"I don't want to like her either, but I can't control my heart. I can't help it. The feeling of loving someone you can't have is too painful!" the man in white said helplessly.

In truth, he didn't want to be hung up on one person, making himself depressed and unable to be happy every day. However, he had already given his whole heart to the sect leader, as if no one else could see it.

"But no matter what, stealing is wrong, and that's no excuse for stealing from our sect leader. You even ransacked the sect leader's room, which is outrageous. I'm curious, why didn't you steal just one or two things? That would have been harder to detect. Instead, you stole everything. It's hard to avoid being caught. Do you believe in magic?"

Gu Changqing snorted coldly and said with great disdain that he seriously suspected this guy was an idiot, it was just too ridiculous.

"I don't know what I was thinking at the time. My mind went blank, and I just stole everything. If those tables and chairs hadn't been so heavy, I probably would have taken them all. It's all my fault. I was out of my mind and stole things from the sect leader's room without thinking." The man in white recalled the situation and said with a blank expression.

"You're really something else. I'm speechless. Is everything you stole here? Did you keep anything for yourself?" Gu Changqing asked casually with a faint smile.

“No, you saw it yourself. I didn’t have time to hide anything. I just got here and you followed right after me,” the man in white said with utmost seriousness.

"That's good. You'd better be telling the truth. If I find out you're lying, I'll definitely twist your head off and kick it like a football." Gu Changqing sneered and warned. If this person dared to deceive him, he would make sure he was in deep trouble and would suffer a terrible fate.

After saying that, Gu Changqing waved his hand and put all of the beautiful sect leader's belongings into his storage ring.

"Now that your sect leader's things have been found, can you release me?" the white-robed man asked, seizing the opportunity.

"What? Let you go? Are you kidding me? This matter hasn't been investigated yet, and it still needs to be handled by our sect. What's your hurry?" Gu Changqing directly and bluntly rejected the man's request.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you steal something and then return it, does that mean it never happened? What's the point of rules then? Wouldn't the world be in chaos?

Without rules, nothing can be accomplished; we must never turn big problems into small ones or small problems into nothing.

We cannot simply believe this person's one-sided story. What if this person has other motives? If we don't investigate thoroughly, wouldn't we be leaving a hidden danger?

The man in white said, seemingly anxiously, "Of course I'm anxious. My seventy-year-old mother is waiting for me to come home and cook for her."

"Heh, that's your private matter, none of my business. And your seventy-year-old mother, can't she cook? In the years without you, did your mother only drink water and not eat? If you want to lie, at least make up a reasonable excuse." Gu Changqing sneered, getting straight to the point.

This isn't the Blue Planet era. Which woman doesn't know how to cook? Unless she's from a very wealthy family, but if she were, would this person even be cooking? I have to say, this person's scam is incredibly low-class.

Too lazy to waste any more words with this person, Gu Changqing grabbed him roughly without saying a word, and with a thought, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and headed towards the sect.

Before long, Gu Changqing brought the man back to the sect's main hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Elder Liu saw Gu Changqing return with a man in white by his side, he was overjoyed and asked eagerly, "Could this person be the thief who stole the things?"

Gu Changqing smiled, said nothing, just nodded, and kicked the thief. Caught off guard, the thief fell to his knees, making intimate contact with the ground.

"That was my first kiss! How could it be gone like this?" the man in white said in anguish.

"Shut up," Gu Changqing and Elder Liu said at the same time. This person was too noisy.

The man in white dared not speak again and immediately shut his mouth, looking extremely aggrieved.

"Chief Gu is incredibly fast! He caught the thief so quickly, that's amazing!" Elder Liu was overjoyed upon receiving confirmation and praised him profusely.

"Have all of the sect leader's things been recovered?" Elder Liu suddenly remembered this and asked, having forgotten to ask in his excitement.

"The items have been recovered, but I'm not sure if all of them have been recovered. Why don't we ask the servants who serve the sect leader to see if they know anything about them?" Gu Changqing said without reservation and offered his suggestion.

"The method is good, but we still can't be sure if anything important has been lost, and if it is important, they probably wouldn't even know," Elder Liu said uncertainly.

“Yes, Elder Liu is right. So how should we deal with this person? Should we deal with him now, or wait until the sect leader comes out of seclusion and let the sect leader decide?” Gu Changqing asked calmly.

"I think either is fine. Chief Gu, which method do you think is better?" Elder Liu said with a smile, thinking that either was acceptable, so he asked Gu Changqing for his opinion.

"In my opinion, we should interrogate him first before detaining him. This will allow us to better determine if he has any other intentions, and it's also for safety reasons. After all, we don't know if there are any important items in the room, or if he has anything important hidden away. So, it's best to detain him first; there will be plenty of time for interrogation," Gu Changqing said calmly and composedly.

“Alright, let’s do it this way. Let the sect leader make her own decision after she comes out of seclusion. After all, it’s her things that were lost, and besides, she is the sect leader. From a moral, logical, public, and private perspective, this is the most appropriate way.” Elder Liu nodded and said in full agreement.

"Oh yeah, that's great! I can finally meet the sect leader!" the white-robed man said excitedly.

"Shut up!" Gu Changqing shouted, glancing speechlessly at the man in white. Was this guy missing a screw? He was imprisoned, yet he was so happy to see the sect leader. It was truly unbelievable.