Players: All NPCs in the Sect Are Moles

Su Ling’er knew very well that she couldn’t let her Senior Brother know about her suspicions!

’What if... what if there’s a restriction placed on him by that great demon lord? Would my words immediately anger the demon pulling the strings and accelerate Senior Brother’s ’puppetization’?!’

At this thought, she immediately put on an expression of utter understanding, took a step forward, and patted Lin Qingfeng heavily on the shoulder.

She said in a solemn voice, "Senior Brother, you... don’t have to say anything. I understand everything."

A giant question mark slowly materialized on Lin Qingfeng’s face. "?"

’Wait... what is it you understand?! How come I feel like I don’t understand anything at all?! Have your two systems just gone and invented some new plotline?! Hey!’

...

Suddenly, the sound of someone pounding on the gate came from outside the Su Mansion. "Mu Ling—!! You get the hell out here!!!"

"It’s okay, Senior Brother, really," Su Ling’er said, giving him a reassuring smile. "By the way, what should we do about this?"

But Lin Qingfeng wouldn’t let it go. "Never mind what’s happening outside. First, tell me, what was it you understood just now?"

He was a little curious if the game had generated some kind of background story for him.

"I..." Su Ling’er looked at her Senior Brother’s eyes and could only force herself to say, "I... I already understand your noble intentions!"

"Huh?" Lin Qingfeng froze for a moment. ’Did it generate a memory of how I diligently taught her with noble intentions?’

’Then it’s all good!’

"So you finally understand! Not bad, not bad at all! You’re teachable! You’re worthy of my high hopes!"

’Though he had no idea what noble intentions his Junior Sister had understood, since the game generated it for her, it must be some heroic and brilliant image of himself, right? Ah, so my actions haven’t been like a pearl gathering dust after all. My true genius has been seen...’

Seeing her Senior Brother’s reaction, Su Ling’er felt her heart settle, and a strange sense of pride even welled up inside her.

’Did I guess right?! Senior Brother is praising my intelligence! It seems I’ve become his most trusted ’confidante’!’

’It still feels a little strange, but since I’m a confidante now, I have to act like one!’

"Then..." Su Ling’er asked tentatively, "should we... help Mr. Mu cover this up for now?"

Standing beside Li Chunfeng, Mu Ling was also panicking. He never expected that right after he’d "invited" the body out, people would come looking for him!

He looked at Su Ling’er with a terrified expression. "Imm-Immortal Maiden! Wh-what are we going to do?!"

Seeing his panicked state, Su Ling’er could only try to soothe him from afar. "Calm down! Mr. Mu, at a time like this, it’s more important than ever to remain calm!"

’What is this mess?! I steal a corpse, and I don’t even last one night before getting caught red-handed! Great, just great! We’re caught with the goods! And with such a huge coffin, trying to secretly return it now would be a dead giveaway! I’m a Cultivator, how did I get stuck with a case this difficult to investigate?!’

She could only helplessly tug on the corner of Lin Qingfeng’s sleeve and use a secret voice transmission to beg for help. "Senior Brother, please, you have to save us!!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qingfeng nodded. He then turned to the stunned Wang Xiedi beside him and said softly, "Mr. Wa, as a junior brother, shouldn’t you step forward and investigate this case until the truth is revealed?!"

Wang Xiedi: "...Huh? Me?"

"Who else?" Lin Qingfeng said, full of confidence. "You’re a grand Cultivator at the sixth layer of Qi Cultivation. No matter how you slice it, you’re on a level far above mortals! If you don’t go, you expect me to?"

Wang Xiedi still looked utterly baffled. "But... Senior Brother, I... I think I’m the youngest here. I don’t think I’m up to the task at all!"

"Why do you have so little confidence! Can’t you get hyped up a bit? This is your Senior Brother showing his faith in you!" Lin Qingfeng patted his shoulder heavily. "Are you going to betray my trust? I even... went out of my way to find you a new wife!"

"Um... Huh???"

’What? Did I just hear something outrageous again?’

Wang Xiedi was about to say something else, but when he heard the two words "new wife," his pupils suddenly shrank, and he froze completely.

Su Ling’er also looked at Lin Qingfeng in horror. "Senior Brother! What happened?!"

Wang Xiedi chimed in from the side, "Wait... Senior Brother, what did you find for me this time?! You... you didn’t find me another ghost, did you?!"

"I knew it. You’ve gotten tired of Gaye." Lin Qingfeng patted his shoulder. "Don’t worry, it’s not a ghost wife this time. This time it’s... hmm, let me think how to describe it... probably a demon beast, the insectoid type. Ah, I can’t really explain what the hell it is."

"Senior Brother, I don’t think I can handle this..."

"How dare you say that!" Before Wang Xiedi could finish, Lin Qingfeng’s face hardened. "Look at your sixth layer of Qi Cultivation and say that again!!"

The moment Wang Xiedi heard "sixth layer of Qi Cultivation," he wilted. Fine... he really did need to increase his power, but could they please stop slapping the "wife" label on everything? It made him sound like some kind of pervert!!!

