The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus

92

At the back of the craggy artificial mountain in the garden, it was so secluded that even the birds' songs could not be heard clearly from the branches. There was water left from the last time it had rained in the shallow depressions of the rocks at the foot of the mountain, gathering small puddles and fallen leaves which stuck on the uneven ground.

The breeze blew, the craggy pine tree branches and leaves swayed, and dry pine needles rained down on Ling Miaomiao's shoulders.

She retracted her neck but a few still fell into her collar.

She pulled at her collar a few times in vain, gave up, endured the discomfort, and raised her head: "Brother Liu, what did you just say?"

Liu Fuyi's wide sleeves blocked the thin and pitiful sunlight, his face was very serious, even the relaxed smile he usually used in front of her was put away: "Miaomiao, what do you think of that story yesterday?"

Ling Miaomiao's eyes blinked: "What?"

Liu Fuyi looked at her for a long time, seeming to have no time to beat around the bush, and went straight to the point: "Yao'er and I now suspect that there is something wrong with Ah Sheng's background."

After noon had passed, Ling Miao Miao went out for a walk, and as soon as she took the first step out of her room, she was intercepted by Liu Fuyi and dragged behind the artificial mountain, clearly wanting to discuss secrets that could not be told to others.

Although it was a clear day, she still had some objections to this kind of remote place. She originally wanted to bring it up, but once Liu Fuyi's words came out, she forgot about it for the time being.

Ling Miaomiao looked at Liu Fuyi with a complicated face: The black lotus's background... had finally been discovered by these two simple-minded people.

In the original book, the male and female leads had been completely and utterly focused on their quest to exterminate evil that from the moment Mu Sheng entered the plot till the moment he left, they never had this conversation or talked about this topic.

They carried this hidden secret with them till the end of the story. Clarifying and understanding this secret was one of the sub-missions the system had given her.

She had used two Memory Fragments and entered several dreamscapes that were seemingly real but actually misleading. This was all for the sake of slowly taking this enigma apart piece by piece.

Currently, Mu Sheng still hadn't completely
'blackified' yet. He was still an irreplicable part of the team however, the focus of the team's investigation had started to shift.

"Brother Liu is saying that Mu Sheng is the son of Mu Rongshi and Young Noble Zhao from that story?"

Liu Fuyi's frustration was written all across his face, afraid she would find his words absurd.

He did his best to sound her out: "...What do you think?"

Ling Miaomiao nodded her head: "Mm, I believe it."

In other words, within the squad, she was the only one who had truly seen the appearance of Mu Sheng's birth mother. No matter how well that old storyteller could describe her, a single detail missing leaves the whole painting insipid.

A single detail in excess and she would be too flirtatious and charming. She gave off a feeling of nature, of pure, untouched beauty. She was in the perfect place between the two extremities.

Liu Fuyi watched her for a while before exclaiming in shock: "Miaomiao.... truly has great courage."

"Brother Liu, even if he is that Mu Rongshi's son — Who does it really affect? Why are you so worked up?" She calmly looked up at Liu Fuyi's face, pausing momentarily, "Then what's the story behind Mu Rongshi?"