Chapter 103
When confiscating contraband, everything must be registered and cataloged. Like the treasury keys, the ledger was kept by designated personnel. Naturally, Hua Yumu hadn’t forgotten to make a copy to keep with him.
The night was deep, and the clerk who held the keys was surely fast asleep at home. Going to find him now would only waste time, so the three of them decided to break in, taking the opportunity to test the treasury’s security.
No matter how Lin Lin thought about it, something felt strange, and she nearly got herself confused: “If we can break in, that means the security isn’t tight enough, which is dangerous. But if even we can’t break in…”
“Then Master will punish you severely,” Wakako tapped her head. “The Eagle Kingdom’s forces are not like us. They can’t be compared.”
Lin Lin wasn’t entirely sure she understood.
Wakako explained softly: “If their combat strength were strong enough, Saburo wouldn’t need to possess others. Wouldn’t it be simpler to confront us directly? Besides, they smuggled themselves in, so their numbers must be limited. A large group would attract too much attention.”
Lin Lin found her reasoning compelling and nodded firmly.
As expected of Senior Sister!
“We’re here.”
Dressed in black, the three of them blended into the shadows along the roof. Hua Yumu narrowed his eyes, scanning the area before gesturing to his smallest apprentice to pick the lock: “Go on.”
“Me?” Lin Lin’s grimaced. “But I’m not good at lockpicking… Why not let Senior Sister do it? She’s strong, she could break it open in one strike.”
Hua gave her a sideways glance, amused but unyielding: “Precisely because you’re bad at it, you need the practice. Besides, lockpicking isn’t all about brute force. Have you forgotten all the techniques you’ve learned? Now go.”
Lin Lin had no choice but to jump down and clumsily work at the heavy lock.
She really did seem quite bad at it.
Wakako watched her junior sister’s awkward efforts with interest, but Hua suddenly called her name. She turned, only to see him making an unexpected hand signal.
It was one of their pre-arranged tactical signals.
Wakako didn’t understand why he suddenly did this, but years of working together made her instinctively respond with the corresponding signal, without asking why.
Only then did she notice Hua Yumu’s shoulders relax slightly.
He explained: “We can’t let our guard down. Even you and I could end up like Saburo at any moment.”
None of them knew exactly how he controlled others, or what his limitations were. Staying vigilant was essential.
So that’s why he made Lin Lin pick the lock… Wakako mentally noted it down.
Despite Lin Lin’s complaints, here movements were merely slow rather than truly incompetent. After some effort, she waved the lockpick in her hand, signaling that the door was open.
The treasury held countless items from across the city, a dazzling display of riches. Fortunately, they only needed to find that specific shipment—the boxes were distinctive, very noticeable, and still bore traces of mud from the fight that hadn’t been cleaned off.
The three quickly found the goods and began a meticulous count. Lin Lin picked the locks one by one, Hua Yumu held the inventory list and carefully checked each item, while Wakako reached in to test the weights.
Gold, silver, jewels… none of it was missing.
But when she gently hefted the dried leaves, their weight seemed off.
Was it just her imagination? The leaves were feather-light to begin with, so Wakako wasn’t sure if her judgment was correct. She compared the contents of another crate, carefully gathering all the leaves in one place.
Comparing them, there was definitely a difference.
Hua Yumu and Lin Lin came to check. The group spent some time extracting the leaves from dozens of boxes, discovering that nearly half the leaves were missing.
Could someone be… moving the leaves in batches?
And they’d done it cleverly, taking some from certain boxes while leaving others untouched.
Luckily, they discovered it in time!
Hua Yumu frowned, a flash of anger in his eyes: “This has to be an inside job. Moving things in batches means they had multiple opportunities to get in and out… Have we been tricked by Saburo again, or is there still an Eagle Kingdom agent we haven’t uncovered?”
If a traitor had infiltrated their ranks, even if only briefly influenced by Saburo, the consequences could be dire.
Losing the leaves was a minor issue, but having to constantly look over their shoulders during battle was an unthinkable risk.
Lin Lin fell silent for a moment: “But if even Jinxin’s treasury isn’t safe, where else can we move the leaves? Should we take them back to the capital…?”
They all knew this was impossible.
