You said you were going to make games, how did you become the richest man without doing anything?

Chapter 618 Night Talk with Hualu
"So, it was done by a fox or a raccoon?" Tang Yin said half-jokingly, with a hint of nonchalance in his tone, but a hint of alertness hidden in his eyes.

Hualu smiled slightly, her voice soft but somewhat mysterious: "We serve Qianming God, so we are also protected by foxes, cats, dogs and the like."

Tang Yin raised an eyebrow, seemingly a little unconvinced by this statement, but he continued to ask: "...However, the Wolf God has been murdered by humans and his followers, so there must be a loophole here."

Hualu's smile froze, and her eyes dropped slightly, as if she was trying to hide something: "We still don't know the truth about this matter."

Tang Yin leaned forward slightly and looked directly at her: "What do you mean?"

"In fact, only in the legend of the Hidden Mist Village is the Wolf God dead." Hua Lu's voice lowered, as if she was telling an ancient secret, with a hint of elusive emotion in her tone.

"The Hidden Mist Village?" Tang Yin frowned, with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

"Yes. There is a saying circulating among the elders of Baifeng Manor - the people of Wuyin Village are companions of the people of Huangquan." Hualu raised her head, and her tone became softer, but there was a hint of warning in it.

Tang Yin was stunned for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Is that really the case?"

"Oh, yes, yes," Hua Lu answered hesitantly, then lowered her head to look at the ground, as if deliberately avoiding Tang Yin's sight, "However, please keep this matter a secret from the people of Kirigakure."

"...What would happen if they knew about this?" Tang Yin continued to ask, with a hint of inquiry in his tone.

Hua Lu pursed her lips and said in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible: "It should just be very unpleasant, right?"

Tang Yin leaned back in his chair, his eyes gazing thoughtfully at the thick fog in the distance. Indeed, killing someone simply because of such rumors was a bit absurd. But were these rumors really just "rumors"?

Grandma Rong's words came to her mind - this incident was told to her by a drunken Baifengzhuang resident during a mountain sacrifice a long time ago when she was still a little girl.

If it was just a rumor like this...how could it be a motive for murder?
No, the real reason for the Wolf Protector's sudden change of heart couldn't have been just words. There were other, more important reasons.

Tang Yin narrowed his eyes slightly, his mind gradually becoming clearer. Very good. Although only a small clue, he vaguely saw hope of solving the mystery. Everything seemed to be moving in the right direction.

"Mr. Tang Yin, Mr. Tang Yin." Hua Lu's voice suddenly pulled him back from his thoughts, and there was a hint of worry in her eyes.

"Oh, sorry, what's wrong?" Tang Yin came back to his senses and found that his expression seemed a little stiff.

Hua Lu lowered her head slightly, her tone a little cautious: "Your expression is so scary, did I say something bad?"

"No, no." Tang Yin shook his head and forced a smile, "You misunderstood... Sorry, let's continue the previous topic. What happened to Xiaomei?"

Hua Lu was silent for a moment, her eyes becoming somewhat complicated, and finally she said softly, "...Qian Jin's doctor said she has a heart disease."

Hua Lu's voice was very soft, like a fallen leaf floating into Tang Yin's ears, but those simple few words made his heart suddenly tighten.

"However, the rumor is still circulating in Baifeng Manor and Wuyin Village that she was possessed by the wolf god." Hua Lu's voice was very soft, but like the wind in the night, it carried an indescribable chill and penetrated into Tang Yin's ears.

"So, the Hua family once helped her purify the pollution, and her condition improved afterwards..." She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously pinching the corner of her clothes, as if she was recalling the past that she didn't want to mention again.

"...Is it a method similar to blessing prayers?" Tang Yin asked with a hint of inquiry in his tone. At the same time, his eyes fell on Hua Lu's face, trying to capture more information from her slightly shaking eyes.

"Well, that's about right." Hua Lu nodded, as if she didn't want to dwell on this topic any longer.

Tang Yin narrowed his eyes slightly, and a ripple seemed to rise in his heart. So that's it...

After all, the four elder families maintained their rule over Baifeng Manor through faith. If there were logical flaws in the foundation of their faith, it would undoubtedly pose a huge threat to them. The claim that "possession by a beast is impossible"...was surely intended to be self-consistent with their belief system.

