Chapter 58 Walking on the Edge of a Blade

The courtyard behind the Welcome Inn was rather quiet, pitch-black, with everything cast in deep shadow.

Ye Feifan gently pushed the window open, peering through the gap to observe the various details of the courtyard.

The innkeeper was indeed not at the Welcome Inn. Da Huang had mentioned seeing many unusual sights by the sandbar last night, and his own encounter with Father Zhang had been witnessed in complete detail... Yet, the innkeeper likely had not realized that he had already left the Zhang residence. Tonight was the absolute best time to explore this place.

The second floor was still a certain distance from the courtyard. Ye Feifan put on a set of night-walking clothes and quietly slipped down from the window. The silent boots on his feet muffled his footsteps, preventing him from being discovered.

Utilizing the shadows, Ye Feifan came to the side of the tree and examined it carefully, but found no extra traces—only the familiar, repeating text.

"I saw him!"

Who was "him"?

Having left in a hurry last time, Ye Feifan did not know what the innkeeper had done, and no information about him could be seen in his dreams either. It was highly suspicious.

Zhang Qing had once mentioned that it was the innkeeper who killed Chen Yi. Could the "him" carved on the tree possibly be Chen Yi?

Was it because it was not a stormy night that those crucial pieces of evidence failed to manifest?

No matter how hard he looked, he could find no vital information... Yet Ye Feifan suddenly felt a strange sensation under his feet.

There was something there!

Gently scraping away the shallow layer of soil, a rusted key was found buried within.

Reaching out to pick up the key, the rough texture caused by the rust felt rather strange to him. He could not help bringing it up to his nose, and the scent of iron rust combined with a faint smell of blood startled him.

There had once been blood on the key, which, coupled with the rust, led to the deduction that it had been buried in the soil for a very long time.

He felt around the roots of the tree but gained no other harvests. Ye Feifan knew that his harvest for tonight... would likely be just this rusted key in his hand.

With nothing more to gain, Ye Feifan quickly returned to his starting point and quietly approached the kitchen.

The kitchen door was locked, with only the window half-open. He could slip inside if he wriggled through sideways.

Without any hesitation, Ye Feifan gently pulled the window open, carefully squeezed inside, and upon landing on the kitchen floor, he returned the window to its original position.

The innkeeper was vicious and ruthless; if he were to return, it would spell trouble, so he had to cover his tracks down to the smallest detail. Having won the jackpot last time, the innkeeper would certainly not let go of the opportunity to kill him.

Pricking up his ears to listen for a good while, he heard no movement at all. Ye Feifan turned on his flashlight to its lowest brightness setting and began searching the kitchen for any hidden clues.

Last time at the Welcome Inn, he had heard that a group of beggars came to the kitchen to steal chickens, but ended up eating the food and getting caught. No matter what, Ye Feifan could never believe such an explanation.

As beggars, they had to deal with all sorts of people, and their shrewdness was comparable to that of city hoodlums. They knew very well who could be provoked and who could not. The Welcome Inn had connections to the Liu family; for just one of them to act recklessly might be one thing, but for a whole group of beggars to come over would be equivalent to directly challenging the Liu family's bottom line.

If it were said that the beggars ate the swill and leftovers of the Welcome Inn, that might hold a bit of credibility. But someone had stated later on that the guests that day had all gone hungry—doesn't that mean the beggars ate the food the guests hadn't even touched yet?

Could a full-grown chef really let beggars succeed so easily?

Either it was true that the beggars broke in to steal chickens, or it was false that they ate all the food... The innkeeper was covering up something important, using the beggars as a cover to distract those keeping watch. The beggars didn't even cry grievance after being caught; they must have reached some sort of deal.

Why was Chen Yi killed by the innkeeper? And what was the story behind Cuihua's disappearance?

The last time Cuihua's name was mentioned, a look of adoration had appeared in the innkeeper's eyes. If his expression was genuine, then Cuihua's disappearance must be inseparable from him.

A crime of passion?

Chen Yi kept emphasizing their family's "Cuihua," and the innkeeper's behavior was completely unexpected—so where on earth had Cuihua gone?

If he wanted to know the answer, finding Cuihua was the key. Only by finding Cuihua would the truth come to light.

There was nothing special in the kitchen, save for a few covered water vats from which the faint sound of bubbling water could be heard.

Ye Feifan slowly approached the water vats and inadvertently noticed a row of knife racks hanging on the wall. Among them, a saw-toothed blade was exceptionally conspicuous, appearing as though it were meant for sawing through something.

Silently stepping forward, Ye Feifan froze. The sound of a door opening rang out.

Someone had come in through the back door!

Holding the saw-blade, Ye Feifan quietly hid behind the door, his heart pounding with extreme tension. The person was heading in the direction of the kitchen.

The sound of a key turning echoed, the door opened, and the familiar attire of the innkeeper came into view.

The innkeeper was back!

The innkeeper's foot was completely restored; the part Old Hei had severed last time had healed entirely. He must have paid a heavy price to cure himself.

Compared to his level of cultivation, the innkeeper's strength far surpassed Ye Feifan's, so naturally, he did not dare to fight him head-on. He slowly squatted down.

Glancing at the window, the innkeeper turned and walked toward the water vats. Not daring to keep watching him, Ye Feifan tiptoed out of the kitchen... hurried out of the courtyard, and leaped back into his second-floor room through the open window.

Slowly closing the window, Ye Feifan stared into the courtyard through the narrow gap... The innkeeper stayed in the kitchen for quite a while, though it was unclear what he was doing.

Upon leaving the kitchen, the innkeeper came to the tree in the courtyard and stood there for a long time, even reaching out to stroke the characters carved into the trunk.

