Netherworld Retrograde

29: Chapter 14 Suspicion_2 29: Chapter 14 Suspicion_2 Luck, luck…

Li Yelai envied and reached for a piece of roasted meat, but someone snagged it before him.

Li Yelai only saw the slender arm of this person in his peripheral vision.

Li Yelai didn’t mind and instead went for a chicken leg.

The detective continued, “His luck was really good; by bringing back resources and certain technological blueprints, he achieved a rank promotion in one fell swoop.

Afterwards, he settled in No.3 Border City and started a business.

From there on, he rapidly developed and became one of the distinguished rich merchants of the Border City, and his family flourished and expanded.”

The chicken leg Li Yelai had his eye on was also taken by someone else, so he moved over to grab a steak.

“But it seems everything changed since ten years ago; nearly every year around the end of September, a member of their family would…” The detective hinted at Li Yelai with a gesture.

After his steak was snatched away again, Li Yelai looked up.

He saw a girl in a dark red strapless evening dress, short-haired, standing beside him, holding a steak.

The dress accentuated her impressive figure, her bare shoulders, and arms appeared even fairer against the fabric of the dress, while the light chiffon skirt concealed the girl’s legs.

And that delicate face was lightly made up, but now carried a teasing expression.

“Finally looking up,” the girl laughed, and handed her plate to Li Yelai, “How many times must I steal from you before you notice?”

Li Yelai observed the girl for a while before recognizing that it was Cheese.

Previously, Cheese had always worn oversized hoodies, which she claimed was to appear slimmer.

But now, dressed in an evening gown, she exuded a stunning charm.

Many male guests’ gazes lingered on her from time to time.

The contrast nearly made Li Yelai fail to recognize her.

“Why are you here?” Li Yelai was surprised.

Hadn’t Cheese said she wasn’t planning to take private work anymore?

“My uncle has business dealings here, so he brought me along for a meal,” Cheese examined Li Yelai and nodded approvingly, “You look quite handsome in that outfit.”

Li Yelai retorted, “No wonder you had that look of a rich woman appraising a male model; turns out you really are a rich woman, huh?”

Cheese lifted her skirt slightly to reveal her calf and said, “Now you know; want to hang on to my coattails?”

At that moment, a middle-aged man approached and asked, “Xiao Ya, is this your…

friend?”

He examined Li Yelai and the detective for a moment, his eyes lingering on Li Yelai with scrutiny.

This must be Cheese’s uncle.

“He’s my colleague, and this one is my teammate,” Cheese said nonchalantly.

The middle-aged man’s expression changed slightly, clearly understanding what Cheese meant by colleague.

A sad expression appeared on his face, “Teammates, huh… perhaps you could visit my place sometime…”

Suddenly recalling something, Cheese immediately told the middle-aged man, “Uncle, go park our car further away.”

The middle-aged man was puzzled, “Why?

Will it get stolen?”

Cheese was serious, “It might explode!”

Thus, the doubtful middle-aged man quickly left the hall.

Li Yelai was silent for a moment… he sensed that Cheese was hinting at something!

That’s too much!

“Cough!” Cheese changed the subject, “Didn’t expect that your private work was happening here.

What were we discussing just now?”

“Do you want to join the assignment?” the detective asked.

“No, but I’ll listen in,” Cheese replied.

“I really didn’t know such things were happening inside the Wang Group.”

“Fair enough,” the detective nodded, looked around to ensure no one was close by, and then spoke in a low voice, “Since ten years ago, every year around the end of September, a member of this family inevitably dies.”

“Every year?

Didn’t they attempt to call the police?” Li Yelai asked as he munched on the barbecue.

“There were attempts, but there was no lead,” the detective shook his head.

“The murderer left no clues.

And many cases seemed more like accidents.

A car spiraling out of control due to failure to apply the parking brake, a falling icicle penetrating a skull as it passed by, an ascending elevator suddenly crashing down.”

“This is kinda similar to my bad luck,” Li Yelai frowned.

