Chapter 94: The ins and outs

"You are just a bag of trash she tossed away, Mr. Yu Mo."

As soon as Yan Jing finished speaking, Yu Mo's pupils contracted, and his whole body began to tremble violently.

He opened his mouth to retort, but couldn't make a single sound.

He could only gasp frantically for air.

For a split second, his chest ached fiercely, as if something had been hollowed out of him.

He suddenly realized that what the woman had told him might be true.

She had truly fallen in love with the man standing right in front of him.

The two of them were simply too alike.

Their manner of speaking, their indifferent eyes, the way they seemed to have everything under control.

"Dear Mr. Yu Mo, it seems you have finally realized it."

Yan Jing smiled. His scarlet eyes flashed, weird energy surging throughout his body as a dark apple materialized in his palm and he entered the Fear Stance.

A demonic whisper slipped from his lips:

"Don't you hate her? The person who abandoned you just like that, the one who didn't even spare you a single glance when you were on the verge of death."

"Aren't you afraid? Once you are taken away by the Order Management Bureau, you will never see her again. Gradually, you will forget her face, her name..."

"Call it out one last time—"

As Yan Jing whispered, Yu Mo's expression grew increasingly agonized. He shuddered violently, especially after hearing the words, 'Aren't you afraid?'

Before his eyes, that figure seemed to appear once more, standing there and smiling at him.

He could not forget her.

That feeling of dread gradually seeped deep into his heart.

His lips moved, almost uttering that name.

But in the end, he clamped his mouth shut.

"Heh, hehe..."

He coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth, his eyes completely losing focus. In his mind, he recalled the words that beautiful figure had said to him with a smile:

"Ah Mo, if you ever meet him one day and fail to kill him, remember, do not tell him who I am."

"This is the last thing you can do right, Ah Mo."

"Do not disappoint me."

So she already knew this day would come, huh? Hehe... At this thought, he exhausted his last ounce of strength, let out a low roar, and forcefully smashed his head against the thick wooden spike impaled in his shoulder.

But as a camera shutter clicked.

He passed out once more.

Yan Jing calmed the surging weird energy inside his body, quietly staring at the unconscious Yu Mo.

He hadn't gotten the name out of him.

Since he hadn't managed it this time, it would likely be difficult later, too.

After his 'secret talk with Rose' was exposed, the 'Dandelion Manor explosion plot' was exposed, the 'covert tampering by Sleepland' was exposed, and 'the beloved behind him' was discovered—after so many events and such intense mental turmoil, coupled with his own deliberately released Fear Stance, Yan Jing still couldn't make this mentally fragile guy spit out that name.

This was enough to show just how powerful the emotional control of the person backing him was.

However, it was enough.

Confirming that someone actually existed and wanted to kill him meant he had already profited this time.

Yan Jing reflected on the course of events.

Just as he had mentioned earlier, the first point of suspicion was the story about the girl named Yunduo that Old Man had told him.

Back then, after Chen Nian had explained the reproductive desire ability of the 'Life' Pathway, he had subconsciously felt that something was amiss. Would a woman who gave up guaranteed food and clothing from her boss for the sake of pure love really resort to prostitution for food?

Because of this, he had hesitated when Old Man asked him what he thought.

Secondly, there was that malicious gaze hidden within the crowd.

It had put him on guard ahead of time.

Although he hadn't yet realized that the entire bombing case was secretly pointing toward him at the time, that nakedly malicious stare had still prompted him to set up Rose as a bait that wasn't quite a bait.

If, as Chen Nian and the others had said, the killer simply used the reproductive desire ability to control those waitresses, then Rose—who had him providing her with luxurious meals—would absolutely never resort to prostitution, and she would be safe.

And if that malicious gaze had nothing to do with the killer, or if the killer held back and didn't take the bait, then Rose would still be safe.

But the moment he took the bait.

Yan Jing would hook a big fish.

Just as he had said before, a Rose who refused to speak with men was definitely not the best choice. If that person truly chose Rose, it highly likely indicated two things. First, the method used was not reproductive desire. Second, someone was specifically targeting him.

After that, it was his agreement with Old Master Liu and the others to report their clues and deductions to the Order Management Bureau.

Coupled with the suspicious points he had raised as a player.

If the Order Management Bureau could resolve the matter directly after obtaining the clues, regardless of whether the killer was someone from Dandelion Manor as the Rotten Vegetable Village group had deduced, everyone would be happy.

Even if they couldn't solve it directly, they could still use the Order Management Bureau's name to pressure that malicious gaze and the killer's potential location—Dandelion Manor.

As a result, Dandelion Manor couldn't withstand the pressure and handed over the killer.

Actually, they had already exposed a flaw at that time.

Knowing the secret of the Flesh Bomb, yet not showing the slightest bit of doubt during the healing process...

That alone proved Dandelion Manor was inextricably linked to the bombings.

However, since there was no direct evidence, Lu Miao had announced the case closed at his suggestion to avoid beating the grass to scare the snake.

After that came the most critical part.

