“The most obvious clue regarding the Xu family was this auspicious wedding. We followed that lead to investigate the bride's information, and that's how we found you.”
Lin Wenyu explained, giving a clear overview of the cause and effect of their investigation.
“Once we figured out there was a high probability the bride was one of our own, we felt a bit more at ease, and our investigation direction became much clearer.”
Meeting Bai Ci's questioning gaze, Lin Wenyu lowered his head in embarrassment and explained, “Actually, during our initial discussions, we had guessed that the bride might be the Boss of the instance.”
He didn't know why he felt embarrassed, but now that the bride wasn't the Boss but a player he knew, it felt a bit like he had been talking behind a friend's back.
Even though the two feelings weren't quite the same.
“Boss guessed that after entering the game, the bride would be trapped in the Xu estate with restricted movement, but there would likely be important clues here. That's why we had to make contact with you.”
“And then there was the scene you encountered during the day.”
“The Xu estate is heavily guarded, and the inner courtyard is divided into multiple layers. If we blindly snuck in to look for you, the target would be too big.”
“Not only would it be extremely easy to get exposed, but we might not even find your residence accurately. It would likely just alert the enemy.”
“Selling oneself to bury a father is a classic, but a corpse is hard to find on short notice, so we could only go with the ‘hero saving the beauty’ routine.”
“We specifically staked out the road the Xu family carriage had to take, intentionally staging an accidental encounter. We planned to use the gratitude of being saved to beg to enter the estate as a maid, sneaking in first.”
Lin Wenyu spread his hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
“Who would've thought that right after setting up the trap, we'd run straight into you.”
“Although we didn't successfully enter the estate, meeting up with our teammate in one go was a stroke of luck. It saved us a ton of trouble in between.”
At this point, Lin Wenyu paused, seemingly to give Bai Ci time to digest the information, and also to give himself a moment to review what he had just shared.
Then, he asked, “That's everything. Is there anything else I need to add?”
Bai Ci listened quietly. The logic behind this sequence of events was coherent, so it wasn't hard to understand.
Furthermore, this answered the main questions she had, so she had no follow-up questions to ask.
“I understand your situation now.”
“Now that we've officially joined forces, what kind of information do you guys need from my end? I'll do my best to cooperate and help with whatever I can.”
This should have been a very reassuring promise and response.
But upon hearing this, Lin Wenyu froze instantly, his eyes darting around with a trace of embarrassment.
“Uh... well...”
He scratched his head, looking slightly awkward. They were already speaking in whispers, but he lowered his voice even further.
“Shoot. Boss only told me to make contact with you first and explain the situation.”
“I was so focused on identifying our teammate and sharing clues that I completely forgot to ask about the subsequent plan of action.”
Bai Ci was a bit puzzled. Judging by the deduction process from earlier, the Boss Lin Wenyu spoke of was a smart person. He shouldn't have made this kind of mistake.
Unless... it wasn't that Lin Wenyu forgot to ask, but that the other party had intentionally withheld it.
Were they trying to gauge her capabilities?
Bai Ci lowered her eyes in thought for a moment, quickly organizing all the information she had gathered since entering the estate, before slowly speaking: “You should know that my husband is the eldest young master of the Xu family, Xu Qinghe, right?”
“From the wedding until now, he has never shown his face. Everyone in the estate insists that he went to a villa with hot springs to recuperate.”
“Yet no one can verify his actual condition. All their claims are just empty words.”
This was what Bai Ci had gathered over the past few days from Xu Zhaoyue's nitpicking remarks.
Even the siblings, Xu Zhaoyue and Xu Jingan, only knew that their eldest brother had gone to the villa to recuperate. As for the specifics of his health, they had absolutely no idea.
And these two didn't seem to have a bad relationship with their eldest brother either.
This was highly intriguing.
Lin Wenyu thought about it, and with obvious doubt in his tone, he raised his own question: “So... is this Xu Qinghe really still alive?”
Although he was still in the ranks of simple-minded college students, he had survived many instances after all, so he wasn't completely foolish.
Having seen so many impostors in his time, he had learned a thing or two about how to spot the truth.
This question went straight to the heart of the matter.
“I'm not sure, but he definitely hasn't completely perished.”
Bai Ci's tone was firm. “If he were truly dead, would Madame Xu, who spent such a fortune, still be this calm?”
The main reason, however, lay on her Rain's Message panel.
Although his life status was a question mark and completely unexaminable, that was entirely different from being dead.
If he were dead, it would naturally be labeled as deceased. Any other state was treated as alive.
Just how well he was living, and in what manner he was struggling to stay alive, was a different story.
Suspended between life and death—was it a lingering soul without a physical body?
Or was the physical body still intact, with its life force not yet severed?
Once she realized this, all of Bai Ci's previous assumptions had to be completely overturned and rebuilt.
“Ever since I married into the Xu estate, I've been required to drink medicine and apply ointment every day.”
“Before, I always thought Madame Xu's meticulous care of me was because she needed this auspicious bride alive to preserve the lucky energy of the wedding and extend Xu Qinghe's life.”
Bai Ci spoke at a steady pace, her thoughts becoming clearer as she laid out the details.
“But combined with the clues you found—that Madame Xu is secretly providing massive financial support to a cult, and one that possesses a secret technique to resurrect the dead—things don't quite add up.”
“Hypothetically, if Xu Qinghe had already passed away from illness, the so-called auspicious wedding would have been an absolute sham from the very beginning.”
Following Bai Ci's train of thought, Lin Wenyu quickly realized the horror of it. “So you aren't some tool to bring good luck at all, but... a sacrifice for resurrection?”
“More than just a sacrifice,” Bai Ci shook her head slightly.
“If they only needed a sacrifice, what exactly would they be sacrificing? Life force, or perhaps my soul?”
“Since this instance is set in ancient times, should I change my terminology and refer to the soul as the three hun and seven po?”
“Forget it, that's not important.”
“If I were the villain here, I would only need to ensure that such a person exists, keeping their life force intact and their life out of danger.”
“In that case, the topical ointment would be completely redundant.”
“A sacrifice only needs to be alive. It doesn't matter what they look like or what condition their skin is in.”
“So...” Bai Ci calmly delivered her deduction, finally offering her conclusion. “Rather than a sacrifice, I seem more like a...”
She paused for several seconds, pondering what final word she should use to capture that exact feeling.
Rate on N.U.
