Chapter 1 The Snow-Covered Path

The white snow covered the path and many other traces, but this did not prevent Feng Bujue from groping forward in the forest.

In the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, he relied on his mysterious pathfinding ability to find an inn.

Of course, "inn" was a thing of the past, because at this moment, this house, which was not large to begin with, had become a charred ruin.

The strong, lingering smell of burning was undoubtedly one of the reasons why Feng Bujue was able to find this place.

"This should have been an inn," Feng Bujue concluded after standing on the hillside and taking a quick glance.

"What makes you say that?" Ruoyu wasn't questioning Jue-ge's conclusion, but needed more details to understand his reasoning.

"Look at the foundation..." Jue-ge replied, "For a lone house built in the forest, it seems too big; for a temple, its structure is wrong; so the most likely thing is an inn."

"Would an inn built in this kind of place have customers?" Ruoyu asked again.

"You don't know..." Feng Bujue continued, "Although this place isn't an official road, judging from the surrounding terrain and the look of the forest... under the snow we're standing on, there's actually a road. A small road is still a road; a road means people are traveling; and those travelers will naturally need a place to rest."

"But not many people would travel this road," Ruoyu replied.

"Heh... looking at the size of this inn, it wouldn't have been able to accommodate many people anyway." Feng Bujue smiled and stepped down from the small hillside.

Ruoyu followed his pace, keeping up with his train of thought.

"It looks like the fire wasn't over for long," Ruoyu said when they approached the ruins.

"Yeah, the ashes are still warm. I'd guess... the fire was last night or this morning." As Feng Bujue spoke, he took out [Bell's Everyday Knife] and stepped into the ruins, beginning to poke at the various remnants on the ground.

Ruoyu knew what he was doing and was happy to let him handle the work. Thus, the two of them immediately fell into a somewhat abrupt silence in the eyes of an outsider.

But in their eyes, this silence was a kind of unspoken understanding.

"Phew... that's about it." About ten minutes later, Feng Bujue walked out of the scorched earth and breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Did you figure anything out?" Ruoyu asked, looking at him with an expectant expression.

"First murder, then arson; there were nine dead in total, at least three of whom knew martial arts, and all nine died at the hands of someone with superior martial arts." Feng Bujue paused for a few seconds, then added, "The number of murderers is unknown, but... this person, or these people... must be experienced, efficient, and highly effective criminals."

After hearing this, Ruoyu pondered for a few seconds and said, "In a wuxia (martial arts) background script, encountering experienced killers doesn't seem that strange."

"But the fact that this crime scene is not far from our teleport point indicates that there must be something fishy going on," Feng Bujue muttered, "It's likely to be..."

[Side quest triggered]

Before he could finish speaking, the system voice rang in both of their ears.

"You see..." Jue-ge spread his hands and said to Ruoyu.

They almost simultaneously opened the game menu and saw the new quest in the quest bar—[Investigate the cause of the Mi Si Inn massacre].

"Perfect, this is your forte," Ruoyu said in a relaxed tone after reading the quest.

"Even if it's my forte, the only information I can summarize at this stage... is what I just said." Feng Bujue's face showed helplessness.

"Yeah, I understand," Ruoyu said. "Even with the criminal investigation techniques of our era, it's difficult to find evidence in a fire that's 'burned until there's nothing left to burn'. It's already remarkable that you can figure out this much."

"Eh?" Hearing this, Feng Bujue smiled slyly. "What's gotten into you today? Not only are you not arguing with me, but you're also being particularly understanding? Are you planning on asking me for New Year's money?"

"I estimate that the value of the New Year's money and various holiday gifts I've received since I was a child should already be higher than the total amount of all the legal assets you've ever handled in your life. Do you really want to continue talking about this topic?" Ruoyu retorted without changing her expression.

"That's more like it~" The next second, Feng Bujue nodded very approvingly.

Obviously, he didn't care about the content of the argument; he just wanted an attitude that made him feel more comfortable.

To put it more bluntly, this is called being a jerk...

But then again, isn't most "flirting" starting from a man being a jerk for no reason?

It's like manzai (a Japanese stand-up comedy routine, similar to Chinese crosstalk, but slightly different). There must be one person playing the fool so that the other person can make fun of him.

The person playing the fool may seem stupid, but he's not really stupid; the person making fun of him may say hurtful things, but there's no malice in it.

This kind of game where one is willing to hit and the other is willing to be hit is an indispensable part of human social behavior.

Friends who can insult each other as idiots face-to-face without anyone taking it seriously are true bros; men and women who are accustomed to each other's shortcomings and use them as jokes to tease each other every day but still don't leave each other are true love.

