Circle of Inevitability - Chapter 959: Weekend
Dechuang Garden, Room 2303.
Jenna accompanied “Luo Fu” as they watched TV in the living room, occasionally scrolling through her phone. The two conversed very little.
Suddenly, she noticed “Luo Fu” turn her body and say with bright eyes, “I’m back again!”
Jenna didn’t respond immediately, because “Luo Fu” and Franca had very similar personalities.
Franca then picked up her phone and said to Jenna, “Quick, quick, send me another copy of the Information Shredder.”
Hearing “Information Shredder”, Jenna finally confirmed that it was really Franca who had returned.
At this moment, Franca unlocked her screen and found that WeChat had already been redownloaded by “Luo Fu”, and Jenna, Luo Shan, and several employees from the administrative department had been re-added, but not “The Idiot”, “An Ruide”, or “Li Lu”.
After a quick glance, Franca hurriedly tapped into her WeChat wallet.
Her expression suddenly froze. “The money, my money… it’s gone!”
Jenna’s pupils dilated as she quickly leaned over, discovering that Franca’s WeChat wallet balance was “0.00 yuan”.
“It didn’t delete all the information on my phone, including the money in my online wallet, did it?” Franca hurriedly downloaded a banking app again, taking some time to complete the login and check her balance.
She let out a long sigh of relief, patting her chest.
“Thank goodness, the bulk of it is still there. That gave me such a fright.”
After her exclamation, she explained to Jenna,
“The money in my bank account is still there!”
Jenna glanced at her bank card balance and asked thoughtfully, “How much money did you originally have in your WeChat wallet?”
“138 yuan,” Franca answered smoothly. “I had over 300 yuan in Alipay too.”
The Alipay app had already been downloaded back by “Luo Fu”. She tapped in to check and found there was still over 100 yuan.
“Uh…” Franca flipped through the transactions and finally confirmed that this 100+ yuan was later transferred from the bank card by “Luo Fu”, with some spent on takeout orders. The previous 300+ yuan had indeed vanished into thin air.
Jenna amusingly pressed her hand to her chest and said, “You only lost about 500 yuan, but you acted like you lost all 120,000+. You scared me to death.”
The 60,000 earned from selling items was currently with Jenna, and she had transferred half to Lumian and Anthony.
“Don’t say such unlucky things. 500 yuan is a lot, it’s enough for us to buy so many things at the wholesale market!” Franca thought for a moment and said, “I need to transfer some to Lumian and Anthony. We should each keep some separately, in case it all gets exposed at once. I’ve realized that this is like a game—when you get kicked out of the dream, you might drop equipment and money, and you might not even be able to pick it back up. Mm, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket.”
“The money in the bank card is still there, but what was on the phone is gone?” Jenna pondered and said, “Because at that time you only cleared the phone information with one click, not the bank card information? The loss of money should be an issue with the Information Shredder, right?”
Franca nodded slowly. “This mini-program is really powerful. I suspect it even deleted the corresponding information and backup information on the servers. Only in this way could it deal with mystical photos and prevent our chat records from being found…”
At this point, Franca frowned slightly and said, “I asked Madam Magician and Madam Judgment. They know every high-ranking member of the Church of Steam, but none of them is called Stiano.”
“Anthony’s feeling at that time must have been correct. Stiano should have a close connection with the Church of Steam.” Jenna also showed a puzzled expression.
“They seem to have suspects. They said they would tell us through the Star Dream Provisions Store after confirmation,” Franca suddenly looked around, pointed at the ceiling, and said in a lowered voice, “Could it be that one? Only a mini-program made by Him could be so powerful, and besides, He can enter with real consciousness.”
“Maybe…” Jenna’s voice also became low.
As a native of Trier, she had received religious education since childhood and still had considerable awe for deities.
She now wondered if she would one day encounter the Eternal Blazing Sun she once believed in within this dream city.
And if the Eternal Blazing Sun entered, what would the corresponding dream manifestation look like?
In the brief silence, Franca re-added Lumian and the others, completing the distribution of assets—she and Jenna kept 90,000, while Lumian and Anthony got 90,000.
Then, she and Jenna exchanged their feelings about her being kicked out of the dream and the details they discovered after she returned to reality.
She didn’t edit all of this into a message to send to Lumian, planning to find an opportunity to meet face-to-face tomorrow to talk in person.
This was out of concern that sensitive information might bring about anomalies if sent out and not deleted with the Information Shredder in time.
Madam Judgment had said to behave and be careful for these few days!
Chatting until almost 1 a.m., Franca stretched. “Fortunately, Luo Fu didn’t spend money recklessly, otherwise I’d be heartbroken.
“Alright, let’s wash up and go to sleep. We still need to get up early for work tomorrow. Oh, you can check if Hall Film Company is hiring recently and apply. It matches your profession!”
The corners of Jenna’s mouth turned up in a smile. “Have you forgotten that tomorrow is Sunday?”
