After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 466: Chapter 465: An Apparent Reconciliation

Hee Lingchuan coughed lightly. ”This is General Antelope, of the Chiyan Kingdom’s Feitian Vanguard.”

”General Antelope?” Zhongsun Mou’s gaze hardened slightly. ”Your orders have been issued. You should be on your way to the front lines by now. Why are you still in Zhitian Village?”

”None of your...” General Antelope started to snap, but then he remembered the man’s authority and forced himself to change his tune. ”I just have to arrive within the deadline! There’s still plenty of time!” Zhongsun Mou couldn’t arrest him directly, but it would be a huge pain if he sent a letter of complaint to the Chiyan Capital.

So he quickly changed the subject. ”The victim was a soldier from my Feitian Army! I demand an explanation! Where’s the killer? Who are they? How will they be dealt with, huh?”

”The case is still open. Confidential details cannot be disclosed. Those are the rules,” Zhongsun Mou said flatly. ”General Antelope, you should focus on the war. Lingxu City will inform the Chiyan Kingdom when the time is right, and you’ll have your answers then.”

But how could General Antelope possibly leave? By the time he returned from the front, it would be months later, and the trail would be cold.

He didn’t trust this ”Inspector” one bit.

Hee Lingchuan spoke up to defuse the situation. ”Before I came, the Crown Prince ordered me to investigate this matter to the very end and deliver the final results—not this,” he said, pointing to the golden paper in the guard’s hand, ”—to him personally. If you have any objections, take them up with the Crown Prince. I cannot stop my investigation midway.”

Zhongsun Mou was displeased and about to retort when someone suddenly walked in through the courtyard gate, letting out a startled cry at the scene.

It was an old man in his fifties, with salt-and-pepper hair, carrying two oil-paper packages.

The group of fierce-looking men in the courtyard made him turn right around to flee.

But of course, the men weren’t about to let him go. One of Zhongsun Mou’s guards rushed out, grabbed him by the shoulder, and dragged him back.

A quick probe with True Power revealed he was just an ordinary person.

Before any harsh questioning could even begin, the old man confessed everything.

It turned out he was the servant in charge of maintaining the place. His master, Mr. Mai, only came three or four times a year and never stayed for more than a dozen days. Afterward, the courtyard would fall completely silent again. The servant’s days were quite pleasant; he would sweep the grounds, tend the flowers, and prepare small dishes to go with his wine.

When asked what Mr. Mai did for a living, the old man said he wasn’t sure, but he was probably a merchant. Whenever Mr. Mai arrived, visitors would come knocking every so often, sometimes several groups in a single day.

These people would go into the study, Mr. Mai would close the door, and not a sound could be heard.

General Antelope asked him, ”You never thought about eavesdropping at the door?” Given they were engaged in shady business, they most likely put up a Barrier when they met.

”No. Mr. Mai even praised me for it. He said my greatest virtue was my lack of curiosity.”

Zhongsun Mou also spoke. ”Do you know Mr. Mai’s full name?”

”I’m not sure. He never mentioned it.”

”What did he do here?”

”Er, mostly he just read books and drank tea in the study. He’d occasionally go out, but I don’t know where he went.”

Hee Lingchuan asked him, ”This time, how many days did Mr. Mai stay?”

”Five days... no, six days.”

”So where is he now?”

”I don’t know.” The old man looked lost. ”He should be home. Mr. Mai likes to take an afternoon nap.”

However, when Hee Lingchuan arrived, the courtyard was already empty.

’Did Mr. Mai sense the danger and flee in advance?’

But Hee Lingchuan’s interrogation of Wan the Wealthy had been brief, and he had rushed to Frost and Dew Town without stopping. Only half an hour had passed. How could Mr. Mai have possibly found out ahead of time?

’Who leaked the information, and when?’

Zhongsun Mou asked a couple more questions, but seeing he couldn’t get any more useful information from the old man, he waved for his men to take him away to give a description for a composite sketch.

