97: Chapter 97 Professor, You're Lying

After Jiang Feng said this, the flush on Professor Sun's face faded by half.

The surrounding students and tourists also quieted down, their gazes darting back and forth between the two, their expressions strange.

Several security guards had already gathered around, but seeing Professor Sun in this state, they dared not act rashly for the moment, and could only form a loose perimeter to the side.

"Oh, getting anxious, are we?" Jiang Feng knew clearly in his heart, "Looks like I really hit the mark."

On the surface, he still maintained an indifferent air.

"Nonsense!" Professor Sun's voice was hoarse. He pointed at Jiang Feng and shouted sternly at the security guards: "What are you still standing there for? This person is acting like a charlatan here, disturbing public order! Get him out of here for me!"

"Professor, don't get so excited."

Jiang Feng picked his ear, looking completely unfazed.

"With you shouting so loudly, can your heart take it?"

Professor Sun was so angry his chest heaved violently, and the students nearby quickly stepped forward to support him.

"Teacher, please calm down."

"Teacher, don't lower yourself to the level of such a person."

Jiang Feng ignored the students' attempts at persuasion; he took half a step forward, his gaze falling once again on the display case.

"Professor, let's not talk about anything mystical; let's talk about logic."

"You are the top bronze expert in the country; your eye for detail must be a hundred times sharper than an amateur like me."

"Just tell me, when this sword was unearthed, didn't it only have the blade, without the hilt and scabbard?"

Jiang Feng was bluffing him.

Based on that discordant "duet," he was ninety percent sure.

But in archaeology, it's all about evidence.

What he wanted right now was Professor Sun's reaction.

Professor Sun's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

His eyes darted away, daring not to look at Jiang Feng, nor at the sword.

But he remained stubborn, almost shouting.

"Utter nonsense!"

"When this sword was unearthed, it was complete!"

As his voice fell.

A slight stinging sensation came to Jiang Feng's temples.

【Eye of Truth】 was activated.

Having received a confirmed answer, Jiang Feng's aura changed.

Before, it had been a tentative provocation; now, it was a direct judgment.

He stepped forward, completely ignoring the surrounding security guards, and stood in front of Professor Sun.

"Professor."

"You are lying."

Professor Sun's body visibly trembled.

"The hilt and scabbard of this sword were added later, weren't they?"

"You are the top expert in the country; it's impossible for you not to have noticed!"

"But you didn't dare to say it!"

"Because this sword was unearthed by a team you personally led; it is the honor of your life! It is the most important discovery of your academic career!"

"Once you admit it has flaws, it is equivalent to denying yourself!"

"You're spouting nonsense! You're slandering me!" Professor Sun wanted to push Jiang Feng away, but his outstretched hand was weak and powerless.

Looking at the terror and panic in his eyes, Jiang Feng softened his tone instead.

"Professor, have you been waking up in the middle of the night frequently lately, and then unable to fall back asleep?"

"Do you always feel a tightness in your chest, unable to catch your breath, with a burning pain in your heart?"

"You went to the hospital for a check-up, but they couldn't find anything wrong, and the doctor only said you're getting old and are overthinking things, telling you to get some good rest?"

Professor Sun completely lost his composure.

He stared at Jiang Feng, mouth agape, but unable to make a sound.

Every word Jiang Feng said exposed his deepest hidden secrets and pain in public.

"This pressure—that you cannot speak of, dare not speak of—is the root cause of your recent sleepless nights, heart palpitations, and insomnia."

"What I said, is it right?"

Professor Sun's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

He staggered backward and was caught by a quick-witted male student behind him.

His lips trembled, and he could no longer utter a single word of rebuttal.

The surrounding students and tourists were all stunned.

This reversal came too quickly; their brains simply couldn't keep up.

A second ago, they thought Jiang Feng was just a madman here to cause trouble.

The next second, the highly respected Professor Sun was reduced to shambles by a few words from this young man.

What the hell is going on?

A metaphysics master performing an on-site diagnosis?

Or... is everything this young man said true?

Jiang Feng had completed his first actual divination.

He looked at the mentally shattered Professor Sun and nodded slightly.

"Professor, a heart ailment requires a heart cure."

"Sometimes, admitting imperfection requires more courage than maintaining a perfect lie."

【Ding! Effective Divination Count: 1/3】

Jiang Feng turned and left amidst the complicated gazes of the crowd.

He had just walked out of the crowd.

Behind him, there came a sound of hurried footsteps.

"Ma... Master, please wait!"

A woman's voice rang out, carrying a hint of nervousness.

Jiang Feng stopped and looked back.

The person catching up was a woman around twenty years old.

Her face bore a look of haggardness and anxiety from long-term sleep deprivation.

Jiang Feng remembered her.

Just now, when Professor Sun was reprimanding him, this woman had been standing in the crowd of students, but she hadn't been filled with righteous indignation like the other students; instead, she had kept her head down, her face full of worry.

Jiang Feng looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Something up?"

The female researcher felt a bit nervous being looked at by Jiang Feng; she subconsciously tightened her grip on the corner of her clothes.

She glanced at Professor Sun and his group, who were still in chaos not far away, then gathered her courage and lowered her voice.

"Master, I... I didn't come for Professor Sun's matter."

"I came for myself."

She looked up, her eyes full of pleading.

"I... I have also encountered a strange event recently."

"A... a strange event related to cultural artifacts."

"I suspect that I might have... been haunted by something unclean."

Did the second divination come knocking on its own?

Jiang Feng's expression became a bit more serious.

"Speak, what's going on? Maybe I can help you." Jiang Feng took out a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed it, and took a sip.

The female researcher took a deep breath, seemingly organizing her thoughts.

"Master, just call me Xiao Lin; I am a cultural relic restorer at the museum."

"The matter started half a month ago."

"We received a newly unearthed artifact, a painted pottery figurine from the Tang Dynasty."

In Jiang Feng's mind, the pottery figurine he saw on the news yesterday immediately surfaced.

That pottery figurine with the eerie smile on its face.

"That pottery figurine was severely damaged, almost shattered into hundreds of pieces."

"My job was to restore it."

"From the first day I started working with that pottery figurine, strange things began to happen."

Her body trembled involuntarily.

"Every night, I have the same dream."

"In the dream, I am locked in a pitch-black room; I can't see anything, only hear... the crying of a little girl."

"She keeps crying, keeps calling out that she's cold, that she's hungry."

Jiang Feng's gaze fell on Xiao Lin's bloodshot eyes.

"And then?"

"Then... I started hearing that crying in reality, too."