Chapter 124: Sentencing Myself

Golden Knife Martial School?!

Chu Tianshu glanced subtly at everyone.

The two men and three women had good hearing; upon hearing the voice from the phone, they all held their breath and drew closer, faces filled with shock and suspicion.

Qi Lianyong remained calm, making only a lip movement to the fingerless man.

“Answer normally.”

Whether the fingerless man understood the lip movement was unclear, but he certainly understood the threat.

“I’ve heard of it—the one in Guangling, right?”

The fingerless man grudgingly said, "Why bring up that place?"

“The Golden Knife Martial School had an old campus; after they moved out, it was turned into a cultural center.”

The boss said, “Besides the exhibition hall, there’s a warehouse filled with half-ancient, half-modern relics.”

“Take the goods there—someone will let you in. Just say they’re cargo; don’t mention anything else.”

“Also, find a place on the road to charge your phone quickly—don’t lose contact.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he hung up the call.

The fingerless man looked uncertainly at the others, unsure what to do next.

Chu Tianshu flicked his finger, and the silver needle he’d used earlier slid back into place.

“So it’s the old campus.”

The short-haired girl sighed in relief but still looked doubtful: “But it’s still our old campus—could this guy have some connection to our school?”

Qi Lianyong chuckled: “You may not trust your teachers’ character, but you should trust their work assignments.”

“Teaching daily, occasional auxiliary security missions, minimal leave.”

“Who has time to become a grave-robbing ringleader running all over the Jiangnan region, obsessing over ancient tombs?”

The short-haired girl felt a bit embarrassed, gave a sheepish laugh, and reached down to stroke her cat.

“But…”

Qi Lianyong changed tack: “Even if current teachers and students are unlikely suspects, we can’t rule out that this man might be someone else connected to the school.”

“Unfortunately, the few we captured know the names and addresses of their subordinates—but not their boss’s whereabouts.”

Chu Tianshu was also watching the four captives.

Three of the four were captured by him.

The core figure of this gang remained at large.

Chu Tianshu twitched his index finger, feeling a faint sense of incompleteness, unsatisfied.

He suddenly noticed the man with the mole on his forehead seemed to be twitching his eyelids.

“You have something to say?”

Chu Tianshu pulled out one of the needles.

The mole-faced man took a deep breath, and his first words were:

“My full name is Yao Liben. I can help you.”

Chu Tianshu said coolly: “You’re suddenly eager?”

“I can tell you don’t plan to kill us outright and pull off a black eat black.”

Yao Liben said frankly: “If you’re turning us over for legal trial, I won’t die.”

“In this world, money equals dignity. I entered this line to experience the life of a respected rich man—not to become a death row inmate.”

“So I’ve painstakingly studied the criminal code, recording every crime I’ve committed and its corresponding sentence, just in case I ever get caught.”

“Over the years, I’ve never taken a life. During interrogation, I can provide factual evidence—I have no guilt. By sentencing standards, I’d get at most life imprisonment.”

Yao Liben’s eyes brightened.

“If I help design a plan to capture the boss, that’s meritorious service—I might even get sentence reduction.”

The fingerless man stared in disbelief, his eyes darting to his companion.

Chu Tianshu was momentarily speechless.

He could tell this man was speaking the truth.

Earlier, when interrogating the strongman, they’d mainly asked about subordinates’ addresses and the strength levels of the fingerless man and Yao Liben.

They hadn’t had time to probe into their specific crimes.

After all, the strongman had more than one life on his hands.

Who would’ve thought there’d be a grave robber who actually studied the penal code to sentence himself?

“You’re quite the legal expert.”

Chu Tianshu yanked him out, then shook him lightly, making him stand upright before him.

Although these vans were large, their rear seats could be folded away entirely for cargo storage.

But these four captives had been crammed together like sardines.

Yao Liben, pulled out, still stiff and wooden in posture, nevertheless felt vastly more comfortable.

“From your companions’ confessions, your boss is a mysterious figure—only known by the surname Li, skilled in martial arts, well-connected, and knowledgeable in grave-robbing. Nothing else.”

