Chapter 1878 - 337: Part 3

"Little brother, have a drink."

Li Zhiyuan shook his head.

Chen Xiyuan: "Don't like this flavor?"

Li Zhiyuan: "It's gone flat from sitting too long."

Chen Xiyuan: "Then I'll buy you another bottle, you can pick your own."

Li Zhiyuan shook his head again: "After the soup, my stomach can't take any more drinks."

"Alright then, goodbye little brother."

Before leaving, Chen Xiyuan wanted to reach out and touch the boy's face again, but Li Zhiyuan dodged.

"Let sister touch it just a little."

Li Zhiyuan shook his head.

"So stingy."

Chen Xiyuan took the Haibi and left.

The Haibi bottles are supposed to be recycled, but the shop owner clearly forgot about this, or maybe intentionally overlooked it.

After she left, Tan Wenbin approached Li Zhiyuan:

"Brother Xiao Yuan, is she disguising herself?"

Evidently, Tan Wenbin was also uncomfortable with this type of River Walker.

Li Zhiyuan: "If she has seen through our identities, there's no need to disguise in front of us. If not, disguising is even less necessary."

Tan Wenbin nodded and said: "She went into the hospital."

Li Zhiyuan: "Don't stare at her for too long, especially from afar. She might sense it."

Tan Wenbin quickly looked away.

Li Zhiyuan turned and gazed at the faint grey on the ground, the last trace of that "Yu Family man" in this world.

"We've been at ease, but we've missed a lot. They've been fighting for a long time."

"If the Outer Team were here, we'd know instantly how things have progressed."

"That's not important. In this current wave, there's no need for us to stand out."

Li Zhiyuan stood, descended the steps, and approached the grayish trace.

Tan Wenbin followed him over: "Brother Xiao Yuan, is there an issue?"

Li Zhiyuan: "Though we can't see the full picture, the Yu Family's behavior when facing calamity seems unusually abnormal. Beasts may be brainless, but their instinct for survival is actually stronger than humans."

The young man initiated Walking Yin.

From his fingertips, strands of Red Line emerged, covering the trace and starting the deduction.

Using this method, Li Zhiyuan once deduced Zhao Wuyang's spirit path while at home.

A faint Red Line extended from this grey trace, delicate yet exceptionally resilient, pointing directly toward the hospital.

Killing leaves a cause-and-effect trace, but River Walkers' karma is not easily tangled.

Li Zhiyuan looked down at himself, noting a Red Line on him, thicker than the one Chen Xiyuan took.

Turning, he saw Tan Wenbin, Lin Shuyou, and Run Sheng also had lines.

Li Zhiyuan ended Walking Yin, rubbing his temples to ease the tearing pain in his eyes.

Lin Shuyou and Run Sheng walked out of the store then.

After recovering, Li Zhiyuan spoke: "I'm now suspecting the Yu Family intentionally sent their people out to kill River Walkers, while also letting River Walkers kill."

The aim is that all River Walkers' hands become stained with Yu Family blood."

"Thankfully we didn't act." Lin Shuyou paused, "Wait, we did kill before."

Tan Wenbin: "Brother Xiao Yuan, is this marking then?"

Li Zhiyuan:

"Yes, dogs love to do this sort of thing."

...

Chen Xiyuan inquired about the name at the nurse's station and then arrived at the ward.

Standing by the middle bed, she looked at the young man lying comatose and sighed helplessly:

"You were such a glutton, worrying your sister to death."

Chen Xiyuan worked as a music teacher for free at a seaside town's elementary school, since she often took leave and her comings and goings were irregular.

Though teaching without much dedication, she was still well-liked by the children and enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by them upon returning, as the smiles on their faces seemed to wash away the bloody scent lingering on her.

In class, a little girl cried red-eyed, revealing that her parents said her brother was poisoned far away and may die.

After another inquiry about the address, she learned it was Luoyang.

Just as she was supposed to, Chen Xiyuan headed to Luoyang.

She hadn't arrived earlier because she didn't wish to get pulled into the "Yu Family Dragon King's Order" maelstrom. Killing didn't bother her, yet she disliked killing and wasn't keen on actively socializing with those On the River.

Take Jiujiang Zhao Yi, for instance; she knew to network with him ahead of time and understood that he was currently making great waves On the River, but simply didn't like him.

As Zhao Yi's deeds rendered him ruthless for his purposes, and cold-hearted, forming ties is just temporary mutual exploitation, tiring. Comparatively, she preferred the boy sitting outside the soup place this morning, attractive, with bright, charming eyes.

Chen Xiyuan reached out to check the recovering youth's condition.

"Recovering really well, doesn't seem to need concern now, very lucky."

Retracting her hand, she paused, then reached under the bed and took out a talisman paper.

"Talisman Master's handiwork?"

Chen Xiyuan looked at the young man, then the talisman.

Although she didn't like ranking people, such high-grade talisman paper clearly wasn't for average folks; it was quite precious in Jianghu as well.

"Your fate is so fortunate?"

Chen Xiyuan went to the next bed, reaching under, finding a talisman paper there too.

Another bed revealed the same.

"Which household is so generous?"

Chen Xiyuan checked the adjacent two wards, finding all under their beds had this talisman paper from the poisoning incident.

"The person may have come for one among them, yet treated everyone likewise, genuinely treating them equally."

Experts grasp this talisman's value, but the person showed no reservation at all.

The person ought to be warm and kind, unable to stand mortal suffering, possibly with a touch of sensitivity.

Chen Xiyuan murmured:

"On the River, characters like this actually appear?"

...

High steps piled with corpses.

Oil lamps made from young heads lined the sides, casting eerie flames.

A seemingly semi-transparent Little Bai dog sniffed at the blood below, slowly materializing with each move.

Above, a hand marked with wear and scars descended, gently stroking Little Bai's head.

Little Bai spun in circles, ears twitching at all directions, as if carefully listening to movements, stopping after three rounds.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

An elderly voice emanated from above:

"The people have finally gathered."