The Real Culprit

Chen Miemie insisted on going to check out the introduction to the [Everlasting Moon] Chamber of Commerce in the shopping center. Yi Zhu and Yi Xian couldn’t hold him back no matter how hard they tried.

Following directions from the staff at the information desk, the three of them found the chamber’s promotional information on a wall near the shopping center’s main entrance.

The information was brief:

[Everlasting Moon] Chamber of Commerce, founded in the 3763rd year of the Seventh Era. President: Mr. Xia Chong.

The chamber’s principal businesses include real estate, shopping centers, financial investment, and educational support. After twenty years of development, it has become a leader in every field.

Chen Miemie read it twice before turning to Yi Zhu. “A shopping center this impressive is only their second line of business? Is the [Everlasting Moon] Chamber of Commerce’s real estate business really that powerful?”

Yi Zhu answered without hesitation, “Of course. They’ve handled most of the city’s construction projects in recent years. I heard they were behind the demolition of that Fairy Tale Street near your place, Brother Miemie. Their original plan was to tear it down and build a huge amusement park, turning the area into a real fairy-tale district for children.”

While Chen Miemie and the other two were wandering around the shopping center…

At Cicada’s villa.

This green-haired little girl, Chenpi, didn’t wait for anyone to announce her arrival. She went straight upstairs and kicked the door open.

“Xia Chong, get out here!”

Inside, Xia Chong waved for the butler to leave, then went to meet her himself.

“Teacher Chen Pi, what’s got you so angry? Come in and we’ll talk.”

Chenpi entered the villa with a cold expression.

On the enormous first-floor living room.

Xia Chong personally poured Chenpi a glass of water.

Chenpi noticed that Xia Chong was taller than her while seated, so she climbed onto the sofa, attempting to increase her authority this way.

“What else could it be? How many days are you planning to keep pretending to be sick? Should I just process your medical retirement?”

Xia Chong gave a bitter smile. “Teacher, you know perfectly well that the moment I return to work, those people will come crowding around my door, shouting about the demolition. I don’t have your skills, so I can’t hold them off.”

“The demolition of Fairy Tale Street?”

“Not just Fairy Tale Street. The three neighboring districts connected to it as well.”

“What are you afraid of? I’ve already issued a final order to stop the demolition. Anyone who causes trouble can come to me. I’ll show them what’s what.”

“They may not have the nerve to come looking for you, Teacher, but I was the one who proposed the plan in the first place. They invested real money in it. If I call a halt with a single sentence, it’s understandable that they can’t make sense of it and keep pestering me.”

Chenpi’s angry expression faded. She looked at Xia Chong calmly.

“Tell me honestly. Why did you launch this project? Compared with the investment required, a large amusement park would take a long time to recoup its costs, and might even lose money.”

Xia Chong’s heart gave a sudden jolt.

He knew very well that when Chenpi was baring her teeth and claws at him, he could still use a few tricks. But whenever she looked at him with that calm expression, he absolutely could not bluff his way through.

“Teacher, I can’t say.”

“You can’t say? Heh. Do you really think there’s anything in this city I don’t know?

“Xia Chong, for the past twenty years, you’ve always planned everything with perfect foresight and acted ahead of the curve. Every time, you’ve made a fortune from the opportunities created by the city’s development.

“If I remember correctly, your first fortune came from buying property in advance near the city’s new bus hub, right?”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“After that, you somehow always ‘guessed’ correctly where demolitions would take place, what projects would be built, and even which supplies needed to be stockpiled ahead of the extreme weather the following year. People started saying that you could sense the cicadas before autumn arrived, and they nicknamed you Cicada.”

“It’s all just rumor, Teacher. You can’t take it seriously.”

“Don’t play dumb with me. If I hadn’t backed you through all those incidents, you’d have been taken out long ago, richest man or not.”

“Teacher Chen Pi, of course I know that. What exactly do you want to ask? Just get to the point.”

“Fine. Xia Chong, you’ve always been uncannily accurate. Why did you come up with such a contradictory and clearly mistaken plan this time? You’ve never made a mistake like this before.”

Xia Chong fell silent.

Only after two or three minutes did he finally speak.

“I don’t know.”

Chenpi glared at him fiercely.

“Teacher, I’m not lying to you. When there was something I couldn’t tell you before, my answer was ‘I can’t say.’ But this time, I genuinely don’t know. I’m confused myself.

“I’ve been staying home these past few days thinking about it. After turning it over again and again, I came to one conclusion: I wasn’t wrong, but a higher-dimensional variable had entered the equation, so the decision I made after changing the plan was still correct.”

“‘Higher-dimensional variable,’ my ass. Stop dressing it up with useless nonsense and speak plainly.”

“It means that my original plan was correct, and modifying that plan now is also correct. Everything happening at present is one part of what is ‘correct.’”

Chenpi seemed to realize something and stopped pressing him.

“Fine, Xia Chong. We’ve finished discussing serious matters. Now let’s talk about something small.”

“What would you like to discuss, Teacher?”

Chenpi smiled and rubbed three fingers together.

“Your teacher has been so broke lately that I can hear the wind whistling through my pockets. As your disciple, shouldn’t you… well?”

Xia Chong wore the helpless expression of someone thinking, I knew it would end like this.

Chen Miemie said goodbye to the Yi siblings and hurried back to the shop.

“Everyone, come over here. Meeting time!”

In an instant, the strange beings crowded around him.

“What’s so urgent? We didn’t find any new information while we were out today.”

Chen Miemie was extremely excited.

“You all saw it. Xia Chong founded the [Everlasting Moon] Chamber of Commerce using the documents I gave him, and now the chamber is rolling in money!”

Most of the strange beings had little interest in wealth.

They didn’t think that “owning a gigantic shopping center” was particularly exciting at all.

So Chen Miemie tried putting it another way.

“From now on, whenever we go to that shopping center, we can take whatever we want.”

“Wow~”

“That’s great~”

“Awesome!”

Only then did the strange beings get into the spirit of things, erupting into cheers.

After the commotion died down, Chen Miemie noticed a suspicious point.

“If Cicada is Xia Chong, why would he want to demolish this street?”

Qinghua and Loop exchanged glances and came up with the most likely answer.

“Miemie, the documents on the city’s major events that you obtained from Silence that day contained a detailed and objective record of the Forbidden Book Hall’s development over the past several decades. That included the Fairy Tale Street demolition project.”

An exclamation mark seemed to stand upright above Chen Miemie’s head.

“What? How come I didn’t know that?”

“The document was too thick. You probably didn’t read it carefully.”

Chen Miemie looked at his companions around him.

“So, according to that, Cicada decided to demolish Fairy Tale Street because of the documents I gave him?”

Qinghua nodded.

“Because of me, Cicada decided to demolish this place?”

Loop nodded.

“So I’m the one who wanted to demolish my own shop?!”

Bobo nodded.