Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 56

“Mayor Ryan is here!”

“It’s truly an honor to meet you, great mayor!”

“Mayor, I wonder if I can shake your hand!”

“Mayor, my child is already 6 months old, a boy, and I also want to name him Ryan. It is an honor for all of us to have a mayor like you in Beautiful Flower Town!”

Upon seeing Ryan in the production center, the pregnant women all gathered around to speak. It was evident that Ryan was dearly loved by the townspeople.

In the face of everyone’s enthusiasm, Ryan responded with a polite and gentlemanly smile, advising them all to be careful. After kindly shaking hands with everyone, Ryan went to the doctor’s office to inquire about everyone’s conditions.

Upon hearing that all the pregnant women and children were healthy, Ryan showed a very relieved smile. When leaving, he received many bouquets, each with a pink card inside. The female doctors and nurses sent out bouquets with shy smiles, leaving one to wonder about the content on the cards.

Before getting into the elevator, Zhou Qian stopped Ryan. “Wait.”

“What’s the matter?” Ryan asked Zhou Qian.

Zhou Qian asked, “Where are we going next?”

Ryan said, “How about going back to the reception room? If you are hungry, you can also get something to eat. When your friend wakes up and the interrogations of the two girls are over, if they are indeed not witches, I’ll escort you out together.”

“Do you have a place to stay? I would be delighted to welcome you to stay in Beautiful Flower Town; I can arrange houses for you.”

“That sounds great,” Zhou Qian responded naturally. “Can you arrange a house by the mountain and river for me?”

“No problem. I will have someone arrange it,” Ryan said.

“During the waiting period, we have nothing to do… Can we walk around on this floor?” Zhou Qian said, “My sister’s child was killed by a vile witch. Unfortunately, unlike these pregnant women, she hasn’t been able to walk out of the pain. I want to ask some pregnant women about their experiences in adjusting their emotions to help my sister later. Can you give me… one hour?”

Ryan’s beautiful green eyes narrowed for a moment, then he cheerfully responded, “Of course. In an hour, the problems on your friend’s side should also be resolved. I will send someone to pick you up then.”

Ryan left with some soldiers, leaving others to guard Zhou Qian and the rest. Qi Liuxing looked around and noticed that some pregnant women and nurses were curiously looking their way, as if wondering about the identities of these players.

After looking around, Qi Liuxing withdrew his gaze and asked Zhou Qian, “So, why do you want to stay here?”

Zhou Qian walked towards the nurse station with a smile. “Of course, to get the girls’ numbers.”

Qi Liuxing frowned immediately. “They are all pregnant, married women!”

Zhou Qian: “You underage kid, what are you thinking about all day?”

Qi Liuxing: “…”

“I, of course, have other uses. Also—”

Zhou Qian turned back and said to him and Ke Yuxiao, “You should also try to talk to them as much as possible. Let’s find a way to probe Mayor Ryan’s background.”

Following Zhou Qian’s words, Li Buhui also volunteered to join the “probing” action. Thus, the four players quickly split up to initiate their actions—talking to doctors, nurses, and pregnant women. After 30 minutes, everyone gathered in the family waiting area and discussed their findings, gaining a more comprehensive understanding of Beautiful Flower Town and even Mayor Ryan.

The town was located remotely, far from big cities, and development here was once very closed off. In the generations of people here, very few chose to pursue education, and there wasn’t much cultural knowledge.

All in all, it was a relatively backward town. Mayor Ryan chose to be the one to “step out.”

It was said that Ryan studied abroad and earned a Ph.D., learning a lot of knowledge.

He didn’t choose to stay outside but chose to return home to develop the town and give back to the land that nurtured him. He started as an ordinary government employee but was quickly promoted to mayor through his abilities.

The town’s electricity and water projects were planned and built by him, and the computers, TVs, telephones, and the like used by the residents were also technologies he brought from big cities.

In short, the townspeople went from being backward to prosperous, from laborious work to relying on technology for a convenient life, all thanks to Ryan’s efforts.

Thus, Ryan became a “godlike” existence in the hearts of the townspeople. The only group in town that refused to accept Ryan was probably the Witch Association.

Regarding this, doctors, nurses, and even the pregnant women, most of them gave similar comments. “Twenty years ago, the townspeople were all ignorant. Twenty years later, we have today, thanks to Mayor Ryan! It was he who led everyone out of ‘ignorance’.”

“But those witches are still as ‘ignorant’ as ever. No, they are not only ignorant, but they are also evil! The evil spirits they conjure… are terrifying!”

From the information received so far, Mayor Ryan wasn’t only a high-tech talent but truly loved this town and was indeed contributing to it.

