Chapter 76

During the New Year, Zhu Ming gave Yun Zouchuan two Polaroid cameras as a New Year’s gift, so she could send one to her mother and use photos to convey her longing.

Yun Zouchuan loved them so much that she became much more diligent even with cleaning.

Seeing how hard she worked, Zhu Ming sent her a red packet of six point six six. “What am I going to do when you start school?”

“Isn’t Miss Tang around?”

“Her studies are getting intense next semester. She’s planning to quit the volunteer work.”

“Then there’s still Sister A-Tu.”

At the mention of Wenren Tu, Zhu Ming couldn’t help but pout in frustration. “You’re one to talk about her. She’s completely obsessed with her love life, prioritizing romance over friends. She hasn’t come to hang out with us in ages.”

Not only was she ditching her friends, but she was being all secretive about it. Sometimes when Zhu Ming got curious about how far their relationship had progressed and tried to pry, Wenren Tu would just change the subject.

She wouldn’t come out to play, wouldn’t even chat. Her soul had been utterly stolen by that Miss Wang.

“Why don’t you take the initiative to find her instead?” Yun Zouchuan asked, amused.

“I did look for her! But she’s either busy or disappears after a couple of messages.” Zhu Ming shrugged. “I figure I shouldn’t disturb her passionate romance. She can come find me whenever she’s free.”

And so, just like that, the two hadn’t contacted each other since the New Year.

A few days before Yun Zouchuan’s school term started.

“Knock, knock, knock. Anyone home? Parcel delivery.”

Yun Zouchuan put down her mop and ran over. “Someone’s here.”

The package had Zhu Ming’s name on it. It was long, rectangular, and incredibly heavy. Yun Zouchuan signed for it, placed it in the living room, and went to find Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming was in the practice room, intensely focused on archery. “Just a sec.”

A moment later, Zhu Ming walked over, scrolling through her phone records with a puzzled look. “I don’t remember ordering anything this long.”

“Maybe someone bought it for you?”

“Let’s just open it and see.”

At first, neither of them had any clue what the parcel could be. The moment they opened it, they realized the gravity of the situation.

Inside that long box lay a horrifyingly familiar blade. Zhu Ming’s expression instantly darkened. She drew the sword out. On the dark, heavy blade, two small characters were strikingly engraved: Autumn‑Severing Blade.

This was a blade belonging to the Wenren Family. It was Wenren Tu’s personal saber!

Not only had Zhu Ming used it before, Yun Zouchuan had as well.

“What does she mean by this?”

The instant she saw the blade, Zhu Ming knew something completely unexpected must have happened.

She immediately dialed Wenren Tu’s number, only to hear: “The number you have dialed is currently switched off…”

Zhu Ming frowned and dialed again multiple times, then used Yun Zouchuan’s phone to try. Every attempt returned the same message: the phone was off.

What on earth had happened?

“Boss, there’s a note in here.” Yun Zouchuan shook the delivery box, and a slip of paper fluttered out.

It was left by Wenren Tu. Scrawled hastily on it was a single line: I have already severed my bond with Autumn‑Severing Blade. Consider this blade my farewell gift.

Zhu Ming and Yun Zouchuan stared at each other. Something had gone wrong—and Wenren Tu had initiated it herself.

“I’m calling Master.” The priority was to figure out what happened. Wenren Bai was the only person Zhu Ming could think to ask.

She didn’t even care that it was Wenren Bai’s working hours. She dialed the number and blurted out as soon as it connected, “Master, what happened to A-Tu?!”

On the other end of the line, Wenren Bai was silent for a moment before asking in return, “What did she say to you?”

“Nothing. She mailed her blade to my studio and left a note saying she’s giving it to us.”

Zhu Ming waited anxiously for Wenren Bai to deliver the news. Please, for the love of God, don’t let Wenren Tu have died inside a dungeon…

Wenren Bai’s voice held no detectable emotion as she asked a different question: “Zhu Ming, do you know what a God’s Favored is?”

The title sounded vaguely familiar, but Zhu Ming couldn’t place it. “No.”