The book History of Old Sin City he had seen in Lu Miao's room.

That book had answered many of his doubts regarding the case.

Especially when he read about the seven great Domains from before Old Sin City, Yan Jing became firm in his thoughts.

The killer's method was absolutely not reproductive desire, but rather 'Sin'—'desire'.

In the preface of that book, it stated that prior to Old Sin City, the place was composed of the Domains of the seven deadly sins, making it a city entirely built upon the 'Sin' Pathway.

But now, only three of the seven deadly sins remained in Old Sin City: 'Gluttony', 'Sloth', and 'Pride'.

The remaining four sins—'Envy', 'desire', 'Wrath', and 'Greed'—had already left Old Sin City during a great migration.

Logically speaking, there should no longer be any residents of the other four systems in Old Sin City.

But Yan Jing felt that might not be the case.

Because he had personally met a resident of 'Envy'.

He turned to the introduction for the 'desire' Domain.

There were two First Tier abilities.

The first was Special Favorability.

Residents of 'desire' could raise a specific target's Favorability toward them, with the number of targets depending on their Tier.

The second was Desire Release.

This ability could amplify the target's desires regarding romance and affection.

These two abilities seemed fine at first glance, but if the user was skilled at playing with people's hearts, they could rely on them to completely and subtly manipulate and control the other party.

Compared to reproductive desire, this 'Pathway' clearly matched the situation of the waitresses being seduced much better.

And what finally solidified this thought for Yan Jing was a passage in Cameraman's character introduction:

[You were once an accidental creation of Fear, a servant at the skirts of desire, but now you are just an ordinary resident of Rotten Vegetable Village—right?]

[Due to certain reasons, you were killed a few days ago. Following this rebirth, you have lost most of your memories.]

According to Yan Jing's deduction, the desire mentioned here should refer to the 'desire' Pathway.

Once it was determined that the killer's method was not Dandelion Manor's 'Life', it naturally followed that aside from the inextricably linked Dandelion Manor, there was also another outsider involved.

As for the part regarding Sleepland, Lu Miao had deduced that.

Compared to Yan Jing, she clearly understood the inside story of this banquet much better. After seeing the weaknesses of the 'Life' Pathway recorded in the book and the history of Sleepland relying on hypnosis to reach the Summit of Old Sin City, she already had her conclusion.

After she informed Yan Jing, he finally managed to completely sort out the chaos jointly caused by these three parties. Much of the information was still mere speculation, however, so upon seeing a fish take the bait, he didn't hesitate to exploit Yu Mo's mental fragility to verify his theories.

Yu Mo didn't disappoint him, either. The moment the lights turned on, his eyes gleamed with murderous intent at the very first sight of him—even though Yan Jing had investigated Dandelion Manor together with the Rotten Vegetable Village group using his original body that morning.

In other words, the only time his Cameraman identity had ever met Yu Mo was at the entrance of the main reception hall.

This proved Yu Mo had noticed him a long time ago.

Then.

The conversation he just had with Yu Mo confirmed his guesses for the most part.

Yan Jing looked at the unconscious Yu Mo before him and sighed.

It was normal for this guy to have mental issues.

His brain was already somewhat deformed to begin with. Then he was first seduced by the 'desire' Pathway, and later hypnotized by the Sleepland side.

To be able to withstand his Fear Stance under such intensity...

He was quite something.

However, he could tell that after tonight's torture, Yu Mo's mind probably wouldn't work so well anymore.

During the lunch break the next day.

An Ze slipped into the Rose Bar and ordered a Martini. Looking at the crowd inside, he held up two fingers:

"Two pieces of news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"The good one."

Old Master Liu didn't hesitate. He was currently teaching Chen Nian, sitting across from him, how to play Pai Gow.

His luck was pretty good, having won two rounds in a row.

So he decided to listen to some good news to boost his 'Fortune' a bit.

Unexpectedly, An Ze frowned in thought for a moment after hearing that.

"There doesn't seem to be a good one."

"Then the relatively good one."

Old Master Liu flipped over two tiles—a pair of Heaven tiles. He had won this round again.

Across from him, Chen Nian frowned. He suspected the old man opposite him was cheating.

"The relatively good one—"

An Ze's brows furrowed tightly before he finally picked one.

"That Yu Mo from Dandelion Manor, the one you guys caught yesterday."

"Wasn't he sent to our branch bureau today?"

"I heard—"

He lowered his voice.

"He went mad!!!"

"He hasn't been right since he woke up. His eyes are glazed over, and he mumbles nonsense without a single clear word. Plus, he now trembles in fear whenever he sees anything round and black."

Saying this, An Ze noticed Yan Jing mixing drinks and said in pleasant surprise, "Right, right, right! Something exactly like the camera lens on your head, Mr. Yi Ji."

"Do you guys know what happened?" He looked at the few people from Rotten Vegetable Village opposite him.

"No idea." "That is pretty weird. The sun is quite round today..." "I don't know."

"I... I... I don't know—"

This time, there was probably no one there who truly didn't know.