Chapter 45: Prying Eyes! Secret Exposed?

Tang Ke and Jiang Yi were college roommates.
Their bond was as tight as blood brothers.
To put it without the slightest exaggeration—
The brotherhood between Jiang Yi and Tang Ke was even more genuine than their relationships with Chang Jiao'e.
They truly lived by the motto: women are like clothing, but brothers are like limbs.

Back in college, they shared too many similar hobbies and common topics.
For instance...
They were both hardcore Detective Conan fans.
Tang Ke liked Gin.
He loved the underworld boss's powerful, forever composed, and confident aura.
Commonly referred to as a subtle sense of badassery.

In Conan, however, Jiang Yi preferred Shuichi Akai.
The other roommates even joked once—
Since Gin and Shuichi Akai were archenemies, wouldn't Tang Ke and Jiang Yi also become archenemies someday?

Back then, Tang Ke and Jiang Yi both just laughed it off, never taking such a joke to heart.
Jiang Yi even bantered with a laugh: "Archenemy my ass! The two of us are good brothers for life!"

Yet now...
Recalling those fond college days, Tang Ke couldn't help but feel a twinge of sentimentality.
Back then, how wonderful it was.
What a pity that times change in the blink of an eye.
He had merely made a choice to adapt to the times.

He remembered that in Detective Conan, Gin had once said something similar:
If he could kill Akai again, he would only feel excited.
Tang Ke felt the exact same way.

It was just a shame.
He might have become Gin.
But Jiang Yi was clearly far from worthy of being his archenemy.
He had already surpassed Jiang Yi by far too much.

This vast chasm between them, like the difference between clouds and mud, meant he couldn't even muster any interest in killing Jiang Yi a second time.
After all...
Which elephant would take pleasure in stepping on an ant?

Tang Ke's gaze was fixed forward.
For instance, Luo Changqing, the big shot of Jiangcheng District.
Or Jin Buli, the world-class big shot who had repeatedly triggered worldwide announcements!

As for Jiang Yi...
He had been left so far, far behind that probably not even his corpse remained.
Still, thinking of their past college camaraderie,
and then considering Jiang Yi's death,
Tang Ke still felt a tiny, faint pang of sorrow deep in his heart.

***

Jiang Yi naturally had no idea—
that his former good buddy would actually fantasize about his corpse and hypocritically feel a moment of sorrow.

At this moment, he was holed up in a mountain nook within the Qinhu Fierce Beast World.
In his hand, he was still holding two green turntables.
Yes, Jiang Yi hadn't spun those remaining two green turntables yet.
He had intended to spin them.
Only, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

So, he first waited for the 100 time-coins from the cursed turntable listing to arrive in his account.
Then, he carefully browsed the trading area and purchased another green turntable for 5 time-coins.

There was no expression on his face.
Pressing his palm against the green turntable, he whispered, "Spin."

***

Next came the familiar prompt tone—
[Ding—Congratulations on drawing the reward: Eye of Investigation!]

Simultaneously, a ping-pong-ball-sized black bead appeared in his hand.
Without a second thought, Jiang Yi very skillfully made use of the black bead.

As he watched, the originally pitch-black bead suddenly transformed into the shape of an eerie eyeball.
Jiang Yi placed the "eyeball" on the ground.
The "eyeball" began to roll around on its own accord.

After spinning a few circles, the black eyeball suddenly stopped, as if lagging, and spat out a mechanical voice:
[Detected "Eye of Prying", currently parsing and purging!]

As soon as this voice rang out, Jiang Yi's expression tightened.

After another dozen seconds or so, a speck of imperceptible dust in the air around him slowly drifted downward!
That was...
The Eye of Prying!

Against the backdrop of the doomsday game, all sorts of miraculous items were countless!
And the effect of the Eye of Prying was like a surveillance camera, capable of monitoring others!
The crucial point was that the appearance of that gadget was extremely covert, completely undetectable by the naked eye!
It could only be detected using the corresponding item, the "Eye of Investigation"!

Jiang Yi had originally indeed planned to spin the remaining two green turntables on hand.
It was only at the last moment that he suddenly decided to first procure an Eye of Investigation to check whether there were any "cameras" around him.

This action stemmed entirely from caution!
He had never imagined that there really was an Eye of Prying lingering by his side!

Who could it be?
The insidious and cunning Li Shoude?
No.
Li Shoude had no grievances or grudges with him.
The conflict shortly before wasn't Li Shoude specifically targeting him.
It was just that Li Shoude happened to run into him.

Under those circumstances of a chance encounter, Li Shoude had intended to directly engineer his death.
There was no need to plant an Eye of Prying around him.

