The owner is Caius, not Orwell. We were confused—what's going on? Did the webmaster trick us, or did Orwell lie to us?
Seeing our disbelief, the network administrator called the boss of the internet café. Soon, a big bald guy came out and introduced himself as the owner, Caius.
This wasn't Orwell either! Could it be that Orwell lied to us? What the hell is happening?
I asked if there was an employee named Orwell at the café, but the owner shook his head and said no.
Okay, it's confirmed—Orwell fooled us. But what was his purpose?
I asked the owner if there had ever been an accident in the café where someone died.
The boss's face darkened immediately. He asked how I knew, saying that judging by my face, I shouldn't be a regular here and wouldn't normally know these things.
I told him what Orwell had said. As it turned out, everything checked out—this internet café really had an old woman selling snacks who would appear at 3:00 a.m. and couldn't be driven away. Many guests who came here to surf the internet had also mysteriously withered away and died. It all matched Orwell's story.
So Orwell hadn't lied to us. Everything he said had actually happened in this internet café.
But I kept thinking—what was his goal? If he wasn't the owner, why did he hitch a ride with us?
Was he working with the weasel? That didn't make sense. If he wanted to harm people, this internet café was already full of potential victims. Why go out of his way to find me at the tattoo parlor? We didn't even know each other.
After returning to the tattoo parlor, I thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out. Exhausted, I suddenly fell asleep.
It was around three in the afternoon when I woke up. Stein came to get me, raising an eyebrow as he said, "Little Boss, your wife is here."
"Wife? Am I still dreaming, or are you just sleepy?" I yawned, convinced Stein was messing with me. The twins were gone—where would I get a wife out of nowhere?
"Hey, Little Boss, have you forgotten? Your iceberg beauty! Hehehe…" Stein's grin turned lewd.
"I've heard the Dai family is very strict—after all, they're an old-world family. Rumor has it Daphne is still a virgin. Little Boss, you're a lucky man." Stein added.
Now that he mentioned it, I remembered. Earlier, Daphne had sworn that whoever broke the Malevolent Array would become her husband. Luckily, those Erebus profiteers were useless, so I ended up reaping the reward. But when it came to women, I'd rather have the two million—I never had much fondness for Daphne anyway.
"You're overthinking it. A woman like her—beautiful, rich, from a good family, and still pure? It's a miracle if the kid's even yours after marriage." I snickered as I changed my clothes.
Daphne had come to see me, and it could only be about the Dai family graveyard. I'd promised to tattoo the Four Divine Sands onto the corpse in their ancestral grave within two days to restore the family's feng shui.
When I went downstairs, I saw Daphne sitting elegantly on a chair, sipping tea. Today, she wore a light blue shirt with the top button undone, revealing delicate collarbones. Her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall.
To be honest, Daphne did have an impeccable aura—it was just her personality and attitude I couldn't stand. It wasn't mere aloofness; she genuinely looked down on people. Maybe it was a common flaw among those born into prestigious families.
But this time, she was far more respectful toward me. After all, I was no longer just some lowly tattoo artist but the master who'd saved her life.
"Can we go now?" Daphne asked bluntly the moment she saw me descend.
"Oh? In such a hurry? Eager to marry me already?" I teased.
A flush instantly spread across her usually icy face. Her lips parted as if she wanted to retort, but in the end, she stayed silent.
After all, it was the truth—she had no choice but to accept it.
"No… I've just been waiting here… for a long time." Daphne finally forced out the words, though her tone was no longer as cold or detached as before.
"Then let's go, wife." I grabbed the ink and tattoo needles from Yang-Themed Tattoo and strode ahead to her car.
"Not… not yet…" Daphne muttered under her breath as she got in, though her complaint was barely audible.
This iceberg beauty seemed to be melting, just a little…
Upon arriving at the Dai family's burial hill, a man in black stood waiting. He was tall, with a thick beard, around forty years old. Daphne introduced him as the family butler.
Hearing her words, I sucked in a sharp breath. My body tensed instinctively, though I fought to keep my reaction hidden.
This was the butler? Master Raul had once claimed he was a ghost—was that true or not?
I glanced up at the blazing sun overhead. If this butler was a ghost, how could he dare to stand in broad daylight?
I began to doubt it, but I couldn't dismiss Master Raul's warning entirely. Both he and Webster were true masters—of that, I was certain.
Daphne explained that the butler was deeply familiar with the burial hill's condition. Any further needs could be discussed with him—she and the butler would accompany me throughout the entire process.
I insisted Stein alone would suffice, but the butler refused. "This is Master Dai's order," he said firmly. "We must stay by your side at all times."
There was nothing I could do. After all, this was someone else's territory. I could only stay vigilant around this butler. If this guy really was a ghost who could appear in broad daylight, that would be terrifying. He could probably kill me without anyone knowing - this had to be a ghost with advanced Taoist powers.
When we entered the burial mound, I found the spot in front of the cave - this was the Vermilion Bird position. Coincidentally, there was a tomb here belonging to one of the Dai family ancestors.
After giving the order to open the tomb and coffin, sure enough, the corpse inside had already begun to zombify. Black, fuzzy hair grew around its neck, with two fangs protruding from its mouth. The fingernails were sharp and long - exactly like the Dai family ancestor from last night, nearly transformed into a full jiangshi.
A corpse turning into a jiangshi inside its coffin isn't a real jiangshi yet. Only when it jumps out does it become a true jiangshi. Though this one looked eerily unsettling, Daphne had already seen something similar last night. Still, she looked slightly frightened, as did everyone else - except the butler, whose expression remained completely unchanged.
"Find someone to undress the corpse so I can tattoo it," I said.
At that moment, no one dared to move. They all stared at the coffin's contents with faces pale as paper.
Though it hadn't actually transformed into a jiangshi that could jump out and bite people, the corpse was already in this state - nobody wanted to get close.
Then the butler jumped down and, without hesitation, stripped the corpse's clothing from the coffin, not even blinking. Seeing this, I became more suspicious of him. Earlier he'd pretended to be scared, even wiping sweat from his forehead while saying how frightened he was, claiming he'd broken out in a cold sweat.
Master Raul was right - there was definitely something wrong with this butler. No normal person could do something like this without batting an eye.
But with him standing right in front of me, I couldn't expose him. I could only focus on my tattooing.
Since this was the Vermilion Bird position, I needed to tattoo the corpse's chest. After opening the coffin, I took out my tattoo needle - but at that moment, I noticed the corpse's hand twitch slightly.