Players: All NPCs in the Sect Are Moles

Ma Tietou thought for a moment, then guessed, "Ten to one, after that warrior woman took us all down in one go, she must have run into some other injustice on the road, dealt with another guy, and then... just bundled him up and sent him over with us?"

"Hmm... It’s possible." Zhao Decang nodded. "Whatever, don’t worry about him. I’ve locked him in the innermost cell, far away from you lot. The guy hasn’t even woken up yet. Once he does, I’ll have someone go question him."

His tone suddenly shifted. He lowered his voice, his words carrying an undeniable warning:

"Ma Tietou, I’m warning you one last time: keep your hands clean from now on! Especially about that last incident! If you hadn’t gotten lucky and been stopped by your woman, and things had blown up, I might not have been able to protect you, no matter how much stuff you usually send my way. I’d have had to deal with you myself, understand?!"

Ma Tietou shuddered violently and nodded furiously, his voice filled with lingering fear and sycophancy. "Understood! Understood! I completely understand! That time... it was all thanks to you, Mr. Zhao, for upholding justice that the matter was suppressed! You are like a second father to us, the righteous lord of this Anhe City!"

He added a few more instructions in a low voice, basically telling Ma Tietou to behave himself in jail, not to cause him any trouble, and to talk to the guards if he needed anything, but not to stir things up.

Ma Tietou, for his part, continued to bow and scrape, thanking him profusely.

Zhao Decang waved his hand impatiently and turned to leave the gloomy prison.

...

Meanwhile, in Jiang Shi’s live stream, the bullet chat had exploded into an ocean of mingled joy and fury.

[HOLY SHIT?! Did you hear that?! They’ve done other stuff!! Official-bandit collusion! This is textbook fucking official-bandit collusion! That dirty official even helped him cover things up!]

[Dude, don’t get so worked up. Standard procedure. Nothing to get excited about. We’re just playing Ashen Heaven. If you were playing Mortal Tribulation, you’d probably ascend on the spot from pure rage.]

[I’m so pissed off! I don’t even have a girlfriend, and a scumbag like Ma Tietou does?! This is outrageous!! Even if Heaven allows it, I won’t! That woman’s no good either! She’s an accomplice! Birds of a feather really do flock together. They’re a killer couple running a family business of pure evil!]

[Mr. Jiang! Don’t wait! Just die and respawn now, go check out that main road in Pingyang City! If you’re too late, the trail might go cold!]

Facing his riled-up audience, Jiang Shi calmly typed a reply in the chat.

[Jiang Shi]: What’s the rush? It’s not like the place is going to grow legs and run away. Let me listen a bit more and see if there are any other juicy details. If there’s no new development by tomorrow or the day after, we’ll die and respawn. I’ll take you all to see for yourselves what kind of dragon’s den this ’Bone-Breaking Branch’ really is!

[Streamer, when the time comes, make sure you act like a noob! Look like an easy target! Don’t scare the fish away! Most importantly, whatever you do, don’t actually pass out! If you pass out, the stream cuts off, and what are we supposed to watch?]

[Yeah, yeah, a VOD won’t help either! If you get killed before you wake up, who are we going to complain to?! It doesn’t matter if you die, streamer, but it’s a huge deal if we run out of entertainment!]

[Jiang Shi]: What are you talking about! What are you talking about! What kind of thing is that to say?!

[Hey, Mr. Jiang, we’re just concerned about you! You’re important too, Mr. Jiang!]

[Just keep up the good stream, and I’ll gift you a Starship! You got this! Go for it!]

The live stream was once again filled with a joyous atmosphere.

...

「Elsewhere.」

Su Ling’er briefly explained the identities of Mu Ling and An Qinyao to Wang Xiedi and Li Chunfeng.

"Mr. Mu is the storyteller at Yuelai Inn, and Miss An... We used to go listen to his stories often, so we know each other, at least enough to say hello." She glanced at the main road leading to the Su Mansion, then at the long wooden box Mu Ling had brought back, and her mind started racing.

’Take the box and fly back using Sword Control? No, that won’t work!’

She immediately rejected the idea.

Her "fairy" reputation in Anhe City was already conspicuous enough. If she were to fly around in the sky carrying a wooden box that looked suspiciously like a coffin, then once word got out that Miss An’s body had been stolen, wouldn’t she be the prime suspect?

’What’s the difference between that and banging a gong in the street to announce "I stole the body"?!’

’It’s not far, anyway. Maybe it’s best to just use the most primitive and quietest method: carry it back.’

As they began to lift the long wooden box to enter the mansion, a faint, strange smell began to permeate the air. Li Chunfeng and Wang Xiedi, being the closest, caught the scent instantly. Their expressions shifted slightly—it was the stench of a corpse.

Lin Qingfeng had already stepped back three paces in disgust, crossing his arms and shutting down his olfactory system.

’You have to be kidding me. Making me carry a corpse? Making me smell its stench? Impossible. Not in this lifetime. If we needed the corpse to move on its own, we could have gotten that guy Ji to do it.’

The others carried the heavy wooden box while Su Ling’er led the way and kept watch. The group moved furtively, hurrying toward the Su Mansion.

Their figures were spotted by a few passersby, but they didn’t attract much attention.

...

With Su Ling’er leading and on guard, the others carried the heavy wooden box. They avoided the main road, instead circling around to a secluded side gate of the Su Mansion.

Just as they reached the gate, a gateman on night patrol rounded the corner with a lantern. He froze when he saw Su Ling’er and her group, his face a picture of confusion.

"M-Miss?" The gateman’s eyes darted between Su Ling’er and the enormous wooden box. "Weren’t... weren’t you and your guests just heading out to the night market? Why... why are you back so soon, and at the side gate..."

A faint, strange odor also wafted into his nostrils, making him frown instinctively.

Su Ling’er cursed her bad luck internally. She took out a Clear Heart Talisman, channeled a wisp of Spiritual Power into her fingertips, and the paper talisman ignited without a flame. It turned into a refreshing herbal fragrance that significantly diluted the strange smell.

"I have some private business to attend to. Don’t make a scene." She gave the order to the gateman in a low, unquestionable tone. "Open the gate, and act like you never saw us."

Although the gateman was full of doubt, seeing the serious expression on his young miss’s face made him shudder inwardly. He didn’t dare ask any more questions and quickly bowed in compliance.

And just like that, the group slipped into the Su Mansion.

Once inside, Su Ling’er looked at the enormous wooden box and found herself in another predicament. ’Where... where should we put this? I can’t just take it to my own chambers for an autopsy, can I? Would I even be able to live in my room after that?’