Chapter 38: Truth Within Reach
The entire world was silent.
It was as if even the light from the chandelier hanging in the apartment lobby had been frozen at this moment. With such great power, Ian felt he should have anticipated that it was not an authority an ordinary Grim Reaper could possess.
This was perhaps all due to his intelligence attribute not being high enough, causing him to be unable to bear his own wisdom, so his wisdom would always fall into intermittent malfunction at non-critical times.
Just as Ian felt regret in his heart.
The fake Tessa’s black-and-white eyes had narrowed slightly, staring at him. Her brows furrowed as if trying to twist herself from an eighteen-year-old little sister into a twenty-eight-year-old big sister.
Ian’s heart skipped a beat again. Since he had already determined that the other was a big shot, when he spoke this time, he pondered for a moment before making a probing inquiry.
“You look like you’re in a bad mood?”
Ian knew that now was definitely not the time to expose the other’s lie—no matter how old the woman was, she would fly into a rage when her lie was exposed.
“Could it be… that the Grim Reaper also has those few days every month?”
He was very clear that his strength couldn’t afford to provoke a hopping mad big shot, but fortunately his emotional intelligence was high enough to know that he should play dumb at this time.
Ian brought out the acting skills Madison had taught him.
However.
The fake Tessa’s expression upon hearing this was somewhat stiff.
“Do you think you’re very humorous?”
Her voice sounded like it was squeezed out from between her teeth.
“Ah?”
Ian blinked, looking somewhat bewildered. Seeing this, fake Tessa took a deep breath, trying to maintain her demeanor; she even looked up and rubbed her temples.
It wasn’t that her head really hurt.
Rather, if her hands weren’t occupied, she feared she would slap Ian to death with one palm—that would really be terrible; she truly didn’t want this guy staying by her side.
“Just a few hours, and I’ve already sensed you infinitely approaching death several times… you were even just conducting an investigation, impossible to encounter any danger.”
Fake Tessa voiced her confusion, which was perhaps also the reason she had come to find Ian again so soon after; during Ian’s several curse triggers, she had seen things that were hard for her to understand.
“The city I live in is Metropolis, with Gotham right next door; of course it’s full of danger when out and about.” Ian blinked, trying to cutely muddle through.
However.
“You’re not telling the truth, I can feel it… yes, you’re drawing strength from near-death states.” As expected, the older the woman, the sharper her eyesight.
She had clearly deduced Ian’s situation.
However.
Perhaps the system’s status was still above hers; she had only made the judgment by observing Ian, so her tone when speaking still carried some uncertainty.
“What can I say.”
Ian also realized that even a big shot like this one seemed unable to see through his biggest secret. While looking thoughtful, he began a somewhat vague explanation.
“MacArthur said, death never misses, but humans always find loopholes.” Ian’s voice was righteous, pinching his throat to imitate that old general’s tone.
“？？？？”
Fake Tessa was confused again.
“Wasn’t that said by Morpheus?”
She eyed the youth in front of her with suspicion.
“Oh, alright, you caught me, so say Morpheus said it… MacArthur’s quotes aren’t short one sentence.” There was no masking the regret on Ian’s face.
“Looks like you know not only Death, but also Sandman.” Fake Tessa narrowed her eyes meaningfully, her gaze as if to see through Ian’s soul.
Ian did not avoid it.
He nodded, enduring the dizziness from meeting her gaze.
“I’ll figure out your secret sooner or later.” Fake Tessa wasn’t angry because of this; instead, she suddenly smiled, as if discovering something interesting.
Her reaction also made the corners of Ian’s mouth curve slightly. Truth be told, compared to those who liked to act like a prophet in front of ordinary people, then instantly cower and hide when facing big shots, Ian preferred not to deliberately conceal. Of course, he had indeed racked his brains a bit on this aspect.
Those powerful existences, if they wanted to know something, could scour a person’s soul in minutes; no matter how cautious, could an ordinary person’s soul hide from existences that had lived countless years?
Ian’s 【Reverse Blood Furnace】 had already been noticed!
Forget whether there were any slips; the more one frolicked, the more attention meant inevitable risk. And to gain long-term immortality boost, Ian couldn’t avoid dealing with the big shot in front of him.
Gains and risks are always proportional. Because of this, Ian didn’t want to live in constant trepidation. He recalled his first meeting with the big shot in front of him; he had mentioned information he shouldn’t have known then, yet his secret hadn’t been discovered by her afterward.
This either meant she didn’t want to search his memory, or… she couldn’t search his memory. Knowing she wouldn’t give him a chance to save someone without reason, Ian leaned toward the latter.
With such judgment.
He had gambled again in a probing way this time.
And facts proved.
The Metropolis Gambler’s value was still rising. In the DC universe, not many knew Sandman’s identity, and a female big shot with no reverence for Sandman was self-evident!
DC universe ultimate concept, like Sandman, a member of the Endless Family—Death! With this small gamble, Ian verified his idea.
“The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish; I should comb a big slicked-back hair for myself too.” Ian gave himself a thumbs-up in his heart; his expression made the fake “Grim Reaper” female big shot feel even more inexplicable.
However.
Regarding this, fake Tessa didn’t inquire; she had serious business to discuss.
“I remember I told you, you can only rely on yourself for this matter, right?” Whether the fake Grim Reaper didn’t know Ian’s situation yet, or simply didn’t care if Ian saw through the truth.
She acted as if she hadn’t noticed Ian’s acting at all.
“Big Sister, take a good look, look at my face… does it look like a noob dog’s face?” Ian wanted to euphemistically indicate he couldn’t handle trouble even Superman couldn’t fix.
“If you keep pissing me off like this, you probably won’t need to worry about whether you’re a noob anymore.” Fake Tessa glared at Ian with an annoyed gaze, grinding her teeth.
“Got it.”
Ian chose to shut up.
Fake Tessa stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to glance at Kara, who was in a frozen state and had shown slight anomaly not long ago; her black-and-white eyes carried some complexity.
“Not following the rules, I originally wanted to teach you a harsh lesson, but you’ve shown me some unusual situation.” Fake Tessa’s voice paused slightly.
As if weighing something.
“You can ask her for help, but only this one.” Fake Tessa made her decision, her tone brooking no question or rebuttal, leaving Ian stunned on the spot like struck by lightning.
“Not insured enough? Let me find one more—no, two!” Ian tried to bargain; he had already made his plan, but unexpectedly it would face collapse.
First find Supergirl who wouldn’t harm Superman, then use Supergirl’s connection to ask The Flash, and use The Flash’s connection to find Wonder Woman—what a perfect personal connections management plan!
The client directly rejected it?
Does she even understand proposals and plans!
Facing Ian’s unwillingness.
Fake Tessa, on the other hand, showed no emotional fluctuation like before.
“Believe me, tacitly allowing this behavior is already very risky for me.” Her tone was low, carrying some inexplicable meaning, even revealing a bit of fatigue.
“Why is it very risky?”
Ian was very surprised and greatly puzzled.
Regarding this.
Fake Tessa gave no response.
“Our cards are really few; every loss will be irreparable.” She just sighed, played Riddler for once, turned, and stepped out the door, disappearing directly.
Ian felt the big shot’s words contained heavyweight information.
However.
Before he could sort out a clue.
The world resumed its often-paused operation.