Ten minutes later, the innkeeper locked up the kitchen and slowly walked into the inn.

Sighing in relief, Ye Feifan's expression suddenly twisted in shock. He rapidly opened the window, jumped down, and rolled upon hitting the ground.

Time waits for no man; knowing the stakes, Ye Feifan naturally dared not delay. He squeezed back in through the kitchen window and carefully readjusted it.

The innkeeper hadn't been stroking the tree just now; he had been checking which window was open.

Upon entering through the back door, given the innkeeper's habits, he would surely follow his routine and check which windows of the inn were open.

Next, he would go to the kitchen to check for any secrets. Since he had taken the other man's saw-blade, his presence was definitely exposed—someone had broken into his kitchen!

He had gone to the tree just to verify whether the key was still there. Coupled with the closed guest room window, the innkeeper, realizing everything had changed, would naturally take action.

He guessed that the innkeeper's plan to catch someone would likely come up empty. Little did the innkeeper know that he possessed a cheating artifact like the silent boots!

Hiding in the kitchen for a few minutes, he heard the sound of a window closing; the other party had already reached his room... If he had been a few minutes slower, he would have been in grave danger.

The civilian persona trait of the disguise dream was simply too robust; even the innkeeper could not instantly sense his gaze, making it practically a legendary surveillance artifact.

The window was closed, so the innkeeper must be in the room observing the courtyard. He still could not go out; going out now would lead to immediate discovery.

If, after observing for a while, he found no anomalies, the innkeeper would surely sneak in through the window, so he needed to prepare early.

Counting silently in his heart, Ye Feifan crept to the kitchen window and hoisted himself entirely onto the roof... To evade a comprehensive field of view, extraordinary measures had to be taken.

After waiting for over ten minutes, the window quietly opened, and the innkeeper crawled in from the outside.

Cautiously inspecting the kitchen, he found no trace of any other person; even the stacked firewood remained untouched... The only differences were the missing saw-blade and the missing key.

Taking advantage of the other's distraction, Ye Feifan quietly slipped out through the wide-open window, his clothes brushing past the frame without making a sound.

Hurrying to the large tree, Ye Feifan thrust the saw-blade into the soil and vaulted over the wall to escape.

"Xiao Martin!" The kitchen gap revealed the innkeeper's furious eyes.

Subconsciously checking the courtyard, the innkeeper unexpectedly caught sight of his enemy's retreating figure. The innkeeper's intellect was truly terrifying.

Ye Feifan felt a surge of fortune; the other party was stronger than him, and a direct fight was out of the question. What the innkeeper's plan was remained unclear... For now, he could only bide his time, constantly growing stronger, so that he would have the bargaining chips for a counterattack in the future.

Crawling out of the kitchen window, the innkeeper strode quickly to the tree, where the hilt of the saw-blade stood out blindingly.

Seething with anger, the innkeeper pulled out the saw-blade, vaulted over the wall, and after glancing left and right, immediately sprinted toward the back door of the pleasure house.

Only this time, he did not enter through the back door, but instead kept running further away.

Ye Feifan climbed up from the corner of the wall and stretched lazily. He had just been right beneath the innkeeper's feet, using the exact method the innkeeper had once used to deceive him at the Beichen Teahouse.

Talk about what goes around comes around!

Not entirely sure where the innkeeper was heading, Ye Feifan was determined to find out...

He could not take the back door of the pleasure house, as it was swarming with the Liu family's people. He needed to track the innkeeper through other alleyways.

Calming his mind, Ye Feifan slipped into another street, perfectly avoiding the back door of the pleasure house and the Beichen Teahouse.

After chasing through a dozen turns, Ye Feifan suddenly collapsed around a corner, rolling into the shadowed corner of a wall.

Three minutes later, several figures in black met at the corner.

"Where is he?"

"He was just here!"

"The boss was right after all; he really is a scourge. We must eliminate him tonight!"

"What should we do now?"

"He's definitely gone to the Fragrant Pavilion to ambush the innkeeper. Let's go and ambush him near the Fragrant Pavilion."

"Will that work?"

"Let's try it."

The group of men in black departed, while Ye Feifan remained completely motionless.

Five minutes later, that same group of men in black returned to the spot.

"He's not here."

"He must have taken a shortcut to the Fragrant Pavilion."

"What do we do?"

"Keep looking!"

Ten minutes after the men in black left, Ye Feifan still did not move.

Another group of men in black gathered, though judging by their conversation, they did not seem to belong to the Liu family.

"What is the Liu family up to?"

"Not quite sure. The family head told us to monitor them, so there must be a reason."

"Looks like you don't know, but I know a bit of inside information."

"What inside information?"

"In the past, many people used to die during stormy nights. Ever since someone from the Liu family came to visit, no one has died. The family head suspects that the Liu family is behind all this."

"Really?"

"No wonder that Xiao Martin didn't find anything; the Liu family must have gotten wind of it beforehand and reined in their subordinates."

"Watch your tongue..."

...

After they left, Ye Feifan still did not emerge. He felt as though the old alleyways held a personal grudge against him.

Sure enough, several more waves of people arrived afterward, and none of them belonged to the same faction.

Having interacted with several major clans, Ye Feifan managed to recognize hidden sentries from the Xun family, the Zhang family, and the Yan family, but there were even some factions he completely failed to recognize.

The waters of Tianzi City were growing increasingly murky!

He still needed to find a way out; under no circumstances could he allow himself to be led around by the nose.

Seeing that dawn was fast approaching, Ye Feifan scrambled to his feet and slipped into another alleyway...