Chapter 337: Good Luck

Something was wrong.

Something was incredibly wrong.

Qi Ming stared at the pages covered in information about Wen Tian and Li Chengxi.

His internal shock was no less than if he had witnessed the revival of an ancient supreme being, the outbreak of the first Surface and Inner Worlds war, the apocalypse, and the Surface World declaring a year of holidays with no make-up work days.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait—"

He held back the cheerful Yan Jing, choosing his words carefully. "This is wrong, you know that, right?"

"It is definitely a bit off."

Pan Yue, standing nearby, felt just as shocked. How could there be such a coincidence? They had only been in the dungeon for a few dozen minutes and were just getting ready to look for clues, only to have them delivered right to their doorstep?

The two filler players beside them also had their eyes wide, their jaws practically hitting the floor.

Only Zhou Xian, who had entered a dungeon with Yan Jing once before, broke his silence to agree. "You're right."

Hearing this, Yan Jing slowly nodded.

Qi Ming breathed a sigh of relief. At least the man hadn't completely lost his mind. "It says here that Wen Tian likes men. That seems a bit questionable," Yan Jing said.

He pondered the detail.

Is that really the issue here?!

Qi Ming took a deep breath and said, "This is the Inner World! I mean, this could be a trap set by the anomalies!"

"Makes sense, but we just got here," Yan Jing said.

Exactly, we just got here. Doubt flickered in Qi Ming's eyes; this was the very thing that confused him the most.

How could they have been targeted when they had only been in the dungeon for a little over ten minutes?

Taking a step back, even if they had been targeted, how could anyone know their goal was the council members of the Reconciliation Faction?

Taking another step back, even if the enemy knew they were looking for the Reconciliation Faction's council members, how could they have prepared such a detailed dossier in just over ten minutes?

It even listed his affair locations and his favorite underwear color!

"Regardless, I think we need to deliberate on this," Qi Ming said.

He then turned to Pan Yue beside him.

"Pan Yue, don't you agree?"

Pan Yue nodded. "Yeah... it definitely feels risky."

At this moment, Zhou Xian suddenly spoke up.

"But we can't just ignore it entirely. We should verify it first."

"If the information on this is true, we might have just struck gold."

Yan Jing nodded.

"Makes sense. Let's verify it first."

He looked around at the group.

"There's something I haven't told you. The real reason I've been able to clear so many dungeons is that I have very good luck."

Qi Ming looked at Yan Jing, who was more serious than he had ever seen him. He had the fleeting illusion that the words 'good luck' held immense weight for the man in front of him.

After a moment of thought, he nodded.

"Alright, we'll do it your way."

"Which part should we start verifying?" Pan Yue asked.

"First, we check if these two are actually our targets, and then—"

"Let's start with this."

Yan Jing flipped to the last page of the dossier, which contained an itinerary for the two politicians.

It detailed their specific schedules.

Weird energy surged around Qi Ming. In an instant, his appearance changed. Although he didn't look vastly different, to the eyes of the others, his core essence had completely transformed.

A moment ago, Qi Ming clearly felt human; now, he was unmistakably an Inner World resident.

"I'll go gather some intel. You guys wait here."

With that, he walked out and began striking up conversations with the Inner World residents on the street.

Zhou Xian watched Qi Ming chat with the passersby, then turned to Pan Yue.

"I heard that back in the day, Zhoulin consistently averaged A-rank ratings in the early dungeons, but dropped half a grade in the later ones."

"I used to think it was because the dungeons got harder, but now it seems it had more to do with him no longer participating in the later stages."

Pan Yue hesitated before finally nodding.

"Yes. As Zhoulin's sole intelligence gatherer in the early days, Qi Ming is the strongest dungeon informant I've ever seen."

"His Personal Title is 'Ghost Visage.' Although he's from the Fourth Ring Domain, all four of his Rituals came from Minhu, which corresponds to the Third Ring Domain."

"They correspond to the ears, nose, mouth, and eyes."

Zhou Xian picked up where Pan Yue left off.

"His Ritual choices were reported on at the time in an article written by a human player with the Personal Title 'Hidden Scholar.' That report detailed the mutual influence and connections between different Ritual selections."

"The report pointed out that after Qi Ming obtained the four Rituals for ears, nose, mouth, and eyes, he activated a new ability called Ghost Visage."

"This synergy between the Rituals took Qi Ming's abilities to the next level."

Pan Yue glanced at Zhou Xian.

"You know a lot."

"..." Zhou Xian didn't take the bait, so Pan Yue continued.

"Actually, the Ghost Visage ability appeared as soon as Qi Ming obtained three Rituals."

"Ghost Visage allows him to evade detection from entities up to three tiers higher than himself."

"This powerful camouflage made the early Zhoulin virtually unstoppable. Compared to the disguise abilities granted by other Rituals, such as the disguise of 'Envy,' it has very few restrictions and is highly reliable."

Yan Jing listened to their conversation, gazing at Qi Ming as he chatted away animatedly.

"So he really stopped entering dungeons later on just because he was too lazy?"

