C93 — Lin Wei

He Fei blurted out, “Yes, we got tricked by that game into another world. We fought a bunch of monsters there, and now it seems like monsters from that world are showing up in the real one. I…”

Halfway through, he suddenly stopped—because no matter what He Fei or Mu Sichen actually said, what they heard was: “Of course not, we were playing another kind of matching puzzle game, it’s really fun.”

Lin Wei stared intently at He Fei’s lips and said regretfully, “I don’t know why, but this time your lip movements matched your spoken words, so I can no longer read what you’re really trying to say.”

He Fei slumped over the table like a deflated balloon.

Mu Sichen, however, saw a glimmer of hope from Lin Wei’s composed demeanor.

Lin Wei typed “My Ideal Town” into a search engine and pulled up a few similarly named mini-games. He asked, “Are you talking about one of these management games?”

Both shook their heads.

It appeared that Lin Wei couldn’t locate the game.

That was because it wasn’t the game that chose them and pulled them into another world—it was the invading force that dragged them there, and only then did they receive the game system. Without that context, it would be impossible for Lin Wei to ever access My Ideal Town.

Also, when Mu Sichen mentioned the game, Lin Wei could still lip-read the phrase. But when it was He Fei’s turn, something seemed to block Lin Wei’s vision—he couldn’t read his lips anymore.

Mu Sichen suspected the only reason Lin Wei was able to read the words “My Ideal Town” in the first place was because there were many games with the same name on the market, and just saying the title didn’t really reveal much.

But He Fei’s words had been closer to the truth—too close—so the game’s defensive mechanisms became more severe.

Were they truly unable to seek help from anyone? Mu Sichen sighed softly.

Lin Wei’s demeanor remained calm and reassuring. He smiled and said, “Don’t worry, take your time. We managed to locate you and intercept you at the airport overnight—not without cause. We have sufficient data and strong theories. Since you can’t speak about it, just nod or shake your head from now on, and I’ll do the talking.”

Lin Wei was clearly a capable and composed adult, giving both of them a strong sense of security. He Fei nodded repeatedly.

Lin Wei pulled out a thick file box, retrieved a stack of documents, and after skimming through it for a bit, said with some hesitation, “Where to begin… let’s start with this.”

He pulled out a printed call record from a telecom service office and placed it in front of Mu Sichen. “About 11 days ago in the afternoon, you made a phone call to the deceased, Ying Mao. His mother picked up.”

The call log stunned Mu Sichen. He already knew Lin Wei came prepared—but he hadn’t expected him to be this thorough.

“Did you make that call of your own free will?” Lin Wei asked.

“Yes,” Mu Sichen nodded firmly to cooperate.

He thought for a moment and carefully asked, avoiding any references to the other world, “Why were you investigating him?”

Lin Wei replied, “After taking over the sudden death case of General Manager Liu, we ran a big data analysis on every employee present at the time, screening for any abnormal behavior, and followed up one by one—eventually narrowing it down to you two.”

“You were too unique.
“Fifteen days ago, you—Mu Sichen—suddenly became friends with Chi Lian, someone who lives 2,000 kilometers away. Before that, you’d never met, never played the same game, never chatted on any platform. No shared messages, no drifting bottles, barely any overlapping interests. You did happen to watch a few of the same blockbuster TV shows, movies, or videos, but not at the same time—and never left comments or interacted.”

“You and Chi Lian were two parallel lines—under normal circumstances, you would have never interacted in your entire lives.
But fifteen days ago, Chi Lian suddenly added you as a friend, and then contacted someone named Cheng Xubo. He lives over 200 kilometers away from Chi Lian and also had no previous connections—yet he too became a friend.”

“The three of you formed a group, and within fifteen days, you were chatting nearly every day with an unusually high frequency, clearly showing a very close relationship.”

“What exactly happened that brought you so close?”

“From what I can see, there’s only one possible conclusion:
Fifteen days ago, you experienced something together that modern science and technology cannot explain.”

“I’ve already pulled your chat history. And while I believe it reflects your actual conversations, there are certainly deletions and edits.”

“But a few timestamps remain untouched.
Around 3 p.m., twelve days ago—
And again around 3 p.m., three days ago.
Before the second timestamp, He Fei joined the group.”

“At first, I thought He Fei joined because of your connection, but now I realize you’re unable to communicate freely with the outside world.”

“That means He Fei’s involvement must have been an accident—perhaps he had a separate encounter.
Through you, I tracked down Ying Mao—someone with whom you had no previous connection, yet you claimed to be his friend and even called him.”

“Ying Mao’s death was extremely abrupt. He was a healthy young man with no known medical issues, but one day he suddenly suffered brain death and entered a vegetative state—”

“Three days later, he died completely.
The timing of his brain death closely aligns with when Chi Lian first contacted you.”

“And the time of his actual death is very close to the agreed-upon first event between you, Chi Lian, and Cheng Xubo.”

“I can reasonably deduce that you, Ying Mao, Chi Lian, and Cheng Xubo all encountered some event that defies natural explanation.”

“Ying Mao died. You three survived—barely. But you couldn’t escape the aftermath, and you’ve had to keep facing new dangers.
Is that right?”