Lin Qingfeng then turned and sent a voice transmission to Su Ling’er. "This Mu Ling, I’ve taken a liking to him. He’s good material. No matter what it takes, solve his problem for me, and then get him back to the sect. Got it?"

"Your mission is to sort this mess out and then send him away. I’ll help you return Miss An’s body. I’m leaving first."

’In a little while, the other people in the guild will probably have to pull out of Anhe City. There’s no talent, no profit, and you can’t just kill people randomly. What’s the point of staying? Besides, I’m off to go play with my Xenomorph.’

Su Ling’er silently nodded, but her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

’Senior Brother is... recruiting his own army?!’

Mu Ling was just a mortal, but Senior Brother called him "good material."

What did that mean?

It meant Senior Brother was secretly cultivating his own faction!

He no longer wanted to rely on their sect-mates, who could be controlled by the demon lord. Instead, he was going to discover talent among mortals and build a "personal guard" loyal only to him!

And I, as the "recruiter," will be this personal guard’s... chief steward?!

This is all part of a grand game of chess!

’From now on, anyone Senior Brother personally designates is a future core member of the "resistance." I must do everything I can to win them over!’

’And as for those Senior Brother doesn’t show interest in... hmph, they can’t blame me for scaring them away! It’s for their own good, to keep them from joining the demon sect and becoming cannon fodder!’

Su Ling’er looked at her Senior Brother and nodded solemnly, a flame called "sense of mission" burning in her eyes. "Rest assured, Senior Brother! Ling’er will not fail this mission! I will definitely see our future junior brother safely back to the sect!"

Seeing his Junior Sister’s solemn expression, Lin Qingfeng felt a little nervous himself. After all, he didn’t know how to investigate a crime either! ’Sigh, I don’t know if she can handle this on her own.’

’Oh well, whatever. I’m about to go get my Xenomorph mount, who has time to deal with this trivial matter?! Isn’t it enough that I have my Junior Sister here to handle it?’

’In this vast world, what could possibly be more important than my Xenomorph mount? Nothing!!!’

Thinking of this, he also put on an extremely solemn expression and said to Su Ling’er, "Junior Sister, I’m leaving the rest to you. Take Mr. Mu and go deal with the situation outside."

"Oh, right," he said, as if he had just remembered something. He looked up some information, then raised his hand and pointed at Su Ling’er’s forehead from a distance. Another massive stream of information flooded into Su Ling’er’s Divine Sense.

This time, it was a pile of stuff about "human micro-expression psychology" and the like. Lin Qingfeng couldn’t even be bothered to look at it himself; he just bundled it up and sent it over. ’Why should I bother reading when I have my Junior Sister to do the work?’

"This might be useful to you," he continued in a profound and mysterious tone. "Remember, you must bring him into the sect!"

It was unclear what Su Ling’er was thinking, but she just nodded again. Then, with a tragic-looking Mu Ling in tow, she walked towards the main gate of the Su Mansion.

As for Lin Qingfeng, he took Miss An’s body, teleported back to the An Mansion’s ancestral hall, placed it properly, and then went off to play with Gaye.

"Mr. Li," Wang Xiedi said, watching the retreating backs of Su Ling’er and Mu Ling with some unease. "Shouldn’t we... go out and see?"

"Forget it," Li Chunfeng said, sheathing his longsword with a sharp CLANG. "Xie, don’t panic. With your current appearance, you’re already famous throughout Anhe City. Showing your face recklessly will only cause more trouble."

"It’s better for us to provide support from the shadows than to be out in the open. Try to look on the bright side. At least we amateurs have already figured out that Miss An was murdered and didn’t commit suicide. That’s a huge breakthrough, isn’t it?"

...

「Meanwhile, on the path to the Su Mansion’s main gate.」

Mu Ling followed behind Su Ling’er, his heart a nervous wreck. He looked at the Immortal Maiden’s slender back, feeling a mix of hope, guilt, and panic.

"Imm-Immortal Maiden..." he began anxiously. "It’s all my fault for being so reckless. It seems this affair... will tarnish your reputation... Perhaps..."

"Mr. Mu, there’s no need for that. I will find out the truth about Miss An’s case for you," Su Ling’er interrupted, her Divine Sense spreading out beyond the gate.

Outside the gates of the Su Mansion, a clamorous crowd had gathered.

Mr. An, Liu Yue, Mr. Wang from Wang’s Cloth Shop... almost everyone he had mentioned who was close to An Qinyao was gathered there. Even the City Lord, Zhao Decang, had heard the news and personally "paid a visit" with a squad of Government Officials.

Mixed in with the crowd were countless commoners and players who had rushed over to watch the spectacle.

Su Ling’er said, "It seems this move has already startled the snake."

’However, there’s a natural barrier between Immortals and mortals. If an Immortal wanted to kill someone, why would they need to be so flashy about it?’

’Now that things have escalated to this point, it’s become a test of sorts. If the real killer has a guilty conscience and flees in terror at the sight of me, they’ll expose themselves, which would save me a lot of trouble.’

’But if... if they can remain perfectly calm, and even cover their tracks more carefully... emmmm... well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!’