Yin Zhongxiu murmured mysteriously, he firmly believed that the swordsman would come.
But if he were to take action against the people of the Three Bureaus, should he intervene?
"Heh..." Yin Zhongxiu sneered inwardly, returning the amplification artifact in his hand to Wu Ye. It would be good enough if he didn't help.
Wu Ye, the lord of Bu Luo City, felt a chill down his spine as he watched the man's expression.
Suddenly, what was wrong? Why was he smiling so strangely?
The grand assembly paused here, leaving time for people to ponder and discuss.
So, in a corner of the high platform, a young man faced a man wrapped entirely in bandages, their eyes full of shock.
The unfathomable mysterious abilities, the tiger demon charging from the depths of Xishan, the thunderbolt crashing across the sky...
But what made the Liang father and son most horrified and bewildered was the swordsman mentioned by Yin Zhongxiu.
He said that the swordsman, alone, had eliminated two sources of contamination?
But weren't the sources of contamination in Fengqing Village cleared by that night watchman?
With doubt, Liang Chen involuntarily clenched his fists, recalling the situation at the time.
Initially, at Li Ancheng's request, he had made things difficult for Xu Mu, never expecting that the other party was an esper from the Demon Extermination Bureau.
Afterward, that person asked him to help clean up the ghouls and then charged into the source of contamination alone.
He was very happy with Xu Mu's suicidal behavior, so he fled decisively, leaving Xu Mu to struggle alone.
Later, his father, Liang Jue, reminded him that the source of contamination had disappeared, and it was likely that Xu Mu had succeeded.
"At that time, I never thought that besides Xu Mu, there could be a second person cleaning up the source of contamination..."
"Could it be that after I left, Xu Mu was rescued by his master?"
Liang Chen swallowed a mouthful of saliva and muttered to himself. Beside him, Liang Jue's eyes also narrowed slightly.
That's right, it makes sense.
If Xu Mu had been hiding his strength, then Yin Shuier wouldn't have recognized him. But Yin Zhongxiu had absolutely no reason not to know his identity.
And Yin Zhongxiu said that Xu Mu died in Xishan as an ordinary martyr, which proved he was just an ordinary Rank One.
Therefore, the young man they met in Heye Village was his master!
Liang Chen also figured it out.
No wonder when they caught up to Xu Mu in Heye Village, his eyes were grayish-white. It turned out that person wasn't Xu Mu at all, but Xu Mu's master!
"If it's a Rank Three esper, then using their abilities to disguise themselves as another person is not impossible..."
Liang Jue, wrapped in bandages, managed to squeeze out this sentence with great difficulty from his throat. Not a single bone in his body was intact. He had spent an extremely exorbitant price at the Tree Residence Medical Hall to avoid becoming disabled.
"However, whether it is or not, we must pretend we know nothing!"
"That night, you only had a verbal conflict with Xu Mu, and then you directly left Fengqing Village. I was injured by the sable demon, and Xu Mu saved us!"
Liang Jue repeatedly reminded Liang Chen in his ear.
He was truly afraid that his foolish son would say something wrong again and be silenced by that person.
As Yin Zhongxiu said, for a powerful expert of that level, when they don't want to be found, you cannot find them; you can only wait for them to appear on their own.
Whether that person was Xu Mu in hiding or his master, whether they were one person or two, he didn't know.
All he knew was that he had to go along with what Yin Zhongxiu said.
If they made wild guesses, the outcome awaiting them would surely be death.
"Don't worry, Father," Liang Chen nodded, agreeing like a pecking chick, "I've got it. I'll say what Director Yin said, that Xu Mu and that swordsman are two different people!"
...
"Of course they are two different people, how else could they be one?"
Liang Chen's last sentence was quite loud, attracting the attention of a young man with a sword at his waist. His voice was languid as he directly retorted.
Liang Jue coughed violently.
He sat in his seat, staring at Liang Chen opposite him, his eyes cold and helpless.
Sometimes, the desire to kill someone's gaze could not be hidden.
...
Liang Chen turned his head and realized that the one speaking now was his arch-rival from the Jin Yin Commercial Bank, Jin Yu.
So he had to retort fiercely:
"You haven't seen them, so how do you know they aren't the same person?"
Liang Chen's voice was slightly cold. Even if he was talking nonsense, he couldn't afford to lose face in front of this person.
"How do I know?" Jin Yu slowly stood up, holding a folding fan in his hand. "If, according to your logic, Xu Mu and that swordsman are the same person, then he is a Rank Three esper."
"And as everyone knows, Xu Mu is the youngest night watchman in the Domain of the Twisted Night, and he is not yet twenty years old."
The young man's eyes were sinister, a faint smile playing on his lips:
"Tell me, who in this world can reach Rank Three at the age of twenty? Even if there were such a person, they wouldn't appear in our Twisted Night!"
Everyone nodded. These words made a lot of sense.
Let alone the Twisted Night Domain, which was so unsuitable for cultivation, even throughout the Great Xia Dynasty, reaching Rank Two at twenty years old was already considered genius.
And reaching Rank Three at twenty years old was a living monster.
Only a handful of people in the entire Eastern European continent could achieve such talent and accomplishments.
—Just like the former Ji Chang.
But Liang Chen was still unwilling to concede, so he had to bite the bullet and say stubbornly:
"If you haven't seen it, then shut up. I saw it with my own eyes!"
The moment he finished speaking, Liang Chen realized something was wrong, and his heart immediately sank to the bottom.
It seemed he had spoken out of turn again...
"You damn fool, what are you guessing wildly about!"
Beside him, Liang Jue, in his mummy-like state, cursed inwardly.
If he wasn't incapacitated, he would have slapped him long ago. Did this brat want his Liang family to die miserably?
Jin Yu's eyebrows twitched slightly, his eyes narrowed, and he raised his voice to ask:
"Oh, you've seen it?"
"Speaking of which, I just remembered, City Lord Wu, the next item on the agenda is rewarding merits and demerits, right?"
Wu Ye, who had been annoyed by their conversation for a while, was already displeased.
Because the person speaking was the legitimate son of the second-in-command of the Jin Yin Commercial Bank, he endured it for a while, not expecting his turn to come now.
"Yes, what is it?"
Jin Yu received a reply, and then, under everyone's gaze, he raised his folding fan, its tip pointing directly at Liang Chen, who was sitting behind him:
"I accuse Liang Chen of the Liang family, as a Rank One esper, for fleeing to Fengqing Village in fear of being sent to the front lines to fight the ghouls."
"His cowardly actions indirectly caused the deaths of countless soldiers and should be severely punished!"