464: Chapter 108 Fake News

Two days later, in the morning.

Meng Li woke up on time as usual and peeled off Xia He, who was clinging to him like an octopus.

"Master, be gentle."

Sensing his movement, Xia He mumbled as if in a dream, then reached out to feel around. Finding nothing, she opened her eyes a slit. Seeing Meng Li getting up, she didn't pay it any mind, turned over, hugged the quilt, and went back to sleep.

Meng Li ignored her habit of staying in bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Today was the weekend. As previously agreed, she and Chen Duo didn't have to study and could spend their time however they liked.

After washing up and getting dressed, Meng Li went downstairs to the dining room to have breakfast.

Just then, Chen Duo arrived back from outside, followed by Chen Junyan, who was wagging his tail happily.

Clearly, she had taken Chen Junyan for a walk early in the morning.

"Morning, Meng Li." Seeing Meng Li, Chen Duo greeted him with a smile.

"Morning." Meng Li responded with a smile and sat down to eat breakfast.

Chen Duo went to get dog food to feed Chen Junyan.

This dog food was bought with her own earnings.

After feeding him, Chen Duo seemed to remember something and said to Meng Li, "Oh, right, Meng Li, I just saw a message on the Outsider forum saying that Village Chief Ma Xianhong killed a company employee while escaping, and the situation is extremely severe."

"The company has not only issued a wanted poster for him but, in order to track his whereabouts, has also been torturing those detained Superior Roots members."

"But they haven't gotten any information out of them."

"So, the company has decided to execute them publicly in a few days."

"Is this news true?"

Meng Li was stunned for a moment.

Was this true?

He took out his phone and logged into the Outsider forum, discovering that there really was such a message, and it had even been pinned.

Meng Li clicked on it and browsed through it. The situation was about the same as what Chen Duo had said. It even included pictures and videos showing Superior Roots members like Fu Rong, Liu Wukui, and Zhong Xiaolong being tortured. They were either bruised and swollen or covered in blood, all looking miserable.

Seeing this, Chen Duo walked over and pointed at the pictures, saying, "Look, they all look so miserable."

Meng Li smiled and said, "It does look miserable, but just take a look and don't take it too seriously."

"Why?" Chen Duo asked.

Meng Li replied, "Because this is all fake."

Hearing this, Chen Duo seemed to understand.

"What is fake?"

The person asking was Xia He. She had just finished washing up and had come downstairs in loose loungewear, just in time to catch the tail end of Meng Li and Chen Duo's conversation.

"The news here." Chen Duo replied.

Upon hearing this, Xia He curiously leaned in from the other side to look at what was in front of Meng Li.

After reading it, she sat down to eat breakfast and asked Meng Li curiously, "How do you know this is fake?"

"Could it be that you were involved in this?"

Meng Li shook his head: "This has nothing to do with me. I concluded this news is fake because I happened to hear about some of these Superior Roots members. Given their situations, their crimes don't warrant this, and the company wouldn't make them look this miserable."

Seeing him say this, Xia He caught the scent of gossip and immediately asked, "What did they do?"

Meng Li replied: "It's not that they committed crimes, but rather that their reasons for joining Biyou Village were different."

As he spoke, he swiped his phone and pointed to a photo of Liu Wukui: "For example, this Liu Wukui."

"As far as I know, she and her brother, Liu Hongzhong, were both born with the 'Child of Destiny' fate, but one is a 'Celestial Child' and the other is a 'Sickly Child'."

"Of course, that's the traditional way of putting it."

"In modern scientific terms, their minds, or rather their Souls, have mutated. Liu Wukui's was benign, which led to the Awakening of a remarkable ability. Liu Hongzhong's was malignant; not only did he not have any abilities, but he was also chronically ill."

"The reason Liu Wukui joined Biyou Village was to cure Liu Hongzhong."

"In her case, it's truly understandable."

Immediately after, Meng Li pulled up Fu Rong's photo and said with a hint of a smile, "And this Fu Rong..."

"Her reason for joining Biyou Village is truly bizarre."

Bizarre?

Chen Duo and Xia He exchanged a glance, both piqued with curiosity.

"How is it bizarre?" Xia He asked.

Meng Li laughed: "She's a love-struck fool who never learns. It's said she's had several boyfriends, and all of them scammed her. I'm not sure if she was scammed out of her virginity, but she was scammed quite badly when it came to money. Not only was her own money swindled away completely, but she was also left with a huge amount of debt."

"In the end, she was forced by debt collectors and had no choice but to hide in the mountains."

Chen Duo and Xia He: "..."

This is indeed bizarre!

Afterwards, Xia He couldn't help but remark, "She's been scammed by several boyfriends; not only does this woman not learn from her mistakes, but her judgment of people is also terrible."

Chen Duo nodded in agreement.

Meng Li smiled and said nothing.

He vaguely remembered that Fu Rong's situation wasn't due to poor judgment, but rather because she found honest men boring and specifically loved scumbags.

This is a case of choosing to jump into a pit instead of walking on the flat road.

In such a case, if you fall into a pit, you can only blame yourself.

Soon, Xia He asked in confusion, "That's not right. Isn't she an Outsider? Why would she be afraid of debt collectors?"

Meng Li replied, "This shows she has principles. She would rather hide in the mountains than use Outsider methods to settle debt issues. People like her are high-quality candidates for the company to recruit and absorb. The company wouldn't treat her like the message claims."

"Thus, it is clear that this news is fake."

Xia He and Chen Duo thought it made sense.

Then, Xia He thought thoughtfully, "Since it's fake news, the company must have released it on purpose."

"They are setting a trap to lure this person named Ma Xianhong out?"

Meng Li nodded.

Xia He's eye twitched: "But this trap is too obvious. Anyone with a bit of sense can see it's a trap. It would be strange if this Ma Xianhong fell for it."

Regarding this, Meng Li was noncommittal.

Because, as Xia He said, this trap was too obvious, and anyone with a bit of wit could see it.

Ma Xianhong had some flaws, but he was definitely not stupid, and he would certainly see the problem after seeing the news.

As for whether he would come...

Based on Meng Li's understanding of Ma Xianhong, given his personality, he would.

Because Ma Xianhong was truly concerned about these Superior Roots members.

However, whether he would, or rather could, appear depended on one more deciding factor, and that was the person behind him.

That person was capable of tampering with Ma Xianhong's memories; if they didn't want him to come, they would definitely have a way to stop him.

Thinking of this, Meng Li thought of one thing.

The news that he knew Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements was almost certainly spread by the person behind Ma Xianhong.

In that case, Meng Li felt he should go and see...