Chapter 216: The Mysterious Mastermind
Chapter 216: The Mysterious Mastermind
“Alright, everyone wrap it up. You have three days of free time now,” Chen Xiyi said after seeing Chu Ge comforting Beauty No. 2 via satellite, then notified Ling Hu and his family.
After one rehearsal, their acting had improved a lot. At least they didn’t seem as nervous as before.
Of course, it could also be that Ling Hu was afraid of becoming Beauty No. 3. That was why he tried so hard. Chen Xiyi wasn’t joking about that. If a tool showed no value, Chen Xiyi would have to make the most of them.
“Yes, boss,” Ling Hu replied.
This operation was quite successful. At least they didn’t need No. 1 to step in and save the day like before.
Chen Xiyi then started organizing the data that No. 1 sent back. Over the past few days, No. 1 and Qin Tian had been inseparable, like conjoined twins.
Of course, that was thanks to No. 1’s abilities.
“Qin Tian’s physique… how is it just like the male leads in those adult-only shows? His kidneys are so strong.”
“Three days, and he hasn’t shown any sign of weakness?”
Chen Xiyi was baffled. It wasn’t scientific at all. With No. 1’s methods, even a Longevity Martial Artist would be drained within three days. Yet this guy was still full of energy.
The data showed that Qin Tian’s physical fitness was nowhere near that of a Longevity Martial Artist—at best, he was around the level of a Grandmaster Martial Artist. There was no way he could outlast No. 1.
But now, the two seemed evenly matched. It was simply unbelievable.
If it wasn’t his kidneys, then what was it?
“Let’s check if others are the same. If they are, then it must be due to Peach Blossom Luck.”
Chen Xiyi didn’t immediately attribute it to the Peach Blossom Luck ability. After all, Qin Tian was the only case so far. He would wait until Chu Ge got involved and then check the feedback data to confirm.
“We need to increase the number of embryos. Otherwise, with one every three days, how long would it take to gather four-digit numbers of Divine Doctors?”
Initially, experiments required small-scale production. Now that the technology was mature and stable, it was time to scale up.
If they had started mass production right away and encountered technical issues, the losses wouldn’t be just one or two—it would be a total wipeout.
“System, use big data to search for individuals matching these profiles and track their behavior in real-time.”
Chen Xiyi issued a system-wide command. With full-scale production ramping up, the actions of each test subject needed to keep pace. Otherwise, if they produced multiple female models with the same personality and identity, they would have to be sent back for reworking.
Chen Xiyi handed such repetitive and calculation-heavy tasks to the system. With ample big data support, the system could handle it. If it couldn’t even manage monitoring, detection, and data organization, then what was the point of having a system? Just to follow the trend?
Might as well uninstall it and get a new one.
“Let’s assign all individuals with Peach Blossom Luck in Yanzhou first. As for other regions, we simply don’t have the capacity right now.”
Chen Xiyi’s base was in Yanzhou. Due to limited manpower, he couldn’t expand outward. The world was vast, and Chen Xiyi couldn’t handle it all alone.
Otherwise, why would he recruit Ling Hu and his family as tools? He would definitely recruit more people later to serve as nodes or tools.
However, he would leave this task to Ling Hu and his family. After all, they had held high positions of authority. Even though they had been outmatched, their abilities were still intact, and they could manage people just fine.
As for the specifics of implementation, Chen Xiyi was still in the “new folder” stage. He would figure it out once the folder was set up.
Now, he planned to visit Huangqi Mountain. He had obtained this information earlier from Ye Fan using a small trick—it was where Ye Fan’s nine masters lived.
Huangqi Mountain was remote. Although not deep in the mountains, it was still a place seldom visited by people.
The only odd thing was that when Chen Xiyi compared it to the Huangqi Mountain on his Game Map, he found no white dots, indicating there were no NPCs there. This puzzled him greatly.
If there were no NPCs, then who taught Ye Fan medicine and cultivation?
Despite this, Chen Xiyi decided to go and check it out. Perhaps they had left?
If they had lived there for over a decade, there should be obvious signs of life.
Chen Xiyi hailed a taxi nearby and asked the driver to take him there.
On the way, he asked the driver about Huangqi Mountain, using mountain climbing as an excuse.
However, the driver didn’t seem familiar with Huangqi Mountain. He simply replied that it was an obscure little hill that rarely attracted visitors.
He even recommended other, more popular and scenic mountains to Chen Xiyi.
Chen Xiyi politely declined.
The taxi ride took nearly an hour, partly because Chen Xiyi had run in the opposite direction of Huangqi Mountain earlier, which explained the delay.
Standing at the foot of Huangqi Mountain, Chen Xiyi used his Primordial Spirit to sense the flowing wind and the trees, soil, and rocks on the mountain.
Although this world lacked Qi Mechanism, it didn’t stop him from perceiving Feng Shui and other elements through his Primordial Spirit.
“No one? There’s really no one here.”
Chen Xiyi’s expression turned serious. He could clearly sense that this place was entirely normal, with no traces of human activity.
Still, he didn’t give up. He immediately started climbing the mountain, following the path from Ye Fan’s memories. He easily found the place where Ye Fan had lived for over a decade.
