, flickering with icy-blue flames. Its function was to steal all heat within a certain radius. Spirit Realm walkers below the Dominator level would instantly turn into ice sculptures, while Dominators would have their limbs frozen stiff, severely impairing their mobility. It was something his uncle had casually plucked from the Wanbao Tree. Lian Sanyue reached out to touch the bead. With a crisp cracking sound, her hand froze into solid ice. In the next second, tri-colored flames ignited across her palm, dispersing the chill and restoring her hand to normal. "Not bad." Lian Sanyue withdrew her hand, opened her inventory, retrieved a dark iron thumb ring, and placed it on the counter. "The item you wanted." Zhang Yuanqing eagerly picked up the ring to inspect its attributes: [Name: Artisan's Ring] [Type: Accessory] [Function: Enhances item affinity] [Description: A ring favored by the Sect Master of the Mohist Sect. It increases the wearer's affinity with items and gains the goodwill of item spirits. Reduces the cost of using items by 30%. Can actively nullify an item's cost once. Modified by an artificer: cost reduction increased to 40%, and can actively nullify an item's cost twice.] [Note 1: Active nullification applies only to an item's cost.] [Note 2: It inflicts the owner with hoarding mania.] Zhang Yuanqing felt a surge of delight. The Artisan's Ring's reduction and nullification had been greatly boosted. Most importantly, it used to only nullify and reduce costs for cost-based items. Now, it could nullify the costs of rule-based items. Most rule-based items had a usage cost as well, like the "dance battle" price of the Red Dancing Shoes. Its utility had widened dramatically. "It corresponds to level 7. It cannot nullify costs for level 8 rule-based or cost-based items. Keep that in mind," Lian Sanyue said, reaching out to grab the blue bead. *Smack!* A large hand clamped down over the back of hers. Zhang Yuanqing's face was twisted in a grimace of internal struggle. Lian Sanyue rolled her eyes. "Forgot to mention: the Artisan's Ring's penalty is persistent. Whether you use it or not, as long as it's in your inventory, you'll be afflicted with hoarding mania." *Isn't that cut from the exact same cloth as the Pig Tail's penalty?* Zhang Yuanqing hurried to cast Mental Soothing on himself, then reluctantly pulled his hand back. "What about the materials, mechanism weapons, and Life Essence Fluid?" Lian Sanyue's lips curled into an amused smirk. *Thank goodness I didn't bring those today, or I would've died before parting with them!* Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll have someone deliver them this afternoon." *** Nine o'clock that evening. In a medieval-style conference hall, five figures materialized around a square table scored with blade and sword marks, each seated in their designated place. Zhang Yuanqing sat at the head of the table. To his left were Demon Eye and Xiao Yuan; to his right were the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter and Lady JoJo. Zhang Yuanqing looked around and said, "I intend to hunt down elders of the Southern Sect in the near future. The targets haven't been decided yet, so I need extensive intelligence to help filter and lock onto them. Let's assign tasks. Lady JoJo, you are the Head of Intelligence. You'll be in charge of gathering intel. If you run into difficulties or confusion while carrying out your duties, you can consult Elder Dog." Everyone else had respectable ability and experience, but Lady JoJo had lived sheltered deep inside an estate for sixty years and had long fallen out of touch with modern society. It would be difficult for her to complete tasks independently. When the time came, Elder Dog would have to carry the rookie like a grandmaster. In gifting Lady JoJo to Elder Dog, Zhang Yuanqing's real motive had been to tie the hound to his ship and command him at will. The temptation of a Dominator-tier battle pet was on par with the temptation of an intact Soldier Master sect heavenly king's corpse to a Night Wanderer. Even if Elder Dog knew Yuanshi Tianzun harbored ulterior motives, he could only swallow his tears and endure it. Lady JoJo stroked her cat tail elegantly and gave a reserved nod. "Understood." Zhang Yuanqing turned toward the Demon Eye Heavenly King. "Demon Eye, use your past channels and contacts to look into the recent whereabouts of the Southern Sect's top brass. Remember, it must be kept covert. Even if it means abandoning the mission, do not alert the evil faction." After saying that, he added, "Those scumbags have slaughtered countless civilians and are drenched in blood. The officials are incompetent, the orthodox faction is incompetent—so it falls upon us brothers to carry out the purge." Hearing this, Demon Eye was overjoyed! Finally, Zhang Yuanqing looked at Xiao Yuan. "You can probe for information on the Southern Sect through the channels of the Spirit Society Eastern District Branch, but remember: rather abandon the mission than startle the snake." Once Xiao Yuan nodded, Zhang Yuanqing said, "In one week, we'll choose our hunting targets based on the specific intelligence we gather. "All right, meeting adjourned!" *** Songhai Zoo. Lady JoJo returned to the pet cottage within the zoo. Outside the glass doors, the sunlight was brilliant, and lush greenery thrived. Occasional animal roars and birdsong drifted in, accompanied by the faint, muffled clamor of tourists. "You just entered a faction instance for a meeting?" Elder Dog's gentle voice sounded from beside the desk. Lady JoJo gave an "Mm," then fell into quiet thought, pondering how to get the work started. "What was the meeting about—if I may ask?" Elder Dog inquired.