You're Really Good at Hiding in Plain Sight!

Zeng Anmin wasted no time, his gaze fixed firmly on the person entering through the door.

Under the moonlight.

A slightly hunched figure came into view. His legs seemed somewhat impaired, and his breathing grew heavier with every step.

After entering the Map Repository, the man slowly raised his head, revealing a weathered face lined with deep wrinkles and a whitening beard.

Judging by his appearance, he was at least fifty.

By his attire, he was an ordinary attendant of the Xuanjing Division.

After entering the Map Repository, the man looked around furtively.

Once he found no danger, he let out a breath of relief.

"Tap, tap, tap~"

He did not walk quickly, but he was close to where Zeng Anmin and the White-robed Venerable were hiding. Zeng Anmin could even hear the soft rustle of fallen leaves beneath his feet.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Zeng Anmin's heart pounded wildly, yet his gaze remained locked on the man. He did not dare allow the slightest mistake.

There were some things he could not gamble on.

With the aid of Rapid Enlightenment, he caught the man's every movement with crystal clarity.

"Rapid breathing means he's nervous."

"His eyes keep darting around. That's the look of a guilty conscience."

It matched the identity of a thief perfectly.

Zeng Anmin held his breath and focused, observing even more carefully.

As the attendant neared the hidden spot where Zeng Anmin and the White-robed Venerable were concealed, he unconsciously glanced in this direction.

The moment he saw that movement, Zeng Anmin's heart lurched.

He didn't spot us, did he...?

Fortunately, after that glance, the attendant noticed nothing unusual.

He then hurried onward.

Zeng Anmin breathed a sigh of relief and continued watching the man closely.

He was also extremely curious about where exactly this man had hidden the Dragon Survey Map.

He watched as the man slowly approached a room. He hesitated outside the door for a moment before gradually pushing it open.

At that sight, Zeng Anmin's heart suddenly sank.

Because he knew who was inside the room...

Sure enough, the instant the door opened.

Ning An's voice rang out:

"What a thief! Zeng Anmin actually got it right! Seize him at once and torture a confession out of him!!"

Damn it! I swear I won't rest until one of us is dead!!

Zeng Anmin's scalp went numb.

Why was there always someone ruining things at the crucial moment?!

Unable to endure it any longer, he burst from the forest and raced toward the man.

"Chirp!!"

The White-robed Venerable was faster than Zeng Anmin by an unknown measure.

The very instant Ning An finished speaking, he had already flashed to the attendant's side like a ghost and subdued him without a word.

"Watch him! Don't let him kill himself!!!"

Zeng Anmin shouted urgently as he ran.

Yet the thing he feared most still happened.

When the attendant heard Princess Ning'an's words, a miserable expression appeared on his face.

Without the slightest hesitation, he merely closed his jaw gently. As his throat moved, his entire body began convulsing.

In only a moment, he lay rigid in the White-robed Venerable's arms, utterly motionless.

"Fuck!"

Zeng Anmin rushed over and saw blood flowing from the attendant's seven orifices, his face purple.

He had completely stopped breathing.

He stared fixedly at the attendant's corpse, his expression incomparably ugly.

He had barely transmigrated, and he was already handed hell-level difficulty.

He had finally managed to clear it, only for a pig teammate to raise the difficulty another level...

At that moment.

Only then did the lights inside the room come on.

A moment later, Emperor Jianhong emerged slowly, his face expressionless.

Princess Ning'an followed beside him, her face full of hatred.

Princess Ning'an looked even worse than Zeng Anmin.

"The thief was too cunning!! Damn it, damn it!!!"

She was so furious that her chest heaved violently, as though she might grind her teeth to pieces.

Fortunately, Emperor Jianhong remained quite calm. He surveyed the building before him and said flatly:

"Dig three feet into the ground."

"Yes!"

The White-robed Venerable respectfully saluted, then immediately left the room.

Before long, he returned with more than a dozen Red-robed Guards wearing Xuanjing Division uniforms.

"Crash, bang, clatter..."

An intensive search immediately began.

Zeng Anmin glanced at Ning An, who had ruined his plans.

Ning An was still glaring furiously at the attendant's corpse, completely unaware of the overt and concealed disgust everyone around her felt toward her...

