Saw Through It

Some mourned, some rejoiced, and some watched coldly from the sidelines. Human joys and sorrows had never been the same.

Wenren Sheng took in everyone's reactions, capturing them one by one like photographs, missing nothing.

After a while, he stepped forward. "Senior Li, please accept my condolences."

Li Shi'an glanced at him, pulled out the book on judges' knowledge from earlier with one hand, and handed it to him again.

"Take it, young man. You have a good heart. I understand—you wanted to stop us. If you had truly stopped us then, Old He might have lived a few more years."

"Thank you, Senior." This time, Wenren Sheng did not refuse. He accepted it with both hands.

Li Shi'an nodded, his gaze distant. "I hope you can restore the glory of us Otherworldly Users. One day, may that Golden Age return, and may we once again become the protagonists who rule this world."

After saying that, he carried He Shiqiang's body downstairs. Wherever he passed, people moved aside.

No one was sad. They simply could not describe what they felt, like seeing an antique steeped in history suddenly shatter. After Li Shi'an went downstairs, Wang Chenggui, who had just obtained the Otherworldly User, was about to leave in a hurry when Inspector Liu stopped him with his men.

"What are you doing? I obtained this legally!" He panicked.

"Every transfer of an Otherworldly User must be registered. Please come with us." Inspector Liu waved his hand, and two Black Shirts tightly flanked the man.

"Afu!" Wang Chenggui cried out instinctively.

Afu looked over without reacting. "Boss, not moving is the best protection I can give you."

Wang Chenggui finally snapped out of the excitement of having just obtained an Otherworldly User. He stopped resisting and obediently complied.

Only then did Inspector Liu let out a breath and walk over to Wenren Sheng.

"This is a little suspicious..." Wenren Sheng said quietly.

"We'll follow up on it. If necessary, we'll request your assistance again." Inspector Liu nodded.

Thus, the farce came to an end.

Only then did Xu Qingshu reappear. When that incident had happened earlier, he had seemed like a man who had vanished.

"Ah, I never expected something like this to happen. A perfectly fine Saturday gathering was ruined like this. I had even planned to introduce the two seniors to Mr. Wenren. I'm truly sorry." He offered a sincere apology.

"It's fine. After all, I didn't come for nothing." Wenren Sheng waved the book in his hand. "If there's nothing else, I'll head back first."

"How can that be proper hospitality? Youlin, hurry and have them arrange a banquet. Let's gather at one table, and please invite your companions as well." Xu Qingshu spoke with great warmth.

Wenren Sheng thought about it, then nodded.

The other party was Xu Yunshuang's uncle. Some matters would still have to rely on him.

The gathering that followed finally passed without further incident.

Everyone was in high spirits as they talked during the banquet. Though someone had died, it seemed to have stirred little emotion in them.

"A person over two hundred years old—I've truly never seen one in person before. It always feels like they weren't from the same era as us, as if they lacked a sense of reality." A new partner of Five Colors Group shook his head.

"Yes. Over the years, I really never felt that the two elders had much of a presence." Another person chimed in.

"All right. The two senior elders did protect our group through many storms, and the group's legacy over so many years had much to do with them. We should still pay our respects at the funeral, and we must provide a sum for condolence money as well." Xu Qingshu wore a solemn expression.

"President Xu truly is a generous man." Everyone praised him in succession.

Wenren Sheng seemed to understand something. Were they happy to have gotten rid of two leeches?

No, that was not right.

Others might not know, but Xu Qingshu, whose own family had an Otherworldly User, should understand best just how great a threat Otherworldly Users could pose.

An open spear was easy to dodge; a hidden arrow was hard to guard against.

The Patrol Division and local civilian partner organizations were certainly powerful, but their role was deterrence and post-incident investigation, not prevention or personal protection.

That meant the other party had found a better replacement. Could it be Xu Yunshuang?

But she was still in the beginner phase, having only just touched the threshold of Skilled Level. She could not possibly fully replace those two.

After all, he had seen Li Shi'an's Mystery Points assessment. His strength was seemingly on par with Wenren Sheng's. He was a dying old man, certainly, but his experience had to be exceedingly rich. He had not lived for over two hundred years for nothing.

As he pondered these matters, he dealt with the others, only occasionally finding time to eat.

Wu Shanshan, on the other hand, was very comfortable in this sort of setting. She handled every interaction with ease and answered appropriately, earning him quite a bit of face.

Li Shuangyue spoke little, and since he lacked any presence, he was able to eat to his heart's content.

Near noon, the banquet ended, and everyone said their farewells.

Wenren Sheng had thought Xu Qingshu would mention Xu Yunshuang, but unexpectedly, the man never brought it up until the very end.

"My hospitality was lacking, and such an accident happened as well. I truly apologize, Mr. Wenren."

At the entrance of the wooden building, Xu Qingshu apologized attentively.

"As President Xu said, it was merely an accident. No need to see us off. We'll be leaving now." Wenren Sheng smiled, then departed with the other two.

Xu Qingshu stood still for a long time as he watched Wenren Sheng's retreating figure, until the latter finally got into the car and drove away.

Feng Youlin stood beside him and spoke in a low voice. "Boss, do you think he saw through something?"

"What if he did? There aren't many people who didn't. He has a teacher-student relationship with Yun Shuang from my family. Perhaps they may even go further in the future. He's a Clever Man. It won't affect anything." Xu Qingshu said indifferently.

"What about Miss Wu?" Feng Youlin continued.

"It doesn't matter. She's merely a woman trying to climb her way up. Unless she truly has the aptitude to attain an Expert Level assessment before the age of thirty-five." Xu Qingshu shook his head, as if he had seen this sort of thing far too often.

"What a pity. If the one in our group who activated an Otherworldly User had been Young Master Chen, that would have been wonderful."

"Yes. A woman is a woman, after all."

As they spoke, the two turned and headed back into the restaurant.

In the car returning to the villa, Wenren Sheng and Wu Shanshan sat side by side in the back seat.

"Today's matter was definitely arranged by that Old Xu. It was too obvious. That Old Fox acted so convincingly—he wouldn't even need makeup if he became an actor." Wu Shanshan said disdainfully.

"Quite a few people saw that. He Shiqiang and Li Shi'an probably saw through it too, but no one would expose it." Wenren Sheng nodded.

"Ah, perhaps that was precisely why the two senior elders stubbornly agreed to the match. They probably didn't want to be looked down upon. They wanted to prove that they were still worthy of that support." Wu Shanshan analyzed it while counting on her fingers.

"It certainly can't feel good when the protagonist becomes a supporting character." Wenren Sheng shook his head.

Could things really be that simple? Certainly not.

The reason he was so certain was simple: if that had been all there was to it, the Mystery event that had just been triggered would already have been resolved.

"By the way, why did you introduce me like that in front of them today?" Wu Shanshan suddenly blinked several times and asked.

"What, is there a problem?" Wenren Sheng asked in surprise.

"No problem. I'm very happy." Wu Shanshan stretched out her neck and kissed him beside the ear.

Wenren Sheng turned toward her in response and saw a plum blossom tattooed deep on her fair neck.

"Uh, Shanshan, I've wanted to ask you for a long time. When did you get that plum blossom tattoo?" he asked casually.

"Oh, two years ago." Wu Shanshan answered ambiguously, then used her enthusiasm to stop him from asking any further questions.