Jacob recalled that fresh stack of White Crown banknotes, along with the even larger amount of cash in his bag.
This didn't look like payment. If it had been payment, it should have been placed in an envelope for easier sealing and carrying. Stuffing it loose into a bag not only risked loss or damage but could also lead to unnecessary disputes.
And the newly acquired money was even less likely. It made even less sense to hide it directly in a backpack. Besides, in a small town like Mubay County, there was no way to withdraw this much money easily.
Judging from the texture and quality of the clothes... this money should have belonged to the man who had been shot in the back. In other words, he had been the owner of Jacob's current coat, trousers, shirt, and sweater.
The coat was completely intact, but the shirt and sweater had a gunshot wound that passed straight through from the back. The wound was right in the center of his back, and there wasn't much blood. This meant his clothes had been stripped off not long after he was injured.
The couple claimed Agni was a murderous maniac, and they seemed to know him. The two of them were either con artists, smugglers, or sellers of fake medicine. In short, they definitely weren't respectable people—and they had recognized Agni's face at a glance.
This meant that Agni was either very famous, or they had seen his face not long ago. For strangers who needed to introduce themselves to one another, being able to remember a stranger's face and immediately realize who Agni was... meant they had probably only recently learned about him.
Under these circumstances, Agni's claim that "I'm a teacher traveling with my daughter" was naturally unreliable.
Yet