Heh.

Zeng Anmin's gaze turned pitying.

With Rapid Enlightenment's assistance.

He keenly sensed Emperor Jianhong's deliberate indulgence toward Princess Ning'an.

Which member of the imperial family did not live in constant trepidation, as though walking on thin ice?

Yet there was this oddity who did not possess a shred of sense?

If Jianhong had no ulterior motive, only ghosts would believe it.

Still, Zeng Anmin had no intention of eating carrots while worrying over someone else's affairs.

He turned his attention to the bustling search inside the room.

However...

Half an hour later.

Everyone stared at the room's floorboards, which had been pried apart, and fell into deep thought.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is nothing."

The White-robed Venerable first glanced at Zeng Anmin, then bowed and reported to Emperor Jianhong.

Emperor Jianhong's expression did not change as he looked impassively at Zeng Anmin.

Feeling Jianhong's imposing gaze.

Zeng Anmin smiled bitterly inwardly.

From a single testimony, he had been able to infer all the mysteries behind it.

Through deduction, he could anticipate the enemy's decisiveness.

He had even formulated a plan to lure the snake from its hole based on the enemy's character.

But he was not a god.

How could he have foreseen that this thief would be so cautious?!

Nor could he have expected that, at the critical moment, a single sentence from Ning An would turn his entire plan into bubbles.

Seeing Zeng Anmin remain silent.

Emperor Jianhong said blandly:

"The thief is dead. Though the suspicion that your father colluded with the Demon Race has lessened, the Dragon Survey Map has not been found. He cannot escape the crime of failing in his duty as its keeper."

Zeng Anmin's heart sank.

A person's instinctive reaction was the most genuine.

It seemed Emperor Jianhong did not think much of his father.

From the previous owner's memories, he knew that Zeng Shilin was quite upright. With his Confucian Dao Kindling Realm cultivation, he should have been able to display his talents to the fullest in court.

Yet it was precisely that personality which displeased Jianhong, who had assigned him to Fengqi Road.

Sigh.

Just as Zeng Anmin was about to speak, he suddenly froze, then sharply raised his head.

Wait!

An instinctive reaction?!!

At that moment, he suddenly remembered.

When the thief had passed the place where he was hidden, he had glanced this way.

At the time, because the glance happened to fall in his direction, his emotions had fluctuated.

So he had instinctively not thought much of it.

But now that he considered it, that glance had been far too abrupt!

Could it be...

Zeng Anmin's heart began pounding as he glanced at his Golden Finger panel.

Rapid Enlightenment: Intelligence, comprehension, insight, and more increased severalfold. Duration: five hours. Remaining time: A quarter of an hour

Rapid Enlightenment had not yet ended. Otherwise, there was no way he could have thought of it so quickly!

"Your Majesty, this commoner knows of one more place."

Zeng Anmin's voice was steady.

"Hmm?"

At his words, everyone present abruptly turned to look at him.

Everyone felt that this sounded more like the struggle of a dying man.

Jianhong frowned slightly. "Speak."

Zeng Anmin bowed. "Please allow this commoner to inspect it personally. If it is as this commoner suspects, my father's fault may also be cleared."

"If not, then I ask Your Majesty to punish me."

"Mm."

Emperor Jianhong nodded faintly.

With so many experts present, Zeng Anmin could not run.

Zeng Anmin no longer hesitated. He drew a deep breath and walked step by step toward the direction from which he had come.

Seeing his actions, the White-robed Venerable gave a soft sound of surprise.

Zeng Anmin offered no explanation. He arrived at the concealed part of the forest where he had hidden earlier, his gaze incredibly sharp.

He examined the area inch by inch, like a goshawk surveying its prey.

At last, he discovered an inconspicuous spot where the fallen leaves were piled unusually thick.

"Hmm?!"

His Phoenix Eyes narrowed slightly, carrying the roguish spirit of a young hero.

Without hesitation, he crouched down and reached out to brush aside the leaves.

"Rustle~"

As the sound of shifting leaves rose.

A ruined Dry Well abruptly appeared.

Damn it.

That bastard was really good at hiding in plain sight!

Who could have imagined that he had hidden the Dragon Survey Map from the Map Repository right inside the Map Repository itself?!!