Looking at the metal briefcase lying open in the roadside greenery,
the three of them—Chizuru Kami and the others—didn't initially think it was the metal briefcase they were looking for. They even glanced around for a while.
After all, the metal briefcase the family had asked them to find was supposed to contain the Tianshan Snow Lotus.
But the metal briefcase before them was empty and had been thrown by the roadside.
Yet after observing it for a while, the expressions of Chizuru Kami and the other two shifted from indifference, to thoughtfulness, and finally to disbelief.
At last, with a whoosh, they rushed to the golden briefcase lying in the greenery.
Just then, a perfectly ordinary-looking middle-aged man walked over from nearby. He, too, stared at the metal briefcase in the greenery in disbelief.
"Chizuru Qi."
Chizuru Kami immediately recognized the middle-aged man. As the contact, he knew all of the man's information.
"You're the family's contacts?"
Chizuru Qi looked at Chizuru Kami and the others.
He fell silent.
After the family back in Fusang Kingdom explained the situation and issued its orders, he realized that Chizuru Kawashige, the contact he'd spoken with so pleasantly not long ago and had even arranged to meet again during the next cherry blossom festival, had been an impostor.
These three before him were the real contacts.
"The briefcase has been opened."
Chizuru Qi's thoughts were in disarray. Looking at the metal briefcase in the greenery, he didn't know what to say for a moment.
He'd carried this briefcase with him as he fled, from Northern Heavenly Mountain to Magic City, and had faced countless dangers along the way.
And now the briefcase had been opened, and the Tianshan Snow Lotus inside had vanished.
Composing himself, Chizuru Qi immediately picked up the metal briefcase and examined it carefully.
Seeing how cautiously Chizuru Qi handled it, Chizuru Kami and the other two felt their hearts sink.
It was obvious that the metal briefcase before them was the one they'd been looking for.
A moment later, Chizuru Qi put down the briefcase and looked at Chizuru Kami and the others. "I'll explain this to the family."
The Chizuru Family had not only ordered Chizuru Kami and the others to follow the location signal and search for the metal briefcase; they had also summoned Chizuru Qi back, even though he had been preparing to leave Magic City, to look for it.
The family had done this because they were worried that Chizuru Kami and the others weren't strong enough.
But now... they'd found the metal briefcase, only the snow lotus was gone.
Meanwhile, on Kyushu Island, Fusang.
The atmosphere in the Chizuru Family's shrine was oppressively tense.
Most of all, the old man seated in the place of honor. Dressed in traditional onmyoji robes and wearing a tall black eboshi hat, he had white hair and a white beard. The spiritual pressure he radiated was as profound as the ocean, making everyone else present afraid to look directly at him.
This white-haired, white-bearded old man was the Great Onmyoji of the Chizuru Family, Chizuru Ichiyo.
He was also the Chizuru Family's true leader, a renowned powerhouse in Fusang, and a master of extraordinary arts: communicating with ghosts and gods, summoning the dead, and controlling souls.
At that moment, Chizuru Ichiyo was far from calm. One incident after another, one detail after another, kept surfacing in his mind.
The Tianshan Snow Lotus had been discovered on Northern Heavenly Mountain in Xia Kingdom. Chizuru Qi had taken it and fled to Magic City. Then three of the family's contacts had met him at a hotel there to transfer the snow lotus.
But the turning point had come at the Yuan'an Hotel, where they'd met.
A mysterious person had impersonated a Chizuru Family contact and successfully tricked Chizuru Qi into handing over the Tianshan Snow Lotus.
This mysterious person knew the details of the Chizuru Family's plan to transfer the snow lotus.
He knew which room they'd meet in.
He knew the meeting password.
He knew the Chizuru Family inside out.
He had even known the password to the metal briefcase.
Chizuru Ichiyo's gaze turned cold as he looked at the eight family elders present.
There's a ghost in the family!
Apart from this, Chizuru Ichiyo couldn't think of any other explanation.
How could an outsider possibly know the plan in such detail?
Especially the password to the metal briefcase. Very few people knew it—only the eight people present.
Chizuru Ichiyo had never imagined that there could be a mole among the family's eight elders.
The eight elders were the foundation of the Chizuru Family. Some of them were even older than Chizuru Ichiyo.
Chizuru Ichiyo genuinely didn't want to suspect these eight elders.
But after ruling out every other possibility,
the only one left, however absurd and unbelievable, had to be the truth!
"Tell me. Who put you up to this? The Matsukawa Family? Or the Hanazaki Family?"
Chizuru Ichiyo spoke slowly, his voice sinister.
The Matsukawa Family and the Hanazaki Family were both enemies of the Chizuru Family.
If they heard that Chizuru Ichiyo had obtained the Tianshan Snow Lotus and could use it to heal his source injury, they would certainly do anything to stop him.
The shrine fell into dead silence.
The eight family elders had nothing to say.
In fact, it wasn't just Chizuru Ichiyo who suspected that one of them was a mole.
They suspected one another, too.
Otherwise, how could they explain everything that had happened so far away in Xia Kingdom?
Magic City, Xia Kingdom.
Inside a coffee shop,
Chizuru Kami, Chizuru Qi, and two others had gathered there.
Chizuru Qi had already informed the family that the metal briefcase had been opened with the correct password, not by force.
Now all they had to do was wait for the family's next orders.
"Who was it?"
Chizuru Kami said quietly.
By now, he had more or less figured out what had happened.
The Tianshan Snow Lotus had been intercepted, and the person who took it knew them extremely well.
Chizuru Qi remained silent.
"Could the Xia Kingdom authorities have done it?" Chizuru Takahashi suddenly asked.
"Impossible."
Chizuru Kami shook his head.
"Right, it couldn't have been the Xia Kingdom authorities."
Chizuru Qi nodded in agreement.
If the Xia Kingdom authorities had really known so much about their transport plan, he would have been caught back on Northern Heavenly Mountain.
How could he have made it all the way to Magic City and then gotten away?
"Let's wait for the family's decision."
Chizuru Kami said quietly.
The other three said nothing more.
Central District, Magic City. This was the city's busiest and most prosperous area,
with visitors from all over the world.
Su Yuan walked along the crowded streets.
After leaving the Western District, Su Yuan hadn't taken any transportation. Instead, he'd made his way leisurely to the Central District.
Jinshan Villa District was in the outskirts of the Eastern District. Going from the Western District to the Central District before returning to the Eastern District was more or less on the way.
"By now, Chizuru Qi and the three contacts should have met up at Dingxing Coffee Shop and be waiting for the Chizuru Family's next instructions."
Su Yuan thought to himself.
Dingxing Coffee Shop was near where Su Yuan had discarded the metal briefcase.
According to the plan laid out by the Grey Mirror, Chizuru Qi and the other three would be waiting there at this time.
"The last step of the plan."
Su Yuan flipped his right hand and took out a phone.
Naturally, the phone wasn't his. It belonged to an international black-skinned friend he'd just brushed past.
With practiced ease, Su Yuan unlocked the phone, entered the startup password, adjusted his voice, and called the police.
"Hello, is this the police? Yes, I'd like to report a crime!"
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