Chapter 34: Di Kuang
The school made it convenient for the third years by reserving the first and second floor of the dormitory building for them. Bai Xu lived in the first floor dorm.
Zeng Jingrou had just said that Liu Muqing was stronger than Lin Jingxue in terms of grades, sports, and arts. However, she didn’t get a chance to play piano because of her impoverished family background. Therefore, she was a bit weaker in music than Li Jingxue. In other words, Liu Muqing had top-notch art skills.
Liu Muqing was a first year student two years ago. Her dorm was on the fourth floor. She died in between the third and fourth floor. Her head was left on the third floor within another space. There was no reason for her to go to the first and second floor. With that, it should be fairly safe to search the two floors.
However, the dormitory nanny on the first floor never dared to leave her room at night. The door was tightly locked and even if soone scread at the top of their lungs outside, she wouldn’t open it. This ant that the first and second floors were very dangerous. The existence inside may not be able to suppress Liu Muqing. At the very least, their powers were evenly matched, and neither party could infringe upon one another.
From Lin Jingxue’s perspective, she viewed Liu Muqing as her opponent and believed that the latter always beat her down. But from other people’s perspectives, Liu Muqing lacked money. This was a fatal weakness. Outsiders would still think Lin Jingxue was the more outstanding one, and her million-dollar watch only made her all the more enviable.
Bai Xu was Lin Jingxue’s good friend. If she was truly jealous, then all her hate would be directed towards the eye-catching Lin Jingxue. There was no reason for her to hate Liu Muqing unless there was so particular incident that made her hate both of them.
Based on the Mona Lisa campus legend and the clues they’ve collected so far, Xing Ye could determine that Bai Xu had so animosity with Liu Muqing and it should have sothing to do with the painting.
Of course, all of this could just be explained as a coincidence. However, Xing Ye never believed in coincidences. Everything that happened by chance would always have a multitude of interconnected factors behind it.
So after confirming “Mona Lisa’s Slight Smile” was a copy of the painting Bai Xu submitted to the competition, Xing Ye believed there was a 70% chance that the actual painting would be on the first floor of the special mission space.
Cao Qian after hearing Xing Ye’s explanation: “...”
Were we really playing the sa ga? From start to finish, did we ever really do anything together? Do I even have a brain? Cao Qian secretly started to doubt herself.
Di Kuang was still sohow able to formulate a reply. “Zeng Jingrou said Bai Xu was still in school and treated her very kindly- I find that strange. The headmaster also knew about the man in Room 404, aning he also knows what happened that day. Both people involved in the incident died. Although it’s possible that the headmaster might’ve chosen to hide the truth to protect the school’s reputation, there’s no way he would allow a troublemaker like Bai Xu to stay in the school. If it were , I would’ve used the video to threaten Bai Xu into transferring away.”
After the call, they went to find Di Kuang and the group had another eting on the rooftops to discuss the truth. Lin Jingxue continued to follow Xing Ye, but only he could see her.
When she heard Di Kuang wanted Bai Xu expelled, Lin Jingxue patted his shoulder in satisfaction with a smile that seed to say ‘you have hope’.
Di Kuang looked back, baffled. “Who patted my shoulder just now?”
Cao Qian, who was sitting beside him: “...”
Xing Ye, who knew everything, stayed silent. Right now, it was better not to divulge too much.
“There’s nobody behind ? Could it be that shoulder patting campus legend?” Di Kuang spectated, “So the reason why you always choose to et here is because it triggers the shoulder tapping event?”
“You’re overthinking,” Xing Ye said, “Cao Qian patted you just now. She was just too fast for you to notice.”
Cao Qian didn’t deny it, tacitly agreeing.
Di Kuang looked at the two suspiciously, but Cao Qian’s face was as blank as ever and Xing Ye’s acting was just too good. He couldn’t see the ghost either, so all he could do was just suspiciously set it aside in his mory.
“So tonight, we’re going to explore the first and second floors of the girls dormitory to find that painting?” Di Kuang asked.
“I don’t think it’s possible to enter the special mission space from the first or second floor stairs. Liu Muqing died on the stairs between the third and the fourth. The reason why we were unexpectedly able to enter was probably due to Wu Yu’s good luck.” Xing Ye stared at Di Kuang. He was the only one who ca to the rooftops. The other three Following Fate players were not here.
