Chapter 80 – Focusing on the wrong thing

Translator: Xena
Surprise! Chapter 81 will be uploaded tomorrow!

While speaking, Wen Heshu tapped on the trending topic.

He glanced at the number of views. It was quite a lot, mostly from casual passersby.

Before he could take a closer look, Jian Xie had already pressed his power button.

Although the other person’s expression didn’t change much, he sensed a subtle meaning behind it.

Wen Heshu fell into deep thought.

Although the headline’s “In love with an evil god” part was definitely not true…

Jian Xie’s reaction somehow made him suspect that he did indeed have a love interest who resembled an evil god.

There was a strong sense of trying to cover something up.

As if struck by a thought, his gaze fell on the other’s ring finger adorned with a ring, and then he let out a long sigh.

“I almost forgot you’re not single.”

“……”

A soft chuckle drifted through the air.

Jian Xie didn’t turn around, but he could feel a part of him detaching. Qin Zhuo was likely sitting in the back seat of the car, resting his chin on his hand and watching the two of them.

And one could easily imagine his expression at that moment.

Jian Xie suddenly felt a chill run down his spine

“…Just like you said, that’s not the point.” He felt a strange flush on his face and said awkwardly, “I know what we’re looking for now.” 

Wen Heshu had only asked casually. He had already anticipated that Jian Xie might attract media attention, since even he was occasionally dazzled by the other party.

But seeing that he clearly didn’t want to bring it up again, he let it go.

…Plus, he could just wait until their mission was completed before looking.

Wen Heshu put away his phone, shifting his focus to the important matter at hand. He was frowning as he asked, “So, what did it say?” 

Because Jian Xie was pulled into the predation field, he didn’t hear this part of the conversation and could only ask the other party to explain it in their own words.

“We went over everything that needed confirmation.”

Jian Xie paused for a moment before continuing, “He is indeed a player. He proactively sought out the monsters and made promises to them. Our deduction was correct.”  

“What… did he offer?” Wen Heshu asked. 

Ordinary temptations alone weren’t enough to make those selfish monsters willingly gather together.

He couldn’t fathom what kind of player, deprived of the ability to use props, could accomplish this. What could the monsters possibly want?

Jian Xie calmly said, “To send all the investigators to hell.” 

“……”

Upon receiving this answer, a tremendous sense of absurdity filled Wen Heshu’s mind.

It was so far beyond his imagination that it didn’t feel real.

“As far as I know, ‘Hell’ as a game has disappeared and merged into real life, so how could it still exist?” He said in a tense voice, “And even so, how could a player possibly know how to filter people who enter the game? He simply doesn’t have the authority to do that.”  

There were many suspicious points.

Jian Xie ignored his suddenly tightening fingers, and after observing his expression for a long while, he said, “There is a prop.” 

“……”

That’s impossible.

But he couldn’t bring himself to offer a proper rebuttal.

For investigators who have never actually entered hell, there were currently too many inexplicable situations, giving them a sense of deep-sea dread.

Most people were afraid of the deep sea not because it was terrifying, but because of the sense of the unknown that they wouldn’t be able to overcome.

“Ever since I came into contact with the supernatural, all of you have been emphasizing to me that hell is a game.” Jian Xie said, “Since it’s a game, there’s still a core piece of code even if it crashes. So, if we think of props as code, controlling them just requires [running] them.” 

Wen Heshu quickly thought of recent events.

“You mean, the wood carving and pendant they were looking for last time were actually a piece of code?”

Jian Xie replied, “That’s one way to think about it.” 

He didn’t explain that these were material used to reveal Qin Zhuo physically, but he did feel that they were indeed related to what the monsters were planning to do.

Wen Heshu frowned again. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if those monsters succeeded…

After a while, he took a deep breath. Jian Xie saw him warily turn off all electronic devices, pull the prop he’d seen the other person leave at the hotel yesterday out of his pocket, and then roll up the car windows, sealing the two of them in the confined space.

After doing all this, Wen Heshu suddenly said, “You can trust me.” 

“Cheng Li is my friend. Based on my observation over the past few hours, you do indeed match his description, so I want you to trust me.”

He paused.

“Now, I want to ask you something that I swear on my life I will never tell anyone. Can you tell me if you took the missing wood carving and pendant?”

Can he tell him?

Jian Xie had a premonition that what he was about to face was far more important than this.

Moreover, this question happened to lead directly to where the evil props he used to reshape Qin Zhuo’s body went.

So after thinking for only a few seconds, he simply nodded, “I’ve destroyed it, they’ll never have a chance to come in contact with them again.” 

Upon hearing this, Wen Heshu breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief, his back no longer stiffened, and he leaned back against the car seat.

“Are you really an S-class?” He asked again. 

“I don’t know.”

“…” This may remain an unsolved mystery.

“What else did that writer say?”

“That’s it.” Jian Xie said, “Although it has contacted the player many times, it has always done so through non-face-to-face means.” 

They must have some special way of confirming that the human truly has the resources to cooperate with them.

They were simply too arrogant and careless.

