1651 Chapter 40

**Summary:**
In a small bar at the foot of the mountain, Wu Xie made a crucial phone call. The analysis from Fatty made him realize that things had not been right all along. After Fatty decided to come out of hiding, Wu Xie began to break the deadlock. He engaged in many strange actions that effectively influenced the “invisible monsters” around him. Soon, he discovered the influence of the Zhang family from Hong Kong and their possible motives.

The game truly began at this point. The appearance of a fake Wu Xie coming out of the snowy mountains further complicated the situation.

**1. Verification of the Zhang Family**
After falling to the ground, I used all my strength to roll over, trying to alleviate the pain in my forehead and nose. After rolling a few times, I suddenly realized that those two areas didn’t hurt at all; instead, it was my backside that was throbbing painfully from hitting the floor.

I let go of my hands and looked at the girl with confusion. She looked at me as if I were a useless person and said, “Is that all? You’re scared and this is how you act? Uncle, this person must be the real deal.”

“Not necessarily,” Zhang Longban said. “The tradition of the Wu family is to play dumb and eat the tiger. They all seem to get along with everyone, but no one can guess the calculations in their hearts.”

Listening to their conversation, I felt a bit embarrassed about my pitiful state on the ground. I stood up and said, “I am indeed Wu Xie. I don’t know what kind of person my previous generation was, but I admit I am a useless piece of work. I wonder why Mr. Zhang Longban brought me here?”

Zhang Longban looked surprised upon hearing this, which made me feel much more at ease. It seemed these people were not as emotionless as the Mute Bottle; the Zhang family members were not all wooden-headed.

“How do you know my name?” he asked.

I felt a rush of satisfaction. To regain the face I had just lost to that foul woman, I decided to act as if I understood everything. So, I said, “I know a lot more than that. Don’t think I’m unaware of your activities here.”

However, Zhang Longban did not continue to be surprised. One of the lamas began to speak: “What are you all doing?”

Zhang Longban signaled to the others, and I and the guy on the ground were dragged out of the lama’s room. I looked back and saw Zhang Longban sitting opposite the lama, seemingly ready to explain, as the door was appropriately closed.

I was dragged into the area where they conducted their activities in the lama temple. During this process, both of us were handcuffed.

I thought to myself: What will happen next? According to that girl, they indeed had suspicions about our authenticity. Now that we were both caught, how would they verify us? Surely they wouldn’t do a blood test to determine kinship, would they?

I wondered if my old man had already been tied up and was in their room.

Or maybe they would hold a quiz show, having interviewed many of my friends beforehand to collect questions, and then set up an intellectual competition in the room. The first question might be, “What gift did your mother give you when you were five years old?”

Damn it, how could I possibly remember what my mom gave me when I was five!

I felt uneasy and my mind was racing, but I wasn’t afraid; there was still a feeling that these people wouldn’t harm me, although I would definitely face some hardships. They dragged us into their dining hall, closing all the doors and windows. I saw that Zhang Longban had also come over, and all the Hong Kong people gathered here.

We were forced down and tied to chairs, and at that moment, the guy next to us finally calmed down. He groaned a few times, looked up and cursed, but the sharp pain immediately made him furrow his brows again. He looked at me and said, “You idiot, look at the mess you’ve caused!”

“It has nothing to do with me. First, your misfortune makes me happy; second, they set a trap to catch both of us. I walked into the trap myself, and you walked into it yourself too, so what right do you have to blame me?”

“If it weren’t for you being here, would I have fallen into the trap?”

“Why the hell are you trying to frame me? If you hadn’t framed me, none of this would have happened.”

“Who the hell framed you? Who the hell would frame you, you bastard—ah!”

He was halfway through his curse when a sound sliced through the air, and he, along with the chair, fell to the ground again. I turned to look, and Zhang girl was walking over with my slingshot, looking fierce. She said, “Are you done? If you keep shouting, I’ll hit you in other places.”

“Why do you only hit me and not him?” the guy on the ground yelled.

“You two look the same; how can I tell you apart?”

“You’re biased!”

I secretly laughed in my heart. Zhang girl looked amused too; she walked over to me and casually patted my face, saying, “Don’t say your aunt hasn’t taken care of you. I’ll give you a puff of smoke, and I’ll owe you a favor. If you keep shouting, I’ll share the love evenly.”

“Don’t get too close to them,” someone said from behind, “these two aren’t easy to deal with.”

Zhang Longban came over; he looked like he held a high position, and several people stepped back and fell silent. He took a chair and sat down in front of us, saying, “I’ve seen the faces of you two; one of you must be wearing a mask, and the one wearing the mask has been doing so for over twenty years, so the mask and the face have completely merged. One of you must have undergone facial bone surgery to better fit the mask. Moreover, one of you must have undergone leg bone surgery to adjust your height.

“However, the party that carried out the surgery completed it long before the plan was implemented to eliminate all traces. I believe this was done about twenty years ago. That is to say, the surgery was done twenty years ago. Right now, we lack professional equipment, and we cannot determine the traces of surgery by touch. Therefore, theoretically, if we don’t test the DNA or conduct professional verification, you are almost the same person.

“We have very important news to tell Mr. Wu Xie. But after we started searching, we found that there are two Wu Xies active in the world; one disappeared after arriving in Motuo, while the other has been appearing all over the country. We are lying in wait in Motuo to find the missing Wu Xie, and we have decided to make Motuo our base, gathering the other one here as well. Once both individuals appear, we hope to identify the real Wu Xie through comparison.”

“How could anyone have known what I looked like twenty years ago?” I asked.

“At that time, you were already seven years old, so you can infer what you will look like in the future, almost eighty percent,” Zhang Longban said. “Alright, I only need fifteen minutes to distinguish you, but you will have to endure some hardships. I can tell you clearly that we will definitely eliminate the fake one, so you must do your utmost to prove that you are the real one.”

“Wait a minute,” the guy next to us spoke up. “What are you using to distinguish the real from the fake? You don’t understand anything.”

“Many people tell us that Wu Xie is a very weak person. But we believe that many things can be disguised for a long time. So strength and intelligence cannot help me differentiate. Long ago, we knew that Wu Sanxing from the Wu family could appear in two places thousands of kilometers apart at the same time. How could I possibly know what’s going on with you two?”

“You’re overthinking it,” I said. “The weak and the stupid are the real ones; I’m just an idiot. Why set yourself up for a trap?”

“Because I can’t rely on these to determine who is real and who is fake, which is why I need to put you two together,” Zhang Longban said. “You’ll understand my method once you hear it. Don’t be afraid; if you’re real, there will definitely be no problem.” With that, he exchanged glances.

The girl beside him suddenly pulled out a square wooden box from her bag and placed it in front of us. As soon as I saw what was inside the box, I almost wet my pants.

It wasn’t a torture device, and it couldn’t harm us directly. But for those involved in this matter, the deterrent effect of this object was immense.

I turned to look at the person next to me, and they also showed a surprised expression.

Inside the box were seven human heads. The girl lined them up neatly on the coffee table in front of us.

The heads seemed not very fresh; they had been processed in some way, their color yellowed and their expressions peaceful, but it was clear they were in a state of death.

What made my head spin was that all seven of them had the same face.

My face.

“What… what is going on?” I stammered. “Why are there so many of me?”

“Many things cannot succeed in one go; a perfect replica is often accompanied by many defective copies. Defective copies cannot be reprocessed or circulated,” Zhang Longban said. “So, they can only exist as documentation.”

“These are…”

“These are the groundwork for one of you. Before one of you becomes Wu Xie, these people could have potentially become Wu Xie as well, but clearly, their luck was not very good.”