Chapter 1564: The Cautious Four-Faced Individual
In an abandoned building far from the market, the pitch-black color of Lin Huangâs pupils gradually faded.
Noticing that the black in the Gilded Fiendâs eyes was fading as well, he extended his hand and tapped two fingers right in the middle of the Gilded Fiendâs brows.
The next instant, the Gilded Fiendâs 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 Fiendâs 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 Fiendâs 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.
âWhat are the results of your investigations?â Virtuoso asked immediately.
Lin Huang glanced at Saber9. âYou go first.â
Saber9 nodded. âI investigated the three-tailed snake ladyâs subordinates. One is her previous best friend, two are her lovers, and another two are her trusted underlings.
âHowever, the interrogation didnât go well. The five of them donât seem to know about the castellanâs seal.
âWith my technique, thereâs 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 hasnât told anyone around her about the castellanâs seal, or she doesnât have it at all.â
âWere there any anomalies when she rose to prominence?â Virtuoso could not help inquiring.
âShe rose to her position primarily by relying on men, her looks, and her ability to entice. Practically no man can resist her. Sheâs been sitting in the overlordâs position all these years mainly because among the remaining five overlords, two of them are her lovers. Moreover, sheâs used her allure to gather a group of high-level Heavenly Gods to serve her. Her subordinatesâ overall combat strength is certainly no lower than the rest of the overlords.â
Virtuoso fell into deep thought for a while after hearing this. âThen letâs 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 yoursâshe most probably doesnât have the castellanâs seal.â
After they had ruled out the three-tailed snake lady, Virtuoso and Saber9 turned their heads to look at Lin Huang.
âLet me share my investigation results then...â Lin Huang began speaking only after he saw their attention was focused on him.
âI investigated the four-faced individualâs subordinates, Painted Face and the Gilded Fiend, as well as his current mistress... and I definitely discovered a considerable amount of useful information.
âThe information Painted Face provided mentioned that the four-faced individualâs 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.
âThe 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 Godâs combat strength to ninth-rank heavenly god-level,â Lin Huang paused at this point in his narrative. He then looked at Virtuoso and Saber9. âThis person isnât exactly unfamiliar to the two of you either...â
Saber9 was momentarily stunned, but Virtuoso reacted immediately. âThe three-tailed snake lady?!â
Lin Huang nodded slightly.
Saber9 regained his composure at this point. Although he knew that the four-faced individual was the three-tailed snake ladyâs lover, he was not aware of this additional facet of their relationship.
âHe forcibly elevated a personâs 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 castellanâs seal.â
Lin Huang was very certain of this because only individuals who possessed the castellanâs seal could be like a gamemaster, directly modifying a characterâs data within Phantom City.
âApart 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. Itâs only been in recent years that he has let a trusted subordinate aid him in this matter.
âThe Gilded Fiend also mentioned that the few collectibles it had seen were all peculiar odds and ends. Some donât even possess any energy fluctuations at all. Theyâre just like ordinary objects.
âI suspect the items heâs looking for are the remaining fragments of the castellanâs seal. However, he doesnât 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.
âThatâs why I speculate that the castellanâs seal fragments might exist in any random form.â
From his space storage, Lin Huang retrieved the ancient coin that he had recently purchased from the market. âBefore 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.â
Lin Huang flicked his thumb, and the ancient coin landed squarely in the palm of Virtuosoâs hand.
âTake a look at it. What if this is one of the castellanâs seal fragments?â
Virtuoso ignored Lin Huangâs 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.
âI canât be sure whether or not this is a fragment of the castellanâs seal.â
âIs there no way of verifying this at all?â Lin Huang could not help asking.
âOf course there are ways. The simplest would be to get another fragment of the castellanâs seal. As long as theyâre within a certain proximity of each other, both fragments should certainly display a reaction.
âThe problem is, however, we donât have another fragment with us,â Virtuoso commented, spreading their hands out.
âHow did the Gilded Fiend decide that this might be the item that the four-faced individual was looking for?â Saber9 asked Lin Huang from where he was standing to one side.
âBased 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. Itâs just pure intuition, there arenât any reliable deciding factors...â Even as he spoke, Lin Huang felt somewhat bereft of words. âFrom 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.â
âAlthough this is most probably an ordinary coin, letâs just keep it anyway,â Virtuoso stated and tossed the coin back to Lin Huang. âWhat if it really is a fragment of the castellanâs seal?â
Lin Huang caught the ancient coin and put it away in his space storage before he resumed speaking.
âAs far as the four-faced individualâs mistress goes, she didnât provide very much useful information. The four-faced individual is more cautious around her and has never mentioned the castellanâs seal fragments at all. Furthermore, based on my previous speculations, the seal could very well exist in whatever form. Trying to obtain the castellanâs seal fragments from the four-faced individual is an incredibly difficult undertaking!â
âBoth of you donât have to worry about that. All you need to be responsible for is gathering information. The rest, you can leave to me, and Iâll think of a solution!â Virtuoso seemed to have some kind of idea already. âSince weâre now sure that the four-faced individual has the fragments of the castellanâs seal, letâs start with him first!â