Free Web NovelChapter 1118: Chapter 762: Corpse Grass_2
"No, no, no, the Marquis is fair in rewards and punishments. I... I am willing to serve the Marquis with all my heart, until death." Granny Jin was also a wise person, and immediately wanted to kneel down to kowtow to Yang Xiao.
"Don’t do that, Granny, please get up quickly." Yang Xiao merely spoke, but did not extend his hand to help. In the end, it was Tong Han who stepped forward and helped the elderly Granny Jin up.
The others, seeing this, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since Yang Xiao did not hold Granny Jin accountable, he would not pursue them either. They had passed this hurdle.
But the gruesome death of Qian Xiu, spread evenly on the ground, was too horrific to behold. This bloody scene also served as a warning to them. Though Yang Xiao wasn’t pursuing past actions, from now on, anyone who dared to break the rules would not be spared.
This was the most direct and final warning.
Among the crowd, only Guardian Yun seemed unfazed. For one thing, she hadn’t done anything against Yang Xiao; her conscience was clear. On the other hand, she found this scene somewhat familiar.
By dusk of the next day, Yang Xiao received a message from Nalan Shuo telling him that the provincial bureau personnel had withdrawn, and he could return.
Yang Xiao calculated the days. He had stayed in Xiang Ma Town for a long time, and during this time, his injuries had mostly healed, thanks to the herbal medicine from Senior Brother Qingfeng and the special healing abilities of the Ghost Lantern.
Of course, Tong Han’s care was indispensable; he was among the few people Yang Xiao fully trusted.
To some extent, his trust in Tong Han even exceeded that of Director Nalan.
That night, under the cover of darkness, Yang Xiao left Xiang Ma Town alone and returned to Rongcheng.
After resting for a night, the next morning, Yang Xiao went to a café as agreed, entered a private room inside, where a casually dressed Nalan Shuo was waiting for him.
As fellow public officials, Yang Xiao also understood Nalan Shuo’s intentions. The provincial bureau people had come for several days without seeing this Deputy Director, yet once they left, he immediately returned. Wasn’t this clearly suspicious?
Nalan Shuo picked up his coffee cup and took a sip. "Don’t worry, I told the provincial bureau that I sent you out on a mission. I’ll have Xi Menxiu prepare the mission report for you, and once you return you just need to copy and submit it unchanged for record-keeping."
"That’s even better." Yang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the director was a cautious person.
Seeing Nalan Shuo staring at him with a seemingly meaningful look, Yang Xiao couldn’t help but feel nervous. "Don’t look at me like that. If you have something to say, just say it. I’ll do whatever I can for you, and for anything beyond my capabilities, I believe you can understand my difficulties."
"I was just thinking about how I should address you," Nalan Shuo suddenly said. "My Deputy Director, an Action Bureau Specialist, or as the Yu Yuan Sect’s Nether Emperor, or perhaps... the esteemed Pingxi Marquis?"
"Please don’t, just call me Xiao Xi." Although Yang Xiao knew his identity was likely exposed, being stripped down to nothing still gave him a sense of shame, like running naked down the street.
Originally, Yang Xiao thought the Marquis Zhengdong trio would fight the Patrol Defense Office to the end and refuse to surrender, but unexpectedly, they were all cowards and got captured alive. They surely confessed that Pingxi Marquis betrayed them, and with the director’s judgment, it wasn’t hard to guess he was the promising, elusive Pingxi Marquis.
Luckily, Nalan Shuo didn’t intend to make things difficult for him. His tolerance for this subordinate was surprisingly high. He mentioned the cargo of dead bodies that had been seized, "It’s not about the dead bodies, but the things hidden inside them."
"What’s hidden inside are highly sensitive contraband, and the amount is astonishing. Once they hit the market, they could cause untold harm, leading to mass envoys losing control, sparking massacres, and igniting numerous supernatural events." Nalan Shuo’s voice was lowered yet fast.
"What exactly is it?" Yang Xiao knew too little about the Yin Temple forces.
"You can understand it as a kind of herb, cultivated using human corpses."
"It’s said that the herbs are planted when the person is still alive, and as the herbs grow day by day, the nutrients in the body are gradually extracted until the person becomes a corpse, which just happened to be a perfect carrier for transporting these herbs."
"That sounds disgusting..." Yang Xiao envisioned a truck full of bodies covered in plants.
"The most terrifying thing is the herb’s effects." At this point, Nalan Shuo deliberately paused as if giving Yang Xiao time to process, "This thing can delay entry into the Nightmare World."
Actually, Yang Xiao had guessed some of it, especially since not long ago he helped his uncle steal some Life-extending Ointment, which also came from the Yin Temple lineage of the Myanmar-Tai Black Triangle.
According to Nalan Shuo, the effects of this black herb are extremely unstable, and using it is a risky gamble. Winning the gamble can temporarily dispel the Nightmare World’s influence, but losing could result in the envoy’s brief loss of control, bodily dysfunction, or worse, direct backlash from the magic artifact, turning into a mere shell possessed by a ghost.
In fact, in such a state, they are no longer human, but bodies parasitized by ghosts.
"Even so, there are people who still flock to it, and in the black market, such goods are often hyped to exorbitant prices. Many are willing to spend a fortune on gambling their lives rather than entering the Nightmare World to fight." Nalan Shuo sighed, knowing all too well as an envoy how hopeless Nightmare World could be.
"This stuff is strictly banned by higher-ups, and such a large amount couldn’t have been handled by these few individuals alone. These three can only be considered a part of the entire transaction; those behind them are the real buyers." Nalan Shuo explained softly.
"Who are the real buyers?" Yang Xiao was curious.
"I don’t know exactly, but it likely involves the Chamber of Commerce, that group of people who would do anything for money. Only they would dare to smuggle such contraband so blatantly." Nalan Shuo sneered.
Yang Xiao was now ninety-percent certain that those behind the Peace Hotel are closely related to the Chamber of Commerce.
Otherwise, on Xiang Ma Town’s turf, it wouldn’t allow Marquis Zhengdong and the others to deal with such things, as Xiang Ma Town might be lawless, but they weren’t foolish. Such things would cause big trouble.
Yang Xiao heavily suspected that Marquis Zhengdong and company’s business was tacitly approved by the hotel. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Right, there’s one more thing you need to know. It may not be good news for you. The Provincial Office sent word that those two guys who were caught might be released soon."
Yang Xiao was stunned. "Released? No, it’s one thing if they were throwing their weight around in town. But smuggling dangerous goods of this level, they’re being released?"
This baffled Yang Xiao completely. In his estimation, the crimes committed by these two should at least clear out their magazine.
As for the reason for their release, Nalan Shuo couldn’t explain. This matter was significant and fully handled by the Provincial Office, and as a local city bureau head, he had no right to be informed.
But based on experience, Nalan Shuo speculated just a few possibilities. Either someone important in the Chamber of Commerce spoke on their behalf, securing their release through some benefit exchange,
or these two provided key intelligence, like the upper and lower lines of their business, and promised to be used by the Patrol Defense Office in the future, becoming their secret asset in Xiang Ma Town.
Of course, the most likely possibility is both.
In this kind of situation, neither he nor Nalan Shuo had any choice. This was a transaction weighed by the bigwigs, but for Yang Xiao, it was a huge headache.
These two individuals are bona fide Ghost-level Apostles. Once they return and find that their home has been raided, and every last bit was cleared from their treasure storeroom, wouldn’t they fight to the death with him?
However, half of the benefits he seized were taken by the hotel, so they couldn’t simply stand by.
