Chapter 529: Substitution

Faling Port under the sun looked like it had been stained with a touch of gold, and the air even seemed to carry a bit of the sweetness of sugarcane.

Lu Mian stood at the window, pondering where the current "Devil Wizard" might be:

When he was rescued last night, Bulman was in a deep coma and definitely couldn't tell the undead creatures he drove where to go, so the undead creature should have followed instinct and habit, dragging Bulman to a place he often went to and was safe enough.

Normally, Fidel's house would be the first choice, but when Lu Mian searched there, he didn't find any traces of Bulman having returned.

His preliminary guess was that when Bulman killed Fidel's family and servants, he had driven those undead creatures to help, and they had already remembered that 16 Coreas Street was a battlefield and an unsafe place, so they chose another hiding place.

Where would that be?

Lu Mian took out the information on Bulman provided by Franca and other intelligence he had gathered from Philip, Bartner, and others from his "Traveler's Bag" again, and read it through, trying to substitute himself into the "Devil Wizard," simulating his psychological state, thoughts, and behavioral choices:

Bulman was born in the Fog Province in the north of Intis, also known as the Winter Province, which bordered the Feynapotter Kingdom; the folk customs there were relatively rough, and they loved strong liquor.

His wife, Helen, was a local of Faling Port, but had no Archipelago ancestry—her grandfather was a sugarcane merchant who traveled between Faling Port and Le-Sear Port, later encountered pirates, lost most of his business, and could only rely on a plantation he had bought with savings to support the whole family.

Helen was born and raised on that plantation, and watched it be sold after her grandfather died due to conflicts between her father's generation. Her family received a sum of money and moved into Faling Port. Later, her father's passing and her mother's serious illness led her onto the path of an adventurer, where she met Bulman.

Both of them had encounters during their adventuring careers, obtained Beyonder powers, and even purchased property in Faling Port, planning for life after they were older and didn't want to adventure anymore.

A few years ago, they hired a ship with a group of adventurers they were familiar with to go out to sea to hunt for treasure, but they encountered a sea monster, and only Bulman and two other adventurers survived.

After that, Bulman began his attempts to resurrect his wife, becoming increasingly crazy.

"Going out to sea to hunt for treasure? Is there really that much treasure at sea?" Lu Mian muttered, thinking that the possibility of Bulman still being in Faling Port was very high.

Here were his best memories, traces of the few years he and his wife Helen lived together. When he prepared a secret hiding place, he would subconsciously choose this area.

Lu Mian continued to read the latter part of the information with this guess.

As he thought, Bulman's previous dangerous attempts all took place in the area around the Fog Sea Archipelago, including other islands and villages and towns along the coast of the Northern Continent. If they were connected into irregular concentric circles, it would be found that the "center" was Faling Port on Saint-Tique Island.

Bulman used Faling Port as a base to make resurrection attempts everywhere... He hadn't caused trouble in Faling Port before, so why was this time an exception? If I were Bulman, in a half-mad state, I would definitely treat Faling Port as a spiritual home, a collection of all beautiful memories. Normally, I wouldn't destroy the order here, and might even secretly maintain it, secretly disposing of certain bold pirates and adventurers... Lu Mian analyzed thoughtfully.

He was replacing Faling Port with Cordu Village, thinking that if his sister's death had nothing to do with Cordu Village and it remained calm, then whoever dared to affect the daily life of Cordu Village, whoever dared to change the state of that place, was his enemy!

He frowned slightly, feeling that there might be some very important details about the explosion the night before last that he hadn't figured out. The fact that Bulman killed Fidel and his whole family because of a disagreement might also have factors in this regard—Fidel and Bulman had cooperated for many years, so he shouldn't be unaware that his mental state was unstable and he could go crazy at any time. How could such a shrewd great merchant not consider the impact his words might have on the "Devil Wizard"?

Moreover, Bulman wanted to kill the adventurer Louis Berry in hopes of covering up his cooperation with Fidel. He had already killed Fidel, so what was the need to silence Lu Mian?

Perhaps according to Fidel's experience, he could have persuaded Bulman to wait a few days before taking action, but who knew that Bulman at that time was already in a crazy state and followed his instincts completely.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Mian decided to enter Faling Port again to see Bulman and Helen's "former residence."

Although it had long been sold by Bulman in exchange for funds for resurrection experiments and was being closely watched by official Beyonders, there was still a possibility that important clues remained:

What if the crazy Bulman insisted on returning to the "former residence" to take a look?

After instructing Lugano to take good care of Ludwig, Lu Mian went down to the deck and met Philip.

This safety supervisor of the "Flying Bird" looked at Lu Mian with a complicated expression, didn't mention the room that looked like it had been hit by artillery fire, and said to himself:

"I distributed the remaining repair fees to the workers and servants who participated."

