Life Game In Other World
Chapter 552: The Mysterious Person’s Arrangement (Happy New Year / Seeking Monthly Pass for Super Long - )

Chapter 552: Chapter 552: The Mysterious Person’s Arrangement (Happy New Year / Seeking Monthly Pass for Super Long Chapter)

[He Ao (Jess)]

[Access Level: Advanced Player]

[Physical Fitness: 1194 (579)]

[Skills: Talent Sequences 272: Super Memory (Soul Binding) (C-level), Basic Firearms Mastery (Soul Part), Talent Sequences 72: Secret Mage (C-level) (Not usable)]

[Mechanical Modification: None]

[Martial Arts: Qi Refinement and Spirit Transformation (C-level) (Partially usable)]

[Character Skill: Talent Sequences 111: Terrorist]

The Terrorist is a combat-oriented Talent Sequence, and the effect of the ritual He Ao completed wasn’t bad either, inducing fear in three C-level and several dozen D-level individuals.

So, after He Ao used Martial Arts Training methods to absorb the power of the Terrorist Secret Medicine to the greatest extent, his physical fitness soared directly from 127 to 579, an increase of 452.

At this moment, this physical fitness was even stronger than that of the ’Ruthless Bandit Hu Wen,’ his main world clone.

Beyond the enhancement of his physical fitness, after advancing to the Terrorist, He Ao also gained two abilities.

The first ability was called ’Eyes of the Night,’ which is a passive skill that automatically activates in dim light or darkness, and under its influence, He Ao could maintain clear ’vision’ in dark and gloomy environments.

The Eyes of the Night activate similarly to Divine Sense, relying not on the optical perception of the eyes but projecting the image directly into He Ao’s mind, presenting it in the form of a field of vision.

However, unlike Divine Sense, which provides a panoramic view with no blind spots, effective even with eyes closed and capable of seeing the back of one’s own head, the Eyes of the Night can only be activated with open eyes and are limited to the field of vision that eyes can see in a well-lit environment, incapable of seeing the back of one’s own head.

From this perspective, the Eyes of the Night might still be somewhat connected to the eyes.

However, compared with Divine Sense, which is limited in stock and consumes more as the precision of observation increases, the Eyes of the Night impose almost no burden on He Ao’s spirit and are very useful for observing in the dark.

Besides observing inanimate objects, the Eyes of the Night can also be used to observe life. In the field of vision of the Eyes of the Night, life burns like flames, the more powerful the life, the more brilliantly it burns.

This ability is somewhat like a weakened version of Super Memory’s soul peering – the Eyes of the Night cannot see those lives’ souls but can somewhat perceive the strength of these lives.

Overall, the Eyes of the Night is a rather good ability, but it will only work in dim light or darkness, which means it is completely useless when the vision is clear during the day.

Besides the Eyes of the Night, the Terrorist has another ability, ’Spreading Fear.’

This ability is somewhat similar to the ’warrior’s ability to cause panic in enemies, but it has a broader range of effect and is more difficult to control.

While the warrior’s ability only causes fear in his enemies, the Terrorist’s fear is indiscriminately effective. As long as one is within the Terrorist’s field of vision or nearby and noticed by the Terrorist, the fear emanating from the Terrorist will spread to that person.

This fear is untargeted and indiscriminately affects all people within range who meet the criteria, friend or foe alike.

This is also a passive skill that is always active; the deeper the darkness and the more people the Terrorist kills, the stronger the fear inflicted on the people around him.

This kind of fear can cause weaker individuals to surrender their weapons immediately, and even drive some on the brink of madness to insanity.

Similarly, with the activation of this fear, the mental state of the Terrorist himself will be affected, gradually developing a liking for darkness and killing, and eventually leading to total madness.

This ability has a strong duality, but as long as one stands in a place bathed in light and does not engage in mass killing, this fear ability won’t have too much impact on the people around He Ao.

