Long Jing found The Prisoner through a contact. And that contact was...
An Mingyu.
When you can't see the road ahead, ask a prophet to divine the way for you.
The Blind One wasn't Long Jing's first choice. His first choice was Hu Wei. Everyone knew the Grand Marshal had an absurdly vast network—there wasn't a soul in the peak circle who hadn't received his "favor" and "care," willing or otherwise.
Plus, the Grand Marshal had one admirable quality: as long as it wasn't sothing he personally cared about, he'd help without asking questions.
Undeniably, the Grand Marshal had the charisma and the ans to bring different people together.
Unfortunately, Long Jing couldn't reach Hu Wei. His second choice was Hong Lin—the "righteous comrade" who had friends across the world, she was extrely reliable when it ca to tracking people down. Oddly, Hong Lin had also vanished today.
'What could be tying both of them up?'
Left with no alternative, Long Jing turned to the Blind One.
He told her he needed to see The Prisoner imdiately. Extrely urgent.
An Mingyu was extraordinarily perceptive. Even though Long Jing gave no reason, she had a vague sense that the acrobat might not be looking for The Prisoner as the Silence Chosen—but as the Torchbearer!
After all, she and Qin Xin had recruited The Prisoner into the Torchbearers together.
She just couldn't understand how Long Jing knew about the fire-passing, or why he specifically requested The Prisoner.
'Of all the Torchbearers, was there truly no one better than that bald head?'
The Blind One fell silent.
The acrobat was, admittedly, one of those deeply irritating tricksters. But based on Xin Xin's assessnt... a bit dull, perhaps, but at least not malicious.
After brief deliberation, An Mingyu agreed to Long Jing's request. However, mindful of Cheng Shi's instructions to keep her distance from Fate, she didn't actually use Fate's thods to divine The Prisoner's location. She used a simpler approach.
As a forr Torchbearer, the Blind One could reach Qin Xin imdiately. Where The Prisoner was, Qin Xin would certainly know. So she quietly contacted Qin Xin, who gave her a location.
The mont she handed Long Jing the location, the acrobat dropped a word of thanks and vanished.
An Mingyu frowned. Sothing big was happening—she could feel it. Instinctively, she pulled out all her dice to perform a divination. But rembering the Destined Ones' stance, she hesitated and put them back.
Still, her blurred sense of the future was etched into her bones. She knew whatever had Long Jing this serious was no trifling matter. The instant they parted, she contacted Zhen Xin, wanting to ask her best friend if anything unusual had occurred recently.
But Zhen Xin didn't respond. An Mingyu's heart clenched.
Just then, Qin Xin called.
"Who's looking for The Prisoner?"
An Mingyu answered honestly: "President Gong. To my knowledge, Gong and The Prisoner are essentially on two parallel tracks—they barely interact. For him to rush to see The Prisoner today, sothing must be wrong. Qin Xin, do you know what's been happening lately?"
What's been happening? Where to start—far too much.
Since returning from the Real Universe, they hadn't caught a single breath before being pulled into a trial. Qin Xin had been going nonstop. Fortunately, this trial wasn't particularly difficult. He'd slipped away from his teammates for so quiet, split his ti between acclimating to the War authority within him and preparing to confront the Torchbearer leadership after the trial—to overhaul the God Creation Plan.
He didn't know how to explain all this to the Blind One. He'd planned to contact her after things settled internally. But unexpectedly, she'd reached out for a bizarre reason.
Finding The Prisoner!
And the person looking was even stranger—Long Jing. Long Jing and The Prisoner barely knew each other. Why the sudden urgency?
'Had The Prisoner's cover been blown?'
Qin Xin frowned, reassured the Blind One, and prepared to head to The Prisoner's location himself to assess the situation.
With The Prisoner's passion for fire-passing, there was no way he'd hide anything from Qin Xin.
But before long, Qin Xin's expression darkened—because he discovered he could no longer reach The Prisoner. Just monts ago, he'd been able to get a location. Now the man had unilaterally severed the Torchbearer communication link.
And the reason was simple: President Gong had already found the Silence Chosen.
When Qin Xin first contacted The Prisoner, the Torchbearer had been in a trial, evaluating his teammates' character. He desperately wanted to prove he could beco an excellent Fire Seeker—so he could recruit his brother-in-law into the Torchbearers.
