Chapter 370: A Small Trial

The woman in green grabbed the beautiful youth's ear and returned to the room amidst a series of wails, attracting side-glances from other guests who hadn't left yet, their eyes full of schadenfreude.

No one noticed anything unusual about the innkeeper. In the eyes of the crowd, he was just standing there quietly calculating accounts, perhaps assessing how much it would cost to renovate the third floor.

Bang—!

As the woman in green slammed the door shut, the onlookers also dispersed, and the corridor fell into silence again.

The moment he entered the room, the beautiful youth who had been wailing in pain just now suddenly became profound, a completely different person from the passionate youth who had been arguing for his basketball dream just a moment ago.

He glanced at the Eldest Senior Brother behind him.

"Yuyu, is Master's ear easy to pinch?" His tone was somewhat subtle.

The Eldest Senior Brother pondered seriously for a moment and replied firmly: "A bit old."

Master: ???

Under the beautiful youth's almost cannibalistic gaze, the Eldest Senior Brother smiled sheepishly and retracted his hand.

"Master, you were the one who asked me to cooperate with your performance... I just entered the role, and unconsciously..."

"Fine, fine, fine, my good disciple, have you been waiting for this day for a long time?" The beautiful youth cursed. "I should have asked Fourth to accompany me to perform... You belly-black man, I knew nothing good would come of you being so proactive!"

"Master, you misunderstood me. I really just wanted to help the Junior Brother..."

The smile on the Eldest Senior Brother's face was like a spring breeze.

The beautiful youth snorted coldly, walked to the window, and looked down at the innkeeper standing there like a sculpture, speaking unhurriedly:

"He actually has some wisdom..."

"He actually comprehended it?" the Third Senior Brother asked in surprise. "Even though Master has been deliberately guiding him, this enlightenment is quite astonishing... It doesn't even lose to Fifth."

"He is different from Fifth. Fifth is naturally foolishly wise, but this Junior Brother... should be considered to have superb enlightenment." The Eldest Senior Brother couldn't help but exclaim.

"Originally, I just wanted to inspire him and let him ponder for a few days; perhaps he would have thought of this level. I didn't expect him to comprehend it on the spot. Master has picked up a treasure."

"Hmph."

The beautiful youth lay on the bed and rolled his eyes silently. "Wasn't it because Master performed well?"

"That goes without saying; Master's acting skills are truly vivid." The Eldest Senior Brother immediately flattered him with a smile.

The beautiful youth couldn't be bothered to talk nonsense with him. While playing with his hair casually, he said faintly:

"【Fate Weaving】... interesting."

"【Fate Weaving】?"

Mo Jiao muttered these two words. "It doesn't seem to have anything to do with our [Soul Tracing]? What is [Fate Weaving]?"

"See for yourselves; he has almost mastered it." The beautiful youth waved his hand.

"The good show has only just begun..."

……

Chen Ling stood behind the counter, looking at the words [Fate Weaving] on the paper, his eyes flashing with brilliance.

The third-tier skill requires Chen Ling to designate a role and influence the surrounding environment through the role's sense of belief... and the role Chen Ling chose to play was himself.

Sense of belief, sense of belief...

Chen Ling slowly closed his eyes. At this moment, he seemed to have returned to the theater before the Great Catastrophe, standing below a huge and magnificent stage, examining everything on the stage.

In his mind, one role after another performed on it. Movement, props, lighting, costumes... the countless details that made up the performance floated before his eyes like threads, weaving orderly as his pen tip fell.

A performance was gradually born under his pen.

Chen Ling opened his eyes suddenly!

He flipped the ledger to a blank page and wrote a few lines of text with his pen tip flying.

【Time: Afternoon, 13:30】

【Scene: Inn】

【Roles: Umbrella Painter, Mysterious Painting Ant Master, Floating Life Painting Member A, Chen Ling, Passerby A, Passerby B, Passerby C...】

【△ Chen Ling, disguised as the innkeeper, begins to clean the inn to avoid being noticed. He sweeps the glass shards from Room 309 that splashed into the courtyard, along with other charred items that flew out, into the kitchen trash can together】

【△ The piled-up, burned, and deformed glass shards ignite the trash can under the strong afternoon light. The fire spreads in the kitchen. At this time, the gas tank, whose valve was not closed tightly due to negligence, is also ignited by a wisp of flame...】

……

Outside the inn, at the teahouse.

Lin Xi shook the teacup in his hand, looking at the rippling water, but his thoughts had already flown far away.

"The inquiry results from the police are out. It can be confirmed that those who left just now are all themselves. They should have just checked out early simply because they were afraid of the explosion." Old Lu pushed open the teahouse door, walked straight in, sat down, and said.

Lin Xi's hand paused slightly, and disappointment appeared in his eyes.

"Could it be that we guessed wrong? That madman isn't hiding in the inn?"

"How is the inn now? Is there anything unusual?" Feng Gui, who was on the side, suddenly asked.

"No." Old Lu shook his head.

"It's just that the group of guests fell out with the innkeeper, and then there was a kid playing with a ball in the courtyard, who had an argument with his sister. All the guests in other rooms are normal."

"Damn it... if that guy isn't in the inn, where else could he be hiding?"

"How much time do we have left?"

"It's 13:29 in the afternoon. There are still more than twenty hours left. Turning Willow Town upside down would only take less than ten hours. There's still time."

Lin Xi and Feng Gui were thinking about the next step of the plan, while Old Lu had to be distracted to monitor the inn. Just then, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"What's wrong? What did you see?"

"Nothing... it's just that the boss who had been calculating accounts for a long time finally moved."

"Moved? Is there anything unusual?"

"No, he picked up a broom and started sweeping the floor. He should be preparing to clean up the explosion debris first."

The two lost interest and continued to discuss. However, just a few minutes later, a loud explosion suddenly resounded through the sky!

Boom—!!

It was like thunder exploding on the earth. Rolling thick smoke rose from the inn in the distance, and all the pedestrians around looked at that direction in surprise!

"Is that the inn?!"

"What happened?"

"Could it be that the madman has struck again?!"

The three stood up from the teahouse suddenly, looking at the burning flames in the inn in surprise, and then the other two looked at Old Lu simultaneously.

"That's not right... Everyone is under my surveillance, and no one has made any strange moves. How did this explosion come about?" Old Lu was a bit dazed.

"Maybe the madman has a way to avoid your surveillance? That would explain it!"

"He shouldn't have turned into someone in the inn, but has been hiding somewhere, so you didn't notice him..."

"Damn it! Go to the inn quickly!!"

The three had extremely ugly expressions and rushed toward the inn at high speed!

A breeze blew across the inn's counter, the ledger turned a page quietly, and as the text on the paper glowed slightly, the three roles returned to the stage just as the story was written.

……

……

Back from a business trip, three updates will resume tomorrow~