Chapter 11: Magician

Returned to the student apartment.

Ling Wu plugged the phone in to charge, and the screen lit up shortly after.

The app icon in the bottom right corner of the screen was a scarlet eye; the eye's eyelashes were pure white, and it blinked every few seconds, as if it could make eye contact with someone from across the void.

This was encryption software on the international Dark Web, requiring specific commands to delete; the Transmigrator felt this software was somewhat eerie, but since they couldn't click into it and discovered it wasn't a virus, they left it alone.

Ling Wu entered the password to log into the software.

A string of messages quickly popped up in the notification bar on the left:

-Fool: The TJ-45 Gene Agent is the Empire's most exported legal biochemical drug; the experimental source is the Jin Beidu.

-Fool: Have you arrived in the Empire?

-Fool: Someone on the Dark Web is looking you up. Your files were encrypted at the SSS level, so the other party didn't have enough clearance and was reverse-tracked by our firewall. The other party's information has been sent to your inbox; remember to check it.

-Fool: Where are you?!

-Fool: Giving me the silent treatment?

The last message from the account codenamed "Fool" had been left half a year ago; the other party was clearly tied up by something, so Ling Wu typed a reply with one hand:

-Magician: Everything is going smoothly.

Opening the information provided by Fool, the face of a middle-aged man soon appeared on the phone screen; with a heroic air between his brows, eyes like a falcon, black hair, and thin lips, he possessed the majestic bearing of someone in a position of power.

Jin Liangjin.

The head of the Jin Family.

And also Ling Wu's biological father.

Jin Liangjin was investigating him.

His eyelashes trembled slightly, and he turned off the phone.

Ling Wu began to recall the events of the past few days.

In the comic *Morbid Affection: The Noble Young Masters All Fall in Love with Me*, he currently knew he was a Cannon Fodder male supporting character who, after various attempts at courting death, would be thrown into the sea to feed great white sharks.

Qi Yu was the villain.

But he did not know the plot twists or the general development direction of the comic; through observation, the barrage disappeared after he separated from Qi Yu, Jing Du... and the others.

So, proposing a hypothesis now: the barrage would not appear when he was alone.

After all, he was Cannon Fodder, a peripheral character in the comic; he could only trigger the barrage when he was with people who had more "screen time," such as the protagonist and the villain—in other words, entering the main plot.

Ling Wu looked at the empty ceiling, thought of those bizarre barrages, tilted his head, and laughed: "Parallel worlds?"

"Schrödinger's cat is a famous thought experiment that can be used to explore superposition states and the role of the observer in quantum mechanics."

"To know whether the cat in the box is dead or alive, one must open the box, and when choosing to open the box, the result is destined to be only one, because the cat cannot be both dead and alive."

"And in the choice, two different parallel universes are destined to be created."

He picked up a mug to get water and brought it to his lips, his pale lips stained crimson by the water.

"The existence of an observer causes the wave function of a quantum system to collapse, thereby causing the system to transition from a superposition state to a definite state; this is the famous 'Many-Worlds Interpretation'."

Ling Wu set down the cup and interlaced his fingers.

"Did the choices I made influence the parallel worlds on some level?"

Flickering light and shadow draped over half his face, like a frame in a movie intentionally slowed down; he leaned back, his gaze passing through the bridge constructed by quantum entanglement to meet it: "Are you all on the barrage the intersection of parallel universes and the real world?"

"Or are you located in a higher dimension?"

A long time passed.

The barrage never appeared.

"Then, let's return to the first hypothesis." Ling Wu snapped his fingers, and the light from the crystal chandelier turned on, shining like shimmering water on his beautiful face: "You only appear when I am with the so-called protagonists."

"Right?"

No one responded in the empty apartment.

Ling Wu turned and walked into the bathroom.

"Ding!"

The phone rang.

Ling Wu came out wearing a bathrobe, picked up the phone, and followed the message notification into the Empire's public chat software; seeing a red dot on the contacts tab, he clicked in, and the one who had proactively added him was an account with the nickname "Yin."

The avatar was a Gothic-style church.

Ling Wu accepted the friend request, and not long after, two messages popped in:

-Yin: Have you eaten?

-05: I have.

-Yin: Why aren't you curious about who I am?

-05: Yin Huaiyu.

-Yin: You guessed right.

-Yin: Next Wednesday, I'm hosting a birthday banquet at WiltedMirage; will you come?

WiltedMirage was the largest entertainment venue in Beidu, known as a "gold-consuming den," and was the favorite place for the young masters and misses of the chaebol families to go.

-05: I will.

After sending the last message, Ling Wu put the phone down; tomorrow was the weekend, so he could get a good night's sleep.

The next day.

Jin Liangjin called out of the blue, asking Ling Wu to return to the old mansion for a reunion dinner; during the year the Transmigrator had occupied the body, Jin Liangjin had called twice to check in, but the Transmigrator, not wanting to deal with the old fox of the chaebol family, had declined, citing a busy academic schedule.

After that, Jin Liangjin had not called again.

He was, after all, a family head who had experienced coups and power struggles and had seen it all; he was a very patient hunter, and even if he wanted to achieve his goal, he was never in a rush.

Ling Wu left the house early.

But the direction was not toward the Jin Family Old Residence, but rather Lower City District D.

This place was even more of a mixed bag than B District, unruly, with all sorts of people from every walk of life mingling here; Ling Wu wore a black baseball cap and walked into an inconspicuous tattoo shop in the alley.

The incandescent light in the shop was blindingly bright, and faded posters from the old era were plastered across the walls.

The boss was dozing off.

Ling Wu took a Magician Tarot Card out of his pocket and placed it on the counter: "Boss, it's time to do business."

A man's voice soon came from the back room:

"Coming, coming."

The man saw that Magician Tarot Card, froze for a moment, his eyes flickering, and reached out a hand: "Minghui, Deputy Chief of the Federal Intelligence Bureau Seventh Division, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you." Ling Wu's fingers were exceptionally delicate and slender under the white light; he smiled apologetically: "There was a bit of an accident on the way, but fortunately, it was a close call."

"I've troubled you to keep my things safe."

Minghui flipped the shop's sign to the closed side, quickly retrieved the Wooden Box, and handed it to Ling Wu.

"It's no trouble; the Marshal specifically instructed that your safety must be prioritized within the Empire." Minghui said solemnly: "You can contact us at any time if you have any needs."

Ling Wu opened the box; resting on the black velvet fabric were a ten-inch Improved Military Knife and a Colt M1911 pistol equipped with a silenced barrel.

This Military Knife was double-edged and made of a special material; it had excellent flexibility, could cut through iron like mud, and could even be bent into a circle before quickly springing back.

"Many thanks."

Ling Wu took these two items away.