Chapter 59: The Scapegoat

Leaving the old alleyways, Ye Feifan did not return to the Welcome Inn.

With the shop assistant's cleverness, he would surely deduce Ye Feifan's next move, making it unnecessary to take such risks. The best course of action right now was to find a place to hide and wait for an opportunity to strike back hard.

From the conversation of the men in black from the Liu family earlier, Ye Feifan could surmise that the Fragrance Pavilion also had ties to the Liu family. The shop assistant held an extraordinary position there; perhaps the Fragrance Pavilion was even one of the Liu family's properties.

Construction was booming everywhere in Tianzi City, and the imperial court was clearly using this place as an experimental zone. Gu Xiangxiang was the manager in charge. There was still some time before the construction of Blue Star architecture began, and Ye Feifan did not believe he could hold out until then.

"Where should I go next?"

The return of the shop assistant was something Ye Feifan had not anticipated. The Welcome Inn, the brothel, the Liu family residence, and the old alleyways were all out of the question, and the Fragrance Pavilion should be avoided at all costs.

There were many places he could go now, but figuring out which place suited him best required a different line of thought.

"Should I go take a look at Litchi Bay..." The matter of Li Xunhua remained a thorn in his heart, and amid his worries, Ye Feifan also had the urge to head over there.

However, he was somewhat unfamiliar with that place, and rushing over blindly would be irresponsible to himself; he worried he wouldn't be able to handle whatever lay ahead.

"Could it be that I have to take a gamble?" Stroking his chin, the only thing Ye Feifan could think of at the moment was the system's lottery function.

Dawn was approaching, but Ye Feifan did not immediately look for an inn to rest.

There were very few pedestrians at night, and his whereabouts would easily be sniffed out by the shop assistant. To be safe, it was better to find a place to hide and wait until noon before moving.

Remembering Old Hei's various escapes last time, Ye Feifan recalled a great hiding spot.

The old district!

...

For a full hour, Ye Feifan navigated by memory, stealthily bypassing the Zhang family's covert scouts and locating the cellar where Old Hei had hidden previously.

Sneaking into the secret chamber beneath the cellar following his memory, Ye Feifan did not immediately turn on his flashlight. Instead, relying on his hearing, he moved forward slowly and pressed himself quietly against the stone door.

For ten minutes, there was no movement inside the stone door.

Safe!

Pushing open the stone door, Ye Feifan slipped inside gently, pulled the door shut behind him, and turned on his flashlight to observe.

It didn't matter that it wasn't a stormy night; the secret chamber had been built by the Liu family and possessed a certain sense of ritualistic significance, making it impossible for them to abandon it casually.

Quite some time had passed since Old Hei made off with the Buddha statue, and the Liu family surely wouldn't dare leave anything else of value inside. His purpose in coming here was simply to look for other clues to figure out how to complete the side quest.

The secret chamber was very small, featuring only an offering table stained with large amounts of dried blood. The candlesticks were also quite eerie, with thick layers of solidified wax piled up on their bases, and nothing else of note.

"Why didn't they destroy the secret chamber?" Holding the flashlight and observing his surroundings, Ye Feifan didn't find anything amiss, but he remained puzzled as to why they hadn't destroyed the evidence... Especially since Old Hei had taken the red-robed faceless Buddha statue right out of this secret chamber.

Logically speaking, they must have discovered the disappearance of the statue, and the secret chamber had already been exposed to certain people... Yet they hadn't destroyed it. Was there some secret inside they couldn't bear to give up?

"There might actually be a secret... System, is there a secret in this secret chamber?"

"Yes. The secret chamber is an unlocked side quest and is not currently supported for activation. Please strive harder, Host."

Ye Feifan was somewhat stunned. The system wouldn't even activate it for him?

A side quest...

What could it be?

Unable to find any secrets for the moment, and the ominous nature of the chamber lacking a certain triggering condition...

Massaging his temples, Ye Feifan looked at the dried blood on the offering table, wondering in bewilderment where the Liu family had acquired it.

Seeing no gains to be made, Ye Feifan abruptly turned around, only to hear stealthy footsteps coming from outside the stone door.

Someone was coming!

Dropping into a roll, Ye Feifan pressed himself tightly against the side of the stone door. As long as the door opened and the person stepped in, he could slip out through the gap.

The person outside the stone door stood still for a few minutes. Ye Feifan gathered his focus and reined in his breath, his heartbeat completely isolated by the spiritual energy within his body. The concealment ability of the Disguise Dream prevented even slight spiritual energy fluctuations from leaking out, and fortunately, not the slightest sound was made.

