Mysteries Upon Mysteries, Answers Hard to Find

Listening to the trembling man before him explain, Station Chief Zhou felt a surge of rage rise in his heart.

After preparing for so long, even at the cost of exposing many cases hidden within other cases, was this really the outcome? Drawing water with a bamboo basket—nothing but empty air—and making a wedding dress for someone else?

Forget whether he, who had invested so much effort, could accept such a result. Even if he could, how would the elders of the factions within the sect that opposed him accept it?

He did not dare imagine the storms that would batter him once he returned to the sect.

"Could several hundred thousand jin of Spirit Grain simply vanish into thin air? Could such an enormous shipment be instantly transported and concealed by one or two great cultivators? The goods are gone, and you, you fool, did not think to look for them?"

Station Chief Zhou's voice grew louder and louder, until his final roar nearly blew the roof clean off.

Hearing his master rebuke him like this, the disciple below trembled even more violently.

With a mournful expression, he watched his master's face gradually settle. Only after quite a while did he speak in a trembling voice.

"Elder, it is not that this disciple did not wish to search. It is only that after that plundering, our manpower suffered devastating losses. We simply had no way to organize another proper operation."

"The disciples newly recruited into the sect were already insufficiently loyal. The benefits we promised them earlier had not been delivered either.

"To be frank with you, the reason for the delay before coming here was that some of my subordinates had secretly rebelled and wanted to release this information..."

"There were traitors?"

Before he could finish, the disciple