Without any delay, Zeng Anmin locked his gaze on the person entering through the door.
Under the moonlight, a slightly hunched silhouette came into view. His legs seemed to be impaired, and his heavy breathing was audible as he walked. Upon entering the Map Institute, the man slowly raised his head, revealing a somewhat weathered face etched with deep wrinkles and a white beard. Judging from his appearance, he was at least fifty years old. His attire indicated he was the most ordinary Attendant of the Observation Department.
After glancing around and sensing no danger, he breathed a sigh of relief.
STEP, STEP, STEP.
Though he did not walk fast, he was close to where Zeng Anmin and the White-clothed Venerable were hiding. Zeng Anmin could even hear the RUSTLE of the man stepping on fallen leaves.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.
Zeng Anmin's heart pounded wildly, but he kept his eyes glued to the man, not daring to miss a single detail. There were some things he simply couldn't gamble on.
Empowered by Rapid Enlightenment, he clearly captured every single one of the man's movements.
"His rapid breathing proves he is nervous right now. Looking around erratically is a sign of a guilty conscience," he thought. This perfectly matched the profile of a thief.
Holding his breath and concentrating, Zeng Anmin observed even more carefully. As the Attendant neared the shadows where Zeng Anmin and the White-clothed Venerable hid, he unconsciously glanced in their direction.
Seeing this, Zeng Anmin's heart leaped to his throat. He wondered if they had been discovered.
Fortunately, the Attendant didn't notice anything unusual after that passing glance and hurried forward. Zeng Anmin breathed a sigh of relief and continued his close observation.
He was also incredibly curious as to where this man had hidden the Dragon Inspection Map. He watched as the man slowly walked toward a room, hesitated at the door for a moment, and slowly pushed it open.
Seeing this, Zeng Anmin's heart suddenly sank, because he knew exactly who was inside that room.
Sure enough, the moment the door was opened, Ning'an's voice rang out. "What a brazen thief! That Zeng Anmin was actually right! Quick, capture him and interrogate him with torture!"
Son of a bitch! I'll never forgive you!
Zeng Anmin felt his scalp go numb. There was always someone ruining things at the worst possible time! Unable to hold back any longer, he bolted out of the woods and dashed toward the man.
WHOOSH!
The White-clothed Venerable's speed was immeasurably faster than Zeng Anmin's. Almost the instant Ning'an's words fell, he flickered to the Attendant's side like a phantom and apprehended him without a word.
"Watch him! Don't let him kill himself!" Zeng Anmin shouted urgently as he sprinted.
However, his greatest fear still came true.
Upon hearing Princess Ning'an's words, a tragic look flashed across the Attendant's face. Without any hesitation, he simply snapped his jaw shut. His throat bobbed, and his body began to convulse. In mere moments, he lay perfectly still in the White-clothed Venerable's grasp.
"Fuck!" Zeng Anmin cursed as he reached them.
The Attendant was bleeding from his seven orifices, his face entirely purple. He had completely stopped breathing.
Staring intently at the Attendant's corpse, Zeng Anmin's expression turned exceedingly grim. He had been handed a Hell Level difficulty right after transmigrating. Just as he was about to beat the level, this pig-headed teammate had dialed up the difficulty yet again.
Only then did the lights inside the room flicker on.
Moments later, Emperor Jianhong stepped out slowly, his face devoid of emotion. Beside him walked Princess Ning'an, her face full of hatred. She looked even more infuriated than Zeng Anmin.
"How cunning of this thief! Despicable, truly despicable!" she yelled, her chest heaving with rage as if she were about to grind her teeth to dust.
Fortunately, Emperor Jianhong remained quite calm. He surveyed the room before them and said coolly, "Tear this place apart."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The White-clothed Venerable bowed respectfully and immediately stepped out. Shortly after, he returned with over a dozen Red-clothed Guards dressed in Observation Department uniforms.
CLATTER AND CRASH.
A frenzied search commenced. Zeng Anmin shot a glance at Ning'an, the one who had ruined his plans. She was still glaring angrily at the Attendant's corpse, completely oblivious to the overt and covert disgust emanating from the people around her.
Heh.
