I've Become the King of Villains in the Game

The next morning.

After having breakfast, Chen Lun picked up the newspaper that Connie had subscribed to.

He flipped through a few pages and, finally, in a corner, he saw a small recruitment advertisement.

"It's the secret code of the mystical society."

Chen Lun understood in his heart.

Yesterday, he had learned through the coded message in the newspaper that the society's meeting, which was supposed to take place as scheduled, had been postponed until today. The code he was looking at now was a confirmation of that.

He pondered for a moment and eventually decided to go.

Although he could almost be certain that "Black Skull" and "Spirit Cat" were from the Shelter, he also needed to contact other members of the society to find clues to "Philip's Legacy."

"It must not be time for them to fully cast their net yet; otherwise, they wouldn't have killed 'Fin' alone..."

Chen Lun thought.

But he had a feeling that the Shelter's big move would not be too late, and his time was running out.

Late at night.

Chen Lun did not take the old route to Pompey Manor. Instead, he chose the previous exit, the drainage outlet at the waterfront of the Outer City District.

He had prepared in advance to conceal his identity, donning a top hat and completely wrapping his face with a black scarf, leaving only his eyes visible. With his powerful memory, he skillfully navigated through the winding sewer and returned to the underground chamber.

The dim light bulb illuminated the round table, where six people had already arrived early. "Fin," as expected, was absent.

"Welcome back, Mr. Spade."

Black Skull, wearing a mask, greeted him indifferently.

"Please take a seat."

Chen Lun took his seat with composure.

Iron Hammer remained indifferent, lost in thought as if nothing concerned him. Scholar leisurely read a book, Spirit Cat and Gentleman were engaged in quiet conversation, apparently discussing some trivial matters. Miser was fiddling with a few gold coins in his hand, clinking them together.

Another ten minutes or so passed.

"It seems 'Fin' won't be joining us tonight, let's begin."

Black Skull glanced at his pocket watch and said softly.

Chen Lun gave him a covert glance, inwardly commenting on his good acting skills.

After hearing the chairperson speak, everyone began the first round of trading.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Nothing out of the ordinary, Iron Hammer sold another man-made "Mysterious Object" shaped like a metal tennis ball, trading it for two portions of Low Sequence Mysterious Substance from Gentleman.

The others had their own trades. When it was Chen Lun's turn, Gentleman spoke up first:

"Mr. Spade, about the requirement you mentioned last time, I have some information related to it... You can take a look first, and if you're interested, we can discuss it further."

The Silver Pot glinted and passed a manuscript to Chen Lun.

Chen Lun picked it up to see that one side of the manuscript had fine pinholes, as if it were a title page fallen from some notebook. He scrutinized the text on the page:

"—Hey, friend, let me tell you a secret.

I've been to a strange place, encountered many odd things, and acquired quite a few weird items. I'm not sure what that place is, but there's an unfamiliar familiarity about it.

Sorry, I can't tell you how to get there because I'm not clear on it myself.

But I can share with you, my experiences..."

Dark blue ink obscured a section of text, followed by a few keywords written below: "Destiny," "Nature," "Nightmare," and "Love."

"—I discovered that my Supernatural Power was affected there, sometimes strong, sometimes weak. At its strongest, it could even unleash power beyond my own Sequence's capabilities, and at its weakest, I was worse than an ordinary person...

If I had to describe it in one word, I'd say 'absurd' fits best.

...I also met my beloved there. She helped me a lot and even built us a 'love nest.' Living in it, we didn't have to worry about strange things happening. Thus, I had a foothold to slowly explore that place.

The experiences recorded below are shown from my perspective alone, for your perusal..."

The contents of the title page ended here.

The signature at the bottom was a name Chen Lun was familiar with—Philip.

The date was June 8, 4405 of the Solar Calendar.

It had been 13 years to the present day, and 2 years since the last entry in Philip's diary.

[Special Mystic Book discovered! "Philip's Dreamland Adventure" (Severely incomplete)!]

Chen Lun's face remained expressionless, holding the title page in his hand, but he was internally complaining:

"Other Mystic Books are just for a bit of fun, if you really want to get stronger you have to rely on Philip's... and that flamboyance, it even extends to the naming of his own works, truly penal."

Now it looked like the belongings Philip had hidden here were mostly in the "Gentleman's" hands. Even if they weren't with him, they were greatly associated with him.

"Mr. Gentleman, I am very interested in the content recorded on this piece of paper, and I wonder how you would like to trade."

Chen Lun said in a hoarse voice.

A buzzing chuckle came from the Silver Pot, who then suggested:

"Since Mr. Spade is interested, that could not be better... However, the subsequent content is not on me right now. If Mr. Spade wants it, he can prepare a [C-level Mysterious Object], or ten portions of Low Sequence Mysterious Substance for the exchange... It's not too late to make the trade at the next gathering."

"That's too expensive."

Chen Lun said in a deep voice.

"Oh, not at all, the content that follows is guaranteed to satisfy you, worth far more than its cost!"

The Silver Pot's gentleman used exaggerated body language to express his opinion.

Chen Lun pretended to ponder, then reluctantly agreed through gritted teeth.

After the Silver Pot confirmed the deal, his fingers tapped lightly on his thigh, looking very pleased.

The subsequent exchange of information was rather bland and unremarkable, which Chen Lun barely listened to; instead, he was considering how to get his hands on what the gentleman had.

He had no intention of spending actual gold and silver to make the exchange, firstly because it was too expensive, and secondly because there was no guarantee it was all of Philip's legacy...

Of course, the best method was robbery!

This "chamberpot head" was not harboring any good intentions either, for while reading the title page just now, Chen Lun felt his Sanity mysteriously decrease by 1 point.

This was not a loss of SAN points due to witnessing mysterious content, as his [Maggie's Tear] had not been triggered; it felt more like the title page had sucked it away.

To use an inappropriate analogy, the title page had stolen his Sanity and strangely hidden it.

Was it in the river? No, it was not in the river.

Chen Lun had never heard of such a bizarre incident.

He was temporarily unclear as to why "Philip's Dreamland Adventure" would be stealing someone's Sanity, but he knew that the gentleman was definitely planning something with this property.

"That's all for this gathering, the old rules apply, everyone knows, so I won't say more."

The Black Skull stood up to arrange for everyone to leave.

This time the gentleman was the first to leave the scene; he slowly moved in a dancing step towards the tomb's side door, then inside he would choose a different path to exit.

At that moment a large black rat quietly followed him, slipping inside.

Tap tap tap...

The gentleman swayed with a happy dance, tap dancing through the dark corridor.

The heels of his dress shoes tapped a crisp sound on the floor, echoing softly.

Crack!

He stomped on the rat, splashing out a pool of fresh blood.

"Heh heh..."

The Silver Pot turned around, glancing back at the tomb behind him. Enjoy new stories from empire

"Cheap tricks."