However, even so, at this point, the innkeeper could not help but continue to struggle.
After all, he didn't want to die, nor did he believe that after he made such a move, Ye Tiancheng and the others would easily let him go. To survive, he had to give it his all.
The innkeeper judged others by himself, believing that if he were in such a situation, he would definitely not listen to someone's sophistry.
Since the other party intended to harm him, would they give up their intentions if he let them go?
If the roots are not removed, the spring breeze will blow and they will grow again.
He couldn't afford to gamble.
Yet he didn't want to die.
The innkeeper gave a dry laugh, thought for a moment, and then said, "I didn't bring anything. I heard some commotion. We were outside and heard you shouting. The door was locked, the lock was broken, and it wouldn't open. Were you calling us for help?"
"Now that the door is finally open, it's good that you're alright."
The little fox smiled and said, "You're quite good at playing dumb. You say you're here to help us open the door when we called for help? You can even say such nonsense."
The innkeeper's eyes widened and he said, "What? You didn't call for help? Then who were we hearing just now? Could it be... could it be some evil spirit impersonating you?"
Nie Chongyang also came closer, sizing up the innkeeper.
"This acting, if he doesn't win an Oscar for Best Actor, it's a real waste. His composure is also top-notch."
Ye Tiancheng sneered, "It's just that his skin is thick enough."
"As long as one's skin is thick enough, what can't be done, and what can't be achieved?"
The innkeeper stammered a little, "Everyone, wait, please wait a moment. Do you, do you have some misunderstanding about me?"
"Let me say this first, I can explain. Did you perhaps hear some false commotion and misunderstand me? I heard your calls for help just now, which is why I came to pry open the door. I truly thought your lock was stuck!"
Ye Tiancheng and the other three looked at the innkeeper with an expression that said, "We'll just watch you perform quietly."
Nie Chongyang asked the innkeeper, "Then why don't you tell us, after you pried open the door, since you knew we were calling for help and saw us behind the door, why did you run away instead of waiting for our thanks?"
"And didn't your young assistant also run away very quickly?"
"You yourself just didn't manage to escape, did you?"
The innkeeper smiled sheepishly, "Helping out with a small favor, what kind of thanks do I need? No need to thank me. As for running away... running away was because, because of what happened before. Upon seeing you, we couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, could we?"
Ye Tiancheng gave the innkeeper a cold smile.
He said, "Alright, no one has the mood to beat around the bush with you. We heard everything you said outside the door earlier. I think you know what you should explain. If you say another lie, what you might encounter, we don't know."
The innkeeper still wanted to argue stubbornly, but the little fox next to him smiled at him and said, "Don't be in a hurry to argue. If you want to prove your innocence and show that it was all a misunderstanding as you said, it's actually very easy. We're willing to give you this chance."
The innkeeper knew it was bad, but at this juncture, he could only brace himself and respond, "...What, what chance?"
The little fox said, "Didn't you say that when we were inside the room earlier, we were deceived by what you said outside the door, that it was a false commotion?"
The innkeeper nodded vigorously, saying, "Yes, yes, yes! Yes, yes, yes!"
The little fox smiled and said, "Since you say so, we are not people who pass judgment of death without a word. Since you say it was all a misunderstanding, that it was fake, that it was something you didn't do, then how about this."
The innkeeper looked at the little fox timidly.
Before, it was always Ye Tiancheng who lectured him, and the others hadn't made a move. The little fox looked the youngest and seemed the easiest to fool and bully. He hadn't experienced the little fox's methods, so he didn't know how formidable the little fox was.
He only heard the little fox say, "Earlier, the boss sent us brothers a lot of good food and drink. We couldn't bear to eat it all, so we left it in the room. We also heard just now that the food was drugged. Once a person eats it, even an elephant would be poisoned to death."
"Since you say it was all a misunderstanding, why don't you try a bite of the food we left? If you eat it and are fine, wouldn't that prove your innocence?"
The little fox was of course telling a lie.
They had thrown away all the food the innkeeper had sent earlier, not leaving a single bit. Where would they find leftover dishes? At most, they could find something from their own spatial artifacts to fool him.
And even if they used their own food to fool him, they didn't have any drugs that could harm people.
As for the little fox saying that the food could poison an elephant to death, it was clearly an exaggeration and nonsense. The innkeeper and his assistant's words outside the door earlier, their implicit meaning, was not to directly poison Ye Tiancheng and the others, but rather to incapacitate them so they couldn't resist.
But when the little fox said this, the innkeeper couldn't help but feel scared.
He suspected that the little fox said this because he knew about the drugs in the food earlier and wanted revenge, so he deliberately put poison that could kill people in the food to retaliate against him.
