Chapter 87: Earl

Wu Chang followed the hamster hurrying to the police station, where they found Xiang Jianxing handcuffed and locked inside the temporary holding cell.

Outside the holding cell sat the matured camera.

Xiang Jianxing was surprised to see Wu Chang, glanced at the guard, and whispered to the hamster: "How did you bring him here?"

Wu Chang shrugged and said: "Of course I came to get you out."

Xiang Jianxing didn't react, puzzled: "You?"

Wu Chang cleared his throat, removed the town councilor badge from his uniform chest, blew off the dust, then pinned it back.

He winked at Xiang Jianxing and joked: "Remember to call me Councilor Xiao En in public."

"Huh?"

Xiang Jianxing's profession was journalist; his innate professional advantage made it easier for him to gather town intelligence—he knew exactly what a town councilor represented, and had been striving for it.

In the two days since entering the instance, he'd inquired through multiple channels about how to become a councilor, but only got a rough idea.

First, you must wait for the previous councilor to retire; second, you need joint recommendation letters from three current councilors; third, you must gain support from over half the townspeople.

He had the conditions, but still hadn't figured out how to act on them.

Who knew that while he hadn't even gotten started, Wu Chang had already taken the position.

Wu Chang signaled the hamster to stay with Xiang Jianxing, then pushed open the chief's office and sat naturally on Mo Leina's desk: "What's the situation outside?"

Only a few hours had passed since their last meeting, but Mo Leina, having eaten the Golden Flying Fish, had shed her daytime exhaustion and returned to her initial sharp, capable demeanor as chief.

The stench of fish vanished, replaced by a rose perfume blended with woody incense.

In short: two words—mature.

Fully ripe.

Mo Leina stood, closed the office door, leaned back against it, arms crossed over her chest: "We're organizing teams to capture the escaped Marty. While searching the hills, we spotted him sneaking toward the Earl's Manor, preparing to take photos—we arrested him."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow: "So he hasn't done anything bad yet."

Mo Leina understood Wu Chang's meaning: "This is Briver Island. Earl Jemein is the island's lord. Approaching the lord's manor without permission is already a serious crime."

"He arrived with you, so I assume you know each other—I thought you should see him first."

Tsk, no wonder she's chief—her instincts are sharp. But this sounded like Mo Leina was hinting at him.

Wu Chang pretended not to understand: "Before coming to the island, we did have some ties—he helped me greatly. The Earl is gone, the manor abandoned—I think we shouldn't be so tense."

Mo Leina gave Wu Chang a piercing look, leaned close to his ear, and whispered:

"Some things, if you shouldn't investigate, best stay far away. Whether it's him or you—it won't benefit either of you."

"You mean the Earl's Manor holds something we shouldn't know about?"

"What I mean is…"

Mo Leina was about to say more when the chief's office door suddenly banged.

A patrol officer shouted outside: "Chief! Someone found the Earl's bronze statue at the dock shattered!"

Mo Leina's face changed instantly, as if she'd realized something terrible. She grabbed her coat and prepared to leave. Before opening the door, she said to Wu Chang:

"I've got matters to attend to—we'll finish this later. You can take the man outside, but remember my words: next time we catch him, he won't be so lucky."

"Thank you."

Mo Leina left, taking all officers—including the hamster. The holding cell key was tossed in the station lobby, left for Wu Chang to release the prisoner himself.

Wu Chang opened the iron-barred cell door, tossed the key to Xiang Jianxing: "Let's go."

Xiang Jianxing unlocked his handcuffs, stared in the direction Mo Leina and the others had left, and asked: "What happened?"

Wu Chang: "I don't know. Seems there was an earthquake by the sea—it collapsed a bronze statue." Xiang Jianxing stepped out of the cell, staring at Wu Chang's councilor badge, puzzled: "How did you become town councilor?"

"Probably luck," Wu Chang grinned brightly and openly, radiating straightforward sincerity.