In Ye Fan’s memories, there was a large Wooden Hut where his nine masters lived.
But now, there was no Wooden Hut—only dense forest.
“Did I take a wrong turn?”
The path and scenery ahead matched Ye Fan’s memories perfectly, but the destination was entirely different.
“Thousand Faces, go up and take a look.” Chen Xiyi sent Thousand Faces into the air to scout while he used the satellite to observe Huangqi Mountain first.
From the satellite’s perspective, it was nothing but a wild, uninhabited mountain with no traces of human life.
Soon, Thousand Faces reached a certain height and relayed its view. Aside from being clearer than the satellite’s image, there was no difference.
“So, Ye Fan’s nine masters never existed. Then how did he survive all these years?”
In Ye Fan’s memories, he had lived on this mountain for over ten years.
Yet the reality was that there were no traces of anyone here.
“This is interesting.” Chen Xiyi inspected the area repeatedly but found nothing. He even circled Huangqi Mountain and concluded that it was just a mountain with no signs of human habitation.
“Could there be another space here, like a Secret Realm or something? Maybe I just can’t detect it.”
Chen Xiyi considered another possibility. Unless Ye Fan’s memories were fake, this place couldn’t possibly not exist.
Combined with Ye Fan’s minor mastery of the Way of Immortality, it was clear these were cultivators. That would explain everything.
“Perhaps there’s a Paradise Grotto-like Secret Realm on Huangqi Mountain. That would be another map, which is why my Game Map can’t detect it.”
The Game Map had its limitations. Unless two worlds were connected, if one was sealed off, it would be impossible to find the other.
Since Chen Xiyi hadn’t yet mastered space technology, he was at a loss for the moment.
There was another possibility: Ye Fan’s memories were fake.
But that seemed unlikely.
“Should I go back?” Chen Xiyi pondered.
He felt unwilling. Since he had come all this way, going back empty-handed would be a waste of half a day.
If he was going to waste time anyway, he might as well stay a little longer and see if he could find what he was looking for.
Returning to the spot where the Wooden Hut stood in Ye Fan’s memories, Chen Xiyi felt this location might be key.
But after looking around, he felt frustrated. Without the right technology, he couldn’t see anything special.
It felt like a primitive person seeing a computer—completely incomprehensible.
He took out his Alloy Pickaxe and swung it around, hoping to hit some invisible portal or something. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
After wandering around for a while longer, Chen Xiyi felt a headache coming on.
Honestly, he was starting to suspect that Ye Fan’s memories were fake. Otherwise, why would someone with such advanced technology hide in this remote mountain just to teach skills to a live-in son-in-law?
But if the memories were fake, it meant someone had artificially created them. They couldn’t have just appeared out of thin air.
‘It seems Peach Blossom Luck is involved in a much larger scheme.’
Chen Xiyi quietly drew a conclusion. Whether it was one reason or the other, it meant someone was hiding in the shadows.
The main issue was that he couldn’t find them. Otherwise, he would have charged in without hesitation.
‘But it’s fine. You can hide for now, but forcing you out won’t be difficult.’
He might not be able to find the masterminds, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t target them. They could hide, but those with Peach Blossom Luck couldn’t.
Once he had all the Peach Blossom Luck holders under his control, he was sure they would reveal themselves.
These masterminds had created so many Peach Blossom Luck holders—there must be some benefit involved. Otherwise, why go to all this trouble?
He hadn’t yet identified where the profit lay.
But he was certain it had to be among the three abilities: Peach Blossom Luck, divine skills, and the Way of Immortality combined with Martial Way.
The focus was likely on Peach Blossom Luck.
Chen Xiyi casually set up a Formation Array here and left a Gu Insect to monitor the area before reluctantly leaving.
He was unwilling, but there was no point in staying. If he couldn’t find anything, he couldn’t find anything. Persisting wouldn’t magically yield results.
He needed to know when to persist and when to quit. That was called knowing one’s limits.
Once he made up his mind, he left decisively. At least he had left a Gu Insect and the satellite to observe. It wasn’t foolproof, but it was better than nothing.
He couldn’t waste time on a mere hypothesis.
Besides the Peach Blossom Luck experiment, he also had two other projects: Supernatural Chef and ghosts.
He couldn’t just fixate on one. Since Peach Blossom Luck was in the preparation and observation phase, he switched to another project.
After descending Huangqi Mountain, he saw a somewhat dilapidated bus stop.
The sky was gradually darkening. Chen Xiyi glanced at the bus schedule—there was one last bus. He wondered if he could lure out some dirty creatures.
After all, he had nothing better to do.
Just as he was thinking, headlights appeared in the distance. A very worn-out-looking bus drove over and stopped in front of the bus stop.
Inside, men, women, and children sat, seemingly very lively.
It looked normal, but the problem was that this was a remote mountain area. At this hour, how could there be so many people?
More importantly, Chen Xiyi caught a whiff of a rotting smell.
Well, he didn’t encounter anything on the mountain, but he ran into it on the way back—a whole busload of them. He had thought he’d be lucky to catch one or two.