< Chapter 62: Did You Invent the Mechanical Monkey? >
The next moment, Fei Si pushed the door open and entered.
Zhu Xuanji stared at Fei Si with deep, intense eyes. “You arrived quite quickly.”
Fei Si smiled, but the smile was filled with bitterness.
Zhu Xuanji had a special status, and Fei Si paid close attention to his every move. Although the city lord did not explicitly instruct him, how could Fei Si not know what to do?
Thus, when Zhu Xuanji and his two companions left the volcano and headed straight to the Flying Disk Workshop, Fei Si received the news immediately.
The Flying Disk Workshop and Chen Cha were closely connected to Fei Si. Especially with the Huoshi Festival approaching, Fei Si urgently needed as many Mechanical Exclusive Monkeys as possible.
This matter was crucial to the Huoshi Festival, which Fei Si was responsible for. Naturally, he did not dare to be careless.
Now that Zhu Xuanji and his companions were heading to the Flying Disk Workshop, Fei Si couldn’t sit still and rushed over.
“First, I have nothing to do with the appearance of the Immortal Palace,” Fei Si began. “Second, this started with a small mistake on my part.”
He then detailed how, out of concern for the livelihood of the people and fear that the wealth of the Southern Dou Dynasty might be destroyed, he was eager to present treasures to the city lord and recommended the mechanical monkeys. Therefore, he mistakenly believed Chen Cha was the inventor.
When he discovered this mistake, Chen Cha suggested that they could cover it up.
At first, Fei Si hesitated, but Chen Cha’s persistent persuasion led him to agree.
Chen Cha then privately approached Ning Zhuo, asking him to transfer the inventor’s identity to him in exchange for a hefty reward.
Ning Zhuo agreed.
The two signed a contract to keep this secret together. (In fact, Fei Si had ordered Chen Cha to do this, and the agreement was added afterward.)
“Sounds nice!” Chi Dun sneered, staring at Fei Si. “But I know you’re lying.”
Zhu Xuanji frowned even more deeply. Using his cultivation technique, he could tell that much of what Fei Si said was false, although the main points were true.
Considering that Fei Si was a Golden Core cultivator and held a high position responsible for the daily affairs of Huoshi Immortal City, Zhu Xuanji chose not to expose him.
Zheng Shuanggou then looked at Ning Zhuo, reassessing him. “So, you are the inventor of the Mechanical Monkeys.”
Ning Zhuo quickly bowed, once again expressing his gratitude to Zheng Shuanggou for saving his life.
Zheng Shuanggou, a Golden Core cultivator, had once saved the remaining members of the Ning family at the volcano’s peak, including Ning Zhuo, Ning Yong, and Ning Chen.
Zheng Shuanggou smiled and said, “Since you remember my life-saving grace, how do you plan to repay it?” Realizing Ning Zhuo’s talent with mechanisms, he had a slight intention to recruit him.
Ning Zhuo smiled wryly. “As a cultivator of the Ning family, it might be difficult for me to fully repay you, my lord, but I will do my utmost.”
Zheng Shuanggou waved his hand. “Forget it, forget it. How could I trouble a junior like you?”
As a cultivator of the Ning family, forcibly recruiting Ning Zhuo would undoubtedly cause friction with the Ning family.
Previously, the three families had already been discussing joining forces against the City Lord’s Mansion. Since Ning Zhuo had changed his cultivation, whether he joined the Zheng family or not was no longer significant.
Hearing this, Zhu Xuanji looked at Ning Zhuo again. “Were you present when the Immortal Palace emerged?”
Ning Zhuo replied, “Yes, I was fortunate enough to escape with my life.”
“Ha ha. I know this much,” Chi Dun laughed. He had found Fei Si’s weak spot and was very pleased, saying boldly, “After the incident, I interrogated many people. The Ning family cultivators were among the first batch.”
“At that time, I not only used the Heart Questioning Formation but also carried the Alert Heart Bell personally bestowed by the City Lord.”
“It was the Alert Heart Bell’s warning that allowed me to discover the lurking Shadow demon cultivator! Afterward, I chased him all the way until he escaped into the Huoshi Forest.”
Zhu Xuanji nodded and asked the crucial question, “When did you start producing the Mechanical Explosive Monkeys? Did your design drawings leak before? Are there any other insiders?”
