"What are you trying to do?!"
Yinyue looked like a helpless woman backed into a corner by a bully. Tears welled in her eyes as she said in a trembling voice, "Don't hurt Xiaoyue, don't... I'll agree to anything, anything at all."
With tears streaming down her face, she was truly a pitiful sight.
For some reason, Shen Luolun felt his throat tighten and his mouth grow dry. A flicker of secret excitement rose uncontrollably in his heart.
"Ahem..."
He shook his head hard, forcibly casting those unhealthy thoughts out of his mind.
Her husband's right here. What am I thinking?!
"Hey, hey, what do you take me for? Am I the kind of villain who'd threaten a mother with her child?"
Wasn't he?
Everyone thought to themselves.
How was the way Shen Luolun acted any different from a tyrant harassing a respectable woman?
"Don't think you can fool me. Weren't you trying to force me to submit with what you just said..."
Yinyue's voice grew quieter as she spoke. She seemed to think of something, and a blush rose to her pretty face. She was too embarrassed to say it.
"That's not what I meant!"
Shen Luolun was embarrassed.
She had actually misunderstood him that badly.
He wasn't some Cao thief!
"I mean, the mastermind is controlling your child and using her to make you work for him. Now that your plot has been exposed, you're not much use to him anymore. Haven't you considered that something might happen to your child?"
"Cooperate with us and confess, and you'll be treated leniently. We can still save your child in time and make sure nothing happens to her. Got it?"
The misunderstanding was finally cleared up.
But Yinyue was no more at ease. Her expression shifted, and her brows knitted tightly together. She was clearly struggling with herself.
After a long while,
she still shook her head.
"No, I can't betray him."
Shen Luolun couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
He had said everything he could to persuade her, but she remained stubborn.
It seemed he could only resort to some adults-only methods-oh, no, he could only send her to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Yelan should have no problem interrogating her.
When the time came, whether she talked or not wouldn't be up to her.
As he was thinking this, he suddenly heard Yinyue continue:
"I won't tell you that man is hiding in the ruins on Cuijue Slope."
Shen Luolun: ???
"And I certainly won't tell you the place is full of traps and heavily guarded, and that you need a map to get through safely! I don't have any map on me, and you can forget about learning his whereabouts from me!"
She wore an expression of defiance unto death, as though she would never bow to the forces of evil.
Oh~
Shen Luolun understood. He blinked and nodded with a smile.
"Mm-hmm, we don't know anything. We don't know the mastermind is hiding in the ruins on Cuijue Slope, or that they're full of traps and heavily guarded, and we certainly don't know you have a map of the safe route on you."
Yinyue blushed slightly and turned her head away.
"By the way, is there a password or something? Tell us everything at once so we don't have to come back and ask."
"The heavenly king covers the earth tiger-"
"Got it, got it, you don't need to say any more. The next line is 'the pagoda suppresses the river demon,' right? You Treasure Hoarders really don't have an original bone in your bodies."
"No, it's not. It's 'chicken stewed with mushrooms,'" she said quietly.
Huh?!
Shen Luolun: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴
Isn't it supposed to be "the pagoda suppresses the river demon"? What the hell is "chicken stewed with mushrooms"?
"Uh, all right, chicken stewed with mushrooms it is," he said, a little awkwardly.
"You all heard that. We can go arrest him now."
Lumine nodded, then pointed at Tsarevich and Tang Hao.
"What about them?"
"Hand them straight over to the Millelith to be dealt with according to the law."
"But the Millelith went with White Horse Adeptus to escort the civilians and haven't come back yet. Lan Yan, send them a message with a paper person," Shen Luolun said.
"Okay."
"No need."
Just then, a calm voice with a hint of languor came from the doorway.
Everyone turned to look.
Tall and poised, with short dark blue hair and striking, cool eye makeup, she had the air of a mysterious and capable agent-it was Yelan!
"Yelan? What brings you here?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Luolun wanted to slap himself.
Something that big had happened in Yilong Wharf. There was no way the Ministry of Civil Affairs' intelligence agency wouldn't know about it.
"Why, I came after a certain little mouse who sneaked away, of course."
Yelan gave a soft huff, sounding a little displeased.
