Intermission: The Visitor, Whitewash City, the Foresight Club

The sudden, heavy snow in Whitewash City did not stop until noon the next day.

Pure white snow piled deep upon the earth and over the bare branches of the artificial forest, looking exceptionally pristine.

Xia Lun sat at the table, eating sea cucumbers while looking out at the scenery beyond the window. Yet as he ate, the faint roar of a vehicle engine drifted from outside.

The engine's roar drew closer from afar, startling countless birds in its wake.

"According to the schedule, is anyone visiting me today?" Xia Lun set down his spoon and turned his head to ask.

"No," the butler shook his head. "You turned down all social invitations several weeks ago. You haven't had any scheduled visitors for nearly three months—I'll go check right now."

With that, the butler pushed open the door and left the parlor.

Xia Lun tapped the table gently with his knuckles, pondering thoughtfully for a few moments before shaking his head and resuming his meal of sea cucumbers.

—At the end of the scenario, when facing the roasted monster, he had craved sea cucumbers intensely. Now that he had returned to reality, he naturally intended to indulge himself.

Yet scarcely a few minutes later, the butler returned.

Xia Lun turned his head to look once more, then noticed a look of bewilderment on the other man's face.

"It's the only daughter of a certain director at Jade Pharmaceuticals. Her identity has been verified; it is indeed her," the butler said. "She says she's here to discuss acquiring some of your assets currently up for sale. Will you see her?"

—To treat his lung disease, Xia Lun needed a sufficient amount of circulating funds, so he had openly sold off most of the assets under his control. However, some assets were not easily disposed of, leaving him with a few still in his hands.

"Have I ever had any dealings with her father?" Xia Lun asked curiously.

"Two months ago, just as your lung disease began to worsen, you hired them to specifically develop the corresponding medication. That director was the person in charge of the project."

"In other words, I don't know her at all." Xia Lun shook his head, initially intending to have the butler turn her away flatly. But perhaps due to his high spirits from recovering from a terminal illness, he abruptly changed his tune. "Then invite her in."

"Right, I'll go refuse—" The butler stopped midway, blinking. "Ah?"

"Yes, I changed my mind. I'd like to see her—and by the way, have the chef prepare a few more portions of cream and white wine braised sea cucumbers."

Ten minutes later, a young woman wrapped in a loose, beige trench coat walked in, carrying a briefcase. Behind her was a sharp-eyed, tall middle-aged man. The two of them entered the parlor one after the other.

Xia Lun sat behind the dining table, casting a casual glance at the calluses on the bodyguard's right thumb before his face broke into his customary, welcoming smile.

"Hello, hello, please have a seat," he rose to greet them. "Would you like some tea, or something else?"

"Mr. Xia?" The woman blinked, offering a smile in return. "I really didn't expect you to be so young—Director Bird of Jade Pharmaceuticals is my father."

Xia Lun did not reply, scrutinizing this uninvited guest from head to toe.

The young woman before him had a high bridge of nose, and beneath her shallow eye sockets were a pair of hazel eyes. Her short hair, the color of red roses, fell beside her ears, giving her a rather capable air.

For some reason, Xia Lun inexplicably felt she looked somewhat familiar.

Perhaps because Xia Lun had remained silent, the woman's smile stiffened slightly as she continued, "I, I'm here to, um, inquire about acquiring some of your properties..."

"Those are all things nobody else is willing to buy." Xia Lun gave her a curious look, then said, "You might not be fully aware of the situation in Whitewash City. The safety risks... associated with the properties here are rather high."

—Ever since Xia Lun was reborn into this otherworldly dimension that closely resembled his previous life, he had lived entirely in Whitewash City.

Based on his full twenty-six years of life experience here, he could accurately and responsibly describe the overall condition of Whitewash City in a single sentence.

Whitewash City, otherwise known as Little Gotham!

Aside from lacking bizarre supervillains and superheroes, the public safety here differed in no way from Gotham's. Although the local economy was booming, major malicious criminal cases that would have caused a nationwide sensation in his past life were commonplace here, occurring roughly a dozen times every week.

Murders, gunfights, and kidnappings were merely unremarkable daily occurrences; random serial killings, large-scale poisonings, and even bombing attacks were required to barely capture the attention of the general citizenry.

Although the world he currently inhabited possessed the Grand Alliance, which had unified the globe, it was abundantly clear that the Grand Alliance's governance of Whitewash City was an utter failure, leaving this behemoth helpless against such a bizarre place.

Over the past twenty-six years, Xia Lun had witnessed countless people and numerous factions try to thoroughly seize control of the local situation, yet in the end, every single one of them had failed. Chaos still reigned here.

Yet from another perspective, chaos was a ladder.

