Chapter 1176: The Invisible Hand

“Those people just changed their looks, right?” Zhou Wen asked with an odd expression.

Nameless Dugu shook his head and said, “I thought so too at the beginning, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t the case. Those orphans had those faces from the very beginning. They did not undergo any plastic surgery. They naturally had those looks.”

“That’s impossible…” Zhou Wen felt a chill run down his spine.

If it was plastic surgery, it would be understandable. It was simply producing certain people via operating.

However, if they hadn’t undergone plastic surgery, how could Dugu Qianqiu be sure that they would look identical to a certain important figure when they grew up?

“I thought it impossible as well, but ever since then, I’ve been secretly paying attention to those orphans. I realized that as long as the orphan existed, I would be able to find a corresponding person of status outside. Even if they weren’t to be found, they were bound to appear in the future. Among them, there were a few orphans who didn’t have a corresponding person of status when they were young. However, when they grew up, there were people who looked like them who rose to prominence…”

Zhou Wen became increasingly horrified. He tried his best to think of a reasonable possibility. “Could it be that your brother raised twins separately and supported one of them to become a person of status while raising the other in the orphanage?”

“Among those famous people, there were many of them who were members of the six families. Do you think it’s possible to obtain so many twins?” Nameless Dugu asked.

Zhou Wen thought for a moment and found it a little unrealistic.

How could he get so many twins? Furthermore, all of them became famous eventually. Even an elite academy couldn’t guarantee that everyone that pa.s.sed through their gates would become elites, much less raise so many twins. It was too difficult to guarantee that all of them would become top figures in different fields.

However, other than that, Zhou Wen really couldn’t think of any other reasonable explanation.

To raise orphans from a young age and have famous people who resembled these orphans after they reached adulthood, there were only two possibilities. If they weren’t twins, could it be that Dugu Qianqiu had the ability to predict the future?

Were the experts from the former princ.i.p.al’s expedition team replaced by these orphans?

The more Zhou Wen thought about it, the more he found it strange. He asked, “Among those orphans, was there an expert named Chu He…”

Zhou Wen recounted the situation regarding the experts in the expedition team, hoping to know if the expedition team had been replaced by the orphans.

“Probably,” said Nameless Dugu after some thought.

“What do you mean probably?” Zhou Wen was puzzled.

Nameless Dugu sighed and said, “After I discovered this secret, I thought of a way to secretly restrain Qianqiu and imprison him. I wanted to know the details from him, but he refused to say a word. After I imprisoned him, I went to the orphanage, hoping to bring back the orphans, but I realized that the orphanage had been burned to ashes. The orphans were also gone. They were nowhere to be seen. No corpses were found, and I never saw them again.”

“Your brother had been imprisoned in s.h.i.+nra Temple ever since?” Zhou Wen asked after some thought.

“Yes, I didn’t know what crazy things he was plotting, so I didn’t release him,” said Nameless Dugu.

“When was that?” Zhou Wen asked again.

“Forty years ago.” Nameless Dugu gave a rough number.

Zhou Wen did some calculations. Among the experts, there were young professors in their twenties to their seventies. It was difficult to infer anything from the time.

“You never saw those orphans again?” Zhou Wen had too many questions on his mind.

“No. Even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to recognize them,” Nameless Dugu gave an odd answer.

Zhou Wen understood what he meant. If the orphans appeared as impersonations, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

“Your brother didn’t say a word despite being imprisoned for so many years?” Zhou Wen wanted to get to the bottom of things.

“No, he didn’t say anything. No matter how I tried to get it out of him, he kept mum. However, according to my observations, this matter has something to do with the Trajectory Holy Temple,” said Nameless Dugu.

Zhou Wen felt that it made sense. All the anomalies had begun after Dugu Qianqiu returned from the Trajectory Holy Temple. There was no way Zhou Wen would believe that this matter had nothing to do with the Trajectory Holy Temple.

Nameless Dugu continued, “Later on, I also sent quite a number of disciples from the Dugu family into the Trajectory Holy Temple, but they didn’t gain anything. Or perhaps they obtained something without my knowledge.”

Zhou Wen knew what Nameless Dugu was worried about. He also didn’t know if the Dugu family had such an orphan or if someone had long been replaced.

Zhou Wen found it terrifying just thinking about it. A person who had a very good relations.h.i.+p with his family and friends was suddenly swapped without anyone knowing. It was a terrifying idea.

Furthermore, the people who were replaced by the orphans were basically experts and top talents in various fields.

Just the thought of it sent a chill down Zhou Wen’s spine.

Nameless Dugu mentioned a few more matters, some pertaining to Unkilling Dugu. He was a genius, a rare genius of the Dugu family. Unfortunately, his Life Providence was the G.o.d of Unkilling, so he could only remain ordinary.

However, geniuses were unwilling to be ordinary. That was why Unkilling Dugu had tried his best to resolve the problem of his Life Providence. For some reason, Unkilling Dugu learned of Dugu Qianqiu and even communicated with him. He took advantage of the Dugu family’s grand ceremony to rush into the s.h.i.+nra Temple to inherit Dugu Qianqiu’s power.

Zhou Wen gained a rough understanding of all that had happened, but he became even more puzzled.

According to what Nameless Dugu had said, those orphans were nurtured by Dugu Qianqiu. However, Dugu Qianqiu had been imprisoned here for so many years. Who was controlling those babies behind the scenes?

Trajectory Holy Temple, Dugu Qianqiu, orphans, expedition team… What’s the connection?

Zhou Wen felt as though an invisible hand was secretly controlling everything.

The Dugu family used special means to quickly contact Worm Dugu. Thankfully, Li Xuan was with him.

Upon hearing that Zhou Wen was looking for him, Li Xuan said that he would rush back immediately and requested Zhou Wen to wait for him for two days.

However, Zhou Wen couldn’t afford to wait. After asking where Li Xuan and company were, he used spatial teleportation to rush over.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away. Even without Tsukuyomi, Zhou Wen could still teleport over with Ya’er and company. However, he needed them to enter the Chaos Bead first.

After meeting Li Xuan at the designated location, he realized that Li Xuan hadn’t changed much. He still appeared frivolous, but he physically looked more mature.

“Old Zhou, it’s been five years, but you still aren’t as handsome as me.” Li Xuan walked over and hugged Zhou Wen.

Zhou Wen felt that Li Xuan’s aura was very strange. It was different from the creatures he had seen in the past, but it wasn’t purely human. However, he was certain that Li Xuan was very strong.

“I need your help,” Zhou Wen said to Li Xuan.

“Let’s go,” Li Xuan said with a smile.

“It’s very dangerous. It might cost you your life. Give it some thought,” Zhou Wen said.

“Since you came to me, it means that I’m the only one who can do this, isn’t that so?” Li Xuan said with a smile.

“I still have a backup plan,” Zhou Wen said.

“Enough of that. It’s not like I don’t understand you. Let’s go,” Li Xuan said with a smile.