Chapter 35: Dead Fish Eyes

“Your progress has increased.” The System hurriedly changed the subject.

Luo Shang set down his fishing rod at those words and opened the semitransparent panel.

The overall progress had risen to 18 percent after the Recognition Banquet ended, but now it showed 19 percent.

The System’s progress bar tracked Luo Shang’s personal Fate Line. Reaching 100 percent would mean he had accomplished his goal, resolved his crisis, and could sever all ties with the Native World from that point on.

“It’s probably because my actions yesterday influenced certain people, and whatever they did as a result counted toward my progress,” Luo Shang said.

In the original novel, both Shen Zhulin and Li Lingran were characters deceived or manipulated by Su Shang into obstructing Su Mingyao and Shen Changqing’s path to happiness.

Of course, Luo Shang had already decided to excise Li Lingran from the story entirely, handling all of Su Shang’s original instructions to him personally.

So after the Recognition Banquet, instead of reaching out to Li Lingran to pour out his woes like in the original work, Luo Shang had gone to the river to fish for fun.

That was a move straight out of the original, where Su Shang had done it to evoke even greater pity from Li Lingran—making him believe Su Shang could rely on no one else, which sent him head over heels into targeting Su Mingyao.

In truth, Luo Shang’s decision not to seek out Li Lingran had indirectly saved both him and the Li Family.

Unlike Shen Zhulin, who could be redeemed in the story, Li Lingran met a grim end in the original.

After offending Su Mingyao and Shen Changqing, Shen Changqing dug up evidence of Li Lingran’s mom Li Fubo’s affairs and indiscretions. He sent it not only to her husband Li Jifu—which shattered the Li couple’s facade of marital harmony, sparking rumors of asset splits and divorce—but also tipped off gossip influencers to spread it far and wide for the public to devour.

The Li Family’s company stock tanked as a result. Shen Changqing then executed a series of maneuvers that bankrupted them entirely. He used the profits to buy Su Mingyao a private island, where the two later honeymooned after their wedding.

By contrast, the Li Family’s downfall stripped Li Lingran of the means to keep harassing Su Mingyao, leaving Su Shang without his patron and driving him to greater extremes.

Luo Shang’s hands-off approach kept Li Lingran out of the original plotline altogether. The Li Family thus escaped Shen Changqing’s wrath and bankruptcy, letting Li Lingran enjoy his life as the family’s young master for decades to come.

Short-term, it meant Li Lingran couldn’t serve as Luo Shang’s flirtation target—no fun there emotionally. But long-term, safeguarding the Li Family’s fortune was well worth it.

Of course, that was just a side benefit. The real reason was that Luo Shang had no interest in flirting with anyone else. He had a boyfriend, and that was that.

Even so, Li Lingran—playing the role of devoted friend—had bombarded him with messages full of concern: checking on his health, offering to visit. Luo Shang had mulled it over and opted for radio silence, ignoring them entirely.

Without any response from Luo Shang, Li Lingran wouldn’t leap to the conclusion that going after Su Mingyao would help him. With that one-track mind of his, Li Lingran was probably just scheming, “Maybe I can swoop in now that he’s emotionally available,” without considering anything deeper.

So this bump in progress had to come from someone else: Shen Zhulin.

She must have said something at the Shen Family as the story’s villainess.

Whatever it was had thrown a wrench into the legitimacy of Shen Changqing and Su Mingyao’s engagement—just like in the original—and that had boosted Luo Shang’s progress.

Buoyed by the extra headway, Luo Shang felt better and let the System’s earlier bait-spooking slide. He even fished with renewed vigor.

~~~

The man in black stood just outside the Estate’s perimeter. His features were sharp and chiseled, undeniably handsome, and he was bundled up head to toe.

In his long-fingered hand rested a square copper plate with a central groove. The Eight Trigrams were etched along its edges, and a spoon lay nestled in the groove—its handle aimed squarely toward the Estate.

“West direction, Dui Trigram. Heavy yin energy.”

Roland frowned as he gazed at the Estate and took a step forward to enter.

The old security guard sunning himself at the gate blocked his path at once. “Hey, what’s your business here?”

The stranger was unfamiliar, clad head to toe in black, and clutching that odd spoon-bearing plate while staring around suspiciously.

The Recognition Banquet had drawn all sorts of hangers-on and media hounds trying to sneak past the gates for a scoop.

Even now that it was over, with the young master still inside, no one could rule out someone slipping in for an exclusive interview.

“Has anything major happened here lately?”

Roland ignored the old man’s question and asked one of his own.

“You don’t know?” The old man sounded a bit surprised.

“There was a birthday banquet in there yesterday. It even trended online.”

“I don’t really follow that sort of thing.” As someone holding the rank of Captain, Roland was constantly jetting around the country to handle anomaly reports from all over. He had no time for gossip about rich family drama.

“Then what are you here for?” The old man eyed him up and down, looking more suspicious by the second.

“This is private property. No entry allowed.”

Roland nodded without another word and walked off with the Compass in hand.

He followed the fenced wall until he was out of the old man’s line of sight, then glanced up at the two- or three-meter-high barrier topped with electrified fencing. He shook his head.

After taking a few steps back, he broke into a run. The man in black seemed to ride the wind itself, soaring lightly over the wall that no ordinary person could possibly scale. He landed gracefully, the Compass in his hand not even trembling.

“According to the Compass’s reading…”

It would guide him to wherever the anomalies were most concentrated.

He pressed forward, slipping past patrolling security guards and ducking into treetops and bushes now and then. A dog barked twice in his direction, but a single glare from Roland sent it whimpering away, tail tucked between its legs.

Roland continued onward until he reached the riverbank. There, he spotted the back of a young angler who looked no different from any ordinary fisherman.

The Compass was pointing straight toward this young man.

Was he the primary anomaly? Roland crept closer.

The youth seemed completely absorbed in his fishing, unaware of anything around him.

The float twitched a few times, and the young man yanked his rod in excitement, reeling in a big fish.

In that split second as the other man swung his pole, Roland’s keen eyesight caught the state of the fish. His pupils contracted sharply.

Hooked on the youth’s line wasn’t some thrashing live catch, but a perfectly still dead fish.

Dead Fish Straight Mouth!

An anomaly was here after all!