The shop assistant!

Judging solely by the other's temperament, Ye Feifan instantly recognized his old adversary. However, what puzzled him was why the fellow wasn't at the Fragrance Pavilion. Why had he come here? What was he up to?

After waiting for several minutes without letting his imagination run wild, the person pushed open the stone door and walked in gently.

Taking advantage of the other's lack of attention toward him, Ye Feifan used all four limbs to quietly crawl out through the gap in the stone door.

Although the secret chamber was dark, Ye Feifan still managed to catch a glimpse of the newcomer's face. To his surprise, it was a young man he had never seen before, roughly around his own age.

The young man was extremely cautious and quickly closed the stone door behind him, his intentions completely unknown.

The secret chamber wasn't safe either...

After thinking for a moment, since Ye Feifan was unsure of the other's strength, acting rashly would be irresponsible toward himself. For now, hiding in the wine cellar and leaving was the wiser choice.

Just as he squeezed out of the entrance to the secret passage, a cacophony of footsteps and voices erupted above in the cellar.

"Hurry up, we've caught a big fish today!"

"He must not be allowed to escape!"

"He's finally here!"

...

Someone knew I was coming!

Ye Feifan drew a sharp breath, hurriedly found a large wine jar, climbed inside, and pulled the lid over himself.

The wine was ice-cold, but he couldn't care about that anymore. Keeping only his nose and eyes above the wine surface, he strained his ears to listen to what was happening...

About a dozen people descended into the cellar. They didn't inspect the wine jars, seemingly locating the unmoved passageway entrance at a single glance.

"They've gone in indeed. Get them!" The speaker's voice sounded somewhat familiar; after a moment of thought, Ye Feifan recalled that it was the husband of the woman in blue.

"Master, what if he resists?"

"Do I need to teach you? What are those spirit-binding ropes for?"

"This subordinate understands..."

One person after another squeezed into the secret passage, leaving Ye Feifan frowning deeply. He was well aware of the spirit-binding ropes; they were one-time consumable artifacts refined by powerful cultivators, which caused excruciating pain in the meridians of anyone bound by them and prevented spiritual energy from forming a circulation... A method generally reserved only for capturing powerful Fluid Realm experts.

The Liu family was pulling out all the stops to capture him.

From the conversation, Ye Feifan didn't hear the voice of the shop assistant; perhaps the fellow really had gone to the Fragrance Pavilion.

Fierce sounds of combat erupted from beneath the secret passage, accompanied by the voices of the young man and the man arguing.

"Liu Dequan, where have you hidden Xinxian's ashes?" The young man's voice was filled with rage, and Ye Feifan could hear the blazing fury contained within.

"I never expected that instead of catching the big fish, you, Zhang San, would deliver yourself to your doorstep... Speak, where is Xiao Martin?" The man's voice was filled with a strange tone, as if things had slipped beyond his control.

"Xiao Martin? Liu Dequan, have you lost your mind? Today, Your Grandfather here came to take Xinxian away. If you know what's good for you, return her ashes to me immediately!"

"Humph! Zhang San, you brought this upon yourself. Tomorrow I'll send someone to tell the head of the Zhang family to come collect you."

"Scoundrel, I'll have you dead!"

Clash, crash, rattle, bang...

After a flurry of close-quarters combat, the noise beneath the secret passage subsided.

Ye Feifan's heart was in a panic. His whereabouts had been exposed yet again. Fortunately, someone else had stepped up to take the lightning for him; otherwise, it was hard to say whether he would have fallen into their hands.

It hadn't been normal for the Liu family not to destroy the secret chamber, and sure enough, they had laid an ambush to wait for rabbits.

Fortunately, Ye Feifan had gained new insights... The scar-faced man was named Liu Dequan, the young man who entered the secret chamber was Zhang San of the Zhang family, and the female ghost in blue was named Xinxian...

The harvest from this trip had been quite substantial.

From their conversation, it could be deduced that the female "person's" demise was the result of a struggle between two men, with the Liu man holding the advantage, while the Zhang family had suffered a rather bizarre defeat.

With their names known, it would be much easier to find out what had happened afterwards.

"Let me go, Liu Dequan, you coward, I want to duel you... Scoundrel, you godforsaken scoundrel..."

Zhang San was escorted out of the cellar, and the group followed after him. Yet Ye Feifan sensed that there was still one person left behind, talking to themselves.