In an abandoned building far from the market, the pitch-black color of Lin Huang’s pupils gradually faded.
Noticing that the black in the Gilded Fiend’s eyes was fading as well, he extended his hand and tapped two fingers right in the middle of the Gilded Fiend’s brows.
The next instant, the Gilded Fiend’s body went limp and crumpled to the ground.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang, who had initially been hovering in midair, landed slowly on the ground together with the Gilded Fiend’s massive bulk.
However, once he landed, he did not put the Gilded Fiend into the God Territory within his body right away. Instead, he froze on the spot for a moment.
The reason for this brief stunned instance was because he had retrieved important information he wanted from the Gilded Fiend’s memory.
A moment later, he snapped back to his senses and used telekinetic threads to drag the Gilded Fiend into the God Territory within him. He then bestirred himself and headed toward his third target…
Three days went by in no time; Lin Huang, Virtuoso, and Saber9 gathered once again after that.
“What are the results of your investigations?” Virtuoso asked immediately.
Lin Huang glanced at Saber9. “You go first.”
Saber9 nodded. “I investigated the three-tailed snake lady’s subordinates. One is her previous best friend, two are her lovers, and another two are her trusted underlings.
“However, the interrogation didn’t go well. The five of them don’t seem to know about the castellan’s seal.
“With my technique, there’s not a very high chance of these five concealing anything from me. Therefore, I feel there are two possibilities. Either the three-tailed snake lady is hiding things very well and hasn’t told anyone around her about the castellan’s seal, or she doesn’t have it at all.”
“Were there any anomalies when she rose to prominence?” Virtuoso could not help inquiring.
“She rose to her position primarily by relying on men, her looks, and her ability to entice. Practically no man can resist her. She’s been sitting in the overlord’s position all these years mainly because among the remaining five overlords, two of them are her lovers. Moreover, she’s used her allure to gather a group of high-level Heavenly Gods to serve her. Her subordinates’ overall combat strength is certainly no lower than the rest of the overlords.”
Virtuoso fell into deep thought for a while after hearing this. “Then let’s rule her out for now. I came across information about her through other channels as well and did some investigation. The conclusion I came to is similar to yours—she most probably doesn’t have the castellan’s seal.”
After they had ruled out the three-tailed snake lady, Virtuoso and Saber9 turned their heads to look at Lin Huang.
“Let me share my investigation results then…” Lin Huang began speaking only after he saw their attention was focused on him.
“I investigated the four-faced individual’s subordinates, Painted Face and the Gilded Fiend, as well as his current mistress… and I definitely discovered a considerable amount of useful information.
“The information Painted Face provided mentioned that the four-faced individual’s ability came out of nowhere. Painted Face had always suspected that his master had obtained some kind of treasure, but Painted Face never knew what it was.
“The information provided by the Gilded Fiend stated that the four-faced individual is unfathomably powerful. The Gilded Fiend personally witnessed him elevating a low-rank Heavenly God’s combat strength to ninth-rank heavenly god-level,” Lin Huang paused at this point in his narrative. He then looked at Virtuoso and Saber9. “This person isn’t exactly unfamiliar to the two of you either…”
Saber9 was momentarily stunned, but Virtuoso reacted immediately. “The three-tailed snake lady?!”
Lin Huang nodded slightly.
Saber9 regained his composure at this point. Although he knew that the four-faced individual was the three-tailed snake lady’s lover, he was not aware of this additional facet of their relationship.
“He forcibly elevated a person’s combat strength several ranks, without any side-effects. Not only that, the whole process took less than half an hour. This alone is enough to prove that he has the castellan’s seal.”
Lin Huang was very certain of this because only individuals who possessed the castellan’s seal could be like a gamemaster, directly modifying a character’s data within Phantom City.
“Apart from that, based on what the Gilded Fiend stated, the four-faced individual seems to have been collecting objects. Previously, he even went out to collect these items personally instead of asking someone to do it for him. It’s only been in recent years that he has let a trusted subordinate aid him in this matter.
“The Gilded Fiend also mentioned that the few collectibles it had seen were all peculiar odds and ends. Some don’t even possess any energy fluctuations at all. They’re just like ordinary objects.
“I suspect the items he’s looking for are the remaining fragments of the castellan’s seal. However, he doesn’t seem to know what forms these seal fragments might take. Every time he instructed the Gilded Fiend to look for objects, his descriptions were always very vague. He would only give a rough outline, then ask the Gilded Fiend to search based on its intuition.
“That’s why I speculate that the castellan’s seal fragments might exist in any random form.”
From his space storage, Lin Huang retrieved the ancient coin that he had recently purchased from the market. “Before this, at the market, the Gilded Fiend was eyeing this ancient coin I was holding. It even offered a high price so that I would sell it to them.”
Lin Huang flicked his thumb, and the ancient coin landed squarely in the palm of Virtuoso’s hand.
“Take a look at it. What if this is one of the castellan’s seal fragments?”
Virtuoso ignored Lin Huang’s teasing tone. Instead, they picked up the ancient coin and began scrutinizing it closely.
A while later, they turned their gaze from the ancient coin and shook their head at Lin Huang and Saber9.
“I can’t be sure whether or not this is a fragment of the castellan’s seal.”
“Is there no way of verifying this at all?” Lin Huang could not help asking.
“Of course there are ways. The simplest would be to get another fragment of the castellan’s seal. As long as they’re within a certain proximity of each other, both fragments should certainly display a reaction.
“The problem is, however, we don’t have another fragment with us,” Virtuoso commented, spreading their hands out.
“How did the Gilded Fiend decide that this might be the item that the four-faced individual was looking for?” Saber9 asked Lin Huang from where he was standing to one side.
“Based on what it said, it watched me pick up this ancient coin while it was at a distance. It then felt this might be the thing the four-faced individual was looking for, so it asked me to sell the coin to it. It’s just pure intuition, there aren’t any reliable deciding factors…” Even as he spoke, Lin Huang felt somewhat bereft of words. “From what the Gilded Fiend said, the four-faced individual even encouraged such behavior. Furthermore, he even told it to buy anything that it thought might be valuable.”
“Although this is most probably an ordinary coin, let’s just keep it anyway,” Virtuoso stated and tossed the coin back to Lin Huang. “What if it really is a fragment of the castellan’s seal?”
Lin Huang caught the ancient coin and put it away in his space storage before he resumed speaking.
“As far as the four-faced individual’s mistress goes, she didn’t provide very much useful information. The four-faced individual is more cautious around her and has never mentioned the castellan’s seal fragments at all. Furthermore, based on my previous speculations, the seal could very well exist in whatever form. Trying to obtain the castellan’s seal fragments from the four-faced individual is an incredibly difficult undertaking!”
“Both of you don’t have to worry about that. All you need to be responsible for is gathering information. The rest, you can leave to me, and I’ll think of a solution!” Virtuoso seemed to have some kind of idea already. “Since we’re now sure that the four-faced individual has the fragments of the castellan’s seal, let’s start with him first!”
