“So, you’re saying you killed her, and you still have the nerve to come to me for business?”

Wan Shitong’s face was dark as she looked at Wu Wang standing before her.

If this weren’t 【Spirit Calamity Plaza】, she might have already torn the bastard limb from limb.

When the name 【Zhuge Yue】 in her friends list went unanswered for a whole day, she knew it was too late.

Zhuge Yue had never done this before. Her messages were always answered instantly.

After crying her eyes out all night, she was shocked to find that 【Yan Shuangying】 had sent her a message.

That bastard still dared to contact her?

“Business is just a side matter. I’m also here to deliver a message from Zhuge Yue. It’s her last words.”

Wu Wang shrugged.

“She asked me to tell you… I’m sorry.”

He added, “In the final moment of her life, she was thinking of you.”

Although he found the scene strange, Wu Wang didn’t let it bother him.

In his view, he was just delivering Zhuge Yue’s last words. If things went south, he could always go to Xiezhi.

But unexpectedly, after hearing his words, Wan Shitong began to tremble.

Her eyes, once filled with anger and hatred, now showed only disbelief. The rims of her eyes immediately reddened.

Plop.

Wan Shitong fell into a chair in the conference room, pulling her legs up to her chest and hugging them tightly.

Her entire body looked like a frightened rabbit.

She buried her head between her legs, curled into a ball, and began to sob.

“Ah! Yan Shuangying! I’m going to kill you!”

“But… why did she have to forgive this fucked-up world!”

“Why! Why!”

A roar like that of a wild beast erupted from the small body bundled up in the overcoat.

If anyone else had witnessed this, they would have been stunned.

In the eyes of all players, the Information Broker was the most emotionally stable person in the game. She was like a robot, conducting transactions without a ripple of emotion.

Even when someone got the better of her, Wan Shitong would only commit the failure to memory and reflect on her mistake.

She would absolutely never lose her composure in front of others.

But now, she was like a little girl whose favorite toy had been snatched away.

She cried, her sobs heart-wrenching, helpless, and pitiful.

Wu Wang just stood to the side, watching Wan Shitong vent. He couldn’t help but sigh.

It seemed it was time for him to leave. There was no way to discuss business now.

“Yan Shuangying… did you know…”

“Zhuge Yue was a very contradictory woman…”

Wan Shitong slowly raised her head.

She paid no mind to the fact that the mask on her face had fallen off.

For the first time, she revealed her youthful face to an outsider.

That face, as cute as a porcelain doll’s, was now stained with tears, looking utterly wretched.

“She was the person most afraid of death I’ve ever met. But she also told me that if she died one day, I shouldn’t be sad. I should be happy for her and open a bottle of champagne.”

“Because it would mean she was finally free. A deep-seated, extreme self-destructive tendency was hidden in the depths of her heart.”

“She did incomprehensible things in a crazed, frenetic way, and she suffered quite a few setbacks for it.”

“But she never apologized to anyone.”

Wan Shitong’s eyes filled with the tender nostalgia of her memories, as if doing so would make her feel that Zhuge Yue was still by her side.

But the next second, she looked up, staring intently at Wu Wang’s impassive, dead-fish eyes.

With ragged breaths, she said, “Even on the day she left me for no reason at all, she never said those three words.”

“She only left me with one sentence. If she ever apologized to me, it would mean she had forgiven the world, and also forgiven the person who killed her.”

“Yes… she had already predicted it. She knew that if she kept acting so erratically, someone would eventually kill her.”

“I just didn’t expect that day to come so soon…”

Wu Wang faced Wan Shitong, who seemed to be muttering to herself one moment and speaking to him the next.

He sighed.

“If you want to avenge her, I’m sorry. You can’t kill me.”

But unexpectedly, she shook her head.

She raised a hand and forcefully wiped the tear stains from her face.

She spoke through gritted teeth.

“I know full well that even if you hadn’t killed her, another player would have sooner or later. This was a result she brought upon herself.”

“Before we parted, I even promised her…”

“If she no longer wanted to live, I would send her on her way with my own hands.”