A picture quickly formed in his mind: the Hua family stepped in to purify Xiaomei, ostensibly to resolve the problem, but in reality, they were handling the incident through the logic of faith. In other words, they acknowledged that Xiaomei was a kind of exception within this belief system—an anomaly that could not be easily categorized.

The elders' initial plan was probably to label this as a "disease unrelated to faith." But obviously, this plan failed.

If the elders hadn't sent Xiaomei away for recuperation, then this situation wouldn't be hard to understand. Tang Yin couldn't help but think that the idea of ​​being possessed by a wild beast was nothing new to the outside world. If he asked Xia Hui, she would probably talk about it for three days and three nights.

Yet, here, in these circumstances and under these conditions, such possession incidents cannot be dismissed lightly. They are not simply superstitious rumors, but rather aberrations reinforced by a belief system. Perhaps this incident should be considered a special case, distinct from other supernatural incidents.

"...Oh right," Tang Yin pondered for a moment, as if figuring something out, and suddenly asked, "Have you heard of the legend of being possessed by the Yellow Springs Man?"

Hua Lu's brows furrowed slightly, and she looked up at Tang Yin with a hint of caution in her eyes. "This is also a strange rumor. The people of Huangquan have no wisdom or morals. It is a terrifying taboo."

There was a hint of seriousness in her tone, and it was obvious that this topic was not a lighthearted one.

"Gao Mei's situation should be different from that of the Huangquan people." She paused and added, as if emphasizing some important difference.

Tang Yin nodded, his eyes complicated. So, Hua Lu, who had a mental disorder last time, was considered a person from the underworld, right?
He recalled Hualu's past, a girl shrouded in fear and confusion, completely different from her current self. Xiaomei's situation was indeed completely different from Hualu's back then.

The difference between the two may hide the key truth.

"Because there are no other possibilities, the rumor that she is possessed by the Yellow Springs Wolf emerged...?" Tang Yin asked in a low voice, with a hint of tentativeness in his tone, but his eyes were fixed firmly on Hua Lu's face, trying to glimpse more from her expression.

Hualu raised her head, a complex look in her eyes, as if she wanted to speak but hesitated. After a moment, she nodded gently, her voice lowered a few degrees, "...Well, actually, most people in Baifeng Village know the legend of the Hidden Mist Village."

"Legend?" Tang Yin asked, with a hint of coldness in his tone.

"Even if she's contaminated, her identity as a deity won't change." Hua Lu's voice was a little tired, but her eyes didn't leave the ground. "Also, her condition was very strange, so the rumor that she was possessed by the Wolf God spread."

Tang Yin frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then asked, "And was he healed through prayer?" Hua Lu hesitated for a moment before softly answering, "...Well, the final cause of the illness was mild pollution."

Mild pollution? Tang Yin's mind flashed with doubt. Although he didn't fully understand what these so-called "pollutions" meant, since he had been declared recovered, it shouldn't be a big deal. Moreover, this matter seemed to be over -

But now, the disease has recurred.

"Those kids should have some idea about Gao Mei's symptoms, right?" Hua Lu suddenly spoke, a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

"But they probably won't tell me, right?" Tang Yin sneered, with a hint of self-mockery in his tone.

According to Tong Xiaoliang, this matter had nothing to do with the banquet, and in reality, it seemed to be true. For Baifeng Manor, this was just a somewhat troublesome issue unrelated to the banquet.

only……

Tang Yin raised his head, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes: "What does the word 'rebirth' mean? I seem to have heard something similar at the banquet today."

Hua Lu was slightly stunned upon hearing this. After a moment of silence, she slowly spoke, "...The so-called rebirth means that those who went to the underworld did not pass away and returned to the human world."

"So," Tang Yin narrowed his eyes, a hint of inquiry in his tone, "Does 'see you in the next life' mean... 'never see you again in this life'?"

Hualu nodded, her movements slow and heavy, as if confirming some taboo.

So that's how it is, Tang Yin thought. He finally understood. The Hidden Mist Village considered returning to the human world from the underworld unlucky, a peculiar notion that permeated even their language. "See you in the next life"—such a decisive way of saying goodbye.

