"Her?" The Demon Lord scoffed. "Is she so eager to control me already?"
Betty's sweet, raspy voice replied:
"Lord Demon Lord, you are the most promising Night Wanderer of our era. Our president admires you more than anyone—how could she wish to control you?
"Besides, there is an old saying in your land: 'To die under a peony flower leaves a ghost with style.' Our president is the most enchanting woman in the world. Do you not look forward to spending a night of passion with her?"
"Heh, what you don't know is that we have another saying here: 'the whip falls short when the reach is too far.'" The Demon Lord sneered. "I will sleep with her, but now is not the time. Once I clear my final solo Spirit Realm and step into that supreme realm, I'll go meet her as a matter of course."
After a brief silence, Betty spoke in a hushed, seductive murmur:
"What if the president could tell you a secret? A secret regarding the Night Wanderers—no, one of the supreme secrets of the Spirit Realm."
"Foolish woman," the Demon Lord said flatly. "Every gift comes with a price tag attached. The Goddess of Beauty Association wouldn't share a secret of that caliber for nothing; all they want is to control me. Well, do you know this secret?"
"I... I don't know..."
"Don't be afraid. You are an irresistible stunner. I won't kill you to question your spirit—at least, not before I grow tired of playing with you."
Then came wet slurping and smacking sounds. As an innocent boy, Zhang Yuanqing guessed the foreign woman was probably eating a delicious meal to replenish her strength.
Right at that moment, the duration of Night Walk ended, and Zhang Yuanqing reappeared in his room. Listening to the slurping noises of "eating," his brows furrowed deeply as a realization struck him.
This prop belonged to the Demon Lord!
The Cat King Speaker couldn't be stored in the inventory and could only be carried on one's person, yet the audio played just now was between the Demon Lord and a foreign woman.
What did that mean?
It meant that at the time, the Cat King Speaker had been right beside the Demon Lord. If someone wasn't its owner, why would they keep such a prop on them?
Brother Bing told me to find this prop, but it was an item belonging to the Demon Lord. What was the relationship between Brother Bing and the Demon Lord?
Brother Bing was definitely not the Demon Lord. The voice was wrong, and Brother Bing's manner of speaking wasn't like that at all. He had known Brother Bing since they were toddlers in split pants; they were far too familiar.
Demon Lord: "Come on, change positions..."
The two of them seemed to have worked things out and opened up, stopping their "meal" to engage in further deep "exchanges."
Zhang Yuanqing had no choice but to use Night Walk again to block out the noise. Just then, the moans and groans were suddenly replaced by the crackle of static. In the next moment, a low, familiar voice came through the Cat King Speaker's loudspeaker:
"Great Detective, it's your assistant, Ah Bing. I have no way of knowing when you will hear this recording, but I know that by this time, I should already be dead—or missing.
"Don't ask about my relationship with the Demon Lord. The truth is something you cannot bear right now. If I have already gone missing, please do not try to look for me. At the very least, wait until you have gone through your first large-scale killing dungeon and ascended to the Saint stage.
"This prop will bring you plenty of useful information—about me, and about the Demon Lord... But remember: never let anyone hear the contents of these recordings. If leaked, remember to silence the witness.
"The Demon Lord's character card was my gift to you. It represents opportunity, but it also carries boundless risk. Do not trust the official organization too much; do not trust anyone.
"Now, here is your first clue: when you hear this recording, the Deceitful Eye Judge will most likely be dead. If Hei Wuchang hasn't been found yet, you must find a way to track him down and get the roster. You must get the roster..."
How did Brother Bing know that the Deceitful Eye Judge would be dead by now? He couldn't even determine the exact time Zhang Yuanqing would get the Cat King Speaker. Unless... before he recorded this message, the Deceitful Eye Judge was already dead, which was why he was so certain... Zhang Yuanqing was startled.
He suddenly recalled what Yuan Ting had questioned him about that day: "Although we can't confirm the exact time of the Demon Lord's death, it should have been recently, and the same goes for the time of the Deceitful Eye Judge's death. So the falls of both the Demon Lord and the Deceitful Eye Judge are connected?"
'You must get the roster...' Brother Bing sounded so solemn about it; what important thing was inside that roster? It seemed he was also entangled in the deaths of the Demon Lord and the Deceitful Eye Judge. Could it be that his disappearance was caused by this very matter?
'Then, if I uncover the truth behind the deaths of the Demon Lord and the Deceitful Eye Judge, will I be able to find out why Brother Bing went missing and where he is right now?'
Zhang Yuanqing waited for a moment. Seeing that the Cat King Speaker played no further sounds, he promptly stashed it back into the drawer.
He sat before his desk for a long time, pulled out a notebook, and began sorting out his thoughts in writing:
"The Five Elements Alliance is searching for Hei Wuchang, and the Spirit Society Eastern District Branch is searching for him as well. Too many factions are mixed up in this. If I want to find the roster, my best bet is to join the search party. Operating with the backing of the Five Elements Alliance will also make it easier to conceal myself."
'I'll head to the office later and feel out the Decurion to see if I can join the operation.'
