Chapter 492

"Hiss—"

Li Tan sucked in a breath of cold air abruptly, his back straightened slightly, and the coldness in his eyes instantly faded, replaced by deep contemplation.

He raised his hand to stroke his chin, his gaze wandering over the corpses. After pondering for a moment, his tone carried a bit of sudden realization and grave emotion: "It seems that's really it!"

"Think about it carefully, the iron-masked man did all this, and from beginning to end, there was no benefit at all!" He emphasized his tone, his voice particularly clear in the morgue. "Giving the location of the tomb, beating the tomb raiders to death, and publicly dumping the corpses—there was not a bit of profit; silencing Yuan Wu and the others might even expose his tracks!"

But the problem arises again: if it has nothing to do with interests, what kind of plot is hidden behind these layers of calculations?

Hearing this, Gao Jiong first shrugged his shoulders, then spread his hands, his tone carrying a bit of helpless teasing: "It's not entirely without..."

He paused, his gaze swept over the crowd with grave expressions, and continued: "From another aspect, this iron-masked man can be considered to have disgusted us quite a bit..."

"And wasted our time and energy!"

Hearing this, Li Tan could not help but roll his eyes, his sleeves fluttering with the movement, his mouth curling high, his tone full of undisguised complaints: "Old Gao, what kind of nonsense theory is this?"

It is simply nonsense literature.

Summarizing a piece of nonsense with a piece of nonsense...

"The iron-masked man is so elusive, ruthless, and decisive, and went to such great lengths—could it be just to disgust us and waste some time?"

He said, raising his hand to point at Gao Jiong, his eyes carrying a bit of laughter and tears, "With this kind of thinking, you might as well think about the source of that chronic poison, or the iron-masked man's possible next moves!"

Chen Yan folded his hands on his chest, his dark robes wrapping around half of his body, his eyes carrying a bit of thoughtful light. After a moment of silence, he spoke slowly, his tone full of hidden meaning: "Actually, what A-Jiong said is not unreasonable!"

Li Tan was choked by these words, the hem of his robe swaying slightly, his face carrying helplessness: "Big Brother, you guys..."

He shook his head, waved his hand, and the teasing in his tone dissipated for the most part: "It doesn't matter what it is!"

As soon as his voice fell, a biting chill flashed in his eyes, his tone sank, and he went straight to the point: "The key now is, how to catch that iron-masked man?"

"We can't just let that bastard play with us in the dark, right?"

His words were full of dissatisfaction with the iron-masked man.

The Mingjing Si had never suffered such a loss!

Gao Jiong shook his head slowly, his tone carrying a bit of undisguised helplessness, and stated a heartbreaking fact: "Superintendent Li, I'm afraid the difficulty is not small..."

He paused, his gaze swept over the cold corpses on the table, his voice sinking a bit: "From tomb-raiding and dumping corpses to silencing Yuan Wu and the others, that iron-masked man has always been hiding behind the scenes... Regarding his tracks, we still have no clues!"

Without any clues, wanting to catch a guy who is skilled, well-informed, and cautious enough to hide in the dark is no different from a fool's dream or looking for a needle in a haystack...

We can't really turn Chang'an upside down to find him, right?

Li Tan felt his anger surging, and he became more and more dissatisfied with the iron-masked man. Coldness surged in his eyes, and he could not help but burst into profanity: "Damn it! Which bastard is it, daring to cause trouble in the Chang'an territory!"

He kicked the leg of the wooden table next to him, making a muffled "thud," his tone becoming more and more ruthless: "Don't let me catch him!"

"Otherwise, I'll definitely make him taste what it means to play the pipa!"

Houmochen Xiao stood to the side, his brows suddenly furrowing, as if he had suddenly thought of a key point.

He looked at the furious Li Tan, stepped forward half a step, and asked: "Superintendent, have you forgotten what happened when the Lord got married?"

Seeing Li Tan's expression move slightly, he continued: "This kind of dark and ruthless means is either Qi or Liang, and the wrist is far superior to those petty people back then!"

For some reason, Houmochen Xiao always felt that there was a bigger plot behind it...

Chen Yan nodded slowly, his body under the dark brocade robe becoming more and more straight, his voice deep and powerful: "This office feels that the possibility of Gao Qi is greater!"

Having said that, a smile of undisguised contempt and disdain curled at the corner of his mouth, his tone carrying a bit of mockery: "As for the Liang Kingdom, the current imperial family's thoughts are not on this—"

Gao Jiong nodded and echoed: "The subordinate also thinks so..."

