Chapter 6: Poison in the Food!

A martial artist of the First Stage of Heaven has skin as tough and resilient as tanned leather, able to withstand blows from ordinary clubs without leaving a mark.

As internal force circulated, his skin took on an antique bronze hue.

A single arm could lift a three-hundred-jin weight!

"……"

Chen Mu stopped circulating his art and steadied his breathing.

Having officially become a martial artist, his heart was not as stirred as he had imagined.

Perhaps because he knew it was only a matter of time?

With the ability to pick up cards from corpses, becoming a martial artist was within expectation.

But killing Sun Jindong was still a long way off.

Still, with the Acquired Stage reached, the Innate Stage was not far either.

……

Voices came from outside the house.

Huang Feiyang had returned, and with him was Miao Xiuxiu.

Chen Mu got down from the bed, stretched his limbs, and strode toward the door.

He opened the door……

"Is Tiger inside?"

Hearing the voice, Miao Xiuxiu turned her head, saw Chen Mu, and called out with a smile, "Go wash your hands, it's time to eat."

"Alright, Sister-in-law." Chen Mu replied casually and walked outside.

Miao Xiuxiu's pretty face flushed red, but she did not stop him, happily setting out the bowls and chopsticks.

As Chen Mu passed the table, his footsteps suddenly halted.

He sniffed.

The next instant, his expression shifted slightly. He swiftly reached out and snatched the chopsticks from Huang Feiyang's hand, who had just picked them up and was about to take a bite.

"Don't eat yet." Chen Mu said in a low voice.

"What are you doing?" Huang Feiyang's hand froze in midair, frowning, "There's more than one pair of chopsticks, you can just……"

"There's poison in the food." Chen Mu stated calmly.

Whoosh!

Huang Feiyang shot to his feet. Miao Xiuxiu's face went deathly pale in an instant, her body swayed, tears welled up in her eyes, and she stared at Chen Mu in disbelief.

"You… you talking nonsense!?"

Huang Feiyang's eyes bulged round, filled with fury, and he reached out with a trembling hand to grab Chen Mu.

Slap~

Chen Mu raised his hand and knocked it away, his face stern, and said calmly, "It has nothing to do with Sister-in-law. Someone else added the poison after the dishes were cooked."

This was the "Celestial Wolf Sniffs the Moon" — a rather special skill.

It could distinguish every seasoning in a dish, as well as the aroma of the ingredients themselves.

Moreover, it was not Chen Mu's first time eating Miao Xiuxiu's cooking; he was already thoroughly familiar with her handiwork.

Compared to before, these three dishes tonight each carried a faint, elusive scent, different from that of the ingredients and seasonings.

And this wisp of scent had not blended with the seasonings or ingredients, nor been scorched by high heat.

What did that represent?

It meant the poison was added after the dishes were cooked, plated, and only then put on!

"You……"

Huang Feiyang listened in a daze, his eyes still wide, the fury gone from his gaze, replaced by confusion and bewilderment. "How do you know?"

Chen Mu ignored him, looked toward Miao Xiuxiu, and asked, "Sister-in-law, after you finished cooking, you left the kitchen, didn't you?"

"No……"

Miao Xiuxiu was equally dumbfounded, and answered instinctively, but had only uttered two words when she suddenly recalled something. Her eyes widened, and she stammered, "I… I did leave. After the dishes were cooked and I was about to put them in the basket, Aunt Chrysanthemum called me from outside the door. I… I went out to see her and was away for a while……"

"Aunt Chrysanthemum wants to kill us?" Huang Feiyang exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.

"It's not her."

Chen Mu's expression did not change as he analyzed, "Aunt Chrysanthemum is only one link in the chain. She called Sister-in-law away to make it convenient for someone else to poison the food."

There was something else Chen Mu did not say.

This kind of colorless, extremely faint-tasting poison — Aunt Chrysanthemum simply could not afford it, nor did she have any channel to purchase it!

"Then… then who is it?" Huang Feiyang forced himself to calm down.

"We'll have to go find Aunt Chrysanthemum for that — the lead is with her."

Saying so, Chen Mu put the three dishes back into the basket, lifted it in his hand, and walked toward the door, saying, "I'll also test how fierce this poison is along the way."

Test the poison?

How?

Huang Feiyang was puzzled and followed behind.

Miao Xiuxiu, in a complete muddle, followed instinctively.

The three of them stepped out of the courtyard.

Chen Mu took the lead, heading straight for Aunt Chrysanthemum's place.

But when passing the doorway of a dilapidated house, he stopped, and poured all three dishes from the basket into a corner.

"……"

Huang Feiyang and Miao Xiuxiu both opened their mouths, but said nothing.

Having come this far, and the vegetables already poured out, there's no point saying anything else.

In silence, the two followed Chen Mu away, walked some distance, then stopped.

Standing beneath an eave, they watched from afar as a gaunt, bony stray dog poked its head out from a corner of a dilapidated house.

The stray dog first looked left and right, warily surveying its surroundings, confirming no one was lying in ambush nearby, before pouncing on the corner and wolfing down the vegetables.