“Yes,” Mu Sichen replied, his voice filled with complex emotion.

Lin Wei was incredible—just by analyzing data and without any exposure to the supernatural, he had come this close to the truth.

In front of him, Mu Sichen actually felt protected, a rare sense of safety.

Lin Wei sighed and asked, “Were you four the only ones who experienced it that day?”

Mu Sichen shook his head.

There were many more people involved, but he didn’t know them, had never seen them before.

Lin Wei said, “Take a look at these photos—have you seen any of them before?”

He handed Mu Sichen a thick stack of photographs—over a hundred.

Mu Sichen flipped through them quickly and finally spotted someone he recognized.

It was a player who had been purified by the Feather-Eyed dependent in the town square of Tongzhi Town.

He picked out the photo and handed it to Lin Wei.

Lin Wei took the photo and his expression turned unusually grim.

“How many others experienced the same thing as you? Were there a lot? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands?”

Mu Sichen nodded when he got to “thousands.”

He Fei, hearing this for the first time, looked even more shocked than Lin Wei.

Lin Wei turned to He Fei and asked, “Why do you seem like you’re just now hearing about all of this?”

He Fei replied, “It’s not just me—those two were totally in the dark as well.”

“This roommate of mine keeps everything bottled up inside. He’s been walking around like he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders. I always thought he was going to turn into a grumpy little old man from all the stress.”

Mu Sichen hadn’t expected someone as carefree as He Fei to actually notice his emotional state. Deeply moved, he gave He Fei a bright, heartfelt smile.

Unfortunately, He Fei was not the kind of friend who could maintain that touching vibe. He went on, “The biggest pressure for him is that this whole thing cost him a ton of money. Same here, honestly. So… can we maybe get a reimbursement for the plane ticket and taxi fare? I can generate an e-receipt from the app.”

Mu Sichen: “……”

Lin Wei smiled and replied, “Don’t worry. If our investigation confirms what we suspect, we will absolutely provide you with some financial support.”

Mu Sichen—usually calm and reserved—was instantly overjoyed. His eyes practically sparkled with little stars.

He really was at the end of his rope financially.

He Fei was equally thrilled. He slapped the table and said, “Comrade Lin, you just ask this brother of mine anything—whatever he can say, he’ll tell you. What I know, he knows. What I don’t know, he still knows. So I’m just gonna… take a nap now. Sorry, I really can’t stay awake anymore…”

Before he could even finish speaking, He Fei collapsed on the table and fell into a deep sleep.

He was still recovering from his injuries and had pulled another all-nighter. He’d planned to nap on the flight, but Lin Wei’s sudden appearance had disrupted that plan. Now that he was finally relaxed, his body gave out, and he left everything in Mu Sichen’s hands.

Mu Sichen explained, “Please don’t blame him—his condition is a bit… special.”

“Injured?” Lin Wei asked, narrowing his eyes. “Something invisible to the eye?”

Mu Sichen nodded. Talking to Lin Wei was easy. The man’s analytical skills were incredible—he could unravel the truth from pure data alone.

But that was exactly why Mu Sichen had to be extra cautious.

He still didn’t understand how the infiltration from the other world worked, but if Chi Lian had been pulled into the game by Yang Yunyun, and He Fei had been dragged into it by either him or the butterfly, then Lin Wei—who was now interacting with them and getting closer to the truth—might also eventually be pulled into the game.

It felt like a mental contagion, closely resembling the kind of corruption from the other world.

And Lin Wei, with his intelligence and relentless curiosity, was precisely the kind of person most vulnerable to that kind of corruption.

“I have a lot more questions,” Lin Wei said. “But this airport office is only a temporary space. It’s not a suitable place to talk. Let’s change locations and take our time.” Then he added, “Don’t worry—the plane tickets will be reimbursed.”

“It’s not just about the money,” Mu Sichen said carefully. “We’re going to see Chi Lian. She’s in trouble. It’s urgent.”

“That’s why you bought tickets in the middle of the night,” Lin Wei tapped his pen on the desk three times, then said, “Alright. Don’t cancel your flight. I’ll head to City G right away. We’ll meet you at the airport there.”

“Thank you,” Mu Sichen replied with a grateful smile.

There were still many unanswered questions surrounding Yang Yunyun’s death—more than Mu Sichen could investigate on his own. But with Lin Wei as a powerful ally, he felt confident the truth would eventually come to light.

He dragged the dead-asleep He Fei onto the plane and managed to catch a short nap himself. By noon, they arrived at City G’s airport.

Just as they exited the plane, they saw Lin Wei waiting for them outside—with a young man in his early twenties standing beside him.

Strangely enough, even though Lin Wei hadn’t taken the same flight, he’d somehow arrived in City G before them and was waiting at the shuttle drop-off point right outside the plane. It was almost supernatural.

“This way,” the young man said.

Without breaking a sweat, he hoisted the still-sleeping He Fei over his shoulder and carried him effortlessly.

Mu Sichen followed Lin Wei and was treated to VIP-level service—exclusive lanes, private shuttle, and everything.

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