I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 170 - 170 169. Did she not pay the bill_1

Chapter 170: 169. Did she not pay the bill?_1 Chapter 170: 169. Did she not pay the bill?_1 Lu Ban woke up to the sound of a ringing phone.

The hotel room’s curtains were drawn, casting a dim light, and the sound of “Good Fortune Comes” was audible as he picked up his cell phone—it was a call from Feng Yu.

“Hello, hey, I’ve arrived at the place I’m staying at, just wanted to call and tell you I’m safe.”

Feng Yu’s voice sounded lively and cheery.

“Oh, that’s good, it’s quite far, I’ve slept for a while.”

Lu Ban moved his shoulders, feeling a bit sore, probably due to the way he had been sleeping.

“You tend to get sleepy after eating your fill, but you can’t sleep for too long or you’ll gain weight!”

Lu Ban was drawing back the curtains when Feng Yu’s voice came through, soft and mellow like sunshine.

“Got it.”

After a bit of idle chat with Feng Yu, Lu Ban hung up the phone.

He put down his cellphone, went to the bathroom, washed his face with water, and looking at himself in the mirror, he seemed somewhat haggard.

After a quick shower and changing into fresh clothes, Lu Ban sat down on the bed.

He opened his laptop, launched a web browser, and typed two characters into the search bar.

Feng Yu.

Pressing enter, Lu Ban saw a news article.

“Recently, during filming at Thunderclap Mountain, a flash flood struck, resulting in the death of several crew members, with many more injured.”

Underneath the news report, Lu Ban startlingly noted Feng Yu’s name.

She was one of the victims of the disaster.

Lu Ban looked at the date of the news article; it was from March of this year, around the time he had arrived in this world.

“She impersonated Feng Yu to communicate with me, but what was her purpose?”

Lu Ban frowned slightly.

Ever since he first met Feng Yu, he had felt something off, and finally, upon leaving, he came to recall where that sense of dissonance lay.

In college, Feng Yu and Lu Ban had hardly spoken a few words to each other, but as they chatted, they seemed like old friends who had known each other for years.

Even some of the things Lu Ban said that might not have quite made sense, Feng Yu was able to follow along with his lead.

This was too incongruent.

Feng Yu was definitely a fake.

So, Lu Ban decided to test her.

Unexpectedly, after he asked that question, Feng Yu showed a brilliant smile.

“Would you like to find a place to sit down?”

She didn’t address Lu Ban’s suspicion; instead, she invited him to a nearby café.

They ordered coffee, and Lu Ban took a sip, finding the taste indistinguishable from the cheap coffee you’d find at a convenience store.

“Where should I begin?”

Feng Yu clasped her hands in front of her, the sunlight hitting her profile so you could see the faint peach fuzz on her face.

“To be accurate, I am Feng Yu, just not the same one you first met.”

Feng Yu spoke words that didn’t quite make sense to Lu Ban, then took a sip from her cup.

“Let’s say, for example, this drink. If it looks like coffee, smells like coffee, tastes like coffee, and is indistinguishable from coffee even when analyzed with various physical and chemical means, then what is it?”

“Coffee?”

Lu Ban watched as Feng Yu drank from the black liquid in her cup, some of it staining her lips, which she then pursed, smiling.

“It’s the same with humans.”

Feng Yu put down her cup.

“If I look like Feng Yu, behave like Feng Yu, possess all of Feng Yu’s memories, and can react just as she would, then who am I?”

“But you’re not Feng Yu.”

Lu Ban had little interest in these philosophical quandaries. He didn’t want to delve into self-cognition or debate the Ships of Theseus; he just wanted to know what had happened to the real Feng Yu and what exactly this Feng Yu was.

“I won’t tell you the truth, because the more you know, the greater the possibility of you being ‘polluted’. I can only tell you, I am a Traveler.”

Feng Yu chuckled lightly.

“Traveler?”

Lu Ban felt increasingly puzzled.

However, the messages in Feng Yu’s words seemed familiar to him.

The more you know, the more likely you are to be polluted.

That’s the default rule in the Silent Lands.

Of course, since this world is also a part of the Silent Lands, the same rule naturally applies.

So, is Feng Yu also Chosen by Gods?

As Lu Ban was pondering, Feng Yu began to answer his question.

“Yes, I travel to different corners of this world, sometimes becoming part of the locality and experiencing their life. That’s the kind of traveler I am.”

Although her appearance remained unchanged, Lu Ban could sense a touch of detachment and vicissitude from her.

The unique aura he perceived the first time he saw Feng Yu must have also stemmed from such connotations.

“So the real Feng Yu…”

“The real Feng Yu is right here.”

Feng Yu smiled charmingly.

Beautiful, tempting, deadly, and dangerous.

Lu Ban felt his skin crawl.

He focused his mind and stared at Feng Yu.

The ability of True Sight grew stronger as Lu Ban gained more related knowledge, allowing him to see much more.

Now that he had learned quite a bit more about Feng Yu, theoretically, he should be able to see more.

However, as he attempted to do so, Feng Yu suddenly extended her hand.

Her two fingers came together, lightly covering Lu Ban’s eyes.

Though it was a very common gesture, coming from Feng Yu, it took on an extraordinary significance.

“I advise you not to look. It’s for your own good,” she said.

Feng Yu’s voice carried a hint of worry, like that of a mother concerned about her son’s poor math test.

“While curiosity is the greatest driving force behind human progress, it can easily lead to destruction. Knowing everything doesn’t necessarily mean understanding the truth, and sometimes ignorance is the greatest bliss.”

She withdrew her hand and smiled warmly.

“Moreover, peeping at a girl’s secrets is not what a gentleman should do.”

“I understand.”

Lu Ban gave up on the idea of using True Sight to look at Feng Yu.

Thinking about it, he had several chances to look up Feng Yu’s whereabouts before, but for various reasons, it never happened.

In a sense, could this be a form of subconscious self-protection?

After all, it was definitely suspicious that a class president who hardly ever spoke to him in university suddenly started having cheerful conversations with him and often checked on his well-being, just like a girl with a secret crush.

Perhaps it was his subconscious that detected something off, which made him avoid meeting Feng Yu.

Since she had said it wasn’t necessary to look, Lu Ban respectfully chose not to.

After all, he wasn’t an irrational madman; when a being whose true nature is unknown kindly advises you not to do something, it’s best to take the advice.

“Okay then, I’ve made myself clear, and I really should be going back now. I hope you will continue to think of me as Feng Yu, just like before. And of course, I can’t possibly be your mother.”

Feng Yu drained her coffee in one gulp and stood up.

“Besides, I genuinely like your movie and hope to see your work. Keep it up,” she said.

With a wave of her hand, she left.

Lu Ban watched Feng Yu leave and sat in silence for a moment before finishing the coffee in front of him.

“…Did she just leave without paying?”

Lu Ban realized belatedly.