Seeing Through the Disguise

The White Phoenix Squad left the front hall of Westwind Inn.

"What do we do now?" Li Shuyi asked. "We've been kicked out, so we can't gather any information."

Bai Xiaowen remained calm. "We don't have to be in the dining hall to gather information."

He led the four of them to the kitchen in the inn's back courtyard. "Wait here for me," he told his three teammates.

Before long, Bai Xiaowen returned, dragging a man in coarse clothes. With his shifty looks and servant's attire, he appeared to be one of the inn's workers.

The man looked terrified. "P-please spare me, heroes! I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old child..."

Bai Xiaowen patted his shoulder. "Relax. I just want to ask you a few questions. Answer honestly and I'll let you go. Lie to me about a single thing, and you're dead."

The worker nodded, trembling.

"What's your job at Westwind Inn?"

"I... deliver hot water."

"Your rooms come in three grades. Which grade do you deliver water to?"

"T-to the finest rooms, sir."

Westwind Inn was the largest inn in Changxi City. Its guest rooms came in three grades, though all were called superior rooms. The finest were the most spacious and best equipped, and cost the most. At a time like this, anyone staying in one held considerable standing among the martial artists gathered here.

Bai Xiaowen nodded slightly. He had already checked the worker's background before bringing him back. He knew the answers to those first two questions; they had only been a test of the man's honesty.

Bai Xiaowen picked up a stick and drew a lotus on the ground. "Have you seen this symbol?"

The worker scratched his head. "I... I think so."

"Where?"

"Among a group of guests who arrived yesterday. One