Investigation

Xu Yuan was all too familiar with Burial Village. So familiar that, to this day, he could still recall the name of every single person in it. The butcher who loved whetting kitchen cleavers in the dead of night, the glamorous young woman who was always smiling and poking fun at people, the blind man who was blind yet not completely blind, and that old village chief who was perpetually chuckling... Burial Village was the starting village in the plot of Cangyuan. A village nestled deep in the mountains along the border of Great Yan, both peaceful and fraught with deadly peril. It was called peaceful because the various uncles, grandfathers, and senior folk were exceptionally good to the protagonist, treating him just like ordinary elders in a loving household. It was called perilous because these ordinary-looking uncles and grandfathers were actually formidable big shots living out their retirement; every one of them had once been a notorious bandit or a terrifying fiend. A dilapidated little village packed with hidden titans. And then... And then, his Prime Minister father had personally led troops to slaughter the entire village down to the last soul. Only a single youth, who happened to have gone deep into the mountains to hunt, survived alone. That was right—that boy was the story's protagonist. This was the fundamental reason Xu Yuan had always wanted to find the story's protagonist. With such a blood debt between them, there was zero room for reconciliation between the protagonist and the Chancellor's Manor. Once the other grew to his full potential, regardless of whatever reasons his father had for slaughtering the village, the protagonist wouldn't show a shred of mercy. However, through the clues Su Jinxuan provided, Xu Yuan could now narrow the protagonist's possible routes down to three, and he had a rough idea of what kind of cheat the guy possessed. The first was the classic shonen-style royal road. For a hot-blooded shonen protagonist, the cheat was self-explanatory: low-health berserker god; the lower his HP, the harder he popped off. The second was the portable old mentor route. The cheat was also simple: a purely human-operated AI in control, capable of skyrocketing in power under special conditions. The third was the villainous route cultivating the Great Joyous Union Yin-Yang Art. The cheat was three doses of Hehuan Powder, which completely bypassed level restrictions. Works equally well on men and women. Thinking up to this point, Xu Yuan felt a slight weight on his mind. The first and the third weren't much of a problem; if he found the guy, he could simply have Zhou Chen go and kill him. But according to Murphy's Law, Xu Yuan had a sneaking suspicion that the protagonist was most likely on the second route—the old mentor route—because the protagonist on that path was the hardest to deal with. Without the constraints of in-game conditions, if pressed into a corner, the other could bring out the big guns at any moment. Among the people Xu Yuan currently knew, probably only his eldest brother could reliably take him down; even that big block of ice surnamed Ran might not pull it off. Inside the carriage, waves of delicate fragrance drifted. Most of the time, a quiet environment would bring peace of mind, but when one's life hung on another's whim, such silence became a torment. Watching Xu Yuan's silent profile, Su Jinxuan drew a soft, deep breath. Her fists clenched. Then unclenched. Clenched, Unclenched. Back and forth several times. A trace of gloom flashed in the depths of Su Jinxuan's eyes. Slowly exhaling the breath she had held, she softly called: "Young Master..." The answer was already clear in her heart, yet people always clung to an unrealistic glimmer of hope. Xu Yuan swept his gaze toward her. Her previous nonchalance was gone again; he saw the unease in her eyes. He was somewhat amused. It seemed her claim that Mister Qin treated her like a younger sister was mostly true; if she were an intensively trained deathsworn agent, she wouldn't show this kind of look. For an unmarried young lady, to maintain her composure to this extent in the face of death was already quite remarkable. "You seem very scared?" he asked. Su Jinxuan lightly bit her lip with her canine tooth: "The Shadow Guards of the Chancellor's Manor