Chapter 184: Scapegoat Xue Yang

“What’s the plan?” Qin Xiuwen asked.

“Do you know what lies in the depths of the Ruins?” Li Ye didn’t answer him directly, instead posing a question of his own.

“Didn’t you just say that Xue Yang found technology from the Ancient Civilization in the Ruins?” Pang Baisheng played along reluctantly, his tone dripping with skepticism.

Li Ye knew this group didn’t believe a word he was saying.

After all, they had migrated here thousands of years ago and still hadn’t fully explored the Ruins.

But that was fine. They would believe him soon enough.

Just like his own inexplicable strength, his Demon Qi and Derived Skills were things that defied logic. He just needed to invent a suitable origin story for them.

The essence of a sales pitch was storytelling, and that was his greatest strength.

His gaze swept over them one by one. “An Ancient Civilization is buried in the depths of the Ruins,” Li Ye said. “And that Ancient Civilization belonged to the era of the God-Demons.”

As he spoke, he took the Erhu off his back. “This Erhu is a Divine Artifact I brought back from the burial grounds of the God-Demons. So is Xue Yang’s flat pan.”

PFFT!

Pang Baisheng couldn’t help but burst out laughing. But when he remembered Bi Zhiheng, who Li Ye had kicked so hard he might be dead, he quickly wiped the smile off his face. “Sorry, please continue. Did you say this thing is called an Erhu? It looks like a musical instrument.”

“That’s right. It is an instrument. I even found some sheet music that goes with it.”

Li Ye looked around at the group, raised the bow, and began to play the classic piece, *Moon Reflected in Erquan*.

As the desolate, mournful notes of the Erhu began to play, an irrepressible sorrow welled up from the bottom of their hearts.

Before long, everyone felt as if they had been drawn into the tragic fate of Ah Bing’s life, and tears were streaming down their faces before they even realized it.

This was the innate, infectious power of the Erhu; no one could resist it.

Even the heavily injured Bi Zhiheng, lying off to the side, began to tremble and sob uncontrollably.

Ah Bing, the composer of *Moon Reflected in Erquan*, had played with a yearning for life, a sense of acceptance that came after weathering many storms.

But Li Ye’s rendition contained only desolation and the transience of life.

“It can affect my state of mind?” Nan Shuyun stared at the Erhu in horror, her voice catching in a sob.

She wanted to wipe her tears, but with her head enclosed in a helmet, her hand couldn’t reach. She could only let the tears flow freely. She glanced at Chu Zhongyue beside her and saw that his face was also streaked with tears, his expression one of utter shock.

And mixed with that shock was a trace of terror.

Her vision blurred by tears, Nan Shuyun couldn’t dare to imagine how terrifying it would be to hear such music in the middle of a battle.

‘My fighting spirit would probably crumble in an instant!’

“Stop playing! We get it, it’s a Divine Artifact,” Qin Xiuwen couldn’t help but say.

Li Ye stopped playing.

But the others remained steeped in the sorrowful atmosphere, unable to pull themselves out of it for a long time.

“How is this possible?” Chu Zhongyue asked, looking at the Erhu. “Did you really find traces of the Ancient Civilization?”

“What else could it be? Xue Yang’s flat pan was brought back from there, too.” Li Ye sighed. “In over five years, he has developed the flat pan’s power to its absolute limit. Even though I also obtained a Divine Artifact, I still can’t fight him.”

“What was the Ancient Era like?”

“The flat pan is also a Divine Artifact?”

Chu Zhongyue and Pang Baisheng asked at the same time.

Due to their different ages, they were clearly focused on different things.

“Cold, deathly silent, and guarded by many powerful Mutant Beasts,” Li Ye said. “Even a ninth-rank master wouldn’t be able to enter and escape unscathed. I only managed to get this Erhu from the outermost area thanks to Xue Yang’s modifications to my body. Even so, it was a life-or-death struggle. I almost didn’t make it out.

“The reason Xue Yang cultivated me was probably so he could perform a soul-swap, take over my body, and venture deeper into the Ruins to get more things. He must have suffered a fundamental injury from a Mutant Beast during his last expedition…”

“What level of the Ruins are the Divine Demon Ruins on?” Chu Zhongyue asked.

“According to the Federation’s classification of the Ruins, the Divine Demon Ruins should be on the eighteenth level,” Li Ye said, glancing at him.

“Impossible. Even the War God Qin Tian has only explored down to the thirteenth level. How could anyone have reached the eighteenth level of the Ruins five years ago?” Chu Zhongyue, having recovered from his sorrow, retorted.

“Old Man Chu, Xue Yang’s Main Life Star is also Taiyin.” Li Ye shook his head. “Surely you don’t think that in this entire Federation, Qin Tian is the only capable person there is?

“Even I, as I am now, could kill Qin Tian in an instant…”

Chu Zhongyue fell silent.

Li Ye was right. He was also a ninth-rank master, but facing Li Ye was like facing a towering mountain; a sense of powerlessness rose from the depths of his heart.

“What does the flat pan do?” Pang Baisheng asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Food made with the flat pan can help people break through to the next realm and increase their strength,” Qin Xiuwen said. “After all these years of eating food cooked in that pan, who knows how high Xue Yang’s power has climbed.”

“If you think that’s all the flat pan can do, you’re severely underestimating a Divine Artifact.” Li Ye looked at Qin Xiuwen with pity. “That’s just one of its functions. Its true purpose is to ‘seize’.”

