Chapter 69: Lin Fan’s Opportunity

Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Lin Fan’s Opportunity

Shi Yan and Yizhou continued their fierce exchange, neither giving the other an opportunity to break away. Their movements carried them across the open ground, sword strikes and spells colliding with enough force to stir the surrounding air.

What Shi Yan failed to notice was that the battlefield had already begun to change.

One by one, figures emerged from the surrounding darkness, taking up positions at a careful distance from the ongoing battle.

They came from different sects and factions, each wearing their own distinct robes, but none of them had come as spectators. They had been brought here for the same purpose—to capture the person responsible for the strange incidents that had plagued Xuánshuāng City.

Among them was the team from the Wenjian Sect.

And, naturally, Lin Fan was there as well.

He followed behind the others with a rather unpleasant expression, his eyes fixed on the battlefield.

After losing the spotlight during the previous incident, he had no choice but to watch another person take center stage once again.

It was supposed to have been his opportunity.

The previous time, Lin Fan had already planned everything out in his head. He would be the one to expose the truth, reveal the culprit at the most crucial moment, and then step forward when everyone was watching.

With the case solved by his own hand, he would naturally earn the recognition of his fellow sect brothers—and perhaps even the admiration of the two Luo beauties.

Just imagining the scene had been enough to make him excited.

Unfortunately, his carefully prepared plan had been ruined.

At the time, Lin Fan had been so furious that he immediately complained to his system.

[Ding! Mission: Take Credit for Solving the Xuánshuāng City Case]

[Reward: 100 Protagonist Points. Luo Qingya Affection Value +50. Luo Qingxue Affection Value +50.]

[Mission Incomplete. Host, please work harder to complete the mission.]

System, what is this?! Aren’t I the protagonist? Wasn’t I supposed to be the one to make the big reveal? Why are these cannon fodders stealing my show?!

[Ding! The system has detected that this outcome was not caused by system interference. The system previously warned the host to complete the mission in a timely manner. Due to the host’s delay, the opportunity has already been taken. The system is unable to interfere. Please strive harder to complete future missions.]

Lin Fan had nearly punched the system.

Was it seriously blaming him?

Hadn’t the system been the one telling him to attract attention and establish himself as a protagonist from the very beginning? Now that someone else had taken the opportunity, it offered him nothing but an excuse.

What made matters worse was that after this failed operation on his part, his fellow sect brothers had also begun looking at him strangely. Their expressions seemed to carry a silent reproach, as though they were wondering why he had not acted sooner and allowed such a good opportunity to slip away.

Their gazes only made Lin Fan grit his teeth harder. He had already lost his chance to make a name for himself, and now even his fellow disciples seemed to think it was his fault.

Unable to vent his anger on the system, which didn’t even have a physical body, or on his fellow juniors, who he still needed to keep a close relationship with, Lin Fan had no choice but to direct his frustration toward the two people who had ruined his plans.

Those two again.

Fine. He would settle this account with them sooner or later.

What annoyed him even more was Luo Qingya and Luo Qingxue. Why were the two sisters always so close to those outsiders, even going so far as to help them? Hadn’t he already told them that he would be the one to expose the culprit that night?

Yet instead of supporting him, they had chosen to stand on the other side.

Lin Fan couldn’t help but feel that they were deliberately going against him, in the future when they enter his harem, he will teach these two a lesson.

Of course, that was a matter for the future. For now, there was something else that had been bothering Lin Fan.

This entire situation was different from what he remembered.

According to the original novel, the Xuánshuāng City arc should have ended after the people from the temple were exposed. There had never been any mention of another culprit hiding behind the scenes, much less a mission to lure them out.

A few days ago, the people from the City Lord’s Mansion had suddenly summoned their group. Lin Fan had been confused at first, thinking that the arc should already be over. Instead, City Lord Xu had asked them to participate in one final mission—to capture the real culprit.

They weren’t given many details. They were only told that the person truly responsible for the incidents had yet to be caught, and the City Lord’s Mansion intended to set a trap to draw them out.

Their task was simply to wait for the right moment and help subdue the demon.

When Lin Fan first heard all of this, he had been completely dumbfounded.

Why had there been no such plot in the novel?

He couldn’t understand how the story had suddenly developed in a direction that he had never seen before. Still, he didn’t dwell on it for long. Because shortly after learning about the mission from the city lord, the system’s familiar voice rang in his mind.

[Ding! A new system mission has been issued.]

[Mission: Claim the credit for subduing the culprit.]

[Description: The City Lord’s Mansion has prepared a trap to capture the true culprit behind the incidents in Xuánshuāng City. Seize this opportunity, subdue the culprit, and ensure that the credit for resolving the case falls primarily to you.]

[Mission Reward: 500 Protagonist Points, Luo Qingya Affection Value +50. Luo Qingxue Affection Value +50.]

[Mission On-Going. Host, please work harder to complete the mission.]

Lin Fan’s eyes lit up as he read the mission.

It was exactly the opportunity he had been waiting for.

After losing his chance the first time, this was his chance to redeem himself.

Now that the trap had been set in motion, the cultivators had divided themselves into two groups. One was responsible for evacuating the surrounding people and keeping them away from the battlefield, while the other remained behind to prepare the formation that would seal the area once the culprit revealed themselves.

They had just about finished setting everything up.

Lin Fan’s attention was drawn back to the battlefield, where the man called Aotian was still fighting the culprit head-on. He had been assigned the role of stalling for time, keeping the enemy occupied until the formation was ready.

Watching him take the most visible role in the operation, Lin Fan couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied.

Why him?

Lin Fan had already proven his strength during their previous encounters. In his opinion, there was no reason he couldn’t have been the one standing there instead.

The more he watched, the more unwilling he became to simply stand on the sidelines and wait.

His expression gradually changed as a thought surfaced in his mind.

If Aotian was going to take the stage first, then so be it.

Lin Fan’s eyes flickered as he quietly began piecing together his own plan to steal the show. If he played it right, he could step in at the most crucial moment, turn the situation around, and make sure that everyone remembered who had truly contributed to capturing the culprit.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

This time, he would not let another opportunity slip away.