Chapter 319: Chapter 177: Startled Questions Amid Bewildered Intoxication

He Kao has been observing Ye Liangcheng for more than half a month.

He found that in this area of abandoned buildings, only Ye Liangcheng is stationed here, along with five big wolves, and after inquiring about the situation from the side, there appears to be no apparent problems.

However, once you know there’s something mysterious here and observe closely, you’ll notice many anomalies.

First, the walls of this abandoned project look mottled and worn, but ordinary people simply can’t get past them. In many places, the wall tops are even lined with barbed wire, and there are barriers between the two buildings for rent and other areas.

Secondly, there are surveillance cameras installed here, although not many, their positions are very concealed and are still operational.

He Kao is searching for the secret base of the Huiming Shi Family Cleaning Department. According to the clues provided by that short blade, the location should be in this area, and upon stealthily infiltrating, discoveries were indeed made.

In the very center of the building, there are two suspicious areas.

First is the large central area on the first floor, with hollow bricks used to block between each column, making it impossible to enter from the outside, seemingly to prevent someone from climbing upstairs from here.

However, upon reaching the third floor, traces of activity can be found. Following these traces leads to a concealed fire escape that descends, revealing a hall designed like a Martial Arts Hall within the walls.

Ye Liangcheng occasionally visits this Martial Arts Hall for practice, but he seems rather lax. Within half a month, He Kao only saw him come three times, just enough to avoid becoming unfamiliar.

As for the other area, it’s adjacent to the parking lot on the second basement level. It was originally supposed to be an equipment room, but the related equipment was not installed and it was arranged into a secret base.

This secret base is where Kucha Zi issues equipment to his cleaners, yet He Kao surprisingly couldn’t find it initially, discovering it by tracking Ye Liangcheng.

The entrance to the secret base is not within the Martial Arts Hall, but in a small unobtrusive building among the weeds outside the building, resembling the outlet of an underground ventilation duct.

During He Kao’s covert observation, Ye Liangcheng visited twice, both times on Sunday mornings, showcasing regular patterns.

Actually, He Kao had already infiltrated the second basement level of the building and thoroughly searched it, but even with his Divine Sense, he hadn’t discovered that secret base. After being led by Ye Liangcheng, he stealthily entered, learning the reason, and couldn’t help but be amazed.

The secret base is not large, about two hundred square meters, divided into three sections: a quiet room, a storeroom, and a space resembling a meeting room, designed with a secretive and twisted ventilation structure.

Its four walls, the floor, and ceiling are lined with a special material, resembling gold yet jade, neither gold nor jade, processed into ten-centimeter-thick and twenty-centimeter-square brick-like panels, even the doors are processed from this material.

Although lightweight, it’s very sturdy, with joints and tenons akin to floorboards on the side, allowing for piece by piece mortise and tenon assemblies.

This material can surprisingly block Divine Sense or perhaps confuse Divine Sense, because He Kao had explored this area via the basement’s walls, only feeling it as the soil filling around a foundation, failing to notice the existence of this secret space.

This intrigued He Kao immensely, never having seen such material before. Perhaps, it was some kind of Treasure of Heaven and Earth, or leftover scraps from the sacrificial refinement of Magical Artifacts processed again by Divine Sense compound.

He couldn’t help but entertain a thought—since money was not a concern now, the second and third floors of his own small building should be renovated. Some of these brick-like panels would suffice to create a secret chamber.

The furnishings in the quiet room were quite simple: a table, a chair, a cabinet, and a bed. The bed even had a meditation cushion on it… He Kao noticed that the mat on the bed and that cushion were both top-quality items.

Besides some miscellaneous items, the cabinet contained seven bottles of elixirs, among them, three bottles were of Qi Replenishing Pills that he recognized. The other four bottles, judging by his current Poison Detection Skill and Medicine Identification Skill levels, should also be spirit medicines that aid cultivation.

For specific names and types, further research is needed… in order not to alert anyone, he didn’t touch anything, examining them remotely using Divine Sense.

On the table, there was a small incense burner, beside it were three tubes of Awakening Incense, one of which was already half used. These were exactly what He Kao needed, even the incense ash of the Awakening Incense had great value, but he hadn’t touched anything for now.

Next to the quiet room was the storeroom, surprisingly containing many sets of clothes and shoes, along with more than a dozen unused new phones. The most valuable item was the money—there were substantial amounts of cash here.

Not only East Country Coin but also foreign currency cash and a small amount of gold, roughly estimated to be worth several million. Yet, to He Kao’s slight disappointment, no Magical Treasures or other Treasures of Heaven and Earth were found here.

He Kao’s entry and exit didn’t trigger any alarms because he had already discovered the alarm and surveillance devices and temporarily shut them down while Ye Liangcheng was out.

Ye Liangcheng couldn’t possibly stay alone in the compound all the time; otherwise, it would be stifling over time. He occasionally goes out, even visiting Nanhua City for leisure, but never stays away for more than a night.

There are five dogs kept in the compound too, so he couldn’t leave for long periods.

This lifestyle began half a year ago; back then, with workers employed, Ye Liangcheng sometimes left for extended periods to handle matters elsewhere or perhaps even to travel.

This matched with the information He Kao knew — the Huiming Shi Family met its demise half a year ago.

