HLM – Chapter 31 A Blind Man Explores the Way

When it came time to check out, Wang Bo had spent a total of 25,000 yuan. Eva was stunned when she saw him paying with thick wads of cash. In the end, she could only shake her head and say, “Be careful. My God, I bet robbers would love you.”

Wang Bo wanted to take the opportunity to invite Eva for a meal—of course, his intention wasn’t really about the meal but more about building a relationship.

Eva shook her head apologetically and explained, “I still have to go pick up my sister. Her school’s almost over, and she’ll get scared if she doesn’t see me.”

After seeing Eva off, Wang Bo had the driver take the car out of town. He found a quiet, sparsely populated forest and got off, saying he would contact a friend to come pick him up.

Once he unloaded the supplies, the driver left. Wang Bo took advantage of the solitude to transfer everything into the castle via the sandbox, then made a long trek back to the castle on foot.

Sure enough, the Layton Company lived up to its reputation as the strongest engineering company in Australia. Just a few days after signing the contract, their construction team was already mobilized and beginning work. A fleet of heavy machinery arrived in the wilderness.

Excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers, graders, loaders, road rollers, and more—some he recognized, some he didn’t. There was even a water-stabilized mixing station, more loaders, and pavers. All these machines were now at work on his land, beginning the construction of a road.

The long run back to the castle left him famished, so he decided to fix himself a simple meal.

Eva had bought him skim milk, which surprisingly had a shelf life of six months. She explained that it wasn’t due to heavy additives, but rather a different sterilization process—perfectly safe to drink.

He’d also bought some mangoes. He chopped up some fruit and boiled it with the milk. The General flapped over to perch on his shoulder, curiously poking its head toward the pot.

Eva had also bought him several bags of oatmeal porridge, but he didn’t care for it. Instead, he mixed eggs with soy sauce, smeared it over slices of steamed buns, and fried them. Paired with the milk, it was a decent meal.

After eating and resting, he found himself idle again—so he had to look for something to do.

First, he counted his money—a very important task. From the black-market dealer, he’d gotten one million NZD and $200,000 USD, all in thick bundles. Just holding it was satisfying.

From the local sports meet, he’d earned another 110,000 yuan, and another 10,000 from the Maori group. After deducting recent expenses, he still had over 1.05 million NZD and $200,000 USD.

Converted to RMB, that was over five million, nearly six million yuan!

Wang Bo kissed the bills affectionately, then started making plans. First, he’d find an opportunity to wire some money to his parents. Then, he’d fund the road construction. He also needed to buy a car—and if possible, win Eva over. That would be the dream life.

After counting the money, he pulled out the sandbox for a look. The territory indicator had gained a faint touch of green, although it was still light. A subtle green mist shrouded the sandbox, and if you looked closely, you could see it slowly flowing toward the light green castle.

There was no doubt that this green mist was something important. But how was it produced? Was it generated by plants or animals in the territory?

On the third day back at the castle, around noon, Wang Bo was just about to prepare lunch when he casually glanced at the sandbox—and noticed someone had entered the territory.

He thought the black-market dealer had come back for revenge. But when he zoomed in on the castle and saw the figure clearly, it turned out to be a stranger—a young white man, about 25 or 26, with a ponytail and wearing large sunglasses. His outfit was that of a backpacker.

The strange thing was, he was holding a blind man’s cane and tapping his way forward, his head turning side to side like a blind man.

Standing at the castle entrance, the young man shouted at the top of his lungs, “Anyone there?” Wang Bo had no idea what he was up to, so he hid behind the main hall’s door and signaled the General to stay on the second floor and keep quiet.

With no response, the young man used his cane to feel his way inside. From his mannerisms, he really did look blind. But how could a blind man find his way to this castle? It was surrounded by desolate wilderness!

Could it be that the black-market dealer had sent someone to scout? And deliberately used a blind man to make him let down his guard?

Wang Bo felt this was a plausible guess, so he stayed hidden and continued monitoring from within the building.

But to his surprise, the moment the young man entered the castle, a faint green line appeared over his figure on the sandbox and merged into the green mist. That piqued Wang Bo’s curiosity…

No one else entered the castle after that. The supposed blind man fumbled his way toward the main building.

Wang Bo decided to test the waters, so he stepped out from hiding and called, “Hey there, need some help?”

Startled by the voice, the blind man jerked and dropped his cane. He instinctively stepped back two paces, then hesitantly asked, “Isn’t this place supposed to be empty? Who are you? Japanese? Chinese?”

Wang Bo was stunned. “Hey man, you can see me?”

This guy clearly wasn’t blind. Otherwise, he couldn’t have guessed Wang Bo’s nationality—he must’ve seen his yellow skin. So he’d been faking it all along.

As soon as Wang Bo said that, the fake blind man visibly trembled. He shook his head vigorously and cried, “No, no, I can’t see anything! I didn’t see anything—I swear!”

At that moment, the General flew down from the second floor, gliding over the imposter’s head, and shouted stiffly, “Ah! Ah! Someone’s here! Ah! Ah! Hungry, hungry!”

Startled by the bird’s shriek, the fake blind man let out a bloodcurdling scream. He stumbled forward, trembling, and lifted a crucifix from around his neck while shouting, “Lord Jesus, save me! Holy Light descend! Death to ghosts and vampires!”

Wang Bo: “……”

He finally understood—this guy thought he and the General were ghosts.

After some explanation, Wang Bo chased him all the way into the inner courtyard, standing clearly in the sunlight before the imposter was finally convinced he wasn’t a ghost.

Wang Bo brewed a pot of coffee and poured a cup for the visitor. The man had taken off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of bright green eyes—clearly no vision problems.

Handing him the coffee, Wang Bo said warmly, “Hello, I’m Chinese. My name is Wang Bo. May I ask who you are?”

The fake blind man was still shaken. He didn’t answer right away, just took the coffee and quickly sipped—before Wang Bo could warn him that it was hot.

As soon as the coffee touched his lips, he let out a pained cry and spat it out. Only then did Wang Bo have a chance to say, “The coffee’s a little hot—don’t rush.”

Fanning his mouth with his hands, the man finally looked miserable enough to say, “Dude, are you trying to torture me? First, you scared me pretending to be a ghost, and now you hand me boiling coffee? My God, it’s summer, man!”

Wang Bo said helplessly, “I didn’t pretend to be a ghost, okay? You were wearing sunglasses and using a cane, so I thought you were blind. That’s why I asked how you could see me.”

The fake blind man pointed toward the sun. “Wearing sunglasses makes me blind? Look how bright the sun is! Of course I need shades. And the cane—I heard back in Wanderer Town that there are traps in this castle. I brought it to test the road!”

“Ah, ah! Your mom exploded!” the General flapped its wings and shouted again. Wang Bo was speechless. Why did this bird love that Chinese phrase so much?

Fortunately, the imposter didn’t understand Chinese, so he didn’t know what it meant. But seeing the General speak again, he angrily pointed and said, “And this bird—flying over my head saying it’s hungry? I thought I ran into a damn vampire!”

Then his expression turned wary again. He looked seriously at Wang Bo and asked, “You’re… human, right? Not a ghost? Or vampire?”