Chapter 1067: He too disappeared there?! |
"You're no different from them..."
Liu Ying seemed ready to say more, but she was swiftly interrupted by a snide remark from Ming Wa.
Ming Wa spoke with her head lowered, slowly munching on lotus seeds and avoiding eye contact. The comment was unexpected; though her animosity toward the escort agency was well-known, her silence throughout the exchange had led Yang Qing and the others to assume she would remain a quiet observer.
Yet here she was, taking the opportunity to deliver a cutting remark to the escort supervisor. Liu Ying, who had been poised to unleash more scathing criticisms of the Red Gale Fists, faltered, a conflicted expression flickering across her face.
She stared at Ming Wa, who remained focused on her lotus seeds, barely sparing her a glance.
With a helpless sigh, Liu Ying reached for the wine, as if hoping its warmth would soothe her embarrassment, guilt, and the storm of emotions stirred by Ming Wa's words.
Sensing the tension thickening, Yang Qing quickly pressed on with his questions, determined to move past the awkward moment. Both Duan Ting and Liu Ying looked visibly relieved by the change in focus.
"So when the founder, Bai Chen, arrived at the scene, what happened?" Yang Qing asked, steering the conversation back to the missing personnel from the Bluefin Spine-tailed Swift Escort Agency.
Duan Ting exhaled slowly. "He and the few members of the Red Gale Fists searched for any clues—anything that could shed light on what happened to Brother Jiang Hao." He paused, his gaze lowering to the table as a fleeting look of despondency crossed his face.
Yang Qing rested one hand under his chin while the other absentmindedly drummed on the table with his index finger.
"What did Bai Chen do after that?"
Duan Ting, gripping his wine cup tightly with both hands as if seeking comfort, replied, "With nothing to work with, the Boss decided to continue the investigation himself. He dismissed the Red Gale Fists and stayed behind to survey the area around the Buzhe Hills." He hesitated, his tone growing more restrained.
"He even consulted the noble whose territory includes the hills. They confirmed that Brother Jiang Hao passed through, and some of the noble's subordinates said they'd interacted with him even, before giving him a courtesy escort to the border of their territory before parting ways as they always do whenever we pass through their territory.."
"And nothing unusual came up in those accounts?" Yang Qing asked, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Nothing," Duan Ting replied, his tone edged with frustration. "With no leads, the Boss decided to follow Brother Jiang Hao's route. He retraced the path, hoping to find something—anything—that could explain his disappearance. But it was all in vain."
Duan Ting let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping under the weight of the memories. "As I mentioned earlier, by the time we lost contact with Brother Jiang Hao, he'd already completed three-quarters of the commission. The Boss didn't have much ground to cover when retracing the remaining route. And yet, even after combing through it three or four times, he found nothing. Not a single clue."
Yang Qing's fingers froze mid-tap as he fixed Duan Ting with an intent gaze. "What did he do then?"
"He went back." Duan Ting's expression darkened, his lips pressing into a thin line.
"He started from the Buzhe Hills again and decided to retrace Brother Jiang Hao's completed route in reverse." His voice grew softer, almost trembling. "That's when we lost all contact with him, too."
Yang Qing's gaze sharpened. "So, he too disappeared in Buzhe Hills?"
Duan Ting nodded weakly. "He did..." His figure seemed to shrink as he spoke, his shoulders sagging as if the answer had drained the last ounce of strength from his body.
Yang Qing's brows furrowed, his eyes narrowing slightly, as his index finger continued its rhythmic drumming against the table.
"I'm guessing he kept in regular contact while investigating? Or did you stick to the same three-hour communication intervals as before?" he asked, though deep down, he doubted it. Not after what happened to escort supervisor Jiang Hao and his possible disappearance within that same window.
"Communication was constant," Duan Ting replied. "Most of it came from the founder's end, but he never went more than ten to twenty minutes without checking in. He shared his findings as he went, and we discussed potential next steps in real-time."
Yang Qing nodded, his gaze sharpening. "At what point did you realize he'd disappeared too?"
