After hearing Lin Qingge’s question from the depths of her soul, the figure turned tail and fled as if startled.
But in the next instant, the room door was pushed open from the outside.
Leng Ningyue, who had flashed into the room like a gust of wind, delivered a flying kick that sent the figure crashing against the wall, stuck fast.
Lin Qingge also seized the opportunity to get off the bed, standing beside Leng Ningyue, and demanded loudly:
“Who dares to be so bold as to sneak into my chambers at night?!”
Seeing that the figure remained silent, Lin Qingge picked up a feather duster from the side and swung it, hitting wherever it hurt most.
Before long, the figure began to beg for mercy:
“Stop! Stop hitting!
I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!”
“Hmph, you should have said so earlier.”
Lin Qingge casually tucked the feather duster behind her waist and strode to the table, sitting down.
Anyone who knew her would know she was the Prefect, but anyone who didn't would think she was some mountain bandit chief.
Terrified, the figure forgot about the pain and quickly knelt upright.
“Name?”
“It’s Wu.”
“Are you trying to fool me?”
“N-no, no, no!
Your Lordship, my surname is Wu, and my given name is Suowei. Together, that makes Wu Suowei.”
“Your name sounds like it deserves a beating!”
“Replying to Your Lordship, this name was given by my father. My father’s surname is Wu, and he was a locksmith. With the meaning of guarding the Wu family’s locksmithing trade, he named me ‘Wu Suowei’.”
“So, you’re a locksmith?”
“…Pretty much.”
“What do you mean, ‘pretty much’?”
Wu Suowei lowered his head and whispered, “Rather than making locks, I’m more skilled at picking them.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Qingge’s eyes immediately turned cold. “So, you’re a thief?”
“A little bit more than a thief. The martial arts world has bestowed upon me the honorable nickname of ‘Number One Thief Under Heaven’.”
As Wu Suowei spoke, he gestured with his hands, but Lin Qingge’s gaze upon him was rather peculiar.
Unaware of this, Wu Suowei continued with a mournful face:
“Your Lordship, I know I was wrong. I was blinded by greed for a moment.
Your Lordship, you might not know, but I traveled for seven days to reach Wolong Villa. However, before I could even enter, my invitation card mysteriously disappeared. No matter how much I pleaded, the guards wouldn’t let me in.
In desperation, I spent two full days circling Wolong Mountain before I finally discovered a dog hole that a person could squeeze through.
Because I had to sneak in through a dog hole, I had to avoid the crowds and choose places that were rarely frequented.
Fortunately, I still had my skills, which allowed me to steal some food from the kitchen to fill my belly.
But when misfortune strikes, it truly strikes hard.
Yesterday, I stole a roasted chicken from the kitchen. As soon as I returned to the forbidden area, before I could even eat it, I saw someone approaching.
I quickly hid myself, but who would have thought that the person was carrying a ‘head-chopping wine’!
What a shame for that fine aged maiden’s wine.
But the person imprisoned was also a fool. When they said it was ‘head-chopping wine,’ he drank it with a laugh and soon after, he passed away.
Really, it was so unlucky that even the roasted chicken in my arms lost its appeal.”
“Wait, you said the forbidden area?
Were you in the forbidden area when Feng Wuying died?”
Lin Qingge immediately sat up straight, her gaze fixed on him.
Feeling a bit bewildered by her stare, Wu Suowei nodded:
“Y-yes, Your Lordship.
Of all the places in Wolong Villa, the forbidden area is the most secluded, so I have been hiding in the haystack behind the prison cells in the forbidden area for the past two days.”
“And did you see the person who gave Feng Wuying the ‘head-chopping wine’?”
“I was hiding behind the prison cells, so I didn’t get a clear look at the person’s appearance. However, based on the voice, it should be a young man.
When the person left, I secretly craned my neck to get a glimpse. He was wearing a disciple’s uniform of Wolong Villa, and his build was much thinner and weaker than yours, Your Lordship.
Of course, I’m not saying you are frail, Your Lordship.
What I mean is, you are incompetent.”
Hearing his increasingly awkward explanation, Lin Qingge interrupted him in time:
“Alright, did you hear what they said at the time?”
“Reporting to Your Lordship, at first I was too focused on hiding to pay much attention. Later, I caught snippets of their conversation on the wind.
The young man said he was a descendant of the Jin family village and that he was here to avenge the eighty-one villagers who had died.
He also said something like ‘None of us five demons will escape’!”
Lin Qingge frowned upon hearing this.
“The murderer was indeed not Long Xiaotian, but a descendant of Jinsha Village!”
However, Leng Ningyue was not concerned with that. She looked coldly at Wu Suowei and asked in a voice colder than her gaze:
“Why were you trying to sneak in here at night?”
Wu Suowei, who involuntarily shivered, had not participated in this martial arts gathering, but he had been in the crowd admiring the grace of the person before him. He straightened up again.
“Replying to Madam, I have also been coveting the fragments of the treasure map for a long time.
However, the courtyard was crowded with experts, and I never found a suitable opportunity to make a move.
Fortunately, last night, when none of the experts returned, I decided to take a risk.
Who would have thought…”
As the Number One Thief Under Heaven, if nothing else, when it came to hiding, he would claim second place, and no one would dare to claim first.
Therefore, he was confident that he could steal the treasure map fragments without alerting this Madam Lin.
But who would have thought that this Lord Lin, who should have been asleep, would suddenly open his eyes?!
Feeling that his luck had been bad since arriving at Wolong Villa, Wu Suowei drooped his head.
Meanwhile, Lin Qingge, lost in thought, asked with a frown:
“When did you leave the forbidden area?”
“Probably before you all went to the forbidden area.”
Wu Suowei tried to recall. “I was afraid of being discovered by Master Long, so I took a detour along a longer path.
However, before leaving, I heard you speaking, Your Lordship.”
“Did you happen to remember the order in which Long Xiaotian’s disciples arrived at the forbidden area?”
“The first to arrive was that one with the snarky way of speaking, followed by the silly one. Not long after they left, another man arrived.
That man gave off a strange feeling. Although he didn’t speak, he let out a few eerily laughing sounds that made one’s scalp tingle.
Soon after, a woman arrived.
Finally, Master Long and his eldest disciple arrived.”
“So the order was Liu Chenfei, Gao Ming, Su Mo, Jian Xing, and Lan Yishi?”
Lin Qingge rubbed her chin back and forth as she recited. By the end, she suddenly slapped her forehead. “Damn it, how could I have missed something so obvious!
Madam, keep an eye on this fellow for me, I’ll be right back!”
With that, she got up and walked out.
Leng Ningyue wanted to follow, but thinking of Lin Zimò in the room next door, she had to stop abruptly.
So, she turned to glance at Wu Suowei beside her, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.
A chill running down the back of his neck, Wu Suowei looked at the woman before him with terror and immediately knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly.
“Spare me, Madam, I dare not do it again! Spare me, Madam!”
However, just as Leng Ningyue was about to draw her dagger, a lazy voice came from the doorway:
“Madam Lin, if you strike with that dagger, you might have some explaining to do to Lord Lin, wouldn’t you~”