Thanks to the local turmoil and an inexplicably, wonderfully robust local economy, Xia Lun had managed to make his fortune in Whitewash City in just over a decade.

However, this did not mean Xia Lun liked Whitewash City. Although he was a local and a beneficiary of the city's chaos, he still felt that Whitewash City was, to some extent, rather unholy...

"No, no, I mean, um, cooperation." The woman waved her hands somewhat nervously. "Yes, cooperation."

Xia Lun frowned slightly.

Cooperation? A pharmaceutical company... Wait, was she here to purchase missing persons? Was Jade Pharmaceuticals really that outrageous?

"Oh, 'cooperation', I see." Maintaining an impassive expression, Xia Lun weighed his words inwardly. "If it's 'cooperation', though, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong person. I don't have channels for that sort of thing, but if you insist, I suppose I could help you find some..."

"Ahem, Mr. Xia." The middle-aged man gave two light coughs. "We are not here to conduct illegal or criminal business."

"Then let's stop beating around the bush; everyone's time is precious." Xia Lun smiled to mask his awkwardness, spreading his hands. "You aren't really here to buy assets, are you? If you have something to say, spit it out."

"You're currently selling off your assets and hold a large amount of liquid funds, so we hope..."

"To borrow money?" Xia Lun interrupted. "What do you intend to use as collateral?"

"Currently... um... none."

"..." Xia Lun fell silent. After a moment of rumination, he asked, "This matter you're talking about right now—is it your father's idea, or your own?"

"My father has been replaced. He's started doing completely unreasonable things; he's gone mad!" the woman blurted out. "I'm borrowing money precisely to save him!"

"What, replaced?" Xia Lun blinked in confusion, unable to help tapping the table. "Pardon my bluntness, but I feel like your mental health is currently looking a lot worse."

"I haven't gone mad." With a mounting sense of urgency in her tone, the woman opened her briefcase and withdrew a stack of photographs. "These photos were taken inside my father's office."

As she spoke, she raised one of the photographs in her hand.

The photo was in color, capturing a walnut desk. Beneath the desk were bizarre patterns drawn in crimson lines, which, at first glance, resembled interlocking triangles—seemingly the ritual of some sort of ritual.

Xia Lun froze, and then a vague memory, like mist rising from the surface of water, slowly welled up in his mind—before he drowned, he had seen similar symbols on abandoned buildings near the canal!

In an instant, a sharp jolt ran through his heart. His impatience and casual detachment vanished like mist blown away by a cold wind.

Perhaps the fact that he had contracted a terminal illness after drowning was no coincidence at all!

"These patterns are everywhere, spread all across the areas my father frequents. I swear, this is definitely some deeply meaningful pattern; it might even be a occult ritual used to mind-control my father." The woman's eyes widened. "No one else can help me, Mr. Xia. Nobody believes me. Please, you simply must believe me."

Though a stormy tempest raged within his heart, Xia Lun maintained an impassive exterior. He let out a scoff, "This story is too absurd. Just a moment ago you were talking about him being replaced, and now you're talking about mind control—even taking a step back and assuming the story you're telling is true, what does that have to do with borrowing money from me?"

"Only by borrowing enough money can I rescue my father. They replaced him because my father opposed their acquisition of Jade Pharmaceuticals. If their acquisition fails, my father might just be able to come back."

"Hmm..." Xia Lun leaned back in his chair, tilting his head slightly as he fell into deep thought.

Because Whitewash City swarmed with all sorts of postmodern artists (including performance artists), madmen, and cultists, meaningless graffiti of every variety was extremely common. Thus, when he had seen those interlocking triangular ritual symbols near the canal, he hadn't given them a second thought.

Yet now, in another place thousands of miles away from Whitewash City, the exact same symbol had appeared again, and another person who encountered it was also in trouble. A very reasonable deduction, then, was that this symbol was not merely meaningless graffiti.

Before entering the game, he certainly would have viewed the symbol as some kind of secret code used by a group, since in his past understanding, no supernatural abilities or phenomena existed in this world.

Yet ever since playing the game Investigator, his perspective had undergone a profound shift—supernatural forces did indeed exist in this world.

Perhaps the red-haired woman's frantic words were actually the truth—this strange pattern might truly possess bizarre occult properties.

If only he had relevant intelligence...

At that thought, he instinctively tapped his knuckles against the desk, pondering the resources available to him.

Right, he could use the Information Panel; it seemed the upgraded panel could directly display item information. He thought to himself.

With a mental nudge, the next moment, an illusory light curtain poured down before his eyes like cascading mercury.

