Chapter 432 - 204: Let Me Ask You Something
Chapter 432: Chapter 204: Let Me Ask You Something
"So, when a single falsehood is mixed into the truth, it isn’t so conspicuous."
"And it’s not so eye-catching."
"...A pity that this one falsehood was the truly fatal part."
Miao Feichan sighed.
"And you even used me."
"The world’s best Lightweight Technique, a kind heart, a chivalrous spirit."
Chen Zhong chuckled lightly.
"In truth, you don’t care whether those performers live or die. In your eyes, while they may have been forced, evil is still evil."
"If you had been killed by them, could it all be brushed aside with a simple, ’we were forced’?"
"But a villager who shouldn’t have died, who managed to survive by a stroke of luck..."
"...that truly moved you to pity."
"You might have even started thinking about his future and where he would go."
"That’s why you spoke to Fang Shuwen the way you did. You hoped those performers would feel indebted."
"So that they might take care of this poor old man in the future."
"Am I right?"
Miao Feichan’s expression darkened.
"A pity the real Chen Zhong is also dead."
"Everyone in this village was wiped out completely..."
"Night Rain Tower is truly formidable. Your insight into the human heart is unlike anything I have ever seen."
"What choice did I have?"
Chen Zhong sighed.
"If my fists were strong enough, why would I need to resort to such schemes and tricks?"
"But since my fists aren’t, I have no choice but to use my brain."
"Fortunately, everything is under control... What I didn’t expect, however, was that the Demon Evil God, who seems so clever, would actually choose to leave you behind. It seems his reputation is greater than the man."
"I know you’re trying to stall for time by talking. Don’t worry. Fang Shuwen is twenty li away, and he won’t be returning empty-handed."
"Over a dozen Rain Souls and more than a hundred Rain Curtains are waiting for him there... That should be enough to keep him busy for a while."
"Although, I can’t help but entertain the possibility... what if the Demon Evil God really does die at the hands of my Night Rain Tower?"
"You really dare to dream."
That voice did not belong to Miao Feichan.
Chen Zhong’s face instantly turned ugly. In a flash, his figure vanished into the rain.
But then there was a THUD.
He was forcibly knocked right back out of the curtain of rain.
His body drifted backward in a sudden retreat, not stopping until he reached the edge of the courtyard.
He snapped his head up, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Fang Shuwen!? You... how are you here?"
Fang Shuwen was now standing beside Miao Feichan. He tapped her shoulder casually, and the pressure point he had sealed was instantly released.
"How are you?"
"I’m fine... You really didn’t leave."
Miao Feichan looked at Fang Shuwen, her gaze complicated.
"How on earth did you figure it out?"
The moment Chen Zhong had jumped out, Fang Shuwen’s parting words—’Don’t celebrate too soon’—and the fact that he had willingly left her here all rushed back to her.
These things had felt strange to her before, but she hadn’t given them much thought. Now that she considered it, how could she not understand?
’Fang Shuwen is the kind of person who insists on staying in the same room with me even when we rest at night. How could he possibly abandon me here under these circumstances? Even if this village was safe... how could it be safer than by Fang Shuwen’s side? So, perhaps I was the only one who was deceived from the very beginning... Fang Shuwen was just playing along, trying to lure the snake out of its hole.’
"It was simple... In the secret room where he was hiding, there was nothing out of the ordinary," Fang Shuwen said.
Miao Feichan was confused.
"Nothing out of the ordinary... What’s wrong with that?"
"That nothing was out of the ordinary *was* the biggest anomaly of all."
Fang Shuwen smiled.
"He was trapped in there alone for days, unable to open the door. If you eat, don’t you have to shit? If you drink, don’t you have to piss?"
"There wasn’t the slightest stench in that secret room. Is that reasonable?"
Miao Feichan was speechless for a moment.
Although she also had experience hiding in a secret room, she had been smoked into unconsciousness at the time, and it hadn’t been for nearly as long. As a result, when this situation arose, she hadn’t thought of that detail at all.
"But that wasn’t the only flaw. The other flaws, however, you would only notice if you were already suspicious of him."
"Take the man in black... his timing was too perfect."
"From the moment we arrived at the Chen Residence, we suspected everyone inside and tried every possible way to investigate, but we found nothing."
"Then we found this ’Chen Zhong,’ and everything suddenly became clear. We learned what had previously happened at the Chen Residence."
"After exposing Chen Jinwang, we learned another part of the inside story."
"And the future plans... At this point, given the status of Chen Jinwang and his group, it’s impossible that they would have known the next step."
"So, Night Rain Tower sent the man in black."
"This was clearly someone deliberately guiding us."
"They were using different people to piece together, bit by bit, a truth for us—one they were certain we’d believe."
"If I hadn’t noticed something odd about that ’Chen Zhong,’ it would have been very difficult to suspect anything about what happened afterward."
"They put in all this effort with one goal: to send me twenty li away, giving them the perfect opportunity to strike."
Fang Shuwen explained all of this to Miao Feichan in one breath.
But upon hearing this, ’Chen Zhong’ and the other Night Rain Tower masters in the courtyard wore incredibly ugly expressions.
The trap they had so meticulously designed was, in Fang Shuwen’s eyes, utterly riddled with flaws.
In fact, if Fang Shuwen hadn’t intended to use ’Chen Zhong’ to lure out the rest of them...
...he would have killed him with a single palm strike long ago.
Why else would he have wasted so much time playing along with them?