Therefore, Zhou Qian could only temporarily attribute the tragedy on Weir Mountain to an accident, rather than something Ryan did intentionally.

However, after that accident, everything Ryan did to cover up the truth and protect his good image in the town was intentional.

Just then, Zhou Qian received a message from Situ Qing.

[We entered a place resembling a cell, and indeed, we saw two witches. They were motionless, most likely already dead.]

Sure enough.

Unsurprisingly, these two witches must have been silenced.

This undoubtedly confirmed Zhou Qian’s suspicion.

On the day of the Strawberry Music Festival, a very coincidental thing happened. Most adults had left the town for a vacation, and only a few stayed at home.

This coincidence gave Mayor Ryan the opportunity to whitewash everything.

That day, most of the town’s children went to Weir Mountain to attend the festival. A few, like Lina, who were unwell, didn’t go and stayed in town.

Afterward, an unknown accident occurred on Weir Mountain—an extremely radioactive power station or laboratory exploded.

Zhou Qian believed that with the high level of technological development in the town, the mayor should have remedied it in time, so the radiation only affected Weir Mountain and the northern town, and the adults who were on vacation that day were temporarily safe.

But not the people in the town.

The children who went to the festival on Weir Mountain were the first victims.

And the few adults and children who stayed in the town that night were likely also hit by radiation, but the adverse reactions in their bodies might be slower as they were exposed to less radiation, and it wasn’t so direct.

To prevent exposure, Mayor Ryan’s decision was to—kill all the people affected by radiation.

So, the few adults and children who stayed in the town that night were all killed, and it was disguised as abnormal phenomena such as hearts being removed, and heads being chopped off.

Ryan did this to blame everything on the “evil spirits”.

As for the children who attended the music festival on Weir Mountain, they weren’t directly killed by Ryan’s people.

Firstly, there were too many of them, and even Ryan couldn’t openly create so much slaughter.

Secondly, Ryan could use others to do the killing.

He deliberately created many murders in the town and blamed all the murders on the “evil spirits”, so naturally, he could let the witches handle the children who were “possessed by evil spirits”.

As for why the witches unanimously believed that many evil spirits appeared that night and then really thought everything was the work of evil spirits after “seeing is believing”?

This must be because they received a message from the Witch Association.

Ryan set up a radiation barrier in the northern town, even preventing mutated animals and plants affected by radiation from passing through. Witch Sarah claimed it was set by her magic.

Ryan let everyone wear protective clothing, saying it was a scientific way to prevent evil spirits, but what the clothes really prevented was radiation; similarly, Witch Sarah distributed special witch robes to everyone, claiming they were enchanted with protective spells, but in fact, they were just radiation-proof clothing.

The only person in the town who really “went out” to learn about technology was the mayor.

The technologically ignorant witches thought the clothes were really enchanted with spells that could protect against evil spirits after finding out they were really safe in them.

Moreover, the guns that Ryan’s military force used are similar to electric stun guns.

The weapons in the witches’ hands were surprisingly similar.

Zhou Qian didn’t ask the witches about this, but he could guess that Sarah must have told the witches that these were weapons enchanted by her, able to drain the strength of those who are cursed.

Finally, the crystal ball in the witches’ hands must also be a lie.

It should just be a device that can detect radiation levels, only made in the shape of a crystal ball.

Looking at it this way, Witch Association President Sarah seemed to be colluding with Mayor Ryan—their cooperation was too tacit.

On the surface, they seemed to be absolutely opposed.

But they were actually jointly maintaining a lie—that this world had evil spirits and magic.

To clear Ryan of his charges, Sarah deceived all the witches. She brainwashed them, telling them that evil spirits had appeared in the town, forcing witches like Eva to act against their own children with a heavy heart.

In order to perpetuate the lie, Sarah constantly performed, attributing “magical” meaning to all “technological” products.

Sarha led patrols every day, all for show. To maintain a good image of working “for the town and its people”, and to comply with the witches’ wishes and avoid suspicion, she had to pretend to be earnestly looking for survivors and exorcizing evil spirits.

Meanwhile, she also responded to everyone’s requests by sending people to investigate the origins of the evil spirits on Weir Mountain. But if any witch found the “power station” on Weir Mountain or any other evidence that might expose Mayor Ryan’s secrets, that witch would immediately be arrested by government forces and subsequently executed.

However, the cooperation between Sarah and Ryan seemed flawless, which raised the question, what was Sarah’s purpose and benefit in this?

She was so skilled with technological products; it seemed she knew everything Ryan did.