[Name: Xia Lun]
[Game Rounds: 1]
[Specialization: Firearms Use Mastery 28%; Cold Weapon (Sword) Use Proficiency 55%; Cold Weapon (Throwing) Proficiency 3%; Comprehensive Navigation Novice 99%; Symptom Reading Novice 80%; Stealth Novice 5%]
[Specialty: Familiarity with Pain; Reflexive Evasion; Transcendent Regeneration (Enhanced); Nonhuman Toughness (Pending Recall); Treasure Hunter (1/3); Mass Murderer (10/100)]
[Skill: Heightened Focus (3/3)]
[Mental Health: Serenity (Specific value requires panel upgrade to display)]
[Physical Health: Healthy (Specific information requires panel upgrade to display)]
[Memory Points: 400]
[Attributes: (Specific information requires panel upgrade to display)]
[Panel Upgrade Countdown: 6:31:12]

Xia Lun blinked, and the illusory panel instantly dissolved into the air.

—Perhaps he could wait six and a half hours, then use the Information Panel directly to see what that strange ritual symbol actually was.

"Mr. Xia?" the red-haired woman asked timidly, raising her head.

"What you're saying is simply too incredible; it sounds like the ravings of a madman," Xia Lun said, sounding sincere while intentionally suppressing her. "I couldn't possibly sink that kind of money into a... crazy guess. Besides, acquiring your father's shares in Jade Pharmaceuticals isn't as simple as you think. You can't stop something like that purely with money."

"I, I have other stakes to offer." The woman tucked the red hair beside her ear. "I've acquired a newly developed potion. This potion can alleviate your asphyxiation symptoms. It definitely works, I guarantee it."

"What a pity, I no longer have any use for it." Xia Lun stood up and coldly interrupted, "There is no way I am lending you money."

The woman's expression stiffened, and despair flickered within her hazel eyes, resembling a tiny deer trapped and continuously bleeding.

"I won't lend you money, but I can make a gift of a sum of cash to you. Naturally, it won't be very much." Xia Lun suddenly smiled. "Even though your story is crazy, I'm willing to believe it."

The woman froze, her eyes slowly widening until her face wore the dazed expression of someone overwhelmed by sudden, unexpected joy.

Putting herself in his shoes, had she not witnessed with her own eyes the massive changes in her father's behavior and perceived the terrifying process of his gradual replacement, she probably would not have believed such absurd stories as "mind control" or "body doubles" herself, let alone parted with a single cent for them.

Yet Mr. Xia had chosen to believe her! With Xia Lun's endorsement, she could leverage it to raise even more funds. Her father might actually be saved!

Xia Lun picked up several photographs from the desk, pretending to inspect them.

"I have some research into the occult as well; I can help you think about it," he remarked offhandedly. "—Is there anything else?"

"Mr. Xia..." The woman spoke incoherently. "You—you really are a good person. Please make sure you accept these potions!"

As she spoke, she withdrew a full five bottles of milky-white potion from her briefcase.

Xia Lun blinked. He found these potions looking remarkably familiar, and after a moment of recollection, he realized they appeared to be the exact "Underwater Breathing Potion" items he had purchased in the past!

With trembling hands, the woman placed the potions on the desk, her voice still shaking, "Mr. Xia, you're a good person, and I must be honest with you. These potions don't come from a laboratory, but from an underground auction... Consuming this medicine allows a person to swim underwater!"

"I do indeed have need of these things." Xia Lun nodded. "Then I accept them without modesty."

A sweet smile immediately bloomed on the woman's face. "That's simply wonderful."

Two hours later, the woman and her bodyguard left Xia Lun's manor.

Xia Lun stood by the window, watching with a faint smile as the vehicle drove further and further away. When the car cleared the gates and vanished into the artificial forest outside, the smile vanished from his face.

"Do you think she has any connection to the group that drew this symbol?" the time traveler asked, without turning his head.

The butler's voice drifted from behind him. "You believe this is a scam? From my personal perspective, if this were a scam, it's rather too crude."

"Precisely because it's absurd, I believe it?"

"A philosophical remark, sir, but if her story is absurd to this degree, I feel one cannot rule out the possibilities it contains. Your decision was most wise."

Xia Lun shook his head. "Has the detective agency made any new progress in their investigation?"

"Coincidentally, they have also locked onto the symbol as a lead. Through extensive cross-referencing, they've determined that no past texts or cultural compilations contain such a symbol, nor any prototype for it. This symbol has only emerged within the last five years." The butler produced a packet of photographs, which similarly displayed those interlocking triangular symbols, looking like an infinitely looping Penrose staircase.

The butler spread the photographs across the desk. "In addition, they've identified the name of an organization."

"What name?"

"The Foresight Club—the organization that drew this symbol is the Foresight Club."