Original Suspense Novel: "ℬ𝓁𝒾𝓏𝓏𝒶𝓇𝒹 ℳ𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓇" EP41

Then there was a very faint sigh, almost inaudible. Then a child's voice said, "Grandpa, who are you talking to?" End of recording. The lobby was so quiet you could hear everyone's heartbeat. Chen Mo stood there, the palace of memories in his mind reeling wildly. That child's voice—he recognized it. It was his own voice, from a night eighteen years ago, standing in a certain room, asking an old man. And now he stood here, in the snowy night of eighteen years later, surrounded by people connected to Fog Valley. Everyone had a secret, and everyone had been drawn here. He suddenly understood. "This seminar was a sham from the beginning," Chen Mo said. "Zhang Zhenyu didn't gather us all here for a meeting. He brought us together—because a ritual in Fog Valley back then required six specific people to stand in specific positions." He looked at Lin Jing's relationship map, the direction of those five ropes. "Our pasts, the six of us, were already arranged. The disappearances in Neihu, Director Zhou's suppressed report, Commander Fang's assault, Dr. Shen's foundation, Xu Ziqian's land—it was all the same thread. Someone moved us into this position as if playing chess." "Who?" Fang Guodong asked. Chen Mo closed his eyes. In the palace of memories, the figure in black reappeared. Tall and thin, shoulders hunched forward, dragging his right foot. He had seen this figure—the moment he entered, at dinner, when everyone shook hands. He opened his eyes. (To be continued)