Judging by his flawless accent, he had clearly been lying low in Mountain City for a very, very long time.
Even I, a native local, couldn't detect the slightest trace of an outsider's accent.
"Not bad! Your Mountain City dialect is spot-on. Looks like you've been undercover here for a long time!"
I spoke with a smile.
The other man smiled faintly.
"Merely carrying out orders!
Today, fellow cultivator, you came to kill us at our doorstep. May I ask why?
Even if we die, we want to die knowing the reason!"
"Fine, I have a question."
"Please ask, fellow cultivator."
"How many years have you been in Mountain City?"
Without even thinking, Suzuki Shuichi answered directly.
"I've been in Mountain City for twenty-eight years."
The moment I heard twenty-eight, my heart trembled.
I was a little sensitive to that number.
Because my master had previously told me at the hospital about Uncle Yu's family.
Master's wife, Lu Rou, and Uncle Yu's son had been murdered twenty-eight years ago.
The incident had taken place at what was now Fish Mouth New Street, which had been countryside back then...
Ripples rose in my heart, but my expression showed no change.
I nodded slightly.
"Twenty-eight years. You must have killed quite a few people during those twenty-eight years, right?"
But he shook his head directly.
"Not really. We didn't come here to kill people. We only came for the secret within the Nine Corpse Tower.
So we don't understand how we offended you, fellow cultivator, for you to come and kill us today."
Not many killings? Then this was the perfect chance to help him remember, to see whether it had anything to do with what happened to Master's wife back then.
Whether he admitted it or not, I would ask first