The first instruction they received for this trial was to come to Jinxin Port. Leaving to another city to borrow reinforcements had already pushed their limits. Returning to the capital before the trial ended would be like admitting defeat.
With their mercenary skills, tracking enemies wasn’t difficult, but… where else could they store the leaves? Where would be safe?
Jinxin Port wasn’t their home territory after all.
Before they could devise a plan, Hua Yumu cut off Lin Lin: “Don’t lose hope. We can’t let panic cloud our judgment. Stay calm and think carefully.”
Wakako stared at the pile of dried leaves. Occasionally, a stray breeze blew in, causing the brittle leaves to stir ever so slightly.
After a moment, she suddenly said: “What about taking the offensive?”
“You mean…”
“We leave the leaves right here, without moving them. We wait here, hidden, until they try to sneak in again. Then we follow them back to their hideout.”
Hua Yumu and Lin Lin had considered this idea but thought it too risky.
“Have you considered that they might be using this as a trap to lure us in?”
“Yes,” Wakako answered frankly. “But if we’re prepared, it’s not a trap.”
“It’s called ‘luring the wolves into the den.’”
Lin Lin seemed swayed by the idea, but Hua Yumu remained silent, weighing the risks of Wakako’s plan.
Their different personalities led to different approaches. Lin Lin was young and easily persuaded, while Wakako preferred straightforward, decisive action.
But as the captain, Hua Yumu had to consider the bigger picture.
After careful consideration, he shook his head. “It’s too risky.”
“Dragging this out is even more dangerous,” Wakako argued. “We already know there’s a traitor. Master, aren’t you worried that if this continues, the whole of Jinxin City will be hollowed out by these worms?”
She lowered her voice: “Besides…”
The others waited for her to continue.
Instead, Wakako suddenly threw two darts at Hua Yumu and Lin Lin.
She deliberately held back, making them slow enough that both easily dodged without injury.
Lin Lin jumped in shock: “What are you doing?”
“This is Saburo’s weakness,” Wakako murmured. “He doesn’t know how to fight, so it’s hard for him to possess us. If it were him, he couldn’t have dodged that.”
“That’s true.”
An Omega as physically weak as Saburo, even if he somehow managed to take over the body of a mercenary, would still feel out of place.
Wakako continued: “And he can’t fully control us either… Doesn’t that make sense? If he were truly so powerful, why would he need to specifically control guards and law enforcers to ambush us? Why not just command us to jump off a cliff?”
Lin Lin, being young, lacked combat experience and had never considered these points. But after Wakako’s explanation, it all started to make sense: “Yeah…”
“There’s another point,” Hua Yumu added from behind. “I believe his control ability must have strict conditions, such as distance from the target. Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to appear and possess Old Chen—he could just hide and never give us a chance to find him, wouldn’t that be safer?”
Exactly.
Back in the carriage, when Saburo tried to make Wakako eat the leaves, she couldn’t take back control of her body, but her mind was clear the entire time. She never felt as if her consciousness was being overtaken.
Wakako was also human. How was she different from the guards?
This must be due to some limitation… perhaps even a divine restriction.
Even the Saint was similar. She could control others through blood sacrifice, but afterward her eyes would turn white, and she would become weak, her life force drained.
Everything had a price.
God wanted both sides to fight with neither having an overwhelming advantage. Otherwise, God could have simply chosen their preferred kingdom. Why go through all this trouble
There must be a way to defeat the Eagle Kingdom.
And the Eagle Kingdom surely had a countermeasure against them as well.
Everything was still in play. They just needed to play the game patiently.
At this point, the group exchanged glances, all agreeing to Wakako’s earlier proposal: “Alright.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for Captain Jing to return before we make our move?” Lin Lin remembered something and said, “He went to get reinforcements. He should be here in two days… His skills aren’t bad and having him with us could be an advantage. After all, Muna still has to take care of the Saint.”
But Wakako shook her head.
Lin Lin gasped, then quickly understood: “You mean to bring the Saint with us to track down the enemy’s hideout? But she just woke up, she’s extremely weak…”
“Without the Saint, we can’t move forward.”
“What do you mean?”
Wakako countered: “Didn’t she guide you three in ambushing twenty enemies?”
Those wolves were still lurking in the woods near the inn.
Lin Lin was speechless. After a moment, she finally nodded.