“Oh, right.” Franca was stunned for a moment. “Going back and forth between the dream and reality has confused me. Originally, Luo Fu should have the day off today, but because the group had important matters with VIPs, she worked an extra day… Well, tomorrow I have to take Ludwig to tutoring class again.”
…
At Xinhong District, in a rented apartment.
Lumian wasn’t supervising Ludwig’s studies. After receiving Franca’s gift and deleting the transfer information, he continued using his phone to search for keywords like “Intis Group” and “VIP”.
“What are you looking up? Do you need help?” Anthony asked from the side of the table.
“Not for now,” Lumian answered without raising his head. “I’m collecting information related to Zaratulstra, but I can’t directly search using that name.”
Without waiting for Anthony to ask further, he added on his own,
“I want to know which hotel Zaratulstra is staying at and what his recent itinerary is.”
“You’re planning to…” Anthony keenly grasped Lumian’s intention.
Lumian raised his head, revealing a bright smile.
“Yes, to take him out.
“There’s no reason for us to always passively respond to and dismantle the moves of the Celestial Worthy’s subordinates. We can also be more proactive—infiltrate, assassinate, eliminate, make the hidden dangers disappear before they emerge.
“Now that we’re all at Sequence 7, it’s not impossible for us to win. And from our battle with the reanimated female corpse, we know that as long as we don’t let the enemy escape, aren’t recorded by surveillance, and there are no witnesses, the Celestial Worthy can’t locate us.”
Anthony nodded, indicating that Lumian’s line of thinking was not wrong.
He just warned, “Even if suppressed to Sequence 7, that individual’s essence is still that of an Angel. He’s bound to have some mysterious, special, and bizarre abilities, and he’s also skilled at using substitutes. He won’t be easy to kill. Moreover, there might be other subordinates of the Celestial Worthy around him.”
“I know,” Lumian nodded with a smile. “Even if only left with Sequence 7 strength, some of Zaratulstra’s Beyonder powers will still be very bizarre and terrifying. We need to consider this before taking action.”
After collecting intelligence on Zaratulstra for a while, Lumian used the Information Shredder to delete the search records and used pen, paper, and his brain to organize the information.
After repeatedly reviewing the compiled data for a long time, he planned to find an opportunity to scout the location after accompanying Ludwig to tutoring class tomorrow.
For the rest of the time, he took out the new ice board he had made and, for the umpteenth time, scrutinized the information on each dream character and the preliminary findings from their team’s observations and interactions with these characters.
…
The next day, at Dream Tutoring Classes.
Lumian escorted the slowly moving Ludwig to the door of the Beginner English class.
Anderson glanced at him and greeted, “Want to join for some enlightenment?”
“No need, I’d rather learn painting,” Lumian replied simply, pushing Ludwig towards Anderson.
Anderson didn’t speak to him further, taking Ludwig’s hand and walking back into the classroom.
Lumian sat down opposite, patiently waiting just like last time.
Before long, he saw Zhou Mingrui again.
Zhou Mingrui was wearing a white T-shirt with patterns, looking much more youthful and sunny than when he was at work.
Zhou Mingrui wasn’t surprised at all to see him here, as if he had been mentally prepared. He nodded slightly as a greeting.
Lumian didn’t engage in small talk, only politely responding.
More contact, less closeness, to lower the target’s vigilance!
Moreover, Franca’s probing last night had quite good results, successfully making Zhou Mingrui wary of the aftermath of the Assassin beverage. Now he needed to give him some time to digest such bombshell news.
From this perspective, Franca being kicked out of the dream this time was worth it.
After watching Zhou Mingrui turn into the classroom, Lumian withdrew his gaze and started using his phone.
At this moment, he suddenly had a premonition and raised his head, looking towards the front desk of the tutoring center.
He saw Principal Ai Nana, wearing a white long dress, accompanying an elderly man inside.
Behind them were several employees of Dream Tutoring Classes and unfamiliar faces Lumian hadn’t seen before.
Lumian’s gaze fell on the elderly man, noticing he was wearing a black formal suit, his hair completely white, with long and dense white whiskers on his face, and blue eyes so deep they were almost without light.
Lumian’s eyes narrowed slightly. He had seen a portrait of this elderly man before: Zaratulstra!
He’s come to Dream Tutoring Classes again? Lumian quietly stood up, retreating along with other parents to avoid this group of people.
Ai Nana led Zaratulstra to stop at the door of the Business English class, introducing the relevant situation.
Zaratulstra’s gaze subsequently turned towards those students.
At this point, Lumian had already retreated to the depths of the corridor, stopping next to the fire alarm, and glanced up at the surveillance camera that could capture this area.
He watched Zaratulstra from the corner of his eye. If the other party made any unusual movements or tried to talk to Zhou Mingrui, he would first knock out the surveillance camera from a blind spot, then punch the fire alarm to make the scene chaotic, causing everyone to rush out of Dream Tutoring Classes.
During this process, he would play the role of a panicked parent, constantly obstructing Zaratulstra’s various actions while carrying Ludwig.