Pan Yue stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

"Doesn't it seem like it? He looks exactly like the cynical, frivolous type, doesn't he?"

"I don't think so."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Appearances and even words don't mean much."

"If what you said earlier is true, then he's an exceptional actor. A true actor will make you see exactly what he wants you to see."

"..." Pan Yue looked at Yan Jing with a hint of surprise.

She hadn't expected Yan Jing to be so perceptive.

After a long while, Qi Ming returned.

The group gathered around him and noticed his deeply conflicted expression.

"How did it go?"

Yan Jing asked with a smile.

"...How should I put this?" Qi Ming looked as if he had a toothache.

"Not good?" Pan Yue asked.

Qi Ming shook his head.

"No, it's completely accurate."

Looking at the shocked group, his expression remained conflicted. If they were surprised, his own shock was many times greater.

The vast majority of the information he had managed to gather matched the dossier exactly.

Whenever there was a discrepancy, verifying it through multiple sources proved that the dossier was right and the person he asked was wrong.

Even though it was all basic information, still... "Good, then as agreed, let's go verify the itinerary right now."

Yan Jing made the final decision.

"Why didn't you ask Wen Tian out to dinner today?"

Zeng Qing looked at Luo Sheng in confusion.

Going by the pattern of the past few days, Luo Sheng should have invited Wen Tian to lunch by now.

But today, Luo Sheng showed no intention of inviting him.

"There's no point."

Yan Jing's expression was cold. "I've invited him so many times, and he's never once given me any face."

"I won't be inviting him again."

Zeng Qing looked somewhat relieved.

"You've finally seen reason."

"It's fine. Even though you spent over a hundred thousand eerie points, you can always earn them back."

Yan Jing smiled.

"I only transferred the initial fifty thousand eerie points to him. I didn't send the rest."

Zeng Qing paused, taken aback.

"That's not right, is it?"

"I saw that the account is short three hundred thousand eerie points. A hundred and fifty thousand each for Wen Tian and Li Chengxi. If you didn't give it to him, then who did you give it to?"

"That's a secret," Yan Jing said with a smile.

Inside a café by the highway.

Pan Yue finished tying up the last waiter, blindfolded him, and walked over to the window.

"Well? Are they here?"

She looked at the others, who were standing by the window and peering outside.

"It's still ten minutes until the scheduled time."

Qi Ming wore a grave expression.

If anyone was the most nervous among them, it was undoubtedly him.

They had carefully selected this café. It only had a manager and one employee, meaning the fallout from making a move here was minimal.

According to the itinerary, in ten minutes, Wen Tian would be having a meeting with a politician in the hotel diagonally across the street.

If the target didn't show up, their risky stunt would have been for nothing.

Not only would they fail to get any information, but it would also hasten the exposure of their position.

It would even turn that dossier into a ticking time bomb.

Who had provided it? Why was it half-true and half-false? And why had it happened to fall into their hands?

These were all questions worth pondering.

But if the target did show up, it would be even more shocking.

And so, time ticked away.

Two minutes later, a black sedan approached from a distance and came to a smooth stop diagonally across from them.

The sedan's license plate matched the one written on the dossier exactly.

"He's here."

Zhou Xian spoke softly.

The driver stepped out first, then jogged around to open the rear door. A somewhat balding old man stepped out of the car.

Qi Ming's gaze hardened.

It's real!

He had seen a flyer for Wen Tian's council election in the hands of a pedestrian earlier, and it was indeed the spitting image of this old man. Moreover, the photo on the dossier in Yan Jing's hands matched perfectly.

Qi Ming looked at Yan Jing. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "I request to go near him and gather intelligence."

"No." Pan Yue, standing beside him, immediately shot down Qi Ming's proposal. "That's way too risky."

"He won't be able to recognize me," Qi Ming argued.

Wen Tian was at most at the Third Tier, and his bodyguards were only at the Fourth Tier—this had already been confirmed.

The tier levels of the security personnel for these council members were detailed in official regulations.

"But how are you going to get close to him? That place isn't somewhere just anyone can walk into."

Pan Yue pointed out the issue.

Watching Wen Tian walk into the building, Qi Ming ignored Pan Yue's dissuasion and looked at Yan Jing.

"There's no time. We still can't fully confirm the accuracy of the entire itinerary. If this is just a coincidence and only this single time slot is correct, we'll likely miss our chance to verify the target."

"And it might be our only chance."

"Therefore, I request to go and complete the identity verification. Don't worry, I won't act rashly. After all, our mission is a double assassination; we can't act prematurely and alert the enemy."

He looked at Yan Jing, past memories surfacing in his mind, his eyes revealing his anxiety.

He was worried that Yan Jing would reject his proposal.

But unexpectedly, Yan Jing smiled and nodded.

"Go ahead. I think your proposal is excellent."

"Really?"

Qi Ming was stunned.

"Of course."

Yan Jing smiled.

"It's a perfect display of courage and strategy. But those two alone aren't enough. I think you're still lacking a bit of luck."

A Pitch-Black Rose materialized in his hand, and he pressed it against Qi Ming's chest.

"Take this. My good luck will protect you."