Upon inquiry, Zhu Xuanji found out that the Mechanical Explosive Monkeys had been sold even before the Immortal Palace emerged.
On the same day Ning Zhuo sought advice from Chen Cha, the two had reached an agreement to collaborate and began producing the Mechanical Explosive Monkeys for sale.
According to Chen Cha, he needed to introduce the product to the market, obtain market feedback, and then decide the level of investment and production scale.
Although Ning Zhuo claimed that his design drawings had not leaked, as a mere Qi Refining stage disciple, it would be difficult for him to detect if they had been spied upon.
In short, this clue was useless.
Tracking down the exact buyers of each Mechanical Explosive Monkey was an enormous task that made Zhu Xuanji’s scalp tingle just thinking about it.
This did not even account for the cases of resale.
In reality, a single Mechanical Monkey could go through first-hand, second-hand, third-hand…
At this point in the investigation, Zhu Xuanji lost interest in the Flying Disk Workshop, Chen Cha, and Ning Zhuo.
As they left, Fei Si saw them off. “Actually, Lord Zhu, there’s no need to go to such great lengths investigating all this.”
“The Huoshi Festival is just around the corner. By then, we will surround and capture that Shadow demon cultivator.”
“If we can capture and interrogate him alive, with the methods of the Detective Division, the mastermind behind the scenes will surely surface, won’t it?”
This was Fei Si’s thinking.
As the person handling most of the affairs, he had to meticulously calculate his time each day, prioritizing efficiency.
In his eyes, Zhu Xuanji’s extensive investigation seemed to be a very inefficient endeavor.
The culprit was hiding in the Huoshi Forest. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to capture the real culprit directly at that time?
Zhu Xuanji snorted coldly and looked at Fei Si. “I understand your point. Rest assured, I will be there to oversee things on the day of the Huoshi Festival.”
“I very much want to meet that Shadow demon cultivator in person!”
Fei Si smiled. He had said this to seek additional support.
As a member of the Detective Division, Zhu Xuanji’s combat prowess was formidable. Additionally, with his royal family background, he likely carried many precious treasures.
This greatly increased the likelihood of capturing the Shadow demon cultivator.
Zhu Xuanji left the Flying Disk Workshop.
On the way, Zheng Shuanggou bid farewell to Zhu Xuanji.
Only Chi Dun remained. His thoughts were actually quite similar to Fei Si’s. He also wanted to capture the Shadow demon cultivator during the Huoshi Festival to directly resolve the core issue.
Zhu Xuanji sneered. “Do you really think the Shadow demon cultivator is the true culprit behind the explosion at the Immortal Palace?”
Chi Dun was stunned. “Isn’t he?”
Zhu Xuanji shook his head. “Don’t let your inner assumptions blind you.”
“From the current clues, it seems that the Immortal Palace was bombed and damaged again, causing it to reappear.”
“The explosion was caused by the Mechanical Monkeys. From this point of view, others can also command these mechanical creations.”
Chi Dun paused in place, acknowledging that Zhu Xuanji’s words made a lot of sense.
“But if it wasn’t the shadow demon cultivator, who else could it be?” He pondered deeply, his body suddenly trembling as he revealed a look of disbelief, “Could it be… Zheng Shuanggou?!”
Zhu Xuanji shook his head again, “Anything is possible.”
“Just think, if the shadow demon cultivator isn’t the real culprit and we mistakenly believe he is, thereby wasting precious investigation time, how would we deal with it?”
Chi Dun nodded, “What Lord Zhu said is very true. But wasn’t the clue about the Mechanical Monkeys a dead end?”
Zhu Xuanji smiled slightly and looked up at the sky, “Chi Dun, you’ve forgotten, there’s actually a more crucial clue.”
“The real culprit behind the bombing of the Immortal Palace wasn’t the Mechanical Monkeys, but the thousand-pound Fire Essence.”
“Purchasing such a large amount of Fire Essence would surely attract attention, and the seller would have a very strong impression!”
Chi Dun clapped his hands excitedly, “Yes, yes. This is indeed a valuable clue.”
Zhu Xuanji turned to him, “So next, I want you to lead me to investigate the various markets in the Immortal City.”
“Understood, my lord!” Chi Dun, seeing hope in the investigation, spoke with renewed enthusiasm.