"Discovered a new class—Love and Desire class. Sounds like a foreign class. Tsk, tsk, a stunner? I'd really love to see for myself..."
As Zhang Yuanqing wrote, he realized he had drifted off track and crossed out the latter half.
"The Demon Lord was on very close terms with foreign classes. I just don't know if he eventually met the president of the Goddess of Beauty Association, or if he learned the secret from her. If he did, the Cat King Speaker might have recorded it... Hiss, looking at it this way, could this be part of the reason why the Taiyi Sect is looking for the Demon Lord's successor?"
Before long, he drew up his short-term plan:
1. Find a way to participate in the manhunt for Hei Wuchang.
2. Fulfill the last wishes of "Ashamed to Be a Father."
As for the long-term objective, it was to prepare for his third Spirit Realm mission, but that was still early, so there was no need to dwell on it for now.
Click!
He struck his lighter and watched the flame lick the paper. The fire flared up, eventually devouring the plan.
After cleaning up the traces, Zhang Yuanqing took his phone and the Cat King Speaker, activated Night Walk, leaped out the window, and stepped on the outdoor air conditioning unit as a springboard to vault into the stairwell.
He certainly couldn't just walk openly through the living room right now, or his grandmother would execute household discipline on him.
Knock, knock!
Reaching the hallway, Zhang Yuanqing knocked on his uncle's front door.
The one who opened the door was his aunt, wearing form-fitting yoga clothes. Though middle-aged, she maintained a figure resembling someone in her early thirties, which was truly rare.
Pampered since youth and never touching housework, she looked to be around forty, hardly resembling a mother with a thirty-year-old son.
"Auntie, where's my uncle?" Zhang Yuanqing poked his head in to look.
"Who knows where he went off to fool around." His aunt rolled her eyes charmingly.
"I remember Uncle has a waist pouch. He's not using it anyway, so why not give it to me?" Zhang Yuanqing stated his objective.
The Cat King Speaker was too uncomfortable in a pocket, yet it wasn't worth carrying a backpack just for it. After weighing his options, a waist pouch was the best choice.
"In the walk-in closet. Go look for it yourself." His aunt stepped aside.
Zhang Yuanqing dashed into the walk-in closet, rummaged around, and successfully found his uncle's flashy purple designer waist pouch. Buckling it around his waist, he walked back out:
"Thanks, Auntie! May you stay eighteen forever!"
"Wait!"
His aunt stopped him, jutting her chin toward the rooms behind her and giving her habitual instruction:
"Take out the trash from the living room and bedroom."
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing refused with cold-blooded resolve: "Nope!"
His aunt went "Hey!", resting her hands on her slender hips. "Your wings have grown strong, haven't they, kid? Go throw out the trash this instant, and Auntie will give you a hundred yuan."
His aunt wasn't ruthless like his grandmother, who threatened to execute household discipline at every turn, but she knew how to corrupt fine young men with money.
Too lazy to do housework, she had treated Zhang Yuanqing as child labor since he was young. Her catchphrase had always been: *Yuanzi, Auntie will give you pocket money if you help Auntie...*
Over the years, Zhang Yuanqing had earned quite a lot of money off his aunt.
"Auntie, I'm not a kid anymore. Don't try to boss me around with money like you used to."
"Two hundred yuan."
"Don't worry, Auntie, leave the trash to me!" Zhang Yuanqing trotted eagerly into the apartment.
His aunt pulled two crisp red bills from an exquisite LV wallet, thought about it, and drew out a third.
"Here!"
"Thanks, Auntie! May you stay eighteen forever!"
"Cut the flattery. Why don't you say fifteen?" His aunt rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't worry, Auntie, I'll call the police right now and have them arrest Uncle."
"Shoo, get out of here..."
His aunt doubled over with laughter.
Zhang Yuanqing took a cab to the office. Relying on his formidable social skills, he coaxed a face mask out of the stingy driver, pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt, and strode into the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau with his hands in his pockets.
Passing through the glass building's front entrance and heading up to the second floor, he saw Li Dongze and Guan Ya gathered around Wang Tai. Guan Ya was saying with a beaming smile:
"Not bad at all! Who would've thought that without a sound, you managed to hook a young miss from a prestigious clan? What does she see in you? It's not like your nose is particularly big."
Leaning on his cane, Li Dongze shook his head with a sigh:
"You really can't judge a book by its cover... Even you, Wang Tai, with your honest, bushy-browed look..."
Wang Tai sat at the desk, an expression of profound existential doubt plastered across his face.
"Oh, our great hero has arrived." Li Dongze's ears twitched as he snapped out of it, smiling warmly. "Didn't I tell you to rest at home?"
"I was bored anyway, so I came over to check in."
Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to ask what they had been discussing, Li Dongze nodded, his expression turning solemn. He said:
"Yuanshi, that walkthrough of yours is more troublesome than anticipated..."
"What happened?"
"Centurion Fu is currently attending a council-level meeting. A serious disagreement has broken out in the Council of Elders over whether to 'sell' this walkthrough to the Taiyi Sect."
Chapter 63