Free Web NovelA truly skilled player had to dare to make judgments.
When Lin Yu led Seagull and Li Nian upstairs, sure enough, at a table by the window with an excellent view, they spotted High Mountain keeping watch!
And there was an unexpected bonus...
Sitting across the same table was Snowy Owl.
Why the two were sitting together and what identities they held could be immediately determined by observing their clothing.
"Well, well, they're both officials!"
Lin Yu couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at their gray uniforms.
Snowy Owl and High Mountain must have met up right after entering Willow Town due to their similar identities.
After all, both of them were wearing the clothes of Willow Town's constables, and they even carried sabers.
Seeing this, Lin Yu felt somewhat relieved.
Now it seemed that Snowy Owl, who was most likely to directly clash with Zhu Qiansi, had been persuaded by the rational High Mountain.
"Risk has been reduced again, and aside from the employer, all players are gathered—that's a good thing," fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Lin Yu muttered to himself.
The sound of the three of them climbing the stairs was also noticed by Snowy Owl and High Mountain.
When they looked over, they also showed some surprise and waved the three over.
"Come, sit down."
High Mountain stood up to welcome them.
The reason for their surprised expressions was, of course, not because they hadn't expected Lin Yu, Li Nian, and Seagull to find them.
It was obviously because one of the three's appearance and condition didn't match their memory. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"How did you become a woman, Seagull?"
"No idea—I guess the identity I merged with was just a young mistress," Seagull said, already getting used to it, shamelessly and carefreely. "Who knows what's going on... Did you two start off together?"
High Mountain shook his head. "Not exactly together, but pretty close, since we were in the same government office... I found her not long after arriving by chance."
"And you three?"
"We met on the way here separately," Lin Yu replied. "As for my employer... knowing his personality, he probably won't come."
"Even if he can figure out that we're here to deal with Zhu Qiansi, I doubt he'd be willing to go there himself... but that's fine anyway, since he wouldn't be of much help."
As Lin Yu spoke, High Mountain pondered for a moment before speaking.
"So, we're just waiting for that Taoist Mystic Cloud Master now... Should we keep waiting?"
High Mountain said, and Snowy Owl looked eager. "I say we don't need to wait. That old Taoist might have other arrangements and methods... We're already gathered. Maybe we can try contacting Zhu Qiansi now."
"Even though it's risky, I think it's worth a try... After all, Zhu Qiansi is rewriting the past, and time isn't on our side."
Snowy Owl proposed a somewhat aggressive plan but also gave a compelling reason for it.
This reason even somewhat convinced Li Nian.
"Indeed, although rashly approaching Zhu Qiansi will almost certainly lead to uncontrollable events, continuing to drag things out is also granting that demon's wish."
Li Nian thought it over but still looked to Lin Yu.
"What do you think, Sister Yao?"
Lin Yu looked out the window. By now, the sky had darkened, and the scenery on the road grew dimmer. Shops on both sides lit torches and lanterns, casting a bright, illuminated scene that formed a beautiful night view.
The fall of night did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those seeking fortunes; they still crowded around the entrance.
Watching the bustling crowd, Lin Yu spoke in a low voice.
"Now isn't the right time."
"Then when is the right time?" High Mountain asked in return. "Do you know something inside?"
"We need to wait for someone to appear," Lin Yu said after a moment's hesitation. "I don't know the inside story, but I was thinking... Since Zhu Qiansi is rewriting Willow Town's and her own 'sealed' past, could the current time point in Willow Town be 'before the sealing'?"
"If so, then later, might we be able to see the person who sealed her back then—the Taiqing Sect Founder—passing through here?"
"Even though he isn't under the influence of Causality Silk, in this 'Phantom Realm of Willow Town,' even those who weren't implanted with Causality Silk might still be recreated—through the memories stored in others' Causality Silk."
"After all, I can see that many of Willow Town's residents are vivid... but there's also a portion—about twenty to thirty percent—who don't feel as three-dimensional or real as the others. They're naturally more 'artificial'... as if their 'method of generation' is different."
The other players were stunned.
Only after Lin Yu mentioned this did they realize that about twenty to thirty percent of the residents did seem more like NPCs compared to the others!
And this ratio... happened to match the proportion of residents who had been implanted with Causality Silk versus those who hadn't—which seemed far from coincidental.
Of course, Lin Yu hadn't said everything.
He also had another suspicion...
What if the Taiqing Sect Founder back then hadn't actually avoided being implanted with Causality Silk?
Or, to put it another way...
Could Zhu Qiansi's ability possibly work on the dead as well?
"So with that reasoning, there seems to be a possibility of encountering the Taiqing Sect Founder. But how can we be sure?"
High Mountain asked uncertainly.
"That's exactly why we need to observe. There's no better plan right now anyway,"
Lin Yu said, while Snowy Owl raised her own objection. "But how do we confirm it? If we wait until the Taiqing Sect Founder takes action, it might already be too late... By then, Zhu Qiansi would have long since prepared and set things up."
"The best-case scenario is, of course, to contact the Taiqing Sect Founder before he acts... After all, based on Mystic Cloud Master's description, the Taiqing Sect Founder didn't make a move as soon as he discovered Zhu Qiansi. He observed and planned for quite a while before unleashing the Hundred Calamity Forbidden Art."
"Otherwise, how would that founder have discovered that seventy to eighty percent of Willow Town's population had been implanted with Causality Silk?"
Lin Yu's words struck a chord with Li Nian. "Indeed. Back then, besides Zhu Qiansi, the most crucial figure in Willow Town was naturally the Taiqing Sect Founder."
"So doesn't that mean we should find that old Taoist first?" Seagull said after thinking it over. "After all, only that old Taoist knows what his own founder looks like."
"And Willow Town is a big town. We can't just grab every Taoist we see and ask if they're from the Taiqing Sect... That would be way too obvious!"
Lin Yu waved his hand.
"We don't need Mystic Cloud Master. I happen to know what the Taiqing Sect Founder looks like!"
After all, he had looked through the [Fear Lens] before entering.
That Taiqing Sect Founder was definitely one of the two blue-robed Taoists!
