Chapter 93: The Truth of the Third Layer

"Knock, knock, knock!!!"

The knocking gradually grew more urgent.

Meng Shuangsheng froze. Carefully tucking away the Pocket Watch, he stood and walked toward the door.

Who could it be this late—

But before he could reach it, a cold gleam suddenly pierced the wooden door. An instant later, the entire thing disintegrated, and a tall silhouette strode right in over the splintered remains.

"Meng Shuangsheng, you are suspected of using special methods to provoke incidents in the Domain, causing chaos and disrupting Order."

In Lu Miao's hand, a dark blade gleamed in the air.

"You have the right to defend yourself, but not right now."

"We have already informed the Sun-Swallowing Tower of our theories. They have called in the relevant personnel to verify the truth of your words."

Relevant personnel?

Sweat seeped from beneath Meng Shuangsheng's nightcap. His drooping eyelids jerked wide awake.

If his guess was right, the Sun-Swallowing Tower must have invited that "Honesty" elder from Virtue Bridge.

At that thought, he reached into his pocket and gripped the Pocket Watch.

But suddenly, weird energy surged from Lu Miao's body like a tidal wave, unreasonably cramming into every inch of the room. Ghostly phantoms radiating hostility struggled to their feet from the floor. In that instant, even more sweat broke out beneath Meng Shuangsheng's nightcap.

"You win."

Yu Mo lowered his head, his smile utterly miserable.

"I didn't expect to be played by that bastard Meng Shuangsheng. No wonder rumors have been going around recently that he's going to take over his brother's position and become the next mayor of Sleepland."

"Did something happen to the original mayor of Sleepland?"

Yan Jing looked at Yu Mo and asked.

Yu Mo forced out a smile.

"I don't know anything about that. Even if you kill me, I still don't know."

"I only know that their mayor hasn't shown his face in a long time. Word on the street is that he's dying."

Yan Jing nodded.

"Then let's chat about what you do know."

Having said that, Yan Jing turned to look at Old Master Liu and the others behind him.

"My dear friends, could you leave me alone with Mr. Yu Mo for a moment? There are a few things I'd like to ask him in private."

Faced with Yan Jing's request, the group felt confused, but ultimately cooperated and walked out the diner's front doors.

"This kid is hiding something,"

Old Master Liu muttered to Chen Nian and Mantou.

"I can secretly record them,"

Chen Nian offered.

"Go ahead and record. Just wait and see if Nizi beats you up for it,"

Old Master Liu chuckled maliciously.

Chen Nian glanced down at Mantou, who was glaring at him, and finally dropped the idea.

Once the group had left the breakfast diner, Yu Mo looked at Yan Jing with a bleak smile.

"Ask whatever you want while I'm still a prisoner."

Wearing a smile, Yan Jing took a step forward and whispered a single sentence into Yu Mo's ear.

In an instant.

It was just a soft whisper.

But Yu Mo's expression drastically changed!

This time, his shock was ten thousand times greater than when he realized Sleepland had tampered with his plans.

A moment later, that shock twisted into ferocity. It was the recklessness of being exposed, the hysteria of a ruined plot, the urge to completely tear Yan Jing to shreds!

"Looks like I guessed right."

Yan Jing smiled.

The sentence he had whispered was:

"Why do you want to kill me?"

Yan Jing looked at Yu Mo, who looked ready to skin him alive and eat him raw, and beamed.

"Your acting just now was quite good, Mr. Yu Mo. Good enough to fool everyone."

"But there were still flaws."

"I think this story might have another version."

In response, Yu Mo only let out a low growl. His eyes overflowed with hatred as he struggled to lunge forward!

Yan Jing backed away a few steps, his smile unwavering, and said softly, "Your first mistake was touching my employee, Mr. Yu Mo."

"What you don't know is that I specifically instructed her a few days ago: as long as she didn't speak to any men, she would get a luxurious meal."

"Like the other girls you chose, that girl lost her parents at a young age. She's a glutton who loves food as much as she loves her own life."

