Cat 247: Sneeze

Chapter 247: A Sneeze

There are no paper figures in Jiangnan Town; this is a known and obvious fact.

Yan Jiyun had noticed this at Liu Jinghao’s funeral, but at the time, he lacked further evidence to support his suspicion. He merely thought the setting of the copy wasn’t thorough enough. Yet the copy’s setup is, in fact, meticulous; there’s no problem with the background details. This is a complete story.

In truth, besides Liu Jinghao’s funeral, what struck him as odd afterwards was the aunt beside Liu Jingxi’s fiancée. Although their encounter was brief, he had seen very clearly that the woman’s eyes were vacant— like a face sketched without life, as if something was missing, as though the character had not been properly drawn.

Now, thinking back, is it possible that the woman never had eyes painted on at all?

And why did Liu Jinghao die simply from falling in the water? Because paper figures are afraid of water.

But was Chen Qin’s act of pushing someone into the water because he knew the truth, or for some other reason?

Then, is the Wei Liu he now seeks a human or a paper figure?

If it’s a paper figure, either water or fire could easily destroy him at any time.

But he had seen Liu Jinghao’s corpse after death, and there was no difference from a normal person. The same was true of Cheng Liang. One couldn’t see any traits of a paper figure at all.

It all depends on one’s own insight—of course, all these traces are, in fact, there to be found.

A world copy with both modern and ancient devices—no matter how he looked at it, the setup felt strange.

Now, he could confirm another thing, and the way to leave the copy had become a little clearer. The specifics were still uncertain. Drawing inferences, was it possible that all of them—these players—also inhabited bodies of paper figures, unable to touch fire or water?

Wait, but he could touch water. Light contact with water did them no harm, just like Ninth Master; he merely wiped his hands and feet and nothing happened.

If all the NPCs are paper figures, then Jiangnan Town would be a “Paper Figure Town.” In what kind of environment would it become such a place?

At this moment, Yan Jiyun was reminded of the three philosophical questions: “Who am I?”, “Where did I come from?”, and “Where am I going?” These resonated eerily with the problems he now faced.

Does Jiangnan Town perhaps not exist at all? How are the paper figures resurrected? Why bring them back to life? How long has Paper Figure Town existed? What is its purpose? Who decided the paper figures should live in Jiangnan Town?

The man had been released by Yan Jiyun and Ninth Master, and not much had been extracted from him.

They could now be certain that the master of the mortuary was the Wei Liu they sought, yet after Wei Liu disappeared, why had no one claimed his property? And what was the relationship between the Wei family and the other four families?

His task was to find Wei Liu.

Who is Wei Liu?

If one sets aside the trait of “paper figure,” everything is as it would be in any ordinary small town. But now that Yan Jiyun had realized the existence of paper figures, he could not exclude this trait.

The mortuary’s village chief was long gone, and no one nearby appeared of sound mind; he feared finding information about Wei Liu here would be impossible.

Suddenly, Yan Jiyun felt his ear being pinched.

“What has you so absorbed in thought?” Ninth Master’s voice sounded in his ear.

Yan Jiyun simply regarded him as a teammate. Remembering how he often used to crawl all over Qi Feng, he didn’t mind having his ear pinched. When he was a cat, Qi Feng would even rub his belly, so it didn’t bother him much.

“Do you think Wei Liu is alive or dead?” Yan Jiyun asked naturally, leaning against Ninth Master.

“Given Wei Liu’s age, the likelihood of him still being alive is low. And he’s been missing for forty years, making it even less likely,” Ninth Master replied, tilting his head to look at him. He thought Yan Jiyun had adapted too quickly to their relationship. Even as the more proactive party, Ninth Master wasn’t as quick to adjust; Yan Jiyun leaned against him as if long accustomed to it.

“Then I really do need to get the treasure map first and dig up that treasure. Maybe Wei Liu is hidden inside,” Yan Jiyun said, not noticing the flicker of doubt in Ninth Master’s gaze.

“That’s entirely possible. Let’s go see how Yang Er is doing with the Lin family,” Ninth Master said, somewhat distracted, seriously suspecting Yan Jiyun was just habitually close to others. Did he always sit this near to people?

“All right.” With their mortuary visit over, Yan Jiyun reviewed his tasks carefully, going through the ones he had yet to complete one by one.

[Main Task Three: Find Wei Liu.] In progress.

[Side Task: Fang’er’s Death.] In progress.

[Main Task 1-1: The Liu Family Restaurant.] Greyed out. This meant he had completed Main Task One, and this branch task was, for all practical purposes, finished.

[Side Task: Collect Treasure Map Fragments.] One piece left.

He had completed Main Task One directly, skipping over some of the minor task details at noon. That didn’t mean others couldn’t discover them, but they seemed unrelated to Wei Liu.

Yan Jiyun brooded: how could he link all these things together?

The whole way there, he remained silent.

The Lin family, though to the east, wasn’t far from the central district. Soon, they met up with Yang Er, who was accompanied by a man in his fifties, wearing glasses and a stern, unsmiling face, much like a teacher used to discipline.

Whether Yang Er had used gentle or forceful means was unclear, but he had managed to get the Lin family’s piece of the treasure map.

Yang Er had expended some effort and introduced, “This is the current Lin family head, Teacher Lin.”

