Stars Chamber of Commerce.
Outside the gate.
A rickshaw passed through the Commercial Street and slowly came to a halt right at the main entrance of the chamber of commerce. A man wearing a white Woolen Overcoat with a dark blue Scarf wrapped around his collar stood up and got off. He casually took out a Silver Coin from his coat and tossed it to the rickshaw puller.
Seeing a Silver Coin fall into his hand, the rickshaw puller's eyes instantly widened. A smile as radiant as a blooming chrysanthemum immediately appeared on his face as he bowed and scraped to send the distinguished guest off.
Chu Muyun stood still at the entrance of the Stars Chamber of Commerce. Looking at the empty main gate, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought...
'This isn't right. The defense at the gate used to be very strict, why is there not a single person this time?'
'Where is everyone? Where did they all go?'
Chu Muyun walked to the gate and politely rang the doorbell a few times. Still, no one answered. The guard booth on the side was also completely empty at this moment. If one listened carefully, a continuous alarm could faintly be heard coming from deep within the estate...
"Did something happen inside the chamber of commerce..." Chu Muyun pushed his Silver-Rimmed Glasses up the bridge of his nose. He didn't even need to think to know who caused this commotion.
Chu Muyun hesitated at the gate for a moment, then reached out and gently swiped his hand across the iron gate. The heavy iron gate was instantly sliced open, the smooth and even cut looking as if it had been slashed by a scalpel. It collapsed with a loud crash at the empty entrance... An open and clear path was thus exposed before Chu Muyun's eyes.
"The gate was like this when I got here," Chu Muyun muttered to himself. "I saw no one at the entrance, so I just walked straight in... I'm just passing by."
As he spoke, he took a step forward and unhurriedly walked toward the chaotic interior of the chamber of commerce.
...
Amidst the piercing alarm, a red-clad figure rapidly flew past the estate.
This figure was simply too conspicuous. The guards patrolling the estate immediately changed direction, all chasing after that splash of red. A Paper Puppet drifted across the sky like a kite, charging at the very front, rapidly closing the distance with the Red-Clad Figure.
The Red-Clad Figure at this moment also knew he was completely surrounded, but his expression didn't change much... In his eyes, there was only that interrogation room drawing ever closer.
To him, life and death perhaps didn't amount to much; there were always things more important than life and death.
Looking at the numerous guards flanking him from ahead, glints of light continuously flashed in his eyes. Without slowing down in the slightest, he crashed headlong into the crowd. In the chaos, he snatched a sharp dagger backhanded, plunged it into his own chest, and then sliced all the way down, almost cutting his entire body open from chest to belly!
The power of this slash was not as simple as stabbing himself three times. As blood spurted out, a large amount of internal organs was exposed to the air, instantly putting him in a near-death state!
Blood soaked that Great Crimson Theatrical Robe. His speed didn't decrease but instead increased, surging several times more than before. His entire person was like a red flash of lightning sweeping past the crowd. Running at such high speed, pieces of internal organs flew out from his body, splattering along this bloody path.
Seeing this scene, all the guards chasing him were dumbfounded. They had never seen such a bloody and bizarre sight. As that red figure roared past, everyone stood frozen in place, at a complete loss.
The Red-Clad Figure coughed violently, his vitality rapidly fading. However, with [Blood Raiment] pushed to its absolute limit, his speed was actually on par with the rapidly flying Paper Puppet for a time, making it impossible for him to be caught. At the same time, the interrogation room was rapidly approaching right before his eyes.
Just as he was about to burst inside, streaks of ink erupted from the void. Under the interweaving of countless brushstrokes, a black-clothed figure appeared out of thin air in front of him.
"Where do you think you're running?" the black-clothed figure coldly snorted. "[Fix]."
As the final syllable rang out, a Talisman Scroll drifted from his fingertips. The characters on it faded and vanished as if burning, and a powerful restraining force instantly locked onto the running Red-Clad Figure!
The Red-Clad Figure's body instantly froze in place!
"Just a Second-Tier, and you dare to run wild in the Stars Chamber of Commerce?" the black-clothed figure unhurriedly spoke. "Do you really think we are mere decorations?"
The [Seal Character] of a Fourth Order Path of the Scholar God was simply not something the current Second-Tier Red-Clad Figure could break free from. He also hadn't expected to meet the other party here again. He glared deathly at that black-clothed figure, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
In this brief pause, that Paper Puppet had already fluttered down lightly behind the Red-Clad Figure. The terrifying auras of a Fourth Order and a Fifth-Tier crashed down upon the Red-Clad Figure's shoulders!
Caught in a pincer attack from both front and back, even if the Red-Clad Figure were to break free from the [Fix] character now, he would have nowhere to escape.
Not far away, a group of figures slowly approached.
"Red clothes, face-changing." The Old Butler had a dark expression, his eyes fixed on the red-clad figure frozen in midair. "This reminds me of someone... However, he should have died already. The day he turned into flying ash, I was also at the scene."
"This brat's methods are very wicked, maybe he has some other way to escape," the Paper Puppet Master answered hoarsely from the side.
"It's him! He is Chen Ling!!" Yan Xishou, supported by the Old Butler, was rubbing the back of his head with one hand, grimacing in pain. "He kept pressing me about some heart just now... He came to seek revenge for himself and his younger brother."
"No, I've seen Chen Ling. His face wasn't this young; this one is clearly just a teenager."
"Then who is he? Chen Yan?"
"But both of those people died long ago. With no heart and no organs, whether he is the older brother or the younger brother, how could he possibly appear here?"
"Then who else could be standing here? A vengeful evil spirit?"
"If only the Seven Great Districts hadn't fallen. We could send someone to dig at the place they were buried back then to see how many corpses are underneath, and everything would be clear."
"..."
Hearing the last sentence, the Red-Clad Figure's pupils shrank slightly...
He suddenly remembered that when he went to the Mass Grave Mound back then, he never personally dug open that layer of soil... Or rather, he was about to dig it open, but was stopped by the A-Yan who appeared in his mind, and didn't dig any deeper.
If he had dug open that layer of frozen bloody soil at the time, what would have appeared underneath?
Would it be Chen Ling? Or Chen Yan?
Or...
The crowd seemed very curious about the Red-Clad Figure's identity. The Old Butler tried to compare his face with the face of the Chen Ling who self-immolated on the train back then, but couldn't find the slightest similarity. He frowned as he looked at that unfamiliar young face, slowly walked forward, and asked in a deep voice:
"Just who exactly are you?"
The Red-Clad Figure was locked in place by the [Fix] character. All the power in his body was mobilized, frantically struggling, trying to break free from the power of the Path of the Scholar God, so much so that his entire person was trembling imperceptibly...
He slowly raised those blood-soaked eyes, stared at the Old Butler for a long time, and gave a miserable smile.
"Yeah..."
"Just who... am I?"