“I will avenge her, but not by targeting you. I will target the true culprit behind it all. The source that made her so crazed.”

This surprised Wu Wang.

He hadn’t expected Wan Shitong to sense that there was a source behind Zhuge Yue’s madness.

After all, given Zhuge Yue’s mental state at the time, she would never have revealed the existence of the Pluto Research Institute to anyone. She had left Wan Shitong precisely out of that fear.

Before finding peace at the moment of her death, Zhuge Yue didn’t dare to trust anyone.

He was even more surprised that Wan Shitong could think so rationally.

To say she wouldn’t seek revenge on him under these circumstances… well, such a disposition was rare.

It seemed Gentleman Penguin had indeed found a good apprentice.

After her outburst, Wan Shitong’s ragged breathing and fierce, hateful expression had eased considerably.

Only the redness of her eyes testified to her longing for her lost friend.

“Besides her apology, what else do you want from me?”

If her previous words had made Wu Wang see the Information Broker in a new light, this question earned his profound respect.

Anyone could say pretty words. And while he hadn’t believed her earlier words were a facade, one could never be too careful. If this woman still held a grudge, it would be no small trouble.

But for her to take the initiative and ask what he wanted meant she truly intended to continue their business relationship.

She had genuinely thought it through and let it go.

Wu Wang sighed as he stated his needs.

“I need an item that can strip a possessing spirit from someone without harming the host.”

He had already tried using the Talisman Paper on the door last night.

The good news was that it worked. The moment the remnant soul, which resembled a Beijing opera mask, touched the talisman, it began to struggle violently in pain.

The bad news was that it wasn’t very effective.

The Talisman Paper could only cause it pain; it couldn’t expel or strip it away.

In fact, under the extreme torment, the mask even began to affect Wu Xiaoyou’s luck in more extreme ways.

It was no joke. She had almost choked and passed out from drinking a mouthful of water.

He couldn’t just slash with 【Xiaochuan】 either, as Wu Xiaoyou’s soul would likely be injured too.

So, he decided to try and get his hands on some special items.

Wan Shitong put her mask back on.

“You just need to strip it away?” she asked.

Wu Wang nodded.

Without hesitation, she took a silver needle from her backpack.

She pushed it toward Wu Wang.

“【Selfless One’s Acupuncture】. An Epic-level item.”

“Prick the possessed target with this silver needle, and the spirit on them will be stripped away. It won’t cause any harm to the target, but there is a side effect.”

Wu Wang took the needle and raised an eyebrow.

“What side effect?”

Wan Shitong’s gaze grew solemn.

She said, word by word, “The spirit will transfer to the user.”

“You’ll have to find someone willing to bear the spirit’s curse for you.”

She assumed that Wu Wang himself had been afflicted by the curse of some vengeful spirit.

Wu Wang didn’t bother to explain.

Of course, there was someone willing to bear the spirit’s curse for his Big Sister.

And that was him.

So you like possessing people, do you? he thought. The Abyss God in me has been hungry for a long time. Come into my body and have a little clash with it.

He continued his questions.

“What do I need to give in return?”

As a transaction, he would certainly have to provide something.

But Wan Shitong was silent for a moment.

She sighed.

“Consider this item a gift.”

“I respect all of Zhuge Yue’s wishes.”

“She wanted me to be happy about her release, and I won’t go against that wish.”

“If you can, please tell me where her body is.”

“I know this is a difficult request. You might be worried that I’ll use the location of her death to find your real identity.”

“So you can tell me after you’ve made your preparations.”

Faced with this request, Wu Wang didn’t agree immediately.

He just silently put the silver needle into his backpack.

Just before logging out, he glanced at Wan Shitong and sighed.

“If you truly hate Zhuge Yue’s past and this so-called ‘source’…”

“Then I can give you a name. The Pluto Research Institute.”

With that said, Wu Wang’s figure vanished from the conference room, leaving Wan Shitong alone.

She kept repeating the name Wu Wang had mentioned, her gaze growing more and more determined.