Chapter 169: I Am Acting, and So Are You

Hum!

Something exploded deep inside Old Ghost's mind.

For decades, he had seen too many clever fools, and personally dealt with too many newcomers who thought they could escape their fate.

His eyes were like a ruler, one that measured the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth.

Yet today, that ruler had shattered.

The young man standing before him, known as "A-Zhe," reeked of wrongness from head to toe.

It was not the calm of a gambler.

Neither was it the calm of a dying man.

It was... the calm of a cat that had caught a mouse, not rushing to sink its teeth in, but simply wanting to play its fill first.

"You... what did you say?"

Old Ghost's throat felt as dry as smoking tinder, every single word scraping with a harsh, abrasive friction.

The darkness did not impair his vision, but for the first time, it made him feel the meaning of sheer panic.

Chen Yu smiled.

He took a single step forward.

At that exact movement, Old Ghost instinctively wanted to retreat, but his legs felt as though they had been poured full of lead.

"I said, stop acting. You haven't grown tired of playing this role for days, but watching you makes *me* exhausted."

Chen Yu's voice carried a distinct mockery.

"Ever since you had Sister Ping slip that 'map' into my hands, didn't this little play begin?"

The map!

Old Ghost's pupils violently contracted.

"That piece of trash was never any kind of escape map."

Chen Yu's voice echoed through the empty storage room, every single word landing like a heavy hammer.

"It was an exam paper—or rather, a 'pledge of allegiance'."

"Every single marked safety point is a damned trap."

"Beneath the moss in the western corner hides a pressure-triggered device, set at such a tricky angle; I really have to hand it to you bastards for thinking of that one."

"And that patch of grass to the south, buried beneath it are spring-loaded steel spikes guaranteed to pierce straight through anyone who steps on them."

"Quite ruthless, aren't you? Using human lives to screen for 'smart people'—your organization certainly has high standards."

Every word Chen Yu uttered struck directly at the heart.

Old Ghost was rendered utterly speechless.

The flesh on his face twitched uncontrollably, and his vicious eyes were filled with horror for the very first time.

How... how could he possibly know this?!

These traps were top secrets paid for with countless human lives and bloody lessons!

"Surprised?"

Chen Yu closed in by another step, the distance between them narrowing until they could feel each other's breath.

"Don't rush, the things that will truly surprise you are still yet to come."

"Me getting beaten up by that idiot Scarface in the junkyard? That was all acted out for you to see."

"Me intentionally pouring that bucket of stinking slop—vile enough to kill a man—over his head? That was also acted out for you to see."

Chen Yu's tone turned playful, much like an old friend sharing an amusing joke.

"I had to make you believe that while I might have a rebellious streak, my brain isn't entirely functional; impulsive, foolish, and easily controlled. Simply the perfect candidate for you to recruit as a subordinate, right?"

"Those little flaws I deliberately exposed under your very nose these past few days—like hiding food, or wandering around in the middle of the night..."

Chen Yu curled his lip, his entire face plastered with the expression of *you fell right for it*.

"Those were all things I meant for you to see. If I didn't dangle a bit of bait, how could an old fish like you ever bite the hook?"

Old Ghost's breathing grew heavy and ragged.

He felt as though he wasn't facing a man in his early twenties, but rather a specter that had lived for hundreds of years.

The worldly experience and scheming he took such pride in were reduced to mere toddler tricks before this kid, stripped completely bare without a shred of dignity left.

The self-confidence and psychological advantage he had built over decades were collapsing inch by inch.

"Who... who the hell are you?" Old Ghost's voice now trembled.

"Who I am doesn't matter."

Chen Yu's gaze suddenly sharpened, locking onto Old Ghost's eyes with unyielding intensity.

"What matters is that Sister Ping never died at all, did she?"

Sister Ping!

That name completely breached Old Ghost's final line of defense.

"That so-called execution was a play from start to finish!"

Chen Yu's voice rose once more.

"A performance staged for the true masters of the manor, telling them that yet another disobedient piece of trash had been dealt with."

"At the same time, it was the final test designed for me, the 'candidate'."

"To see whether, upon witnessing death, I would completely break down or grow even more unhinged, and to see whether... I was truly worth absorbing into your ranks."

Old Ghost's body swayed, nearly unable to stand upright.

He couldn't understand it.

He genuinely couldn't fathom it.

His relationship with Sister Ping was the deepest secret between them, their only fatal weakness in this living hell.

Aside from themselves, it was impossible for a third person to know!

How on earth had this kid before him figured it out?!

"Want to know why I'm so certain?"

Chen Yu caught the shifting thoughts in his mind and hooked the corner of his mouth.

He muttered inwardly, *"The [Causality Resonance] skill is genuinely annoying sometimes. When I don't want to resonate, all sorts of messy emotions flood into my mind like a tidal wave."*

*"Still, I have to thank this ability."*

Chen Yu extended a single finger, coming perilously close to touching the tip of Old Ghost's nose.

"When Sister Ping shoved that wretched map into my hands, I could sense that she wasn't just giving me a piece of paper, but a heavy trust."

"And you..."

Chen Yu paused, recalling the seemingly cold expression Old Ghost had worn from a distance back then.

"When you watched her being dragged away, your scent... it was far too strong."

"That wasn't the cold indifference of a foreman watching a disposable waste-fly being executed."

"It was the pain of... watching the most important thing in your life being snatched away, yet being forced to fiercely suppress every single trace of emotion."

"An ordinary waste-fly, or a newly recruited subordinate you'd just picked up, simply wouldn't carry that kind of weight."

"There is only one possibility that could cause an old fox to fail so thoroughly at keeping up his disguise."

Chen Yu pronounced each word as though delivering a judge's verdict.

"She is your woman."

Boom!

Old Ghost's psychological defenses completely breached the dam.

He staggered backward two steps, his back slamming heavily against the cold wall, while the rubber baton in his hand slipped to the floor with a loud *clatter*.

Everything he took pride in had been effortlessly pulverized by the young man before him in a way he could not begin to comprehend.

This was no longer a contest on the level of strategy.

This was dimensional reduction warfare.

This young man named "A-Zhe" was like a player running a full-map hack, looking down on him as a pathetic creature struggling hopelessly inside a maze.

All his disguises, all his calculations, and all his forbearance had become a joke in the eyes of his opponent.

Within the darkness, only the heavy sound of Old Ghost's breathing remained.

For a long time.

So long that Chen Yu was starting to grow impatient.

"Sigh..."

A long, drawn-out sigh squeezed its way out of Old Ghost's throat.

That single sigh seemed to drain away every ounce of his spirit and vitality.

His entire frame slumped over, his back hunching as if he had aged ten years in a split second.

The dark, vicious, and ruthless aura that had lingered around him for years vanished without a trace.

"You... won."

Old Ghost spoke in a raspy voice, bitterness dripping from every syllable.

"All of us misjudged you."

"You aren't any kind of person we anticipated... you are far more terrifying than we could have ever imagined."

Those words amounted to an admission of every single deduction Chen Yu had made.

The stone in Chen Yu's chest finally landed safely.

Damn it, the gamble paid off.

This old bastard really was on his side.

"Cut the crap." Chen Yu resumed his impatient tone. "The play's over, time to talk business. Tell me, where is Sister Ping?"

Old Ghost lifted his head, then slowly bent down to retrieve the rubber baton from the floor, though he simply held it in his hand without a shred of remaining threat.

"Follow me."

In Old Ghost's voice, pretense was entirely gone.

"She... wants to see you, too."