Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1527 - 1520: Unexpected

Chapter 1527: Chapter 1520: Unexpected

Thinking of this, Cheng Ziang cracked a slight smile, then looked at the man prostrate on the ground and said, "You have ten fingers, so I’ll give you ten chances. Say the wrong thing and I’ll chop off one each time, until you tell the truth. How does that sound?"

"Manor Lord, spare my life, we were really just curious and came to take a look," the man’s voice came out in a whimpering cry.

"Oh, then it seems we misunderstood you. What should we do about that? As compensation, we’ll just chop off one of your fingers. Put your hand on the ground quickly and stretch out whichever finger you prefer to lose first," Cheng Ziang said with a cold laugh.

"Manor Lord, this... gibberish..." The man began to emit meaningless trembling sounds, and his speech became indistinct.

"The divinity believes you have malicious intent, which is why it appeared. In this situation, should we doubt the divinity, or should we doubt you?" Cheng Ziang said.

"Yes, yes, sorry, Manor Lord, it’s our fault, we... we were also acting under someone’s orders..." After hesitating for quite a while, the man slowly started to tell the truth.

"Who sent you?" Cheng Ziang continued to ask.

"It was... it was..." The man started to stammer.

"Stretch out your finger then, decide for yourself which you’d like to keep," Cheng Ziang said with an impatient tone.

"It’s, it’s the town mayor!" In his panic, the man finally told the truth.

"The town mayor?" Hearing this answer, Cheng Ziang was stunned for a moment, and even the normally composed him couldn’t help but become agitated.

"Yes, it’s the town mayor..." the man repeated.

"What did he want you to do?" Cheng Ziang asked with a grim face.

"To burn... to burn down..." The man began to fumble his words again.

"Listen carefully, I’m running out of patience. If you don’t want to die, confess honestly and I’ll spare your wretched life. If you insist on hiding the truth, don’t blame me for being rude," Cheng Ziang said unpleasantly.

"Yes, yes, I’ll talk, yes, it was the town mayor who ordered us to burn down the place where all the Manor Lords stay..." the man said with a trembling voice.

"Why?" Cheng Ziang pressed.

"Because, because... the mayor said to frame the Wuyun Sect, so that, so that..." the man stuttered.

"So that they wouldn’t have to accept the proposition presented by the Manor Lords, and they would find another way to deal with the Wuyun Sect," the man replied.

"I see, so they don’t actually want to pay taxes to the Wuyun Sect or the Imperial Court, but would rather maintain their lawless way of life. As long as they get rid of the Wuyun Sect, no one can force them to pay taxes, and the Imperial Court won’t be able to interfere," Cheng Ziang analyzed while issuing a mocking sneer.

"I’ve said everything there is to say, Manor Lord, what do you think..." the man asked tentatively.

"Mm, you’ve said everything, then you can go," Cheng Ziang nodded, while signaling Feng to withdraw the knife from the man’s neck.

"Really?" The man asked with excited, overjoyed anticipation.

"We keep our word, but I also want to remind you," Cheng Ziang said, then with a shift in his tone, he looked at the man and continued, "You’ve confessed everything, and if you go back, you certainly won’t escape punishment, so run far away and never come back, or your town mayor will surely be the first to kill you."

"Yes, yes, thank you for the reminder, Manor Lord!" The man expressed his gratitude, kowtowing several times on the ground, then got up with his head bowed and fled clumsily into the darkness like a dog who had lost its home.

As Cheng Ziang watched the man disappear into the night, he turned around and made a gesture towards the goddess statue in the air, signaling her to withdraw her divine power. Quickly, the goddess statue dissipated, and they were once again enveloped by the pitch-black night, making it impossible to see their surroundings for a moment.

"Shouldn’t we deal with those bodies?" Feng pointed in the general direction and asked.

"No need to bother, it can wait until tomorrow, it’s not like we haven’t slept among corpses before," Cheng Ziang shrugged nonchalantly.

Although the goddess statue had dispersed, Fulajie’er conjured a luminous figure to light up the yard, allowing Cheng Ziang to finally see his surroundings and avoid taking a nasty fall.

"Why suddenly dim the light? I nearly rolled off the roof," Hu Daoke, hugging his rifle, complained as he came into the yard.