He paused and continued: "Either they spend huge sums of money to build temples to pray for blessings, or the nobles run to the temples to give themselves up, and then spend a lot of money to redeem themselves. Tossing back and forth, where would they have the leisure to send secret agents to Chang'an to stir up trouble?"

In the current timeline, because there is no Universe General to wreak havoc, the Xiao Bodhisattva is still cultivating his great blessings...

Chen Yan exhaled a breath of turbid air, waved his hand, and his gaze turned to the window lattice of the morgue, looking at the fish-belly white sky outside the window, his tone relaxing a bit: "Forget it!"

"It's too late, and after tossing for most of the night, everyone is tired." He swept over the crowd and said in a low voice, "Go back to sleep and rest early!"

Li Tan looked at Chen Yan, his brows furrowed in confusion, his gaze scanning him up and down, as if he could not believe his ears.

His tone was full of extremely puzzled confusion: "Big Brother, you just let everyone go back like this?"

"That iron-masked man is clearly provoking you! Can you swallow this breath?" Li Tan's voice carried urgency and confusion.

Clearly, he could not understand Chen Yan's calmness at this moment.

If Li remembered correctly, the most vengeful person in this huge Chang'an, the one who would repay every grievance, was his own big brother!

What happened today?

Could it be that he was possessed?

Chen Yan raised his head, a cold sneer curling at the corner of his mouth, and said decisively: "Of course I can't swallow it!"

Li Tan stood there, asking in confusion: "Then you still...?"

But before he could finish, he was interrupted by Chen Yan, whose eyes flashed with a hint of cunning. He looked at him with a smile that was not quite a smile, his tone light and breezy: "What's the rush?"

"Since he went to such great lengths to lay out this game and deliberately left flaws to provoke us, he will definitely not just make this one move." He paused, his gaze swept over everyone present, and continued, "Besides, to investigate aimlessly, wanting to catch the person behind the scenes is as difficult as ascending to heaven!"

Li Tan was just about to open his mouth, but the word "Then..." had just reached his lips when he was suddenly awakened by something, his pupils shrank suddenly, and his eyes instantly lit up.

"Wait!"

He clapped his hands heavily, his sleeves fluttering, and he took two steps forward. The look in his eyes when he looked at Chen Yan was full of surprise, and his voice rose a bit: "Big Brother, are you planning to set a trap and invite the king into the urn?!"

Li could be sure that his big brother had always been vengeful, could not swallow his anger, and could not let others ride on his head and shit...

If he could be so abnormal today, then this is the only reasonable explanation!

Chen Yan nodded slowly, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth, and affirmed: "Yes!"

As his voice fell, he turned and walked, the hem of his dark brocade robe sweeping over the cold threshold of the morgue, walking straight out of the door.

The sky was still dark, cold stars twinkling in the sky, and the night fog mixed with frost rushing toward them.

He raised his hand to tidy up the slightly messy dark brocade robe on his shoulder, his fingertips brushing over the cloud patterns embroidered on the fabric, and said with a smile that was not quite a smile: "Doesn't he want to play?"

"Then we will accompany him and have a good time..."

"Just borrow his hand, and we can logically achieve some goals!"

Having said that, he raised his eyes and looked into the distance.

His gaze pierced through the heavy night, sweeping over the outlines of the buildings in the Mingjing Si.

The smile in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a depth that could not be melted, hiding layers of calculations...

Since the fall of the two great Pillars of State, there has been a desperate shortage of excellent scapegoats.

Moreover, the idea of adding seven guards had been lying in Chen's study for too long, too long...

Houmochen Xiao followed Chen Yan's footsteps quickly, his gaze falling on the side face of the person in front of him, and he could not help but mutter in his heart: "The Lord is smiling so insidiously!"

Feeling that someone is going to be unlucky...

Chen Yan stopped suddenly, his robes swaying slightly in the night wind. He turned his head slowly, his gaze falling precisely on Li Tan, a smile of deep meaning hanging on the corner of his mouth, and ordered loudly: "Superintendent Li, issue a reward order tomorrow morning!"

"Whoever can capture the iron-masked man alive will be rewarded with five thousand taels of silver!" He emphasized his tone, every word clear and powerful, "After that, every ten days, the reward will increase by five hundred taels, and it will continue to accumulate!"

"Post the reward order all over the streets and alleys of Chang'an, so that everyone can see—"

"That we have been played by this iron-masked man and are at our wits' end, currently in a state of 'incompetent rage'!"