Ready Player One

After Evening Self-Study, Jiang Ning returned home, parked his bicycle, and headed back out.

Xue Yuantong found it strange. She wanted to tell Jiang Ning to be careful and come back early, but that did not fit her personality. It would make her seem far too worried about him.

"Hmph! I want to see what time you come back tonight!"

Yesterday, she had stayed up until two in the morning waiting for Jiang Ning. Only after confirming that he had returned safely had she gone to sleep.

Jiang Ning strolled to the Dam. Seeing no one around, he used the Aura Concealment Art and headed toward the Transformer Box thirty kilometers away.

More than ten minutes later, Jiang Ning arrived at the Transformer Box.

In the same two positions as last night, two men were crouched there, keeping watch.

They actually fixed it again? Jiang Ning muttered.

The wires inside the Transformer Box had already been reconnected, and the voltage was operating normally.

He ran to the small river again and found that the pipeline was still blocked. Meanwhile, two men lay in ambush in the fields.

If not for the Aura Concealment Art, Jiang Ning would definitely have been spotted by them.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Ning went near the factory building. The machines were quiet and not running.

A young man sat at the entrance smoking, his face filled with worry.

Jiang Ning returned to the Transformer Box and used the high-voltage current to temper his body. During the process, the young man brought people over to inspect the situation.

Jiang Ning hid nearby. Once the tempering was complete, he casually released a streak of Sword Qi and severed the wire.

The factory lights went out, and Yan Bo's heart went dark with them.

He clutched his chest and stared toward the darkened factory building.

Anger, grievance, and a profound sense of helplessness surged within him.

Yan Bo realized that electricity was like the girl he had secretly liked as a child. He wanted it, yet he could not have it.

Lin Zida lay comfortably on the sofa, a PS3 controller in his hands.

The fifty-five-inch television displayed a dazzling game world.

"This is incredible. The Last of Us is a masterpiece!" Lin Zida clapped and praised it.

"A masterpiece!"

"I'm already looking forward to the second one!"

Suddenly, the door opened, and a figure walked in.

The girl wore a fitted black suit. She had a graceful figure, a cool and refined aura, and a fair, beautiful face.

"Weren't you talking investments with Sister Ding? Why are you back so early?" Lin Zida did not even turn his head.

Ding Shuyan said, "Aunt is hosting a banquet with local officials tonight. There was nothing for me to do over there, so I came back early."

"Also, don't call her Sister anymore. Call her Aunt."

Lin Zida kept his attention split between two things as he replied, "She'd tear me apart."

"Are you the only one home?" Ding Shuyan asked.

Lin Zida gestured with his lips. "Aunt Han is in the kitchen. Uncle will come over for dinner later."

Ding Shuyan took out her phone. "I read the text you sent me. I found quite a lot."

Lin Zida paused the game and told Ding Shuyan all the details Wang Yong had shared with him, including everything about Jiang Ning.

Then he resumed battling in the bizarre and dazzling game world.

Ding Shuyan entered the study and closed the door behind her.

She took off her little suit jacket and draped it over the back of a chair.

Ding Shuyan sat at the desk. Her brows and eyes were alluring as her slender white fingers gently pressed against her temples.

Her aunt had obtained a sum of capital from the family business and would invest in real estate in Yuzhou City in the future. The expected investment exceeded three billion, and the negotiation team alone already consisted of dozens of people.

Ding Shuyan was merely a middle school student. To expose her to a broader world, her aunt had arranged for her to sit in and required her to participate in the entire investment process from beginning to end.

Countless people dreamed of such an opportunity, yet Ding Shuyan found it somewhat boring.

Of course, she did not resist it either and did her best to take part.

Because of this, even her high school enrollment had been delayed by a month.

She picked up a pen, considered the information Lin Zida had given her, and muttered, "I'll treat it as playing a game to relax."

The scattered information rapidly linked together in her mind, forming a clear thread.

The medical diagnosis Uncle Han had given her that morning was consistent with her suspicions. Song Sheng's leg had been injured by a blunt weapon resembling a stick.

And that night, when she had been in the city, her Six Senses had issued a strong warning. Someone had been watching her.

Her Six Senses had never been wrong.

That had to mean someone had been watching her all along. It was absolute and beyond question.

Yet she had not found that person.

