The King of Urban Mercenaries

"Haven’t you ever considered that it might have been a demon beast that killed him?" Lin Fei asked, after all, many people had died under the claws of demon beasts.

Upon hearing this, the City Lord immediately denied, "Impossible. If a demon beast killed someone, it wouldn’t take anything away!"

"What if it was some profit-driven scoundrel who took the knife upon seeing the corpse?" Lin Fei questioned.

Hearing Lin Fei’s analysis, it did make some sense. After all, such people were common, and the City Lord had no words to refute, finally saying, "However, from the wounds on my son’s body, it’s clear he was ambushed by someone; the wounds were not caused by a demon beast."

Upon hearing Wang Batian say this, Lin Fei really didn’t know what to say, plus the eldest Young Master’s death had been unsolved for a while, a complete headless case.

In the end, Lin Fei decided to leave it for now and slowly think of a solution. But Lin Fei leaned more towards thinking it was done by someone within the City Lord Mansion. After all, power struggles within a faction are said to be common, so Lin Fei felt that way, it should be right.

Afterwards, Lin Fei returned to the inn. The inn’s staff saw Lin Fei and found it very strange, asking, "Guest, are you alright?"

Hearing this, Lin Fei asked in confusion, "Why do you say that?"

The staff looked around and said, "Guest, you might not know, but many who were summoned by the City Lord Mansion because of the eldest Young Master’s death rarely return. You’re the first I’ve seen who came back."

"You mean those who were brought over are all dead?" Lin Fei was shocked; it seemed the City Lord indeed was not a good person!

"I... I never said that. I... I’m busy, excuse me..."

The staff immediately fled from Lin Fei’s side, being merely a working staff, how could he say something like this? He was just curious, so he struck up a conversation with Lin Fei. If something did happen, he could regret it - a case of getting into trouble with words, best not to speak carelessly.

Lin Fei laughed and shook his head, cowardly indeed, especially given the other’s identity, it’s wise to be cautious.

Afterwards, Lin Fei returned to his room, recalling the information gathered in the Wang Castle.

"That Wang Mang is the City Lord’s second young master; his likelihood is the greatest, especially as he also accuses me of being the culprit. This kid is too arrogant; seems I need to settle old scores."

Lin Fei looked disdainfully at that fifteen-sixteen-year-old kid, wanting to beat him up, but now was not the time to act recklessly. If evidence could establish guilt, it’d be fine; if not, Lin Fei would have to sit back and watch the rascal prance about.

However, while Lin Fei stayed at the inn, something was happening elsewhere, towards the City Lord Mansion.

In Wang Mang’s room, Wang Mang looked at the three kneeling before him, saying, "What’s wrong with you? What happened with the knife? Speak!"

Upon hearing Wang Mang, the three kept their heads lowered, afraid to look up; one started, "Sorry, Second Young Master, we clearly threw the knife into the deepest part of the demon beast forest. How could we know it would be found and taken..."

"Nonsense! Had you not been greedy enough to take my brother’s treasured sword after killing him, would this incident have happened today? You three idiots!" Wang Mang rebuked them.

"Sorry, Young Master, that’s not..."

"Shut up! How do we handle this matter? Now my father didn’t heed my advice to kill the kid; his presence threatens us, needs to be eliminated soon!" Wang Mang said.

One man on his knees spoke, "Young Master, no need to get officials involved, as nobody can prove anything, and even if we find the culprit, any trace is long gone, since the eldest Young Master died over a month ago, making tracing near impossible."

Upon hearing this, Lin Fei came forth and kicked the man, saying, "Nonsense! What are you babbling? Can you assure this guy will find nothing?"

"This..." The three were silent, not daring to speak, unable to guarantee anything but believed doing nothing was best. Yet Wang Mang seemed to disagree.

"Since you can’t assure it, figure out a solution already! He’s merely a young lad in the Golden Core Realm; aren’t three of you in the Golden Core Realm, confident of killing him?"

The three exchanged glances, "If he’s truly just Golden Core Realm, we can indeed go to his room, then kill him! This way, there won’t be any problem."

Upon hearing this, Wang Mang nodded, saying, "That’s what I thought; kill him, and we can claim he committed suicide out of fear, haha! Then the City Lord position will be mine, haha!"

Wang Mang’s laughter sent chills down the three’s spines, not expecting the second young master to be so vicious, even laughing after the eldest young master had died.

As the saying goes, "Though born from the same root, why hollow one another?" But the children of officials cared not for sibling bonds, plotting solely for power.

"Alright, leave now, kill the boy who meddles in my affairs!" Wang Mang commanded.

"Yes, we take our leave!"

Three men departed from the City Lord Mansion, prowling through the night, heading towards Lin Fei’s lodging, the inn.

At that moment, Lin Fei was meditating, suddenly hearing various noises.

Though Lin Fei’s capability wasn’t overwhelmingly strong, his spiritual power, refined within Qianhuang Peak’s Book Pavilion, was potent enough to clearly hear the sounds, hence Lin Fei grew alert.

Soon, Lin Fei sensed someone against his window paper; furrowing his brow, he chose to remain unreactive, pretending ignorance, quietly sitting cross-legged on his bed, awaiting their next move.

Meanwhile, outside, the three saw Lin Fei in cultivation within and exchanged signals, quickly understanding each other’s subtle gestures.