Chapter 98: The Answer Revealed

"Proficiency-level Bone Shrinking Technique!"

Duan Rong looked at the set of data appearing before his eyes, his expression filled with shock!

All those bizarre phenomena he could not understand, because of the sudden appearance of this Bone Shrinking Technique, were now all consistent and solved!

He had peeled off Xu Ruhu's scalp, worn it on his own head, and put on Xu Ruhu's clothes, shoes, and socks—a killing trap he had painstakingly set!

Why was Xie Lei able to perform a stunning roll, dodging the three Poison Needles he had fired, with only one of them piercing his neck?

He had come within a hair's breadth of dodging the killing trap he had so meticulously set!

Why was it that even though he had clearly stabbed his Ox-Tail Saber into Xie Lei's heart, Xie Lei was unharmed and had even seized the opportunity to nearly kill him in return?

At that moment, Xie Lei's body bones had suddenly shrunk, and he had used his left armpit to instantly clamp down on the Ox-Tail Saber that Duan Rong had thrust forward!

That was why Duan Rong couldn't pull his saber out and had to retreat violently! He had nearly been killed by Xie Lei's counter-strike with a throwing dart to the throat!

Xie Lei finally curling himself into a ball of flesh and rolling around to smash things was also a move from the Bone Shrinking Technique!

More importantly, the appearance of this Bone Shrinking Technique instantly solved the mystery of how Xie Lei had abducted Xu Ruhu from the Dungeon!

Yang Zhen was right; he had indeed seen Xie Lei walk out of the Arrow Tower's gate with his own eyes, and Xie Lei had indeed left!

But at dawn, he had used the Bone Shrinking Technique to crawl into the Dungeon through that narrow ventilation hole that even a dog couldn't enter!

And inside the Dungeon, he had already taken the opportunity to saw through the heavy locks on Xu Ruhu a few days prior!

Duan Rong looked at the Longevity Lock hanging around Xie Lei's neck and suddenly shouted, "Devour!"

How could he let a Proficiency-level Bone Shrinking Technique go!

After Duan Rong devoured it, he turned his head again to look at the barrier saber by his feet!

He gripped the barrier saber in his hand and shouted again, "Devour!"

This was something Duan Rong had figured out recently: since he could devour eighty-one Tree Spirits in Wild Boar Mountain and slowly digest them.

"If Tree Spirits can be devoured, the Spirit Tool of a weapon can be too!"

He just hadn't tried it before!

As long as the data panel didn't show a notification that the Divine Sense Space was saturated, he could keep devouring!

However, the more he devoured, the longer the digestion time would be.

Although there was discomfort in his brain after devouring, after many times of devouring and digesting, Duan Rong had become familiar with this feeling; it was nothing more than being unable to engage in deep thinking, but his basic reactions were not significantly affected.

After finishing all this, Duan Rong looked over this underground cave once more!

He suddenly picked up the oil lamp in the corner and, under its light, collected the Poison Needles he had fired one by one!

He did not want to leave any evidence at the scene that could be used to track him!

After finishing all this, Duan Rong blew out the oil lamp in the corner and flashed away!

Duan Rong emerged from the dry well. Standing at the wellhead, he turned his head to look at the main room; the door was open and not locked!

Duan Rong's gaze swept over the window of the Inner Room but did not linger. He executed the Cloud Snake Step, tapped his toes on the wellhead, and his figure suddenly soared like a large bird, landing steadily on the wall.

Duan Rong leaped again and disappeared into the vast night...

Duan Rong believed there must be other valuable things in Xie Lei's room, but he did not want to search his room at this time.

Xie Lei was deep-thinking and calculating; there might be other traps in the room!

Furthermore, the Womb Treasury Sutra was already in hand, so there was no need to create extra complications!

Duan Rong moved through the night, weaving through the shadows in the alleys, as agile as a wild cat!

Half a stick of incense later, in a quiet and dark alley, Duan Rong suddenly leaped, his figure flying like a large bird, and with a tap of his toes on the courtyard wall in the alley, he landed lightly in a dilapidated courtyard.

This was the residence of the original owner!

Duan Rong looked at the elm tree in the courtyard, his eyes moved, and suddenly his figure surged, leaping up to stand near the high branches of the elm tree.

There was an abandoned bird's nest there!

Duan Rong picked up the bird's nest, channeled his Internal Breath into his fingertips, and drilled a small hole at the intersection of the branches under the nest. Then, he rolled the human-skin Secret Manual into a scroll, stuffed it into the hole, plucked a few elm leaves to plug the hole, and put the bird's nest back in place before landing lightly!

