Chapter 395: Wang Yu's Drawings

Leng Qingxuan had left in such a hurry that he didn't even take the incense burner, so I temporarily put it away for him. "This Soul Blessing Incense is a good thing. I'll hold onto it for now."

I casually placed the incense burner in a drawer. Just as I was about to slide it shut, I noticed a letter lying inside.

It was a kraft paper envelope, still sealed.

"What's this?" I wracked my brain before finally remembering. After the trial ended, Tie Ningxiang and I had discussed a few things in her office at the Municipal Sub-bureau. She had passed this letter to me, saying it was handwritten by the second daughter of Xinhu's wealthiest man.

"Li Jingyu, I think?" The image of that figure tangled in a fishing net at the Lanjiang Dam floated into my mind, followed quickly by the memory of Wang Yuchun from the killing game.

The murderer who had killed Li Jingyu's father was none other than Wang Yuchun. It felt as if unseen karmic links were weaving together, leaving me a bit surprised. "It should just be a coincidence."

I tore open the envelope and read the letter from start to finish.

The general gist was that Li Jingyu found her father's death highly suspicious. She suspected her older brother, Li Chunqiang, had hired someone to murder him. After learning that I moonlit as a private investigator and handled gray-area business, she reached out, hoping I could help her uncover the truth.

As for the fee, she requested I travel to Xinhu City to discuss the details with her in person.

Her address and personal phone number were written at the end of the letter.

"Number 15, Haixing District?" I murmured. "As far as I know, Haixing District is an industrial zone, and most of the people living there are migrant workers. To think the dignified second daughter of Xinhu's wealthiest man is cooped up in a place like that. Her life must be truly difficult right now." I memorized the phone number and address, closing my eyes in thought. 'Offering help in someone's darkest hour is far better than adding to their glory. She may be down on her luck, but she is still the daughter of Xinhu's wealthiest man; she rightfully deserves a share of that massive family fortune. If I can dig up evidence of Li Chunqiang's crimes and help her bring down her older brother, it might give me a foothold in Xinhu. And if she ever joins forces with Huang Boyuan, the Jiang family will never be able to make a comeback.'

Finding hard evidence would be difficult, but I had the Seductive Ghost. Fabricating evidence wouldn't be too hard for me at all.

"It's worth a try. As long as I don't expose myself, even if I fail, it won't be a huge loss." Tucking the letter away, I lit a cigarette and stared at the rising plumes of smoke.

"Leaving the Jiang family around is a disaster waiting to happen. They must be pulled up by the roots."

...

After lunch, I didn't contact Li Jingyu immediately. I still had burning questions in my heart that needed to be verified first.

Xia Chi had appeared during the tenth live broadcast. A man who was supposed to have vanished showing up on the stream in such an unexpected way nearly overturned all my previous theories about the Underworld Live Show.

'Originally, I only knew that accumulating ten thousand points would let you return to the starting point. Now it seems there are other ways to escape the Underworld Live Show.' I wasn't entirely sure what this method entailed, but Xia Chi and the very first Underworld Live Show Streamer before him likely knew. Judging by the various signs they had shown so far, leaving the Underworld Live Show required finding a scapegoat.

'The person who called the Underworld Live Show and submitted the commission was Xia Qingzhi. But historically, almost everyone who called that number was already dead. The Xia Qingzhi I know is clearly still alive and well. One of these two Xia Qingzhis has to be a fake.'

Logic told me that the Xia Qingzhi who lured me into interviewing to become a streamer for the Underworld Live Show was most likely an impostor, but deep down, I just couldn't bring myself to believe it.

'First, I need to confirm the first issue: is Number Eight actually Xia Chi? Was his only goal just to warn me?'

'Second, assuming Number Eight is Xia Chi, he told me that someone close to me is the Underworld Live Show's informant. Who could it be?'

Because of my personality, I could count my friends on one hand. The suspect pool was incredibly small, yet I didn't want to doubt a single one of them. Losing any of them would be a tragedy to me.

'Third, Number Eight revealed a crucial detail to me. Once an official live broadcast begins, the Live Show will have no authority to interfere with the streamer's actions. That means during a broadcast, the Underworld Live Show's power is weakened to its lowest point.'

'Fourth, it all comes back to Xia Qingzhi. The Xia Qingzhi on the Underworld Live Show phone was lonely and terrified, commissioning me to find her brother. Yet after I met Number Eight, he begged me to find his sister. Out of these two siblings, who is actually the problem?'

