WTYTIAAN Chapter 173

Chapter 173

“Did you hear? The city lord’s youngest son went missing last night.”

“What? How did he go missing?”

“It seems he was kidnapped during the chaos last night. It was so chaotic last night, didn’t you know?”

“I didn’t know, I only returned to the city this morning. What happened?”

“Yesterday, a group of people…”

The little black cat shook its fur and, after eavesdropping, departed with light steps. A child passing by saw it, and their eyes lit up. “Kitty!”

However, the little black cat was a aloof cat, not even giving a glance. It leaped onto the roof and, in a few bounds, jumped away from the spot, leaving the child standing there, disappointed.

Confirming that no one was following, Yan Yunqing deactivated his acting skill and sat cross-legged on a tree.

His status bar still had the poison debuff, but it didn’t have much impact on his player body, so Yan Yunqing temporarily left it alone, planning to go back and have Merlin deal with it later.

But the city lord’s son actually went missing…?

Could it be that Isabel took him? But weren’t Isabel and the others planning to find the whereabouts of the missing tribe members by tracking the city lord’s son?

Yan Yunqing tried to contact Isabel, but there was no response.

His player panel and NPC panel were not compatible. Under the player panel, he couldn’t use the chat system to contact his NPC friends. He could only use the [Carrier Pigeon] that Torin had forged for him at Merlin’s request to make contact.

After trying for a while without getting any response, Yan Yunqing sighed and leaned against the tree trunk, resting his head on his hand and looking at the blue sky. Yan Yunqing unconsciously recalled the information he had received yesterday.

——”It seems to be the son of a baron from the Romunike border, I remember the name is… Baron O-something?”

Baron Aldrich.

Yan Yunqing completed Dorin’s words in his heart.

Lustful, suddenly brought back a year ago, and possessing extremely strong magical talent with a high affinity for light elements, the son of a baron from the Romunike border.

These adjectives combined together were all too familiar to Yan Yunqing, and he could even blurt out the person’s name.

Xavier Aldrich.

The name of the corpse brother he encountered on the way to Sigrit Academy.

That corpse brother and his guards had died tragically in the wilderness, obviously attacked by monsters. Yan Yunqing conveniently dug a pit and buried them to prevent them from being exposed in the wilderness.

And that corpse brother happened to have a letter of recommendation from Sigrit Academy in his luggage, so he impersonated Xavier’s identity and went to Sigrit Academy.

But now he was being told that there was another Xavier in the Light Church?

Then who was the corpse brother he buried? There can’t be two identical people in this world, right? Or was it a resurrection?

This was simply too absurd.

The biggest possibility was that Xavier wasn’t dead, and someone had deliberately created the illusion that Xavier was dead.

The Light Church?

Very likely, after all, it was the people from the Light Church who gave Xavier the letter of recommendation, and after ‘Xavier’ died, a highly respected Holy Son appeared in the Light Church.

If there was no problem with this, only a fool would believe it.

But if that Holy Son was the real Xavier, then his identity might have been exposed from the beginning. After all, they had personally caused ‘Xavier’s’ death, so how could another Xavier with a letter of recommendation appear at Sigrit Academy?

And Yan Yunqing had even decided to fulfill Xavier’s ‘last wish’ because he had borrowed Xavier’s identity, and regain the baronial title belonging to Aldrich, and even got very close to those Romunike noble sons from Class A for this purpose.

They had even specially written letters home to inquire about the royal family’s withdrawal of the Aldrich family’s baronial title.

If the withdrawal of the baronial title was also the Light Church’s doing, then when those letters were sent to Romunike, the fact that Yan Yunqing was pretending to be Xavier would be completely exposed to the Light Church.

Had the Light Church done anything to target him after discovering this? It didn’t seem like it… If he had to say something, it was only that outer training, his companions were kidnapped by people from the Eternal God Cult, and he went to rescue them. If it weren’t for his special abilities and enough cheats, he might have really died there.

Wait, does this mean that the Light Church and the Eternal God Cult are indeed related?

Yan Yunqing felt that his thoughts were a mess, like a ball of wool tangled together, unable to sort out his thoughts.

Although the logic matched up, he always felt that something was wrong.

Yan Yunqing rubbed his hair and sighed deeply.

He increasingly felt like he was being pulled forward by an invisible thread, and the things he encountered seemed to be arranged.

…Was it that Return Game Studio?

*

Yan Yunqing found a safe place and switched back to his NPC body. As soon as he switched back, he saw that the mission progress he had given to the players was close to completion. It seemed that he had to find some time to continue fooling the players.

Yan Yunqing switched to the [Nolan] identity, put on the [Stealth Magic Robe], and turned back into that mysterious NPC.

