The Truth Behind the Attack

Within the chaotic memories of Firefall Town, Ye Weian quickly located the key fragment:

It was in a dim room reeking of cheap tobacco and sour ale, where a man who looked entirely out of place sat opposite Grumman.

The man was middle-aged, draped in a gray cloak over a well-tailored dark linen shirt. His collar was meticulous, his fingers long and clean—a stark contrast to Grumman's rough, grime-stained hands. He spoke with a measured pace and refined vocabulary, and more importantly, he was lavish with his coin.

"The usual rules apply. The target this time is Ye Weian Xiaxing. My master wishes for him to disappear completely. This is the down payment." As the man spoke, he pushed a bag of gold coins across the table.

So, the attack was indeed premeditated, Ye Weian thought, his spirit sharpening.

This face triggered the original owner's long-buried memories: Lady Xiaxing—the Baron's legal wife—had a personal manservant whose appearance and temperament were eighty percent similar to this man, though his beard was shorter.

This made perfect sense; after all, Ye Weian had spent four years studying magic in the capital of Suzar, and his impression of the people around Lady Xiaxing was four years old. Minor changes in appearance were hardly surprising.

Grumman did not know the man's real name, only his alias, "Gray Crow," because he wore a gray cloak every single day.

This man was a regular client of his; he had helped him fence stolen goods more than once, and in turn, Grumman had handled more than one target for "Gray Crow."

Grumman never pried into the man's background, but he had his suspicions:

Judging by "Gray Crow's" demeanor, tone, his status as someone no one dared to provoke in Firefall Town, and the nature of his previous assignments, the man was likely a member of the Summerstar Family. Who exactly he served within the family, however, remained a mystery.

This aligned perfectly with the original owner's memories.

The mastermind behind this ambush was now clear.

The memory continued to unfold—

"Gray Crow" provided Grumman with the mission intelligence: the exact route of the caravan, the likely time of passage, the number and composition of the guards... every detail was accounted for.

He even provided information on the target, Ye Weian himself, with a level of detail that was chilling.

This could not have been gathered through hearsay; it could only have been leaked from within the Summerstar Family.

When he heard "Gray Crow" in the memory describe the "target" as "mediocre in talent, cowardly, and possessing zero combat ability," Ye Weian clearly felt a surge of intense, indignant anger rising from the depths of the memory.

It was easy to understand why—

This very "mediocre, cowardly, and combat-inept" waste of space had single-handedly reversed Grumman's sure-fire victory and even captured him personally.

Grumman could never have imagined the existence of a system, so he could only attribute his crushing defeat to a catastrophic failure in intelligence.

This rage was so intense that the memory scene began to fluctuate violently, like a lake ravaged by a gale, as if it were about to shatter at any moment.

Ye Weian frowned slightly, condensing his mental power into a heavy hammer and slamming it down.

The effect was immediate.

No matter how furious the Barbarian was, he remained utterly defenseless against absolute mental power.

The scene quickly stabilized, and the memory continued to play.

"Gray Crow" continued to relay intelligence in the vision.

To Ye Weian's relief, throughout the entire introduction of the guard detail, there was no mention of an "inside man."

This was undoubtedly good news—it meant there were no spies for Lady Xiaxing among the guards.

Soon, he reached the most critical part—how to collect the final payment once the deed was done.

"Gray Crow" mentioned it: "May Waukeen bless our business. Grumman, if you succeed, bring a token that proves the bastard is dead to the Dissolute Dragon tavern in Firefall Town. Go to the second floor and look for the 'Sage' room. I will be waiting for you there for a week."

The scene shifted. After "Gray Crow" left, Grumman couldn't wait to rip open the money bag, rudely dumping the gold coins onto the table.

The bounty for this mission was two thousand gold coins. Per the rules, he had been given thirty percent as an advance—six hundred coins in total.

Unfortunately, in the hands of a spendthrift outlaw like Grumman, money never lasted the night.

Most of the gold had already been squandered on wine and meat to reward his men, new leather armor for his subordinates, and the costs of Grumman's own debauchery in the beds of women.

In the end, less than a hundred remained.

Ye Weian watched as Grumman, in the dead of night, personally hid the gold coins in the half-collapsed, abandoned windmill on the southeast corner of Firefall Town.

He pried up a loose floorboard and shoved the coins into a rusted iron box.