He Kao didn’t have much time to keep an eye on Ye Liangcheng all the time. He came over most often after dinner and found that Ye Liangcheng liked to drink. He wasn’t exactly an alcoholic, but he had quite a craving for it. Maybe it was because he had nothing else to do.

Someone else in Ye Liangcheng’s situation might be very sloppy, but his daily life was very tidy. Even the empty bottles left over from drinking were arranged neatly in a fixed spot.

After some time of observation, He Kao could confirm that Ye Liangcheng had cultivation, probably Tier Three.

However, he wasn’t on the list of Divine Thought Heart Seal given by Old Man Jiang, so it’s almost certain that he is a janitor under Gu Jiang, and very likely a key member responsible for guarding this secret base.

He reported this discovery to Elder Jiang and asked if the Ancestral Hall should take over the investigation. Elder Jiang replied that the Ancestral Hall is very busy right now and since He Kao found out about it, he should handle it in his own way…

Old Man Jiang told He Kao to take care of it himself and even scolded him, saying not to bother the Sect Law Hall Elders with every trivial matter!

What He Kao didn’t know was that Jiang Daozhen let out a breath after replying, then sent messages to Li Xiuyuan and Gu Chun.

Jiang Daozhen was indeed frightened by He Kao. How many years has it been since such serious incidents requiring multiple elders to be mobilized have occurred in the Magic Sect? In less than a year, there have already been three!

The first was last year’s Qi Yuan incident, which was expected, but the latter two incidents were completely unexpected.

The second was the Huiming Shi Family case, where the Ancestral Hall simultaneously mobilized four elders: Zong Zheng, Gu Chun, Wild Phoenix, Kang Rulin, and rallied more than fifty Sorcerers.

The third was the Northeast Border’s Wu Yanjun case. The Ancestral Hall mobilized Li Xiuyuan, Gu Chun, and Jiang Daozhen himself, even disturbing the secluded Mei Guyu, and involved former Elder Qi Nansheng.

It hasn’t been long since then, and now He Kao suddenly has another matter. Jiang Daozhen is scared too! At this rate, he’s really afraid that He Kao might poke a hole in the sky, which he wouldn’t be able to cover up.

Actually, these matters aren’t entirely He Kao’s fault. The old man cultivated He Kao with the intent to reorganize the Magic Sect, but he can’t just smash pots and overturn tables right at the start! Can’t he take it a bit easy?

The “major” incidents the Ancestral Hall usually deals with are basically like the Ren Zhongqing case, where sending a few Stewards over can solve it.

But the matters He Kao encounters are ones he himself can’t possibly solve, requiring several elders to clean up, leaving everyone no time for anything else?

This time, things are better, as he just tracked down those so-called remnants of the Cleaning Department, finally letting Old Man Jiang breathe a sigh of relief. Given He Kao’s cultivation realm, handling this is just within his ability, providing a genuine test and training.

Since he was told to take care of it himself, He Kao started thinking carefully. He managed to gather information on Ye Liangcheng and took time to observe him secretly…

He Kao pursued the whereabouts of these janitors, of course, to punish wrongdoing and eliminate future trouble, but he didn’t plan to just kill Ye Liangcheng outright.

It’s not that he hasn’t killed before, but each one had their path to death. Even when dealing with these janitors, he needs to figure out what they’re involved in and what evidence there is.

He also didn’t immediately capture Ye Liangcheng for questioning. Instead, he wanted to discover more clues from him. After this period of observation, his impression of Ye Liangcheng wasn’t bad; he even felt a bit sympathetic.

Whenever Ye Liangcheng drank nearly enough, he’d always mutter to himself. It’s not surprising, guarding this abandoned area alone; even a dog would chat a bit; otherwise, he’d have gone mad long ago.

He Kao often heard Ye Liangcheng mumble, “Master Kucha, it’s been half a year now. Why is there no news at all… Where has everyone gone, what exactly happened… Should I still be waiting here? You should send someone to report even!”

Based on various circumstances, He Kao deduced that Ye Liangcheng had no idea about Kucha’s identity and was unaware of the existence of the Magic Sect. He only followed Kucha in practicing the Technique, and hadn’t even heard of the Huiming Shi Family.

After the Huiming Shi Family incident, Kucha notified him to hide and not reveal his identity, nor contact any companions. Given the situation at the time, Kucha certainly didn’t have time to explain more.

Ye Liangcheng’s reaction was to find an excuse to dismiss irrelevant people and guard the place alone. If it were anyone else, they’d probably have moved their possessions and left already, but he stayed loyal to his post.

He Kao knew the code names of these janitors, and he guessed that Ye Liangcheng should be “Ye Wuniang” in that chat group.

The code name “Ye Wuniang” sounds like a woman and is quite deceptive. The reason for He Kao’s guess is quite simple; code names usually have some connection to the person.

The first reason is Ye Liangcheng’s name, and the second is that he likes drinking Wuniang Liquid, all wordplay.

Therefore, He Kao crafted a somewhat bewildering plan, deciding to reveal himself to lure Ye Liangcheng out, maintaining an enigmatic image, and without saying anything else, he first broke the code name “Ye Wuniang.”

Even if he guessed wrong, it doesn’t matter. At worst, the bluff fails, he captures and interrogates him. If he guessed right, he could adapt and continue bluffing.

**

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep