The Traitor

The sounds of the two people fighting upstairs reached Amelia’s ears.

If it had only been a few minutes, she could have let it go. But after checking the time on her phone, she realized that an entire hour had already passed since they started.

This Xu Mu was truly burdened with sin. Perhaps he was the one being plagued by filth after all.

…

Early the next morning.

Xu Mu got up early and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

After Amelia finished tidying the bed in her room, she came out as well. She had originally intended to say goodbye to Ye Tong.

But when she reached the kitchen, she discovered that Xu Mu was making breakfast.

She was utterly surprised. Shouldn’t an expert of his caliber be enjoying the good life at home?

“You’re awake? Have something to eat before you leave,” Xu Mu said, glancing at Amelia.

“Uh… all right. Thank you.”

Amelia nodded lightly.

[Favorability +6]

Just then, Ye Tong appeared at the top of the stairs on the second floor, and the same favorability increase appeared above her head.

Ye Tong and Amelia sat on the sofa and chatted for a while.

Xu Mu brought out the breakfast. “I didn’t make anything complicated. Just a simple sandwich and a glass of milk.”

Amelia nodded. She picked up the sandwich and had barely taken a bite when her eyes widened.

It was obviously just a simple meal, so how could it be this delicious?

[Favorability +10]

However, she said nothing, lest they think she had never experienced anything good before.

Favorability appeared above Ye Tong as well.

After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways.

Amelia prepared to return to Europe. Xu Mu, meanwhile, followed the address Li Chenshuang had given him and headed to Hecheng in Qilu.

He had originally assumed that the Nine Li tribes were all located in roughly the same area. He had not expected them to be so far apart.

He flew a helicopter toward the area. It took only two hours to reach his destination.

The place was situated on the outskirts of a small county town.

Xu Mu landed the helicopter in an unoccupied area, then switched to a car and drove toward the nearby factory.

The address Li Chenshuang had given him was for a Chinese herbal medicine processing facility.

After arriving and waiting for a short while, a middle-aged man hurried over.

Xu Mu lowered the car window.

The man asked with a smile, “Are you Mr. Xu?”

“That’s me.”

Xu Mu nodded.

“Follow me. There’s parking inside the factory.”

The middle-aged man led the way. Xu Mu started the car again and parked it inside the factory.

After getting out, Xu Mu used his perception to scan the entire facility.

He discovered that its main business was the basic processing of Chinese medicinal herbs, which were then apparently sold to various Chinese medicine companies.

“Please come with me. Our boss is waiting for you inside.”

The middle-aged man smiled as he gestured for Xu Mu to follow.

Xu Mu nodded lightly.

Under the man’s guidance, Xu Mu continued all the way to the living quarters at the back of the factory.

Eventually, they arrived at a private residence surrounded by walls.

The middle-aged man said with a smile, “I won’t go in. Our boss is inside.”

Xu Mu acknowledged him and walked into the courtyard.

The doors to the living room were wide open. Li Chenshuang and another woman were seated inside, waiting for him.

“I’m coming in,” Xu Mu called out as he entered the living room.

Li Chenshuang was just as eye-catching as ever. Dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, with silver hair and crimson eyes, she possessed an almost devastating allure.

Beside her sat a woman who appeared to be in her forties.

The woman wore a black uniform and had black hair and eyes. Apart from that, she looked much like an ordinary citizen of the Dragon Kingdom.

“Please, sit.”

Li Chenshuang smiled and gestured for Xu Mu to take a seat.

“What a grand entrance. You asked me to come here and handle something for you, yet you just sat here waiting instead of coming out to greet me. Anyone who didn’t know better might think I was the one begging you for help.”

Xu Mu sat down on the sofa and crossed one leg over the other.

“Isn’t it because we’re trying not to attract attention? Whether it’s me or my boss, we’re both bound to draw people’s notice.”

Li Chenshuang patted the shoulder of the woman beside her.

“This is Zhou Su, the owner of this factory. She’s a mixed-blood descendant of the Nine Li and Yanhuang peoples, and my best friend.”

“Hello.”

Zhou Su smiled and nodded at Xu Mu.

Leaning back against the sofa, Xu Mu asked calmly, “What exactly happened? Was it Chi Ting?”

“I think so. Other than offending him last time, I haven’t crossed anyone else.”

Li Chenshuang’s expression grew solemn.

“If he really intends to make an enemy of me, our Second Tribe could be completely wiped out.”

Xu Mu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. She was right.

After all, Chi Ting was an extraordinarily powerful expert, and he should have plenty of formidable corpses at his disposal.

Besides that, he was also closely connected to Wang Hun.

“What are you planning to do? If it really was Chi Ting, calling me here won’t help. I can’t beat him either.”

Xu Mu spread his hands.

“I asked you to come for another reason as well. There’s a traitor in our Second Tribe.”

Li Chenshuang explained, “What happened this time was extremely suspicious. Without an insider, they absolutely could not have pulled it off.”

“Put it simply.”

Xu Mu looked at Li Chenshuang.

“I sent someone at the Transcendent level to handle a task in a certain place, but he disappeared. Later, I sent a World-Breaking First-Order expert to investigate, and I lost contact with him as well.”

Li Chenshuang folded her hands in front of her.

“A few days passed. I went there personally, but I found no sign that anyone had ambushed me.”

Hearing this, Xu Mu said, “You mean that after you ordered people to go there, the information was leaked, which led to them being killed. When you went there yourself, you hadn’t given anyone any orders, so the traitor didn’t know about it and had no way to pass the information along.”

“Exactly. That’s what I think.”

Li Chenshuang nodded.

“Didn’t you say that two World-Breaking experts disappeared?”

Xu Mu asked curiously.

“That’s right. After the incident, I went with another World-Breaking expert to the First Tribe, intending to inform our ancestor. But I was told that the ancestor was in seclusion and would not emerge for several more days.”

Li Chenshuang continued, “I decided to wait for the ancestor to come out, so I had that World-Breaking expert return first. But then I lost contact with him as well. As soon as I realized what had happened, I hurried back and called you.”

Xu Mu closed his eyes and fell into thought.

“What you’re describing is strange. To instantly kill a World-Breaking expert in the outside world… just how powerful is that person?”

“It might not have been an instant kill. Why don’t you contact the Cleaners first and have them investigate whether there are any records of a battle along the route we took?”

Li Chenshuang suddenly suggested.

“Before that, I’ll identify the traitor among your people.”

As he spoke, Xu Mu smiled and looked at Zhou Su.

“It won’t be that simple. You only know me among the people in our tribe, don’t you?”

Li Chenshuang shook her head.

Xu Mu knew nothing about the others, so how could he possibly identify the traitor?

“It seems you don’t understand the importance of information at all. Just repeat what you did before and have the last World-Breaking expert go out while pretending to carry out a mission. Wouldn’t that expose the traitor?”

Xu Mu spoke with complete composure.

He had to admit that the halo Meng Wanyue had given him was genuinely useful.

Identifying a traitor was especially troublesome when he knew absolutely nothing about the people here.

But now, with a simple scan, he could see that Zhou Su’s filial piety value toward Li Chenshuang was -1.