Chapter 983: Investigation Results
Yang Haoran stood up, smiling as he put away the life token. Xiang Chuan's face was grim as he watched Yang Haoran tuck the life token into his spatial pocket, not uttering a word.
"The three conditions you put forth earlier, whether they came from your heart or were deliberately set to achieve some goal, it makes no difference to me. Since I've already agreed to your three conditions, I will certainly fulfill them, even though I now hold your life token."
Yang Haoran's words caused Xiang Chuan's grim expression to soften slightly. His greatest fear right now was that Yang Haoran, holding his life token, would make all sorts of unreasonable demands of him, even treating him like a beast of burden.
Yang Haoran's current statement alleviated some of his worries. Furthermore, judging by Yang Haoran's tone and expression, it seemed Yang Haoran wasn't deceiving him. Besides, in his opinion, Yang Haoran had no reason to lie to him.
His worst fear hadn't come to pass, which was why his expression improved slightly. Of course, it was only a slight improvement; after all, heaven knew if Yang Haoran would change his mind later.
Yang Haoran seemed to have divined Xiang Chuan's thoughts. He smiled faintly and continued.
"Rest assured, I, Yang Haoran, always keep my word. Since I promised you, I won't go back on it. However, the premise is that you don't stab me in the back. If you do, then my promise to you will certainly be null and void."
Xiang Chuan remained silent. Yang Haoran didn't mind, lightly patting Xiang Chuan's shoulder. This seemingly casual gesture, however, dispelled the seal within Xiang Chuan's body.
"I won't be assigning you any tasks recently. For now, get some good rest and adjust your mindset. I don't want to see you working for me with a bad attitude."
Yang Haoran spoke with a smile. He then walked towards the door. It seemed he was preparing to leave.
However, as he reached the door, he paused, turning his back to Xiang Chuan to add a remark.
"Though you are forced to follow me today, I believe that one day, I will make you feel that choosing to follow me was the right decision."
After saying this, Yang Haoran resumed his steps and exited the room, leaving Xiang Chuan standing rooted to the spot, lost in thought.
After leaving Xiang Chuan's room, Yang Haoran gave a few instructions to Xiujuan, most of which concerned Xiang Chuan. He then tore through space, leaving the villa, and headed for the Ghost Cave.
Before meeting Xiang Chuan, he had received a Communication Talisman from Tang Shi. Tang Shi had brought him good news: Tang Shi had finally found some information regarding the medicine bottle fragment he had given him earlier.
Since the amount of information a Communication Talisman could convey was very limited, Tang Shi couldn't thoroughly explain his findings to Yang Haoran via the talisman. That was why he asked Yang Haoran to personally come to the Ghost Cave.
Yang Haoran naturally understood Tang Shi's approach. After all, Tang Shi's existence was a secret, and he didn't want Tang Shi to be exposed to others. So, usually, when something happened, he would go to Tang Shi, rather than Tang Shi coming to see him.
Upon receiving Tang Shi's Communication Talisman, Yang Haoran initially wanted to rush to the Ghost Cave immediately. However, after some consideration, he abandoned this idea. He decided to handle Xiang Chuan's matter first before heading to the Ghost Cave. This alone showed how much importance he placed on Xiang Chuan.
After interacting with Xiang Chuan for a period, Yang Haoran had gained a certain understanding of Xiang Chuan's character. He knew that Xiang Chuan yearned for freedom, for a life unburdened by shackles, but Xiang Chuan valued his own life even more.
This information, naturally, wasn't willingly divulged by Xiang Chuan. Instead, it was a conclusion he reached through subtle probing. It was precisely because he was certain of this point that he was able to corner Xiang Chuan in a single move today, becoming the ultimate victor in their contest.
Now that Xiang Chuan's matter had been successfully handled, and the outcome was highly satisfactory to him, he merely gave a few simple instructions to Xiujuan after leaving Xiang Chuan's room, and then immediately tore through space to head for the Ghost Cave.