Wenren Bai explained: “A God’s Favored is someone who has been acknowledged by an existence within the Dark Realm Space, receiving its power and gaining the ability to control a single dungeon. They are living, breathing people. Once they leave the dungeon, they appear in reality, and whenever they act, they leave traces. Our people discovered that killing a God’s Favored in reality directly destroys their Dungeon Core and closes the corresponding dungeon. Thus, a covert cleansing operation targeting God’s Favored was initiated.”

Such an operation had to be classified. Zhu Ming’s brow furrowed. She glanced sharply left and right, cupping her hand over the phone and lowering her voice. “Master, it’s not really appropriate to just reveal this to me, is it? I’m not part of the Management Bureau.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Wenren Bai’s voice was calm. “Because this information has already been leaked.”

Zhu Ming: “…”

Wenren Bai continued: “It started with several failed operations. Then we discovered the God’s Favored had secretly formed an alliance—they’re no longer so easy to cleanse. After that, we discovered there’s a mole inside the Management Bureau.”

Silence. A silence so heavy it filled Zhu Ming with unease.

Realization suddenly dawned on her. She had called to ask about Wenren Tu, but Wenren Bai was telling her all these classified secrets.

“The mole… is A-Tu?” The words came out in complete disbelief. But Wenren Bai was clearly hinting at exactly that.

“Yes.” Wenren Bai’s voice dropped. “She betrayed the Management Bureau. After we discovered it, she vanished swiftly.”

“Impossible!” Zhu Ming didn’t even think before refuting it. “There’s no way she would do that!”

Wenren Bai gave her a brief moment to process the information. Her doubt wouldn’t change the facts. “Zhu Ming, if Wenren Tu contacts you, or if you discover any information related to her, remember to report it to me immediately.”

Zhu Ming wanted to ask more, but Wenren Bai had already hung up.

Yun Zouchuan, who had been standing by her side and heard everything clearly, poked at the squatting, statue-still Zhu Ming. “Boss, what are we going to do about Sister A-Tu?”

Zhu Ming was pushed off balance and plopped onto the floor. She blinked rapidly, then said, “How should I know what to do? It’s impossible anyway. Not unless Wenren Tu tells me herself.”

“But we can’t reach her right now.”

“…Come with me.”

Zhu Ming jumped to her feet, grabbed Yun Zouchuan, and dashed outside. This time she didn’t choose her little electric three-wheeler but hailed a taxi.

She was going to raid Wenren Tu’s secret hideouts!

As a rich person, and as an ostracized peripheral member of a family with a special status, Wenren Tu owned two properties in her own name besides the place she shared with her parents.

These two places were known only to her closest friends—even her parents hadn’t been told.

Zhu Ming fished out the keys with practiced ease and let herself in.

She searched both homes but found not a single clue about Wenren Tu’s whereabouts. Sitting on the cold windowsill, Zhu Ming’s expression twisted somewhat.

If Wenren Tu was truly a traitor, Wenren Bai would have investigated her the moment it came to light. These two hideouts had probably already been searched.

Still, she held onto a sliver of hope, leaving a secret signal inside the house: Contact me immediately when you get this.

But until Yun Zouchuan’s school term started, Zhu Ming received no reply from Wenren Tu. No matter what method she used to reach out, the woman was untraceable.

Wenren Tu had simply vanished.

Where else could she look for her… Right, Wang Xiaowu!

Zhu Ming rushed to the bar where she’d last bumped into the two of them, asking the owner to pull up the relevant surveillance footage. The bar’s CCTV records only went back one month; everything earlier had been overwritten.

Wenren Tu and Wang Xiaowu weren’t frequent visitors to this bar either. In the clips that caught them, the two appeared very intimate. But the footage alone couldn’t tell her what they were talking about, nor what role Wang Xiaowu might have played in Wenren Tu’s defection.

She still copied the footage and sent it to Wenren Bai. She wanted this woman investigated, because after Wenren Tu’s defection, Wang Xiaowu had also stopped appearing.

Wang Xiaowu had to be involved.

After reviewing the footage, Wenren Bai indeed gave Zhu Ming an affirmative answer: “She is indeed suspicious. That person’s real name isn’t Wang Xiaowu. It’s Wu Wang. Zhu Ming, you should have heard of her.”