"When she gets hungry, she knocks herself out. When she wakes up, she knocks herself out again."

"She told me once that she would never plant a bomb to blow up the Tower. The Tower is her home."

"The prerequisite for your reproduction desire ability is to actually reproduce, right?"

"Seeing as she wouldn't even speak to you, did you force yourself on her? I made a point to check my employee's skin today, and it was just as smooth and tender as before."

"Furthermore, tonight I specifically had a guest who loves my alcohol ask her, and she swore she absolutely hadn't spoken to a man, nor had she engaged in any reproductive acts."

Yan Jing said this while watching Yu Mo, whose murderous intent was practically spilling over.

"So I was quite disappointed at first. After all, I had specifically set out bait, but the fish didn't bite. That's something any angler hates."

"But to my surprise, there was an unexpected harvest."

"She still came. She came to the appointment."

"So why is that? Mr. Yu Mo, why? I thought about it for a long time on the way here. Why on earth would that happen?"

In response to Yan Jing's questions, the veins on Yu Mo's neck bulged, and he roared, "I'm going to kill you!!"

"Kill you!!!!"

Yan Jing placed an index finger to his lips and murmured, "Keep it down, Mr. Yu Mo. Don't make my friends worry about me."

"Since you don't want to say it, I'll say it for you, Mr. Yu Mo."

"Because it's true she didn't speak to a man. The person she spoke to—"

"Was a woman."

As his voice fell, Yu Mo's roars grew even louder, as if he was screaming with every ounce of his strength.

Even though the wooden stakes around him tore at his wounds, causing them to bleed profusely, even though they had thoroughly shredded his chest, he continued to struggle forward.

Yet Yan Jing just kept talking, his pace accelerating:

"She spoke to a woman, and fell victim to that woman's ability."

"She came to the appointment tonight, but the lights hadn't been turned on, so she had no idea who she was actually meeting."

"Actually, logically speaking, she would have eventually met that person. If I'm right, that woman used to come here too."

"You would meet her together, just like you did with the previous girls. That woman would stand on the sidelines and watch your actions until your ability took effect, and only then would she leave!"

"Yu Mu thought she planned the bombings with you, and Meng Shuangsheng thought he took advantage of your bombings, but neither of them knew,"

"That there was always someone else by your side."

"She didn't alter the outcome of your bombings in any way. She merely pushed the boat along with the current."

"She never expressed an opinion on anything. She just watched you plot with a smile."

"After you discussed the bombings with Yu Mu, after you discussed them with Meng Shuangsheng, and while you were reproducing with those girls,"

"She was always right there beside you. Quietly, smiling, watching. Am I right, Mr. Yu Mo?"

By the end, tears welled up in the corners of Yan Jing's eyes.

It wasn't because he was overly emotional. It was simply the body's natural reaction, because that girl had also once appeared in 'his' life.

[You are on the verge of uncovering the truth behind the so-called lifelong wish. Only the final step remains.]

"So you deliberately chose to set off the first bomb at the entrance of the main reception hall where Old Liu was. Perhaps your original intention was to injure Old Liu and force me into the game."

"Then, exactly as you predicted, we started investigating deeply, and the next person hit by the bombings was Old Chen."

"After that, an accident happened. We caught a lead, and you and Yu Mu had a falling out over the second bombing."

"Let me think. Yu Mu probably never spoke with Meng Shuangsheng in private. In other words, there's a high probability she wasn't influenced by Meng Shuangsheng, and even if she was, the effect would have been much weaker than yours."

Yan Jing sped up once more:

"She might have tried to dissuade you. All of this is just guesswork and not that important. Either way, you made a move against her. You wanted to kill her!!!"

"You just said she chose to offer herself up as bait, right? But that's another flaw. If it weren't for that human player, she would probably be dead by now."

"To blow her up, you must have added fuel to the fire. Was it your right arm? Well, none of that matters anymore, Mr. Yu Mo!"