“Seize what?” Nan Shuyun asked.

“To plunder.” Li Ye said, “Why do you think Xue Yang has spent so many years making the Flat Pan Group a household name? From the old to the young, everyone knows the Flat Pan Group. Do you really think he’s doing it for charity?”

“Why, then?” Nan Shuyun asked.

“Xue Yang wants to seize luck, to seize fortune.” Li Ye snorted. “When the masses become more and more dependent on the Flat Pan Group, Xue Yang can borrow their collective fortune to enhance his own. To be precise, he is seizing the Federation’s destiny for his own use. That way, everything he does will be successful, and he’ll be invincible.”

“That’s impossible!” Qin Xiuwen frowned. “How can something so mystical even exist?”

“Can an unknown person establish a massive corporation in just five years?” Li Ye asked. “Think about it. During the Flat Pan Group’s monthly lottery, doesn’t everyone hope they’ll be the lucky winner? Doesn’t everyone pay close attention to the list of winners?

“How many people are there in the Federation? When they all focus their attention on one thing, the Wish Power they generate is terrifying. But in the end, don’t most of their hopes get crushed?

“When so many people’s hopes of becoming the lucky one are dashed, they have already lent out their own luck. They themselves don’t feel anything, of course. They just think they were unlucky not to be chosen…”

“It works like that?” Nan Shuyun’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that just a common business tactic? We do things like that, too.”

“That’s what makes Xue Yang so clever,” Li Ye said. “He skillfully hides his true purpose within his business activities. Birthday pan blessings, birthday number lotteries, charitable sponsorships… he is constantly collecting the luck of the masses.

“Moreover, he’s even targeting children. For that one-in-a-million lottery prize, parents will register an account with the Flat Pan Group for their child the moment they are born.

“He’s produced so many cartoons promoting the Flat Pan Group. The children who grow up watching his cartoons will unconsciously trust the corporation, becoming loyal customers for life.

“Generation after generation, as long as humanity doesn’t go extinct, as long as people are still eating food from the Flat Pan Group, Xue Yang’s fortune will only grow stronger and stronger.”

Nan Shuyun and the others looked at each other, unsure whether to believe Li Ye’s claims.

After all, the idea of borrowing luck was a bit too fantastical. It felt like listening to a myth.

“The luck of ordinary people is too weak, so he also set his sights on the rich and powerful,” Li Ye said. “Those people possess great fortune. A single word they say, a single thing they do, can potentially affect the fate of all humanity…”

“Xue Yang’s lunch auction?” Qin Xiuwen automatically made the connection and blurted it out.

As he spoke, he looked over at Nan Shuyun.

The chairman of the Nanye Group had just won the bid for a plate of Xue Yang’s Gold egg fried rice.

Nan Shuyun’s expression suddenly turned ugly. “So, when Xue Yang invites people to a meal, he’s borrowing their luck, too.”

“Correct.” Li Ye nodded firmly.

“What happens to the people whose luck is borrowed?” Nan Shuyun asked.

“You won’t see any effects in the short term, but over time, their fortune will decline, and it will start to affect those around them,” Li Ye said.

“I remember the last time something happened to Nan Shuyi, it was right after Nan ate one of Xue Yang’s lunches,” Qin Xiuwen said, looking at Nan Shuyun. “Don’t tell me his luck was really borrowed! This time, he just finished another meal, and now you’ve been kidnapped!”

“Once, not long after my old man ate a meal cooked by Xue Yang, our group’s stock price was in a slump for a long time,” Pang Baisheng said, swallowing hard.

“Now that you mention it, I remember something too. My third uncle also ate a meal prepared by Xue Yang once,” Qin Xiuwen said. “Afterward, the project he was in charge of caught fire, and a lot of people died…”

Chu Zhongyue’s face also darkened, as if he had remembered something unpleasant.

‘Heh!’

‘How could anyone’s life be smooth sailing? There are always bumps in the road.’

‘It’s the same principle fortune tellers use. They use ambiguous language to lead people on, and when people apply it to their own lives, they think the prediction was incredibly accurate.’

Li Ye took in everyone’s expressions and sighed inwardly. ‘Even the sharpest people fall for this kind of thing!’

“This is terrifying!” Qin Xiuwen said. “He traps people without them even realizing it.”

“Why else do you think Xue Yang rose so quickly?” Li Ye said coldly. “If he hadn’t done all this, how could his outrageous experiment on me have succeeded? If I hadn’t escaped, Xue Yang was already planning to take over my body and draw the Sun Star Power into it.”

“Draw the Sun Star Power into his body?” Chu Zhongyue was jolted. “Is he insane?”

“He’s not insane,” Li Ye said. “You have no idea how powerful my body is. Old Man Chu, you’re a ninth-rank master. You can attack me with your full strength…”

“…” Chu Zhongyue froze. “With my full strength? Including Star Power?”

“Yes.” Li Ye nodded.

Chu Zhongyue took a deep breath, unleashed his interstellar Charge and Thrust, and instantly appeared before Li Ye.

His Star Power formed a spear.

It pierced toward Li Ye’s shoulder.

Although he knew that killing Li Ye would set them free, he didn’t dare to aim for a vital spot, nor did he even use his full strength.

He was afraid Li Ye would kill him in a counterattack, but he was also worried that what Li Ye had said was true.

If he killed Li Ye, there would be no one left to restrain Xue Yang. Most importantly, Li Ye still knew the way to the eighteenth level of the Ruins.