Chapter 141: Chapter 105: Scapegoat (Part 2)

The lure of immense profit coiled around Zhang Wei’s heart like a venomous snake.

Chen Qing was skilled, to be sure, but he had no one backing him.

Zhao Kang and Wang Hai, on the other hand, had overwhelming influence behind them—they had gotten the previous steward, Steward Mao, transferred away on a whim.

Chen Qing was destined to be the scapegoat.

At the thought of the immense fortune so close at hand, his eyes turned red and his heart hardened. “Fine! One last score! After it’s done…”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your cut!”

A smile spread across Wang Hai’s face once more. “Tomorrow night at Midnight. We’ll make the exchange at the old spot. Keep it clean. Don’t let that Chen Qing find out.”

Zhang Wei clenched his jaw and gave a heavy nod.

…….

「Deep in the night.」

It was a dark, windy night. The Fishery was deathly still.

Dressed in dark clothes, Zhang Wei crept to a hidden fishing pool upstream of the main channel.

With practiced ease, he administered a special powder to the water. Fine bubbles soon frothed on the surface, and the normally wary Treasure Fish grew sluggish.

He quickly cast a sturdy silk net. In less than an hour, dozens of Three-Stripe Carp, their scales shimmering with Spiritual Light, and several heavy Ink Jade Clams were hauled ashore and packed into a custom-made wooden crate.

Zhang Wei hoisted the crate onto his shoulder, his heart pounding. He felt a mix of exhilaration at his impending success and an unspeakable tension.

Hunched over, he followed a path he knew by heart, intending to bypass the Fishery’s central area and head for the rendezvous point he’d arranged with Wang Hai and Zhao Kang: an abandoned reed marsh near Qianchuan Marsh.

He hadn’t gone far when a figure suddenly stepped out of the shadows, carrying a lantern.

The dim, yellow light illuminated Li Tie’s face.

“Brother Zhang?”

Li Tie clearly hadn’t expected to run into Zhang Wei here. “It’s so late,” he said, surprised. “Has your injury even fully healed? Where are you off to? And what are you carrying that’s so heavy?”

Zhang Wei froze, his heart leaping into his throat.

In the lamplight, a flicker of panic crossed his face.

’There’s no way Li Tie, a Transmutation Force cultivator, won’t smell the fishy water leaking from this crate.’

“Junior Brother Li?”

Zhang Wei forced himself to remain calm, but his voice came out dry. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came out for a walk. This is… um… some spare fishing nets and tools Old Zhao asked me to take to the storeroom. It’s a little heavy…”

“Nets and tools?”

The suspicion in Li Tie’s eyes deepened. He instinctively took two steps closer, trying to get a better look. “Isn’t the storeroom that way? Brother Zhang, you’re going the wrong way. Besides, why is this crate dripping? And is that… a fishy smell?”

He pointed toward the water seeping from a crack in the crate.

The very instant Li Tie’s attention was fixed on the crate and he reached out a hand—

A murderous light flashed in Zhang Wei’s eyes!

’He can’t be allowed to leave here alive!’

’Otherwise, it’s all over!’

Without a shred of hesitation, while Li Tie was completely defenseless, Zhang Wei’s right hand, which had been hidden behind his back, lashed out. It held a short knife used for processing fish.

SHLICK!

The short knife plunged, precise and vicious, into Li Tie’s unprotected side, instantly piercing his lung.

“You…”

Li Tie’s eyes shot wide, filled with shock, pain, and utter disbelief.

He looked down at the blade buried in his body, then up at Zhang Wei’s twisted, savage face. His lips trembled. “Why… Brother Zhang…”

As Zhang Wei watched the light fade from Li Tie’s eyes, a complex emotion flickered in his own—guilt, fear, but above all, a frenzied madness.

He yanked the knife free. Li Tie’s body crumpled to the ground, life extinct. Blood rapidly pooled beneath him.

“Don’t blame me, my friend,” Zhang Wei muttered through gritted teeth, his voice trembling. “You shouldn’t have been out here…”

He wiped the bloodied Water-Splitting Needle on Li Tie’s clothes before hiding it away again.

Not daring to look at the body on the ground, he shouldered the crate and bolted toward the reed marsh like a startled rabbit.

The night wind whimpered as it swept across the empty Fishery.

Zhang Wei’s heart hammered in his chest with every footfall. He kept glancing over his shoulder, feeling as if a pair of eyes were watching him from the darkness.

Soon, he had crossed the main channel.

Zhang Wei finally started to relax.

’Tonight, all I have to do is hand over the goods to Wang Hai and Zhao Kang’s men, get the money, and I can disappear forever!’

!?

Suddenly, Zhang Wei froze in his tracks. A chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the very top of his skull.

Just a short distance ahead, a figure sat silently on a large bluestone boulder, his back to Zhang Wei.

The man held an ordinary fishing rod, its line dangling in the pitch-black water.

The meager moonlight cast a faint glow, outlining the man’s upright silhouette.

It was Chen Qing.

Zhang Wei’s blood ran cold.

A wave of unspeakable terror washed over him. The heavy wooden crate on his shoulder crashed to the ground with a THUD. Several Three-Stripe Carp flopped out of the poorly sealed opening, writhing in the mud.

“Steward… Steward Chen? What are you doing here?”

Zhang Wei’s voice trembled, his mind reeling as he made a last, desperate attempt to lie. “I couldn’t sleep, so I was just out for a walk… and I, uh, I just found this crate of fish. Was about to take it back…”

Chen Qing calmly reeled in his line, as if something precious were hanging from the empty hook.

“Fishing.”

He paused, then finally turned, his calm gaze landing on Zhang Wei’s ashen face.

“And to see if the fish that went missing from the pools would swim back on their own tonight.”

Chen Qing glanced at the crate. “It seems they didn’t swim back,” he said lightly. “Instead, they were ’found’ by you. Does the number of fish you ’find’ each night match the tallies you’ve been submitting?”

Zhang Wei looked as if he’d been struck by lightning. He staggered back a step, all the color draining from his face.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep