The mont Su Mu said those words, a chill rose in Nan Mo’s heart, though she tried to stay calm. “What nonsense are you spouting? How could it not be you—”
“For the Chief!”
Suddenly, Su Mu let out a fanatical whisper from deep in his throat.
Then, he grabbed Nan Mo’s hand and slashed the dagger across his own neck.
Shlick!
The sound of blade slicing flesh echoed, followed by a spray of hot blood.
Nan Mo’s face was splattered with blood. She stood frozen, staring blankly at Su Mu’s body collapsing to the ground, his face still twisted in manic devotion.
“I… I killed soone?! Why did he…”
She looked down at her blood-soaked hands. The dagger slipped from her fingers and clattered on the floor.
Just then—
Clap, clap, clap…
A burst of applause echoed through the empty hall.
“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. Thank you both for putting on such a marvelous performance.”
From among the black-clad mbers of the Viper Gang, a thin, frail-looking man erged, clapping slowly as he stepped forward.
He removed his gas mask, revealing a pale, handso face.
“Su Mu!? How… how is this possible?!” Nan Mo’s voice cracked in disbelief as she stared at him.
“If you’re Su Mu, then… who is this?”
She turned over the blood-soaked corpse of the “Su Mu” who had fallen earlier. But when she saw the face, she froze. A bone-deep terror surged from the top of her head down to her feet.
That face didn’t belong to Su Mu at all—it was a stranger’s. The man looked vaguely similar to Su Mu, perhaps thirty percent alike, and even wore makeup to mimic Su Mu’s pallor.
“This… this is impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Yang Dongqing roared from the side. Though his body was weak, his vision was clear. He was sure he had been holding Su Mu hostage—how had it turned into soone else?
Sure, the man looked a bit like Su Mu, but not enough to mistake him. He wasn’t face-blind.
Wait a minute…
Suddenly, Yang Dongqing realized sothing odd. In his mory, Su Mu had always been a sickly man—nosebleeds in class, walking with a cane, sitting in a wheelchair. A gust of wind could knock him over. How could such a man possibly dodge his dying strike with that light, agile leap?
That fluid backstep—how could soone so frail possibly manage that?
“You’re a Transcendent too!!” Yang Dongqing stared up at the real Su Mu, stunned.
Su Mu smiled without answering. He turned and casually ordered, “Take these two frightened guests sowhere to rest.”
“Yes, Chief!”
Two n stepped forward and dragged away the limp Yang Dongqing and the wooden-faced Nan Mo.
He had no intention of playing the typical villain—delivering long speeches and giving his enemy the chance to make a coback.
The use of a body double earlier had been to test whether Yang Dongqing still had hidden cards. Su Mu wasn’t willing to start an interrogation while Yang Dongqing might still strike back at any mont.
What he hadn’t expected was that the real surprise wouldn’t co from Yang Dongqing… but from Nan Mo.
“Chief, you scared the life out of . I really thought…” Zhao Chaoyao, still shaken, rushed over to Su Mu and glanced at the corpse of the double on the ground.
“A wise man avoids danger. That’s one principle I’ve always understood,” a voice replied behind Zhao Chaoyao.
Zhao Chaoyao’s heart jumped into his throat. The Chief was standing in front of him—so why was his voice coming from behind?
He spun around and saw another black-clad man taking off his gas mask. Underneath was the sa pale, handso face—Su Mu again!
Zhao Chaoyao’s scalp went numb. “Wha… what the hell…”
He turned back to the Su Mu in front of him and found that the man’s face had beco completely unfamiliar—it was soone else entirely.
anwhile, the real Su Mu was leisurely removing his suit jacket, revealing the thick bulletproof vest beneath.
So that was why he had looked so bulky earlier.
Zhao Chaoyao stood dumbfounded, as if he’d seen a ghost.
Su Mu said calmly, “Is that really so surprising? I already told you—wise n don’t take risks.”
Still stunned, Zhao Chaoyao muttered, “But… with the lying, ambushing, poisoning, and manipulating soone’s feelings… doesn’t seem very gentlemanly, does it…”
“Hm?” Su Mu cast him a sideways glance.
Zhao Chaoyao stiffened and quickly changed the topic. “Chief, those doubles were great. It’s rare to find people who look thirty percent like you.”
Then he hesitated and looked Su Mu up and down. “By the way, Chief… this version of you isn’t another double, right?”
Su Mu didn’t answer. He simply pulled out his signature pair of tea-tinted glasses and slipped them on, hiding the depth in his eyes once more.
“Resemblance isn’t what matters—hypnosis is. The Viper Gang has calming candles burning on every floor. Yang Dongqing fought his way up and inhaled them the entire way. Add to that the repeated visual cues of the Ouroboros symbol and the fact that Nan Mo had already told him about
ahead of ti. All of it planted a preconceived image in his mind. That laid the groundwork for hypnosis. The only reason I even bothered to find soone who looked a bit like
was because I’d never hypnotized a Transcendent before. Just taking precautions.”
“Brilliant! Chief, you’re brilliant!” Zhao Chaoyao looked more fanatical than ever. But soon, a question clouded his expression. “Wait, Chief, about the poison… when your double explained it earlier, I was shocked. But thinking back now, there’s a problem. If Nan Mo had poison on her lips, what if she licked them by accident? Or what if she didn’t kiss Yang Dongqing? Wouldn’t the whole plan fall apart?”
“My plans never fail,” Su Mu said mysteriously. “Because… there was no poison.”
“What!?” Zhao Chaoyao was floored. His brain nearly overheated.
“Have you heard of the water-drop death experint? A long ti ago, soone conducted an experint where they blindfolded a condemned prisoner and told him his blood would be drained. Then they gave him a small prick on the wrist and let a faucet drip next to him. Eventually, the prisoner died. But the truth is, he didn’t bleed at all. It was just water dripping the whole ti. That… is the power of suggestion.”
As he spoke, a dreamy expression crossed Su Mu’s face—he seed intoxicated by the very idea of manipulating the human mind.
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