Was it possible that she and Ryan were the same person?

After all… it was Sarah’s suggestion to have some players cross-dress from the beginning.

It turned out she was the true master of disguise.

Ryan’s turquoise eyes and Sara’s blue eyes started to interchange in Zhou Qian’s vision. Ryan had blonde hair, and Sarah had blonde eyelashes. This seemed to serve as evidence.

Although they didn’t look very alike… Zhou Qian remembered, when he met Sarah, she was wearing heavy makeup. Makeup, of course, could make a person look very different. The color of the eyes could be solved with colored contact lenses.

Sarah was Ryan. Ryan himself was a man, and he cross-dressed to pose as a witch.

Zhou Qian was becoming more and more certain about this.

However, there was still a doubt. Such impersonation was possible in a short time, but it was highly improbable for Ryan to do this for more than ten years without slipping up. So, the earliest Witch Sarah should indeed have existed.

Where did she go, and how was she replaced by Ryan?

Furthermore, there was another small question in the whole affair.

Ryan couldn’t accomplish such a thing alone. He must have a team that was absolutely loyal to him, helping him manage everything. These people believe in him, probably even more than the witches believe in Sarah.

After all, everything Sarah did in front of the witches was an act. They believed in her disguise. But Ryan’s followers believed in the real Ryan.

They manufactured massacres, disguised crime scenes, and eventually made sure all informants—everyone who might expose the matter—were dead…

They should also be townspeople. Why would they do such things?

……

At this point, the four players present had almost sorted out everything. Qi Liuxing wondered, “So, what should we do next? This time, the system’s hints about the plot are very scarce.”

Ke Yuxiao said, “I think we should find a way to rescue Wu Ren, Situ Qing, and Yin Jiujiu first. Besides, Wu Ren has less than two hours left. I have a bad premonition.”

The two discussed for a moment and then looked at Zhou Qian, seemingly wanting his opinion. Zhou Qian didn’t speak for a while. He was unusually serious, and then also glanced at his watch. The system popped up a message from Li Xuexai—

[​The place where life points decrease quickly is where the radiation is severe. I’m very worried you all might be sent back to Weir Mountain.]

Seeing this line, Zhou Qian’s mouth curled, and he whispered, “Unfortunately, I think your worries are correct.”

Zhou Qian guessed right. So did Li Xuehai.

Soon, with a “ding” sound, the elevator door opened. Mayor Ryan walked in, surrounded by soldiers. He seemed like a completely different person.

He used to be gentlemanly and polite; his smile was gentle, and his eyes were always filled with concern. But this time, when he stepped out of the elevator, his eyes seemed to be shining.

When he saw Zhou Qian and the others, his eyes brightened even more. He walked up to Zhou Qian and firmly shook his hand as if holding some precious gift, unwilling to let go. “You are gifts from heaven, gifts for Beautiful Flower Town! Come! Follow me!”

Mayor Ryan seemed to be inviting the players into the elevator on the surface, but in reality, the players were forced to move forward with guns pointed at their heads.

This time, they directly took the elevator to the underground parking garage and then astonishingly entered a commercial vehicle.

When Zhou Qian entered the commercial vehicle, he was quite surprised to find that Situ Qing, Yin Jiujiu, and Wu Ren were already inside.

As for any discoveries each of the three made, Zhou Qian temporarily didn’t have time to ask. Only when everyone was in the vehicle and the car gradually drove away from the government building did he find that this car was indeed heading to Weir Mountain.

At this time, Mayor Ryan was still warmly shaking his hand; his eyes were shining as if a cheetah had seen its prey.

Zhou Qian looked back at him, the corner of his mouth hooking into a smile. “Dear Mayor Ryan, what did you mean by what you said just now?”

Ryan spoke with a laugh, his words somewhat incoherent. “It’s… you are all gifts… Your data has come out. I mean, when you first came to the government building, you went to the testing room. Besides removing the possible radiation, ah no, evil spirits from your body, I had people test you.”

“You are my gifts… There is something in your bodies… that can coexist with them… just like those animals and plants… you are not afraid of it…”

“Of course, there are differences in your constitutions. This person is a bit weaker…” Ryan pointed at Wu Ren and clutched Zhou Qian’s hand even more fervently. “But you are the best among you. You are my gift!”

Zhou Qian: “……”

Zhou Qian didn’t speak; he only frowned, sensing a rather ominous premonition. Although Ryan was somewhat incoherent and still hiding everything, Zhou Qian felt that he probably understood Ryan’s meaning.

In this town, humans undoubtedly fear radiation. After mutating, they would suffer, become ill, and eventually die. But animals and plants were different—especially plants.

