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

Chapter 389 Breeding

"This instance should also have a limitation: if players' actions in exploring and approaching the truth are too obvious, they will encounter human intervention from the instance," Li Wu said.

He was referring, of course, to Gawain, who was imprisoned.

A total of 7 players entered the instance, and Gawain was imprisoned and temporarily unreachable.

Lou Yanchuan's stance is unclear, and he seems likely to cause them trouble.

Gu Jia and Sun Zhao already knew about this, but Chi Yuan seemed to know nothing.

"Should I go find Chi Yuan?" Yan Xun looked at Li Wu. After all, he was the one who found Chi Yuan, so it was reasonable to inform him.

Li Wu shook his head. "Come here with him. Don't go looking for him."

"Too obvious."

The entire Gao family is almost under the control of Master Gao. If the other party knows that Gao Wen escaped, how could they not know that Yan Xun also went to that courtyard with Gao Wen?

Yan Xun had already gone to see Sun Zhao and himself, so going to see Chi Yuan would obviously make him too obvious a target.

It would seem much more normal for Li Wu, as the "first wife," to invite Chi Yuan over for a casual chat.

Yan Xun immediately understood this principle and could only wait for Li Wu to call for help.

Chi Yuan arrived quickly, followed by a maid. Li Wu was about to tell the maid to leave when she heard the maid say that Master Gao said there had been many strange things happening in the mansion recently, and that she should stay with Chi Yuan and not leave his side.

"Do I have to be this careful even in my room?" Li Wu said, feigning displeasure.

This maid, like Gao Wen's maid, seemed to be a simpleton, merely repeating mechanically, "Master Gao told me to stay by your side at all times."

Chi Yuan shrugged helplessly at them.

"When did it start?" Yan Xun asked, recalling that Chi Yuan's maids weren't like this before.

"It was probably before Gao Wen was arrested," Chi Yuan recalled.

Yan Xun and Li Wu exchanged a glance; it seemed that Gao Wen's arrest was indeed a signal.

“The master is probably worried that something might happen to us,” Li Wu said, looking at Chi Yuan. “We need to be careful and not make any mistakes before the banquet starts.”

Considering that Chi Yuan's maid was present, he spoke rather cryptically.

Chi Yuan, being a veteran player, immediately understood Li Wu's implication—

The instance has started catching players. To keep these players behaving themselves, they might start catching one "cheating" player every day from now on.

They have to be very careful not to give Master Gao any leverage over them.

“Of course.” Chi Yuan nodded, indicating that he understood, having received Li Wu’s hint. “We should all proceed with caution.”

"The banquet is about to begin, and many people are eyeing the Gao family's banquet, thinking of sabotaging it."

"To put the master's mind at ease, we should all be careful."

"Disruption?" Yan Xun asked, a look of "curiosity" on his face. "Would anyone disrupt the Gao family's banquet?"

In terms of his character, he had only been in the Gao family for three days and was not familiar with many things about the Gao family, so it was normal for him to have such questions.

“Naturally, there will be people who can’t stand to see the Gao family doing well and will try to sabotage them,” Chi Yuan explained. “After all, the Gao family is a wealthy family in the city, and many people are extremely envious.”

"...Besides, I've also heard something else," Chi Yuan said mysteriously.

Yan Xun immediately knew that this must be something that Chi Yuan had investigated, so he immediately put on a listening posture.

“Some members of the branch family said that the great master whom the Gao family worships has grown tired of the people in the main family.”

"I can never find anything new or interesting to offer, which is why I didn't attend this banquet 30 years ago." Chi Yuan said, glancing at the maid, "I've only heard this from others; who knows if it's true?"

Yan Xun knew that Chi Yuan's statement likely came from finding a relevant clue, but he still feigned surprise, "But if that lord is very satisfied with the banquet, wouldn't everyone receive a blessing?"

“Perhaps the benefits received by those who split up the family were too small,” Li Wu said.

Yan Xun remembered Gao Ruiyun saying that the Gao family members were all in poor health, and each generation was worse than the last, as if it were some kind of curse.

However, the other party did not say whether this was a symptom only seen in Gao Ruiyun's direct descendants, or whether it was present in the entire Gao family.

"Are the members of the Gao family who have branched out also in poor health?" Yan Xun asked.

“They all look sickly,” Chi Yuan said.

He is the child of Gao Ruiyun's business partner, and his marriage to Gao Ruiyun is considered an arranged marriage, so he knows more about the situation.

“It seems that the Gao family members are born with poor health,” he said to Yan Xun. “Even some of the branch families or distant relatives are not in good health.”

"It's just that the closer you are to the direct bloodline, the worse your health becomes."

Take Gao Ruiyun for example, she always looks like she's about to die.

Although Chi Yuan didn't say it aloud, his expression conveyed the same meaning.

“I heard that at that banquet sixty years ago, Master Gao’s father received a secret medicine,” Yan Xun said.

"Is it about your father when he was young?" Chi Yuan asked. "Did Master Gao tell you about it last night?"

Yan Xun nodded.

"That secret medicine helped him recover quickly, but unfortunately, its effectiveness weakened over time, and that esteemed person did not attend the banquet thirty years ago..."

"He himself died at the hands of bandits."

"It seems this secret medicine isn't a panacea," Chi Yuan said. "It hasn't completely cured the Gao family's illness."

“Perhaps it’s because the direct descendants of the Gao family are more seriously ill,” Li Wu said meaningfully. “Perhaps for those who have branched out of the family, this secret medicine is just the right solution to their chronic illnesses.”

That's why I thought of replacing it.

But Yan Xun felt that this thing was not an illness at all, but a curse that the lord had placed on the Gao family.

The closer you get to the secret itself, the more it will devour your body.

Even each head of the family knows clearly what is harming their bodies...

Suddenly, the image of Master Gao's emaciated body, as thin as a skeleton, and the earlier guess he and Li Wu had made flashed through Yan Xun's mind.

Perhaps the root cause of their poor health is that they have been using their mortal bodies to feed the eyeballs of monsters.