Star Trace Gate

Chapter 950 Brother-in-law Lu Zhao, Old Wang forced into a corner

After speaking with Liu Wei, Ren had already identified Niu Dali as the prime suspect in the "disappearance of a huge amount of Xingyuan assets." He could even conclude that the infighting within the underground treasury was actually a scheme deliberately brought into the open to cover up the truth.

The ultimate goal of this scheme was to create the illusion that the dozen or so groups of monk soldiers were unable to resist the temptation of the huge amount of star resources, nor could they trust humanity. As a result, they committed the extreme act of silencing each other, which ultimately led to the tragic deaths of most of them in the underground vault, and the huge amount of star resources was divided up and could not be recovered.

Because there were too many people present, no one knew exactly how much Star Source each person had taken into their consciousness space. You could say it was a single piece, or a million, but the person was already dead, and the Star Source couldn't be retrieved. So, there was no way to verify it...

Furthermore, some survivors escaped, and whether they took any Star Source, or how much they took, is unknown to others. Most of these survivors came from different monk-soldier departments and each had their own powerful backers. Therefore, even if Tianzhao Temple ordered a thorough investigation, with so many dead and these powerful individuals, it would be extremely difficult to uncover the truth. After all, the dead cannot testify, and the law does not punish the masses.

Based on the above, Ren Yecai believes Niu Dali is the most suspicious. He was the first to advocate breaking into the treasury; he was also the first to decide on the distribution of the loot; and throughout the entire infighting, he was the one orchestrating the whole affair. Most importantly, Niu Dali is the commander-in-chief of the three armies of the Martial Monks' Supervisory Office, the highest-ranking military officer in Beifeng Town. He has the ability to set up various traps in the underground treasury in a very short time, designed to sow discord and drive people mad, thus causing the monks involved in the robbery to turn on each other.

Of course, the park's master detective never puts all his eggs in one basket. While Niu Dali is his primary suspect, he's not the only one. Little Bad King has other suspects in mind, but for now, Niu Dali is definitely the top priority for investigation.

Even if we assume that Niu Dali didn't take all of that huge sum of Star Source, he's definitely not clean. If we investigate him thoroughly and thoroughly, we'll definitely be able to find something on the highest-ranking military officer in Beifeng Town, which is naturally very important to Ren Ye.

As everyone knows, Little Bad King is a person with extremely strong self-discipline. Once he has a suspicion, he will definitely put it into action. The reason he chose to control the alien female corpse tonight and experience the feeling of squatting to urinate again was actually for one purpose only: to secretly copy a file of the main generals under Niu Dali's command in the Records Office under the Martial Monk Supervisory Office, and then, based on this information, to carefully analyze who is most likely to have secretly set a trap for Niu Dali and taken away a huge amount of Star Source.

He was absolutely certain that Niu Dali would never be foolish enough to set a trap himself and then take the huge sum of Star Source after everyone had turned on each other. Because if that happened, he wouldn't even have a chance to argue, shirk responsibility, or shift the blame; he would be sentenced to death by Tianzhao Temple.

These dirty jobs must have been done by his trusted confidants, but Ren Ye currently has very little understanding of the situation in the Martial Monk Supervisory Office, so he desperately needs some case files and clues to guide him.

Late at night, at the hour of Hai (9-11 PM), Ren possessed the female corpse with his spirit and manipulated her to quietly leave the inner palace's supply depot.

In less than half an hour, he sneaked into the clerk's office outside the Martial Monk Supervisor's Office and successfully began investigating and searching the office.

In terms of the administrative hierarchy of Tianzhao Temple, the Records Office was a nobody, a mere trifle of a government office without even a formal rank or position. It was incomparable to the military agencies or military offices of ancient Blue Star. Its main function was to handle military documents for the Warrior Monk Supervision Office, including compiling lists of casualties and compensation records for warrior monks, recording military achievements, troop deployments, and detailed battle plans. It was also responsible for storing the personal files of soldiers and officers.

Ren Ye sneaked into the archives office, his real aim being to obtain the personal files of the soldiers and officers. These files contained information about the positions, promotions, military achievements, and specific deployments of the troops under Niu Dali's command. From this information, one could determine the closeness or distance between these officers and Niu Dali.

To Xiao Huaiwang's dismay, he searched for a long time but couldn't find these basic soldier files; it seemed they had never existed. Standing in the dimly lit office, he pondered for a moment and vaguely guessed that Beifeng Town had only recently fallen, and Niu Dali and his men might not be stationed there permanently, as they could be fighting elsewhere at any time, leading to significant personnel changes among military officers. Therefore, these soldier files were likely still with higher-level units, or perhaps in Tianzhao Temple, and had not yet been retrieved from the archives.

However, having already come this far, he reluctantly flipped through the other case files again and finally copied several documents, including the monk soldier mobilization records on the day Beifeng Town was captured, military occupation records, and so on, before leaving unwillingly.

On the way back, he was very careful, and once again used the unique transformation and earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic or technique) unique to the alien female corpse. After taking several detours, he finally returned to the supply depot silently. Oh, right, he also made a point of passing by the garrison headquarters to check on the situation in the courtyard. Seeing that nothing had changed, he walked away with disappointment.

In the supply depot, in his bedroom, after seeing Ren Ye slowly wake up, Master Chu asked anxiously, "Good brother, have you found anything?"

"I didn't find anything. There are no files on the military officers under Niu Dali in this archives." Ren Ye frowned and shook his head. "I only copied a few records of the monk soldiers' troop deployment, military occupation records, and so on."

