593 The Great HoodwinkerIn the town outside Stronghold 61, in a dimly lit house, the young Qin Sheng was writing an entry in a notebook with a fountain pen by candlelight:
“On December 7th, Ren Xiaosu headed out to the tavern as usual at 10 in the morning and stayed until 7 in the evening before leaving.
“I observed nothing out of the ordinary nor heard any useful information during surveillance. After the target returned home, I only heard the sound of him flipping through some books in his house.
“Even though Ren Xiaosu lives in town, he was somehow able to get his hands on newspapers. I suspect the newspapers were given to him by the storyteller. However, there is no conclusive evidence of this.”
This was Ren Xiaosu’s daily routine that Qin Sheng recorded. He even had surveillance equipment placed next to him.
With it, he did not have to plant any bugs in Ren Xiaosu’s house. He only had to point the audio surveillance device at Ren Xiaosu’s yard from his own house. This was the reason Qin Sheng had to be Ren Xiaosu’s neighbor.
The surveillance equipment was portable and battery operated. When the batteries were almost dead, the Qinghe Group’s intelligence personnel would automatically come and replace them.
Qin Sheng had come to this town on a mission. Those who became Riders were required to live in a town for an entire year. However, they would usually just move to the town outside Luoyang City, not go to such a faraway place.
After all, if a Rider were to go live in someone else’s territory for an extended period, that could easily be misunderstood by the other consortiums as something else. But right now, they couldn’t care less about that.
After Qin Sheng finished the entry, he took out another journal from the side and started recording his daily life. He thought for a while before seriously writing a few words: “December 7th: Played cards.”
That was it.
It was not that Qin Sheng did not want to write more, but all he did the entire day was play cards and nothing else!
Before Qin Sheng came to the town at Stronghold 61, his diary entries revealed the enriching life he led. He would describe the training he underwent and talk about the scenery and wilderness he had been to. For example, if he wrote down he had fish for dinner, he would describe how his teacher had taught him to set a trap on the riverbank and wait for the fish to get caught in it.
But he did not detail the challenges he had completed. Qin Sheng was a little regretful as he thought it would sound more glorious if his achievements could be described in words.
When Qin Sheng recalled the times he attempted the wingsuit and skydiving challenges, he could feel his blood pulsing through his veins.
Unfortunately, he could not attempt them anymore as the flying beasts had grown too fearsome. The Qinghe Group’s airport had already been abandoned for some time, and even the last small turboprop airplane had been stored in the warehouse.
Qin Sheng looked at his diary. Ever since he arrived in Stronghold 61’s town, he went from leading an enriching life to playing cards every day now.
December 5th: Played cards.
December 6th: Played cards.
December 7th: Played cards.
Qin Sheng felt like he couldn’t degenerate any further and would have to make some changes to his life.
“December 8th: Played cards.”
Next door, Ren Xiaosu was reading Hope Media’s newspaper from December 8th in his own house. He was mainly concerned about Luo Lan’s schedule.
In the end, Ren Xiaosu realized Luo Lan had nothing serious lined up in his agenda after he arrived at the Wang Consortium’s strongholds. It felt more like he was going on vacation.
Ren Xiaosu put the newspaper down on the table next to him, then sat back in the recliner in the yard and looked up into the sky. He had read from a book in Stronghold 88’s library that it was very rare for humans to be able to see the view of the blue sky and stars before The Cataclysm. But now, he could see the stars shining brightly above him.
Therefore, what humanity had destroyed in that disaster was itself, not the entire world.
Humans were only an extremely minute presence when compared to the entire world.
The next day, Ren Xiaosu went to the tavern to play cards as usual. Everything in life seemed to have suddenly calmed down again. But on his way back, Ren Xiaosu got a surprise.
He saw a haggard-looking old man walking towards him. The old man was holding a white banner with two words written on it: “Divine Foresight.”
The moment “Divine Foresight” saw Ren Xiaosu, his eyes lit up. He quickened his pace and trotted towards Ren Xiaosu. “Young man, I noticed that there’s a unique aura exuding from you. I see great fortune in your future.”
Ren Xiaosu raised an eyebrow. This fellow had said he would face a bloody calamity the previous time…. No, he meant he would bring a bloody calamity upon others instead.
And now, he was actually saying he had great fortune?!
The fortune teller stroked his beard and said with a smile, “Young man, I can predict that the Northwest is where you will prosper in life. Don’t stay here any longer and hurry back to the Northwest!”
The fortune teller looked like a profound sage when he stroked his beard while smiling mysteriously. However, it would be better if he would wash his face and change into some clean clothes.
Ren Xiaosu snapped, “Why would I prosper in the Northwest?”
“Because I can predict that a lot of people there are waiting for you to go back!” the fortune teller remarked.
Ren Xiaosu retorted, “I already know that you’re from Fortress 178, alright? Zhang Xiaoman already told me. Aren’t you just trying to make me return to Fortress 178? I’m not done with my business here yet, so I won’t go back there!”
“Hahahahaha, how embarrassing.” The fortune teller wanted to dash his banner to the ground. ‘Zhang Xiaoman, you snitch!’
On his journey, the fortune teller had first rushed to Stronghold 74 when he heard it was about to fall. But before he could get there, Stronghold 74 had already been destroyed.
Afterwards, the fortune teller managed to locate a group of escapees from the stronghold. But when he found them, Ren Xiaosu had already departed with others from the main group.
The fortune teller had to ask a lot of people before he finally identified someone he suspected to be Ren Xiaosu. He truly lived up to his name as an experienced intelligence agent. He was actually able to trace his route to Stronghold 61 just based on some clues like that.
As a matter of fact, the fortune teller did not have a car he could drive. He had to make his way here on foot and had lost lots of weight from all the walking he did.
His dry rations had run out and his satellite phone was also dead. Where was he supposed to recharge his phone out in the wilderness? To Fortress 178 right now, he might as well be missing!
But even though he was in such a pathetic state, he was still thinking about swaying Ren Xiaosu into returning to the Northwest.
But!
Just as he had started trying to hoodwink Ren Xiaosu, he got exposed instead. The fortune teller harbored some resentment. If he did not give Zhang Xiaoman a good beating after he returned to the Northwest, he would have traveled all that distance for nothing!
As Ren Xiaosu walked back to his residence, the fortune teller followed him and nagged, “It’s gonna get chaotic here in the Central Plains. Look at how dangerous it is for them when you’re here!”
Ren Xiaosu looked at the Great Hoodwinker puzzledly. Was he even seriously trying to persuade him?
“You are just a wanderer in the Central Plains. No matter where you go, everyone will regard you as a dangerous person, right?” The Great Hoodwinker chased after Ren Xiaosu and muttered, “But it’ll be different if you return to Fortress 178, because Fortress 178 is your home. Everyone can’t wait for you to be stronger so that people will be afraid of you!”
As he was speaking, Ren Xiaosu reached home. He tried to slam the door in the Great Hoodwinker’s face. However, the Great Hoodwinker blocked the front gate with half his body.
As such, Ren Xiaosu had no choice but to let him in. Just as the Great Hoodwinker had described, he had a good relationship with people from Fortress 178, such as Zhang Xiaoman, Jiao Xiaochen, Fu Rao, and Lin Ping’an. They were all family to him.
So even if he did not want to listen to the Great Hoodwinker’s nagging, he still should not make things too embarrassing for him.