Chapter 98.3

Then the two of them stopped at the corner of the stairwell.

A moment later, the door to Lu Yi’s dorm room creaked open. Lin Shuyou stepped out cautiously, backpack on his shoulders.

Only after hearing him leave did Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin continue down the stairs.

They walked ahead, while Lin Shuyou followed behind, thinking he was being stealthy and unnoticed.

At the school gate, Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin split up to hail taxis—this was a known trick to increase the odds of catching a ride.

Li Zhuiyuan flagged one down first but didn’t get in right away. Instead, he negotiated the fare with the driver.

Once Tan Wenbin secured another cab, Li Zhuiyuan got into his own. Tan Wenbin promptly abandoned his ride and ran to join Li Zhuiyuan in the first car.

The driver of the second cab was about to start cursing when the rear door opened—Lin Shuyou got in.

“Driver, quick—follow that taxi up ahead.”

The human trafficker deal wasn’t until tomorrow. But considering the circus troupe needed to set up the venue and promote the show, they likely had already arrived today.

During a normal test, getting into the exam room early didn’t help… unless the test paper was already on the desk.

Li Zhuiyuan had reviewed the file on Granny Yu—but reading it was about as helpful as not reading it.

The police had only uncovered a minor branch of the group, perhaps someone who’d once trained under them or later operated alone.

The clay idol they had found had been propped up properly, but it was little more than a mascot.

People like this were truly strange—on one hand, believers in the supernatural; on the other, committing atrocities that defied both gods and humanity.

Tan Wenbin glanced over and saw Xiaoyuan-ge with a hardcover notebook, sketching something.

He looked closely: two lines extended from a single origin point.

The origin was marked “Myself.”

One line stretched from “Myself” through “Dorm,” “High heels,” “Lu Yi possessed,” “Subdued female ghost,” “Ran Qiuping’s letter”… leading eventually to “Beibei,” and finally “Granny Yu.”

The second line also began at “Myself,” then passed through “Bargain Shop,” “Sun Hongxia,” “Runsheng’s attack,” “Faceless Dead Sinker,” “Ran Qiuping’s letter”… eventually leading to “Chen Deliang” and “Shi Yuqing.”

Chen Deliang and Shi Yuqing formed a branching pair at the end.

The two lines shared one intersection: “Ran Qiuping’s letter.”

Thinking back to how Xiaoyuan-ge had once explained schoolwork to him, Tan Wenbin asked, “Xiaoyuan-ge, are these event lines? Or maybe… cause-effect lines?”

“Mm. I’m trying to figure out the test-setter’s thought process.”

Ever since he confirmed that his journey through the shade had begun, Li Zhuiyuan had focused on these two lines, hoping to resolve them as soon as possible.

At this point, both lines had been dealt with.

The high heels—Tang Qiuying’s line—ultimately led to Granny Yu.

But Qiu Minmin’s line… ended here.

“Xiaoyuan-ge, aside from both involving ‘Ran Qiuping’s letter,’ is there any other link between them?”

“You don’t have to follow them forward. Try tracing them backward.”

“Huh?”

“I think the lines are mutually directional.”

“Oh?”

“Binbin-ge, do you believe everything is fixed? That if something has happened, then it was bound to happen?”

“Well, yeah. What else could it be?”

“From a godlike, omniscient perspective, that’s correct. But from our limited view as individuals—can we really say that the things we don’t yet know, the things we think have already happened, are unchangeable?

“Think of it like this: until the final second before the shroud is lifted, the sculptor still has time to make changes to their work.”

“Xiaoyuan-ge, you mean we’re all being guided by unseen forces?”

“Pushed by the river’s current. When she was pushed toward me, from her perspective, it was me being pushed toward her.

“But in the actual process, whoever grabs hold of the thread first—can steer the wave that follows.”

“Like now. Look, if we trace Tang Qiuying’s line backward from Granny Yu, can’t it eventually lead to us?

“Wang Chaonan was originally planning to bring his fellow villager to the circus troupe tomorrow to buy a child.”

“So, if we hadn’t followed that line and found Granny Yu in advance—then Granny Yu would’ve followed that line and found us instead. We’d be the passive ones.”

“Exactly. Except…”

Li Zhuiyuan circled the names Chen Deliang and Shi Yuqing on the page.

“Except, why does Qiu Minmin’s line break here?”

…

“Liangliang, come on—come chase Daddy! If you catch me, I’ll buy you a toy car!”

“I’m coming, Daddy! Wait for me!”

A father and son ran and laughed across an open lot.

Their chase took them to a tent being assembled.

Several trucks were unloading—props of all kinds for the upcoming performance.

“Daddy, I got you! I caught you! Now I want a toy car, hehe!”

The man crouched down, ruffled his son’s hair, and asked, “Liangliang, how expensive a car do you want?”

“I don’t know. Any one you buy for me, I’ll love, hehe.”

“My good boy. Daddy will go ask how much they cost, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy!”

The man looked up toward two women walking his way from the tent.

One was young and attractive, with a graceful figure. The other, whom she supported, was hunched over—an old woman with a long face and drooping skin at the corners of her mouth.

He addressed them directly: “Name a price. How much can I get for him?”

There was deep venom in his eyes as he asked.

Heh. Shi Yuqing—bet you never imagined I’d sell off the bastard child you had with him!

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