Stranger Danger

Chapter 124: Coincidence?

“Evergreen Ivy is… hiding in this building? What are you…”

Shi Chong was confused, but the others figured out Ye Qing’s meaning immediately. “Joyless, are you saying that our very headquarters is that Stranger’s hideout?”

Ye Qing nodded. “Not only that, they’re right here with us! That’s right. One of us… is Evergreen Ivy!”

It was like he had lobbed a bomb at the center of the main hall. Everyone was shouting and exchanging incredulous glances with each other.

“Impossible!” An old man’s voice boomed over the commotion, “Every single person in this building, no, this hall is a respectable and meritorious member of the Pacification Bureau. There is no way they would collude with a Stranger! You may be the savior of Anyang, but even you do not have the right to speak off the cuff!”

The others had fallen silent during the old man’s cry of outrage, but their expressions made their feelings as plain as day.

Ye Qing didn’t allow his audience’s reaction to affect him, however. Smiling as calmly as ever, he said, “I understand your disbelief, but I would implore you to wait until I’ve said my piece before you make your decision!”

“As Chief Ling had mentioned earlier, the five intelligent Strangers are the ones who plotted the Nether Lord’s descent and the destruction of Anyang. But did you know that Evergreen Ivy is the leader of the group? Not only that, they’re the one who plotted everything! The other four Strangers are just the executors of their will!”

“Evergreen Ivy is a cautious Stranger. So cautious, in fact, that Old Grass was the only one of the four Strangers who knows where they’re hiding. It’s because he’s responsible for spying on Anyang and collecting the necessary information to carry out the plan!”

“When the invasion happened, why didn’t the Strangers notice our preparations until it was too late? It’s because I found out about Old Grass and took him out first. However, I didn’t kill him immediately. Suspecting that he might have a clue as to where Evergreen Ivy was hiding, I pretended not to notice his fake death and went away. As expected, Old Grass immediately raced to warn Evergreen Ivy about the situation, and can you guess where I tracked him down to? That’s right! He went straight to the Pacification Bureau!”

“Are you serious?”

“How is this possible?”

The commotion restarted, but this time Ling Jianqiu silenced them with a cold rebuke, “Silence! Let Joyless speak!”

Ye Qing smiled politely and continued, “I could have allowed him to lead me straight to Evergreen Ivy, but I’m an outsider, and if you think about it, he didn’t need to meet Evergreen Ivy to warn her. So, I killed Old Grass outside the Pacification Bureau.”

Ling Jianqiu nodded approvingly. “Your concerns are well-founded!”

“Okay, so Evergreen Ivy was hiding in the headquarters, but that doesn’t mean that they must be a member of the Pacification Bureau,” someone argued.

Ye Qing assured him, “I’m getting to it. To explain how I narrowed down the suspect and eventually identified Evergreen Ivy, I must first speak of the altar.”

“The altar? You mean the altar the Strangers used to summon the Nether Lord?” Shi Chong asked.

“That’s right!” Ye Qing answered. “The altar is one of the key factors in summoning the Nether Lord. The materials used to make it are extraordinary to put it mildly, and it could not have been completed in a short time. That is why the owner of the house must’ve been involved in the construction, and why I decided to start my investigation with him—or at least, I planned to.”

“When I tried looking into the owner, I discovered that he had met an unfortunate end the day prior while carrying out some business outside the county. It was clearly a certain Stranger’s effort to tie up loose ends.”

“Since I already knew that Evergreen Ivy was hiding inside the Pacification Bureau, I had ordered my men to keep an eye on the building. It was how I learned that exactly eight Pacification Bureau members had left the county on the same day the owner was killed! They are Sun Xingguo, Fang Ziwu, Liu Hailong, Wang Pan, Lei Gang, Feng Tang, Zhou Li and Hu Nu!”