“That’s reasonable, but if we enter the mission space from the staircase to the fourth floor, we’ll definitely have to pass through the third floor to go to the first or second floors. The third floor has that human head… it looks like we have to find the human head to pass the third floor first before we can move onto the first and second floors.” Di Kuang said.
“Are your other teammates searching for the human head right now?” Xing Ye deliberately asked.
“Following fate players have good luck, so it’s better to assign them for tasks like searching. When it cos to things that need a brain, it’s better if I just do it.” Di Kuang said.
Xing Ye smiled slightly, “I just realized it’s pretty good for opposing fate players to work with the following fate players. They have enough luck for the opposing fate players to just leech off them.”
Di Kuang’s expression darkened as a storm started to brew in his eyes.
Xing Ye wasn’t afraid of him at all as he drawled, “Manipulating sobody seems difficult, but under the right circumstances, brainwashing sobody is actually very easy. When they’re in a desperate situation, all you have to do is show your crushing superiority. Whether that superiority is real or fake, it’ll implant a deep-rooted belief in their subconsciousness: I was about to die, but that person can save . If I listen to him, I’ll be able to live.
“If you continue to reinforce this idea over ti, they form a sense of psychological dependence on you and believe that they can’t do anything on their own. It’ll only work if they listen to that person.
“It’s actually a very simple form of manipulation and makes up the core of many cults and multi-level marketing sches.”
Di Kuang picked up his phone and without another word, Cao Qian aid her gun at his head.
Di Kuang sneered when he felt the cold sensation at the back of his head. “Aren’t you also manipulating her?”
“He didn’t,” Cao Qian said, “I know what it feels like to be controlled. It is when I clearly know it’s not right. I feel stifled, but I can’t escape because I think there’s no way I could leave him and make it through by myself.”
But Xing Ye never gave Cao Qian a feeling like that. He always told her to think for herself and worked in a way so that she would beco stronger as well.
“Don’t do anything. He won’t kill
yet since we’re still working together. There’s still two campus legends left. Di Kuang is a very logical person, so there’s no way he would tear down the bridge before crossing the river.” Xing Ye said.
Logic was often synonymous with caution and caution was just another word for timid. A cautious person wouldn’t do anything until they were 100% sure.
Xing Ye told Di Kuang, “I understand your way of thinking. With the Opposing Fate Camp’s bad luck, it’s hard for them to win. Fortunately, you can freely team up in lee type worlds and lee worlds can’t be won by completely relying on luck. Finding a chance to attack when they’re psychologically weak to control the following fate players and take advantage of their luck is a pretty good idea.”
Just as he said that, sobody climbed up on the rooftops. It was Guan Ling.
Guan Ling was a player Xing Ye had yet to directly interact with. He took out three sheets of paper and turned to Di Kuang, “Di Bro, I found three QR codes, one each in the library, music room, and boys dormitory.”
Di Kuang had yet to accept them when Cao Qian kicked Guan Ling’s arm, causing the QR codes to drop on the rooftops.
Xing Ye didn’t move, just staring at the QR codes while saying to Cao Qian, “Don’t act without thinking, we aren’t here to fight for QR codes.”
Di Kuang instantly turned anxious when he saw the QR codes flying everywhere. Many pairs of hands suddenly grew from his body, two of which he used to restrain Cao Qian while the other hands reached to collect the QR codes.
Cao Qian was very strong and quickly threw him off. She also didn’t have the intent to fight for the QR codes.
After collecting all the QR codes, Di Kuang asked angrily: “What were you trying to do?”
“Just checking our new teammate’s strength and reaction ti, that’s all.” Xing Ye said leisurely, “Although we’re cooperating, you also know that it’ll only last until the night of the full moon. By then, we’ll definitely be enemies. What’s the problem with trying to sound you out a little before that? Don’t tell
you don’t want to try and probe
out too? Would you really be at ease if I keep acting all polite and courteous?”
The three questions one after another dispelled Di Kuang’s anger a little. He swiftly scanned the three QR codes with his phone, releasing a sigh of relief when he saw the pages disappear, before turning to look at Xing Ye. “Don’t think of playing any tricks, or I’ll just get rid of you guys now.”
“Is that so?” Xing Ye looked at Guan Ling, “Did you give the mory card you dug out from the cafeteria garden to Di Kuang?”
Di Kuang looked at Guan Ling suspiciously, “What mory card? Wasn’t the mory card with Xing Ye?”
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