Chapter 171 - 158: So It Was You

Yin Zhen stood in the shadows. The dim yellow light from deep within the alley spilled down, illuminating the woman who was holding a white paper lantern and slowly walking out of the darkness.

The woman’s face was so perfect it bordered on eerie. She wore a dark green velvet qipao that accentuated her flawless curves without a single superfluous flaw. Her makeup and hairstyle resembled a female star from an old Shanghai pictorial—slender, arched eyebrows, cherry-red lips, and skin as white as porcelain. Paired with a set of jadeite jewelry, every detail was so exquisitely refined that it felt rigid.

She pinched the filthy rabbit doll, furrowing her brows in disgust at the thought of it soiling her elegant outfit. Looking Yin Zhen up and down, her nostrils flared slightly as a flash of confusion and suspicion crossed her eyes.

Yin Zhen’s own Talent, The Birth of an Actor, overlapped with Qiao Yun’s inherent Talent, Superb Acting Skills. This allowed her to instantly slip into character at this moment. However, her face remained completely devoid of expression, her eyes revealing a cold indifference that showed no interest in anything.

Facing the woman’s unspoken inquiry, Yin Zhen raised her hand and roughly wiped her cheek and neck. Several streaks of half-dried, dark red blood clung to her skin. It was the blood of the man from earlier, which Yin Zhen had intentionally left uncleaned. She had attempted resonance, but it had failed, just like it did with Zoe. Unwilling to give up, she had wanted to find an empty place to try again.

"Got splattered with some filth."

The woman’s gaze followed her movement, landing on the bloodstains before sweeping over several other dark smudges on Yin Zhen’s clothes.

"Is that so?" she said, remaining noncommittal. She casually discarded the doll in her hand, and the moment it hit the ground, it vanished into thin air. "I am here to *take* you to see the incense master!" The woman deliberately enunciated the word "take" heavily and slowly, lacing it with a distinct threat.

Yin Zhen keenly caught this detail. She instantly realized that before she crossed over into this body, there was a high probability Qiao Yun had been trying to escape this incense master. Did Qiao Yun allow herself to be caught on purpose? If so, this incense master had to be an incredibly formidable figure—so formidable that Qiao Yun needed to use the authorities to break free. The rabbit doll relentlessly chasing Qiao Yun was likely a warning from him, reminding her that escaping his control was impossible.

Unwilling to waste words on unnecessary conversation, Yin Zhen kept her face wooden and motioned for the woman to lead the way.

"Glad you know what’s good for you." The flame inside the paper lantern the woman held suddenly turned green. She brushed past Yin Zhen and continued walking deeper into the alley.

Under the eerie green glow of the lantern, a cold, damp fog began to rise, obscuring everything. The hustle and bustle of the city faded away, leaving absolute silence without a single ambient noise. The fog grew so thick that Yin Zhen could not even clearly see the woman less than five steps ahead. She could only hear the sharp CLACK CLACK CLACK of high heels striking the ground and see that cluster of sickly green ghost fire.

Fortunately, the woman was walking very slowly, as if deliberately mimicking the refined steps of a lady from the Republic of China era. This gave Yin Zhen enough time to quickly describe her current situation to Bai Qiang through the system. In real life, Yin Zhen had never had the chance to interact with a sociopath, and their portrayals in movies and TV shows were notoriously inaccurate. She needed to consult Bai Qiang about how someone like Qiao Yun should react when facing the very incense master she had been trying to escape.

[Blossoming Prosperity]: (Blah, blah, blah—a massive wall of text.)

[Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence (Instant Reply Edition)]: Big sis, I just got home from working overtime. How is your daily life so thrilling? I’m just seeing patients and prescribing meds, seeing patients and prescribing meds. The most exciting thing that happened today was a psychiatric patient suddenly taking a crap in my consultation room. Ahhh, this isn’t fair!

[Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence]: Damn it! The dog system just popped up a mission for me. Me and my big mouth!

While waiting for Bai Qiang’s advice, Yin Zhen quickly scrolled through the system shop a few times. It had been nearly thirty hours since the two thousand Players entered the Autumn Tomb World. New Items suited for this specific world were bound to have spawned by now. She refreshed the page continuously and actually managed to find some useful common Items.

"Emotion Suppressor" and "Emotion Amplifier" were both priced at 500 words per bottle.

[Emotion Suppressor]: Effectively suppresses all current emotions, rendering the user’s mind as calm as still water. Duration: 10 minutes. Warning! Suppression causes a rebound effect. Once the drug wears off, your emotions will fluctuate violently.

Yin Zhen briefly skimmed the Explanation and unhesitatingly redeemed a bottle of the Emotion Suppressor.