In some sense, both the Terrorist and the Preacher are indeed subsequent Talent Sequences of the ’Almsgiver,’ with the Preacher spreading faith and the Terrorist spreading fear.

He Ao’s gaze moved from the personal attribute interface, looking toward the light at the end of the darkness ahead.

Cold footsteps echoed in the dark space, step by step, getting closer.

...

"Boss! Boss!"

Thorne, who was sitting in the electric chair and had already become somewhat dazed, was awakened by the shouts around him. He raised his head and looked around.

Men from Heish were injecting his subordinates with anesthetics and then taking them away one by one.

In this dark and empty space, he was soon the only one left.

"Heish, come out! What exactly are you trying to do? Are you willing to accept my suggestion or not? Give me a straight answer!"

He looked around at the darkness, shouting loudly.

Just then, he heard the approaching footsteps from the depths of the darkness.

"Heish?"

He lifted his gaze toward the depths of the darkness, but something about the voice seemed off, and he shook his head slightly.

As he looked on with a trace of confusion, a tall figure emerged from the pitch black, the endless darkness receding around him like flowing water, like a king stepping out from the night.

The upright figure bowed his head, looking at Thorne before him with a smile,

"Pleased to meet you for the first time, Mr. Thorne."

"You..."

Thorne stared blankly at the casually dressed man, momentarily stiffening before speaking in a dreamlike murmur, questioning himself as much as the person before him, "Are you Jess?"

"Yes,"

He Ao nodded with a smile, his gaze fixed on Thorne,"Mr. Thorne, can we have a chat now? About everything you know regarding me."

"So it’s you..."

Thorne looked at He Ao with a mix of surprise and resignation. By now, he had put everything together; like a deflated ball, his whole demeanor crumbled as he leaned back in his chair, "You actually didn’t die last night."

"Indeed, there will come a time for me to reach my end, but it wasn’t last night."

He Ao smiled, scanning the darkness and noticing the chair previously occupied by Thorne’s subordinate. He picked up the heavy alloy chair weighing hundreds of pounds with one hand, placed it in front of Thorne, and comfortably sat opposite him.

"Mr. Thorne, shall we begin?" He Ao spread his hands, "Given your experience, you shouldn’t be so surprised."

Thorne gazed at He Ao’s face, a face he had seen countless times in photographs, yet the first real encounter left him with an indescribable sense of disconnection.

In the pictures, ’Jess’ had a gentle smile, appearing kind and compassionate.

But the Jess before him, although also smiling and even exuding a gentle and compassionate temperament, Thorne could clearly feel that beneath that gentle exterior lurked twisted madness and chaos.

Jess had gone insane, that was the information Thorne had received earlier.

This was all part of the plan, and he was even one of the executors, but when confronted with the reality of the insane Jess before him, a strange new feeling burgeoned within him.

This feeling was not one of pity or remorse, but fear, fear of having helped create such a monster.

He observed He Ao, sighing softly, "I’m just a small-time operator carrying out tasks; I don’t know anything. Please, make it quick."

"Mr. Thorne, although this is our first meeting, you should know that I am a law-abiding good citizen; I don’t engage in killing,"

He Ao corrected Thorne’s mistaken assumption with a smile.

Thorne looked at He Ao, mouth agape, at a loss for words.

The case with Jess was the assignment he had spent the most time on.

Unlike the previous assignments that demanded quick, accurate, and ruthless executions such as murder, theft, and silencing others, this one required extended time and meticulous efforts, and of course, the reward was substantial.

Although it was Thorne’s first time meeting ’Jess,’ he had come to understand ’Jess’ very well during the setup process.

He knew that ’Jess’ truly was a good person, who even in madness, maintained his basic principles of decency.

To create a conducive environment for He Ao’s questioning, Heish had withdrawn all personnel from the warehouse; at this moment, only Thorne and He Ao occupied the space.

