As June drew to a close, Lin Yilin received some strange information through her intelligence network.
A mysterious pair of embroidered shoes appeared in the area around Beixiao Road.
The “Xixikeke Secret Report” also published descriptions of this incident from several residents of Xixikeke Street.
A gentleman living in Huanxin Community on Beixiao Road recounted that one night, after finishing overtime work, he was walking along the street when he saw a pair of brightly colored red embroidered shoes on the roadside. They were exquisitely crafted and spotless, not looking like discarded items, so he initially didn't pay much attention.
However, after passing by, he found another identical pair of embroidered shoes in the alley next to his home.
By then, he was a little puzzled, but still didn't take it too seriously.
That is, until he returned home, ready to end his exhausting day. He only intended to have a small drink before bed to reward himself, and inadvertently glanced outside, almost scared out of his wits.
On the small path outside the house, a pair of embroidered shoes quietly “stood” under the streetlamp, facing his home.
Although he couldn't see anyone, he vaguely felt that something was watching him from over there.
That night, footsteps occasionally came from outside the house, and it seemed as if something was hitting the bedroom window, with shadows flashing by from time to time.
Finally, he huddled on the living room sofa, trembling with fear, and endured the night half-asleep, half-awake.
When he woke up in the morning, everything had quieted down. He cautiously returned to his bedroom and took a look. When he pulled open the curtains, he was horrified to see dense blood-red shoe prints all over the window.
Scared, the person immediately contacted the agency.
...
Multiple similar sightings of embroidered shoes occurred, in various colors, causing a certain degree of disturbance.
This led the Processing Bureau's informants to believe that the previous bait Illusion had not been dealt with cleanly, or that it was some other dangerous Illusion.
However, the results of actions by several agencies left them even more confused, as no signs of Illusion were found during the investigation.
One noteworthy point was that Toast crumbs were found at every scene. But what was the significance of this discovery? It ultimately did not receive much attention.
And after that, these incidents significantly decreased until they disappeared, leaving them unresolved.
This was not uncommon.
Most of the time, things that seemed to be some kind of omen might end up being a lot of thunder but little rain, or even hardly any thunder at all.
Ultimately, it could only be attributed to the Black World possibly approaching locally, related to the upcoming June 31st.
Speaking of this, personnel from the Processing Bureau and agencies could only pull themselves away from such confusing trifles and go back to prepare.
And Miss Lin Yilin, who knew the inside story of this matter, looked up from the newspaper and fixed her gaze on the handsome man in black, a Phantasms, who was making coffee in front of her... Her gaze dropped a little further, seeing his feet.
Beneath his cold, black attire, Zheng Fan's feet were clad in a delicate pair of red embroidered shoes.
“This combination is truly an eyesore,” Lin Yilin said calmly.
Zheng Fan lifted one leg, wiggling his toes: “Is it? They're quite comfortable to wear, of course, Lu Lu Shoes adjusted them.”
“Pranks should be appropriate. If they really attract serious attention, although they won't catch us, it won't be as easy to take them out to play after they become vigilant,” Lin Yilin reminded him.
“It's just that Lu Lu Shoes and Toast are full of energy and kept pestering me to take them out to play, so I have to consider the children's feelings,” Zheng Fan said with a smile, sipping his coffee.
“I'm sure they didn't suggest such specific ways to play.”
“At least they had a lot of fun,” Zheng Fan shrugged. “The coffee machine, on the other hand, has always been very well-behaved, rarely even speaking or offering its opinions.”
“Should I feel lucky then?” Lin Yilin rubbed her forehead.
She picked up her phone and glanced at it: “Banmu's studio operations have shown some results; it has basically achieved break-even, and some of the income has been transferred to your card. Use it carefully.”
Zheng Fan was a bit surprised: “That fast? I haven't even pretended to be Cheng Fei to show my face recently.”
“A lot of the time, making money is just a matter of connections and information asymmetry. It's nothing to be surprised about; in fact, if I can't even do this much, then I'm truly useless,” Lin Yilin said dismissively, treating it merely as a not-so-important hobby.
For her, it wasn't even a hobby.
On one hand, it was merely to obtain in-depth intelligence from within Banmu, acting as a mole inside Banmu to cause some trouble for those who viewed Lin Yilin as a thorn in their side, diverting their attention. In this regard, it could be said to be extremely effective. Cheng Fei's subordinates held back the middle and lower ranks, and colluding with Qingye Heshi held back the upper ranks. So far, Lin Yilin's side had been much quieter.
Also, during the previous Lu Lu Phantasms incident, cooperating with Feierqi and even interfering with the Processing Bureau's actions led to Banmu's recent unfavorable situation, which could only be said to be well-deserved. It was unknown how much Feierqi paid back then.
On the other hand, it was to earn pocket money for Zheng Fan.
All in all, she wasn't interested, but it was necessary.
“By the way, what about the matter I suggested to Mr. Phantasms last time? Has Mr. Phantasms considered it?” Lin Yilin remembered something and asked.
“What?”
“Cultural theft.” Lin Yilin lowered her head, shadows obscuring half her face, like an evil villain.
“Oh, plagiarism,” Zheng Fan recalled. This was indeed a rather “evil” thing.
Ever since it was discovered that Zheng Fan could directly reproduce works he knew through his property ability, Lin Yilin immediately saw the business opportunity in it.
Compared to highly targeted schemes like Red Pill and mass-produced Phantasms, these creations were much more convenient.
“Some backgrounds are difficult to deal with, right?” Zheng Fan said.
He still hadn't figured out the background of Dadu.
According to Lin Yilin, it was an international metropolis with extremely high independence, but there wasn't much description of the world outside Dadu. Some traces showed many similarities with Zheng Fan's past world, but there were also many significant differences.
“It's fine, otherworldly inspiration isn't anything special in Dadu.”
“What is it?”
“It refers to stories from other worlds obtained by people from multiple worlds as inspiration. Those stories might be things that actually happened in other worlds, or they might be creations from other worlds. In any case, they are all called otherworldly inspiration obtained by Dadu people.”
“How about copyright and such?”
“Of course, it belongs to the thief... the transporter. Even if there's a real original author, they can't sue for infringement. People from other worlds aren't even Dadu citizens and don't enjoy local rights in Dadu. Everyone is used to this kind of thing. You can even openly add the original author and just leave your own signature at the end to tell everyone you did it.” Lin Yilin spoke eloquently.
“An unmasked criminal signature, putting it out so brazenly feels a bit shameful,” Zheng Fan felt a little hard to bear.
“If you agree, we can start arranging it already. The film industry is a bit troublesome and mainly in the White World, where I can't reach, but written creation is much easier to handle,” Lin Yilin touched the book she had just read on her desk.
Zheng Fan looked at Lin Yilin's strangely active demeanor, felt odd, pondered, and then suddenly realized something.
“You're not implying that my storytelling is bad, are you?”
“...” Lin Yilin froze, her lips moving slightly.
“Answer me.”
Lin Yilin turned her head away.
“Don't turn away!”
“Uh—it's just that given a choice, I prefer to read and watch directly, and when Mr. Phantasms tells stories, his occasional self-transformation and performance can be a bit noisy, and the rhythm is also chaotic... Hmm, that's all it is.” Lin Yilin turned her head back, but her eyes still darted around, and her fingers fidgeted on the table without stopping.
“I'm not doing it!”