Regardless of whether it's sad or funny, the depth of the feelings between people is precisely reflected in how comfortable they are being jerks in front of each other.

You only show your truest self in front of the people you're closest to, because you know their tolerance for you, which makes you feel safe. When people feel safe, they feel comfortable, and they can speak freely and do whatever they want.

Everyone will meet a few people in their life that they'll never worry about embarrassing themselves in front of.

Whether it's a meeting of minds or birds of a feather flocking together, if you can't find such people around you, then your life is probably too lonely and too unsuccessful.

And Wang Qiong was such a person.

He wasn't short of friends; there were too many people who wanted to be his friend to count.

He wasn't short of lovers either; if he wanted, becoming a "new groom every night" wouldn't be difficult.

But he still felt lonely.

Because in this world, he couldn't find anyone he could completely let down his guard with and absolutely trust.

When a person can only feel comfortable when they're alone, then no matter how many people surround them, they're still lonely.

"Manor Lord, there's a guest requesting an audience."

Cheng Wei's report from outside the door woke Wang Qiong from his nap.

"Hah..." Wang Qiong, who was reclining on a soft couch, shook his head and yawned. "What kind of people are they?"

Wang Qiong didn't study when he was young. Although he learned to read and do accounting when he grew up, he couldn't change his speech, so he basically wouldn't say things like "Who is it?"

"Reporting to the Manor Lord, it's a man and a woman. The man calls himself 'Zhang San' and says he's here to 'deliver the goods'." Cheng Wei replied.

Cheng Wei should be considered one of the more trustworthy of the people Wang Qiong didn't trust; he and his younger brother Cheng Yong had been Wang Qiong's personal guards for ten years.

Although they were called "guards," Cheng Wei had been more like a butler in recent years, because Wang Qiong had many experts under his command, so Cheng Wei rarely had the opportunity to use his martial arts.

"Oh..." Wang Qiong pondered for a few seconds. "Tell them to wait a moment. I'll be right there."

"Yes." Cheng Wei acknowledged, and then his quick footsteps could be heard leaving outside the door.

Before long, Wang Qiong was dressed and left the room, arriving in the courtyard outside.

The owner of this large courtyard was originally the richest man in Linlu Town, and his house was also the largest in the town.

But now, he was no longer in this town.

Because on the day Wang Qiong came to Linlu Town, he bought this house and three or four surrounding houses as his residence and the residence of his followers.

And his "method of buying" was roughly... "I'll give you half a day to pack your belongings and move out. What you can't take with you or don't have time to pack, I'll buy it all together."

After saying his request, he would let the other party "name their price," and then he would actually pay according to the price they "randomly" named...

This was Wang Qiong's way of doing things; this was how he spent money.

The most terrifying thing was that his ability to make money was even better than his ability to spend it...

"The two of you, sorry to keep you waiting." Wang Qiong walked through the courtyard and into a hall in the front yard. As he strode through the door, he was already greeting the two "guests."

Although Wang Qiong didn't care about etiquette, his guests were quite particular.

"Greetings, Boss Wang." The male guest immediately stood up, clasped his fists, and bowed respectfully.

Wang Qiong sized him up—he was a slender man with delicate features, looking to be around thirty years old. Even in this cold weather, he was still wearing a neat blue robe, and he had a sword at his waist, indicating that he was a martial artist.

At the same time, the other party was also observing Wang Qiong—Boss Wang was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, and looked to be in his early forties. He wasn't bad-looking, but he was wearing a fur coat and cotton pants, and a fur hat. He didn't look like anyone from the martial world; he looked like a shopkeeper.

"Have we... met before?" Wang Qiong asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

The man who called himself Zhang San didn't answer the question, but looked at Cheng Wei standing to the side, and then gave Wang Qiong an inquiring look.

"Oh..." Wang Qiong understood his meaning. "It's okay, let him listen. Speak."

Wang Qiong didn't like beating around the bush; he would say most things in the simplest and most direct way.

"Alright..." Zhang San hesitated for a few seconds and replied, "Then I'll remind Boss Wang... when we last met, my identity was still 'Zhu Cheng'."

"What?" Wang Qiong took two steps back and glanced at him again. "You're saying you're Zhu Cheng?" His expression was already expressing his disbelief. "Zhu Cheng, the second-ranked of the Four Elites of Yuling?"

"That's right." Zhang San gave an affirmative answer.

"Hmph..." At this time, Cheng Wei sneered from the side. "Absurd. If you're going to impersonate someone, you should at least inquire about their build and appearance, right? Zhu Cheng's build is worth two of you."