After following the woman through the eerie fog for about ten minutes, the surrounding mist suddenly began to dissipate, and her field of vision gradually cleared. They were now standing in an antique-looking courtyard; every corner exuded an aged yet exquisite atmosphere. The light in the woman’s paper lantern returned to normal. Blowing out the candle inside, she led Yin Zhen through a circular moon gate. Straight ahead was the main hall of the courtyard.

A man stood in the center of the main hall, his back turned to Yin Zhen. He wore a strangely designed silk robe; its patterns and texture looked exactly like a burial shroud meant for the dead.

"You can explain yourself to the incense master," the woman said, turning on her heel and leaving.

Yin Zhen used the Emotion Suppressor. All her surging tension and anxiety, and even her subconscious fear, began to rapidly recede. Once her mind settled into a state of near-absolute tranquility, she strode confidently toward the main hall.

The man in the hall turned around. When Yin Zhen got a clear look at him, even under the effects of the Emotion Suppressor, she almost couldn’t stop a look of utter shock from crossing her face. This incense master was pinching a black wooden bracelet in his hand. He was target number one on her kill list—the bracelet man!

Yin Zhen was truly numb from the sheer intensity of it all. She had never expected the system to play such a massive, high-stakes hand right from the very beginning. First came the mystery surrounding her Identity, followed closely by the protagonist getting directly in her face. And now, it had straight-up granted her wish, delivering her right to the doorstep of the bracelet man. She sensed the system’s twisted sense of humor. It was as if it were mocking her, saying, "You wanted to kill them, didn’t you? Then do it. Let’s see you kill one right now. Let’s see how capable you really are."

"You’ve taken your little game a bit too far this time!" the incense master said bluntly.

"Sorry to put you through the trouble." Showing absolutely no regard for his status, Yin Zhen walked straight to a chair, casually tossed her laptop bag aside, and sat down.

Although the incense master was displeased with her attitude, the suspicion in his heart was actually slightly dispelled by her consistently insolent demeanor. Yin Zhen picked up the teapot and poured herself a glass of water. She looked as though she didn’t want to engage with him at all, practically wearing an expression that said, "Just kill me already."

Yin Zhen had basically grasped the behavioral logic of a sociopath that Bai Qiang had analyzed for her. Bai Qiang had explained that sociopaths could not control their murderous desires. This stemmed from an inner sense of emptiness. Because they lacked normal human emotions, they required a kind of extreme emotional compensation to alleviate their inherent boredom. Killing—especially taking a life at close range—was the most potent stimulus Qiao Yun could find to make herself feel alive. When a person’s life or death rested entirely on her whim, this sense of control reached its absolute peak, allowing her to experience a god-like omnipotence.

After killing, Qiao Yun would achieve a fleeting high, but it wouldn’t be long before she was swallowed up once again by an even deeper abyss of nothingness. Therefore, she would uncontrollably and continuously repeat the cycle of hunting and killing, plunging deeper into depravity each time.

Qiao Yun had replaced Qiao Mu at the age of eight. Even if a child of that age couldn’t control herself and laid hands on her older sister, it would have been impossible for her to perfectly play the role of her sister for the next nine years. As she grew up, her irrepressible instincts would have inevitably driven her to kill many people. Her Advanced Dismemberment Skills had also been honed over these nine years, along with her Intermediate Dagger Fighting Skill. She needed someone to guide and nurture her, someone to clean up her messes and ensure she could return to a normal life after committing murder. That person was undoubtedly the incense master.

Bai Qiang had noted that Qiao Yun wanting to escape the incense master’s control was perfectly in line with her psychology. Sociopaths craved the highest level of control. Being controlled by the incense master was the exact antithesis of the dominance Qiao Yun desired. Coupled with the fact that nine years of the killing game were no longer enough to satisfy her, she had opted for a far more thrilling method. She had single-handedly destroyed the "happy family" stage the incense master had meticulously built for her. Then, she surrendered without a fight, thoroughly enjoying the interrogation process, watching as everyone was fooled by her stellar acting, and anticipating the sight of the incense master flying into a rage over losing control of her.

What Qiao Yun needed was a game, absolute control, and ultimately, to win! She was an extremely troublesome and dangerous figure—a double-edged sword for anyone who sought to wield her. For the incense master to have cultivated her for nine years, he had to be scheming for a much greater return on his investment.

Therefore, Yin Zhen had no need to fear him now. She needed to seize this opportunity to gauge his true strength and begin formulating a plan to kill him.

At this moment, the psychologies of Yin Zhen and Qiao Yun synchronized in perfect resonance. Select the prey, observe the prey, devise a plan, find the stage for the performance, and then—complete the masterpiece and revel in the sense of accomplishment.

Staring at the incense master, Yin Zhen’s eyes gradually brightened, and the corners of her mouth curled up involuntarily.

The incense master felt a chill in his heart under her gaze. The very first time he had laid eyes on an eight-year-old Qiao Yun, she had been standing by a lake, watching her biological older sister flail desperately in the water. She had worn this exact same expression.