"But you didn’t roll off, did you?" Cheng Ziang glanced at him, and upon verifying that he was alright, he teased.

"How’s the situation?" Baiyue, holding her sniper rifle, hurried to the yard and immediately asked Cheng Ziang as soon as she saw him.

"It’s a bit unexpected, those people were manipulated into setting a fire, and Feng dealt with them," Cheng Ziang shrugged and said.

"You just looked at me, are you suspecting me?" Fulajie’er asked with arms crossed and a hint of anger in her voice.

"I trust you, don’t I? Otherwise, how could I have gotten the answer?" Cheng Ziang said, spreading his hands, seemingly aggrieved.

"Hmph!" Fulajie’er pouted and looked up, refusing to look at him any longer.

"What exactly is going on?" Baiyue pressed.

"The town mayor sent someone to set the fire, aiming to frame the Wuyun Sect, that’s all." Cheng Ziang explained.

"Why would the town mayor do that?" Even Baiyue couldn’t help but be shocked by the response.

"Initially, I was quite shocked too because I always thought that my allocation plan would hurt the Wuyun Sect the most, but unexpectedly, it was the town mayor who got upset, which was quite beyond my expectations," Cheng Ziang shook his head.

"What exactly do they want to do?" Baiyue asked with a slight frown.

"From what that informer provided, it’s clear that the town mayor wasn’t satisfied with such a compromise and wanted to get rid of us, then find new allies to deal with the Wuyun Sect. In this way, Bianzhen Town wouldn’t have to pay a penny and would become a complete free trade center," Cheng Ziang stated.

"Quite greedy indeed," Hu Daoke couldn’t help but comment.

"What about the informant?" Baiyue inquired.

"Let him go," Cheng Ziang shrugged.

"Let him go? Why did you let him go?" Baiyue was flabbergasted.

"I know what you’re thinking, but I must remind you that we shouldn’t trouble the town mayor over such matters, after all, we’re living under someone else’s roof. There’s no need to make things too stiff," Cheng Ziang cautioned.

"But he was after our lives!" Baiyue’s expression of disbelief was hidden beneath his mask.

"Aren’t we still alive?" Cheng Ziang said indifferently, spreading his hands.

"Do you want to play the same game as Luo’er?" Baiyue questioned.

"Please be respectful to the Saint and do not address him by name," Cheng Ziang reminded.

"The person was captured by you; I don’t care how you deal with him," Baiyue said crossly, deliberately making a point.

"In any case, as long as the Wuyun Sect agrees to our distribution plan, then this matter can also be put to rest. What worries me more is if the Wuyun Sect also makes trouble, then this will become more and more troublesome," Cheng Ziang said with a brooding worry.

As the group was discussing, the door to the main house suddenly opened again, and Tangmo came out, expressionless, holding the Magic Wand. Soon after, Luo’er, dressed splendidly, made his way to the doorway.

"Greetings, Saint," they instinctively fell into their roles upon seeing Luo’er, and Hu Daoke knelt down once more, bowing his head.

"Who has disturbed me?" Luo’er ensured his speech was steady, keeping his language relatively simple.

"It’s, it’s the town mayor..." Cheng Ziang hesitated for a moment before responding.

"Punishment is due!" Luo’er said in a measured tone.

"Your orders will be followed!" Cheng Ziang nodded in response.

"This matter must be settled promptly!" Luo’er added.

"Yes, it will be settled promptly," Cheng Ziang replied respectfully.

"I’ve grown weary; let no one disturb me further," Luo’er said, then turned and walked slowly back inside.

"Your orders will be followed!" Cheng Ziang nodded, bowing deeply.

Watching Luo’er and Tangmo return inside, the four of them stood up again. Hu Daoke, looking at the closed door, couldn’t help but ask, "Aren’t we being a bit too serious in our masquerade?"

"To ensure we don’t give ourselves away; otherwise, with you always calling him ’boss’ or ’Luo’er’, sooner or later you’ll cause trouble," Cheng Ziang said matter-of-factly.

In reality, although Luo’er’s words seemed mysterious, they were orders, one after another. The first order was to punish the town mayor; it couldn’t just end like that. Considering Luo’er’s typical protective nature, there was no way he would easily forgive such a deed.

The second was that no matter the trouble, they must wrap things up quickly and leave without further delay, so as not to affect the journey ahead.