Chapter 251: Human Nature Is the Greatest Evil

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Bai Muchuan wanted to head to Nanmu the next day.

That afternoon, after they went for a meal together, they went back to make arrangements for their trip.

Nanmu was a remote mountainous area located at the border between Xi City and Jin City. To reach Nanmu, one had to cross multiple mountains. Due to the poor condition of the soil, Nanmu had a backward economy. The mixture of several ethnic groups also attributed to the low educational level of its residents than most places. It was a place that the authorities had difficulty controlling. Hence, the crime rate was very high.

After browsing through the information, Xiang Wan finally realized what Salimu had meant by “for the purpose of making money”. The Dark Clan was involved in serious offenses like smuggling, trafficking, and transporting drugs…

Dealing with such an organization seemed even more terrifying than dealing with normal homicide cases.

But what caught Xiang Wan by surprise was that Salimu was born in Nanmu.

In a place where most of its residents did not receive a proper education, it was really a miracle that Salimu was able to become a police officer and more importantly, a computer genius!

“Bai Muchuan, how did you manage to ‘dig’ such a guy from the huge police officer database?”

Dig?

Bai Muchuan laughed at her comment.

“That’s a good word! I had to dig through approximately 23,000 records to find him. It’s much harder than digging.”

“…”

Twenty-three thousand records?

Xiang Wan could not help laughing at what he went through.

As she giggled, she seemed to have thought of something as her expression quickly changed.

She raised her head slowly and looked at Bai Muchuan. “Did you pick Salimu also because he’s from Nanmu?”

Upon hearing that, Bai Muchuan, who was leaning against the window, got slightly surprised. He looked at Xiang Wan for a moment before he suddenly broke into a smile and tapped the ashes on the cigarette onto the ashtray.

“Yes.”

Just one word—simple and clear.

Bai Muchuan’s reply affirmed Xiang Wan’s deductions.

She walked over slowly and leaned against him as they watched the scenery outside together. “Wily old fox, you knew about Dark Clan since long ago, right?”

“Mm.” Bai Muchuan did not deny but said humbly, “I have some clues on hand.”

“I don’t think you’ve gotten just ‘some’ clues?” Xiang Wan tried to sound him out.

Bai Muchuan looked into her crystal clear eyes. He grinned, put his big hand on Xiang Wan’s head and tousled her hair. After messing up her hair, he would slowly restore them back to their original state as though he was coaxing a child. He kissed her on the forehead.

“You think so highly of me?” He asked gently.

“Of course.”

“Well, you’ve overestimated me.”

“…”

“If this case did not happen, I wouldn’t have linked them up together.”

Xiang Wan paused for a second and stared at him. “You mean this is linked to those cases in Jin City?”

Bai Muchuan gazed at her and did not reply as if he was mulling over something.

“All these cases seemed to be related to me somehow…” continued Xiang Wan, “I have a feeling that Zhang Lu was like a guiding rope. It’s that person, he’s deliberately leading us… to come to Xi City, discover Dark Clan and Nanmu.”

There was another short pause and her expression changed again.

“Could this be a trap?”

Bai Muchuan paused for a second. “What makes you think that way?”

Xiang Wan: “There’s no other logical explanation behind all these events. Normally, any criminal would have avoided the police. But this person acted as though he’s worried that no one would find out about him that he got Zhang Lu to frame me. It was so obvious that it looked silly. Well, he achieved his goal, our attention is now on him. He led us to Xi City, and now Nanmu…”

Hur , Bai Muchuan laughed.

“Young lady, you’re smart.”

Xiang Wan raised her chin and imitated his proud look. She narrowed her eyes and spoke in a serious tone:

“With the way the situation is right now, I’m a little confused as to whether he’s trying to deal with me, or just wanted to pit his wits against you, or even deal with you…”

Bai Muchuan’s hand that was holding the cigarette went stiff momentarily.

Although his eyes were on Xiang Wan, it was obvious that his mind had wandered off somewhere.

The hotel room suite was now quiet.

Bai Muchuan gazed at Xiang Wan for a long time. His pair of dark-colored eyes seemed like the abyss, dim and deep.

“Maybe, it’s both of us.”

Both of them exchanged glances. “Maybe…”

…

That night, Xiang Wan went through all the information of the 121 case.

The four girls, who came together to Xi City, had told their parents and friends that they were here for a tour. Yet in actual fact, they were enticed by “The Temptation of the Rich & Famous”.

Although the four of them had died in the same manner, their deaths did not seem to have any relationship with the cases in Jin City.

Just like Zhang Lu, the four of them had searched the same term on “how to tie oneself up” on the internet.

Furthermore, the four of them even shared in their chat group about their own personal experiences about the self-tying technique… They also shared the reasons they did that—so they could feel even more deeply about their near-death experience, which would help in their writing.

Of course, they also did some research on writing techniques as well searching for related information with regards to “The Temptation of Rich and Famous”.

