The Trap of “Intelligence”

“I haven’t even said anything yet, so why are you crying?” Wen Jinshi looked at his neighbor curled up under the table with helpless resignation. Seeing the tears falling like pearls, the anger in his heart dissipated instantly. He spoke in a gentle tone, “Come out now. Don’t cry.”

Peng Biao hadn’t expected Wen Jinshi to suddenly yank up the tablecloth and was caught completely off guard. When he saw Wen Jinshi comforting the beautiful youth in such a soft, hushed voice, he was so infuriated he nearly ground his teeth to powder.

The more Peng Biao watched, the less he could stand it. He used brute force to shove Wen Jinshi aside and, disregarding all dignity, dropped to his stomach. He poked his head near the table leg, staring piteously at his sweetheart who was still shedding “golden beans.” His heart ached terribly. In a tone more tender than ever before, he said to the emotionally unstable youth, “Don’t be afraid. If he dares to scold you, I’ll beat him up for you.”

He knew the youth’s reaction was so extreme not just because of the shame and embarrassment, but mostly because he cared about being caught red-handed by his childhood friend. He didn’t want to face that reality.

Reminded by Peng Biao, the viewers in the livestream also began to understand. Wifey wasn’t just bothered by “social death” in front of them, but specifically “social death” in front of the NPCs. They immediately began flooding the chat with comfort.

• [Exactly! Wifey, don’t be sad! If that childhood friend NPC dares to scold you, even if the big guy doesn’t hit him, I’ll help you beat him up!]*

• [This is nothing! It’s not like you were caught in bed together. There’s no need for embarrassment and certainly nothing to be ashamed of.]*

• [Wifey, stop crying, my heart is breaking for you QAQ.]*

Hearing the big dummy’s comfort and seeing the messages in the chat, Ye Shengge’s emotions slowly stabilized. His tears stopped falling so fiercely, and he began to crawl out from under the table.

However, his eyes remained red and slightly swollen.

Ye Shengge understood the logic, but the person who caught him happened to be Wen Jinshi, who shared the exact same face as his brother. This gave him a panicked sensation of being caught doing something bad by his sibling; he simply couldn’t control his reaction.

Putting himself in the character’s shoes, he could understand why the Dollmaker didn’t want his childhood friend to find out about his self-inflicted hauntings. To him, the brother—who was like a savior—was his only family. He didn’t want his sibling to see his pathetic side; even thinking about it was unbearable.

“Drink some water and rest.” Sensing his neighbor’s emotions leveling out, Wen Jinshi handed him the glass from the table, letting him take a few sips to calm down.

Ye Shengge took the glass and sipped small mouthfuls, whispering a soft “thank you.”

“Now, can you tell me exactly what happened? Why is Shengge at your house?” Wen Jinshi glanced coldly at Peng Biao. “Answer my question. And don’t bother regretting where you hung the laundry. Even if I hadn’t seen the clothes in the yard, I would have known he was here.”

Hearing this, Peng Biao frowned instinctively, his eyes turning fierce. “How did you know?”

“You called Vice President Sun last night and asked him to deliver a batch of clothes to your house that you couldn’t possibly fit into. Coincidentally, those clothes were exactly Shengge’s size.” Wen Jinshi stopped there, but Peng Biao could guess the rest.

The Vice President Sun he mentioned was an executive at a clothing enterprise. After receiving Peng Biao’s request, he had curiously called Wen Jinshi to ask if something had happened. At the time, Wen Jinshi felt something was off. After handling the call, he immediately drove to Ye Shengge’s house only to find it empty. Naturally, he came to find Peng Biao to confirm his suspicions.

The scene before him proved his theory: his neighbor had been at Peng Biao’s house. And he had stayed there all night. Just thinking about it made Wen Jinshi’s heart burn with a sharp, stinging discomfort he couldn’t find a way to soothe.

Seeing Wen Jinshi answer so decisively, Peng Biao didn’t want to leave a bad impression of being overly calculating in front of his sweetheart. He looked at the youth, who gave a small nod, and was forced to speak. He said unwillingly, “Shengge is being haunted by something. He was too embarrassed to go to you, so he came to me.”

If Wen Jinshi had arrived just a little later, the situation would have been very different.

Wen Jinshi looked helplessly at the youth sitting on the sofa, clutching his cup with a lost expression. “You… did you really think this was something you could hide from me?”

Ye Shengge’s grip on the cup was so tight his knuckles turned white. Not knowing how to explain, he simply stared down at the carpet in silence.