The old man’s unexpected appearance gave both sides a moment to cool down.

Zhongsun Mou looked at Hee Lingchuan, about to speak, when Jiao Yu the Fierce Tiger cut in, ”Lord Zhongsun, I suggest we investigate this case jointly. That way, we can combine our strengths.”

Hee Lingchuan smiled. ”Either I see this through to the end, or you can send a message to the King of Chiyan right now and have the Crown Prince recall me.”

General Antelope boomed, ”That’s right! You’re standing on Chiyan soil. You want to forcibly expel the Crown Prince Envoy? You’ll have to get through us first!”

Hee Lingchuan glanced at him.

This General Antelope appeared brash and reckless, but he was actually a very cooperative ”bad cop.”

The general’s meaning was clear: it didn’t matter if Zhongsun Mou disagreed. The Token could intimidate others, but he’d just as soon throw him out.

Clever people dreaded dealing with scoundrels.

Zhongsun Mou’s mind was also racing.

He had a deep-seated grudge against Fushan Yue, so naturally, he wouldn’t be polite to his subordinate.

’This so-called Crown Prince Envoy is stubbornly resisting, which is laughable. He’s barging into hell when the gates aren’t even open. There will be plenty of opportunities later. If I can’t get rid of him, I’ll make him the scapegoat.’

Therefore, he pondered for a moment, his expression softening. ”Sharing information isn’t a bad idea. This way, we both have something to report to our superiors. What clues have you found on your end?”

Zhongsun Mou’s sudden change in attitude made Hee Lingchuan even more vigilant.

’When I’m about to pull something, I also like to feign conciliation first.’

But on the surface, he had to take the olive branch and soften his own stance. ”I’ve uncovered several cases of missing Demons. Including General Antelope’s kinsman, dozens of Demons have disappeared from the northern part of Chiyan’s Central Region in the last six months. It’s similar to the case of the Lingxu City Messenger.”

”Are you saying some culprit is hunting the Demon Race on a large scale, and the Lingxu City Messenger was just killed by accident?”

”Hunting them in secret,” Hee Lingchuan corrected him. ”Wan the Wealthy in Zhitian Village has already confessed. He and his nephew were partners in killing Demons to harvest their pearls.”

”Harvesting pearls?” Zhongsun Mou frowned. ”What kind of pearls?”

Hee Lingchuan cut him off. ”Lord Zhongsun, your turn.”

Zhongsun Mou let out a long breath. ”I investigated from the north, not just within Chiyan’s borders. Several Bird Demons witnessed the White-shouldered Eagle fly down a cliff to take shelter from the rain, but it seems it never came back out after dawn. I questioned them repeatedly, but they couldn’t be certain. Later, I gathered evidence at the base of the cliff, and it ultimately pointed to Frost and Dew Town in Zhitian Village... which is to say, right here!”

General Antelope interjected, ”And then that fellow, Mai, got wind of it and fled in advance.”

Zhongsun Mou said irritably, ”General Antelope, watch your words.”

”I just want to know what we do now,” General Antelope said, ever the pragmatist. ”He’s already run off. How are we supposed to continue the investigation?”

”We’ll issue a wanted notice with a bounty for this Mai,” Zhongsun Mou said. ”The sketch will be ready soon, and we’ll post it in all the nearby towns and villages. With so many eyes in the sky and on the ground, it’ll be hard for him to escape.”

This was a Demon Kingdom, after all. It wasn’t just humans who would be watching for the bounty, but all sorts of Demons as well. Whether you were eating a meal or squatting over a latrine, you’d never know if a pair of non-human eyes was silently watching you from some corner. It was impossible to guard against.

He walked out leisurely with only one guard, saying to Hee Lingchuan, ”I have some more information. Follow me.”

With a large hole in the study door, it was obviously not a suitable place to discuss confidential matters.

Hee Lingchuan and Jiao Yu exchanged a look and followed him to the main house.

General Antelope, of course, tagged along.