"The former mailman committed suicide, and the post office piled up countless letters—I delivered them all. The mayor came to me himself and insisted I become councilor."

Undoubtedly, this was the truth.

Xiang Jianxing seemed to have an ability to detect lies—he easily believed Wu Chang. He paused, then suddenly smiled in relief.

What was that saying again? Life's worth less than luck.

"You really are lucky."

Getting a councilor position on Briver Island—unless something goes wrong—he'd surely complete Main Quest One and survive the instance.

Wu Chang asked casually: "So how did you get caught?"

With Xiang Jianxing's strength, hiding his identity wasn't hard—even if he didn't want to clash with officers and lower his good/evil value, he could've just covered his face and run.

Mentioning his arrest, Xiang Jianxing's face showed lingering fear.

"The Earl's Manor is always guarded—hard to observe closely. Today was Divine Grace Day, so while townsfolk were at the festivities, I tried sneaking in to investigate."

"But when I got close, I realized the manor was shrouded in unknown power—no way to enter from outside. I tried many methods, even attacked the gate—but couldn't break through."

"Even you couldn't get in?!" Wu Chang's face showed disbelief—though inwardly he thought: Good. If it were that easy, the Deepwater Society's veteran players wouldn't have risked flipping the lighthouse switch and plunged the Inner World into chaos, nor would the former journalist have died inside the Burning Town's Inner World.

Xiang Jianxing continued: "When I circled to a certain area of the manor, the camera suddenly started taking photos. This photo was different—it increased my Insight by ten points."

"I just glanced at the photo and felt a sharp pain in my head—I passed out instantly. When I woke up, I was back at the police station."

No wonder Xiang Jianxing got caught—he must've seen something terrifying in the photo due to his Insight surge, failed his Will check, and collapsed.

No wonder Sword Star got caught by the police—seems like his Inspiration value spiked, he saw something unbelievable in the photo, failed his Will check, and passed out on the spot.

Wu Chang asked: "Can I see that photo?"

Xiang Jianxing pulled the photo from his inventory: "The image inside only becomes visible if your Insight is high enough. If you feel dizzy or mentally unwell, don't force it."

The photo showed the side gate of the Earl's Manor—less grand than the main gate, but closer to the manor's main house.

Xiang Jianxing pointed to two statues before the side gate: "Relax. Try releasing your Will's restraint on Insight—don't just look at the photo's details, perceive the presence within."

"Try to see if you can spot the two gargoyle statues. You might not believe me, but they're real—and I suspect they're what's blocking entry to the Earl's Manor."

"Try to see if you can spot two gargoyle statues. Although I know you might not believe me, they really exist—and I suspect these two statues are what block the path to the earl's estate."

Wu Chang frowned. He had indeed seen two gargoyle statues, but he could be certain that what was blocking entry into the Earl's estate was absolutely not them.

Because the gargoyle statues were purely decorative; the real information lay on the stone pedestals the two gargoyles stood upon.

Those two pedestals were clearly two clumps of players squeezed into cubes.

This scene reminded Wu Chang of a dish: pressed pork.

Stew a pig's head meat until tender, strip and separate it, wrap it up, then press it with a boulder. After one night, or several, it will become a slab of meat as dense and solid as a compressed biscuit.

The state of the two players was extremely similar to pressed pork.

Wu Chang couldn't be bothered to look at the grievances on the two players and asked tentatively, "Is there anything else in the photo?"

Xiang Jianxing shook his head. "Nothing else."

Wu Chang took a deep breath and held back the impulse in his heart.

He really wanted to point at the main house occupying the absolute C-position in the photo and loudly ask Xiang Jianxing: with such a huge Faceless Holy Mother sprawled across the extra main house, can you really not see it?

There will be at least two more updates today, but the latter two will be later — in the afternoon or evening. I'll post them whenever I finish writing them.

(End of chapter)