Chapter 498: This Person Cannot Be Kept

He and Zhong Sheng had only been acquaintances before, not old friends, but he knew this man acted with extreme caution. Given the current chaotic situation, why had Zhong Sheng come in person? Was he not afraid of being caught by the so-called Crown Prince's special envoy? "I heard about what happened at the Chaohu Tower this afternoon." The Water Mirror Technique lasted too short a time; if Zhong Sheng wanted to discuss matters seriously, he had to come himself. "Your servant was captured by He Xiao using a scheme; I'm afraid your secret won't stay hidden for long."

"'Our' secret," Cen Boqing corrected him. "Didn't you say the documents and intelligence in Mai Xuewen's house were all taken by you? Then how would that He fellow know the time and location of Mai Xuewen's transaction at Baishaju?"

It had truly caught him off guard.

He had originally not taken the Crown Prince's special envoy seriously at all, never expecting to suffer such a great loss and be tracked down by the other party.

Although He Xiao could not yet do anything to them, this feeling of being watched was very unpleasant.

Who doesn't like hiding behind the scenes?

"He arrived first, and I followed closely behind; there was only a difference of a few breaths," Zhong Sheng muttered secretly. "I can only say your luck is truly bad."

Cen Boqing let out a breath: "Brother Zhong Sheng, you came here overnight; what is your brilliant advice?"

It was all because this fellow was incompetent yet arrogant that he had caused him so much trouble, and now he had the nerve to come and watch his joke? "This He Xiao is too good at finding trouble," Zhong Sheng said bluntly. "The reinforcements I requested have arrived, and I wanted to see if Brother Cen needs help."

This was a prompt for him to take action. Cen Boqing narrowed his eyes: "The people I invited have been preparing for many days; we can act tonight."

"How much certainty do you have?"

"I wouldn't dare say it's a sure thing, but let's call it an eighty percent chance of victory."

That was quite high. Zhong Sheng relaxed slightly: "Excellent. Do you need us to provide protection?"

"He performs his rituals without allowing others to watch." Cen Boqing was still somewhat polite to this Inspector, then added tactfully, "However, I still ask Brother Zhong Sheng to be prepared to fill any gaps at any time."

"Then how about this..."

On the way back, Jiao Yu reminded He He Lingchuan again: "You are already a thorn in their side; you must be extremely careful."

"I know," He He Lingchuan said, having a clear idea in his mind. "As long as they kill me, the case cannot be investigated further."

If one cannot solve a problem, one usually solves the person who created the problem.

Right now, he was that troublemaker.

As long as they killed him, the person behind the scenes could continue to live a peaceful and undisturbed life.

He was currently at a disadvantage because he was in the open, while his opponent was still in the dark.

This opponent in the dark had likely already bared their fangs at him.

As for that Zhong Sheng who was out in the open, He He Lingchuan could not kill him while acting as the special envoy of the Chiyan Kingdom.

Not harming or insulting the Inspector was the bottom line set by the Chiyan Monarch for Fu Fu Shanyue.

"There is also a third party, neither friend nor foe, also lurking in the dark." He He Lingchuan's mind was clear.

"You mean?" Jiao Yu was startled, then quickly reacted. "Oh, the person who sent us the 'Record of Respecting Gods'! Do you think it was Mr. Mai?"

"He hopes someone will investigate to this point, whether it's me or Zhong Sheng; as long as someone can find it," He He Lingchuan pondered. "But Zhong Sheng has sided with the true mastermind and even publicly declared that the messenger case has been solved. Then, this third party should be very unhappy."

"Will they also make a move against us?"

"Not necessarily, but being on guard is never a bad thing." Who knew what the other party intended?

Now, he had at least two groups of enemies: one that wished him dead, and one that harbored ulterior motives and was plotting something unknown.

He had only been in Baishaju for a few days; was it always this lively?

Half an hour later, He He Lingchuan returned to the inn where he was staying.

He lowered his gaze and discovered that a strand of wool stuck to the crack of his guest room door had fallen off.

That was a whisker from General Ling, very long.

In other words, someone had snuck into his room.

He had set up these traps and preparations specifically to guard against Mr. Mai and the person behind him. Of course, now there was one more person to watch out for: Zhong Sheng.

He He Lingchuan walked into the room and inspected it, finding that none of the small traps he had set had been triggered.

This meant the intruder had not conducted a carpet search of every corner, and the area they had moved in was even quite limited.

What did the other party want to do?

At this moment, Jiao Yu also rushed in from outside, its expression grave: "I found out."

It had left halfway to scout for the latest intelligence.

He He Lingchuan prepared himself mentally: "Oh? Which powerful family does that large mansion belong to?"

"It is the eldest son-in-law of the Grand Minister of Agriculture of the Between Beijia Kingdom, Cen Boqing."

He He Lingchuan immediately felt that the mental preparation he had done was not quite enough: "What, the Grand Minister of Agriculture of which place?"

"Lingxu City! That is one of the Nine Ministers; he manages the money and grain of Between Beijia and holds immense power." Jiao Yu retracted its paws, its front claws gouging three claw marks into the table. "Cen Boqing himself is a Captain of Weiyang; he has won battles and has military merits. I heard he is about to be promoted, and many people in the court are currying favor with his family."

He He Lingchuan scratched his head: "No wonder the captives didn't dare to admit his name directly."

He had been mentally prepared that if this case were dug deep enough, it might step on the toes of certain people in Lingxu City.

But he hadn't expected the other party's background to be so significant.

