Chapter 106

Bei Qiao stood still and said: See, there are advantages to taking less.

The Tan Mansion is vast, and players visit many places. Not everyone can remember where they took something from. However, this doesn't bother players. If they can't put it back where it came from, they'll find a place to put it, pretending it was there all along. If something doesn't fit the room's original style, they'll hide it, pretending it was hidden by the Tan family themselves.

Players: What? It doesn't make sense for this thing to be hidden here? Is it? It makes more sense than unofficial history, right?

After putting their belongings away, the players destroyed their maps and left the Tan Mansion before ten o'clock. The one-hour mission duration included the players' evacuation time. If a player did not leave before the time limit or did not destroy the map in time, they would be blacklisted by the system and automatically missed the next treasure hunt mission.

"The paper this time is really disgusting." Hou An put the things back and stuffed the map into his mouth while running out, chewing it with difficulty: "It's not rice paper."

The teammate who had just thrown the map into the lantern and burned it silently retracted his half-extended hand: Forget it, the map has already been eaten by him, so I'd better not remind him.

In the hall, Bei Qiao threw the map into the lantern and destroyed it. He exchanged the forum's temporary communication number with Li Geng, climbed over the wall to leave Tan Mansion and returned to the inn. He took off his holographic glasses and prepared to rest.

At the same time, Li Geng reported Cen Xi's capture to the prefect. After receiving a response, he returned to the government office with Cen Xi, tied up like a rice dumpling, to report the situation to the prefect. As he placed the sack of blackened silver ingots in front of the prefect, a fire suddenly broke out in the Tan Mansion, where the treasure hunt had already been completed.

"It's on fire! Put it out!"

By the time the prefect and his men arrived, the fire at the Tan residence had already been put out. The fire had destroyed many traces, but some things could not be burned...

"It is impossible for a corpse to be burned to ashes, so I believe that the fire was set by the Tan family themselves in order to divert everyone's attention and cover up their own family relocation." Li Geng, who knew that the Tan family's number had been recovered by the system, started talking nonsense in front of the prefect. Everyone knew that when the Tan family's house caught fire, he was reporting the situation to the prefect. Although this coincidence was suspicious, the evidence of his absence was real and impeccable.

The bodies of the Tan family have been converted into energy by the system and disappeared. Now, no matter what lies Li Geng makes up, no one will come out to expose him.

The prefect sent people to search the Tan residence, but they found no one there, nor any valuables belonging to the Tan family. It was unclear whether the Tan family hadn't had them before, or if they had been taken away by the fleeing Tan family members. Someone had rescued the IOUs from the warehouse. Looking at the familiar names on the IOUs, the prefect rubbed his temples and said, "Take them back and call the people over. Let them figure it out for themselves."

After sending men to the city gates to investigate whether any of the Tan family had left Luodan City, the prefect ordered others to thoroughly search the Tan residence before turning back to the government office to continue interrogating Cen Xi. Regardless, he was still quite concerned about the wealth hidden in the Tan family.

The next day, the constable who searched the Tan residence came to report that many boxes filled with contraband were found in the residence, and all of these boxes had the Cen family's logo on them.

The Cen family, who had been imprisoned for a day and a night, said: "What the hell? This is too much! We are just a family of bullies trying to make money. No one wants to rebel! Why are you putting such a big blame on us?"

"Why?" The prefect, who had barely slept for two hours in his study, threw away the list in his hand. "Oh..." They can't be so naive as to think they can get an explanation, right? When did the innocent people they killed before ever get an explanation?

"Another month has passed." While Li Geng was working overtime to deal with the Tan family's affairs, Bei Qiao, who had gotten up early to prepare for dinner, sat at the table, holding his stomach and drinking slowly from a bowl of motherwort. "It seems that I can't stay in Luodan City any longer this time."

"Hot water for the dishes. I'm leaving."

"I know, Mom." Bei Qiao picked up Tangyuan and rubbed him: Furry cats can always soothe irritable emotions. It's really great to have a cat.

"Meow." Tangyuan turned over in Beiqiao's arms with a look of disgust: The poop shoveler comes to me to act coquettishly again, alas, it's all because of my great charm.

After getting enough energy from petting the cat, Bei Qiao dragged his slightly tired body to sit on the yoga mat in the house, picked up the holographic glasses and prepared to log in to the otherworldly martial arts.

After going online, Bei Qiao found that the uncomfortable feeling was still there, just a little better than offline. After leaving the room and walking into the hall, she felt a little reluctant to move.

News of the fire at the Tan residence had spread yesterday, and everyone in the hall was discussing it. Last night, many people near the city gate saw the constables searching for the Tan family members without success. Another person, under the pretext of putting out the fire, went around the Tan residence, didn't take much valuables, but did get to see the empty Tan residence with its lanterns lit. After returning home, he fell ill.

"Falling sick? No way, that's so weird?"

