Game of Deception Chapter 120: Chairman Gao Song

Ming Po also knew that Gao Fan's silence was rely superficial.

In truth, he had never forgotten about it. Perhaps he had been brooding over it all along.

When Ming Po had asked about Gao Fan's wish, deciding to carry the initial desire that brought him into the Ga of Deception, Gao Fan's answer was to "resurrect his parents."

And now...

Ever since eting Virgil, Gao Fan's mood had been sowhat off.

He had started acting strangely right after hearing that his company was defeated by Paradoxical Technology.

"Do you suspect that a Deceiver of the World murdered your parents?"

Ming Po lowered his hand and gently patted Gao Fan's shoulder. "Right?

"Because a Deceiver of the World targeted your company, you think maybe they used underhanded business tactics, just like the Red Queen?"

"Besides, it's highly suspicious that your father didn't take his driver on that particular day."

This sounded a lot like the hallmark of a Deceiver's assassination.

Because the Deceiver of the World had passed the Preliminary Match, traces of their past murders would manifest in the current tiline in a "reasonable" way.

Those baffling and illogical deaths were almost always like this. Take Gao Fan, for instance—he clearly had his secretary acting as his driver, yet he supposedly drove drunk and plumted off a cliff. The common thread was that the victims never struggled or resisted when these "strange deaths" befell them.

Gao Fan rely nodded, then shook his head.

His expression was complex as he slowly began, "I thought so too... but then I felt it was unlikely.

"If my parents were murdered, it ans the killer ford causality with them. But if causality was established, my parents wouldn't have beco Wronged Dead... and in that case, their cause of death seems suspicious again. Furthermore, based on what I know about them, if they did beco Wronged Dead, they definitely would have beco outstanding Deceivers of the World.

"Yet... they never ca to find ."

That didn't add up.

"I recall..."

Ming Po frowned slightly. "There's no rule among Deceivers of the World stating that the dead cannot return to see the living, right?"

"Yeah, as long as you pay the chips, you can do whatever you want."

Gao Fan nodded gently. "If the continuous Manifestation lasts long enough, even having a child with a living person isn't an issue. Once the pregnancy is confird, the child won't be 'confiscated' even after the Manifestation ends."

Conversely, if Gao Fan's parents had beco Deceivers of the World, they would have had no reason not to seek him out. After all, Gao Fan had been orphaned in elentary school.

What parent wouldn't be heartbroken?

With their family company under attack by other Deceivers using Paradoxical Technology, they certainly wouldn't have surrendered the initiative so easily if they were still alive.

Unless...

Gao Fan's parents had already died in the Ga of Deception.

But if they were deliberately targeted and murdered, they shouldn't have entered the Ga of Deception at all—only the innocently implicated Wronged Dead could enter the ga.

It was precisely his inability to figure this out that kept Gao Fan silent.

Seeing Gao Fan still lost in thought, Ming Po scoffed. "Hmph."

He got up from the sofa and walked toward the inner room.

Ai Shiping instinctively followed.

However, as Ming Po reached the doorway, he stopped and shot him a warning glance.

'Does this an... he's telling not to follow?' Ai Shiping thought.

'Boss, could you just say sothing? I'm not exactly confident in my ability to interpret your eye contact!'

'Are you not closing the door?'

'Hello?'

'Should I close the door?'

Ignoring Ai Shiping, Ming Po entered the room and pulled out his phone.

He dialed the number Virgil had given him not long ago—her contact information.

It wasn't a standard eleven-digit phone number, but rather one with six extra digits at the beginning.

It was a seventeen-digit number starting with 3.

Even though there was neither internet nor signal in the world of the dead where they currently resided, this number could actually dial out!

This was exactly the special ability of the Treasure, Ghost Call.

The phone rang only once before it was answered.

"What is it, sir?"

Virgil teased, "We just parted ways... Miss that much?"

This was different from when they discussed serious business.

In private, Virgil seed much more uninhibited.

"Since we signed the Watch and Assist Protocol..."

Ming Po asked straightforwardly, "Am I allowed to borrow Heavenly Query to look up information on soone?"

Hearing it was business, Virgil grew a bit more serious.

"So things are allowed, but information like the location of an Anchor Point or the Treasures they hold are practically impossible for us to look up. Other things require purchase."

Her voice was calm, accompanied by the sound of her clicking sothing open with a mouse. "Why don't you tell what you need to look up first?"

"My companion, Gao Fan... you should know him. Were his parents killed by a Deceiver of the World?"

Ming Po asked.

"Hold on."

After Virgil spoke, Ming Po heard the slight clatter of the phone being placed on a desk.

This was imdiately followed by the rapid clack of typing, reminiscent of mahjong tiles being shuffled.