Ye Qing purposely stopped here and swept his gaze across the crowd, his spirit enveloping every person in the hall and tracking their every activity. Of the eight he mentioned, only one of them started breathing faster and experienced an increase in heart rate even though his facefu was perfect, and he was…

“Seven of the eight people had left the county on official business, and I have the records to prove it. Only one of them did not have a record. Can you guess who this person is?”

Before anyone could react, Hu Nu suddenly shouted, “This is baseless accusation, Ye Qing! I left the county that day to procure a herb for the Miss! I didn’t kill anyone!”

A wicked grin spread across Ye Qing’s lips. “That’s strange. I haven’t said who that person is. I never said that this person is the killer either, so why are you in such a hurry to defend yourself, Hu Nu? How very suspicious!”

“By the way, I was totally lying about the records. I was just fishing a little and checking if someone would take the bait. To think you would actually fall for it! Hohoho…”

“S-Stop spouting nonsense. You can’t accuse me of murdering Chang Lezhou just because I happened to be leaving the county that day. Plus, how can you be sure that your surveillance was perfect? Maybe there was a ninth member who left the Pacification Bureau that day, and your men just happened to miss them! Evidence matters, Ye Qing, and this is the Pacification Bureau!” Hu Nu argued passionately.

“So, you’re claiming it’s a coincidence?” Ye Qing chuckled. “In that case, how did you name the victim even though I’ve never mentioned his name?”

Cold sweat broke out of Hu Nu’s forehead when he realized what he just said. He argued, “I… I just happened to know Chang Lezhou. T-There’s nothing strange about this!”

“So, you plead that it’s a coincidence again?” Ye Qing teased him. “Okay! Let’s hear about this then!”

“As I’ve mentioned before, the materials necessary to build the altar are extraordinary. It cannot have been built in a matter of days either. When Chang Lezhou was still alive, he once procured various materials from a total of eight traders. However, every single one of these traders were now dead because they had encountered one unfortunate ‘accident’ or another. Some were killed by Strangers, some had run into bandits, and some straight up vanished and were never seen again. They left no bodies for the Pacification Bureau to conduct an investigation either!”

“I tried digging a little into these incidents, and can you guess what I discovered? You were almost never in the county when these traders had met their unfortunate end! Now tell me, what were you doing during those times? You’re not going to claim that it’s a coincidence again, are you?”

Hu Nu looked like he was about to tear his hair out. “You… I… It’s been several months since those people had died! How could I possibly remember what I was doing at the time? Anyway, their deaths have nothing to do with me!”

Ye Qing chuckled again and pointed out, “You’re a pretty bad liar, aren’t you? I’ve never told you that these traders had died several months ago. In fact, their deaths had never been reported to the Pacification Bureau because they appeared to be mundane deaths, meaning that their cases were handled by the county hall. So, how did you know that they had died several months ago? Answer me!”

Hu Nu wiped away the sweat on his forehead and swallowed audibly. “I… I happened to hear about the murders from… somewhere. What? Is that a crime?”

“Once again, he pleads that it’s a coincidence! A lot of ‘coincidences’ seem to happen around you, doesn’t it?” Ye Qing taunted, but his voice was growing colder and colder over time. “Tell me then. Who did you hear these murders from, and where?”

“I… I don’t remember!” Hu Nu argued again, but to say that his argument was weak would be an understatement. Everyone in the main hall was staring at Hu Nu with unfriendly expressions at this point.

Contrary to Hu Nu’s words, evidence definitely did not matter when it came to the Pacification Bureau. This was doubly true in the case of Strangers. To put it simply, the Pacification Bureau would rather kill an innocent than unleash a malicious Stranger into the world. If not for the fact that Ling Jianqiu and Ye Qing hadn’t given a command yet, they would have hauled Hu Nu into the prison and interrogated him already.

The group did not seem to realize that they had put Ye Qing on the same pedestal as Ling Jianqiu.

