Stranger Danger

"It's over? Just like that?"

Jin Wanliang swallowed, eyes still affixed to the sky even though the phenomenon had already vanished. It would be a long time before his emotions settled back down to something resembling calmness.

"Indeed." Feng Qingyou nodded like she had seen this a million times before. "The biggest problem with the Mud Morph is that it is difficult to see through their disguise. But once you do, it is quite easy to take it out."

Jin Wanliang's response was to let out a wry, practically speechless chuckle.

A Mud Morph was easy to take out only from Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou's perspective. Considering the aura it gave off earlier, he did not doubt that the Mud Morph would devour him in a few exchanges at most.

"Oh right, are they alright?"

Jin Wanliang finally noticed the corrupted people—still standing motionlessly like mindless puppets—and asked worriedly.

At least half of these people made up the central pillar of Gold Island. If something were to happen to them, then Gold Island would suffer a huge loss to put it mildly.

"They're fine."

It was at this moment Ye Qing stepped over and said, "They were just corrupted by the Mud Morphs. They are fine now that the Mud Morphs are dead, and I have cleansed the corruption inside their bodies."

"Thank goodness." Jin Wanliang let out a sigh of relief before recalling something. "Wait, you killed the Mud Morphs? Then my parents..." Jin Wanliang abruptly cut himself off, but Ye Qing knew what he was thinking and assured him, "Don't worry, they can't hear you right now."

"As you said yourself, it's best to keep your parents' disappearance under wraps for the moment. That is why I temporarily took control of them. They won't see or hear anything unless I allow them to."

"You're very meticulous, senior. This junior is impressed."

Jin Wanliang was surprised yet again, though he was a lot more composed. Considering all the heart-stopping shocks he had received in the past few days, he was slowly but surely becoming desensitized.

Besides that, he did not think that Ye Qing was plotting something nefarious. He already said earlier that he did not desire Gold Island, not to mention that he was beneath Ye Qing to lie to. So, there was no need to worry over nothing.

"Speaking of my parents, did you find out anything about their whereabouts?"

"Unfortunately, no. In fact, I don't think your parents are anywhere on Gold Island," Ye Qing replied.

Earlier, he had scanned the entire island with his demonic thought but did not find Jin Manshan or Ming Yueying.

"What? If they're not here, and you killed the Mud Morphs, doesn't that mean we've lost all of our leads?"

A desperate Jin Wanliang instinctively blurted out what could be constituted as a thoughtless accusation, though he quickly realized his mistake and tried to fix it, "I don't mean to blame you, senior. I'm just worried for my parents. Please overlook my mistake."

"It's nothing," Ye Qing replied before explaining, "A Mud Morph will fight whoever revealed its true form to death. Negotiation is impossible. Moreover, it's not actually intelligent. It only appears to be intelligent because it is mimicking its victim. Therefore, it's pointless even if you captured it alive."

Jin Wanliang looked terribly disappointed when he heard this.

Ye Qing glanced at Jin Wanliang and consoled him, "Don't give up just yet. It's not like I've gotten nothing out of them."

"When I was killing the two Mud Morphs, I managed to glimpse some of its memories. I saw your parents gambling, playing, enjoying songs and dances, and tasting delicious food at a certain place... the memories are extremely confusing, but from what I can tell, the architecture of the buildings are all pretty similar. I have good reason to believe that all the memories have come from the same place. These are probably the memories the Mud Morphs used to mimic your parents."

"I noticed some interesting points from these memories as well. One, wherever this place is, it is exceptionally luxurious and extravagant. This is strange because a Mud Morph usually prefers dark and filthy places. Two, the Mud Morphs were able to mimic your parents to the point where even their closest relatives have difficulty distinguishing them. This could only be possible if they have observed and interacted with your parents for an extended period of time, and more than once too."

"Finally, your parents are no ordinary people. It makes no sense for them to interact with a Mud Morph for an extended period of time and notice nothing, and yet the fact is that they never realized a thing. Don't you think that's odd?"

Jin Wanliang agreed after mulling over it, "It is strange."

It was at this moment Feng Qingyou spoke up, "One, the Mud Morphs had appeared at a location where they did not belong. This most likely means that they had a master; that someone was controlling them. Two, the Mud Morphs were able to interact with your parents for so long that they were almost able to mimic them perfectly. Either they had stayed at that place for a long time, or they frequented that place a lot. The second possibility is more likely. And three, your parents did not notice the Mud Morphs' existence despite their prolonged observation. There are two possibilities. One, they were comfortable in that place and did not feel the need to be on guard. Two, someone was masking the Mud Morphs so that their presence would not alert your parents. It could be both."

"Mm. That's what I think as well." Ye Qing smiled.

Jin Wanliang opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but closed it in the end. He thought himself intelligent, but he did not think he could suss out so much critical information from Ye Qing's brief summary alone, at least not in a short time.

Is this the gap that exists between us?

Why does it feel like I'm being crushed not just in strength, but also intelligence?

"All these prove that your parents' disappearance wasn't an accident. It was all premeditated," Ye Qing said.

"Assuming you are right, they were probably coming after our wealth," Jin Wanliang replied.

If this was just an ordinary robbery, then there was no need to go through so many hoops. The reason his unseen enemy was doing this was obviously because they were hoping to take control of Gold Island without alerting anyone.

If this was a simple case of vengeance, then it would have been much simpler. The Jin Clan had many enemies, but not so many that they couldn't come up with a suspect list.

But if it was their wealth that his unseen enemy was going for, then it was bad. After all, everyone wanted a piece of Gold Island. Hell, even the Strangers wanted a piece of Gold Island.

"This is troublesome." Jin Wanliang massaged his forehead with a grave expression. "I wonder how my parents are doing right now..."

"I think they are fine. They should at least be still alive."

Feng Qingyou analyzed, "As you said, your enemy is targeting Gold Island's wealth. I'm sure they don't want the Profound Alliance to find out about his efforts prematurely. Until the Mud Morphs have completely replaced your parents, it is unlikely that they will kill them."

"I heard from Hongluan that the Profound Alliance has a Strange Artifact called the Soul Tower. It is where the soul lamps of all the higher-ups of the Profound Alliance and the gifted geniuses are recorded and stored. If the owner of a soul lamp dies, their soul lamp would go out and alert everyone."

"Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that the mastermind would kill your parents at this juncture. For now, their lives are still secure."

"Phew..." Jin Wanliang let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thank you for clearing my worries, seniors."

"Yes, our first priority now is to locate your parents and rescue them."

Ye Qing asked, "Do you know a place where your parents have stayed for a prolonged period of time in recent years, Scion Jin? It could also be a place that they often frequent. From what I can tell, it is a gorgeous, exquisite, and fantastical place. Hmm, how should I describe it... it is beautiful and phantasmal like a celestial realm. It boasts unbelievable songs, dances and performances. I also saw buildings floating in the air with strange birds and precious beasts flying around them. It is quite magical. Oh right, the sky is also unusually colorful and extraordinary—"

Ye Qing did his best to describe the images he saw from the Mud Morphs' memories. Hopefully, Jin Wanliang would be able to recognize them.