Once Thorne fell silent, the entire world seemed to quiet down as well.

After a brief silence, Thorne, leaning back in his chair, slowly said, "Even if you are a good person, would you really let me go if I tell you what I know?"

"I won’t let you go,"

He Ao stated calmly.

Thorne’s expression became rigid.

His last statement was actually a test of He Ao, for although his memory painted ’Jess’ as a good person, people change, especially after significant setbacks.

So he loosened his tone to test He Ao’s attitude.

Since encountering He Ao, he knew that his chance of survival did not hinge on Heish, but on He Ao.

Heish alone couldn’t have determined his location or captured him, so there must have been an assistant involved this time.

And given that ’Jess’ managed to draw away all the mercenaries around him, the identity of the assistant was self-evident.

Strictly speaking, it’s actually Heish who is Jess’s assistant, not Jess who is Heish’s assistant. The hatred Jess holds for him is certainly greater than any discord between Heish and himself.

So this time, it was Heish who helped "Jess" capture him.

After determining the main body of the enemy, he also realized that as long as he dealt with "Jess," there was a high probability he could escape from death.

That’s why, after hearing He Ao claim to be a good person, he used this sentence to probe.

If "Jess" retained even a bit of his former kindness, then he was confident he could corner Jess and successfully leave this place alive.

What he did not expect was that He Ao would decisively reject his words.

However, just as his mood rapidly sank, he heard He Ao continue to say, "But I can get you out of this warehouse, whether you can leave or not is up to you."

"No,"

Upon hearing this, Thorne’s heart leaped with joy, his emotions rising as quickly as a roller coaster, but even so, he managed to maintain his facial expression and swiftly rejected He Ao’s proposal.

The specifics of He Ao’s proposal were not important; what Thorne needed was a statement from He Ao.

Since He Ao had shown willingness to compromise, it proved that "Jess" still maintained his former goodness.

Based on Thorne’s understanding of "Jess" over the years, this meant he could push for more and demand even better terms.

To retreat one step and to retreat a hundred steps are actually very close.

He looked at He Ao and continued, "I want to leave this area, and none of you can follow me."

Although he was not strong in terms of fighting power, he was very skilled at negotiating and manipulating people.

"Mr. Thorne, I think before we talk terms, you should first present your chips."

He Ao did not continue discussing the topic but calmly watched Thorne, pressing on.

He’s gotten smarter...

Thorne looked at He Ao and, somehow, he let out a sigh of relief, feeling that this should be "Jess’s" normal reaction.

Having been through so much, one always learns something; if it was so easy to be lured into a trap, he wouldn’t have been caught so effortlessly.

But he was still confident; he had caught "Jess’s" Achilles’ heel: kindness and mercy.

As long as he controlled the right pace, he could make "Jess" obediently take him away.

Once he returned to his lair, he could rely on the power of the corporation to completely eliminate these two nuisances.

The advantage is mine!

His thoughts were racing, but there was little change in Thorne’s facial expression. He looked at He Ao and slowly said,

"I don’t know much; haven’t you already inquired at Norbeck?"

He was probing He Ao’s bottom line.

"Mr. Thorne, without any bargaining chips, there’s no value in negotiating,"

He Ao slowly stood up, dusted off his clothes, and turned to leave.

Thorne remained composed, holding the belief that He Ao wanted the information from him, that He Ao needed him, or else he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to bring him here; surely, He Ao was now bluffing.

But it seemed that He Ao had truly lost faith in him, stepping into the darkness without hesitation.

At that moment, his heart wavered.

He Ao was the one he felt most certain he could persuade; if he fell into Heish’s hands, Heish would not be so kind, and he was more than likely to die by Heish’s hand.

The surroundings were deadly silent; darkness enveloped the faint and dim lights, and an invisible fear crept into his heart.

After a hard struggle, he finally succumbed to the fear of death. He looked toward the direction He Ao had entered the darkness, "Tell me what you want to know, and I will tell you! But you have to let me leave!"