“You don’t remember? What a shame. I suppose I have no choice but to overlook this as well!” Ye Qing clapped his hands as he mocked Hu Nu in a tone that was full of ridicule. “That’s fine. I have one last thing to share with you all.”

“According to my investigation, Chang Lezhou once hired fifteen artisans to build something secret. I shouldn’t need to tell you all that it’s the altar. Once the altar was complete, all fifteen artisans had died or disappeared outside the county just like the traders.”

“Now, is there any brave soul in this room who would like to bet me that our friend here was in the county during those times? Anyone? No?”

“Hu Nu, oh, Hu Nu. You’re not going to say that you just ‘happened’ to be out of the county again, are you?”

Hu Nu hung his head low and kept quiet. It was as if he had given up on defending himself!

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. What else do you have to say for yourself, Hu Nu?”

Ling Jianqiu barked from his seat as well, “Answer him, Hu Nu! Are you Evergreen Ivy or not?”

“Keke… that’s right. I am Evergreen Ivy!” Hu Nu suddenly let out a crazed cackle. “You idiots, I’ve been hiding right under your nose for ages, and not a single one of you noticed anything amiss. Even better, it was an outsider who discovered me in the end, not you. Fucking idiots!”

Shi Chong was an impatient man to begin with, and the fact that Hu Nu dared to taunt them all in this sacred hall pushed his anger way over the edge. He immediately made a grab for Hu Nu.

Shi Chong’s signature martial art was called the Stone Breaking Hand. Since he was angry, he wasn’t exactly holding back his strength either. If he managed to get his hands on Hu Nu, the traitor would be lucky to break just a couple of bones.

“RAAAAAGH!”

It was at this moment Hu Nu let out a roar so loud that most people clutched their heads in pain. At the same time, Hu Nu turned toward Shi Chong and met his grab with a ferocious punch. To everyone’s shock, he actually broke the Investigator’s arm and elicited a painful scream from the man. He slammed into the wall behind him and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“What the—!”

Shi Chong apprehended and slayed Strangers for a living. Naturally, he could not be a weak warrior. Although he wasn’t a Vessel Augmentor yet, he was very close to making a breakthrough. He was also one of the strongest warriors in the Pacification Bureau.

On the other hand, Hu Nu was just a Qi Invoker. Although he was born with incredible strength, it should’ve been impossible for him to go up against Shi Chong, much less best him. And yet, reality begged to differ.

“RAAAAAGH!” Hu Nu let out another mighty roar after defeating Shi Chong. It was so strong that it sounded like a thunderclap had gone off at the center of the main hall, and a gust of wind started blowing out of nowhere. It was coming from Hu Nu.

Speaking of Hu Nu, the man had undergone a massive transformation. Three yellow horizontal lines had appeared on his forehead, and his face was covered in yellow fur. Long, deadly fangs were protruding from his mouth, and his fingernails had transformed into sharp claws. He looked almost like a tiger right now.

“A Strangerkin?!” Ye Qing narrowed his eyes. It was important to note that a Strangerkin was not the same as a human who transformed into a Stranger. A Strangerkin might possess the characteristics and abilities of a Stranger, but they were essentially human in every other way. They identified themselves as human and were usually in control of their nature.

On the other hand, a human who had transformed into a Stranger was the complete opposite. The transformation would twist their nature and obliterate their human mind, leaving nothing behind except a monstrous husk who only desired the death and destruction of humanity. They might possess a human’s features and even a human’s intelligence, but they were a Stranger through and through.

That said, Stranger blood was inherently dangerous. All Strangerkins were one-in-a-million geniuses whose talent and ability usually outstripped their human counterpart by leaps and bounds. But if they lost control of their Stranger blood, or if they were overtaken by their Stranger Blood for some reason, their human mind would be obliterated, and they would transform into a Stranger as well. There was no such thing as power without a price.

But of course, being a Strangerkin was almost always a good thing. This was especially true for a warrior.