About a dozen seconds later, the phone was picked up again.

"Yes."

Virgil answered simply and clearly.

Just as he thought.

Ming Po understood.

"How many chips to buy information on the killer?"

Ming Po spoke slowly, simultaneously putting the phone on speaker.

"What a dedicated captain you are..."

Virgil's tone relaxed once more. She teased again, "Call big sister, and I'll give it to you for free. How about that?"

"Just give the quote."

"Such a prudish bore..."

Virgil complained softly. "Anyway, I'll give it to you for free this ti. Don't misunderstand, it's not a newbie discount...

"It's because he belongs to a hostile organization—the Chinese Chamber of Comrce. They are actually an illegal Deceiver organization that collectively refused to sign the Watch and Assist Protocol.

"If it were a Deceiver who had joined the Watch Mutual Aid Organization, his information would be expensive. It would require not just chips, but rits for the exchange. However, if it's an individual who refuses to sign the Watch and Assist Protocol, their intel is discounted to thirty percent. If it's an organization that refuses, their intel is discounted to ten percent.

"And if it's an organization placed on our blacklist for maliciously sabotaging operations... their intel is completely free until they are removed from the blacklist."

"...I understand."

Hearing Virgil's answer, Ming Po nodded slowly, a profound look in his eyes.

Virgil's underlying ssage was that since the other party had ssed with them, his intel was free.

This was probably why the Watch Mutual Aid Organization—despite having no clear internal benefits, no structured military, and a rule requiring all mbers to expose their information—could still beco a massive organization for mid-to-lower tier Deceivers of the World.

Even though the Watch Mutual Aid Organization wouldn't deploy forces to encircle and attack other organizations, refusing to sign the Watch and Assist Protocol ant that anyone could buy your intel for an extrely low price.

"The feedback from Heavenly Query is out," Virgil read from the intel. "The entity that killed the birth parents of the Deceiver 'Lucky Escapee' Gao Fan on June 25, 2010, has been confird to currently be a Deceiver of the World.

"Their Title is 'Lucky Parasitic Silver Crown'. Na: Gao Song. Current identity: Chairman of the Gaotian Construction Group. ID number: 310... Beca a Wronged Dead and passed the Preliminary Match in April 2010. Authority level changed to Day's False Gold in July 2010. Authority level changed to Zhou's Azure Lead in January 2020."

Ming Po blinked.

Promoted to Day's False Gold in three months, yet... it took ten years to beco Zhou's Azure Lead?

He didn't sound strong at all.

However...

"...Gao Song?"

Ming Po murmured softly.

He did indeed rember this na.

This was the na he saw when he had looked up Gao Fan previously.

Gao Fan himself was the Vice Chairman of Gaotian Construction Group, and this Chairman... looked to be in his fifties. Judging by his age, he was perhaps one of Little Fan's uncles.

But that didn't make sense.

If the Chairman of Gaotian Construction Group was the one who killed his father, why was Gaotian Construction Group being heavily battered by Paradoxical Technology? And how did he kill his own younger brother without being tainted by causality, allowing him to beco a Wronged Dead?

Despite acquiring this crucial intelligence, Ming Po only felt more confused.

"...Are you sure it found the right person?"

Ming Po asked hesitantly.

"Of course!"

Virgil sounded a bit displeased.

She was clearly quite confident in Heavenly Query.

"Heavenly Query is one of the ultimate masterpieces of our Divine Cody. The defining feature of this computer is that it doesn't need to acquire all the information—as long as it obtains the majority of the intel, it can directly calculate the rest.

"By capturing the characteristic of the sa existence being 'simultaneously present in the history of every possibility,' it can completely bypass intelligence gathering and analysis to capture a priori information. When its data is complete, the machine's accuracy approaches absolute perfection—and it is currently in a state of data completeness.

"It even possesses a special property that gives it absoluteness within adjacent tilines, much like a Deceiver of the World. Even if soone went back in ti, they wouldn't be able to alter any answers it has already given."

"...And so?"

"Any answer clearly given by Heavenly Query is guaranteed to be correct. Heavenly Query will not report uncertain information."

Virgil provided an exceedingly definitive answer. "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up now. I'm quite busy over here, crazy little bro."

"Thanks, Virgil."

Ming Po said, pausing before he added, "I'll treat you to a drink soti."

"Then I'll be waiting."

Virgil's tone was brisk.

Ming Po turned off his phone screen and looked up toward the doorway.

Gao Fan was standing there. He had arrived at so unknown point, his lips pursed as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.

Actually, Ming Po had noticed his arrival from the start.

That was exactly why he had switched the phone to speakerphone just now.

"What do you think, Little Fan?"

Ming Po asked softly.