Chapter 211 – The Lambert Family
Out of caution, when dealing with the body of Joshua Lambert, Zhou Ning deliberately kept some of his hair.
As a criminal mastermind, Zhou Ning was meticulous in such matters. Right now, he was in the middle of a twelve-hour streak of good luck, which meant he could use Joshua Lambert's hair to drink a transformation potion, turn into him, and completely clear himself of suspicion.
Thinking about this, Zhou Ning couldn't help but shake his head with a sigh. This whole thing originally had nothing to do with him, yet he now had to rack his brains just to shake off suspicion—utterly ridiculous.
He really didn't know whether this lucky clover was bringing him fortune or misfortune.
Tomorrow, I'll test just how bad the bad luck gets… If it's really unbearable, I won't hesitate to destroy it—or pass it on to someone else.
Making his way back to 117 Gibbon Street, Zhou Ning pretended nothing had happened and returned home. He greeted his housekeeper, Jacqueline.
"Remember to wake me up at eight tomorrow morning."
"Yes, sir," Jacqueline replied respectfully.
Without another word, Zhou Ning locked the door behind him, exhaled heavily, and rubbed his temples.
He was exhausted, but there was no time to rest yet. Even with his alibi secured, there were still loopholes to close.
After resting a few minutes, he pulled Joshua Lambert's identification plaque from his pocket—the equivalent of an ID card in the Apocalypse World.
The plaque number was 0-13959477, and sure enough, the name read "Joshua Lambert."
At the bottom was his address, not far from here—47 Levia Street, in the district where Darkland's nobility lived. The Vester family resided there as well.
The leading digit "0" marked him as a noble. In Bryston, the ID number prefix was clearly defined: nobles were "0," great merchants/high-ranking professionals/officials were "1," commoners were "2," and vagrants or the homeless were "3."
Zhou Ning thought for a moment, then took out his first unknown artifact—[Damien's Ordinary Mirror]—and stepped into it without hesitation.
Indeed, he planned to head to Joshua Lambert's house, at least to make an appearance there.
Levia Street was to the north. After orienting himself, Zhou Ning entered the mirror's long, elf-style corridor. As before, it was filled with the ruins of elven architecture and countless mirror ghosts.
As mentioned before, the mirror world's geography was the reverse of reality; once you knew the direction, it wasn't hard to navigate.
Heading forward, Zhou Ning passed through the city center. There were at least seven or eight inns nearby, each room containing one or two mirrors. In just under two kilometers, he passed tens of thousands of mirrors, each leading to the world beyond them. It gave him the unsettling sense that he could easily become lost here forever.
It also served as a reminder—never come here while under bad luck.
Perhaps because of his twelve hours of good fortune, Zhou Ning found his way quickly. Before long, he spotted a shop window near Levia Street, making it easy to orient himself.
Soon, he located the mirror for 47 Levia Street. From inside, he peeked out, intending to first observe the situation before deciding whether to drink the transformation potion and appear as Joshua.
In his view, the house was elegantly furnished, hung with numerous oil paintings and laid with Byron-style carpets.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Zhou Ning saw a beautiful young woman—dressed in pajamas—hurry to answer it.
She looked under twenty, with golden hair and a bewitching face, quite possibly Joshua's wife.
When she opened the door, a familiar male voice spoke, followed by hers:
"Surprised, darling? I just got back from a seaside holiday in Templeport."
Zhou Ning: …
What's going on? Was he about to witness the classic "neighbor's affair" scenario?
But the next moment made Zhou Ning's eyes widen. Joshua Lambert—dead just hours ago—was standing there alive, arm in arm with the young woman as they entered the bedroom. Soon, sounds best left undescribed followed.
Could this be another stroke of "luck" from the clover—resurrecting the dead to give him an alibi? Yeah, right—tell that to a fool.
Frowning, Zhou Ning stepped lightly out of the mirror. He was in what seemed to be Joshua's study, the desk and drawers piled with documents. He picked some up and glanced through them, raising an eyebrow.
They were materials from the Earth Ring organization and petitions opposing certain new policies.
So Joshua held not only a notable position in the Earth Ring but also in politics. His father was none other than the leading figure of Bryston's conservative faction—a hereditary noble of the "Pride" motto.
Joshua himself was one of the conservatives' frontline operatives, and a political rival of the radical reformists, including Harrison Rivers.
But in Bryston, "political rivals" were common—differences in policy didn't usually escalate to life-and-death enmity.
So what exactly had Joshua done to make Robbins want him dead? Zhou Ning's curiosity deepened.
Wait… what's this?
In one drawer, Zhou Ning found a diary. Who even kept a diary these days?
After some thought, he put the other files back but slipped the diary into his inventory. Maybe it held the answers he sought.
Joshua's apparent resurrection had put Zhou Ning on guard, making him even more curious about the diary's contents.
Returning to his own room through the mirror without realizing it, Zhou Ning finally let out a long breath. He then opened the simulation system and checked its update progress.
With the lucky clover still active, he wanted to try a round of lottery draws—but first, he had to be sure the update was complete.
Finally, after nearly four days, the damn thing had finished its snail-paced update.
Opening it, Zhou Ning was met with a fresh look: the interface was cleaner, with patterned trim along the bottom.
At the top, in addition to [Shop], [Map], [Achievements], [Lottery], [Tasks], [Artifact Hall], and [Template Management], there was now a new tab—[Titles].
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