Chapter 168: Heading to the Empty Boat of a Thousand Gates! The former Tengu girl!

Not long after, looking at Werner, who was curled up into a ball under the tree and shivering.

Paimon, knowing the truth, kept casting looks of contempt and anger.

"Cowardly guy, sure enough, there is a saying in Liyue that is correct: pitiful people must have something hateful about them."

Lumine was noncommittal about this. She believed that with Werner's weakness, she only needed to intimidate him casually, and he would have to obey.

"So it really was the people from the Kanjou Commission causing trouble behind the scenes, that foot soldier responsible for tax collection, Keijirou!"

From Werner's account, Paimon inexplicably developed a dislike for the Kanjou Commission.

The tax-collecting foot soldier told the merchants that the tax rate had actually been raised, and the extra Crystal Marrow that replaced the tax was hoarded. When the merchants really couldn't buy goods, they would let Werner sell it back at a high price.

What a great "business without capital."

And it wasn't just tax collection; even the Yuanguojian Office charged handling fees based on closeness, and the entire Ritou was rotten to the core.

What they saw and heard upon arriving in Ritou made Lumine and Paimon unhappy.

Unlike Mondstadt, which represented freedom, and Liyue, which represented contracts, the so-called land of eternity showed its ugly side as soon as they arrived.

"Don't tell those people behind you about this! Do you understand?"

Lumine narrowed her eyes, and having just unleashed a round of force, her deterrent power was full.

Werner nodded quickly, not daring to hesitate at all.

The blonde young man holding his head and shrinking under the tree looked very ridiculous.

Lumine looked around to confirm that no one had discovered what happened here, so after repeated warnings, she drifted away.

"What are we going to do next?" Paimon asked in a low voice.

"Go find Keijirou and get the evidence of his collusion with Werner. In this way, even if the Kanjou Commission is rotten from top to bottom, they will temporarily back down with the evidence in hand."

In any case, the International Trade Association still had some influence.

Moreover, since the Kanjou Commission had such an incident, there must be political enemies who were not on good terms with them willing to kick them while they were down.

This was Lumine's grasp of human nature.

By then, the International Trade Association would have an easier time.

"But President Kurisu asked us to persuade Harrison. When are we going to do that?"

Lumine thought for a moment and pondered: "Then let's go find Harrison first and persuade him not to do anything stupid."

"Okay! Let's finish the commission first!"

The two made up their minds and prepared to go to Harrison's home according to the information provided by Kurisu to persuade him not to mess around.

Force is not useful at all times; one must face the right person at the right time.

Just like how she threatened Werner.

On the other side!

Outside the shallow sea of Ritou.

After parting ways with Lumine and Paimon, Luo Li arrived at a place about a few miles away from the port.

Here, he looked into the distance along the waves, and at the end of the horizon, a tiny black dot was looming.

"Empty Boat of a Thousand Gates..."

Muttering the familiar name, Luo Li stopped for a long time, and in his mind, he couldn't help but recall the smiling face of the Tengu girl who used to cling to him.

"Mitsuyo, I wonder how you are now."

After pondering for a long time, he finally took a step and stepped onto a lonely boat floating by the water's edge.

The lonely boat was covered in moss, but fortunately, it was still intact, and should have been abandoned here by someone.

Not choosing to use spatial movement to jump over, Luo Li wanted to take this time to sort out his thoughts and act as a psychological buffer.

Without any movement from him, the lonely boat automatically sailed toward the distance along the rippling water.

The sea surface under the setting sun was sparkling, carrying a salty and humid scent along with the breeze.

Thinking that he might meet an old acquaintance from five hundred years ago, even with Luo Li's state of mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit complicated.

Outside the Empty Boat of a Thousand Gates!

Kannazuka!

This place is located in the northeast direction of Ritou, and it is two islands hanging alone on the sea, one large and one small, looking at each other.

Now, quite a few pirates, Treasure Hoarders, and Kairagi had gathered on this usually quiet island.

"Are you sure the news you got is correct?"

One of the burly Kairagi asked repeatedly.

He was wearing samurai armor and holding a long sword, looking incredibly powerful.

The pirate leader snorted coldly and said: "Could this be fake? My men saw the owner of the villa leave with their own eyes and haven't returned yet."

"Heh, even so, it's full of crises inside. Wanting to go in and search for treasure, I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

A dozen or so Treasure Hoarders gathered in a pile, and the leader among them laughed and said: "Don't bring up such talk. Everyone gathered here mostly wants to take advantage of the owner's absence to go in and make a profit. Let's talk about our respective information about the inside."

The bold are stuffed to death, the timid are starved to death.

Knowing that it was a Tengu villa passed down for hundreds of years, who knew how many treasures were hidden inside? If they could go in and find one or two, they would make a fortune.

Otherwise, how could so many people have gone there one after another for so many years, with many leaving their lives there?

The pirate leader swept a cold glance at everyone present and said: "The Treasure Hoarders are right. No one knows when the villa owner will return. That great yokai is not someone we can handle. Only by taking advantage of her absence can we drill a hole."

"If you want to have any gains, everyone must work together. Although the various mechanisms inside are very dangerous, fortunately, predecessors have explored quite a few, bringing back precious information with bloody facts. Everyone, state your understanding of the villa first and share the information about the inside."

"As for how to distribute the treasures found after going in, everyone relies on their own ability. I think the treasures inside are enough to satisfy us. What do you think?"

Several Kairagi were silent, looked at each other for a moment, and considered it an agreement to his proposal.

The Treasure Hoarders naturally had no objections and immediately agreed happily.

"Since no one has any objections, let's begin."

Immediately, a group of people quickly compared their respective intelligence information about the Empty Boat of a Thousand Gates, verifying the mechanisms inside with each other.

It was hard to wait for the villa owner to leave, and not to mention whether there would be such a good opportunity next time, that villa wouldn't always stay in the same place, always being elusive and making people have a headache.

Perhaps this was the only opportunity in this life.

Holding such thoughts, the villains who usually did all kinds of evil actually began to cooperate in an unprecedented way.

With treasure in front, even if there had been conflicts between the parties in the past, or even swords drawn against each other, they could calmly put it down at this moment.