Zhu Ming’s breath caught. “…The Grand Witch?”

“Correct.” Wenren Bai confirmed it. “You did well. But I want you to stop this investigation and not pursue it any further. We don’t want to alert the enemy. My side will take over.”

Since Wenren Bai had put it that way, Zhu Ming could only agree.

At night, Zhu Ming lay in bed staring at the ceiling, completely unable to fall asleep.

Yun Zouchuan had gone to school. Wenren Tu had disappeared without a trace. Yin Yu hadn’t sent a single word. A perfectly fine studio was now so desolate that only she remained.

The chaotic auditory hallucinations in her ears seemed to intensify again. Hoarse screaming and paranoid resentment surrounded her, never ceasing for a single moment since childhood.

When she was little, she couldn’t distinguish between the voices of the living and the hallucinations. The sounds all mixed together, making it hard to hear clearly. Sometimes she needed a moment to process before she could register a living person’s voice. Other times, she’d be drawn in by those strange voices, trying with all her might to make out what exactly they were screaming.

She remembered the earliest incident. The director assigned her to watch the stove in the kitchen. Watching and watching, the sounds began to influence Zhu Ming, sending her into a trance. She stood there, eyes glazed over, unaware that the pot had boiled dry. A fire nearly burned the kitchen to ashes—along with Zhu Ming herself.

After that, the director never let her touch any task requiring sustained concentration again.

Many people thought she was mentally challenged, a simpleton. But only Zhu Ming and Yin Yu knew she was simply plagued by those sounds. She was trapped in a cage she couldn’t break free from.

Those voices were everywhere, maddening enough to drive someone insane. The teacher would recite ABCs at the podium; the hallucinations would chant strange tongues in her ears. Language-based subjects had always been Zhu Ming’s biggest headache, because even identifying proper pronunciation took her a long time.

This affliction had lessened somewhat after her seal was broken. She had gained stronger control over her body and power; her mind was more mature, her soul more grounded.

But in the beginning, when the seal first shattered and her Supernatural Ability erupted, she wasn’t able to adapt yet. It was actually more painful than before.

That was the time Wenren Tu kept helping her.

The lover she trusted with all her heart turned out to be a liar, plunging her directly into unbearable agony. The “family” that had abandoned her for years then retrieved her, yet their attitude was rigid and full of hostility. Having left her small city for an unfamiliar place, she had no classmates or friends, not even a single acquaintance around her.

That period was one of agony and terror, fury and despair for Zhu Ming.

It was Wenren Tu who knocked on the hospital room door, poked her head in curiously, and promptly electrocuted the frenzied Zhu Ming unconscious.

Again and again, Zhu Ming slowly learned to control herself. Without Wenren Tu, she would never have adapted to the power within her so quickly. Zhu Wanying wouldn’t have had the patience to continue observing her—she might have just killed this biological granddaughter who caused massive destruction and was uncontrollable by anyone.

If Zhu Ming’s most unforgettable love belonged to Yin Yu, then her most steadfast trust belonged to Wenren Tu.

She couldn’t believe Wenren Tu would betray the Management Bureau, betray her own career, and betray her.

She would meet Wenren Tu again. She would confront her and demand the truth.

But very soon, Zhu Ming’s energy could no longer be devoted to searching for Wenren Tu.

She received a phone call.

“Five hundred thousand?” Zhu Ming’s voice involuntarily pitched higher. “Didn’t I just send you money?”

“Yes, but it’s already been used up on the other children. I wouldn’t have come to you if this weren’t so urgent… Can you figure something out? If it really won’t work, just get three hundred thousand first. I’ll squeeze out the rest of the fees somehow.”

Zhu Ming massaged her brow and took a deep breath. “How long can you wait?”

“It’d be best to perform the surgery the day after tomorrow.”

“You… just wait, let me think of something else.”

After hanging up, Zhu Ming stared at her phone, then called Wenren Bai. She asked to borrow five hundred thousand. The money would hit her account soon.

This debt to Wenren Bai would have to be repaid.

So, Zhu Ming logged into the forum where Awakened beings exchange information and posted a thread.