Chapter Forty-Eight: Casting the Bait

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Lin Yilin sat neatly on a small stool, watching the man named Teng Jun sitting on the floor before her.

“Mr. Teng Jun, in your request posted on the Xixi Koko Mutual Help website, you mentioned that you are in mortal danger and seeking assistance. Could you please describe the situation in detail?” Lin Yilin began her routine inquiry.

Teng Jun rubbed his beard-covered chin and said, “As you can see, miss, I’m just an individual running a small shoe-selling business.”

“Selling counterfeit shoes,” Lin Yilin added.

Teng Jun glanced at her in surprise.

Lin Yilin motioned with her hand, “Please don’t take offense. It’s quite obvious—anyone familiar with the materials and details of branded shoes can tell just by looking at your shop.”

She skillfully began to apply subtle pressure on her client.

Zheng Fan wandered around the store, familiarizing himself with the well-known shoe brands in the capital.

His requirements for shoes were very low—basically, as long as they fit. Yet, as far as he knew, many in the centipede community had different pursuits for shoes.

Some bought them not only to wear but also for collection.

One’s hobbies are beyond reproach, after all. Compared to Zheng Fan’s thrill-seeking hobby, which was low-tier enough to require a waiting list, others’ interests were far more refined.

“Banner, Siso, Kaisting, strange brand logos… Hey, this pair looks pretty good,” Zheng Fan remarked as he examined each one.

Meanwhile, Lin Yilin continued her questioning: “Sir, the shoes on your feet don’t belong to any brand. The materials seem ordinary. Judging by how you move your feet, either your socks aren’t worn properly or the shoes don’t fit well. You’re quite disheveled overall, but these shoes remain clean. You’ve been wearing them for a long time now. Are these shoes the source of your recent nightmares?”

“Yes, yes!” Teng Jun swallowed hard. Lin Yilin’s words and her cold, condescending gaze weighed heavily on him, yet his trust in her steadily grew through the conversation.

“I regularly need to restock inventory at a nearby shoe factory. More than a week ago, when I was there, I saw these shoes. I noticed their logo.”

“The mysterious Fantasy Shoes brand,” Lin Yilin said. As a shoe dealer, she was somewhat familiar with rumors about these fantasy shoes.

Teng Jun nodded: “When I realized it, I thought I could make a profit. I secretly took this pair, planning to sell them when the time was right.”

“But the following days nearly drove me mad.”

“Just carrying these shoes, walking on the street, I often heard footsteps around me, even when no one was there. At first, I thought I was being followed, but as I quickened my pace, the footsteps sped up and grew more frequent…”

Zheng Fan looked up and interrupted, “Normally, anyone would just throw those shoes away, right?”

Lin Yilin nodded faintly.

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Teng Jun stared at his shoes and said, “I wanted to toss them away, but on my way home, I found a message in the circle about a pair with the same logo selling for a high price. That made me change my mind. I thought I just had to sell them quickly…”

“So I was exhausted and fell asleep that day. When I woke up the next morning… the shoes were already back on my feet.”

Teng Jun spoke blankly, as if muttering to himself, “I can’t take them off, and I can’t sell them. The strange noises, hallucinations, and delusions are wearing me down…”

“Why not try cutting them off? Even if it means cutting off your foot,” Zheng Fan offered a surprisingly pragmatic suggestion.

Lin Yilin silently took notes and then asked, “How have the symptoms progressed recently?”

“The same, no major change so far.”

“So the life-threatening danger is…”

“Someone’s after me.” Teng Jun opened his phone and handed it to Lin Yilin.

Lin Yilin leaned in to see an anonymous email.

“I want the shoes on your feet. Even if I have to cut off your leg, I’ll take those shoes,” she read aloud. Teng Jun hurriedly put away his phone.

Seeing this, Lin Yilin asked, “Has this person already come after you?”

“At first, I didn’t take it seriously and continued running my shop and going out. I was troubled about how to get these shoes off. But one night, amid the noisy footsteps around me, I sensed something… abnormal. A strange premonition. When I turned around, a weird-looking man attacked me!” Teng Jun’s voice trembled.

“Describe his appearance.”

“A man, I guess, taller than me, strong build, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants… Mainly his face—no eyebrows or hair, eyes without whites, with a fake smile like a mannequin. I felt he wasn’t human… a monster in human skin! Luckily, I escaped. One of the few benefits of these shoes is that they make me run fast…” Teng Jun’s voice quivered as he recalled the terror.

Lin Yilin remained cold and indifferent.

Zheng Fan seemed to remember something.

After Teng Jun finished, Lin Yilin said, “I understand the general situation now. What exactly do you want us to do?”

“Exactly what I want…” Teng Jun blanked for a moment before pleading, “Please help me take off these shoes! I don’t want them! I shouldn’t have touched them!”

Lin Yilin shrugged and raised her hand: “Please stay calm, Mr. Teng Jun.”

It took many attempts before he truly calmed down.

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“The shoes can’t be removed for now because you’ve already been marked,” Lin Yilin said.

“It’s… it’s hallucination!” Teng Jun’s face instantly went pale as if sentenced to death.

“Most likely, yes. But please remain calm. I will help you take off these shoes eventually. Now, let’s talk about the payment.”

“I’ll pay anything! All my money!” Teng Jun said.

Once everything was settled, Lin Yilin told Teng Jun to calm himself while she inspected his shop and the residence behind it.

“Lin Yilin, I just remembered something,” Zheng Fan said.

“Hm?”

“That man appeared at the Banmu Office this morning. He sneaked in through the back door and seemed to be cooperating with some studio,” Zheng Fan recounted what he saw earlier.

“How did it feel to see the ‘hallucination man’ in person?”

“Well, he’s definitely not a hallucination,” Zheng Fan replied without hesitation. “He’s a person, though I don’t know how he became like that. He was wearing shoes just like those.”

“A bait that struggles desperately so the fish will bite more enthusiastically…” Lin Yilin remarked.

“What do you mean?”

“A bait-type hallucination. After it first invades, it spreads bait—creating objects like fantasy items for people to obtain and enjoy, making them forget themselves. But in doing so, it deeply marks them. Once developed enough, it returns to harvest, resulting in a pair of ‘shoes’ that fit perfectly in both function and compatibility.”

“Great idea,” Zheng Fan said, slapping one palm with the other, feeling inspired.

Lin Yilin lowered her gaze silently at Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan smiled, “Just kidding, go on. So why would one marked bait hunt another?”

“Some bait-type hallucinations use a parasitic approach, forcing marked targets to fight each other to promote growth. This shoe hallucination probably works that way. But this request isn’t difficult; the clues are clear,” Lin Yilin said with a relatively relaxed tone.

She glanced at her phone. “However… it’s late; work hours are over. I’ll tidy up a bit more tonight when I get home.”