Shadows of days gone by

Late at night, Lin Yu once again left the hotel where "Order" was located.

After leaving this time, he no longer needed to disguise "Paper Kite" as a "Director".

After all, he had already obtained permission to "move freely" from the "Grandmaster." The "Grandmaster" granted him this right after learning that he was going to play the role of Shen Bingmiao.

The "professor" and the "secretary" did not question this arrangement.

Moreover... "Paper Kite" no longer needs to hide it.

Although he was indeed the murderer of "Yu Linling," the suspicion against "Paper Kite" was actually eliminated because of the misleading influence Miss a certain "Writer" in the Special Investigation Team.

Now that "Paper Kite" has already shown its face to several high-ranking members of "Order," it naturally doesn't need any disguise or hiding anymore.

Now, "Paper Kite" can once again operate openly within the "Order".

"However, 'Gambler' Li Hua is still lurking in the shadows... Although Zuo Xi is the Zuo Xi tailing him, there's no need to remind Li Hua... For me, it's a good thing that Li Hua is acting cautiously and keeping a low profile now. Anyway, with 'Ren Gu' present to oversee the overall situation, that's enough. The 'Professor' and the 'Secretary' should also be focusing most of their energy on this..."

Lin Yu walked along the Street of the Shenzhen under the cover of night, lost in thought.

He didn't deliberately hide his whereabouts, but at this moment, no one was watching him.

Just as Lin Yu concluded from the information revealed by the "Diviner," the "Marauders" should take action tomorrow.

Therefore, the "Marauders" within the Shenzhen are currently in a strange state of retreat, and naturally, no one is monitoring Lin Yu.

As for the "Order" side... of course, even if they spotted Lin Yu on the street, they wouldn't deliberately tail the "Director."

As for the "Freedom Alliance" and the "Psychology Society," both sides are naturally in a state of inaction.

"So, when you think about it this way, 'Order,' 'Marauders,' even 'Freedom Alliance' and 'Psychology Society,' the only 'Freelancer' in each organization who operates outside the organization and has the authority to act independently, are all different identities of mine."

"Although I did try to create this situation, it went so smoothly... which is actually quite gratifying."

Lin Yu pondered.

However, he has already done enough tonight, so continuing to take any action or use any identity to assert his presence is not a good option.

I need to prepare myself well for tomorrow's operation.

So, after walking around the streets of Shenzhen for a long time, Lin Yu finally found a budget hotel with its lights still on.

Although it's summer vacation, Shenzhen isn't exactly a tourist city, so there were still rooms available when Lin Yu went inside.

The young man at the front desk on night shift was quite energetic, scrolling through videos on his phone. When he saw Lin Yu come in, he warmly helped Lin Yu check in—he even upgraded Lin Yu's room for free.

Of course, compared to the hotel suites booked by "Order" as a whole, the standard is still somewhat inferior, after all, this is just an economy chain hotel.

However, Lin Yu never had high standards for his sleeping place. Although he wasn't as desperate as Tengshe, who would make do with flattened cardboard boxes under a bridge, Lin Yu felt that... as long as there was a roof over his head, he would be fine.

"Order" isn't reimbursing me again tonight, so I'll just have to make do.

After taking the elevator to the fifth floor with my room key, I found my room and opened the door. A slightly damp and stuffy atmosphere began to circulate in the room. Even though it had been upgraded, the space still felt a bit cramped. The whirring noise of the air conditioner unit came through the window.

Lin Yu inserted the room card, and the dim light came on, illuminating the somewhat worn carpet in the room.

"Not bad, it even gives me a sense of security," Lin Yu said casually, picking up the free bottled water and taking a sip. He then changed into thin disposable slippers, walked to the bedside, took off his coat, and lay down. "This bed is even quite soft and spacious, and the sheets aren't hard either... I guess I got a good deal."

Since entering the "Death game," he has been traveling to other places more often, and he seems to have stayed in hotels more times in the past few months than he did in the previous twenty years combined.

Because expenses are mostly reimbursed by "Order" or Shen Bingmiao, and because he has made a lot of money through the "Death game," Lin Yu has been staying in relatively high-end hotels recently.

But after booking this budget chain hotel again tonight, Lin Yu vaguely remembered... the last time he stayed in a hotel like this, or rather, the last time he went on a long trip before joining the "Death game," was when his sister was still alive.

It was probably the summer after I graduated from elementary school, around mid-July. I think I went to Shu Province.

Although Lin Zhao was not yet an adult at that time, he already had a relatively stable income, so he could afford to take Lin Yu on trips.

"Judging by the timeline, Sister Zhao didn't seem to have joined the 'Death game' back then... which means she was earning money through her own abilities... Sister Zhao is really amazing."