"What? Was staying at my home so uncomfortable that you had to run off and rough it out here?"
Clearly, Madam Xiao had already told her about him sneaking off to Yilong Wharf.
Yelan was quite unhappy about it.
"Lan Yan was the one who took me out on the sly. I didn't want to leave at all!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Shen Luolun promptly sold Lan Yan out.
"Huh?"
The holy maiden of Miaojiang went "huh?"
He had actually shoved all the blame onto her.
If you didn't want to go out, could I have forced you?
"You-"
"Five volumes, five volumes!"
Shen Luolun lowered his voice as much as he could while spreading a hand and waving it.
Five volumes of what?
But Lan Yan soon realized.
Is this guy trying to bribe me with five volumes of Will of Fire?
Wait.
Didn't he say he only had three volumes stockpiled? Where did five come from now?
Could he have secretly made five more?
Remembering that he had stayed by her side the whole journey, and that she had never seen him draw comics except on the boat, the young woman dismissed that possibility.
That left only one possibility-
He had a big stockpile all along!
Damn it.
He had actually tricked her, saying he only had three volumes.
Mother was right. The more handsome a man is, the better he is at lying!
She glared at him with her beautiful eyes.
Lan Yan parted her pink lips slightly.
"Thirty."
Shen Luolun: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴
Thirty volumes?
Why don't you just rob me?!
That was a tenth of his stockpile!
Little Lan Yan actually dared to take advantage of the situation and demand an exorbitant price!
Just as he was about to bargain, he caught a glimpse of Yelan's dangerous gaze and couldn't help swallowing.
Shen Luolun gritted his teeth.
"Okay."
Huh?
He actually agreed?
Lan Yan was a little surprised.
She had asked for thirty volumes mostly as an outrageous opening bid to scare him, expecting him to make a counteroffer.
If his counteroffer was under ten volumes, she would never cooperate.
She hadn't expected him to agree outright.
It seemed his stockpile was far bigger than she had imagined.
"That's right, I was the one who took him away."
Satisfied, Lan Yan accepted the bribe and stepped forward to take all the blame.
"Oh~"
Yelan looked at her, her cool, striking eyes narrowing slightly. "Lan Yan, didn't you know that some women with ill intentions might have set their sights on him, and that he could run into danger on the road?"
"He's only safe at the Ye Residence, where he has people assigned to protect him."
Lan Yan nodded and said confidently, "I know. He told me everything. But I'm confident I can protect him, and we promised Xiangling we'd support her at the Cuisine Machine Test during the Moonchase Festival. Besides, Madam Xiao agreed to let us go out too, so there was no problem with leaving the Ye Residence."
She brought up Xiangling and Madam Xiao directly.
Yelan was a little displeased and clicked her tongue softly.
Using them as shields was really... hard to argue against.
After a pause, Yelan suddenly smiled. "All right, all right. I never intended to blame you for running off without permission, and I certainly wasn't going to hold it against you for not reporting it to me. Don't take it to heart."
Didn't you just say it outright?
Shen Luolun couldn't help grumbling to himself.
"I came to Yilong Wharf partly to find someone, but also for work."
"Work?"
"Mm. A dish that's become popular recently caught the Ministry of Civil Affairs' attention. I was ordered to investigate."
"But now that I'm here, things seem a little different from what the intelligence said."
Yelan looked around the deserted restaurant.
The effects of Emotion-Forsaking Beef Noodles had aroused the suspicions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' higher-ups. With the Cuisine Machine Test taking place, the chef from the Sea Overlord had gone to Yilong Wharf to compete, so the higher-ups decided to send Yelan to investigate.
Yelan happened to want to go to Yilong Wharf to check on someone, so their interests aligned, and she accepted the assignment.
Before arriving in Yilong Wharf, Yelan had heard from her subordinates that Emotion-Forsaking Beef Noodles had bewitched thousands upon thousands of people. Yet when they reached the scene, aside from the few people inside the restaurant, they hadn't seen a single person outside.
"Here's what happened..."
Shen Luolun explained the whole story, from beginning to end.
After listening, Yelan nodded slightly.
"I see."
"That's saved me quite a bit of time and effort. Thank you all for your hard work."
"I'll take them away."