According to the information that Merlin had inadvertently revealed before, Yan Yunqing ran to the Romunike Newbie Village, his target being the blacksmith shop.

He really didn’t know how Merlin could take the time to play an ordinary blacksmith NPC in the middle of such a busy time? Even he, a Fourth Disaster with dual panels, couldn’t be so dedicated. How did Merlin do it?

Yan Yunqing walked into the Newbie Village. The players who encountered him on the road stopped and watched in surprise. He had just turned a corner and hadn’t even seen the door of the blacksmith shop when a player rushed up and blocked Yan Yunqing’s path.

“Hello, where are you going? Is there anything I can help you with?” The player immediately asked two questions in a row, looking at Yan Yunqing with anticipation.

Yan Yunqing took a step back imperceptibly, his low, hoarse voice sounding, “No, please stay away from me.”

The player was disappointed, but not discouraged. “Then where do you want to go? I can take you there. I’m very familiar with this village!”

That look, as if he would never leave unless Yan Yunqing gave him a mission, was just like how Yan Yunqing used to be when playing RPGs, rushing up to any NPC he encountered and frantically poking them with the mouse. As long as it was an NPC that could open a dialogue, none could escape Yan Yunqing’s F key.

Interact, interact, interact…

It was just that after this NPC became himself, it felt quite strange.

Yan Yunqing continued to answer in a cold and hoarse voice, “No need.”

The player scratched his head and walked around the black-robed man, reaching out to poke his arm, but Yan Yunqing agilely dodged it.

“What an impolite fellow.”

The player heard the NPC say this, and after not triggering any hidden or exclusive missions after such a long time, and also feeling that the black-robed man was about to get angry, he could only make way.

Yan Yunqing walked past the player and strode towards the blacksmith shop. Since the player rushed in front of Yan Yunqing, other players had been secretly watching from the side, and only when they discovered that he had returned empty-handed did they move their gazes away.

There were still a few players who had their eyes on the black-robed man, whispering together, “Have you seen this NPC in the Newbie Village before?”

“No, have you?”

“Me neither. I can’t see his face. He’s dressed so mysteriously. Could he be a special NPC?”

“Let’s go, follow him and see.”

Yan Yunqing could feel a group of little tails trailing behind him, but he didn’t care. He strode into the blacksmith shop and saw Merlin, drunk andpā [crouching] on the table.

Yan Yunqing sniffed. He didn’t smell any alcohol… So why did a guy who couldn’t handle alcohol give himself the setting of a drunk blacksmith?

Yan Yunqing was speechless and knocked on the table in front of Merlin.

With two “dong, dong” sounds, Merlin didn’t react.

Yan Yunqing increased the strength and knocked twice more.

Merlin waved his hand hazily. “Not open today, come back tomorrow.”

Yan Yunqing: …

Was this guy really treating himself as a blacksmith?

Yan Yunqing coughed, feeling the eager gazes of the players behind him. Yan Yunqing didn’t make any strange movements, he just said in a low voice, “The thing I asked you for before, have you made it?”

Merlin, who waspā [crouching] on the table, twisted twice. Hearing Yan Yunqing’s words, his first reaction was doubt, followed by a feeling that the voice was familiar. Merlin couldn’t help but raise his head and rub his eyes. The familiar black magic robe appeared in front of him.

This attire…

His old friend had recently liked to go out in this outfit to fool the Descenders.

Merlin perked up a bit and yawned. “Oh, that thing you’re talking about, it’s done.”

He stood up crookedly, staggering, completely looking like a drunkard. No player would doubt him.

Only Yan Yunqing noticed the clarity in the depths of this guy’s eyes.

Yan Yunqing: 。

Merlin winked at him from an angle that the players couldn’t see.

Good guy, it was all an act?

“You… come with me.” Merlin walked unsteadily into the inner room of the blacksmith shop, beckoning to Yan Yunqing at the same time. His drunken appearance would win him a Best Actor award on Blue Star.

Yan Yunqing was speechless, but still raised his foot and followed him.

With a “bang,” the wooden door closed, blocking the players’ view.

As the wooden door closed, more and more players who received the news rushed over, discussing fiercely whether this suddenly appearing mysterious NPC meant that some special storyline was about to unfold.

Did NPCs also have serendipitous encounters?

Inside the wooden door, Merlin changed his expression and sat leisurely at the table, pouring himself a cup of tea, and conveniently pouring a cup for Yan Yunqing as well. “Why did you suddenly come to find me? I thought you were still in Slanleipa City.”

Yesterday morning, Yan Yunqing had sent the collected information about the auction to Isabel. Given Isabel’s relationship with Merlin, Yan Yunqing wouldn’t be surprised if Merlin also knew his whereabouts.