are infamous far and wide. Jinxuan has naturally heard of them." "If you're so scared, why did you dare come looking for me?" "..." She fell silent. Xu Yuan's eyes held a faint smile, yet not a trace of pity: "One last question. If you're willing to answer, once we enter the manor, I can spare you from being handed over to Ying'er. Of course, if you choose not to, I trust Ying'er will still be able to extract it from you." "Su Jinxuan, what was Mister Qin's purpose in having you control me?" "..." Su Jinxuan clutched the corner of her robe so tightly her knuckles turned pale. After a long silence, she shook her head: "I... I don't know." Hearing this, Xu Yuan raised a hand and gently stroked her supple long hair, murmuring softly: "What a pity, Jinxuan. That wasn't the answer I wanted to hear." Earlier, she had claimed she took the initiative to ease Mister Qin's burdens, and now she claimed she didn't know? She had completely exposed herself. How foolish. At the thought, Xu Yuan couldn't help but smile faintly to himself. Still, this made sense. If every person could keep a cool head in the face of mortal terror, this world would be far too full of ruthless monsters... Su Jinxuan was taken away by Ying'er. Still, in consideration of the information she provided, Xu Yuan did put in a few good words for her before Ying'er. No physical torture; he just had Ying'er bind her hands and feet, seal her hearing, and throw her into a pitch-black room stuffed with soft quilts. Seeing the slight trace of gratitude in Su Jinxuan's eyes as she was led away, Xu Yuan felt like laughing. Modern interrogation techniques might not inflict the immediate, visceral pain of ancient physical torture, but that stuff was psychological warfare. Don't ask. If you must know, he had experienced it firsthand. Out of sheer reckless curiosity, Xu Yuan had visited a specialized sensory-deprivation experience center with a group of friends in his past life. Lying on a soft bed, hands and feet encased in special padded mitts, with staff putting on specialized earmuffs and a blindfold... That feeling was simply indescribable. Xu Manor was situated in the north of the vast Jingjiang City, covering over a thousand mu. A massive wetland lake lay within its grounds, surrounded by pavilions, terraces, and towers of jade and gold that stretched as far as the eye could see. The lakeside was breezy. Watching the graceful figures of Ying'er and Su Jinxuan disappear into the distance, Xu Yuan turned back to look at Zhou Chen, who was sipping wine nearby, and suddenly said: "Mister Zhou, could you do me a favor?" "Third Young Master, you need only command it." Zhou Chen lowered his flagon. Xu Yuan stared in the direction Su Jinxuan had left: "Look into the extermination of Su Jinxuan's clan for me." A hint of surprise flickered in Zhou Chen's eyes. "Young Master means...?" Xu Yuan explained: "Su Jinxuan said she was rescued by that Mister Qin while fleeing for her life, and that her entire household was likely killed. I suspect there's more to it than meets the eye." "I see..." Zhou Chen murmured, seeming to grasp Xu Yuan's intention. Though he had his doubts, Zhou Chen had no intention of refusing. The Third Young Master's recent actions were gradually proving worth betting on. He cupped his fists: "Only, where might Miss Su's hometown be?" Xu Yuan's eyes flickered for a moment before he said: "Jincheng in Jiangnan Prefecture." In his past life, when Xu Yuan controlled the story's protagonist leading Su Jinxuan into Jincheng of Jiangnan for the first time, she would say, "Having not seen it for over ten years, Jincheng really has changed beyond recognition, hasn't it..." Zhou Chen immediately clasped his fists. "Understood. Rest easy, Third Young Master, I'll notify the Black Scale Guards over in Jiangnan Prefecture right away." With that, Zhou Chen turned to leave. "Wait." Zhou Chen stopped in his tracks. Unhurriedly, Xu Yuan retrieved a stack of five one-thousand-tael banknotes from his Sumeru ring and used Source Qi to deliver them into Zhou Chen's hand. Zhou Chen's eyes lit up, but holding his wine flagon, he asked in a low voice: "Third Young Master, what is this...?" Xu Yuan chuckled softly: "Mister Zhou has taken great pains to keep me safe. Just a little wine money to show my appreciation."