Chapter 42: Lin Mo Investigates Ning Xuan's Whereabouts

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“Who are you? Do you know the black-haired woman who gave me acupuncture? Go and bring her back at once! I can confess to everyone I’ve killed over the years. I can tell her everything I know. Hurry and bring her back to treat me!”

The assassin from the Killing Pavilion was locked inside a cramped solitary cell. The moment he saw Lin Mo enter, he rushed to the bars and shouted at him.

“She gave you acupuncture?” Lin Mo asked suspiciously, glancing at the investigator who had followed him in. The black-haired woman must have been Ning Xuan, but he had not seen anyone with black hair at the Investigation Bureau.

The investigator nodded and leaned closer to Lin Mo, recounting what had happened.

Lin Mo was astonished. He had never seen acupuncture produce such a miraculous effect.

“Yes! After she treated me, strange energy began flowing through my body. She can save me! She can regenerate my supernatural body! Go and get her! Bring her here to treat me! I still have money—I have plenty of treasures hidden in places only I know about. I’ll give them all to her!”

The assassin was clearly gaunt and haggard, yet he was extraordinarily agitated. He flailed and reached through the bars, trying to seize Lin Mo, who frowned and stepped back.

“I can go and bring her here to save you. But first, tell me who sent you.”

The instant Lin Mo thought of someone trying to kill Ning Xuan, fury surged within him.

In theory, Ning Xuan could not possibly have offended anyone truly powerful. Why would anyone have hired an assassin from the Killing Pavilion to deal with her?

“It was an assignment distributed by the Pavilion. But I saw the region from which the mission had been issued. If you can bring her here, I’ll tell you.”

Lately, the assassin had felt his body growing weaker and weaker—a sensation of his life force rapidly draining away. It terrified him.

He had been an assassin for many years and had never feared death. When the mission failed that day, he had been prepared to die. But after sensing a glimmer of hope for survival, he was forced to experience death creeping over him bit by bit. It was more than he could endure.

“There’s no need. As it happens, I know one of the Killing Pavilion’s strongholds. I’ll go there myself.”

After exchanging a few words with the assassin, Lin Mo had already determined that the man had merely been carrying out an assignment and knew nothing of the truth behind it.

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In that case, Lin Mo would have to make the trip himself and investigate who, exactly, was plotting against Ning Xuan.

Before leaving, he went to the school once more. Although he knew Ning Xuan had not returned, he still wanted to ask around. Unexpectedly, Dean Wang of the Alchemy Department told him that two days earlier, he had received a message from Ning Xuan saying that she had something to attend to and would be taking a month’s leave.

Lin Mo immediately sensed that something was wrong. Why would Ning Xuan suddenly take a month off?

He went to the Investigation Office and retrieved the surveillance footage covering the route from Ning Xuan’s departure from the Testing Center to her boarding the flying vehicle and the vehicle’s disappearance in the uninhabited zone. He discovered that Ning Xuan had been asleep ever since she boarded the vehicle and had still not awakened at the final moment before it vanished.

That meant the leave request Dean Wang had received could not possibly have been sent by Ning Xuan.

The instant Lin Mo realized this, a chill ran down his spine.

What was Chen Nan doing? He had taken Ning Xuan away against her will. What did he intend to do to her? Where had he taken her?

Lin Mo had no time to visit the Killing Pavilion. He sent his subordinates in his place, then mobilized his forces to conduct a thorough investigation into Chen Nan.

At the First Legion’s A43 Starfield Combat Division, Lin Mo sat in the seat of honor while Chen Hui sat beside him with an innocent expression.

“Lieutenant General Lin, weren’t you on leave? What brings you all the way to my humble combat division?”

“One month ago, you transferred a sum of money to Chen Nan through one of your subordinate’s accounts. Does my second cousin know about this, Brother-in-law Chen?”

At the way Lin Mo addressed him, Chen Hui’s heart jolted, and panic immediately spread across his face.

“Lieutenant General Lin—Brother Lin—I didn’t! No, no, no, please hear me out. We’re both men, and we ought to have a little mutual understanding, right? My younger brother, Chen Nan... ah, his life is difficult. He ended up with a contract master who is both miserly and pampered, someone who obsesses over appearances. She came from a trash planet and is an orphan without a penny to her name, yet she insists on studying alchemy. Whether she can persevere is one thing, but the field costs an enormous amount of money. On top of that, she insists on eating specialties from A-Prime Star and refuses to touch low-grade food. You know how expensive interstellar shipping is, Brother Lin. My brother didn’t have much money to begin with, so he had no choice but to come to me for help. As his older brother, how could I refuse him?”

Chen Hui wore a bitter expression as he poured out his grievances to Lin Mo.

He was genuinely panicking. His transfer of money to Chen Nan absolutely could not become known to his contract master. She did not care about such a small sum, but the real issue was his behavior and his attitude. He was already out of favor with her. If she learned about this, she might beat him to death.

“His life is difficult? Chen Hui, everyone in Radiant City knows that Chen Nan was supposed to form a contract with Bai Xiuying. He only contracted with Ning Xuan to escape that scourge, Bai Xiuying. Your father, who is devoted to the Chen family and works himself to the bone for it, must have been furious. I heard he even said privately that he would rather disown Chen Nan than spare Ning Xuan. Isn’t that so?”

Hearing Chen Hui speak of Ning Xuan in that manner, Lin Mo immediately assumed that Chen Nan had been complaining about her behind her back. His rage flared.

Chen Nan had acted first and gained every advantage, yet he still dared to malign Ning Xuan behind her back.

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“No! That’s impossible! You have no proof. Don’t slander my father. Wait—how do you know about Ning Xuan? I never told you my brother’s contract master’s name!”

Although Chen Hui tried to defend his father, he knew him well enough to believe that the old man was indeed capable of such a thing.

What puzzled him even more was how Lin Mo, the legitimate heir of the Lin family of Five Maple City, knew about this matter—and how he knew Ning Xuan.

“Hmph. Ning Xuan is also my contract master. Our genetic compatibility is ninety-seven percent. Your father has been hunting her down, and Chen Nan is hiding her now!”

Lin Mo slammed his palm onto the table. They still did not know who had hired the Killing Pavilion assassin, and now he had discovered that Chen Nan’s father was plotting behind the scenes as well. He felt deeply distressed by everything Ning Xuan had suffered.

“Wait... you’re also Ning Xuan’s contractor? You share the same contract master as Little Nan? This...”

Chen Hui’s mouth fell open in shock.

He knew what his younger brother had been thinking. Chen Nan had formed a contract with a woman from a low-grade planet because he wanted to imitate Young Master Bai Seven from years ago and monopolize his contract master. But if Lin Mo was also Ning Xuan’s contractor, then his brother’s plans were likely to come to nothing.

“Tell me. Where is Chen Nan now?”

Lin Mo let out a cold snort.

“I...”

“If you don’t know, I’ll call my second cousin right now.”

Lin Mo opened the communication interface on his wrist computer.

“I know! I know! How could I not know? Brother Lin, please don’t be angry. Don’t be angry!”

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