Chu Tianshu asked: “What method do you have to help us capture him?”

Yao Liben exhaled: “His mysterious aura is just theater—to establish authority and better control his crew.”

“He knows the details of our shipments and profits because he always holds back a batch of premium items and sells them separately to major buyers.”

“From the major buyers, he learns our shipment details, then compares them with the accounts we submit.”

“If we opportunistically steal something en route and haven’t yet smuggled it to the major buyer, he won’t know what we took.”

Qi Lianyong listened nearby, nodding silently.

The boss likely didn’t know this group had previously passed near the Golden Knife Martial School and even captured a cat.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have calmly instructed them to go to the old campus.

“Such tactics all serve to inflate his authority—but his real power lies in his uncanny ability to locate tombs, his mastery of traps, and his skill in surviving supernatural horrors within tombs, leading everyone through danger.”

Yao Liben said: “But these advantages mean little against outsiders.”

“To catch him, all you need is to lure him into your ambush—then half the battle is won.”

Chu Tianshu said: “Get to the point!”

“The point is—he’s desperate.”

Yao Liben said firmly: “We’ve had delays before due to unexpected events.”

“On those occasions, he remained silent until we reached the coast, then only appeared after we reported in, guiding us to find new buyers.”

“But this time, he called immediately to give specific instructions—he’s eager to offload this shipment.”

“Based on my recent observations of our meetings, he’s likely fixated on something he desperately wants to buy—and needs cash from this shipment to do it.”

“I can fabricate a story: that an old buyer happened to intercept us en route, trying to steal our goods during the cold disaster.”

Yao Liben’s expression turned serious: “When desperate, people make mistakes. If I play it convincingly, and help by having Ah Xuan assist me…”

“The boss will very likely come to the old campus to oversee things.”

Chu Tianshu asked: “Will he have time to get there? If he’s too far away, even if he’s desperate, he might just give up.”

Yao Liben hesitated: “That… depends on a gamble. If I had to judge, the odds are still high.”

Those who’ve lived together can observe finer details than outsiders like Chu Tianshu’s group.

Neither the Sinew-Disrupting Hand nor Chu Tianshu’s Truth-Telling Silver Needles could extract such nuanced information.

Under extreme pain and dizziness, a person becomes little more than a rigid answering machine.

A captive like Yao Liben—who can exercise initiative—is vastly more useful.

Is this the power of sentence reduction?

“Good!”

Chu Tianshu smiled and turned: “Master Qi, we were going to the Golden Knife Martial School anyway.”

“Let’s trust this plan and set up an ambush along the way—what do you say?”

Qi Lianyong paused to consider.

“Meow! Meow!”

Bai Mei the cat suddenly meowed, raising its right paw and wriggling in the short-haired girl’s arms.

Its eyes, like black grapes, gleamed under the daylight and snow—eager to endorse the plan.

“Miaow!”

“Alright.”

Qi Lianyong said: “I’ll call the martial school right away.”

“And Yao Liben—when we asked about your companions, we only learned your boss excels in palm and finger techniques. Any further details?”

Yao Liben thought for a moment.

“In some ancient tombs, when yin energy surges, gunpowder won’t ignite, and gas masks can’t withstand the bone-chilling cold that causes dizziness and vertigo—you can only endure it with martial foundation and talismans.”

“But Li the Boss handles such conditions as if swimming in water.”

“Even armored tomb guardians—he can smash them with a single palm strike, leaving a hole.”

Hearing this, Chu Tianshu immediately formed a theory.

Could it be a palm technique trained with poison sand?

Among the variants of Iron Palm, there are Poison Sand Palm, Black Sand Palm—difficult to master, often causing deformed hands and lung disease.

But if trained properly to perfection, one’s resistance to poison increases dramatically, and the heart and lungs are simultaneously strengthened.

At Qilian Yong’s end, he also put forward a hypothesis.

“Could someone who moves through the ancient tomb as easily as a fish in water be a master of yin-cold internal martial arts?”

(End of Chapter)