Regrettably, there were no other records in their chat history that were related to the mastermind.

Xiang Wan’s only finding was to finally know the truth that all five of her moderators, were all lying about the cat abuse plot back in the 720 case.

In their chat history, there was a conversation that was related to Xiang Wan.

“Did Xiang Gongzi messaged all of you privately?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t reply to her.”

“Actually, she’s not a bad person.”

“You’re right, she’s a moron.”

“Anyone feeling guilty toward her?”

“… I don’t know.”

Well, it was the same for Xiang Wan. She did not know what kind of feelings she had for them.

They were once in such good terms that they would share any nice music or any good books with each other. In their chat group, they would talk about anything under the sun. From skin care, men, to gossips… they were so close to each other that they were like best friends as well as sisters.

In just a flash, they were all gone.

She would still come across nice music, good books, and men that she wanted to complain about… but they were no longer there for her to share all these with.

…

“The ties between people can actually be so thin.”

In her latest update in “Murder The Dream Guy”, Xiang Wan used this sentence to gear her story to the 121 case.

At the same time, she named her chapter with title—”The Temptation of the Rich & Famous”.

Frankly, when she used that as a title, she was actually quite hesitant about it.

When she wrote it that way, she was obviously going with what that person wanted!

The intention of the mysterious ID leaving comments on different occasions was to get her to write more cases or rather, to write the cases that he had already planned for her.

The first time when he appeared, he said: “Do your best, I’ll make sure that you’ll be popular! Famous and celebrated! Release your inner demons completely…”

Now, by giving in to his “demands”, he would be so glad that he would certainly be full of himself.

Looking at the laptop screen, Xiang Wan could already imagine how that person’s face would look like when he saw that title, and how would his evil laughter sound to the ear…

“Just go ahead.” That was what Bai Muchuan told her.

“When you’re being targeted by a sniper,” Bai Muchuan continued, “counter-sniping is a way out as well.”

Counter snipe.

It was the first time Xiang Wan gave this word a careful thought.

When her head was being targeted by a sniper, her life was in the hands of another person. Since that was the case, she could only counter-snipe.

See whose gun is faster! And who has the more accurate aim!

Bai Muchuan is right!

Don’t be weak, put up a fight!

Xiang Wan made up her mind and continued to write that chapter.

…

Rong Xiaonuan wrote:

“I believe evil can never defeat justice. Life is short and fragile. In all these cases, there are people who died due to greed or died because of temptation. There are also people who died because of lies… They all have varying degrees of sins. But even when all of their sins were summed up, it would be nothing in comparison with this person. He does evil without knowing that it is evil. He’s mesmerized with the power of evil and challenges justice under the disguise of the savior of humanity.”

“Xiao Nuan…” Fang Yelan saw determination in her eyes. “I don’t want you to be involved in this case.”

“Can’t you see that I can no longer get out of it? Maybe right from the beginning since I wrote my first murder mystery novel, I can no longer get out.” Rong Xiaonuan put her hand on top of Fang Yelan’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Let’s find this person and apprehend him together!”

Let those people who had been part of her life, live in her memories forever.

She would wait quietly for the day that everything would come to a close.

…

In her new chapter, Xiang Wan penned the two cases of “The Temptation of Rich and Famous”, with detailed descriptions on how the girls died. Of course, she would edit areas like the names of various locations so as not to use their real names. It was also the first time that she suggested there was the presence of a “mastermind” behind all these major crimes that happened so far.

The reviews and comments page was seething with excitement when the new chapter was released.

“Oh my god! I just realized that the actual climax of the book is just starting.”

“A case in a novel, a novel within a case! A case within a case! Author is amazing. I’m now a fan.”

“I am Second Young Master Mu’s fan. I love to read his detective mystery story. I also think well of your book. Dear Author, keep up the good work!”

A group of people was full of praises of the new update.

There were also a group of people who had their doubts.

“Could this novel jolly be based on real-life events? Didn’t a few girls died in Xi City a few days ago?”

“I’ve seen the news too. One of the victims seemed to be a reader from this website?”

“It’s not just one, all of them were readers from this website.”

“Where did you get this information from? Are they reliable?”

Among these messages, there was also a message:

“The Temptation of Rich and Famous—this title seems familiar? Where have I seen this before? Is it from another book reviews and comments page? Anyone else has seen this before?”

Xiang Wan saw that comment and clicked the ‘thumbs-up” button. That action would make that comment to the top so that everyone could see it.

With regards to “The Temptation of the Rich and Famous”, it was still unknown to the public at that moment.

In actual fact, she shouldn’t have written that in her novel. But she was adamant about it and managed to convince Bai Muchuan to give his approval by presenting this devious plan in the form of a story to all readers.

The main objective right now was to minimize the number of people falling prey and ending up becoming a part of her story, a plot in her novel…

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