Being the Wife of a Fluffy Creature [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The First World (14)

From any perspective, the police and the True Knowledge Society should have been enemies.

Although the police had detained Wu Yao, they had never harmed him. Everything they did was aimed at preventing the public from learning the truth.

The True Knowledge Society, on the other hand, held regular dog-fighting matches, handed out apples in crowded areas, and invited townsfolk to join their organization, their purpose clearly being to expose the truth. How could two organizations with diametrically opposed goals be on the same side?

Based on that logic, Wu Yao had made a calculated decision to bring the police into the mix. With his own abilities, Wu Yao could have dismantled this flawed underground venue single-handedly. But this wasn’t an assassination mission, it was a victim-rescue operation on someone else’s turf.

The True Knowledge Society likely had hidden muscle on-site, and the victims were highly susceptible to dying in the crossfire. Involving the police lowered the risk, and after the fact, if the Society retaliated, he could shift the blame to the police to alleviate his own pressure.

The police weren’t reliable, they were riddled with suspicion, but they were, at best, “lawful neutral.” Wu Yao didn’t need a righteous police force; he needed a disposable tool that dreamed of destroying the True Knowledge Society. Above the police was the Mayor.

A man who could control the monsters of Paradise Island and possessed a mysterious identity; he was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, the Mayor’s goals aligned with the police, he wouldn’t kill ordinary citizens easily. High risk, but low immediate threat.

Tonight’s operation was critical to his mission progress and his wallet. Every decision Wu Yao made had been carefully considered. Until one minute ago, he hadn’t realized that his plan had a massive, potentially fatal flaw: Information.

Organizing known facts, inferring the unknown, and filtering through layers of analysis, every plan and arrangement had been built upon “information.” But until now, every piece of intelligence each of them held was wrong. Paradise Island had no surveillance; the only person who could grasp the full picture and hold accurate intelligence was the Mayor.

The police, led by Officer Qin, were struggling to hide the dark side of the town. In their eyes, the Mayor was on their side, both wanting to maintain the peace and stability of Paradise Island. They obtained the Society’s next moves from the Mayor, and he would even provide “live broadcasts” of what the Society was doing.

But it was a selective broadcast. When the Mayor needed the police to stop the Society, he would provide information in advance. When he didn’t want the police to interfere with his plans, the officers—no matter how hard they floored the gas, would always arrive a step too late.

The True Knowledge Society appeared to be an independent organization, but in reality, they were a tool pushed out by the Mayor to act as a scapegoat. They handled the dirty work the police couldn’t do and the Mayor shouldn’t do—running fighting rings, silencing witnesses. When necessary, they were used to distract the public and redirect hatred.

Upon realizing Wu Yao was a dangerous variable, the Mayor had used all his standard tactics on him. On their first day, Wu Yao had confronted the Mayor to protect Wu Shi Yi, and both had taken a step back. Wu Yao kept his word, staying quietly at home with Wu Shi Yi, but the Mayor had not.

When Uncle Wang’s gang kidnapped Wu Yao, they had inadvertently leaked three pieces of information:

1. After this job, Uncle Wang would take his grandson and leave Paradise Island.

2. The Mayor forbade anyone from leaving the island.

3. Paradise Island was about to face a catastrophe, and no one would survive.

After Wang spoke, the Mayor had the monsters kill his accomplices. Wu Yao had subconsciously assumed the Mayor wanted to hide the third piece of information, but in reality, what had killed Wang’s accomplices was the most insignificant-looking first piece of information. It could be interpreted in two ways: either Wang would earn enough money to leave, or the Mayor would only allow Wang to leave after the job was done.

Wang’s subsequent reaction proved the second interpretation was correct. He was terrified by the death of his accomplices, kowtowing to the empty air and begging: “I promise I’ll never tell anyone else those things! Please spare me, I can still work for you.“

Wang was the boss of the trafficking ring; while he seemed only interested in money, he was actually working for the Mayor, a fact his accomplices hadn’t known. Wu Yao had a clean background; his only stain was stealing a fighting dog—he couldn’t be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

“Amnesia tea” had no effect on him, and sending him to the quarantine ward was pointless. Dealing with Wu Yao was “dirty work” the Mayor couldn’t do himself and the police couldn’t handle. Since the Society had just handed him a flyer, they weren’t convenient for the job either. Uncle Wang had become the perfect candidate.

He was a human trafficker; kidnapping Wu Yao was logical. Wu Yao could think of using apples to contact another world within a minute, he could protect a heavily wounded, unconscious Wu Shi Yi while surrounded by monsters, and he could pull various human organs out of his clothes. The target was far harder to deal with than an ordinary townsman, and Wang wasn’t exactly a reliable tool, so the Mayor had added several safety nets for him.

He first told Wang that Paradise Island was about to turn into a living hell. Then, using his instinct for survival and love for his grandson, he tricked Wang into thinking he would be freed once he dealt with Wu Yao. The events played out exactly as the Mayor had anticipated: once Wu Yao was drugged, Wang let his guard down and his mouth started running.

The piece of “shocking” news was just bait set by the Mayor. It successfully hooked Wu Yao, and even when Wang later practically revealed his connection to the Mayor, Wu Yao’s attention was inevitably diverted.