This was his own private vault, the final escape route he had reserved for himself, unknown even to his most trusted confidant.

The memory regarding the meeting arrangements ended there.

Ye Weian's thoughts stirred. He did not rush to withdraw his mental power, but instead took the opportunity to search for another key detail: besides Grumman, were there any other people who knew about the meeting?

A brief memory surfaced: the scout nicknamed "Goat" was likely in the know.

As the absolute leader of the bandit group, the channels for accepting missions and fencing goods were held firmly by Grumman, but "Goat" knew something about it because he occasionally offered Grumman advice.

That fellow had been the first to flee when he saw the tide turning during the previous battle.

Ye Weian realized immediately that he did not have much time left.

He had to reach Firefall Town before "Goat" did.

Confirming that the intelligence gathering was complete, Ye Weian severed the [Detect Thoughts].

The moment the connection broke, Grumman collapsed forward as if his spine had been ripped out, falling into a fit of heavy, ragged breathing.

Cold sweat soaked his clothes, leaving him looking as if he had just been fished out of the water, utterly wretched.

He struggled to lift his head, meeting Ye Wei'an's bottomless black eyes—there was no anger there, only a trace of condescending mockery that bordered on pity.

"I told you, didn't I? Even if you don't speak, I have ways of knowing what you're thinking."

"You... what exactly do you know?"

"Firefall Town, southeast corner, abandoned windmill, the loose floorboard."

Ye Wei'an spoke with measured deliberation, but every word he uttered struck the Barbarian's heart like a heavy hammer.

"The Dissolute Dragon tavern. Second floor. The Sage room." He paused slightly, watching with composure as the last glimmer of hope in the other man's eyes rapidly extinguished. "Your secrets are all here. Do you need me to continue helping you recall them, Grumman?"

The last shred of color drained from the Barbarian's face.

"This is impossible... This isn't fair! This kind of soul-profaning method... Uthgar, are you blind?"

The Barbarian wailed in despair, but the violent god of war never responded to the laments of the weak.

Before this terrifying mage, he felt for the first time the powerlessness of the weak he had once wantonly humiliated.

His strength and his fury could not protect him at all. He was stripped bare without any resistance, all his secrets and reliance dug out, leaving not even a shred of dignity.

Looking at the collapsed Grumman, Ye Wei'an knew that the Barbarian's will had been broken and he would no longer pose a threat.

Ye Wei'an immediately ordered the guards: "I have finished the interrogation. Gag him and take him away to be kept under guard."

"Yes, Young Master!" The guards pulled out a rag to stuff into Grumman's mouth and dragged him away.

Before leaving, one guard couldn't help but steal a quick glance at Ye Wei'an, his eyes filled with an indescribable sense of awe.

Having witnessed the mage's methods firsthand, they finally understood why the nobles spoke of mages with a mixture of fear and longing.

This method of peering into a person's heart was far more terrifying than any harsh interrogation.

The bandit leader had been taken away, but Ye Wei'an's interrogation was not yet over; out of caution, he selected another from the captured underlings.

When dragged out, the bandit was crying like a goblin.

He had clearly been scared out of his wits by the shell-shocked state Grumman had been in just moments ago.

If even a tough guy like their leader had been broken, what chance did a small fry like him have?

"Don't kill me! I beg you... by the Earth Mother Chauntea, I still have a family..."

Of course, he was overthinking it.

Ye Wei'an would never waste a precious second-level spell slot on a small fry who didn't even deserve a name.

To deal with this sort of trash, a zero-level Charm Person was enough.

As the magical aura flickered, the bandit's eyes changed instantly.

The original fear vanished, replaced by a sense of intimacy.

In his spell-warped senses, the devil before him had become friendly and approachable, like an old friend to whom he could confide.

He answered every question Ye Wei'an asked without reservation.

Over the next half hour, Ye Wei'an screened all the captives one by one and obtained the answers he wanted.

These underlings were indeed unaware of Grumman's secrets, but they all confirmed that Grumman had indeed taken them to Firefall Town three days ago.

Some of them had even seen Grumman meet privately with a "very well-dressed gentleman."

More importantly, they unanimously confirmed that before the operation, Grumman had emphasized to them: "You must kill the noble young master in the group," and had promised an exceptionally generous bounty for it.

The clues had come full circle.