Chapter 26: At the Eye of the Storm

Back in the butler's room of the Huo residence, Huo Yu stared at the huge blood-red character "Shang" on the wall, his face turning iron-pale.

The old butler was no longer living in the main house, but in the butler's room he had occupied ten years ago; the fact that the enemy could abduct him in such a short time while he led everyone out of the house undoubtedly proved they knew the layout of the Huo residence and the living quarters of its inhabitants extremely well.

To be honest, the Huo family had previously been somewhat skeptical of the investigation results regarding Sheng Yuanyao; after all, since Huo Shang had already been buried, how could he possibly climb out from underground? But looking at it now, there was no other possibility except that Huo Shang was truly the one involved; he likely hadn't died completely and had been dug out and taken away by someone.

In fact, Lu Xingzhou didn't fully understand the layout of the Huo residence or the living quarters of its inhabitants either; no matter how good his relationship with Huo Shang had been back then, they would never have discussed such matters.

He had figured it out slowly by looking down from a high vantage point on Danxia Mountain... this was the main reason he stayed on Danxia Mountain after returning to Xiazhou.

The subordinate hadn't finished speaking; there wasn't just a character here, but also a drawing depicting a winking, smiling face, extremely mocking, as if slapping Huo Yu directly in the face.

Making such a grand public declaration to return and handle Huo Shang's matter, only to do nothing, first having Huo Shang break into the house to abduct someone and leave a mocking drawing. If this got out, Huo Yu would become a laughingstock.

"Who can tell me what purpose this bastard has in abducting the old butler?" Huo Yu's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth: "If he wanted to kill the butler, he could have done it before; he specifically severed the tendons and waited for me to arrive before abducting him. Could it be just to slap my face?"

Everyone fell silent; no one could answer this question.

Only Liu Qingcang's expression shifted slightly: "Did Young Master apply medicine to treat the severed tendons on the old butler?"

Huo Yu narrowed his eyes: "Are you saying he deliberately severed the butler's tendons just to wait for this moment?"

Liu Qingcang spoke in a low voice: "If Huo Shang is indeed Lu Xingzhou, then Lu Xingzhou is a cripple..."

"But who can tell me how a cripple could come and go without a trace!"

Liu Qingcang opened his mouth but couldn't answer either.

"Why hasn't Uncle Fu returned yet?" Huo Yu suddenly realized: "Let's go check!"

The group rushed at high speed to the small courtyard of the inn where Lu Xingzhou was temporarily staying; inside, it was already empty, with Uncle Fu's corpse lying on the ground, his eyes wide with terror, refusing to close in death.

Huo Yu felt as if his whole body had fallen into an ice cellar.

Thinking he had arrived in Xiazhou with overwhelming force, on the very second day, one of his loyal servants who had followed him since childhood was dead...

Uncle Fu was not one of the two fifth-grade guards, but he was a senior sixth-grade Wu Xiu, sixth-grade upper rank! Yet he died so silently... judging by the furniture in this room, it felt as if no fierce battle had taken place at all; in other words, a sixth-grade Wu Xiu barely resisted before lying dead on the spot!

How did that cripple and the child manage to do this?

Liu Qingcang's whole body went numb.

He had always thought Lu Xingzhou plotted viciously but possessed little personal strength, but seeing the tragic death of a peer of his own strength right before his eyes, Liu Qingcang finally realized what kind of person he had been opposing for so long... his previous methods had indeed been gentle enough; only after the Huo family arrived did he truly reveal his cruelty and ruthlessness!

"Regardless, Lu Xingzhou is Huo Shang; this matter can be concluded." Huo Yu declared decisively: "Issue an order for me: search the entire city and find Lu Xingzhou's whereabouts! Offer a reward of one hundred taels of gold for information leading to him, and one thousand taels of gold for those who obtain Lu Xingzhou's head!"

Huo Yu believed that heavy rewards would surely attract brave men, and that the entire city would sell the Huo family this favor... however, once the order was issued, the effect was not quite what Huo Yu had imagined.

If it was confirmed that Lu Xingzhou was Huo Shang, then this was an internal affair of the Huo family... the significance of an internal affair lay in the fact that Huo Shang was also, damn it, a member of the Huo family!

Who knew what the head of the Huo family thought? After all, that was his own son; it was one thing for the Huo family to kill him themselves, but for outsiders to kill him? What if the head of the Huo family believed his son was not someone outsiders were qualified to kill? Then instead of gaining merit, one would incur the grudge of killing a son; who in their right mind would do such a thing?

Even City Lord Xu Bingkun quietly instructed his confidant: "This matter... just go through the motions on the surface; let our hands remain unstained by this blood."

"City Lord, Shen Yuanyao's movements have been somewhat strange these past few days; she seems to be investigating something..."

"It is normal for the Demon Suppression Bureau to investigate cases we don't know about; there's no need to be on high alert. Even if she has noticed something, with Huo Yu here, she can do nothing."

The order was issued for an entire day; Xiazhou boiled over, appearing as a lively scene with imperial guards patrolling everywhere. Yet by late night, not a single piece of news had emerged, as if Lu Xingzhou had never existed at all.

"This time I let you eat the melon all the way to the ripe center; don't say I'm eating alone, okay?"

Lu Xingzhou, who could not be found anywhere in the city, was openly sitting in the small home of the Demon Suppression Bureau commander, leisurely unwrapping the bandages on the old Huo butler's hand and scraping off a layer of blackish ointment.

Sheng Yuanyao sat coldly on the side watching his actions, making no move, only saying coldly: "No more pretending? Do you really think I dare not arrest you?"