"When his voice was cut off in the middle of a conversation," Liu Ying said quietly. She reached into her storage ring, retrieving a recording talisman. Her hand trembled slightly as she handed it to Yang Qing, a faint blush of embarrassment creeping up her cheeks.
After the incident with Jiang Hao, she had taken precautions. To avoid the torment of doubting her own memory—a mistake she couldn't afford to repeat—Liu Ying had decided to record every conversation.
"Just in case," she repetitively told herself when she made those recordings secretly without the knowledge of her boss and Duan Ting, who did well to mask his surprise when he saw her produce it.
She felt a twinge of embarrassment as she did it, considering she was a core formation cultivator. Cultivators at her level were blessed with perfect recall, capable of remembering even the most intricate details—such as the weather, the faces of everyone present, and their expressions on the day of their birth. They could recall even the scents in the air, the clothes people wore, their conversations, and the appearance of the room down to the smallest detail. The memory would be so vivid it was akin to reliving the moment.
And yet, here she was, frantically recording mere seconds to a few minutes of conversation.
As embarrassed as she felt, she didn't regret it. At least with the recordings, she wouldn't have to second-guess herself, wondering if she'd missed a crucial detail or forgotten something important.
Yang Qing gave a nod of gratitude before playing the talisman's contents. The recording Liu Ying provided contained only the last fragments of the conversation they'd had minutes before Bai Chen's disappearance.
It lasted no more than two minutes and captured Bai Chen saying he had found nothing. He had reassured Liu Ying and Duan Ting that Jiang Hao might still be fine, couching his plans in positivity.
His voice cut off abruptly mid-sentence, right as he was explaining his intention to seek assistance from the Gold Earth Bank.
Yang Qing listened to the recording once, then went over it a few more times, drawing bated breaths from the two escort supervisors. They were now pinning their hopes on Yang Qing's ability to discern something they might have missed. After all, his cultivation realm and background far surpassed theirs. If anyone could extract water from the dry stone that recording had become, it would be him.
Unfortunately, their hopes were destined to be dashed. Despite reviewing the recording several times, Yang Qing couldn't pick up on anything new. And he had tried.
He inwardly sighed as he handed the recording back to Liu Ying. The weight of his disappointment only deepened when he caught sight of the hope lingering in the eyes of the two supervisors.
"I'm sorry…" Yang Qing said softly, an apologetic smile crossing his face.
Liu Ying and Duan Ting both nodded appreciatively, though it was clear they were struggling to mask their disappointment behind forced smiles.
"The noble you've been working with… do you trust him?" Yang Qing asked, his gaze narrowing slightly as he looked at the two of them.
Duan Ting paused momentarily, carefully piecing his thoughts together before responding.
"We trust him—or rather, Bai Chen trusted him. But it's not a deep trust, like that between friends. The trust they share is rooted in a contractual relationship.
That noble is in a precarious position, and he relies on our assistance to sustain or even strengthen it. The Boss always said he trusted that noble to prioritize the interests of his territory above everything else—even above his own children. Because of our role in those plans, the Boss believed that noble would sooner betray his own family than betray us.
So, we trust him to act in his own self-interest. For now, the Bluefin Spine-tailed Swift Escort Agency is high on his list of priorities.
Here's the refined version of your text:
Besides, if he were involved in Brother Jiang Hao's and the Boss's disappearance, there's no way he'd orchestrate it within his own territory, where he'd be the first suspect.
From what I know of him, he's neither reckless nor a fool. While there's always a chance he could have done it, he wouldn't act unless he stood to gain something immensely valuable—something far greater than what he's currently gaining from our partnership. He's not the type to take a loss.
And from where I sit, as important as the escort agency is to us, if I were a merchant making an unbiased valuation, our escort agency wouldn't even come close to the value of his territory—not even halfway. I don't see what he could stand to gain from acting against the Boss and Brother Jiang Hao.
What he would stand to lose, however, is significant: his connection to the Gold Earth Bank and the other merchants we link him with as distribution proxies for the resources produced within his territory.
It's why I don't believe he had anything to do with it," Duan Ting concluded, his tone firm and resolute.