Chapter 3: The Bet

  "You two should calm down a bit." Sterling took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "The threatening letter mustn't be known to outsiders, otherwise it's very likely to cause panic before the exhibition."

  "Got it!" The two of them replied in unison, after all, they were just on someone else's turf, and both of them knew what to do.

  "Alright, I've got something else to attend to, I'll take off first. If you have any questions, just ask Linda." Sterling flashed a apologetic smile before quickly disappearing from their sight.

  "Excuse me, is there a dressing room here?" Ouyang Xiu asked Linda, "I want to change into another set of clothes."

  "Hmm, you still have some self-awareness," Zheng Hanfei said sarcastically. "I thought you'd wear this outfit to the exhibition."

  "Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to not know what kind of clothes to wear to an exhibition, so as not to be as shabby as some people."

  "You..."

  "Just kidding." Ouyang Xiuxiu smiled slightly and followed Linda to the dressing room, disappearing from the exhibition hall.

  "Ouyang Xiu... this name sounds very familiar, where have I heard it before?" Zheng Hanfei lowered his head in thought. Apart from the name feeling familiar, when he saw him for the first time, he inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity deep down, as if he had known him for a long time.

  "Have you heard of this name, Wang Bo?" After thinking for a long time, Zheng Hanfei still had no clue and could only ask Wang Bo out loud, hoping to get some useful leads from him.

  "I remember he was quite famous." Wang Bo thought for a moment and said, "He had solved many cases in Japan, France, the UK and other countries. One of his most famous cases was the French Royal Family's locked room murder case, which left all the detectives in France speechless at that time."

  "I remember now!" Zheng Hanfei slapped his forehead, with a look of sudden realization, "No wonder this name sounds so familiar."

  "Hmm, but as time passed, this case was gradually forgotten by the Chinese people, so the bodyguards at the entrance did not recognize him."

  "Hmph! Didn't I also solve that case? Zheng Hanfei sneered, "If I hadn't been ill at the time, he wouldn't have gotten the credit for it."

  "Pretty confident, huh? Want to make a bet?" Ouyang Xiuxiu walked over slowly, wearing a formal Western-style suit for the banquet, with a smile on his face and blue eyes that shone like gemstones, exuding a unique charm that matched his silver-gray hair, attracting the attention of young women around him. This outfit made it impossible to associate him with the boy who had fought with the security guard at the entrance earlier.

  "Make a bet? Tell me, what's the betting method." Zheng Hanfei gave a sly smile, although his clothes were somewhat shabby, but he himself was originally good-looking, and with that air of not admitting defeat, a unique charm gradually floated onto him.

  "I bet on this case, let's see who can stop the event from happening."

  "Oh? What's the bet?"

  "If you lose, I'll take your reputation."

  "Do you know me?" Zheng Hanfei narrowed his eyes, trying to see through Ouyang Xiu's true thoughts.

  "Don't underestimate yourself, your reputation is huge." Ouyang Xiu stroked his silver hair, and a hint of sharpness flashed in his eyes. "At least in Japan, many people know that it was you who cracked the billionaire kidnapping case that left Japanese detectives speechless. This shows that your reasoning ability is no worse than mine."

  "Alright, I can agree, but you have to tell me what happens if you lose first?"

  "I lost, I'll give you a chance, an opportunity that will make all young people envy."

  "Does it sound tempting? What exactly is this opportunity you're talking about?"

  "We'll talk after you win."

  "I'll be all ears then."

  "Good!" Ouyang Xiuxiu smiled slightly and turned to ask Linda, "Miss Linda, I'd like to ask you a question, why aren't there any cameras installed in this venue?"

  Zheng Hanfei's body trembled slightly, and based on Ouyang Xiuxiu's question, he finally understood what was wrong with the feeling he had before. It was that in such a large conference hall, there were no camera shadows, not even pinhole cameras, as if to let the other party steal openly.

  "That's right, the manager's kid said he trusted Mr. Zheng Hanfei very much, so they didn't install a camera."

  He can really look down on me, and we haven't even met yet. Zheng Hanfei smiled helplessly, but now it's too late to say anything, after all, the exhibition is about to start, and it can't be delayed because of the installation of cameras.

  "Hey, what's wrong with you? You're making this kind of mistake at such a critical moment." At this time, the quarrel from the display rack attracted the attention of the two people. When they looked over, a stout middle-aged man was scolding a thin young man, occasionally pointing to the display rack with his hand.

