Transformed into a heartthrob's simp, every day is a battleground.

Chapter 285 Peace of Mind Sanatorium

"No, although I'm writing, it's not flowing smoothly," Fang Shuo said. "The version on my computer has been revised countless times."

"I even looked at my search history, as well as tutorials on how to market myself and how to create an account."

"Looks like I'm about to make headlines," Fang Shuo sighed.

"And you two?" Lin Wen asked the two people opposite her, "What did you discover?"

"It's what they were talking about in the group chat." Shu Fan sighed. "Yan Xun and the others discovered that the man walking the dog on the black roof graduated from the same school as me."

"As you can see, he, like Du Yun, loves small animals."

"I share your opinion on liking small animals," Fang Shuo said, "but there's a problem."

Players know that in the dungeon world, overemphasizing how kind a person is is likely a sign of something wrong.

“I do have some very insignificant information,” Duan Songen said. “I found it while looking through photos in my room.”

“When I was in college, I worked at a place called Anxin Sanatorium.”

“That’s considered a high-end sanatorium, so the pay is generous. Because my parents were in debt, I worked there during my university years.” Duan Songen said, taking out the group photo and placing it on the dining table.

Fang Shuo and Lin Wen looked closely and saw that Duan Songen was standing on the right side of the group photo, with the sign of Anxin Sanatorium behind him.

Next to her were other caregivers wearing nursing home uniforms.

“I just heard you say that your roommate with the buzz cut has a relative living in a nursing home, so I was wondering if it might be this place.”

Fang Shuo stroked his chin. "That's possible!"

"This instance probably won't have that many sanatoriums."

He then snapped a photo, asking, "Do you mind if I post it in the group chat?"

Duan Songen shook her head; she was also curious about the role of the sanatorium in this instance.

Seeing that Duan Songen agreed, Fang Shuo sent the group photo to the group chat.

……

Yan Xun looked at the photos Fang Shuo had sent.

"Duan Songen actually worked at Anxin Sanatorium."

He quickly replied to Fang Shuo in the group chat.

[Yan Xun: Is this a photo of Duan Songen working when she was in school?]

[Fang Shuo: Yes, Lin Wen said she remembered that she and Lou Yanchuan had met before. Did you find some clues?]

Lou Yanchuan: I found an old travel video.

Lou Yanchuan sent the URL of the video to the group.

[Fang Shuo: !! Why didn't we think to search online?!]

Fang Shuo: I'll also search for my pen name online.

[Yan Xun: Are you a horror novelist? What genre have you been writing about recently?]

Fang Shuo: A horror novelist who hasn't produced many works.

Fang Shuo briefly recounted his experience.

Yan Xun listened to the message Fang Shuo sent in the group chat—

"Anyway, I asked that master for advice, but it seems I still don't have any inspiration, and the novel isn't going very smoothly."

Yan Xun also sent a message in the group, "I also have some clues about the master."

He told Fang Shuo about Lou Yanchuan's story about his grandmother's serious illness and his father seeking help from a master.

Everyone in the group is there, and they can all hear these messages.

Looking at the chat in the group, Du Yun couldn't help but send a private message to Yan Xun—

[Du Yun: Could it be that you two are referring to the same person as this "master"?]

[Yan Xun: It should be.]

Yan Xun then asked Fang Shuo in the group chat about what the master looked like.

[Fang Shuo: Very ordinary, with a goatee.]

[Fang Shuo: @Bamboo Pole Did you spend some time at the Anxin Sanatorium before?]

Bamboo Pole rarely speaks in the group chat, and even when Fang Shuo tagged him, he didn't show up.

[Buzz cut: He probably works at a convenience store and doesn't have time to check his phone.]

Fang Shuo: Then I'll go find him.

Yan Xun pondered, "It seems that Fang Shuo's family and Xie Qingdu don't have much interaction."

When Fang Shuo and Lin Wen graduated, Xie Qingdu was not on the same campus as them.

After that, Lin Wen became a landscape photographer, traveling all over the place.

Fang Shuo was creating at home...it seemed he had no opportunity to communicate with Xie Qingdu.

But Yan Xun felt that unless there was a special significance, there was no reason why the five families would have such intricate connections.

And there's the example Fang Shuo mentioned.

"The master said he'd seen a method used to absorb someone's luck and then have them act as a substitute." Yan Xun thought for a moment. "That person should be Xie Qingdu, right?"

“But according to Shuangshuang, Xie Qingdu’s distant relative looked like he was being cursed and was about to die in the hospital room. If the method of borrowing life was so effective, it shouldn’t have come to this.”

"Does Xie Qingdu know that he's being used as a scapegoat?"

According to other accounts, Xie Qingdu continued to visit his relatives at the sanatorium until his death.

"What do you think is the secret in Fang Shuo's family?" Lou Yanchuan interrupted Yan Xun's research on Xie Qingdu.

"He said the editor said he should create a buzz and make a big news story," Yan Xun said.

“Everyone says he’s a child prodigy, but his talent was short-lived,” Yan Xun said. “Under these circumstances, what kind of big news do you think would be appropriate?”

"You claim to have encountered ghosts? Are all the experiences in your books based on your own personal experiences?"

“Or perhaps there’s something even more special.” Yan Xun thought about the relationships between them. “Fang Shuo has stayed in this city since graduation and has never left.”

"It seems that only Lin Wen and Xie Qingdu had a brief interaction in their family, but they only saw each other's subsidy applications and knew who Xie Qingdu was."

The crew members with the buzz cut had a deep-seated hatred for Xie Qingdu.

“Our grandmother may have some connection to the matter of borrowing luck and scapegoating,” Yan Xun said.

"Du Yun is Xie Qingdu's half-boss."

“Duan Songen worked at a sanatorium, so he must have had contact with Xie Qingdu.”

"It seems that neither Fang Shuo nor Lin Wen have had any direct contact with Xie Qingdu," Yan Xun said, looking at Lou Yanchuan. "Could it be related to Fang Shuo's big news?"

"Does Fang Shuo know the crew-cut guys?"

According to Fang Shuo, he was a complete homebody back then, spending most of his time in the dormitory. He was also different from Du Yun. When Xie Qingdu enrolled, Fang Shuo was not on the same campus as him, so he didn't need to run errands for him.

Yan Xun muttered for a long time, "But if their family and Xie Qingdu only had this level of interaction, they wouldn't have been dragged into this scenario."

“Go ask him when his last conversation with the master was,” Lou Yanchuan suddenly said.

Yan Xun was enlightened and immediately questioned Fang Shuo.

Although Fang Shuo did not understand Yan Xun's intention, he still gave the time.

The muscular man was also in the group chat, and when he saw the time Fang Shuo mentioned, he couldn't help but speak up—

[Muscular guy: Isn't this the time for our graduation trip? Were you seeing the master back then?]

[Fang Shuo: Graduation trip?]

Fang Shuo probably remembered what the muscular guy in the group had said: their dormitory organized a graduation trip before graduation.

Perhaps feeling that there wouldn't be so many coincidences in the dungeon, he quickly asked in the group chat—

[Fang Shuo: Where is that lakeside villa located?]

The muscular man gave out his address.

Fang Shuo: ? What a coincidence?

[Fang Shuo: The master I mentioned lives nearby.]