102

The Commander Du incident created a subtle rift between the Zhuo family and the Psychics Association. On the surface, both sides still maintained a good working relationship, but behind closed doors, they remained wary of each other, ready to turn hostile at any moment.

The secret of the volcanic frogs was still unknown, so the association dared not make any moves and instead kept a low profile and silent. Ye Yin understood that their compromise was only temporary, forced by pressure. Once they found another way to resist the cold wave, the vice president would likely target her first.

Ye Yin gently stroked the four crystal cores inside the box, recalling her earlier embarrassment before Supervisor He. She realized she could not afford to slack off and had to train even harder.

The day after Zhuo Chenglan left, Ye Yin bid farewell to the Commander's wife.

“Heading back so soon?” The Commander's wife was reluctant but understood Ye Yin’s busy schedule and didn’t insist on her staying. She smiled, “Come by anytime you want. Consider this your home.”

“Thank you, Auntie.” Ye Yin handed her a small whistle. “The association is watching closely; I fear there might be some trouble. Please carry this with you so we can stay in touch if anything happens.”

The Commander's wife stroked Ye Yin’s head. “Alright, I understand. It’s not easy being alone, especially for a girl. Be cautious.”

“Mm.”

Flying openly during the day was too conspicuous. Seeing that night was still some time away, Ye Yin decided to visit the official store in Area A to check current material prices. As she was about to step through the door, a tall man with a blank expression walked past her, carrying a sack on his back.

Ye Yin stopped, her eyes flashing with fierce light.

Though this man was plain and unremarkable, the kind you’d never pick out in a crowd, Ye Yin would never forget that face—the disgusting scoundrel who once tried to snatch Huahua away!

She had hated him so much she wanted to kill him on the spot. But then she discovered something shocking: this man was not alive—he was a puppet.

The doubts about that past incident gradually surfaced in Ye Yin’s mind. The dozens of men who had captured her and Huahua were dressed differently, but their builds and features were nearly identical, as if cast from the same mold. What she hadn’t understood before was now clear.

Could there be a puppet master behind them all—the true culprit?

Ye Yin withdrew her hostility and transformed into a small insect, silently tailing the puppet. It moved quickly and, as dusk approached, arrived at a communal apartment building in Area C of the First Base, climbing to the top floor.

Each floor had four doors, presumably four households. The puppet took out a key and unlocked the door marked 7-3, carrying the sack inside.

The room emitted a foul stench and was nearly empty—except for some tattered mats on the floor and an old man seated on them. The old man wore a dirty, worn jacket and had no legs. It seemed he hadn’t bathed in months; his skin and face were greasy, his hair knotted into clumps. He greedily stared at the sack in the puppet's hands and, upon receiving it, eagerly rummaged through its contents.

Soon, several other puppets returned, some handing over money to the old man, others delivering goods. Once their tasks were done, they automatically entered the inner rooms and lay down one by one, as if entering standby mode.

The old man pulled out a carrot, still covered in dirt, scraped it on his clothes without washing it, and bit into it, muttering repetitively, “Good carrot, crisp and sweet!”

Ye Yin paused on the windowsill, contemplating what soul-refining torture to use to extract the motive behind that old incident when suddenly the door was forcefully smashed open.

Startled, Ye Yin stepped back, and the old man trembled so badly that the carrot rolled to the floor.

The visitor was none other than the vice president of the Psychics Association. Today, she wore a light purple embroidered lotus dress and held a folding fan with matching patterns. Two burly men followed her as she strode arrogantly inside.

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe that the once-famous Puppet King had fallen so low,” the vice president said regretfully. “I’ll give you two choices: live on miserably like a dog, or enjoy the glory as before.”

The Puppet King’s face was ashen, his voice tinged with self-mockery, “Since that old bald monk Yuantong took my legs and shattered my life core, I don’t expect to return to my former glory. I don’t know who you are, but I can’t give you what you want. Please leave!”

“Tsk, tsk, don’t be so quick to send me away,” the vice president circled the Puppet King gracefully, her voice seductive. “What if someone could give you new legs and restore your life core?”

The Puppet King recoiled as if struck by lightning. “H-how is that possible?”

“Possible or not, why not try?” The vice president bent slightly, pity in her tone. “Better to trade that worthless thing for a bright future, isn’t it?”

