Chapter 175: Who Exactly Did It?
Since he'd already said so much, there was no point in hiding the rest.
The man, figuring he had nothing left to lose, told him everything he knew.
Right now, all he wanted was to live.
As long as he was alive, the man knew he could find a way to spin the situation so the clan wouldn't punish him.
"There's a hidden compartment in the back wall. It has video recordings of some important people. Oh, and some other things I thought might be useful—I saved all of it!"
Following the man's directions, Xiao Ye opened the three hidden compartments in the back wall.
After cleaning out everything inside, he stood up. "Alright. You can get lost."
"Thank you, thank you!"
Without looking back, the man scrambled for the exit.
His face was filled with the joy and elation of having escaped death.
Suddenly, he froze.
His body pitched forward uncontrollably.
And at the back of his head—a bloody hole!
A bullet had pierced the back of his skull, sending him straight to hell.
Xiao Ye holstered his pistol, his expression unchanging.
'A man who presides over a hell like this is a demon himself.'
'No matter how eloquently he pleaded, it couldn't absolve him of his sins.'
'Even if the man never killed anyone with his own hands, his very presence allowed the slaughter here to continue unabated!'
With the evidence in hand, Xiao Ye made a swift exit.
The path outside was littered with bodies.
Some were still alive, others already dead.
They had died at the hands of the very "prey" they had so despised.
No one can decide another's fate. Those who kill will themselves be killed.
Unfazed, Xiao Ye stepped over the bodies on the floor and walked to the exit.
The guards had all been called away earlier, which had given the common prisoners a chance to escape.
Xiao Ye emerged from the stairwell into the discreet little courtyard outside.
The "prey" were long gone, vanished without a trace.
Xiao Ye pulled out his phone and dialed Shishi's number. "Bring me some gasoline."
"Yes!"
An hour later, Shishi arrived.
Xiao Ye took the gasoline and, under the pretext of a final inspection, doused the priceless sofas and decor.
By the time he emerged, all the gasoline was gone.
Xiao Ye took the lighter Shishi offered him.
A flame sparked to life, but a gentle breeze threatened to extinguish it.
Xiao Ye let go.
The lighter plummeted into the dark pit.
FWOOSH!
A massive plume of fire erupted.
Xiao Ye closed the entrance to the passage. "Let's go."
'Let the inferno burn all this evil to ashes!'
The fire raged underground for nearly a full day, reducing everything inside to ash.
The structure only remained standing because it was reinforced with steel.
News of the underground facility's destruction soon reached Liu Loulan.
Her expression was grim as she gripped her dragon-head cane. "Someone! Bring me the man in charge of that place!"
"Patriarch, the manager... he didn't make it out either..."
"Everyone... they're all dead."
"The nearby security footage was wiped, too. We don't know who did it. But we did get one photo from the internal cameras before they went dark."
It was an extremely blurry photo.
You could tell from the build that it was a man, but he wore a mask, obscuring his face.
Liu Loulan stared at the figure, and her right eyelid twitched. "This man... he looks a little like Xiao Ye, doesn't he?"
"Impossible. He's supposed to be dead!"
Liu Loulan rose to her feet, a dark premonition creeping into her heart. For the first time, she felt things spiraling out of her control.
"Get someone to check, now! Find out if that Xiao Ye is really dead or not!"
"Yes!"
「That night.」
The fresh grave was dug up once more.
The coffin lid was shoved aside, revealing the corpse within.
The weather in the Imperial City was cold, so the body hadn't fully decomposed; the face was still recognizable.
It was, unmistakably, Xiao Ye's face!
The photos, along with the report, were sent to Liu Loulan's phone.
She opened the photos, zooming in and studying them repeatedly.
"This is definitely Xiao Ye, no doubt about it. But then who is the man with the nearly identical build?"
A middle-aged man seated below couldn't resist speaking up. "Patriarch, our people already confirmed it at the funeral."
"Xiao Ye is dead. That's a fact. No one can come back to life after rigor mortis has set in. That wouldn't be a medical miracle, it would be a divine one!"
"Not necessarily," another person interjected. "I've heard stories about ancient techniques for feigning death, making it indistinguishable from the real thing."
"You said it yourself—those are just stories. Besides, even if he did feign death, could he do it for a whole day and night?"
"As far as I know, there really was a drug in ancient times, developed by the Imperial Physician, that could induce a death-like state, but it only lasted for six hours at most."
"If the antidote wasn't taken before that time ran out, the person would die for real. So I think the chances of Xiao Ye having faked his death are extremely low!"
Listening to her subordinates bicker, Liu Loulan's head began to throb. "All of you, shut up!" she snapped impatiently.
The hall fell silent instantly.
Liu Loulan continued, "Xiao Ye was confirmed dead two nights ago."
"The funeral was held the very next day, and he wasn't buried until that evening. The possibility of him faking his death is practically zero."
"So I have a suspicion... could it be that one of our Xiao Family's enemies did this deliberately?"
The others exchanged glances, thinking her words made perfect sense.
"That's right! We were the ones who took care of Xiao Ye. The only ones who could possibly know the details are the other three Hidden Clans!"
"It must have been them!"
Listening to them, Liu Loulan grew more confident in her own theory.
'Xiao Ye was dead. He couldn't have come back to life.'
'That meant it had to be someone else, deliberately disguised as Xiao Ye to throw their investigation off track.'
'The mask was the perfect proof!'
'Even if Xiao Ye had survived, he would have no way of investigating the Xiao Family. It would be impossible for him to find such a well-hidden place, much less infiltrate it.'
Liu Loulan cleared her throat and tapped her cane sharply on the floor. "Alright, quiet down."
"Our priority now is to figure out who's behind this!"
"Patriarch, I may have a solution."
Liu Loulan looked at him. "Go on. What is it?"
"Your birthday banquet is coming up. Why don't we use this as an opportunity? We can make it a grand affair and invite the other three clans."
"That way, we can see for ourselves who might be responsible."
Liu Loulan frowned slightly. "The man's build is very similar to Xiao Ye's. If the mastermind behind this truly wants to remain hidden, they won't show up."
Even at the grandest of banquets, we can't possibly expect every single member of the other three clans to attend.
"Besides, even if they were targeting the Xiao Family, they wouldn't do the dirty work themselves. They'd send their lackeys!"