"Is this what Zhu Cheng's voice sounded like?"

These words were spoken by "Zhang San," but the voice he used to say these words was completely different from his previous voice. It sounded exactly like Zhu Cheng's voice from back then.

"You..." Seeing this, Cheng Wei was also speechless for a moment.

Wang Qiong reacted faster than him: "So... you were once Zhu Cheng, but now you're Zhang San?"

Zhang San replied, "I was never Zhu Cheng... the real Zhu Cheng was replaced by me long before the Four Elites of Yuling met you."

Wang Qiong said, "Oh... so you've always been Zhang San, but you pretended to be Zhu Cheng for a while?"

Zhang San said, "I'm not Zhang San either."

Wang Qiong said, "Then who exactly are you?"

Zhang San smiled: "Who I am doesn't matter. I can be Zhu Cheng, I can be Zhang San, and if necessary, I can be Wang Qiong. I can even be Wang Qiong for the rest of my life."

These words were dangerous.

As dangerous as the person who said them.

"Hmm?" Before the words had died away, Cheng Wei's gaze and killing intent were already approaching Zhang San like a blade.

"Hahaha..." Zhang San laughed loudly. "Just kidding... just kidding, Brave Warrior Cheng, don't take it seriously."

Whether Zhang San was really joking and whether Cheng Wei took it seriously was obvious to everyone.

But this topic didn't continue, because Wang Qiong had already started talking about something else as if nothing had happened: "Alright, alright, you can be whoever you want. You don't need to tell me what happened between you and the Four Elites of Yuling. The grievances of you martial artists have nothing to do with me. I only care about whether the deal can be done. As for who I do it with... it's all the same to me."

As he spoke, he shifted his gaze to the woman who had been sitting silently to the side.

This woman was wearing thick cotton clothes, and she had a red cloak wrapped around her. She was wearing a bamboo hat, and a heavy layer of black veil completely covered her face.

Wrapped up like this, there weren't many ways to determine her gender; but there were still some... like the style of her clothes, her posture when she walked, and... the only thing on her body that wasn't covered, her pair of white jade-like slender hands.

They were indeed a beautiful pair of hands, so flawless that they even felt unreal.

The owner of these hands had obviously never done any rough work, nor had she practiced any martial arts... Even if she had practiced, it definitely wasn't hand-to-hand combat.

Wang Qiong had seen many women, and he'd also seen many women's hands, so at this moment, he didn't need to look at the woman's face to know that she must be a stunning beauty.

"This is..." After a moment, Wang Qiong spoke again. He originally wanted to say, "This is the goods, right?" but after a slight hesitation, he changed the second half of the sentence to, "...the person I'm looking for?"

"Yes." Zhang San's answer was neither fast nor slow, and his tone sounded confident.

"Is she... alright?" Wang Qiong's next question seemed a bit ambiguous.

But Zhang San knew exactly what he was asking: "She is fine."

A second later, seemingly afraid that Wang Qiong wouldn't understand, Zhang San added half a sentence: "As good as new."

Wang Qiong didn't respond, but turned his head and said, "Cheng Wei."

"Here." Cheng Wei replied.

"Call two maids and a midwife..." Wang Qiong hadn't finished speaking.

Zhang San interrupted him smoothly: "Hold on."

"What's wrong?" Wang Qiong asked.

"Before inspecting the goods, shouldn't we talk about the price some more?" A look of greed had already flashed across Zhang San's eyes.

"How much more do you want?" Wang Qiong was truly a straightforward person.

He bypassed the pointless platitudes, bypassed Zhang San's descriptions of how many difficulties he had experienced and how many risks he had taken in this operation, and directly addressed the other party's purpose, asking the most central question.

"Double." Zhang San was also a formidable character. He didn't lose his composure at all in front of Wang Qiong's question, and solemnly stated his clearly excessive asking price.

"Alright." Wang Qiong replied without hesitation. "Inspect the goods first. If there's no problem with the goods, you take the money and leave."

After saying these words, Wang Qiong turned and left.

He didn't say anything else; he knew Cheng Wei would take care of the rest.

Wang Qiong's posture when he turned around was very ordinary, and the way he walked was also very ordinary.

There was absolutely no domineering aura in his gestures.

But when he turned around, "Zhang San's" gaze at his back was already filled with respect.

"Zhang bids farewell to Boss Wang." As he walked out of the room, Zhang San also gave an even deeper bow than the one he had given when he arrived, saying these words in a tone filled with admiration.