"You've been busy all night and haven't gotten anything?" Master Chu was filled with disappointment. "Sigh, what use are you? I might as well have done it myself."

"If I asked you to take action, I don't know which bed you'd be in right now." Ren rolled his eyes. "There's no other way. We'll have to meet with Liu Wei again tomorrow and have him look at these records and point them out to us. That military officer is very close to Niu Dali; he's one of the most trusted of his cronies."

“If you do that, Liu Wei will definitely be able to guess that you’re trying to get Niu Dali,” Chu Daoye wisely reminded him.

"He better not make any wild guesses, or I'll go after him instead of Niu Dali." Ren Ye carefully considered the matter: "Liu Wei is a smart man; he should know which is more important and which is less important."

"Ah."

"Try to arrange a meeting with him first thing tomorrow morning, preferably around noon," Ren Ye instructed.

"Heh." Master Chu sneered and said arrogantly, "No need to make an appointment. He's in the Embroidery Courtyard, practically on his deathbed, and his days are numbered. We need to go early tomorrow, otherwise... we might not even see him, and we'll have to hold a funeral for him."

"Huh? How did you know he was such a coward?!" Ren was also somewhat surprised.

"Alas." Master Chu sighed, "At the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), the pimp from the Embroidery Brothel came to collect money from me again, saying that Liu Wei fought against more than a dozen people all by himself from the afternoon until the hour of Xu, without even drinking a drop of water. He is truly a hero."

Ren was speechless upon hearing this: "It's good that he has weaknesses; if he has weaknesses, he can be exploited."

"To hell with your weaknesses! You've got them, but I paid for them!" Master Chu was almost crying. "This Liu Wei is a genius. He had a knife to his throat and still had the energy to do that."

"Hehe." Ren also smiled: "In this respect, you are quite similar to me. Since we can't change the fact that we've been caught red-handed, we might as well be honest and enjoy ourselves for a while."

"Shameless scoundrel," Master Chu replied with a disdainful look.

Nothing was said that night, and the next morning...

Ren Ye and Chu Daoye arrived at Xiuwan Courtyard early and saw Liu Wei, whose eyes were dark circles, face was pale, and he looked listless.

With the thought that he might need this person in the future, Master Chu said, "Brother, I still have some Star Source for you to enjoy. You don't need to work so hard. Take a break when you're tired... Don't let it turn out that I can hold on, but you can't...!"

"Hey." Liu Wei sighed and shook his head slowly, cursing, "I still can't figure it out. There are so many people in the underground vault, why is that damn ghost targeting only me, and even naming me... I'm so frustrated, I can only vent my anger on these ordinary women."

“You can’t think like that. If it weren’t for that ghost, would we be friends?” Ren replied with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Liu Wei's desire for revenge weakened slightly, and he said directly, "Lord Zhenyi, I'm a straightforward person. Tell me frankly, are you really not going to hand that ghost over to Tianzhao Temple?"

“Brother, if I really wanted to get you, would I need to talk to you here in the Embroidery Courtyard? It’s such a waste of time and money. To put it bluntly, even if I locked you up in jail and tortured you, with the ghost in my possession as evidence, the higher-ups probably wouldn’t say anything, right?” Ren Ye poured Liu Wei a cup of tea and replied very honestly, “I’m new here and don’t have any friends. Plus, Beifeng Town is so complicated… To be honest, I also want to befriend someone who holds military power and support each other.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Wei nodded understandingly and said, "With your words, I am relieved. In the future, if there is anything I can do to help you, just say the word, and I will never refuse."

[You and Liu Wei share a secret. Through your intimidation and manipulation, his favorability towards you has increased by another 5%, currently standing at 95%. If you had to describe your treacherous relationship in one sentence, it would be this: he can make his seemingly weak opponent scream your name during every fierce battle at the Embroidery Courtyard…!]

"What a despicable way of Heaven." Ren Ye thought to himself with utter contempt after hearing the proclamation, then took out several case files he had copied the night before and handed them to Liu Wei: "Brother, can you take a look at these case files and see which of the military officers mentioned is the closest to Niu Dali, so close that they can conspire together on anything...!"

Liu Wei took the transcribed file and carefully reviewed it before solemnly saying, "I don't know much about Niu Dali's direct military officers because we weren't stationed in the same area before. But judging from this list of monk soldiers, the commander of the personal guard mentioned here—Lu Zhao—should be the person Niu Dali trusts the most."

"Why do you say that?" Ren asked in return.

"Although I don't know much about the military officers under his command, I have heard some things about Niu Dali. This Lu Zhao is actually his brother-in-law... and also the younger brother of his legal wife. He has been following Niu Dali since he was a commander of a thousand men. Whenever Niu Dali was promoted, Lu Zhao would also have outstanding military achievements. So the two can be considered as close as brothers."

Upon hearing this, Ren Ye carefully examined the record of Lu Zhao's troop deployment, which clearly stated: "The main army entered Beifeng Town, and Lu Zhao of the Imperial Guard was urgently dispatched to lead troops to take over Nanming Changjie, focusing on garrisoning the Ministry of Revenue compound of Shenting. At the beginning of Hai hour, Lu Zhao mobilized more than a thousand personal guards and took over Nanming Changjie on time..."

Upon seeing this, Ren Ye immediately became excited: "Oh, Lu Zhao has taken over Nanming Long Street, where the treasury is located... and at this time, more than a dozen groups of soldiers haven't gone to plunder Xingyuan yet. In other words, there's a high possibility that Lu Zhao has sealed off this place and secretly set a trap...!"

Liu Wei took a sip of tea, neither adding more nor responding, as if he hadn't heard the name Niu Dali at all.