His implication was that I have already paid for the people who should be silenced for you.

"You can take a share yourself." Lu Mian responded with a smile.

Philip shook his head and sighed:

"That there will be no similar incidents on the way from Faling Port to Sangtagang is the best reward for me."

"I will try my best." Lu Mian said sincerely.

He didn't make a promise; after all, some things were not under his control.

He also wanted to arrive at Sangtagang safely and steadily to start tracking the core members of the "April Fools," "Bard" and "Salted Egg Superman."

Philip stared at Lu Mian for a few seconds, as if thinking about whether to report this guy in advance.

He sighed again:

"The port blockade will be lifted tonight. Tomorrow morning, the 'Flying Bird' will set sail again. Don't miss it."

Lu Mian nodded and asked curiously:

"Was the 'Devil Wizard' caught?"

"No, but it's basically determined that it has nothing to do with the ships in the port, and he didn't hide here." Philip said casually, "Bulman also killed the great merchant Fidel's family last night. They seemed to have a cooperative relationship before. Perhaps Fidel wanted to betray him..."

Speaking of this, Philip keenly glanced at Lu Mian:

"Last night, a battle occurred in your room. Could it be related to this matter?"

"What relationship do you think there could be?" Lu Mian asked amusedly.

Philip thought carefully, and indeed couldn't connect the two things.

Seeing this, Lu Mian waved his hand, put on his golden straw hat, walked down the gangway to the pier, and left the port area.

As soon as he arrived at the Sun Plaza, which was covered with numerous wanted posters, he saw an Archipelago man with brown-black skin, deep-set eye sockets, and dark eyes come up to him, handing out a folded booklet printed with a lot of text and simple patterns.

"Travelers passing by, this is the Faling Port Luyouzhinan, with the most beautiful scenery, the most distinctive food, and the most stylish shops." The Archipelago man introduced enthusiastically, "It can help you spend a wonderful few days here."

Lu Mian asked very cooperatively:

"How much?"

"It doesn't cost money, it's free!" The Archipelago man replied in a high-pitched voice, "This is printed by the government and provided specifically for travelers, hoping that you can have a good impression of Faling Port."

"That's great." Lu Mian took the travel guide with a look of "surprise" and unfolded it on the spot.

This part was an introduction to beautiful scenery, and this part was recommendations for various shops, including sugarcane shops, stylish bars, famous gourmet restaurants, etc., etc.

With a swish, Lu Mian drew his revolver and pressed it against the center of the Archipelago man's forehead.

The Archipelago man was stunned, and it took several seconds before he stammered:

"No, it doesn't cost money, you don't need to pay, I'm not cheating you!"

Is such a small matter worth drawing a gun?

I'm going to call the police!

Lu Mian asked with a smile:

"What is the relationship between these recommended shops and you?"

"No..." The Archipelago man felt the coldness of the muzzle and gradually changed his wording, "They, they pay us to recommend them, and, and a portion is opened by our partners."

"How many are normal shops?" Lu Mian pursued without being affected at all.

"Ninety percent." As soon as the Archipelago man finished speaking, he saw the adventurer opposite pull the hammer of the revolver back.

He quickly added:

"Ninety percent are related to us."

"What about those sceneries?" Lu Mian chuckled.

"Percent, fifty percent. Only the plantations and primitive tribes are related to us." The Archipelago man was trembling with fear.

Lu Mian shook the unfolded travel guide and looked at the Archipelago man with a smile:

"Point out the real ones."

The Archipelago man quickly pointed out different contents, very worried that the other party's gun would suddenly go off.

Only then did Lu Mian put away the revolver, took the travel guide, and walked toward the open-air market on the other side of the Sun Plaza.

He said so much to that Archipelago man just now, on one hand, because he wanted to scare the scammers, and on the other hand, because he suddenly had inspiration:

For Bulman, who had lived in Faling Port for many years, did some of the food and scenery here also belong to part of his beautiful memories?

When he suffered setbacks, killed his best partner, and failed in battle, would the crazy and paranoid him go to places with beautiful memories to draw strength and fill his heart?

Lu Mian asked himself, if it were him, in that state, he should also perform similar behaviors.

Reason might tell him that this could be tracked and discovered by others, but half-mad people often don't listen to reason.

Therefore, whether it was the lighthouse moonlight, volcanic sunset, and other scenery, or Leptos minced pork, Gaspar seafood rice, Saint-Tique chocolate ice cream, and other delicacies, all were likely to be visited secretly by the "Devil Wizard."

And in that state, he would likely not handle traces very carefully.

Lu Mian pressed his golden straw hat, walked through the open-air market, and walked toward the cliff mountain located outside Faling City.

Faling Port's lighthouse was there.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 530 =====