He was not in a hurry to study this volume of the Womb Treasury Sutra; now was not the time!

He believed that Xie Lei's death would soon be discovered, and then this case would become a case within a case!

He planned to wait and see how the situation developed!

After finishing all this, Duan Rong walked slowly to the Inner Room on the west side of the house, closed the doors and windows tightly, brought a fire basin and dry firewood, lit a fire with a Fire Folder, took off his clothes, boots, headscarf, and mask, and threw them all into the fire in the basin!

Only then did Duan Rong cover the door, take the stack of silver notes in his hand, walk to the Inner Room on the east side, and light the oil lamp!

His brown short-jacket and pair of black cloth shoes were placed there!

Duan Rong put on the short-jacket, counted the silver notes in his hand, and there were a total of six thousand eight hundred taels!

Duan Rong smiled, stuffed the silver notes into the inner pocket of his jacket, grabbed a blanket, wrapped himself up, and fell into a deep sleep!

He was indeed too tired!

Although he was an Apprentice at the Yuanshun Escort Agency, who could say anything if he occasionally returned to his own courtyard to sleep for a night?

As the saying goes, a golden nest or a silver nest is not as good as one's own dog kennel; who doesn't have a sense of nostalgia?

Duan Rong slept very soundly that night!

When the sky was just beginning to brighten, the sounds of roosters crowing from far and near could be faintly heard!

Finding it noisy, Duan Rong covered his head with the blanket and slept for another half an hour before climbing up!

He got out of bed and went to check the Inner Room on the west side, only to see that there was only half a basin of black ash left in the fire basin in the middle of the room. Because the doors and windows were closed, there was still a faint, choking smell of smoke lingering in the room!

Duan Rong opened the doors and windows to ventilate!

Then he picked up the fire basin and dumped the remaining ash into the kitchen stove!

Duan Rong tossed the fire basin into the corner of the kitchen, clapped the black ash off his hands, went to the well in the courtyard, drew a bucket of clear water, and while humming a little tune, used soap locust to wash his whole body and hair clean.

After washing, Duan Rong felt refreshed. He swaggered out of his courtyard, ate some breakfast on the street, and returned to the Yuanshun Escort Agency.

As soon as Duan Rong returned to the Yuanshun Escort Agency, before going back to the dormitory, he first made a trip to Xiao Zongting's courtyard.

He had not come for two days; counting the day he had just returned, Xiao Baijiao's coffin had already been lying in state for three days!

Duan Rong was not yet very clear on the funeral customs of this world; according to the traditions of his past life, there were generally three, five, or seven-day periods for keeping a body, depending specifically on the changes in the weather!

Although the weather in Qingzhou was not yet considered hot at this time, the heat was rising day by day, and Duan Rong estimated that the funeral procession would take place in these next one or two days.

Just as Duan Rong arrived at Xiao Zongting's courtyard, he discovered that the Inner Courtyard was unexpectedly packed with a bustling crowd of people.

It turned out that Ruan Fengshan had returned in the latter half of last night!

Early this morning, he had brought along his five wives and concubines, leading his young children, a whole crowd of people, to pay respects to Xiao Baijiao's spirit!

Huang An brought several Personal Attendants and servants along to wait upon them...

Because of this, the Inner Courtyard, which was not very spacious to begin with, became even more crowded!

After the Ruan Fengshan family finished their rites, Xiao Zongting welcomed Ruan Fengshan into the house to serve tea and keep him company!

Inside the Inner Courtyard, one of Ruan Fengshan's young sons was being held by a pretty maidservant, but he kept crying and making a scene while reaching out to hit people...

A trace of disgust flashed through Duan Rong's eyes; he swept his gaze over Xiao Yu and Zhu Xiaoqi in front of the mourning hall, and seeing that both of them were in decent spirits, he felt slightly more at ease.

Although Xiao Yu and Zhu Xiaoqi had to keep vigil every night, the two of them took turns resting, so they would not end up ruining their health...

Inside the Inner Room of the Inner Courtyard!

Ruan Fengshan took a ritual sip of tea, looked at Xiao Zongting, and said, "Xiao Lao, you must take care of your health! The heavy burden of the Yuanshun Escort Agency cannot do without you! My own shoulders alone cannot carry it!"

Xiao Zongting's lips trembled a few times, and he said, "Manager, rest assured, this old life of mine won't be ending anytime soon! It is just that with Baijiao gone so suddenly, I am feeling a bit wounded..."

Ruan Fengshan sighed and said, "That child Baijiao... I also watched him grow up... That child was good in every way, it's just that his fate was poor!"

There was also a hint of sorrow in Ruan Fengshan's words!

(End of this chapter)