strictlysupreme Chapter 91 The Sunset Huang Family, the Mastermind
Chapter 91 The Sunset Huang Family, the Mastermind
Chapter 91 The Sunset Huang Family, the Mastermind
"The Big Yellow Merchant Guild?"
Chen Yu's gaze locked onto the top of the bandit leader's head.
There is no "Druger" red label.
The "wise judgment" silently confirmed these words.
Zhao Siping's thick eyebrows shot up suddenly as he strode closer.
"The Great Yellow Merchant Guild of Sunset City? This matter actually involves the Yellow Family, one of the three major families?"
"Yes! It's the Huang family!"
In order to save his life, the bandit leader confessed everything, and he spoke faster and faster as he spoke.
"Black Wind Stronghold has been rampant for so many years because the Huang family has been supporting it behind the scenes."
"Food, supplies, weapons, and intelligence were all provided secretly by the Great Yellow Merchant Guild!"
"Most of the shady dealings of the Black Wind Stronghold, including robbing mines, intercepting goods, and murdering people, were done for the Huang family."
"The Huang family are respectable merchants, and respectable members of the upper class in Sunset City. They can't handle these dirty jobs, so they keep Black Wind Stronghold as their tools!"
"The Huang family uses Black Wind Stronghold, and Black Wind Stronghold relies on the Huang family. Our stronghold chief inquired for a long time before he figured out this relationship."
"Our chieftain said that offending Black Wind Stronghold is tantamount to offending the Huang family! We, Fierce Tiger Stronghold, don't have the guts to clash with the Huang family!"
Chen Yu loosened the pressure of the blade pressing down.
It turns out the Huang family was the mastermind behind it all.
They need the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus, but it's inconvenient for them to send people into the mountains themselves.
On the one hand, they might be afraid of alerting the enemy and attracting many competitors.
After all, the Huang family was incredibly powerful, and every move they made was watched by countless eyes.
On the other hand, it may be because Niutou Mountain is the territory of the Sword Casting Manor.
Entering the mine without permission from the Sword Forging Manor is a serious offense.
The Huang family wanted to steal the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus, but they did not want to have a direct conflict with the Sword Casting Manor.
So the Huang family provided money and intelligence, while Black Wind Village provided manpower and blood and sweat.
Ironically, Black Wind Village applied the same logic to itself.
They paid and threatened to make Liehu Village use their lives as human shields.
Thinking of this, Chen Yu couldn't help but chuckle.
"It's the same old trick, just layers of subcontracting! Each layer is spreading the risk and cost downwards."
"The person sitting in the Huang family mansion in Sunset City only approved a sum of money and provided some information, and then waited for the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus to be delivered to his hands. What a cunning scheme."
Why does the Huang family want the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus? Who did they send to handle this matter?
Chen Yu asked one last question.
The bandit leader shook his head repeatedly.
"I really don't know—I really don't know."
"The chieftain only found out that the Huang family was behind it; he couldn't find out anything more."
"The messages from Black Wind Stronghold are different each time. Sometimes it's Wang Kui himself, and sometimes it's a few unfamiliar faces."
"But from beginning to end, not a single member of the Huang family showed up."
Chen Yu glanced at the top of the bandit leader's head.
There is no "Druger" red label.
He slowly withdrew his gaze.
The faint light deep within his pupils quietly faded away, leaving no trace.
No one noticed when the interrogation began, and no one noticed when it ended.
Within fifteen minutes, the bandit leader uttered no fewer than a hundred sentences.
Every word he uttered was weighed by the Eye of Druger hovering above his head.
The truth and the falsehood have long been distinguished.
Chen Yu squatted down.
The blade touched the ground in front of the bandit leader, and he looked him straight in the eye.
"You're a good boy, you told the truth tonight."
His tone was as calm as it had been at the start of the interrogation.
"Your chieftain should have known the moment he accepted the silver that he would eventually be someone else's pawn."
"You're just a lackey, it's not your place to make decisions, so I won't kill you."
"Your Excellency is wise! Your Excellency is truly wise!"
The bandit leader's body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.
Chen Yu stood up and turned to Zhao Siping to give him an order.
"These people are bandits after all. Although they didn't do what happened in Quanxi Village, we still have to detain them first."