Seeing this, Peng Biao seized the opportunity to trample on the childhood friend’s status. He said sarcastically, “Don’t blame Shengge. Even if he told you, what’s the use? You can’t help anyway. In the end, it would still be handed over to me to handle. Instead of wasting time, it was better to come directly to me.”

These words were a direct hit. When it came to supernatural events, Peng Biao was the only one who could solve them. No matter how much money or influence Wen Jinshi had, he couldn’t find a way to deal with ghosts.

“Then what do you plan to do? Roughly when can you resolve it?” Wen Jinshi didn’t get angry; instead, he calmly dug a massive hole for Peng Biao.

Peng Biao’s smile vanished. Asking when a ghost could be resolved was like asking a doctor exactly when a patient would be cured. He couldn’t give an accurate timeframe. He didn’t believe Wen Jinshi was ignorant of this. By asking anyway, Wen Jinshi was clearly trying to make the youth feel disappointed or lose trust in him, perhaps even making him look like a common fraud.

To avoid being seen as a charlatan, Peng Biao immediately sat up straight. “I’ve identified the medium the entity is using. Now I just need to go to Shengge’s house to assess the opponent’s specific strength.” He dodged the “timeframe” trap entirely.

“When are we going?” Ye Shengge wiped away the last of his tears and asked in a small voice. His heart was caught by Peng Biao’s words. He knew dungeon bosses were hard to deal with, so rather than a specific time, he wanted to know the plan.

Wen Jinshi frowned almost imperceptibly, not expecting his neighbor to react this way. But he couldn’t find another reason to attack Peng Biao, so he could only endure and wait for another opportunity.

Facing the youth’s quiet inquiry, Peng Biao didn’t ignore it. Instead, he answered with extreme seriousness. He looked at the exquisite face and said sincerely, “As soon as your clothes are delivered, we can go to your house to investigate.”

That was fast enough. Ye Shengge’s furrowed brows smoothed out, and the heavy stone in his heart felt much lighter.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you.” His voice unconsciously softened, sounding very sweet. “I heard that in your line of work, you must receive payment for help. You can tell me whatever you want as a reward.”

If the big dummy wanted money, he would transfer everything to him. Once the Puppet Boss was handled, he would leave the dungeon anyway; the money was useless to him.

“It’s no trouble at all. As for the reward… just give me one yuan as a gesture.” Peng Biao scratched his head, letting out a silly, honest laugh.

But after a moment, Peng Biao remembered something. His smile faded, and he looked at Ye Shengge with a hint of trepidation. He asked cautiously, “Once I resolve the hauntings, could you… consider what I said to you earlier?”

Ye Shengge froze, confused by the riddle. It took a moment to realize what the big dummy was asking about. It seemed the man hadn’t given up on the idea of being a fake boyfriend to help him get revenge on Wen Jinshi.

In reality, Wen Jinshi’s decision to go abroad couldn’t be blamed on anyone; it was just a personal choice. Moreover, Ye Shengge had no grudge against Wen Jinshi and zero desire for revenge. Even if he did, he couldn’t bring himself to strike that face which looked exactly like his brother’s. However, constrained by his character setting, he couldn’t refuse outright. He could only murmur a non-committal “Mhm.”

Hearing this, Peng Biao thought the youth had agreed. His smile became even more radiant, making him look even stupider given his rugged appearance.

Wen Jinshi didn’t know what riddle they were playing, but he knew the priority was handling the hauntings at his neighbor’s house. Everything else could wait.

“It’s getting late. I’ll go to the kitchen to cook. If Shengge is tired, you can go back to the room to rest. I’ll come call you when it’s time to eat.” Peng Biao didn’t want his sweetheart alone with his rival and thoughtfully offered a way out of the awkward situation.

“I actually am a bit tired, thank you.” Ye Shengge gave him a grateful look and retreated to the guest room without looking back.

“Weren’t you going to cook? Why are you still standing here?” Wen Jinshi glanced at the gloating Peng Biao, seeing through him but choosing not to speak.

Peng Biao sneered, not bothering to argue with the “loser.” He happily tied on an apron and began busying himself in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, just as Ye Shengge closed his bedroom door, he heard a notification chime. He opened his phone to see a highlighted friend request.

“Relationship Expert?” He read the nickname out loud instinctively, then clicked “Reject” without a moment’s hesitation.

After rejecting it, he looked up at the livestream and said solemnly to the viewers, “Everyone, pay attention. People with names like this are obviously internet scammers casting a wide net to steal money. Never add them.”

• [Wifey, don’t worry. I’ve known about this scam for eight hundred years.]*

• [Me too! To be honest, only a fool would fall for a low-level scam like this.]*

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