Great! I'm surrounded by villains!-Chapter 376 - 295: Soul

Guided by the head of security, they step by step uncovered the portrait of the missing Saintfield VI, thus vaguely inferring the reason why Saintfield VI was so afraid of seeing himself on the ship.

But now another problem had arisen.

Jiuyue claimed that the head of security had never existed from the beginning.

A non-existent person had guided them, which seemed eerily similar to the experience of Saintfield VI.

Duan Mingyuan also had seen ghostly figures on the ship, but those specters were not himself.

Jiuyue continued, "No one welcomed us on board, the crew was all busy with their own tasks."

That was the situation she had witnessed.

After boarding the ship, she even lamented that the flagship of the Saintfield family had such poor security; they hadn’t encountered a single crew member along the way.

However, from the arrangement of the cabins, she understood that the crew’s living quarters were far from there, and after the death of Saintfield VI, they had to consider their own futures, to the extent that even the butler of Saintfield VI, for some reason, stayed on the Eco-Ship and did not accompany them to investigate the case.

"However, I’ve already figured everything out," Jiuyue said, her tone shifting as she adopted the stance of a renowned detective.

When they found craftsmanship from Mechanical Star in Saintfield VI’s room, she already knew the answer.

After all, she had had a similar experience on Mechanical Star.

"The Empress of Mechanical Star wanted to swap bodies with me, which was some kind of soul-swapping ceremony, but the one preparing for her was a person from the Shan Clan, that self-proclaimed doctor of the Shan Clan wanted to strike a deal with me. He believed that during the soul-converging process, both the Empress and I would be able to see each other’s memories, he could ensure my soul returned to my body and naturally become the new Empress of Mechanical Star. In return, I had to help him find the location of the great treasure."

This stemmed from the Shan Clan doctor not fully trusting the Empress.

He thought the Empress was too dominant in personality and once she shed her frail body and recovered her former strength, she would no longer let the Shan Clan people manipulate her; compared to her, a gentle and weak girl was far easier to control.

At the time, Jiuyue hadn’t thought much of it and had sent the Shan Clan physician straight to their Goddess.

But in retrospect, that Shan Clan doctor seemed to have an especially deep understanding of the soul swapping ceremony; he could not only switch the souls of two parties but also artificially create an accident.

If everything had gone according to the doctor’s plan, Jiuyue would have gained the Empress’s memories and become the new Empress of Mechanical Star.

"Maybe that doctor had already performed a similar ceremony before."

After Duan Mingyuan shared the information revealed by the head of security, Jiuyue had figured out that inexplicable rebellion that defied all reason.

"Perhaps Saintfield VI had intended to use the ceremony from the very start to swap souls with his great-grandson."

In fact, Mr. Mingyuan had already mentioned after examining the scene that the technology of the Department of Life Sciences could only try to delay the aging of Saintfield’s body, to extend his life as long as possible, but the day when his body functions would inevitably fail was coming. From the age of 120, Saintfield VI had almost entirely depended on the care of his servants.

To make a public appearance, he needed to be wheeled into place, and just giving one speech would completely drain his energy.

More importantly, no one understood better than Saintfield VI that death was approaching him step by step.

Beyond scientific means, Saintfield VI began to be captivated by the study of mysticism, which was why they invited wizards and prophets to visit aboard the Saintfield.

It was at this time that a path to regain youth presented itself before him.

To swap souls with a young heir would fundamentally solve the impending collapse of his body.

Jiuyue continued, "In the ideal scenario, Saintfield VI would leave a will for his great-grandson to inherit, but in reality, his soul had already transferred to a younger body by that time."

But soul reincarnation, being malevolent and unacceptable to most, had to be kept secret by him forever.

"Perhaps the doctor performing the ceremony anticipated being silenced, so he sabotaged the process. Saintfield VI and his great-grandson did exchange souls, but after the swap, things did not go as planned," Jiuyue explained.

The ultimate result was that Saintfield VI’s great-grandson replaced him, becoming the Family Head of the Saintfields, but was also forced to accept an old and feeble body.

Jiuyue believed that in that rebellion, no one was the true winner.

Duan Mingyuan suddenly realized, "So that’s why Saintfield VI later had the eyes of the rebels gouged out and their tongues cut off." ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Even among the Shan Clan People, this was an extremely severe punishment, but most importantly, it severed all connection between the real Saintfield VI and the outside world.

After the rebellion ended, anyone who might have known about this was silenced.

The head of security had said that once everything settled, Saintfield VI dismissed everyone on the ship. They were scattered across different planets, making it difficult to keep track of each other, and soon after, one by one, they died in accidents.

Jiuyue nodded and, imitating a famous detective, pushed up her nonexistent glasses, "This is why Saintfield VI had his portrait taken down and why he is so afraid of seeing himself on the ship—because he knows he’s a fraud. The real Saintfield VI was killed by him in the rebellion years ago."

"Clap, clap clap clap!"

Applause followed, growing from distant to near, "A fine story indeed, but convincing the rest of the Saintfield family will require filling in many more details."

What came into view was Saintfield VI’s butler,

who seemed like a completely different person compared to the constantly dismayed image he displayed on the Eco-Ship.

"For instance, your story lacks the detail of who provided Saintfield VI with the soul-swapping ceremony, and I believe you’ve noticed the anomalies aboard the Saintfield. They’re not just space travel syndrome or hallucinations. You always encounter people on this ship who shouldn’t be here, and their appearance is triggered by..."

The butler deliberately paused for a moment, pointing to his head, "It has to do with this... Among the Shan Clan People, a legend circulates that one sees visions of the past days before death, indicating their time is near."

"So that’s it!"

Upon seeing this, Jiuyue had an epiphany.

She looked at Duan Mingyuan, then thought back to the wheelchair-bound Saintfield VI.

- "It’s the short-haired ones who encounter specters on this ship!"

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