If that was the case, was it the Calamity that killed them?

“But they indeed discovered the killer, but they couldn’t catch him no matter what.”

“Didn’t they contact the Disaster Processing Department?” Cheese responded after taking a sip of juice.

“No, they seem to have some kind of secret they don’t want to be known by the outside world,” the detective said.

“And now, it has been ten years.

Their family’s key members are already dwindling.

To find the real culprit quickly, they finally decided to hire a Spiritual Ability User.”

Cheese nodded slightly.

In wealthy families, there were always some unseen things.

Hiring a Spiritual Ability User privately was more secretive than having the Processing Department intervene directly.

But once involved with Taboo Items, Spiritual Ability Users, and related cases, even if hired privately, the authorities would come to know of it.

And Li Yelai then asked, “So, our task, is it actually to find the person before he acts?

To capture him?”

“If we can resolve this issue, they are willing to pay more.

If we fail, and a family member dies, and we don’t catch anyone, then we can only take the scheduled advance, which is a hundred thousand Giant City Coins,” the detective responded.

“I don’t exclude the possibility that they have also hired other Wild Spirit Ability Users.”

“The advance is quite substantial; that’s pretty generous,” Li Yelai nodded.

“Did they reveal what secret they are hiding to you?” Cheese asked.

“No,” but from talking with a few family members, I have gathered some information.

It’s said that their family rose swiftly because they once received assistance from someone.

The two parties reached an agreement, but after rising to prominence, the family unilaterally broke the agreement.

I suspect that this individual is retaliating against them,” the detective declared.

“Moreover, from the expression the old butler wore the first time he saw the Night General, I deduce that the person might share some similarities with the Night General.”

Saying this, he explained the expression that flashed across the old butler’s face momentarily.

As a detective, his professional skills were certainly reliable.

“Like me?” Li Yelai pondered, “Do you mean that ‘Black Umbrella’?”

“Yes, I deduce that the person who made the deal with the old family head also carried a black umbrella or another type of umbrella,” the detective nodded.

“So, we need to watch out for those who are carrying umbrellas around.”

“Currently, there are still five key members of the family.

The murderer’s target is one of them.” Saying this, the detective pointed at a middle-aged man in the distance.

The man was dressed in bright, radiant attire, his complexion rosy, looking entirely unphased as if he wasn’t being hunted.

He was even toasting and drinking with a few others.

“That is Wang De’s second son,” the detective said.

“Speaking of which, he is the biggest beneficiary of these incidents.

His elder brother, who was the firstborn, went missing in the wilderness a few years ago, and when found, only half of his body remained.

The rest of the capable ones are almost all gone.

Once Wang De himself passes away, this man will be the next in line to head the family.”

“Oh, so there could even be a struggle within their family,” Cheese responded.

“That’s certainly possible, right?”

“Indeed, so apart from Wang De himself, the remaining four also have motive,” the detective replied.

“I even believe there may be more than one murderer.”

“Suddenly, it’s turned from a mystery into a dynasty struggle,” Cheese complained.

Just then, the middle-aged man seemed to notice Li Yelai and the others, or perhaps it was Cheese he noticed?

Anyway, his eyes brightened, and he approached them with a smile, holding his drink.

“Whoa, fuck, is the classic flirting drama about to start?” Li Yelai chuckled quietly.

Yet Cheese smiled, “He goes for both men and women; are you sure he’s coming over for me?”

Cheese wasn’t afraid of flirting.

As a Path of Babbling, she could make the other person strip on the spot with just a word.

Li Yelai’s smile froze instantaneously.

Because the middle-aged man was raising his glass to him from afar, “Young man, you…”

However, the next second, a peculiar sensation suddenly came from above.

The two bodyguards behind the middle-aged man stiffened, and Li Yelai glanced upwards.

He saw the antique chandelier on the ceiling suddenly crashing down towards the middle-aged man!

“Motherfucker, this indeed feels familiar.”