The Mayor’s order to Wang should have been to take him to the dog-fighting arena, either to turn him into a fighting dog like Wu Shi Yi, ensuring he’d never have a chance to speak again, or to cripple him with drugs and have him killed by fighting dogs like the other victims.

When Wang’s end of the plan went wrong, the Mayor immediately deployed his second line of defense: the True Knowledge Society. In that situation, if Wang were still sent to the arena, the first line of defense would have failed. The immediate crisis would have made Wu Yao snap back to reality and piece together the relationship between the Mayor, the arena, the Society, and Wang.

Therefore, the Society crashed Wang’s car, killed him to silence him, and pulled Wu Yao out of the car, giving him the chance to watch the Society “judge” Wang. By using a bizarre ritual to deepen his impression of the Society and then notifying the police to arrest them, the Mayor had successfully implanted a false set of camp information into Wu Yao’s mind.

From then on, no matter what Wu Yao did, he would be dancing in the palm of the Mayor’s hand, posing no threat to him. He could even take it a step further and turn Wu Yao into his own tool. In the chess piece’s perception, it was a knight, a bishop, or a pawn.

But their actions on the board, their endings, and their true roles were entirely controlled by the chess player. From the moment he walked into the dog-fighting arena, Wu Yao had stepped onto the Mayor’s chessboard.

The System naively believed that Wu Yao, Wu Shi Yi, and the victims would survive, since they had called the police in advance. It didn’t understand one thing: before long, the members of the True Knowledge Society would flood the arena.

Once the fight broke out here, the police would arrive right on cue to eliminate the Society members. As for whether innocent people would be accidentally killed in the crossfire? Nobody would know. After all, bullets have no eyes.

The System’s eyes went wide as it listened. “W-why…”

“Why is the Mayor so strong, yet he still feels the need to play games with me?” Wu Yao pressed his thin lips together, trying to find a way to break the board. “I don’t know what is restraining the Mayor, but I am certain he cannot directly harm the townspeople, unless they are no longer residents of the town.”

“I was puzzled when I was kidnapped: why were Wang and his men wearing protective suits? Any tenant in the apartment building could recognize Wang’s voice, and they even lifted their masks when talking to each other. If it wasn’t to hide their identities, what purpose did the suits serve?”

Wu Yao gripped the manager tightly, ordering the thugs to exit the room. The System slowly widened its eyes. “Ah…Hahaha, no way, right?”

“Correct. On Paradise Island, only monsters wear those suits. As long as Wang and his men voluntarily put on those clothes, they temporarily lose their status as townspeople, allowing the Mayor to silence them at any time. You can tell from Officer Xiao Liu and Officer Qin’s behavior that the police have independent thinking, they aren’t the Mayor’s puppets. They were tricked onto the chessboard just like me, and the same goes for the True Knowledge Society.”

Wu Yao paused, unable to help but take a deep breath. What an interesting little island, what a pathetic Mayor. A ruthless character skilled in calculation, capable of monitoring every corner, and commanding countless monsters.

He appeared to have completely conquered Paradise Island, yet he was bound hand and foot by invisible rules. Even a small-timer like Wang had to be deceived and coerced before he could be gotten rid of. As for why the Mayor had to resort to so many tricks, Wu Yao had already guessed: to cover up one lie, a liar is forced to concoct even more lies.

Beyond the bloody, cruel “inner world,” Paradise Island hid an even greater secret. A secret that posed a massive, fatal threat to the Mayor.

Wu Shi Yi clearly guessed that the arena would soon fall into a chaotic brawl. It had specifically dragged the socialite covered in luxury goods out of the crowd to use her background to pressure the police. It wanted to turn the chaos into a standoff between the Society and the police, which was their only chance at survival.

The plan had some feasibility, but not much. If forced to choose between the secret of Paradise Island and the lives of a few townspeople, the police would always choose the former. Officer Xiao Liu might want to save the victims, but his words carried no weight.

The translucent screen that popped up before him confirmed Wu Yao’s suspicions: “Congratulations, Host, you have triggered the side quest: ‘Dog Life is Precious'”

“Unfortunately, your puppy has fallen into a dead end again.”

“Time limit: five minutes”

The System spun in circles, frantically tossing the half-finished mannequin-head prop to Wu Yao. “What do we do, what do we do? We should have been more cautious! No, that’s not it! Everyone has been played—no matter where you get your information, it’s all wrong. Being cautious is useless!”

“We’re done for, this whole run was for nothing! What kind of garbage department is this? Xiao Yao, let’s quit! You’ve got the brains, I’ve got the tech, let’s go work for an Infinite Flow company. You can be a level designer, and I’ll make your props!”

Wu Yao blocked out the System’s noise.

What to do? He wanted to know the answer to that, too.

Under the shocked gazes of the thugs, Wu Yao pulled half a mannequin head out from his clothes. The head let out a shriek, opened its mouth, and began spraying blood, drenching the thugs’ faces. The burly thugs rolled their eyes back and nearly fainted on the spot.

The mental pollution from the prop was so strong that the thugs who were still guarding their benefactor scattered instantly. The arena manager had already fainted from terror the moment he saw the head.

Wu Yao stared blankly at the head in his hand, then looked around. A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind. Wu Yao hooked his lips, and a gentle, shallow smile appeared on his blood-stained face.

People are different from wooden chess pieces after all. He finally had a way to escape the board.