Inside the Ghost Cave, Yang Haoran sat in the main seat. Tang Shi stood respectfully before him. On the stone table in front of Yang Haoran lay a fragment of a medicine bottle, along with a neat stack of documents.
The medicine bottle fragment was the one he had given Tang Shi earlier, so Tang Shi could investigate and uncover some useful information from it.
As for these documents, they were the result of Tang Shi spending considerable time and effort based on this fragment, mobilizing a large number of ghosts under his command to ultimately achieve this.
"Master, this matter couldn't be explained clearly within the Communication Talisman, which is why I troubled you to come in person. I hope you won't blame me."
Tang Shi first bowed respectfully to Yang Haoran, then began to explain.
He and Yang Haoran had been together for a long time, and they understood each other's personalities. So he knew Yang Haoran wouldn't blame him for this. However, whether Yang Haoran blamed him was one thing, and whether he should proactively explain the matter was another.
"Haha, your approach is correct. How could I possibly blame you?"
Yang Haoran said with a smile, then turned his gaze to the neatly arranged documents on the table before him.
After just one glance, Yang Haoran withdrew his gaze and looked back at Tang Shi.
"Have you figured out the origin of this medicine bottle?"
Hearing this, Tang Shi respectfully nodded to Yang Haoran, then spoke.
"It's clear, Master. Once you read the documents in front of you, you'll understand."
Yang Haoran, a smile on his face, reached out and picked up the documents from the table. He then began to read them carefully, page by page. Throughout this process, Tang Shi remained silent, standing respectfully in place. And Yang Haoran's face remained smiling, without the slightest change in his expression, until he had finished reading all the documents in his hand.
"Haha, is it truly him stirring up trouble from behind the scenes? But why would he do it?"
Setting down the documents, Yang Haoran chuckled to himself. Hearing Yang Haoran's words, Tang Shi couldn't help but slightly furrow his brows.
"Does Master already know he's the one behind all this?"
"Something happened previously that made me think of him. I just wasn't certain that he was definitely the one behind it. I originally intended to tell you about this matter after I finished an important task I was handling, so you could investigate along that lead. But I didn't expect that with just a medicine bottle fragment, you would manage to uncover so much, and that the person you ultimately identified was the same one I had in mind. Heh heh, I must say you're very impressive. I admire you greatly, and I'm very satisfied."
The previous matter Yang Haoran referred to was when, after the Black-Robed Person committed suicide, he sought out Xiang Chuan. Through the little information he obtained from Xiang Chuan, he speculated that the Black-Robed Person was likely one of Emissary of Death Huo Laoban's subordinates from the Xinyang City Underworld Office.
However, at the time, it was merely speculation, lacking strong evidence. Thus, it couldn't be confirmed whether the Black-Robed Person was truly a Night Watcher under Huo Laoban.
He had originally wanted to tell Tang Shi about this discovery, so Tang Shi could investigate along this lead, which would certainly yield significant results. But he hadn't done so.
Because recently, he had been busy figuring out how to bring Xiang Chuan, the Pharmacist, under his command. He had racked his brains over it, causing him to devote most of his energy to this matter, and therefore had little energy to attend to other things.
However, this wasn't the main reason. The primary reason was that he wanted to see if Tang Shi could surprise him, to see how capable Tang Shi's subordinates were in this regard. If, after he finished dealing with Xiang Chuan's matter, Tang Shi still hadn't discovered anything, then he would let Tang Shi investigate along that lead.
However, before he could even tell Tang Shi about this lead, Tang Shi had already, by his own ability, investigated and uncovered many things, more comprehensive and convincing than the information he had merely speculated.
He had never truly tested Tang Shi's ability in this area before. But this time, he had witnessed it: to be able to gather so much information with just a single medicine bottle fragment, it was hard for him not to be impressed.
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