He was about to order his two Wind-Drilling Beast guards to watch the study, but before the words left his mouth, Hee Lingchuan, as if clairvoyant, patted his long neck and whispered, ”Don’t worry about a thing.”

General Antelope really did swallow his words and silently followed him into the main house.

Zhongsun Mou personally closed the door and even set up a Barrier before lowering his voice. ”This case must be handled to the Emperor’s satisfaction.”

The Emperor was the master of Lingxu City, the Demon Emperor who ruled the entire Beiga Empire.

Therefore, his words carried great weight.

Hee Lingchuan could tell there was a hidden meaning in his words. ”Then what will it take to satisfy the Emperor?”

”The timing of this case is suspicious. The Emperor believes it’s the work of foreign spies,” Zhongsun Mou said, looking at Hee Lingchuan. ”But the conclusion of your analysis clearly has nothing to do with that.”

”The Lingxu City Messenger was killed because someone was secretly hunting scattered Little Demons? Hah! How could a conclusion like that possibly convince the Emperor?”

If the Emperor didn’t believe it was an accident, then his subordinates were in for a world of trouble.

Hee Lingchuan asked with feigned modesty, ”Then what do you think we should do, Lord Zhongsun?”

”We must continue to dig deeper in that direction,” Zhongsun Mou said seriously. ”If it’s really as you say, that the White-shouldered Eagle was just an accident, then the mastermind should have laid low and gone into hiding after realizing they’d mistakenly killed a Lingxu City Messenger. They should have at least waited for the heat to die down. Why would they continue to commit crimes, one after another, becoming more and more conspicuous and allowing you to pick up their trail?”

The general’s mouth twitched. ’This punk has a foul mouth, acting like the mastermind just handed us the clues on a silver platter.’ He ultimately swallowed the ”motherf—” he was about to say.

Hee Lingchuan, however, felt a stir in his heart. Zhongsun Mou had a point, but he still replied, ”Perhaps there’s a disconnect between the higher-ups and those on the ground. Maybe Wan Song didn’t grasp the mastermind’s intentions. Or perhaps the tasks assigned from above were too demanding, and they were just hoping to get lucky.”

’In any organization, ensuring that orders are passed down from the top and followed by the bottom is actually very difficult. Confusion, complications, and chaos are perfectly normal, not to mention that both superiors and subordinates have their own selfish motives and conflicting interests.’

’The larger the organization, the greater the deviation.’

’The top brass thinks they’re in complete control, that their word is law, but the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals at the bottom can completely screw things up during execution.’

’Good intentions often lead to bad outcomes for this very reason.’

General Antelope’s eyes widened. ”Lord Zhongsun, if you insist it was spies, then only people from Lingxu City knew the White-shouldered Eagle’s flight path! What’s the point of you hanging around the Chiyan Kingdom instead of going back to Lingxu City to investigate?”

”There are already specialists investigating in Lingxu City,” Zhongsun Mou said quickly. ”But the White-shouldered Eagle disappeared in Chiyan, after all. Even if its itinerary was leaked in Lingxu City, it was shot down within the borders of the Chiyan Kingdom. Find the killer, and the mystery will solve itself.”

He asked Hee Lingchuan, ”You said Wan the Wealthy’s nephew, Wan Song, is the killer. Where is he now?”

”I don’t know,” Hee Lingchuan said crisply. ”Since you were capable enough to find your way to Water Buffalo Lane, I was hoping you could find the killer’s whereabouts as well.”

”Whether it’s the White-shouldered Eagle or General Antelope’s kinsman, they all disappeared near Zhitian Village.” Zhongsun Mou lifted his chin. ”The killer seems to like operating here. We might as well use Wan the Wealthy as bait to lure him out.”

”My thoughts exactly,” Hee Lingchuan said with a smile. ”In that case, shouldn’t you hurry back to Youtian Town, Lord Zhongsun? The news that we have Wan the Wealthy under our control absolutely must not leak out, or Wan Song won’t fall for the trap.”