  "What happened?" Linda rushed up to ask.

  "Miss Linda," the middle-aged man said somewhat indignantly, "this person messed something up when installing these miniature spotlights, and now none of them are working."

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The young man bowed his head and apologized, "I will make corresponding compensation."

  "Can you afford it!" the middle-aged man scolded loudly, "This is a exhibition organized by the manager, if you mess this up, it will ruin the manager's reputation and in the end you'll be fired."

  "Oh no, this can't be! I still have to support my family!" The young man looked extremely anxious, grasping Linda's hand and pleading tearfully, "Miss Linda, please don't let the manager fire me."

  "Alright, alright!" Linda comforted, "It's too late to say anything now, I'll talk to the manager about this, so you two can rest assured."

  "Thank you."

  ……

  "What's wrong?" Wang Bo asked with concern, seeing Zheng Hanfei's unusual expression.

  "I have a feeling that something is not quite right with this matter."

  "Master, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but I think that since you found out Ou Yang Xi's identity, you've become overly suspicious and this isn't beneficial to our reasoning and analysis."

  "No! I didn't!" Zheng Hanfei narrowed his eyes, "Don't you think that from 6 pm to now, too many unbelievable things have happened in the exhibition hall? It seems like the spirits of Acheron are really at work."

  "Master..."

  "Hehe, Uncle Wang, don't take what I said earlier to heart." Zheng Hanfei covered his head and chuckled, "Maybe I really was being a bit paranoid."

  "Master, would you like me to go find a hat for you? Always doing this will harm your brain." A hint of worry flashed in Wang Bo's eyes.

  "No way!" Zheng Hanfei looked very angry, shouting loudly, startling the people around him, while Ouyang Xiou looked at them with a puzzled gaze.

  "I'm going to take a rest, Wang Bo you continue to collect the materials I requested." With a low voice, Zheng Hanfei covered his head and walked out of the exhibition hall, leaving behind a worried Wang Bo and a deep-in-thought Ouyang Xiu.

  "Could it be... that what the letter said was true? If so, why didn't I have that feeling towards him..." Ouyang Xiuzi stood in place muttering to herself for a while, then glanced at Wang Bo and turned to leave the exhibition hall.

  ……

  Stop it, stop it for me!

  Zheng Hanfei had been shouting in his heart, but the effect was just the opposite. The pain transmitted from his brain became more and more intense, several times almost making Zheng Hanfei faint.

  Zheng Hanfei ran all the way, he didn't know where to go or what to do, just wanting to keep running. Along the way, he bumped into countless people, leaving a trail of curses and shouts behind him.

  Finally, Zheng Hanfei ran to the bathroom, locked the door behind him, sat on the toilet, and panted heavily. His body twitched from time to time, showing that he was suffering greatly.

  Why? Why did you do this?

  Zheng Hanfei clenched his teeth and kept repeating this sentence in his mind, as if he was asking someone else, yet also questioning himself.

  Time flew by quickly, but his pain showed no signs of abating. Faintly, two figures gradually emerged in Zheng Hanfei's mind, one slender and the other gaunt. He tried to make out their faces, but it brought on another wave of intense pain in his head.

  Hate him then, it was he who made you like this, you don't need emotions, you don't need sunshine, you are just a dark shadow.

  This sentence kept echoing in his mind, making his body convulse even more violently, as if this sentence was a curse that Zheng Hanfei could never escape for the rest of his life.

  "Shut up!" Zheng Hanfei's voice was faint as he uttered the two words, and afterwards the pain in his head gradually subsided, his forehead stopped sweating, and his body ceased convulsing, everything was heading in a better direction.

  He let out a long sigh, and his eyebrows slightly moved as he slowly opened his eyes. He took a glance at the surrounding scenery before lowering his head to sink into deep thought.

  Why did I suddenly get a headache this time? And who were those two figures just now? What's with that voice too?

  Suddenly, many inexplicable questions emerged, and even if Zheng Hanfei was clever, he couldn't solve them in a short period of time.

  Forget it, let's think about these things later. First, solve the problems at hand and then talk about it. Scratching his head in annoyance, Zheng Hanfeng walked out of the bathroom. After all this time, he should listen to the intelligence Wang Bo had collected for him. Hopefully, this information could provide some clues to unlock the identity of the spirits in Acheron.