Ninth Master nodded. “Does Teacher Lin wish to personally hand us the treasure map?”

Yan Jiyun thought Teacher Lin quite clever. He knew he couldn’t outmatch Ninth Master, couldn’t keep the treasure map hidden, and lacked the ability to find the remaining fragments himself, so he might as well cooperate.

Teacher Lin’s only request was that, if there was treasure, he wanted a portion for the younger generation; if there was no treasure, he at least wanted to know what the map hid.

Both Ninth Master and Yan Jiyun agreed; it didn’t matter to Ninth Master—he was risking life for the beloved—and Yan Jiyun’s goal was to find Wei Liu.

As Yan Jiyun received the map from Teacher Lin, his side quest updated, indicating he had found the fourth piece of the treasure map.

So this fourth piece had stayed in the Lin family, passed to eldest son Teacher Lin before the old master passed away. Teacher Lin had treasured it ever since. Had Yang Er not threatened to dig up their ancestors’ graves if they didn’t hand it over, he would never have parted with it.

Yan Jiyun combined the four pieces into one, revealing a complete treasure map before him.

His eyes lit up—he had finally found the treasure map!

The quest said that finding it would trigger a mysterious task, but none had yet appeared. It seemed something else was missing: uncovering the secret behind the map.

He compared the map with both the old and new maps of Jiangnan Town.

Ninth Master studied it with him.

Teacher Lin craned his neck as well. Seeing that both Yan Jiyun and Ninth Master were quite young and that no solution was forthcoming, he offered, “I teach geography. I’ve studied maps of Jiangnan Town. Perhaps I can help.”

Yan Jiyun looked up at once. “Come over.”

Having someone familiar with the local terrain would make the process much faster than fumbling through it himself.

Ninth Master was likely not a local and, being young, certainly wouldn’t know as much as Teacher Lin the geography teacher. With so many present, Teacher Lin couldn’t try any tricks anyway.

Teacher Lin compared maps for ten minutes, scribbling notes, finally circling a general location.

Yan Jiyun watched closely and asked, “Where is this? Looks familiar.”

Ninth Master replied, “Jiangnan’s Number One Ballroom.”

Teacher Lin added, “Not exactly; there’s a restaurant next to it as well.”

Suddenly, Yan Jiyun recalled his unfinished Main Task 1-1. “The Liu family’s restaurant.”

Ninth Master: “Then the spot is between the Liu family restaurant and the Number One Ballroom?”

Yan Jiyun asked, “Who owns the ballroom?”

Ninth Master seemed a touch embarrassed. “It’s mine.”

Yan Jiyun nodded, not at all surprised that Ninth Master was the ballroom’s owner. In fact, it fit his identity perfectly.

Now that he was on familiar terms with Ninth Master, their closeness did not embarrass him. Leaning against Ninth Master’s arm, he asked, “Can I dig?”

A trace of emotion flickered in Ninth Master’s eyes. “Of course you can.”

Off to the side, Yang Er was speechless.

Building the ballroom had cost Ninth Master no small amount of effort and money, and now he was led astray by beauty. The histories had it right: beauty brings disaster. Ninth Master now had all the signs of a ruler led astray by a beautiful consort!

This “beauty,” Yan Jiyun, next asked Ninth Master for men and marched straight to the ballroom.

They posted themselves at the border between the ballroom and the Liu family restaurant. There was, in fact, an alley between the two, generally used for deliveries—both doors opened into it.

Teacher Lin measured the area with a tape and came to a conclusion. “It’s a broad space. How should we dig?”

Yan Jiyun jumped in before Ninth Master could answer, “Just start digging from the ballroom side.”

But Teacher Lin glanced at Ninth Master. The latter affirmed, “Listen to my assistant.”

Yan Jiyun didn’t mind others not listening to him. After all, it was Ninth Master who was helping him.

Ninth Master’s men began digging with shovels.

It was a cloudy day, and digging here felt rather odd.

Ninth Master watched them work, then clapped Yan Jiyun’s shoulder. “We may not find anything right away. Why don’t we go inside and eat something?”

The ballroom manager hurried over, wiping sweat from his brow. The staff didn’t know Ninth Master was their real boss—only the higher-ups knew.

“Ninth Master, lunch is ready.”

Yan Jiyun had been busy all morning and had eaten early, so he was indeed hungry.

The two of them entered the prepared dining room one after the other.

This was not Liu Rongzhi’s room, but a well-lit chamber near their dig site.

The aroma of meat wafted through the space.

The ballroom manager greeted them warmly, proudly listing the day’s ingredients and the chef’s impressive credentials, aiming to win Ninth Master’s favor. But as Yan Jiyun approached the dining table, the savory aroma brought him no joy.

Because there was a familiar woman in the room—Liu Rongzhi.

Today, Liu Rongzhi was richly dressed, her cheongsam accentuating her graceful figure—all charm and elegance.

Yan Jiyun’s face drooped. Beneath the scent of meat, he caught a strong whiff of perfume, and his nose began to itch unbearably.

Liu Rongzhi called coyly, “Ninth—”

Yan Jiyun: “Achoo.”

Liu Rongzhi drew another breath to try again, her voice even higher, “Ninth—”

Rubbing his nose, Yan Jiyun dove straight into Ninth Master’s arms. “Achoo!”