The result—before it had eaten even half, it suddenly let out a choking whimper, collapsed to the ground, its four limbs trembling, its whole body convulsing, with black blood pouring from its mouth, nose, eyes, and ears!

"Ugh—!"

Miao Xiuxiu covered her mouth, her whole body trembling, her legs going weak, about to collapse when Huang Feiyang hurriedly caught her.

Only he himself hadn't noticed that his lips and hands were both shaking.

It's real!

Before the stray dog collapsed, Huang Feiyang had still clung to a sliver of hope in his heart, thinking Chen Mu had suffered some kind of shock, which made him suspicious and doubtful about everything.

But now, having witnessed with his own eyes the stray dog eat the vegetables and die swiftly—its seven orifices gushing black blood—there was no more hope, no more doubt, no more resentment.

What replaced it was thick, lingering dread!

"Hu… Hu…"

"We'll talk about the rest when we get back." Chen Mu raised a hand to cut him off. "Let's go see Auntie Chrysanthemum first."

"Right, right… gulp—"

Huang Feiyang swallowed hard, then said through gritted teeth, "Let's go see Auntie Chrysanthemum!"

Miao Xiuxiu said nothing, only tears kept falling.

The moment she thought about how she had nearly gotten Huang Feiyang and Chen Mu killed, her heart ached as if pierced by a drill, and she couldn't catch her breath.

Chen Mu saw it, but said nothing.

With this kind of thing, only the person involved could pull themselves through it, only then could they slowly recover.

……

Along the way, no one spoke.

Soon, they arrived at Auntie Chrysanthemum's residence.

"Bang—!"

Huang Feiyang directly kicked open the closed door, growling low, "Chen Juhua, get out here!"

"…D-Da Hu?" Inside the house, Chen Juhua's startled old partner, seeing clearly who had come, hurriedly put on a smiling face and walked over to ask, "What's going on, D-Da… Brother Hu?"

Huang Feiyang ignored him, his fierce gaze fixed straight on Chen Juhua, who stood by the stove with her head lowered.

"Aunt! ie! Chrys! anthem!"

Huang Feiyang said through gritted teeth, word by word, "I don't believe I've ever done you wrong…"

Thud—

Before Huang Feiyang could finish, Chen Juhua's legs went weak and she dropped to her knees, wailing, "I didn't mean to! I was just momentarily possessed!"

"It was Er Gouzi! He gave me a big coin and told me to go talk to Xiuxiu!"

"I don't know anything else, I really don't know anything!"

While shouting, she trembling pulled a big coin from her pocket and, shaking, held it out, "I-it's… it's this…"

Huang Feiyang, "……"

Miao Xiuxiu, "……"

Chen Juhua's old partner was also a bit dumbfounded.

Few words had been spoken, yet the amount of information revealed was not small.

All three were stunned.

Only Chen Mu kept his head, pulled Huang Feiyang back, turned, and walked outside.

"I'm going to find Er Gou."

"…I'll go with you." Huang Feiyang came back to his senses, immediately followed, and at the same time pulled Miao Xiuxiu along, saying as they walked, "Xiuxiu, you go back first… no, you go to Lili's place and stay there! Until I'm back, don't go home, and don't go to my place either."

"O-okay… okay." Miao Xiuxiu was at a loss, answering purely on instinct.

After saying it, she came to her senses and asked in a trembling voice, "Y-you all be careful too."

"We will." Huang Feiyang forced a smile and waved at Miao Xiuxiu.

Then, he strode away.

……

Er Gouzi, whose full name was Wang Er Gou, was one of the notorious local ruffians in Changping Ward, doing nothing proper all day—either filching a little here, or pilfering a little there.

Chen Mu and Huang Feiyang didn't spend much time before finding him.

Wang Er Gou saw the two from afar, was startled, and actually turned and ran on the spot.

That flight made the fury building in Huang Feiyang's chest instantly explode.

He immediately let out a low roar and chased after him with wild force.

Wang Er Gou had only run a little over a hundred meters before being caught up to, and collapsed in a corner of the alley.

Clutching his head, enduring Huang Feiyang's kicks and blows, he shouted through them, "It was Brother Bao who told me to do it! I don't know anything, it was all Brother Bao who made me do it!"

Huang Feiyang, "……"

No need for harsh interrogation—just a few kicks and he spilled everything.

But it was understandable; he was just a local ruffian, how much loyalty could you expect from him?

"Brother Bao?"

Chen Mu pulled Huang Feiyang back, squatted down, looked at Wang Er Gou, and said softly, "You mean Liu Bao?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Wang Er Gou nodded frantically, "That's him! That's him! Brother Hu, Second Brother Hu, I really don't know anything, I just followed Brother Bao's orders and told Chen Juhua to go shout at Miao Xiuxiu's door. Anything else… anything else, I really don't know!"

By the end, Wang Er Gou's voice had taken on a sobbing tone.

Huang Feiyang, however, paid him no heed. He stepped back, swayed twice, his eyes blank.

Chen Mu straightened up, glanced at Huang Feiyang, said nothing, turned and left.

The one who poisoned them was Liu Bao!

And Liu Bao was one of Xing Yong's trusted lieutenants.

Case solved!

The one who ordered the poisoning was none other than Xing Yong!!