The Puppet King’s face shifted from pale to red, then blue, finally settling into a liver color. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

The vice president tossed a scroll map in front of him. “I’m already tired of watching you hide this thing with such care. There are experts in puppetry who serve my master, just not as experienced as you. Don’t overestimate yourself. If it weren’t for their unwillingness to wait slowly, you wouldn’t have gotten such a great opportunity. You’d better understand your current situation and quit trying to raise the price.”

The Puppet King trembled violently. “M-master is…”

“That’s none of your concern.” The vice president’s eyes glinted with a hint of intoxication. “Someone like that is not fit for people like you to know in detail.”

While the two were at odds, Ye Yin quietly copied the scroll map into her space and, unnoticed, marked both the Puppet King and the vice president with a soul-tracking seal.

Though the vice president hadn’t revealed who the master was, Ye Yin had a strong feeling that this so-called master was closely connected to the mastermind mentioned in the text.

When the first season of “Doomsday Nightingale” ended, many readers wrote lengthy comments speculating about the identity of the mastermind. The guesses ranged from Fuyunzi to Yuantong, and some even thought that Qiao Xinran herself might be the villain, suffering from schizophrenia. Whether Qiao Xinran had a split personality or not, Ye Yin didn’t know, but she had laughed heartily upon reading that comment.

Since coming here, Ye Yin’s perspective had changed completely. Many original mysteries were now clarified, but she still couldn’t decide who the mastermind was.

The mysterious mastermind was powerful and unfathomable (even Fuyunzi feared him profoundly), commanded absolute loyalty from followers willing to die for him (mostly villains), had severe antisocial tendencies (enjoyed seeing rivers of blood), and seemed bent on humanity’s total annihilation. Judging from the association’s strange behavior later on, that person likely controlled the top echelon of the association, including this vice president.

Ye Yin had sensed something off about this vice president the first time she saw her. Although she ranked just below the president in the association, she lacked the decisiveness and aura of a true leader. Instead, she exuded the vibe of a high-level enforcer and a favored concubine. That aura was clearly not directed at the president—the latter was an old man who was merely a figurehead stripped of real power. The vice president’s position was evidently superior.

If Ye Yin hadn’t accidentally followed her here today and heard her words firsthand, she would have only suspected but not confirmed. After all, some women naturally carried that kind of presence; it wasn’t necessarily due to their profession or status.

Throughout the negotiation, the Puppet King resisted stubbornly, and the vice president pressed relentlessly. Eventually, the Puppet King was forced to concede. His murky eyes stared vacantly at the vice president. “I don’t have much life left. I might as well take a gamble.”

“Wise men know when to adapt. You’ll thank yourself for this choice in the future.”

The vice president smiled charmingly, ordering her two henchmen to lift the Puppet King out with a door panel. They headed straight back to the association headquarters. Since many mentalists were inside, Ye Yin dared not pursue further and stopped at the main gate, glaring resentfully at the building.

This was bad. If her suspicions were correct...

Back at the Third Base, Ye Yin locked herself in her house on Evergreen Street. She spent three days and nights refining the four elemental crystal cores she had obtained from Ding Chun, transforming herself into a fearsome psychic with mastery over the five elements.

The refining process was not as smooth as she had imagined. If she hadn’t experimented beforehand with lower-level crystal cores to understand the correct order and rules, those four cores might have been wasted. The five elements’ cycle of generation and overcoming was intricate—fire-based abilities could invoke others only following certain principles. One could not simply counter with another; otherwise, the new ability would be extinguished. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth—the ancient mystery that had troubled cultivators for millennia.

Her fire ability was already at level ten, while the others were at novice level. To bring them all to full mastery would take at least half a year. Time was pressing. The weight of the mastermind’s threat weighed heavily on her heart, and the more she thought, the more anxious she became.

After much contemplation, Ye Yin finally steeled herself and decided to confide in Xi Yu.

Xi Yu was unusually still, watering flowers at his home in Yan Gu Mountain. After getting his location from Master Yuan, Ye Yin hurried up the mountain, stepped into his house, and sat opposite him, telling him everything she knew and her suspicions.

Xi Yu replied calmly, “I know.”

Ye Yin was stunned. “You know... what exactly?”

“That person,” Xi Yu said, “the one hidden in the shadows, intent on destroying everything.”