But this trial's teammates were diocre—nowhere near his brother-in-law's excellence. Disappointed, when he received Qin Xin's notice, The Prisoner imdiately went to his designated eting spot and waited. He'd prepared countless conversation topics, ready for a deep heart-to-heart with Qin Xin about fire-passing. But what arrived wasn't Qin Xin—it was Long Jing.
The instant he saw Long Jing, The Prisoner assud this con artist had cracked the Torchbearers' communication channel and baited him by impersonating Qin Xin.
He tensed. His gaze sharpened instantly.
"Old Gong. Nice moves."
Long Jing was in a hurry. He didn't imdiately register the leap in The Prisoner's logic and assud the complint was about his connections for finding this place. He nodded absently and got straight to the point:
"Do you know what the Fla of Hope is?"
"?"
'Old Gong's target is the Fla of Hope!?'
'Absolutely not!'
'The Fla of Hope is the Torchbearers' guardian deity. Even if I've never t it, I can't let you find it!'
The Prisoner's face turned stony. He was debating whether to strike while the other seed fatigued—but then Long Jing slapped a mory Page into his face and said urgently:
"Hurry—Cheng Shi needs saving!"
The Prisoner's jaw dropped: "What happened to my brother-in-law!?"
"..." Long Jing's tone hitched, his emotions nearly derailing. He wanted to say "your sister's about to beco a widow" but decided this wasn't the mont. He pointed at the page and told him to hurry up and read. anwhile, he muttered: "What happened? Your brother-in-law beca a god!"
The shock on The Prisoner's face intensified: "How do you know about that?"
"???"
Long Jing was stunned.
'Wait—you know?'
'How do you know? On what basis do you know?'
'You Silence followers really do know every secret, don't you?'
Long Jing blinked furiously: "You knew he was Yu Xi?"
This was The Prisoner's happiest mont in ages.
He'd been sitting on this secret for far too long. Now, encountering soone he could actually share it with, he beca ecstatic.
"Of course I knew! My brother-in-law's business—how could I not know? I knew ages ago. How did you find out?"
'Knew... ages... ago?'
'Even The Prisoner knew Cheng Shi was Yu Xi. So what did the Joker mbers amount to?'
'Pure clowns?'
Long Jing's eyelid twitched madly, his nose prickled with heat, and the room suddenly felt several degrees warr.
The Prisoner had a loose mouth, but he was actually extrely dependable. He imdiately absorbed the mory Page. When he learned everything, he put on an "I knew it" face.
"I always knew my brother-in-law was no ordinary man. Even an Outer God covets him—that ans my judgnt rivals a deity's."
"..."
'Bro—is your focus not a little off?'
'That's an Outer God! A god from beyond the universe!'
'You're not even going to be shocked that there are other gods beyond this world? And you're complinting yourself?'
Long Jing didn't have the energy to retort. He was about to press The Prisoner to get to work when The Prisoner's expression turned grave and troubled:
"Bad news—Qin Xin found out."
"?"
"Old Gong, who told you where to find ?"
Long Jing's face shifted. Realization hit. "The Blind One."
The Prisoner slapped his thigh:
"It's over, the Blind One knows too!
Since we're at this point, I'll level with you—I'm in a secret organization with Qin Xin and the Blind One.
This organization concerns humanity's future. Only top-tier elites are admitted. Uh... Old Gong, don't take it too hard. Your skills are slightly below mine, but I fully acknowledge them. Once I beco a Fire Seeker, I'll recruit you first—no, second. First has to be my brother-in-law.
My brother-in-law— hey hey hey, no need to get physical! What's with the temper? I'm just giving you background!
The Fla of Hope is the deity that protects our organization. My brother-in-law could easily skip
and go through Qin Xin or the Blind One—they can both reach the Fla of Hope.
But he still ca to . Why?"
Long Jing got it instantly: "He didn't want Qin Xin and the Blind One to know about this!"
"Bingo!"
The Prisoner slapped his forehead with a "now you're learning" expression—but the next instant his face changed. Rubbing his bald head, he mused: "Then again, maybe he just thinks I'm more reliable than them."
"..."
President Gong was out of moves.
This was exactly why he refused to deal with The Prisoner.
...
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