Master of Strange Dao

Before New No. Ten received the face, he actually had expectations in his heart.

Because almost all abandoned White Water Eggs, apart from needing someone to take the fall, or needing to be silenced for such reasons, essentially have another reason.

The background is gone, or the power behind it has declined.

Only when this value is lost does taking the fall or silencing come afterward.

Even if the White Water Egg himself doesn't know, the controllers of the organization do know this point.

Yu Ziqing looked at the closed-eyed, furrowed-browed New No. Ten and sighed quietly.

To be honest, even with the face in hand, Yu Ziqing finds it difficult to directly match the face with each White Water Egg.

Only a few people, both past and present, possess some more obvious characteristics that make matching easier.

Like those whose ability to handle tasks is mediocre but have outstanding talent in some skill.

New No. Ten does not belong to these; his business capability is strong, but his power is not that strong, and his talent for cultivator skills is quite average, not exceptional.

Before seeing the person, Yu Ziqing didn't know which face was New No. Ten's.

Now, this one appears to be the most tragic in Yu Ziqing's eyes.

The owner of that face is one of the very few exceptions.

Back in Dali days, there was a family with the surname Shi.

Several figures from this family appeared prominently in genealogy, but Yu Ziqing didn't know or hear about them due to the antiquity.

The most recent one Yu Ziqing heard of was a figure from three hundred years ago during the Sorrow Cave Heaven's heavy casualties in the Shadow Department.

Yu Ziqing had heard of this story, but his focus at the time was on Ji Bochang.

Unexpectedly, a century later, he encountered a figure related to that incident.

It was after Chief Shi's fall that Ye Jiuyuan succeeded as chief of the Shadow Department.

And New No. Ten's past also had the surname Shi.

He was the direct descendant of the Shi Family.

For the last millennium, the Shi Family's development thrived in the Shadow Department, especially since Chief Shi advanced dramatically and eventually became chief, turning the Shi Family almost into a subordinate family of the Shadow Department.

Chief Shi was indeed talented, a born spy.

Hundreds of years ago, he discovered the traces of the White Water Egg and even tracked its process of recruiting new members once.

Unfortunately, no evidence was left at that time, although later after the beheading of the death row prisoner, verification showed no issues.

Chief Shi confirmed he made no mistake; it was indeed those few people who were replacing the death row prisoner.

At the time, he thought it was simply a "replacement of the death row prisoner," but then he got involved in other matters and left once. Shadow Department folks verified the body and told him it was indeed the right one.

Even the forces behind that death row prisoner didn't hold on stubbornly, giving up after three months of hounding.

He knew that family too well; if he had ruined their plans, causing a failure in replacing the death row prisoner, chasing him, and even Shi Family, for a hundred years would be normal.

Being persuaded within three months was unusual.

Afterward, Chief Shi did nothing, waited a year, and quietly exhumed the grave, finding the corpse already rotted to bones, utterly depleted of power — these bones couldn't belong to the original death row prisoner.

Unfortunately, the situation couldn't be reversed.

Chief Shi had been continuously tracing since then and eventually did track down the White Water Egg.

Before he could do anything, New No. Ten was set up, committed a taboo, and faced either a life as a cripple with cultivation abolished or execution.

At this time, another family reached out to the Shi Family.

They mentioned the White Water Egg to the Shi Family elders, explaining it wasn't a simple prisoner replacement but a complete transformation — the person would not even remember themselves, naturally unafraid of exposure.

The Shi Family elders couldn't bear New No. Ten's tragic fate and were convinced.

When Chief Shi found out, everything was already prepared.

Because he was constantly tracing outside, only to trace it back to his own home.

At that point, Chief Shi knew that even if Shi Family hadn't replaced the death row prisoner, the outcome was irrelevant.

Those people just wanted to drag Shi Family and him down, undoubtedly possessing sufficient evidence.

At this time, several forces approached Chief Shi under various pretexts, making him understand this web involved too many interests; tearing it would bring no benefit.

Chief Shi lacked the resolve to bring Shi Family to ruin, so he kept silent.

These were the memories in New No. Ten's past.

As for New No. Ten becoming a White Water Egg, Yu Ziqing truly knows a bit about records in the White Water Egg organization.

Shi Family was listed as an enemy of the White Water Egg; Chief Shi was marked as a focal point of interest for the White Water Egg organization.

Yu Ziqing doesn't know what happened in between, but he knows the result: Chief Shi was gone.

Now there are two accounts he's aware of: one claims he was gone during Sorrow Cave Heaven, another claims he returned severely injured and died twenty years later.

Yu Ziqing didn't expend energy pursuing details because that figure simply served as a backdrop then.

Anyhow, he was gone, and the Shi Family vanished as well.

New No. Ten closed his eyes for a long time; opening them revealed sheer despair and pain.