'Finally, a crucial piece of my memory is missing. I need to open the Nine Dao Locks to recover it. The question is, who placed these nine locks inside my body, and how am I supposed to open them?'

The Kidney Aperture belonged to the water element and hosted the Infant Spirit. Once the Three-Eyed Infant Spirit grew to a certain realm, things would naturally fall into place, and the Kidney Aperture's dao lock would also open.

But that was only one of the Nine Locks. I still had a long road ahead of me.

Compared to a behemoth like the Underworld Live Show, I was in an incredibly passive position. But as my strength steadily increased, this passivity was slowly beginning to change.

'Xia Qingzhi is the only solid lead I have right now, and my only breakthrough point. I need to extract enough clues from her before she can react.' Sorting out my priorities, I sifted through every memory I had involving Xia Qingzhi. I scrutinized every little detail in my mind, but no matter how I looked at it, she seemed like a perfectly normal girl.

I spent the time cultivating the Profound Truth Mental Method in my shop. When afternoon arrived, I headed to the Jingying Sanatorium. Wang Yu's condition hadn't improved; aside from Bai Qi, he remained freezing cold to everyone else.

I had asked the psychologist in charge of him, and the doctor was just as troubled. He said that he couldn't feel any of the vitality a child should possess from Wang Yu. He was like an overused tool, mechanically obeying adults' orders to do anything, yet no one could touch his inner heart. His mind was trapped inside a massive prison, and the space within that prison was his entire world.

Sitting in the garden, I rested my chin in my hand and fell into deep thought as I watched Bai Qi and Wang Yu repeat their boring game of throwing things.

The news of the Ghost Mother had already been relayed back to Maoshan by Leng Qingxuan. In the future, a Celestial Master would definitely come to Jiangcheng to eradicate the Ghost Mother. Once the Ghost Mother was suppressed, there would probably be no one left in this world who genuinely cared about Wang Yu.

For some reason, watching Wang Yu reminded me of the live broadcast at the Bridge No. 3 Crematorium. Witnessing Yi Yi's final meeting with her mother had been heartbreaking, but it also brought a trace of comfort. Her family member hadn't truly left; she had merely changed the way she watched over her.

"The word for 'ghost' sounds identical to 'return.' Maybe this is exactly why."

"What are you... thinking about?" A crisp voice rang out, like ice cubes dropping into champagne. That fleeting sound was enough to evoke a bittersweet memory.

"Ghosts are incarnations of obsession. If there truly are ghosts in this world, could I also see the person I want to see the most?" I turned my head to look. A pretty girl stood there, looking as if she had just stepped out of a painting. Wearing a light-colored dress, she appeared tranquil and beautiful. Her name was Huang Xue.

Hearing my words, Huang Xue paused. As if struck by a sudden thought, she silently sat down on the stone bench next to me. "Who is the person in your memory you want to see the most?"

"Hard to say." I pulled out a cheap five-yuan pack of cigarettes and tapped it against the expensive marble table. "Weren't you in a wheelchair the last time we met? It seems your health has improved quite a bit after I entered your dream?"

A faint blush crept up Huang Xue's cheeks at the mention of the dream. "Who chats like that? And here I was thinking you were a decent guy."

Smiling and shaking my head, I didn't say anything more and stood up to leave.

"Wait a second." Huang Xue pulled a few drawings from her handbag and handed them to me.

They were pencil sketches, and all of them depicted a heroic, domineering "mutt."

"Bai Qi?" From the appearance down to the demeanor, I instantly recognized that this was a drawing of Bai Qi.

"That kid from your family is a genius when it comes to art. He drew all of these pencil sketches."

"Wang Yu drew these?!" I suddenly recalled the strawberry crayon drawings at the Maternity and Children's Health Center. Those were probably his work as well. "This kid really kept it hidden. If he likes drawing, let him draw. The world in his eyes might be different from ours."

I picked up two of the pencil sketches and stuffed them into my pocket. "I need to keep these safe. If I ever get the chance to show them to his mother, they might just save my life."

"His mother?" A ripple passed through Huang Xue's bright eyes. Biting her lip, she steeled herself and asked, "Gao Jian, from what you're saying... is there something special going on between you and Wang Yu's mother?"