Inside the OT.

Several doctors and nurses were gathered around the operating table. The atmosphere was tense.

The chief surgeon spoke with a serious expression.

"I don’t want any mishappenings during this surgery. This patient must survive. Mr Gu had personally ordered it."

The others nodded immediately.

Just then, the OT doors suddenly opened.

Bang!

The surgeon’s expression darkened instantly.

"Who opened the door?! Don’t you know a major surgery is—"

His angry words stopped halfway.

Because the moment he looked up, his eyes met Su Mo’s.

A strange darkness flashed through Su Mo’s pupils.

The surgeon froze.

Then the others froze too.

The entire operating room became silent.

Doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists—all of them stood there motionless with dazed expressions.

Su Mo nodded slightly in satisfaction.

"It’s pretty convenient after all."

Using hypnosis on ordinary people required barely any effort.

He walked toward the operating table and looked at the injured man.

His injuries were severe. The chest was wrapped heavily with medical equipment connected to him. His breathing was weak, and he was only half-conscious.

Su Mo glanced at him calmly.

"Consider yourself lucky," he said. "I still need information from you. Otherwise, whether you lived or died would depend entirely on the doctors’ skills."

He raised his hand and used the healing technique directly.

Warm spiritual energy flowed into Lu Shixun’s body.

The damaged ribs slowly recovered, and the injuries in his lungs stabilised rapidly. Even the doctors standing nearby would probably question their entire medical knowledge if they saw what was happening consciously.

After healing him enough to survive, Su Mo used hypnosis on Lu Shixun as well.

Lu Shixun’s eyes became unfocused.

Su Mo began questioning him directly.

"What’s your name?"

"...Lu Shixun."

"What do you do?"

"...I’m a tomb robber."

Su Mo’s brows lifted slightly.

"So that’s why."

Now the entire situation made sense.

No wonder Ye Chen had found the tomb so quickly.

"How did you and Ye Chen meet?"

"We were cellmates in prison."

Su Mo became thoughtful.

According to the original storyline, Ye Chen shouldn’t have met Lu Shixun this early.

Originally, Dong Xumao would have taken the blame for He Xiong’s murder and gone to prison instead. He made a prison break after half a year of sentence; it should be then that Lu Shixun must have escaped at the same time.

Ye Chen only met Lu Shixun later, while he was chased by the Gu Family’s killers and jumped into the ghost valley to escape. He saved his life by jumping into the robbery hole dug by Lu Shixun.

But now, because of Su Mo’s interference, the timeline had changed.

Dong Xumao was no longer imprisoned.

Ye Chen entered prison himself.

And that indirectly caused him to meet Lu Shixun much earlier.

Su Mo nodded slightly.

The logic matched.

He didn’t dwell on it further and continued asking.

"What happened inside the tomb?"

Under hypnosis, Lu Shixun answered honestly.

He explained everything from entering the tomb, encountering traps, escaping the snakes, fighting the corpses, and finally reaching the burial chamber.

Su Mo listened quietly.

When he heard Ye Chen betray Lu Shixun after reaching the final chamber, his expression barely changed.

That part wasn’t surprising at all. Given Ye Chen’s self-centred nature.

"...Then I lost consciousness," Lu Shixun finished.

Su Mo frowned slightly.

"What happened to Ye Chen afterwards?"

"He disappeared after taking the treasure..."

Su Mo immediately noticed the strange part.

"Disappeared?"

His brows furrowed.

"What do you mean by disappeared? Zhu Shan and the others were right behind you. The final chamber had no other exits."

He clearly remembered the tomb’s structure. There was nowhere to escape.

Then, where did Ye Chen go?

Su Mo narrowed his eyes slightly.

"So strange..."

The only thing extraordinary he had intentionally left behind was the Gender Changing Pill.

But that thing only changed gender.

It didn’t turn people invisible.

He looked at Lu Shixun again.

"What happened after you regained consciousness? Didn’t Zhu Shan notice anything strange?"

"...Mr. Zhu was busy comforting the girl he saved."

Su Mo paused.

"...What girl?"

"She is called Ye Ling," Lu Shixun answered blankly. "She accidentally entered the tomb."

Su Mo stared at him silently.

For a moment, he thought he had heard wrong.

Then his expression slowly became strange.

"Wait..."

His mind connected the details almost instantly.

After several seconds of silence, he finally asked:

"...Was she wearing the same clothes as Ye Chen?"

Lu Shixun thought for a moment, even in his hypnotised state.

"...Now that I think about it, yes. They were indeed the same."

The operating room became quiet.

Su Mo stood there silently.

Then he slowly raised a hand and pressed his forehead.

He suddenly felt a headache.

"...Why didn’t you notice something so obvious?"

Lu Shixun answered seriously.

"I was almost dying. Why would I pay attention to someone’s clothing?"

Su Mo opened his mouth slightly.

Then closed it again.

"...Fair enough."

For the first time in a while, he genuinely didn’t know what to say.

The answer was too reasonable. He couldn’t even refute it.

At the same time, Su Mo finally realised the mistake they had made from the start. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He and Yang Qingxi had subconsciously assumed that even after changing gender, Ye Chen would still be recognisable by everyone.

But clearly, they had underestimated it. That wasn’t how the pill worked.

It wasn’t just a simple physical transformation.

The effect was much stronger than he originally thought.

Strong enough that even people who knew Ye Chen personally failed to recognise him after the transformation.

Su Mo narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...Interesting."

He really wants to see it.

Then his expression became cold again.

"So Ye Chen is now hiding as a bitter, unfortunate woman, taking advantage of Zhu Shan’s compassion."

"...Those gunmen following Mr Zhu must know more details," Lu Shixun said.

"I see... I’ll ask him." Su Mo nodded, then he became expressionless and asked. "Were you involved in the tragedy of Mayor Gao’s family?"

If he had been conscious, he might have lied or kept silent. But under hypnosis. He could only tell the truth.

"I **** his wife. I also cooked the pet dog for Mayor Gao’s daughter and forced her to eat it. Then I threw the little girl into the pool until she drowned."