Chapter 425: Pinokangni (104)

Jia La He smiled lightly, like a gentle breeze: "I'm just offering my personal opinion. So, did I hit a sore spot?"

Xingqiri said coldly, "Mr. Jia La He, my patience is thin. Passive slacking—only makes me suspect you have ties with the real culprit."

"Rogue, thug, drunkard, hooligan… I've heard that trash talk far too often, but I never imagined I'd one day be treated as an accomplice to a murderer. I take back my earlier words: your problem isn't excessive suspicion. You're a lunatic, understand? A lunatic."

"You—your clan—broke the backbone of this old dog, pulled out its fangs, and now you start accusing me of murder? Nonsense, only a drunk Su Le Da idiot would go crazy over a stray dog on the street."

"What on earth makes you babble madness here? Compared to me, you should be more concerned with those foreign guests causing a ruckus at the film theme park."

Xingqiri: "No need for your reminder. As soon as that envoy stepped out of the mansion, I understood his intentions; all my 'servants' saw it. His little trick did fool me, but that's fine—I'm quite pleased with the current situation."

"Why do you think I let him go, and why did I clear the stage of that film theme park?" Xingqiri's tone grew low, teeth clenched, "…because my target has always been you, hunting dog. The bigger his commotion, the more chance I have to make you and your true master (the watchmaker) pay blood debt with blood."

——

Death God.

"Is that also part of Xingqiri's calculation?"

Inside Pu Yuan Store, Pu Yuan Xi Zhu kept waving his folding fan, his slightly narrowed eyes flashing with surprise: "Whoa, it seems Xingqiri is also trying to muddy Pinokangni, how odd… could muddying that pool be to his benefit?"

"His stance might be problematic… he's not entirely on the Dream Master's side."

Ye Yi sat on the sofa, legs crossed, watching Xingqiri's silhouette against the sky: "Do you remember his question to Shajin? …【Do you love your family more than you love yourself】. Perhaps we all misread him; like Shajin, he regards family as more important than his own life. His sister is immensely important to him, and finding her killer is more urgent than the imminent Harmony Festival."

Saying that, Ye Yi gave a wry smile and spread his hands: "Honestly, at first I thought he was that cold, ruthless power machine."

"It's normal for someone so control‑hungry to crave greater authority. What's abnormal is… does he severely underestimate the threat from the company? The company can uproot an entire 【family】; what gives him the right to 'willingly' see Shajin smoothly execute his plan and kindly clear a stage for him?"

At that point, Ye Yi sensed something odd; from Xingqiri's words it seemed he and Shajin were in cahoots, both fearing Pinokangni wouldn't descend into chaos.

Pu Yuan Xi Zhu curled his lip, the brim of his hat shading his face as his smile faded. He inexplicably felt—this guy resembled Lan Ran a bit? That ever‑confident, composed demeanor reminded him of his younger self.

But if it's Lan Ran… then he must still be holding some hidden trump card, or an even more secret, unknown scheme.

What kind of plot could make him disdain the threat the company brings?

——

"If I really am the murderer, why do you keep covering it up? Ha, I forgot—you also have a hard‑to‑please master— they tell you to ignore the damn murder cases and focus on that Harmony Festival…"

Jia La He crossed his arms, word for word: "…is that so, 'gentle elder brother'?"

Xingqiri smiled lightly: "…looks like your disguise has already let you fully grasp every detail of the clan."

"Disguise? Which of your eyes saw I'm a fake? Open your eyes wide and look closely, the one with the halo—"

Xingqiri didn't argue, simply said calmly to himself: "Indeed, every part of you is genuine. Brown hair, soft and curly like Benny's; orange eyes that remind me of Sir Whitaker's gaze; the odd scar, it's Woolsey's medal…"

"And the gray vest, tie, hunting dog medal, water bottle, mixing‑drink technique, sheriff identity… they're all real—"

"—from fifty‑two loyal 'clan members'."

Xingqiri looked up at the splendid stained glass above: "When they converge, countless tiny truths weave a lie—you harvest a thread of perception from each person, claim it as your own, and in the dream fabricate a complete Jia La He…"

"…Am I right? Minion of Mysterious?"

——

Zero Zone.

???

"Mysterious? What is Mysterious? Has this star god appeared before?"

"And a master? This star god sounds as powerful as Void!"

The disciples inside Sui Bian Guan immediately began debating; Xingqiri's remark was undoubtedly a heavyweight bomb—no one expected that besides Void, other star‑god forces were also meddling.

Yi Xuan lowered his brows, pondering: "Hmm… I recall Mysterious being mentioned in the Cosmic Locust Plague, but it hasn't shown much activity and didn't join the fight against the Breeding star god. Like Void, it's mysterious—could Jia La He's appearance be due to the power of Mysterious destiny?"

It's unclear what forces Mysterious commands, but the ability to literally forge a person in a dream shows Mysterious destiny's power is exceedingly bizarre.

"Master, master!"

Ju Fu Fu tilted his head aside, blinking with a puzzled look: "Does Mr. Jia La He have no physical form in the Daydream Hotel?"

"Hmm." Yi Xuan nodded, "Fu Fu, you can liken Mr. Jia La He to a… ghost. But he's not formed from a human soul after death; he's a ghost created by the power of the Mysterious star god, absorbing parts of the perceptions and identities of fifty‑two clan members in the dream and combining them. As a ghost, he naturally lacks a physical body in reality."

"Oh oh!" Ju Fu Fu's tiger ears perked up excitedly, "Absorbing that many people, Mr. Jia La He must be really strong, right?!"

"Hmm… Fu Fu, whether he's strong is still undetermined, but his existence will certainly make this Xingqiri fellow very angry." Yi Xuan chuckled, "I wonder if his Harmony shackles can affect a 'ghost'?"