"What matters is that your next target was my employee! Someone who refused to talk to men, someone who lived only to eat, someone who absolutely did not look like the best choice!"

"Therefore, I was the next target, wasn't I?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"Allow me to be a bit narcissistic. If I'm guessing correctly, no matter how many bombs you set off, no matter how many people you killed, your true goal,"

"Was always me, right?"

"After all, you love her so much!"

After Yan Jing's final words fell, Yu Mo, who had already been sliced to his last breath by the wooden stakes, abruptly ceased his struggles.

After a long moment of silence, he raised his head.

His face was already covered in tears.

But he was smiling.

Because of the words Yan Jing had just spoken.

That's right. He loved her so much.

Therefore, whether it was the bombings or Dandelion Manor, it was all for a single purpose: to kill the man she loved.

And then, to win back her love for him.

"When did you realize something was wrong?"

He looked at Yan Jing, suddenly feeling very glad.

Glad that she had been busy tonight and hadn't shown up.

Otherwise, if she had seen him in this pathetic state compared to the calm demeanor of the man opposite him, she would definitely have fallen even more in love with the other man.

"Starting with that girl named Yunduo."

Yan Jing answered softly.

"She once said, 'The wind has started blowing in my heart.'"

"I've heard a similar line."

"'Looking at you like this, with all my eyes and all this distance, is like the wind stopping, only to rise again.'"

"I found it very hard to believe that a girl like that would willingly go to your room on your very first day just for food, engage in reproductive acts with you, and immediately hit the favorability threshold."

The man chuckled.

"You don't believe it because you haven't seen her ugly side."

"You really should have seen it. The way she was on top of me, shedding tears, all just to please another woman."

"You really should have seen just how vulgar that 'wind' she spoke of truly was."

At this point, the only thing Yu Mo could do was constantly try to infuriate Yan Jing.

But Yan Jing just smiled.

"Mr. Yu Mo, haven't you ever wondered why the woman you love didn't come tonight?"

Yu Mo's smile vanished. "I don't understand what you're saying."

"What am I saying?"

The corners of Yan Jing's mouth curled into an unrestrained grin.

"I'm saying you're pathetic!! Mr. Yu Mo!!!"

"She had such high expectations for you! She expected that the moment you laid eyes on me, you would recklessly kill me—even if you had to blow yourself up, even if you had to sacrifice your own life, you would scatter my ashes to the wind!"

"But you didn't!"

"You are a coward!"

"You even delusionally hoped she would help you control the girl by my side tonight, so that girl would come to me carrying a piece of your flesh and blow me sky-high."

"There are some things you don't dare think about, and cannot allow yourself to think about!"

"Because you are terrified of death! You're afraid, you coward!!!"

"I am not!!!"

Facing Yan Jing's taunts, Yu Mo roared with bloodshot eyes, attempting to prove something with sheer volume.

"You are, of course you are!"

Yan Jing pressed on.

"Otherwise, why didn't you rush at me the moment you saw me!"

"Grab hold of me!"

"And drag me to hell with you!"

"Otherwise, why didn't you charge at me and blow me to pieces the day you saw me at the entrance of the main reception hall!!!"

"Because you don't love her enough! You love yourself more than you love her!!!"

"I love her!!!!!!"

Yu Mo bellowed. Tears had already soaked the front of his shirt. At this moment, he was like a child, arguing with Yan Jing in a desperate attempt to gain some sort of validation.

"Fine, you love her."

Smiling, Yan Jing took another few steps back, seeming to agree with Yu Mo's point.

And then, just as Yu Mo finally felt a sense of comfort and let his tears flow freely, Yan Jing spoke softly:

"You love her, which is exactly why you didn't dare perish together with me."

"Because you love her so much, you didn't dare consider that her absence tonight wasn't for some other reason, but because she deliberately abandoned you here."

"She simply wanted to use your death to kill me."

"You are just a bag of trash she casually threw away, my dear Mr. Yu Mo."