It was easy to deduce from the turn of events that the courtesan had betrayed their whereabouts.
Fortunately, Liu Buli had never placed much trust in her from the outset. He had taken precautions, so the assailant did not succeed so easily.
He gestured towards Lu Wuming, and without needing further explanation, Lu Wuming nodded in understanding.
Then, without hesitation, he turned and charged in the direction of the attack. There were still traces of the unique aura of the Ghost Clan lingering there. Even though Liu Buli had received his blood, he was not as sensitive to those things as Lu Wuming was. Therefore, chasing after the assassin was something Lu Wuming had to do.
Watching Lu Wuming pursue them, Liu Buli had initially planned to wait for him to quickly resolve the situation before proceeding with their next steps. However, as he saw Lu Wuming disappear further into the distance, Liu Buli gave up on waiting. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and personally kicked open the window in front of him.
He had already confirmed with Lu Wuming that one of the individuals inside was from the Ghost Clan. The other was the courtesan who had taken the money and betrayed them. This meant he didn't need to show either of them any mercy.
As he reached this conclusion, Liu Buli entered the room. The Ghost Clan member looked displeased, seemingly surprised that Liu Buli had so easily evaded the assassination attempt. The beautiful woman beside him, however, was visibly panicked, her face drained of color as she took two steps back. "You..." she stammered.
"My dear, to be honest, I'm a little disappointed in you," Liu Buli interrupted the woman's intended words with a smile, sighing softly. "I genuinely thought our collaboration would be quite pleasant. But you took the money and didn't deliver, which puts me in a difficult position."
His words were clear enough.
The woman understood perfectly.
Once the forces she had arranged outside failed, Liu Buli would undoubtedly suspect her. Facing Liu Buli's suspicion, she saw no point in offering any explanation. After all, even she couldn't believe the excuses she might come up with. How could she possibly deceive someone else in such a situation?
The woman was remarkably clear-headed.
After a moment of silence, she decided to tell the truth.
Abandoning any pretense, the woman put on a helpless expression. "Liu Buli, not everything I told you before was a lie. I truly do like gentle people, and I truly do like your face. But in the end, what good is liking? Once you've solved your problem, will you take me away from here? Even if you did, can you guarantee your protection afterward?"
Liu Buli offered no reply.
None of that was possible, of course.
He already had Lu Wuming to worry about and didn't have the luxury of fretting over others. Moreover, even if he wanted to, Lu Wuming would never allow it.
After speaking, the woman looked quietly into his eyes. Seeing Liu Buli's lack of response, she understood the answer. She smiled and said, "You see, you can't guarantee that, so naturally, I can't bet my life on you. There are too many guests from another world, and you can't eliminate them all, nor can you make them all obey you. You can't even protect me, and I still have to live in this area. So, when faced with a choice between the two of you, I had to choose them."
From an outsider's perspective, the woman's choice was undeniably reasonable.
Liu Buli had anticipated this possibility from the beginning, so he wasn't surprised by her words.
He even calmly nodded at the woman, smiling as he said, "If I were you, I would have made the same choice. So I don't intend to blame you at all. In fact, I think you're quite a clever person."
The woman looked at his smiling face.
She suddenly realized that her past experiences with other guests seemed to be of little use when dealing with Liu Buli.
This man appeared to be smiling constantly, and indeed he seemed incredibly gentle. Yet, the depth of his thoughts was far beyond what a mere courtesan like herself could fathom.
Unconcerned by the woman's nervousness and wariness, Liu Buli merely glanced at her before turning his attention to the Ghost Clan member beside her.
As the courtesan had told him, compared to other members of the Ghost Clan whose limbs and appearances were somewhat irregular, this particular Ghost Clan member, while perhaps hideous by human standards, was undoubtedly top-tier in terms of appearance within the Ghost Clan.
Of course, this excluded Lu Wuming.
Noticing Liu Buli's gaze, the Ghost Clan member immediately met his eyes. A somewhat lewd smile spread across his already ugly face. He spoke, "Everyone has heard the rumor that our young master is infatuated with a human. He spends his days revolving around this human, protecting them fiercely. Now it seems the rumor is true. The young master went to deal with those outside alone, didn't he? You're a man, aren't you? Don't you feel ashamed that our young master is protecting you like this?"
He asked the question earnestly.
Liu Buli could tell that the Ghost Clan member genuinely looked down on him. However, he wasn't particularly angered by it. After all, he didn't think much of the other party either. From this perspective, they were even.
With this thought in mind, Liu Buli's expression softened further as he looked at the Ghost Clan member.
He nodded gently and said, "My willingness to engage in such undignified behavior, isn't it to cooperate with your plan? From what I understand of you, you don't want your young master's life, do you? Although there are many outside, they aren't particularly skilled. As soon as Wuming pursued them, they only knew how to flee. So, I realized then that the truly formidable individuals were inside this room, waiting to deal with me."