Great! I'm surrounded by villains!-Chapter 371 - 290: The Secret

"Sometimes I truly admire your attitude,"

Fu Ling said sincerely after a long pause.

After experiencing the death of Saintfield VI, the inquisition from the consortium, and the entire Eco-Ship being shrouded in oppression, Duan Mingyuan actually became engrossed in playing puzzle games.

She felt that it wasn’t out of magnanimity, but rather that this man seemed genuinely unconcerned from the bottom of his heart about the Shan Clan People’s false accusations and judgments.

It was as if he stood from the perspective of an onlooker, watching a group of clowns turn red-faced and thick-necked, fighting in what they believed to be effective ways, but only bringing ridicule upon themselves.

For instance, right now, this man seemed to be truly curious about how exactly Saintfield VI had died—he was already leagues ahead of the others in the family.

They only cared about who could take the blame, so they could get one step ahead of their competitors in the race to become the new Family Head, without any real concern for the deceased Saintfield VI!

The old man still lay in the cryogenic chamber, eyes bulging and mouth agape, dying with his eyes wide open, while his relatives had already moved quickly into the battle for power and inheritance.

"You are a person with humanity," Fu Ling complimented.

Then, following the train of thought provided by Duan Mingyuan, she turned on the projector in the small conference room and carefully wrote down the experiences of Saintfield VI before his death:

Because the sudden arrival of Duan Mingyuan through the wormhole disrupted his plans, Saintfield VI was so angry that he even ditched his speech at the opening ceremony.

After eating lunch on his flagship in a fit of rage, he encountered "another himself" on his way back to his room.

In Saintfield VI’s own words, he saw "another himself" disappear around the corner, a path that would only lead to the studio.

Immediately, the ship’s security personnel launched a thorough search but found nothing.

Saintfield VI insulted everyone and hurried away from his flagship, taking refuge on the Eco-Ship.

"He was very afraid, but why?"

Fu Ling suddenly realized the core of the problem.

Saintfield VI’s reaction was even more extreme than that of ordinary people who encountered the "black mud" phenomenon for the first time; most crew members who faced the "black mud" went through a process from shock to doubt, then to anger or despair, and even when they first saw "another themselves," they would suspect they had developed space travel syndrome. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

But Saintfield VI was different; he was nearly frightened out of his wits at the first glimpse of the figure, as if he knew for certain that his life was soon to end.

And indeed, his judgment was confirmed.

Even though he fled from the ship at the first opportunity and hid on the Eco-Ship, he still couldn’t escape his deadly fate.

Duan Mingyuan said, "Saintfield VI went to the ship’s medical bay immediately after encountering the figure, where the Ship Doctor diagnosed him with space travel syndrome and prescribed him some psychiatric drugs, but he cursed out the Ship Doctor and refused to take any medication."

You couldn’t blame the Ship Doctor; there were no more classic signs of space travel syndrome than this.

Patients usually see themselves or specters on the ship, but it is not a deadly condition; most simply need to take some psychiatric medication, rest for a few days, talk more with friends, and distract themselves to recover from the illness.

And even those with the most severe cases were only unable to undertake interstellar travel again.

"Are you implying..."

Fu Ling hesitated.

"Saintfield VI knew from the beginning that it wasn’t space travel syndrome and was very aware that the figure could likely kill him. With that in mind, his actions become explicable,"

This was the first question Duan Mingyuan had considered, but after solving the strange behavior of Saintfield VI after encountering the figure, new problems emerged one after another.

He knew his life was drawing to a close, yet he didn’t tell anyone about it.

He didn’t make use of the family’s best bodyguards—who were said to have abilities comparable to the Long Branch Guard.

Nor did he form any effective resistance; he simply fled his spaceship like an ostrich, hoping to shake off the specter by doing so.

Duan Mingyuan temporarily couldn’t understand the answer to this question.

In his understanding, there probably wasn’t anyone more cherishing of their life than Saintfield the Sixth, who spent a considerable amount of money every year to sustain his life, living to 170 years old without being satiated, and facing fatal dangers, Saintfield the Sixth should have tried every possible means to extricate himself from the predicament.

Instead of verbally abusing everyone who could help him and then hiding in a room waiting to die.

"Maybe he hid a secret that he absolutely couldn’t tell anyone,"

Fu Ling speculated.

After weighing the pros and cons, Saintfield the Sixth finally made a judgment—he would rather risk death than reveal this secret to anyone.

It’s just a pity that the old man took this secret to his grave forever.

Duan Mingyuan said that once a person’s Life Energy dissipates completely, he can neither play the Resurrection match for them nor retrieve their memories from just before death.

"This question might only be solvable by making a trip aboard the Saintfield vessel for possible clues."

Fu Ling said, "The ’ticket’ I gave you before is still valid, as long as you don’t blow up somebody else’s ship."

Before Duan Mingyuan could speak, Jiuyue angrily accused Fu Ling, "What do you think we are? Mr. Mingyuan is an Ogre Swindler, not an Ogre Bomber!"

In the face of these unfounded accusations, Jiuyue had to stand up and protect Mr. Mingyuan’s reputation!

Her mother’s admonishments had been taken to heart, and she deeply realized her mistake of falsely claiming Mr. Mingyuan was an Ogre Boxer.

She decided to turn over a new leaf and would never again say Mr. Mingyuan was a boxer.

For Jiuyue, the role of swindler seemed like a perfect profession, far more promising than that of a bomber.

"It was just a friendly reminder,"

Fu Ling coughed lightly and covered her mouth to speak.

When Jiuyue blurted out Duan Mingyuan’s identity as an Ogre Swindler, she noticed that the composed detective finally showed a trace of unusual emotion.

She understood Duan Mingyuan’s expression.

It was the look of someone wanting to grab hold of Jiuyue’s tail and lift her entire being into the air.

Out of politeness, she held back her laughter, but she also prepared to take photos or videos.

If Duan Mingyuan actually did that, she would capture it immediately as a precious image of the Fox Demon to add to her collection.

Then, Fu Ling suddenly thought of something and said, "I recommend you start with the art studio."

"The art studio?"

"I’ve picked up some whispers, a crew member who wished to remain anonymous claimed that Saintfield the Sixth seemed to be afraid of the ship’s art studio, and since he boarded the ship, the old man had never been seen entering there."

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com