With his dual abilities of Lie Detection and Eavesdropping, does the Duke have a secret? Can he keep it hidden?
Of course he couldn't hide it!
He says the matter doesn't exist, which is a lie, but in his heart he suspects why the matter was exposed and Eavesdropping.
The matter is now completely clear; Fan Daoyi's guess was correct.
The original pollen may still remain on them; however their consciousness and perception are, that's how the illusions you see will be.
At this moment, I want evidence that can convict the Duke! Then, the evidence will truly exist.
After confirming the information, she immediately left the stage, and Clark took over. Immersed in the woven illusion, she approached the Duke step by step.
"Oh, Clark!" The Duke was instantly captivated by Clark's beauty, his gaze involuntarily drifting towards him.
Chen Yang and Chu Yue met up and headed towards the location, following the clues left by Fan Daoyi.
They walked through a narrow, dimly lit passage, surrounded by an old, musty smell. They gently brushed aside layers of cobwebs, covering their mouths and noses to block the swirling dust. "Cough, cough, is there really a key clue down there?"
Fan Daoyi had been waiting downstairs for a long time. He sat there quietly, flipping through an old photo album. The pages of the album were yellowed, as if they held many unknown stories of the past.
He heard footsteps coming from above. Fan Daoyi raised his head slightly, and the first thing he saw was two pairs of shoes.
He raised his gaze again to meet their faces, then smiled and said, "Reporter Chen Yang and Boss Chu, it seems the story has taken another turn."
Chen Yang and Chu Yue's eyes were simultaneously drawn to the photos, which showed pictures of young children. The photos looked quite old, with a slight yellow tinge, but the children's innocent faces were still clearly visible.
Chen Yang's gaze froze instantly. He was all too familiar with the photography technique used in this photo; it was a technique he, as a journalist, was accustomed to using. Moreover, there were special markings on the photo that only he understood.
"Me?" Chen Yang asked doubtfully.
"The Duke is very good at keeping secrets; he's extremely cautious about anything that could be detrimental to him. So it's highly unlikely that a reporter would capture such crucial evidence," Fan Daoyi pointed to the photos. "Therefore, the reporter and the Duke were in cahoots, but they probably fell out for some reason."
Fan Daoyi bent down again and took out a stack of information papers from a box beside him. "Not just you, but also Boss Chu."
As he spoke, he handed them the papers. Chen Yang and Chu Yue took the papers and examined them carefully. They saw that the papers contained detailed information about various children, including where they came from, their health status, and so on.
"In this story, there are no innocent victims; everyone is a villain," Fan Daoyi.
Chu Yue frowned, picked up one of the information sheets, and her gaze was instantly drawn to a mark on it. The child was clearly marked as a product, and the familiar location and name made her heart sink.
This person was the sister of the florist's lover, so the motive for the murder became clear.
"The entire process—recruiting, trafficking, pairing, enslaving, and finding a buyer—connects people together. The ultimate goal is the Duke, or rather, through his partners."
"So, do you now understand who really wants to ruin the Duke's birthday?" Fan Daoyi posed the question to Chen Yang and Chu Yue.
At this moment, all was quiet. There were no hints of lying, no completely paradoxical inner thoughts. Chen Yang and Chu Yue exchanged a glance. They chose to believe; they believed everything Fan Daoyi had said.
"I never expected this mission to take such a big turn," Chu Yue couldn't help but sigh.
Chen Yang then looked at Fan Daoyi and asked in confusion, "But why is your thinking so clear?"
His extensive experience in Lie Detection in complex and ever-changing environments enabled him to keenly grasp a key point.
"My story is more complete than yours, and I've seen far more than you have, so it's easy for me to recount my experiences," Fan Daoyi replied calmly.
Chen Yang received a notification from his ability: He was not lying.
His doubts were dispelled. "Okay, you've verified what you said. What do we do next? We'll follow your lead."
"The mastermind behind this is to kill the Duke, and has orchestrated a well-organized plan." Fan Daoyi said, lightly brushing the dust off his hands, then stood up, naturally placing his hand on Chu Yue's shoulder, and asked, "Ms. Chu, in your memories of your past, did your lover have obsessive-compulsive disorder?"
Chu Yue was slightly taken aback, then recalled various details from her memories of her identity and replied, "Yes, he arranged and organized all the arrangements in my flower shop; everything was done according to a set pattern."
Fan Daoyi nodded and continued, "Next, we'll disrupt his patterns..."
Chen Yang suddenly interrupted, "Aren't we going to kill the Duke?"
He said this because, from the moment he received his identity, his backstory clearly defined his ultimate goal—to kill the Duke and find the Troublemakers.
Fan Daoyi shook his head. "I won't kill him."
Chen Yang, looking puzzled, pressed, "What do you mean?"
"When the person behind the scenes thought we would keep the Duke, we did the opposite, didn't follow his plans, and killed the final target," Fan Daoyi patiently explained.
"Disrupt the schemes of those behind the scenes and seize the initiative. Once the pieces leap off the board, can they still remain quietly behind the scenes? Or rather, can this entire scheme still be called 'behind the scenes'?"
Following Fan Daoyi's advice and arrangements, Chu Yue and Chen Yang left the dirty and cramped room first.
The old photos and detailed information sheets that were originally on the table had all turned into withered leaves. The leaves were pieced together in a haphazard way to form a rough pattern, which, under Fan Daoyi's words, became evidence of conviction in their eyes.
This is the hallucinogenic effect.
As for the seemingly absurd farce of killing the Duke, it was quietly unfolding.
My dear Duke, I have brought you a large bouquet of flowers. The bouquet obscured her face, but her graceful figure as she approached caught the Duke's eye.
The Duke smiled and accepted the bouquet, then removed the flowers; behind the bouquet were the reporters' faces.
Grass.
"What a curse!" the Duke cursed under his breath.
Then, Clark witnessed the Duke accepting a bouquet of flowers from a man. She covered her mouth with one hand, chuckled, and pressed the shutter button on the camera that should have belonged to the reporter.
The Duke scattered the flowers, intending to explain to Clark, when Chu Yue appeared, looking forlorn, and picked up the scattered flowers from the ground. The Duke turned his head as if to comfort her, but Chu Yue smiled and began to call out loudly, selling the flowers in her hands.
Huh? The Duke was dumbfounded, gritting his teeth as he tried to buy the bouquet. At this moment, Sun Ruijie rushed out, waving his hand and squandering the nobles' property, which was also the Duke's pocket treasury.
Sun Ruijie took the bouquet of flowers and moved closer to Clark.
The Duke stood alone before the crowd, and despite the lively performance, no one paid him any attention.