Although the little fox couldn't possibly think that far, he was just talking nonsense, deliberately spouting rubbish. As for what the innkeeper thought after hearing it, it had nothing to do with the little fox.
At least, that's what the little fox himself thought.
The innkeeper was immediately in a difficult position. Regardless of whether the food was the same as when it was sent, he couldn't eat it. Whether the little fox and the others had added anything extra or not, the food he sent was inherently problematic.
He couldn't eat a single bite.
But if he didn't dare to eat it, it would further prove that he had tampered with it, meaning he had intended to harm Ye Tiancheng and the others, and then Ye Tiancheng and the others would definitely not let him go.
The innkeeper dared not speak for a long time.
After a long silence in the room, Nie Chongyang walked up to the innkeeper, looking at him with pity, and said, "Confess? I think you don't really want to eat that stuff, do you?"
The innkeeper could only lower his head dejectedly.
People like him were very fond of their lives. No matter what they did, the prerequisite was not to lose their own lives. To preserve their own lives, people like him would betray anything.
The innkeeper said dejectedly, "...Earlier, we had a transaction, and you promised to take me out."
The little fox looked amused.
He said, "Oh! I truly have never seen such a shameless person!"
"He actually has the nerve to say that to us, saying that we would do such things in our transaction, and still expect us to keep our promise? After all, you yourself haven't kept your promise."
When they had drawn up the written agreement, the terms of the contract had also included clauses stating that the innkeeper could not play tricks on them during this period.
How was what the innkeeper had done now not a breach of contract?
Ye Tiancheng pulled at the corner of his mouth coldly and said, "Even if he hadn't breached the contract, and we kept our promise, we are not necessarily obligated to take him out. The prerequisite for us to take him out would also be to ensure that he is still a human, and only then."
"But who decides whether he is still a human or not?"
Hearing Ye Tiancheng say this, the innkeeper, who had seemed to have resigned himself, suddenly reacted with some intensity.
He excitedly shouted at Ye Tiancheng, "I am human, of course I am human. Why do you say I am not?"
Ye Tiancheng seemed somewhat surprised, not expecting the innkeeper to become so emotionally agitated by such a simple statement.
It was as if a sore spot had been hit.
He looked at the innkeeper thoughtfully for a moment and said, "And what proof do you have that you are still human?"
The innkeeper argued indignantly, "Why am I not human? You need evidence for what you say. How can you slander me for no reason? I am definitely human! I am definitely human!"
Ye Tiancheng sneered and said, "How can your own words count?"
"Think carefully, how long has it been since you entered this place? As an ordinary human, how have you managed to survive here so well? In fact, I think you've lived better and more easily than most humans who have survived in Xiao Jing City, haven't you?"
The innkeeper remained silent.
Ye Tiancheng continued, "You can even open an inn here, and a black inn at that, harming people here, controlling most of the locations, understanding many things, and holding many clues."
"Isn't that living easily?"
"To be able to do this, you say it's something an ordinary human can do. Even if one is black-hearted enough, there are still some conditions missing, right?"
The innkeeper still refused to speak.
Nie Chongyang, standing beside Ye Tiancheng, continued from where Ye Tiancheng left off and said, "Also, every night, those non-humans come to bother people, disturbing their peace every night. Even if they can't break down the door, enduring such torment every night, not many people can get good rest."
"If humans cannot get enough rest, they will also die."
"Moreover, in such a tense environment, for a long time, humans simply cannot last long."
"How have you managed to endure such disturbances and still be content running an inn here? Unless, they don't come to disturb you at night. Why don't they come to disturb you?"
"You know it yourself, there are too many suspicious things about you."
At this moment, the innkeeper said glumly, "So earlier, when you agreed to a transaction with me and promised to draw up a written agreement, you already had reservations and never intended to fulfill it, is that right?"
Ye Tiancheng rubbed his chin and replied to the innkeeper, "You can't say that."
"At that time, we couldn't judge whether what you said was true or false, or how much of it was believable. If you were truly an ordinary human, we would have been willing to save you."
Saying this, Ye Tiancheng shook his head.
"However, you are truly too much of a worry."
The innkeeper said indignantly, "Then you weren't sincere either. You're saying that now, hindsight is 20/20. You never thought I was human from the beginning, so naturally, you never intended to trade with me sincerely from the start!"
Hearing the innkeeper say this, Nie Chongyang slapped him on the head.
Nie Chongyang said, "Stop being so defiant. The law also distinguishes between suspects and criminals, do you understand what suspicion means? It's your own fault for not acting like a human, who can you blame?"