As for the frantic crisis moment before escaping with the teleportation stone, that was probably even less likely.
After all, Li Shoude was able to escape not just because he possessed a teleportation stone.
More importantly, his reflexes were fast enough, and he was decisive enough!
He couldn't possibly have had the time to use an Eye of Prying in a situation like that.

Then who could it be?
Tang Ke? Or Chang Jiao'e?
No, even more impossible!
Because with the strength of those two, they could have completely obliterated him directly,
with zero need to use the "Eye of Prying" on him.

The effect of the Eye of Prying was primarily surveillance!
Or more accurately, peeping! Investigating the secrets of others!
Who would be so curious about the secrets on him that they wouldn't even mind consuming an Eye of Prying?

Guan Ling from the Blood Swallow Club?
Even if Guan Ling had used an investigative skill on him to see through his stat panel,
back then, he merely had a timed buff of +5 to all attributes and a lifespan of 21 years.
Such stats shouldn't be worth Guan Ling spending an Eye of Prying to monitor, right?

In this doomsday game, who didn't have a few secrets?
Take Li Shoude, also a lifespan-tumor worm, yet he not only possessed a rare cursed turntable but also a teleportation stone for saving his life!
If secrets really mattered, Li Shoude had far more secrets than Jiang Yi!
And Jiang Yi's meager stats, even if known by Guan Ling, probably wouldn't warrant much concern.

Furthermore...
Based on Jiang Yi's understanding of Guan Ling from his past life,
that woman had a very straightforward personality, speaking her mind directly, and didn't seem like the type to plant an Eye of Prying behind someone's back.

Then who on earth could it be?
People from the Optimus Club?
Sun Hao? Liao Yuanfeng?
Or some ruthless character who played the pig to eat the tiger and hid themselves very deeply, much like Li Shoude?

Jiang Yi calmed his mind, quietly letting everything that had happened since his rebirth replay scene by scene in his mind like a movie.

Suddenly!
His gaze locked onto a point!
The movie-like scenes in his mind froze on one particular frame—

That was when he was sitting in Luo Shan's vehicle, leaving the Optimus Club along with Liao Yuanfeng's team!
At that time, their convoy had run into You Yu and You Xue, who had come to defect to the Optimus Club!

Throughout that entire process, Jiang Yi had actually been nothing more than an insignificant bystander.
He had not the slightest intersection with You Yu and You Xue.
He was purely a background-prop passerby.

However, thinking back carefully on the scene at that moment now,
Jiang Yi realized he had made a very minute mistake—
Back then,
upon seeing You Xue, almost everyone in the convoy had a dazed look in their eyes!
After all...
You Xue was a succubus!

Except for Jiang Yi!
Perhaps at that very moment...
his state, which differed from everyone else's, had been noticed by You Xue!

It sounded absurd.
Micro-expressions, what could they possibly determine?

Yet often, when experts clash, a single locking gaze might determine the final outcome!
For instance.
Jiang Yi and Tang Ke shared another common hobby: Werewolf.
In live-action Werewolf games, there was a term called "reading people."
It meant deducing whether someone was a werewolf through their micro-expressions when drawing cards.
The absolute top-tier players of this art could genuinely find all four werewolves relying solely on micro-expressions!

So.
Jiang Yi's micro-expressions when facing You Yu and You Xue...
might have been perceived as abnormal by those two!

And given You Yu's hypocritical personality,
he indeed seemed very much like the kind of petty villain who would use an Eye of Prying on others to peek at their secrets!

If it really was You Yu...
Jiang Yi wasn't overly worried either.
After all, from the time he encountered You Yu until now, he had only used six turntables.
Six turntable draws, and all six produced positive effects.
At first glance, it was indeed a bit outrageous, but not entirely impossible.
There were always some lucky dogs whose luck was so good they were basically the illegitimate child of the God of Luck!
Moreover, in the doomsday game, there also existed blessing-type effects that could temporarily boost a player's luck!
For instance, the "Moon God Blessing" in You Yu's own status bar was a timed effect that increased luck!
Not to mention special items like the Lucky Bracelet.

Even if You Yu spied on what had happened to Jiang Yi, he would probably only assume Jiang Yi had some kind of lucky buff clinging to him.
He would never, ever imagine that Jiang Yi could designate turntable rewards in such an outrageous manner!

Of course, if Jiang Yi hadn't been cautious and had rashly gone ahead with a massive amount of turntable spins right then and there, that definitely would have blinded You Yu's dog eyes and made him immediately realize something terrifyingly wrong!

And now...
After pondering for a moment, Jiang Yi picked up the Eye of Investigation from the ground and swiftly relocated to another hidden corner.