"You investigated the case earlier for the peace and safety of Xiazhou; later, when you learned it was a matter concerning Huo Shang, it was no longer a crime by a villain but an internal affair of the Huo family, so you had long since decided not to get involved, hadn't you?" Lu Xingzhou smiled: "The Demon Suppression Bureau does not handle such matters in the first place; besides, Huo Yu seems to disgust you greatly; why would you help him?"

"So you really are Huo Shang?"

Lu Xingzhou did not answer.

"Then you must tell me how you committed the crime back then, to the extent that no matter how I investigated, I felt it had nothing to do with you?"

"That day I went down the mountain alone and was questioned by you, creating a cognitive bias; naturally, you would think I went to the Huo residence the previous day on my own... actually, I usually went with A'nuo pushing my wheelchair. I returned to the mountain early to create an alibi; A'nuo stayed there and didn't return with me. You only checked if I was on the mountain at the Wei hour, you didn't ask A'nuo."

Sheng Yuanyao wore a stern face.

As the lead investigator of this case, being misled by the criminal to such a dizzying extent was simply a humiliation for her career. Sheng Yuanyao really wanted to grit her teeth and arrest this scoundrel; it was infuriating.

Glancing sideways at the Little Daoist squatting nearby with his hands tucked into his sleeves, smiling apologetically, Sheng Yuanyao ground her teeth even harder.

He even picked up a fortune-telling banner to act there; turns out you little thing are the culprit, and you even took two taels of silver from me!

However, the experience of eating the melon to the very end was excellent; at least it made her feel a bit more comfortable. Sheng Yuanyao spoke stiffly: "Your style of action this time is very different from before; it is extremely aggressive, and it seems you deliberately placed yourself at the center of controversy. Is it to attract Huo Yu's attention and nail it onto you, so he has no time to deal with the Shen Merchant House?"

"Hmm..." Lu Xingzhou said calmly: "The Shen Merchant House has nothing to do with this matter; they shouldn't bear these consequences just because they rented my place; this is my own business."

Sheng Yuanyao was somewhat sarcastic: "Willing to make yourself even more dangerous?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "When I am regarded as Huo Shang... it's not as dangerous as imagined. At least you won't get involved anymore, and most others won't either; only a few who want to lick Huo Yu's butt remain, and how many of them are worth watching?"

"You don't want to drag Shen Tang down, so you come to drag me down instead? Are you addicted to setting me up?"

"After my identity was exposed, I felt you would be very angry that I played you... I came here actually to express my apology; I will explain the matter to you clearly and then leave; just pretend you never saw me."

Sheng Yuanyao fell silent for a moment, then asked: "Does scraping off this ointment do any good?"

Lu Xingzhou was lightly sniffing the ointment at the tip of his nose, analyzing its ingredients, then shook his head: "Truly heartless; the old Huo butler worked diligently for the Huo family all his life, yet when his tendons were severed, they only gave him ointment of this caliber... this stuff is indeed beneficial for reconnecting severed tendons, but relying solely on it is not enough; there must also be internal medicine, which should be on Huo Yu."

Sheng Yuanyao asked curiously: "You went to such great lengths just for this, aren't you disappointed with this result?"

"Wrong; I didn't hold too high expectations for this in the first place; if it has any effect, that's already quite good, at least it will be useful for Shen Tang." Lu Xingzhou put away the ointment, his smile somewhat grim: "My condition is very serious; even the internal medicine they brought may not be of much use to me; I am aiming for something else."

Sheng Yuanyao felt a chill in her heart; since she confirmed Lu Xingzhou was Huo Shang, everyone guessed he would come for the medicine Huo Yu brought to treat the old Huo butler's hands, but actually, it wasn't that!

Her desire to eat the melon was stirred up again; she wanted to ask but didn't dare. If she asked further about this matter, whatever Lu Xingzhou did afterwards, she would become an accomplice by knowing; the nature of the situation would change...

But she really wanted to ask!

Lu Xingzhou looked at her, finding it somewhat amusing: "Rest assured; after this matter, as long as I am alive, I will crawl back to tell you the whole story."

Sheng Yuanyao felt much better, quite satisfied: "You do have some conscience."

Lu Xingzhou suddenly remembered something: "Come to think of it, now the entire city's attention is on me, and the City Lord as well. This is a good opportunity for you to investigate the demon case; just ignore Huo Yu."

"I know." Sheng Yuanyao nodded, then added: "There is one more question."

"Mm, go on."

"Why do you dare to judge that the Huo family won't directly send a third-grade expert to cut off the threat forever? If the person they send is strong enough, isn't your scheme of luring someone over to kill them just seeking your own death?"

"Mm... do you know why I stayed in Xiazhou for half a year before making my move?"

"Why?"

"Waiting for the right moment. For instance, the Demon Suppression Bureau having you as its commander is one reason. You won't be like the local old hands who grab a suspect and torture them to death; you will, as I want, investigate matters related to Huo Shang and report them upward."

Sheng Yuanyao's face darkened again: "And the second reason?"

"The second reason... last month, there was a change in the capital, and the Princess went missing. At this time, the capital should be in a state of tension, with undercurrents surging. Unless the Huo family members are brain-dead, they wouldn't pull a third-grade expert away at such a critical juncture... Are third-grade experts like Chinese cabbage? Losing even one would make them lose an arm. Would they send one out at this moment just to deal with an eighteen-year-old Huo Shang?"

Sheng Yuanyao: "..."

"The one who came here is Huo Yu, which allows us to judge that the Huo family is treating this matter as training and experience for the young. Even the head of the Huo family might feel that sending an expert is a bit too much, which would ruin the effect of the training." Lu Xingzhou smiled: "He will regret this judgment for the rest of his life."

(End of this chapter)