Wen Heshu found himself unable to take his eyes off the other person. He had too many questions swirling in his mind that he needed to prioritize them.

Jian Xie noticed his gaze.

“Why are you still looking at me?”

“I can not understand.” He said, “Why would a player believe a monster if he said he could do things that other monsters wanted to do but couldn’t?” 

“I have a guess.”

Upon hearing this, Wen Heshu furrowed his brows.

Jian Xie’s voice was completely flat. “Is the Eighteen Evils really a monster?” 

He had wanted to voice this out for a long time.

Perhaps these investigators had frequently encountered many monsters before him, so they naturally assumed that the [Eighteen Evils] was a monster as well.

Jian Xie, however, joined the Bureau halfway through his career. He was not instilled with rigid investigator mindset templates and spent a year in contact with monsters.

The Eighteen Evils was a being that even the eighteen levels of hell couldn’t contain.

Even whether it actually existed was unclear, yet the definition was so clear. Didn’t the investigators find this strange?

Just like the reminders clearly stated in the formula book.

“An evil being that even the eighteen levels of hell cannot contain… Don’t you think adding this suffix would be more appropriate?”

Jian Xie had this idea because Qin Zhuo’s arrogant words inspired him.

When he mentioned hell, he often used the word ‘awakening,’ because he himself came from another world, so it didn’t seem out of place.

The concept of ‘containing’ seemed more like describing something coming from outside.

If it were a game, as a setting written in black and white on an official rulebook, it wouldn’t use the wrong words.

“This player must be the Eighteen Evils.”

“……”

Wen Heshu was stupefied.

Because of this simple sentence, a series of fleeting images flashed through his mind.

What Jian Xie said… was most likely true.

If this human did hold this title, then the monsters must have heard of him, and if he used this identity to make promises, they would’ve believed him.

“No.”

Suddenly, a voice Wen Heshu had never heard before rang out lazily from the back seat.

Wen Heshu immediately came to his senses. He abruptly turned around, grabbed the bow and an arrow placed under the driver’s seat, and aimed them directly at the source of the sound.

The sharp arrow pointed directly at the young man who appeared out of nowhere.

Upon seeing the other person’s face clearly, a thought immediately struck Wen Heshu. It caused his hand holding the weapon to tremble, making it impossible for him to aim at the other person’s forehead.

This handsome young man was definitely not like any of the monsters he had dealt with.

If they were to actually fight, he would have absolutely no chance of winning. The moment It made a move, he would be instantly reduced to ashes.

“You’re wrong, that guy never committed any of the eighteen evil deeds.”

Even when the investigator was pointing a weapon at him, he didn’t care at all, and simply spoke to Jian Xie with an extremely arrogant attitude. “That’s probably just him dreaming. I won’t get involved with any human being other than you. He’s definitely not the Eighteen Evils.” 

He scoffed, his words utterly merciless.

“What a fake.”

Jian Xie: “…”

Indeed.

Because of the information gap he was keeping, he didn’t tell Wen Heshu some of his deductions.

The only thing he could think of that could send all the investigators to hell was one of the daggers in the black box that Qin Zhuo had given him.

The monsters’ desire for the evil god to descend may not have been simply for worship purposes.

After all, in the few days he’d spent with Qin Zhuo, he’d already come to realize just how unpredictable and moody he was, let alone the monsters in Hell.

There was only a very small chance that It would help them.

Considering that even the [Eagle Eye]—a supreme evil prop belonging to It in Hell—had been discarded without a second thought, as if it meant nothing to It…

Therefore, their safest target might be the things that Qin Zhuo brought out of hell after his arrival.

—That was, the daggers that had already been given to Jian Xie as a gift.

The monsters thought they would be scattered somewhere or even be on the evil god Itself. They could’ve never expected that they would end up belonging to Jian Xie.

He could understand all of these things, but the one thing he couldn’t figure out was why Qin Zhuo was so concerned about who the “Eighteen Evils” was.

He appeared directly in front of a human without warning. Although it didn’t really affect him much, it wasn’t like him.

Is there something special about this identity?

“……”

Seeing that Wen Heshu was still on high alert, his fingers even twitching slightly, Jian Xie concluded that this must at least mean Qin Zhuo had no intention of attacking him.

“This is Qin—”

He paused, somewhat stuck.

The evil god seemed to have said that It’s name was a secret between the two of them and could not be told to anyone else.

Seeing that he suddenly stopped talking, Qin Zhuo smiled and then nodded lazily. “I’m the other protagonist in that book.” 

What book?

Was it “In Love with an Evil God: The One who can Manipulate Minds”?

Despite his somewhat startling behavior, Jian Xie did not deny it. Instead, he turned his head away to look out the window, only making his attempt to hide it all the more obvious.

Wen Heshu glanced at him then looked at the evil god. His expression blanked for a few seconds.

Then, he put down the bow and arrow in his hand.

Unlike other investigators, as a Special A-level investigator, his most basic quality was being pragmatic and not acting rashly.

However—

“So, is that trending topic actually true?” He made up his mind to ask. 

Jian Xie: “…”

Author’s Note:

Jian Xie: Now, right this instant, forget