"It is a bit risky. I truly didn’t expect his ability to be this strong now. If I could ignore it completely, you wouldn’t have appeared."
"So, if one day he fails, no matter what he’s done, you’re just a brainwashed victim. That’s just like you."
"If one day he orders you to die, would you do it?"
"No, I wouldn’t. That goes completely against our interests." The brainwashed version of her shook her head at once.
"Good. I think we can reach an understanding."
Zhuge Wanjun stood up, extended a hand, and the brainwashed version of her extended a hand as well.
The moment their hands clasped, the brainwashed version of her gradually faded and disappeared.
Both of them compromised somewhat, but the brainwashed version of her compromised much more—which was better for her interests.
A few minutes later, Zhuge Wanjun’s unfocused pupils slowly narrowed.
She looked at the empty seat across from her, silently marveling. Glasses’ ability really was becoming stronger and stronger.
She was a lawyer by profession, and her professional ability had a certain similarity to Glasses’ ability—they both involved persuading others. What’s more, her profession naturally gave her a strong resistance to Glasses’ power.
But she hadn’t expected this—last time, after his advancement, she could snap out of it over the phone in an instant. But this time, face-to-face, it still took her several minutes to break free from the mind control.
But that’s good, too. The stronger he becomes, the more perfect her own escape route must be.
The moment she sensed the soaring risk, she began looking for ways to mitigate it. She wasn’t Glasses—she had to stay in plain sight at all times.
Because whether as a Foreigner or a normal professional, her work required her to be visible. What Glasses could do, she couldn’t do—nor could she use such extreme methods. That would destroy her life and career.
As she was just about recovered, her phone chimed with a notification.
Glasses, using the identity of Zhang Fan from Flame Group, had emailed her a packet of files.
This was a broad outline of upcoming matters—just standard work procedures.
She glanced at it briefly and couldn’t help admitting Glasses was impressive. Every time he changed identities, he could throw himself in completely. Anyone who didn’t know would never see through his act.
Every gesture he made, to outsiders, matched the original person exactly.
Another notification popped up. She opened a link that jumped through several redirects and verifications, finding the mission instructions posted there.
There were two things Glasses needed her to do.
One was to cooperate with the Chemical Plant Domain. Glasses was reckless and audacious—he actually wanted to track down the Soul Devouring Beast and attempt to control it.
Had he forgotten what the boss told them about how invincible the Soul Devouring Beast was? Or did he think the information from the Scorching Sun Department’s collection was wrong?
She opened the second task, and when she saw the file inside, a flash of unhideable shock appeared on her face.
Glasses wanted her to find someone named Wen Yan, who could enter the Old Ice Warehouse, and was a new employee at Virtue City Funeral House this year.
But as soon as she saw the face, she compared it with a highly detailed portrait in her phone’s photo album.
Before she could look closer, the file on the website completely vanished—the site crashed itself.
She left the café, returned home, and found Lady Lie had already made dinner and was waiting for her.
She changed into slippers and sat down, her heart still pounding. She felt like she’d just stumbled onto a huge secret.
A secret Glasses absolutely did not know.
In the file Glasses provided, this Wen Yan was just an ordinary person.
But Su Yue could enter the Water Ghost Domain, could be dragged under by a Water Ghost and come out unharmed—there’s no way he was human.
"Lady Lie, tonight when you go out, if you run into Su Yue, tell him I’ll come see him at noon tomorrow. Give him my private phone number."
"Oh, that soon?" Lady Lie was a little surprised.
"Not soon at all. Any slower and it’ll be too late. The risk is getting higher and higher—I have to set up an escape route for us."
"Alright, I understand."
Zhuge Wanjun’s heart raced uncontrollably. If Wen Yan and Su Yue were the same person, then someone who could hide right under Glasses’ nose, pretending to be an ordinary person—enough to have Glasses mark him as an ordinary person for observation...
If not for this Su Yue accidentally slipping through a short video portal to the Water Ghost Domain, meeting Lady Lie, and Lady Lie happening to remember and draw his likeness—
She never would have suspected Glasses’ intel, and would most likely have just followed Glasses’ instructions and treated him as an ordinary person.
Then, when she showed up, she’d realize what she was up against was not Wen Yan, but Su Yue—a Su Yue whose guards were all Black-haired Zombies. How would she die?
She’d die without even knowing what killed her! She’d absolutely die with her eyes wide open!
And for someone like that to be infiltrating Virtue City Funeral House and getting into the Old Ice Warehouse—what was he planning?
There were records of Su Yue in the Scorching Sun Department, but with an extremely high clearance level. According to Glasses’ intelligence, only people at least at the level of a commandery branch Minister or higher could access it.
It means only people of equivalent status were allowed to register such a file.
And among people like that, every last one could be called by name.
She felt no joy at peering into this big secret—instead she started to feel a creeping dread, sensing she’d accidentally glimpsed something she was never supposed to know.
She ran the numbers: the first job Glasses wanted her to do had almost a zero percent chance of success. If she tried it, her odds of dying were at least 99%.
If this were a legal case, something this risky would never land on her desk—front-line screeners would have tossed it out long before.
She’d have to meet him face-to-face. It was too late to pretend ignorance—she’d already taken the assignment.
"Lady Lie, this time, I really have no confidence at all. I think things have way exceeded expectations."
"Is it that serious?" Lady Lie could tell from Wan Jun’s tone that she meant it, and was even sounding a little deflated.
"Very serious. We could all die if this goes wrong. I knew Glasses’ way of playing would fall apart sooner or later, but I never thought the biggest risk would be the one he missed completely."
"Maybe... we should just leave..." Lady Lie looked at Wan Jun, a little distressed. Honestly, she didn’t care much about anything else—if Wan Jun wanted help, she’d help.
"It’s way too late for that. I’ll go first thing tomorrow morning—gotta confirm it for myself, and see if there’s still a sliver of hope for us. Remember what I told you."