"Within our Sword Forging Manor's territory, everything must proceed according to procedure! Take control for now, and hand it over to the Deputy Commander for proper handling after dawn!"
"Yes, sir!"
Zhao Siping clasped his hands in response and turned to assign manpower.
Several sword guards stepped forward, lifted the bandit leader off the ground, and then tied his hands with ropes.
As the bandit leader was being led away, he didn't forget to shout, "Thank you so much for sparing my life, sir!"
The other bandits had already been disarmed and were all like lambs to the slaughter.
With even the strongest leader surrendering, they naturally had no will to resist.
Zhao Siping ordered all the bandits to kneel down with their hands behind their heads, and then searched them one by one and tied them with ropes.
Most of the bandits were terrified and obediently lay on the ground.
Several of them even took the initiative to unbuckle their belts and hand them over, as if afraid that Zhao Siping would think they were hiding concealed weapons.
As dawn broke, the sound of orderly horses' hooves echoed from the end of the mountain path.
Chen Yu got up from the campfire and brushed the grass clippings off his knees.
In the morning mist, the black sword-patterned camp flag gradually became clear.
Red Blood Horse took the lead, and Pei Shifeng arrived first.
"hiss!"
After a horse neighed.
Pei Shifeng dismounted.
He glanced around the camp.
The captured weapons were sorted and stacked according to their type: knives, guns, bows, and crossbows.
Long weapons are long weapons, and short weapons are short weapons.
Even the arrows were divided into three piles according to the color of their feathers.
Fifty or sixty bandits squatted in rows with their heads in their hands.
They all looked dejected, but there was no sign of any disturbance.
Outside the camp, the sword guards changing shifts were exchanging orders in hushed tones.
"A resounding victory, impeccable military discipline—truly worthy of the young master's high regard!"
Upon seeing this, Pei Shifeng's lips curled slightly, and his gaze involuntarily shifted to Chen Yu.
"Commander Chen, your night has been far more lively than I expected!"
"Please, Deputy Commander-in-Chief!"
Chen Yu clasped his hands in a salute and led Pei Shifeng to the center of the camp.
The embers of the campfire were still warm.
He invited Pei Shifeng to sit at the head of the table, while he stood at the foot of the table, and began to report on the situation.
"When I led the team into Quanxi Village last night, all 77 villagers had been killed."
"Preliminary investigation revealed two possible causes of death: stab wounds and burns."
"Therefore, my subordinates judged that there might be two perpetrators, one using a knife and the other using fire."
Pei Shifeng nodded slightly, without interrupting.
"While tracing the source of the fire, we found traces of this thing in a courtyard at the end of the village."
Chen Yu raised his hand to signal, and Zhao Siping presented an object wrapped in rags.
The rag was opened, revealing a charred tree branch inside.
Three claw marks remained on the branch, penetrating half an inch into the wood, with the edges carbonized like ink.
"It's the Mist-Hidden Fire Ape, a monster with no hair and dark red skin."
"Its claws are exceptionally sharp, leaving three claw marks with each strike! A gray mist emanates from its body, leaving nothing but desolation in its wake!"
"It was originally hiding in the pile of corpses, but after being discovered, it darted into the mountains and forests. We chased it halfway up the mountain but lost it."
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"The Mist-Hidden Fire Ape?"
Pei Shifeng took the scorched branch and examined it for a moment.
"I've heard of this thing before; it's commonly called the 'fire monkey' in folk tradition. Go on, what happened next?"
"When we reached the middle of the mountain, we found a campsite."
Chen Yu continued to report.
"They are from Fierce Tiger Village. They are being attacked by Fire Monkeys every night and are also being chased by Black Wind Village, so they are trapped on the mountainside and cannot move forward or backward."
"My subordinates captured a bandit leader and interrogated him overnight, and obtained the results."
Chen Yu paused for a moment, then slowed down his speech.
"The knife wounds in Quanxi Village were inflicted by Black Wind Stronghold!"
"The bandit leader confessed that Black Wind Stronghold gave their chief five thousand taels of silver, plus a ten percent share of the mine, to trick them into joining forces to pick the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus."
"Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus?"
Pei Shifeng's gaze suddenly lifted from the scorched branches.
"You mean, their purpose in coming to Niutou Mountain is to search for the Nine-Leaf Fire Lotus?"