Zeng Anmin's gaze turned to one of pity.
With the help of Rapid Enlightenment, he acutely sensed Emperor Jianhong's deliberate indulgence toward Princess Ning'an. Every member of the royal family lived in constant fear, walking on thin ice. How could such a brainless anomaly exist among them? One would have to be a fool to believe Emperor Jianhong didn't have ulterior motives.
However, Zeng Anmin wasn't going to stick his nose where it didn't belong. He shifted his attention back to the bustling room.
Yet, half an hour later, everyone stood in deep thought as they stared at a room whose floorboards had been entirely pried open.
"To answer Your Majesty, there is nothing," the White-clothed Venerable reported, bowing to Emperor Jianhong after first casting a glance at Zeng Anmin.
Emperor Jianhong's expression remained unchanged as he stared blankly at Zeng Anmin.
Feeling the emperor's majestic gaze, Zeng Anmin smiled bitterly in his heart. He had managed to unravel the mysteries behind the scenes based on a single confession. Through deductive reasoning, he had anticipated the enemy's decisiveness and devised a plan to lure the snake out of its hole. However, he wasn't an Immortal. How could he have predicted that the thief would be so overly cautious? Nor could he have anticipated that Ning'an's sudden outburst at the critical moment would reduce his entire plan to ashes.
Seeing Zeng Anmin's silence, Emperor Jianhong said indifferently, "The thief is dead. Although the suspicion of your father colluding with the Demon Race has lessened, the Dragon Inspection Map has not been found. The crime of negligent guarding cannot be pardoned."
Zeng Anmin's heart sank. A person's subconscious reaction was always the most genuine; it seemed Emperor Jianhong truly despised his father. From the original owner's memories, he knew that Zeng Shilin was extremely upright. With his Cultivation in the Confucian Wood-Carrier Realm, he should have been able to fully display his talents in the imperial court. But it was precisely this personality that Emperor Jianhong disliked, resulting in his reassignment to Fengqi Road.
Sigh.
Just as Zeng Anmin was about to speak, he froze, abruptly raising his head.
Wait! A person's subconscious reaction?!
It suddenly hit him. When the thief passed by their hiding spot, he had glanced in their direction. At the time, because the man had looked exactly where they were, Zeng Anmin's emotions had fluctuated, causing him to subconsciously overlook the deeper implications. But thinking about it now, that glance had been far too unprompted!
Could it be...
Zeng Anmin's heart thumped wildly as he checked his Golden Finger interface.
[Rapid Enlightenment: Intelligence, Enlightenment, and Enlightenment are multiplied several times over. Duration: five hours. Remaining time: one quarter of an hour.]
The duration of Rapid Enlightenment had not yet expired; otherwise, he never would have figured it out so quickly!
"Your Majesty, this commoner knows of one other place," Zeng Anmin said steadily.
"Oh?"
At his words, everyone's gaze snapped toward him. To them, this sounded more like someone grasping at straws.
Emperor Jianhong furrowed his brow slightly. "Speak."
Zeng Anmin bowed and said, "Please allow this commoner to investigate personally. If it is truly as I suspect, it can clear my father's transgressions. If not, I ask Your Majesty to punish me."
"Very well." Emperor Jianhong gave a slight nod. With so many experts present, Zeng Anmin couldn't run away.
Without further hesitation, Zeng Anmin took a deep breath and walked step by step back in the direction he had just come from.
Seeing this, the White-clothed Venerable let out a soft sound of surprise.
Zeng Anmin offered no explanation. He returned to the shadows of the dense woods where they had just hidden, his gaze incredibly sharp. He scrutinized the area inch by inch, like a hawk hunting its prey. Finally, he spotted an inconspicuous patch where the pile of fallen leaves was a bit thick.
"Hm?!" His Dan Feng eyes narrowed slightly, exuding a natural air of youthful chivalry.
Without hesitation, he crouched down and brushed the leaves aside.
RUSTLE.
As the sound of the rustling leaves echoed, a ruined, dried-up well revealed itself.
Damn it. This bastard played the "hiding in plain sight" trick brilliantly! Who would have thought he'd hide the Map Institute's Dragon Inspection Map right here inside the Map Institute?!