"You first,"

He Ao’s silhouette once again appeared from the darkness, fixating on Thorne.

Seeing He Ao reappear so quickly, Thorne knew He Ao hadn’t gone far; He Ao still cared about the intelligence he had.

But this was the psychological gambit, the bet was who would back down first, and he had lost.

He took a long sigh and slowly said, "Which part do you want to hear?"

This question was a probe to gauge how much He Ao knew and what information he had.

He Ao sat back down in his chair and didn’t follow Thorne’s words. Instead, he said directly, "I want to hear everything from the very beginning when you first took on the commission from the Mysterious Person about me."

"All right..."

After the recent struggle, Thorne’s momentum had weakened. He pondered for a moment, then slowly said,

"About seven years ago, I wasn’t yet the second-ranked Intermediary in Vitland; I was just a somewhat reputable Intermediary in the West District.

"One day, a somewhat familiar-looking Mysterious Person came to me, said there was a commission for me to undertake, and asked me to scout for a reliable detective agency first. He was very generous; he gave me one million Federal Coins as an advance."

Seven years ago was around the time when Jess began researching the Life Elixir.

That year, Jess was 33 years old, and it was also the year when the old professor from Kaye City, who was Jess’s wife’s teacher, was murdered, and Jess met the Mysterious Person.

"The commission from the Mysterious Person was in the second half of the year?"

He Ao suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Hmm?" Thorne was momentarily startled by the question, then nodded, "Indeed, it was in the second half of the year."

He glanced at He Ao, realizing that He Ao might have other sources of information unknown to him.

Meanwhile, He Ao was looking at him, signaling him to continue speaking.

This timeline was not something he knew from other intelligence sources; he guessed it.

Because Jess’s meeting with the Mysterious Person was probably around the middle of the year, and given the Mysterious Person’s caution, not getting a response from Jess right away, he would have certainly started making other preparations.

So He Ao guessed the timeline.

Of course, it was just a guess, also meant to test Thorne—if he didn’t guess right, he could still prompt Thorne to tell him the correct time.

After all, he hadn’t said he knew this intelligence.

And judging from Thorne’s suddenly surprised expression just now, the timing should be accurate, and there was no need for Thorne to lie about it.

However, the fact that the Mysterious Person had started preparing so early, arranging commissions, and looking for detective agencies, was somewhat unexpected to He Ao.

It meant that after the first meeting, the Mysterious Person had already started plotting against Jess.

"I found several detective agencies for that Mysterious Person, but he was not satisfied with any of them. In the end, the Mysterious Person chose the Norbeck Detective Agency,"

After composing himself, Thorne continued, "And the reason the Mysterious Person chose this detective agency is quite simple."

"Because Norbeck is greedy and ruthless, with no moral constraints typical of detectives," He Ao slowly took over the conversation.

"Yes,"

Thorne nodded,

"The other detective agencies, more or less, have some real detectives with their own principles. Even the agencies involved in the underground world care about their reputations. Only Norbeck’s Detective Agency is completely formed from gang members, has strength, and will stop at nothing, willing to do anything."

Then he glanced at He Ao and continued, "After that, you know what happened. I arranged for my informant to lead you to the Norbeck Detective Agency and then facilitated your contact with the agency. The Secret Medicine you consumed was also passed to the detective agency through my hands, and then from them to you,"

At this point, Thorne paused in his speech.

"That’s all?"

He Ao looked at him.

"You should be very clear about this information; I have pretty much said it all," Thorne said slowly.

"No, there are some things you haven’t mentioned. Do I need to remind you?"

He Ao watched him calmly, his brown eyes as tranquil as a deep pond. He slowly took out a pendant from inside his clothing, speaking in an even tone, deliberately and calmly, like a lion in control of its own anger,

"Four years ago, my wife died in an ’accident’."