"It's just so weird. I live across from his house, and I saw with my own eyes his family yelling for help in the middle of the night. That kid's face was burning like a monkey's butt, and he was talking nonsense, saying something about the villain from the Tan family causing trouble..."

What this man said at the beginning was a mixture of truth and falsehood, but what he said later was purely his own improvisation. He beautified the act of putting out the fire and stealing into a supernatural adventure. Bei Qiao who was listening at the side secretly rolled his eyes: It's a pity that such eloquence doesn't allow him to do storytelling.

"Brother Qiao, you are here!" Li Geng finally had a good sleep after dealing with Cenxi's affairs last night. He was full of energy when he walked into the inn.

"Good morning, Captain Li." Bei Qiao stood up slowly, his face pale. "Oh, that damned once-a-month fatigue. I'm not in the right shape to go out today. I'd better go back to the house and rest up later. It's only one day, so it won't hurt to give myself a break."

"Good morning! You don't look very energetic!" Li Geng slapped Bei Qiao back to his seat and sat down next to him: "Boss, bring me a pot of tea!"

Li Geng came to Bei Qiao this time because of the Cenxi incident. Although he had already discussed the details with Bei Qiao last night, it was not convenient for the prefect to know about what happened last night. He still had to go through the formalities and come to ask Bei Qiao in public how he discovered Cenxi.

Yes, according to the statements they'd exchanged yesterday, Bei Qiao was still the first to discover Cen Xi. Li Geng only learned of Cen Xi's escape from prison when Bei Qiao stopped him while he was out buying a midnight snack for his friends. As for the Tan Mansion, once the matter was over, it would likely be taken over by the authorities under the pretext of being a distant relative, becoming one of the official exits to the inn's tunnel.

Li Geng had already made this known last night, and Bei Qiao followed his script. Seeing that Li Geng had a authentic melon, the people around him quickly gathered around, offering melon seeds, rubbing shoulders, and making Li Geng feel very comfortable, waiting for him to cut the melon into pieces for everyone to eat.

"Yeah, it feels good... So what do you want to know? Let me tell you in advance, there are some things I can't tell you, so as long as I say I don't know, you can stop asking." Li Geng put his feet on the stool next to him: "Okay, who goes first? I don't have much time."

“Me, me, me!”

"I'll do it!"

“Don’t push!”

There were so many people eager to get in on the fun that Bei Qiao, who had been sitting nearby, was squeezed out and had to stand aside helplessly. But she couldn't sit idle either. Others who couldn't squeeze in next to Li Geng surrounded her, asking her if she had any inside information.

"Inside information?" Bei Qiao squeezed through the crowd and sat down on another bench, pounding his leg. "Cen Xi went to Qingtian City and tried to forcefully marry the beautiful shopkeeper, but ended up being poisoned by his own men. Does that count?"

"That's great!" The eyes of the onlookers who had originally just wanted to give it a try suddenly lit up: there is love and coercion, betrayal and reversal, isn't this much more interesting than the shoddy story of the Cen family's bankruptcy that Constable Li said?

"Let me think about how to put it." Bei Qiao adjusted himself to a comfortable position: "Which part do you want to hear more?"

"That must be the part about forced marriage!" Many people answered in unison, including several minors with excited expressions.

"You can talk about it, but shouldn't the children go to class now?" Bei Qiao glanced at the children who were making a fuss in the crowd.

"It's break time now, hurry up and start talking!"

"Well, when it comes to forced marriage, it all starts with a stolen handkerchief..."

As a bystander present at the time, Bei Qiao recounted the dramatic events of Cenxi's rage and outrage at his failed pursuit of love, shocking the others. Those who had been huddled around Li Geng gradually gathered around. Li Geng, who hadn't planned to stay long, was happy to have some free time. Before leaving the inn to report back, he stood on the outskirts of the crowd and listened for a moment: "Isn't this much more interesting than the dry text messages in the group?"

Because people kept asking for details, Bei Qiao couldn't tell the story very quickly. When he made an excuse to go to the toilet to log off, someone tried to catch up with him outside the toilet to continue listening.

"Go wait downstairs." Bei Qiao single-handedly picked the man up and threw him to the stairs. She was feeling rather irritable now, acting more impulsively, completely disregarding the feelings of others. The others, however, also thought this man's actions were excessive, and one by one, they joined Bei Qiao in condemning him, as if they had never intended to do so themselves.

After logging off to drink some hot water, Bei Qiao rested on his yoga mat for a few minutes before returning online to continue his storytelling. During this time, the innkeeper placed a few copper coins in the empty fruit bowl in front of Bei Qiao. Seeing this, the others followed suit. By the time Bei Qiao finished his story at noon and prepared to return to his room, the fruit bowl was piled high with copper coins, nearly overflowing.

"The money shop is just two streets away. If you want to exchange money, you can go over and have a look. Or I can give you a rope to tie the copper coins?" The shopkeeper waved happily at Bei Qiao behind the counter: "You brought me a lot of business this morning!" Some foreign guests came to join in the fun and booked a room by the way.