Perhaps someone had been observing her from afar with binoculars. It was not a possibility she had never considered.

But when Song Sheng's leg injury was added to the equation, things became strange.

She had watched Song Sheng take a step with her own eyes. Before his foot had even landed, his leg, suspended in midair, had suddenly bent in an eerie way.

She had not seen wrong.

That definitely had not been a broken leg from twisting his ankle. Besides, given the toughness of leg bones and Song Sheng's age, it was impossible for his bones to be that fragile.

That was why she had such suspicions.

Ding Shuyan had someone check the gym's surveillance footage from that night. The footage showed that Song Sheng had not done any leg exercises.

Medically speaking, in her eyes, there was something abnormal about Song Sheng's fractured leg.

What truly made Ding Shuyan decide to investigate was that after Song Sheng got into the ambulance, the sensation of being secretly watched disappeared. The warnings from her Six Senses no longer appeared.

That meant someone had been hiding in the dark. He had watched her, then used a stick to break Song Sheng's leg.

It was absurd. Even Ding Shuyan herself did not quite believe it.

But she was exactly that stubborn. She insisted on investigating further.

She began with Song Sheng's social circle. This person had to have a grudge against Song Sheng, and that night, he had deliberately retaliated against him.

She found Lin Zida and had him investigate Song Sheng's enemies.

They immediately focused on Jiang Ning, who had clashed with Song Sheng.

During military training, Jiang Ning had kicked Song Sheng flying in front of the class. Many people had witnessed it.

Jiang Ning was around 172 centimeters tall and thin.

By common sense, it should have been impossible for him to kick Song Sheng, who weighed around eighty-five kilograms, flying.

Rumor had it that Jiang Ning had personally admitted to practicing martial arts, which made the matter more plausible.

But another point of suspicion caught Ding Shuyan's attention.

During military training, Jiang Ning had drawn attention to himself, and Song Sheng had mocked him. Jiang Ning heard Song Sheng's words but pretended not to.

Strangely, a few minutes later, Song Sheng suddenly screamed miserably and rolled around on the ground, appearing to be in extreme pain.

A few minutes later, Song Sheng screamed miserably for a second time. But instead of rolling around, he stood where he was with an awkward expression, seemingly unharmed.

Song Sheng's behavior was far too abnormal.

He had insulted Jiang Ning, then suddenly suffered misfortune. It was difficult for Ding Shuyan not to become suspicious.

She tried to analyze Song Sheng's strange behavior.

Song Sheng screamed twice. The first time, he had experienced intense pain, enough to make him roll around on the ground.

But the second time, he had merely screamed. Afterward, he did not roll around and only stood there blankly.

Could it be that the second time, he had thought some sort of attack was about to strike him, triggering a conditioned reflex that made him scream? Yet afterward, the attack he anticipated never came.

Ding Shuyan did not know about these matters. She needed to ask a psychiatrist about Song Sheng.

If that was true, then was it possible that Song Sheng's screaming had been artificially induced? To the attacker, such behavior would undoubtedly be more entertaining and satisfying than simply inflicting an attack, and it would better fit human behavioral logic.

Bit by bit, Ding Shuyan filled in the gaps of her hypothesis.

"Jiang Ning seems a little suspicious."

Ding Shuyan smiled brightly.

Even though this speculation was so absurd and completely defied conventional logic.

If her aunt knew about it, she would definitely suspect that Ding Shuyan was ill.

Nor would any official investigator believe her. They would only send her for a drug test.

But precisely because she was not her aunt, who had weathered life's hardships, and because she was not an adult, she was full of wild ideas.

"Next, I'll continue refining this hypothesis."

She could leave the task of continuing to investigate Jiang Ning to Lin Zida.

"Lin Zida is so fat. Making him move around more is for his own good."

With that thought, she sent a message: "Uncle Han, help me check whether Song Sheng has any mental illness."

For the moment, the clues converged here. Once feedback came back from both sides, she could make further deductions.

She wrote down Jiang Ning's name on the paper.

It was only written down as a form of entertainment.

Ding Shuyan moved the paper aside.

As though pushing away a half-finished chessboard.

She had never actually met the real Jiang Ning, nor had she the slightest interest in meeting him.

To her, this deduction was merely a mildly interesting game.