They would grow taller and become bizarre in appearance, but they wouldn’t die. Now that Ryan had gotten the test data on the players, he believed that players, like plants, weren’t afraid of radiation.

Perhaps players would mutate and become bizarre in appearance, but they would not die but would survive under radiation.

Zhou Qian allowed Ryan to hold his hand, staring into his eyes and asking, “Do you mean that we can coexist with ‘evil spirits’? But why would you hope for such a thing to happen?”

Perhaps because Ryan was too excited at the moment or because the people in the car were his close associates who knew all his deeds, he didn’t hide much and spoke directly, “Because the development of technology cannot be separated from ‘evil spirits’. Evil spirits can provide the most efficient production… It’s greatly convenient for humans! If humans cannot coexist with it, its utility would be greatly limited!”

“You… You’ve appeared! This is great! If one day we humans are no longer afraid of ‘evil spirits’, how wonderful? Our lives will be full of convenience! We don’t have to worry about excessive deforestation or resource consumption. As long as we vigorously develop ‘evil spirits’, we will have inexhaustible resources!”

“We didn’t dare to easily use these resources before because we feared humans themselves would be backfired, afraid that we couldn’t adapt to such an environment. But your appearance means my thoughts were indeed correct!”

“Indeed… this accident reminded me that humans also need to make all changes to adapt to environmental changes, right?” Ryan’s eyes had become extremely fanatic at this point. He couldn’t help but look out the window at the town.

“This new town has been protected by me. But the humans here are too fragile. They are like flowers in a greenhouse. The pursuit of technological progress brought by a little bit of ‘evil spirit’ would make them fall… They are simply vulnerable.”

“You’ve appeared… I may be able to transform them.”

Returning his gaze, Ryan looked at Zhou Qian with fervent and gentle eyes, holding his hand tightly, and said, “I can feel that you seem to be not from this world. I don’t know if some accidents have affected time and space, causing you to appear… Anyway, you are gifts bestowed by heaven to me. So—”

“Please be my test subjects. You will make a huge contribution to humanity!”

Compared to the fanaticism in Ryan’s eyes, the players’ moods had undoubtedly hit rock bottom.

A moment later, they, as test subjects, without wearing protective suits, had already arrived at the most severely radiated core area—the top of Weir Mountain. Ryan and his soldiers were wearing protective suits, and they brought the players wearing regular clothes off the vehicle.

The air here seemed to be somewhat thin, and the moment Zhou Qian stepped off the car, he already felt a bit breathless.

Looking up, Zhou Qian then saw a high wall appear before him.

The wall was very high and very long, making it impossible to see its end at a glance.

The material seems similar to what he had seen in government buildings, with very smooth lines made of very high-quality materials.

Above the high wall, faintly visible were some strangely shaped plants protruding above. Zhou Qian even thought he saw a huge tail sweeping over the edge of the wall just now.

Hence, whatever was concealed within this wall, whatever kind of bizarre world it was… it really made one afraid to think deeper.

Zhou Qian could only guess that a circular wall had been built here, enclosing all the secrets about Mayor Ryan within.

Next, the players would step into it, learning the deepest secrets behind, but also facing an extremely dangerous world.

After a while, Ryan got out of the car and personally took out a button and pressed it. A door was drawn open on the wall.

Ryan, holding Zhou Qian’s hand, led him and the other players to the door. “Please enter to undergo the experiment. I will come to pick you up afterward! Maybe by then… you will not look the same as you do now. But the you by then will be in the form of an advanced human. You will be a role model for all of us. We will all want to grow up to be like you.”

Zhou Qian didn’t speak; he just inadvertently glanced to the side.

Then he saw a leaf growing out of the back of Wu Ren’s neck.

He actually had a leaf growing out of his neck.

Pulling back his gaze, Zhou Qian acted as if he saw nothing.

When Ryan released his hand, about to let him in, Zhou Qian instead held his hand and gently raised it. “Dear Mayor, for the evolution of humans, I am willing to undergo this experiment. But before that, I want to ask you a question.”

“What do you want to ask?” Ryan said.

“You look very familiar.” Zhou Qian smiled. “Do you have any… sisters?”

The color of Ryan’s face seemed to change slightly, then he countered, “Why do you ask this?”

“No reason. She was my lover.” Zhou Qian’s eyes narrowed. “I am just very concerned about her whereabouts.”

​[Player Zhou Qian initiated side plot: The Secrets Behind Ryan.]

Indeed.

He guessed it right.

The secrets behind Ryan must be closely related to the reason why he could disguise himself as Witch Sarah.

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