How many barriers had the three words "Lingxu City" built that officials of the vassal demon kingdoms dared not cross? Jiao Yu asked him: "What now?"

"Based on the confessions of these two small characters under Uncle Wu, we cannot topple an opponent of Cen Boqing's weight," He He Lingchuan said slowly. "But we already know who the target is and in which direction we should exert our strength; this is a major step forward."

He looked at the sky: "Tomorrow we will take the captives and go meet this son-in-law Captain."

At this time, the courtyard gate rang; Commander Lu's personal guard came to deliver food, and the secret signal was accurate.

Before He He Lingchuan returned to the inn, he had instructed Commander Lu to send personal guards to deliver food in turns from then on, changing the personnel, and also changing the restaurant where the food was purchased.

The opponent hiding in the dark wanted to plot against him, and there were only three ways: assassination, poisoning, or curses.

As for assassination, Zhong Sheng should know that he was not easy to kill, and committing assassination in a place like Baishaju was prone to mistakes due to the many eyes and ears; the latter two methods were more secretive.

He He Lingchuan currently had no primordial power to protect his body and had poor resistance to poisons and curses. Zhong Sheng knew very well that he was a foreigner, and using these two methods would be easier to succeed.

Therefore, from today on, He He Lingchuan had to be on guard everywhere.

Even for the food delivered by Commander Lu's personal guard, even if the secret signal matched, he still took out medicinal water to test for poison, confirming it was safe before eating.

This kind of medicinal water was created by his clever monkey, Ling Guang, who said that one must always be on guard against others; it was truly an essential medicine for home and travel.

Sigh, if Ling Guang were here, he wouldn't have to worry about being poisoned.

After the meal, he practiced his breathing exercises for over an hour, then went down to the public bathhouse that was open 24/7 to bathe; there were quite a few people there.

Before lying down in his room, he took out the Soul-Sucking Mirror as usual and shone it through every corner of the room, not even missing the rafters.

This mirror could see through many supernatural powers and witchcraft curses; it was his good helper for thorough inspections.

He He Lingchuan grabbed the mirror and scanned under the bed; it was just a casual sweep, but the mirror cried out: "Hey, hey, hey, go back!"

He leaned down and used the mirror to illuminate the space under the bed thoroughly.

"Here!" The mirror emitted a beam of light, shining on the bottom of the bed board.

Only then did He He Lingchuan discover a small cluster of gray silk in the illuminated spot, looking like spider silk.

In such a dark and damp corner, wasn't it normal to have spider silk?

Even the most glamorous restaurants and inns hid filth in unseen corners.

However, there was a gray round cocoon stuck to the spider silk, smaller than an ordinary silkworm cocoon and very inconspicuous.

If the mirror hadn't made it appear so clearly, he might have missed it even if he had seen it with his own eyes.

He He Lingchuan drew his dagger, stirred this thing out, and burned it with a fire.

At the very moment the flames engulfed the round cocoon, in another inn over three hundred zhang away, someone suddenly clutched their chest and cried out in heart-wrenching pain!

This person pulled open their clothes, only to see a large patch of charred black on their chest, as if it had just been burned by an open flame, even emitting a faint scent of cooked meat.

"Damn it, I was actually discovered!"

The person had no choice but to quickly swallow a potion and take medicinal water to repeatedly wash the wound.

Half an hour later, the wound gradually closed, leaving only a scar the size of a copper coin.

It would take some time to fully heal.

"Heh, don't be smug; you're about to have terrible luck!" He took out a barefoot wooden carving and placed it on the table, then lit two tribute candles.

This was a divine statue, two palms high, the wood a bit old. Although the gilded body hadn't completely peeled off, its form was not as solemn and dignified as other divine statues; instead, it was a hundred-faced and hundred-viewed figure, and its attire was not serious either, worthy of being called tattered rags.

Chest, hands, feet, neck, and even the holes in the clothes all grew faces; some had only one eye, while others had as many as three or four; some eyes were like copper bells, while others were wide open and even bleeding.

Some faces were crying loudly, some were laughing, some were furious, some were sad, all with twisted expressions.

Only a few faces were completely blank, with no eyes, no nose, and no mouth; they could probably be called expressionless.

Other divine statues gave people a feeling of either majesty or kindness, but this one was ferocious and terrifying; just looking at it for an extra second made one feel a chill.

It was as if countless vengeful ghosts had been stuffed into this wooden carving.

This person dripped a few drops of medicinal water into his eyes, put a small wooden ball into the tribute bowl, then knelt down straight, lit half a stick of incense, and muttered words in his mouth.

After dripping the medicinal water, he could see a translucent shadow emerging from inside the wooden ball; it was the soul of a child only three or four years old, still dripping wet, likely having drowned.

After the child's soul came out, it looked around, its expression confused, not knowing what had happened, but instinctively leaned over and sniffed the incense smoke fiercely.

This was its food, which could replenish its weak soul body.

The wooden ball was carved from wood from the bottom of the sea, allowing the remnant soul to reside temporarily.

The curse master took out two more complete sticks of incense, lit them, pressed the ends of the incense against his forehead, and muttered words in his mouth.

The night was quiet, and the atmosphere in the room quickly stagnated.

It seemed as if something invisible but extraordinary was approaching, and even the insect chirping outside the room fell silent.

Finished writing at 4 AM, blood bar empty, eyes blurry.

Brothers and sisters, how about giving a few monthly tickets for encouragement?

(End of chapter)