Chapter 271 - 125: Who Needs Deduction When You Have Cheats?

Chapter 271: Chapter 125: Who Needs Deduction When You Have Cheats?

The three of them grabbed their gear and climbed up through the crevice in the mountain.

Zhao Ci watched from below, and only let out a small sigh of relief after confirming they were alright.

He found himself reflecting on the situation.

He wasn’t actually a complete stranger to Hanling County. After all, it was just over a hundred li from Lingge, and quite a few young men and women from the city came here to relax.

According to them, the Hanling Waterway was a place of pleasant scenery, and drifting along the current was an experience brimming with poetic charm.

They never mentioned that accidents were frequent here.

But on second thought, it made sense. They could afford the best bodyguards and boatmen, and the Cao Bang wouldn’t dare cause them any trouble.

What else would be left for them to see but the beautiful scenery?

Zhao Ci had heard this so many times that when he first saw the Hanling Waterway in the mission ledger, his initial thought was that he would finally get to experience the feeling of a swift boat gliding past thousands of mountains.

But he never imagined that the beautiful scenery seen by the young men and women of the capital could be so treacherous for the local people of Hanling County.

This patch of open land was practically a death trap of a shoal.

And judging by its angle, that crevice in the mountain was a one-way trip up; you couldn’t climb back down.

There were many other such dangerous shoals, but none were as infamous as this one. Based on the shape of the river channel, this was the most accident-prone spot.

Accidents could happen in other places, too, but with no mountain crevice nearby, there wasn’t even a path to survival.

You either had to have heaven-defying luck and run into a kind passerby willing to risk a rescue, or you would die waiting for help that would never come.

Feng Kucha looked at the boat’s wreckage on the ground, his expression complicated. "Old Zhao, let’s head back to the boat."

"Alright!"

Zhao Ci nodded, and he and Chen Hui used their grappling hooks to return to their ship.

Once aboard, the Boatman had already diligently prepared their sleeping quarters.

Chen Hui had Zhao Ci and Feng Kucha go inside the cabin to rest, while he and the Boatman stood watch at the bow.

Zhao Ci wanted to invite him to rest too, but seeing Chen Hui’s firm refusal, he said no more and lay down on a mattress in the cabin.

The Crocodile Lady had only recently taken human form and didn’t quite understand the Human Race’s concepts of etiquette and shame. The moment she saw the bed, she shot Feng Kucha a fawning smile and reached out to help him undress.

She stammered, "Feng Shao Liquid..."

She hadn’t learned to speak the human tongue very well, and her accent was odd.

Feng Kucha slapped her hand away and chided impatiently, "Just stay put!"

The Crocodile Lady was stunned. A vicious glint flashed for an instant in her brownish-yellow eyes, then she shrank back, gave a clumsy, nondescript human-style bow, and scurried to a corner of the cabin to curl up.

Feng Kucha sat down cross-legged and began to use his True Qi to steam the water from his clothes.

Zhao Ci sensed the agitation in his True Qi and couldn’t help but ask, "Old Feng, do you think the Cao Bang has anything to do with this?"

"Obviously!"

Feng Kucha said irritably, "Find any river channel where people say you can guarantee safe passage by paying the Cao Bang protection money. I guarantee you’ll find they have Water Demons on their payroll."

"Take this Crocodile Lady. There were too many ’accidents’ on the waterways in Qing Province, and they couldn’t keep a lid on it anymore. So, they sent the youngest daughter of a Tuo Demon couple to Lingge to take the fall."

"I mean, how much trouble can a Little Demon who’s just recently taken human form really cause?"

"But don’t go thinking she’s some innocent, either. I’ve extracted a significant amount of human quintessence from her body."

"She’s killed more people than most of the inmates on Death Row."

"She tried to kill me several times that first night. It took a few good lashings to make her behave."

Hearing this, the Crocodile Lady’s face paled. She buried her head in her arms and pretended to be asleep.

Seeing how downcast Feng Kucha was, Zhao Ci smiled and said, "None of this has anything to do with you. Why are you letting it get you so down?"

"Nothing to do with me, really?"

Feng Kucha gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Before I joined the Bureau, the Feng Family provided for my every need. I had a different Banshee in my bed every night, and even this ball of quintessence in my belly was extracted from them."

"Also, the Demon-Slaying Bureau used to only detain high-level, ferocious demons. But in the last few years, a lot of beautiful Banshees with weak cultivation have started appearing in its cells."

"Take this Crocodile Lady, for instance. The Tuo Demon family is huge, so why do you think she was the one sent to take the fall?"

"It’s because my deadbeat father, who sired me but couldn’t be bothered to raise me, wanted to ’compensate’ me."

"Where’s the justice in enjoying all the benefits without shouldering any of the responsibility?"

Zhao Ci was speechless.

’This guy is surprisingly self-aware.’

’Then again, he suspected Feng Kucha was just humblebragging.’

’What kind of god-tier father was this?’

’He was ten thousand times better than Old Deng, wasn’t he?’

’I’ll take a dozen dads like that, please.’

’I wouldn’t mind having a different girl in my bed every night, either.’

’Though I’d pass on a half-transformed Crocodile Lady.’

’A Cat Demon or a Fox Demon, though... keeping just the tail would be nice.’

’Crap!’

’After being teased by that auntie a few times, why are these lewd thoughts popping into my head so easily?’

Feng Kucha grew more agitated and complained in a low voice, "Old Zhao, your father is the Emperor. With the Cao Bang running this rampant, doesn’t he think to rein them in?"

Zhao Ci’s mouth twitched.

’Damn it!’

’First, he flexes about his own dad...’

’...and then you turn around and diss mine? Is that how it is?’

’Still, based on what Feng Kucha was saying, the Cao Bang really had gotten too brazen.’

’Fostering a threat to make themselves indispensable, all while raking in piles of cash.’

’If word got out, how could people believe a Merit Clan was capable of such things?’

’Originally, the seven great Merit Clans were evenly matched in strength. But now, the three major families involved in the struggle for succession had cemented their places as the Upper Three Families.’

’And it was inextricably linked to these dirty tactics.’

’For Old Deng to tolerate them doing all this... he really had some nerve.’

’Zhao Ci could guess part of what Old Deng was thinking. Let them run wild on purpose, gather leverage, and then, while the families were upping the stakes for the succession, use that leverage to squeeze them for all they were worth.’

’With Ying Rui’s arrival, a slew of missions targeting these very families had appeared in the ledger.’

’It all lined up perfectly.’