“Used a little trick.” (Referring to leaving the main body here and running to Slanleipa in a disguise.)

“Let’s not talk about that. Has Isabel sent you any messages?” Yan Yunqing asked, “I can’t contact her, but I learned this morning that the city lord’s son was taken away, which is different from the plan Isabel told me before.”

Merlin frowned. “Can’t contact her?”

Merlin paused, closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, his frown deepening. “Um… she seems to be fighting with someone?”

Yan Yunqing: ?

Yan Yunqing tactically leaned back: “You even know what she’s doing now? What’s going on between you two?”

This obviously didn’t conform to normal logic, right?

Merlin coughed. “This is a long story…”

“Then make it short.”

Merlin: “…Didn’t I tell you before that I fell into a period of slumber after you went missing? To be precise, I was injured a bit, the serious kind. Isabel used some… curse-like methods to save me.”

“The price is this.” Merlin sighed, “It can be considered a kind of shared life and death. Her lifespan was forced to be shared with me. Over time, we can understand each other’s state through the curse.”

Yan Yunqing understood, “No wonder you’ve lived so long.”

According to human lifespans, Merlin should have been dead for a long time. Even if he was the greatest mage in history, he couldn’t have lived to be two thousand years old. After all, the upper limit of human lifespan was there.

In contrast, dragons had very long lifespans. They already had difficulty reproducing, so if their lifespans weren’t long enough, they would have gone extinct. Of course, strictly speaking, it was because their lifespans were long that they had difficulty reproducing. In a sense, the creator was fair.

“Hey, the way you say that.” Merlin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Don’t you want me to live this long?”

Yan Yunqing blinked. “No, what I mean is…”

“It’s fortunate that Isabel didn’t give up on you at that time.”

The dragon race was all about the strong. Perhaps they weren’t as open to death as the elves were, but their long lives also gave them a different understanding of the meaning of death.

Moreover, not everyone was willing to share their lives with another person, and especially with someone of a different race who was about to die.

If it were someone else, Yan Yunqing would have said that they were love-struck, but putting it on these two, he could only sigh that it was true love.

“So who is she fighting with? Is she okay?” Yan Yunqing asked.

Merlin spread his hands. “How would I know? I can only vaguely feel that her emotions are okay. The situation shouldn’t be bad. If something really happened, how could I still be sitting here?”

Yan Yunqing: …

Enough, stop showing off your affection, you bastard.

Yan Yunqing rolled his eyes at Merlin, and then told him about the Light Church that he had asked Dorin about last night.

Merlin was surprised. “Are you saying that when you entered Sigrit Academy, you impersonated the identity of a corpse?”

Yan Yunqing: “Is that the point?”

Merlin coughed twice with his fist clenched against his lips. “Sorry, sorry.”

“So at that time you discovered that the corpse had a letter of recommendation from the Pope of the Light Church, so you took the place of that baron’s son and went to Sigrit Academy, and now you’ve discovered that the person wasn’t dead at all, and is still a Holy Son in the Light Church?”

Yan Yunqing corrected him. “It’s very likely that he’s not dead, but I’m not sure if it’s definitely him.”

Merlin thought for a while. “The Light Church’s actions were very high-profile ten years ago. I have heard that they were searching for children with a strong affinity for light elements in Manda Lun. Those with a high affinity were taken back to be the Holy Sons and Holy Daughters of the Church. Some even became bishops of the Church after growing up, but those were all very young. Anyone who was even a little older would be abandoned.”

“I haven’t heard of them taking back someone who has already grown up…”

Merlin questioned, “If that Holy Son really is the son of that baron, why would the Light Church go to so much trouble to fake his death? After faking his death, they didn’t even hide his identity well. Even a thief could find out his identity. Isn’t that very contradictory?”

Yan Yunqing was stunned. Being reminded by Merlin like this, he suddenly had a feeling of enlightenment.

That’s right, Xavier Aldrich wasn’t someone with a particularly noble identity. He was just the son of a baron. His parents had also died in a monster attack. There was no need to do so much just to take him away.

Especially such a complicated fake death, unless Xavier had some special use for the Light Church that they didn’t want outsiders to discover.

However, Dorin had found out about the Holy Son’s origins so easily, so his identity wasn’t a secret in the Church. In that case, why did they have to fake ‘Xavier’s’ death?

This was what he had always felt was wrong.

Merlin was about to say something more when his expression suddenly changed, and he stood up abruptly, his face turning very ugly.

Yan Yunqing looked at him strangely. Seeing his ugly face, he suddenly remembered what he had just said, and realizing something, he frowned.

“Something happened to Isabel!”