Lin Yu lay on the bed, gazing at the soft light emitted by the embedded light strips in the ceiling, trying hard to recall events from ten years ago.

Perhaps because the "Death game" had disrupted his Memory, even though Lin Yu knew it was a precious experience and memory, recalling it now felt somewhat forced and vague.

Even though he had a good Memory since childhood, he could only vaguely recall some fragmented memories that were hard to call "beautiful".

"Sis, I don't think we need to eat out tonight. Instant noodles would be fine... Haven't we already spent a lot of money?"

"You don't know anything! 'A poor family should travel with plenty of resources.' If you're always so stingy when you're out and about, is that really a vacation? Neither of us has parents to say these kinds of East Asian parental, discouraging things anymore. Can you, as the younger brother, stop stealing Dad's thunder?"

"Oh, sis, can you please stop saying that? It's not good for us to keep bringing up things like we don't have parents."

"What's wrong, Xiao Yu? Are you upset by what you heard? Missing your mom?"

No, I've never seen them.

"That settles it then... Besides, the Sichuan restaurants here are all pretty good, and people in Jiang City generally prefer strong flavors. If I learn a couple of tricks and go back to open my own restaurant, it'll be very useful."

"So, in that sense, it was an investment after all."

"That's right, even if it's an investment!"

"Sister, is this Wuhou Shrine the place where people worship Zhuge Liang?"

"Wow, Xiao Yu, you even know about Zhuge Liang!"

"I graduated from fifth grade, not that I'm five years old... We were assigned to read the youth version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms as extracurricular reading. It has a modern Chinese translation and phonetic annotations, so it's quite easy to read. Plus, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is on TV every day."

"That's true. If you're this old and still don't know who Zhuge Liang is, then my preschool education was a complete failure; you should just be hanged."

"It's not that bad, sis. Even if you don't know, just tell me, right? Confucius said, 'To know what you know, that is true knowledge,' and he also said, 'Don't be resentful when others don't know you...' If you don't know something, just learn it."

"Xiao Yu, you're right, but these are all 'correct principles.' Sometimes, correct principles are just nonsense."

"Nonsense? Then, sister, what's the logic behind not talking nonsense?"

"The point is simple: Chinese elementary school students who haven't read the Four Great Classical Novels and don't know these basic literary facts have terrible family education. At least I can't tolerate my own brother being such an idiot!"

"Oh, thank goodness I knew, that was terrifying."

"Come on, Xiao Yu, Memorial on the Dispatch of Troops a poem from 'The Memorial to the Throne' for your sister. If you can recite it, I'll treat you to ice jelly."

"Sis, that's a text we only learn in high school."

"Pretending to be knowledgeable, you've been exposed—if you haven't read a high school textbook, how do you know this is a high school text? And you're telling me you're watching the youth version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms... No stupid elementary school student would actually emphasize that they're watching the vernacular version with phonetic annotations; they'd just say they've watched Romance of the Three Kingdoms —that extra TV series is just you trying to cover it up."

"Ah... we've been discovered."

"Ha, Xiao Yu, trying to play dumb in front of me? You're way off. -- I won't emphasize 'honesty' or anything like that to you. No one can live their whole life without ever needing to lie. There will always be situations where lying would be better. Even if you want to be a 'good person,' good people also need to lie. Only ordinary elementary schools need parents to teach you to 'always be honest and trustworthy'... Anyway, the school will tell you all this, so I won't say another word."

"What a strange educational philosophy, sister."

"I already said I won't say 'correct nonsense'—in short, Xiao Yu, if you're going to lie or feign weakness, you need to be more sophisticated in your disguise, at least so that the person you're trying to Deception doesn't find out so easily."

"I think it's your problem, sister..."

"Is this a giant panda, sister?"

"Otherwise, Xiao Yu, could the black and white animals we saw at Panda Valley really be zebras?"

"Maybe it's a dyed black bear."

"It's good to be skeptical, Xiao Yu, but this panda has already started eating bamboo—even if black bears can be dyed, it doesn't mean they'll change their diet."

"Oh... that makes sense, sister—so, can I take a picture with the panda? There's an uncle over there taking pictures, it's 30 yuan."

"30 yuan a photo? That's highway robbery!"

"Sister, you said it yourself: 'Even if the family is poor, the journey should be fruitful.'"

"... I actually said, let's take the photos then -- but let's take them together, since it's the same price for two people and one person, so it's more cost-effective."

"Click."

"Sis... you're blocking all the pandas."

"Oh, it really is... But it's okay, at least there's a lot of bamboo in the background, the scenery is still beautiful."