But even so, how did Gao Mei know all this? Tang Yin's doubts not only did not diminish, but became even more serious.

At this moment, Hualu suddenly spoke, her voice carrying a hint of self-mockery, yet for some reason it made people's hearts tighten: "...We are ignorant mountain dwellers, isolated from the world, eliminated by the times, and can only struggle here in an ugly way."

She raised her head and looked directly at Tang Yin, her eyes revealing a complex emotion. "Mr. Tang Yin," she said slowly, her tone a mixture of tentativeness and alienation, "It seems that you are not going to go any further?"

Tang Yin didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted through the thick fog, as if searching for something, yet also avoiding it. A suffocating silence filled the air.

"...What do you mean? I've already said that I'm just an ordinary person, without any special abilities." Tang Yin said in a low voice, his tone calm, yet with a hint of helplessness. His eyes fell on Hua Lu, trying to discern the hidden meaning behind her words.

Hualu stood at the edge of the thick fog, her figure blurred, her eyes luminous enough to seem to pierce the night. She lowered her head slightly, her voice as soft as a falling leaf, yet carrying a force that could not be ignored: "Do you have any special circumstances? Or any special experiences?"

Tang Yin was speechless for a moment. He could feel Hua Lu's gaze, a gentleness mingled with a searching intensity that seemed to see through him from the inside out.

"Mr. Tang Yin, I would like to believe that you are a very special person." She raised her head and looked directly at him, with complex emotions flashing in her eyes, like trust, but also like struggle.

Tang Yin didn't answer. He just stood there in silence, his figure looking particularly lonely in the swirling mist.

Hualu paused, as if mustering up courage, and continued, "...I don't know what the turning point was, but ever since that day, when I saw you through the shade of the trees..." Her voice trembled slightly, as if with both fear and relief, "Your image has been lingering in my mind."

Tang Yin frowned slightly, as if he wanted to interrupt her, but then he stopped, as if waiting for her to finish her words.

"Maybe it's because you helped me when I ran into the fire, or maybe it's because you called me by my name." Hualu's voice grew deeper, as if lost in some memory. "I've thought of all sorts of reasons, but I can't find a definitive answer. Perhaps there never was a reason to begin with."

She sighed softly and looked up at Tang Yin. A hint of tenderness that was difficult to conceal appeared on her calm face: "...I admire you, Mr. Tang Yin."

She said it anyway.

Tang Yin was slightly startled, a complex emotion flashing across his eyes. His throat moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only uttered her name: "Hua Lu..."

Hua Lu shook her head, interrupting him. Her voice was still gentle, yet it carried an undeniable determination: "...It's okay. You don't have to reciprocate my feelings. I'm not the kind of woman who would expect such a thing."

Her eyes gradually became firm, as if she was looking for a final reason for herself: "I'm saying this... only because there is one more thing I must tell you."

Tang Yin's heart sank suddenly. His intuition told him that what was coming next was definitely not simple. He took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "...What is it?"

"Run away quickly." Hua Lu's voice was as light as a falling ash, but it was filled with irresistible urgency.

Tang Yin just smiled faintly, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone: "You can't get out, right?"

Thick fog slowly flowed between them, like a barrier separating them from reality. Tang Yin knew very well that this was a cage, and he was just a trapped beast.

Last time, he had naively thought he could escape, but in the end, he could only helplessly face the annihilation of his entire army. The feeling of helplessness and despair is still vivid in his mind.

"I also know why everyone is so afraid of this thick fog." Tang Yin's voice was low and cold, as if it came from the depths of his throat. "Because, there's absolutely no way to escape this fog. The party won't stop until the fog dissipates."

His gaze fell on Hua Lu, his eyes revealing a kind of resolute coldness: "So, I-"

"Please stop." Hua Lu suddenly interrupted him, with a hint of pleading, even begging, in her voice.

Her hands were clenched slightly, her thin knuckles turning white from the strain. Her eyes held fear, sadness, and more than that, a complex array of unspeakable emotions.

Thick fog swirled around them, like some invisible presence, enveloping the two of them. Tang Yin was silent for a moment, but ultimately did not speak again. The only sound in the air was their breathing, mixed with the damp, cold air of the fog, which spread out.

(End of this chapter)