Chapter 148: Thick Earth Art

Sensing those sharp, glinting eyes, Jiang Xincheng shivered all over and felt an urge to flee immediately. But then he held his breath, focused the Dragon Concealment Art to its limit, and stayed still in the corner behind the door. After a while, those eyes moved away.

The owner of those eyes was in a secret room under the hall. He was a fierce-looking middle-aged man. Beside him sat a middle-aged woman. Both were Great Yuan Warriors of the Cloud Condensation Realm, and both were at the late stage of Cloud Condensation. They stayed in the secret room all the time, guarding three Origin Force Cultivation Methods.

Earlier, the middle-aged man vaguely sensed something, so he looked towards Jiang Xincheng’s location through the earth. But he saw nothing and sensed nothing with his Spiritual Sense, so he withdrew his gaze, thinking he was just being paranoid.

Jiang Xincheng held his breath for half an hour before moving again. Now he knew what the entire Autumn Moon Manor was guarding. But he wasn’t interested in it at all. What was incredibly precious to Zheng Zhong and the others was worth nothing to him.

However, sensing the secret room under the hall, Jiang Xincheng couldn’t help but admire Zheng Zhong’s cunning. Placing the secret room under the hall, right where people entered—most people would never think of that.

After all, for a place storing such precious treasures, ordinary people would want to hide it in a secret spot, the more hidden the better. Who would be like Zheng Zhong, putting the secret room right under the hall at the entrance? With such boldness and cunning, no wonder he caused such a huge uproar in his previous life, shocking the whole world.

Fortunately, Jiang Xincheng’s goal wasn’t the Origin Force Cultivation Methods that Zheng Zhong and the others valued most, but his criminal evidence. So, after confirming that the two Great Yuan Warriors in the secret room wouldn’t pay attention to the area above, Jiang Xincheng continued to sneak quietly deeper into the villa, moving slower and slower.

But after leaving the hall, Jiang Xincheng suddenly noticed there were far fewer guards. It seemed the hall really was the key point of defense. Feeling a bit more at ease, Jiang Xincheng sped up his search in the villa.

At one point, a smile crossed Jiang Xincheng’s face. He had found Zheng Zhong’s office in the villa. Inside were many documents and files, and among them should be what he was looking for.

His Spiritual Sense pulsed, probing everything within several dozen meters. With Jiang Xincheng’s current level of Spiritual Sense, even ordinary Great Yuan Warriors of the Cloud Condensation Realm couldn’t reach it; only a small number of experts in the Rain Transformation Realm could nurture their Spiritual Sense to this level.

Soon, Jiang Xincheng found a moment when no guards were patrolling, slipped into Zheng Zhong’s office in the villa, and quietly hid behind the door.

There was no one inside the office. It was about a hundred square meters, with dozens of bookshelves filled with various documents and books—over ten thousand items. Who would have thought that Zheng Zhong, as the deputy head of the Wu’an Department, was such a book-loving scholar?

After carefully checking that no one was around, Jiang Xincheng kept his Spiritual Sense fully active, staying alert to any movement, and began flipping through the documents on the shelves, searching for Zheng Zhong’s criminal evidence.

Going through the documents one by one, Jiang Xincheng soon found something. He discovered a structure diagram of the 327 Research Institute, detailing its internal situation. Clearly, this was preparation for stealing treasures from inside the 327 Research Institute.

This document could barely count as evidence. Jiang Xincheng photographed it with his Handheld Computer. The Handheld Computer wasn’t connected to the external network because, once connected, the Flourishing Tang Empire could monitor his every move, almost like being watched. So, usually, Jiang Xincheng kept the external network off.

The surveillance in Autumn Moon Manor was the same—only an internal network, no external connection—clearly also afraid of being monitored by the Flourishing Tang Empire. If it were connected to the external network, Zheng Zhong’s secrets would have been exposed long ago.

Jiang Xincheng planned to find all the evidence first, then send it to the Flourishing Tang Empire as his merit, depending on the situation.

Since he found the first piece of evidence, finding the second one shouldn’t be too hard. Unfortunately, the evidence out in the open was all minor stuff, not enough to prove Zheng Zhong’s treason. So, Jiang Xincheng had to keep looking.

Of course, everything in the secret room under the hall could prove Zheng Zhong’s crimes, but unfortunately, it was guarded by two late-stage Cloud Condensation Realm Great Yuan Warriors. Jiang Xincheng didn’t dare go in, or it would be suicide. So, for now, he had to find another way, searching for Zheng Zhong’s criminal documents.

As he went through more and more files, Jiang Xincheng found an increasing number of forbidden documents. Bit by bit, if there were enough, they could still bring Zheng Zhong down. But unfortunately, he still hadn’t found solid evidence of treason, nothing he could use as his merit.

With so many documents and files in this study, finding the needed information was a bit tough. Jiang Xincheng chuckled wryly and continued carefully searching.

“Those wretched women, always causing trouble. Every day, they either laze around, acting cute and whiny, or they stir up drama. Now they’ve even started fighting. How ridiculous.”

“Haha, they’re doing all that just to win Deputy Head Zheng’s favor. It shows how important you are to them, Deputy Head Zheng. It proves your charm—why else would beauties fight over you?”

“Heh, my charm? They just want to get more from me. Do they think I don’t know their dirty motives? They wouldn’t fight over me.”

…

Just as Jiang Xincheng was busily searching for Zheng Zhong’s criminal evidence, he suddenly heard voices outside. His face changed slightly. After a quick look around, he leaped up lightly and hid on top of a bookshelf in the corner, curling up behind a pile of books so no one could spot him.

As soon as Jiang Xincheng hid, the study door opened. A middle-aged man in his fifties with a stern face walked in. “They’re beating each other bloody. How can I feel like favoring them? What a bunch of fools. Just looking at them makes me sick. Yang Wen, which of them are you interested in? If you want, take a couple, so they stop fighting here every day.”

“This…” Following the stern man was a man in his thirties, wearing glasses, who looked refined. But his strength had reached the late stage of Cloud Condensation, far beyond what Jiang Xincheng could handle. Hearing the stern man Zheng Zhong’s words, the bespectacled Yang Wen quickly waved his hands. “They are all Deputy Head Zheng’s beautiful companions. How could I dare hope for them? Only Deputy Head Zheng deserves them.”

The stern middle-aged man was Zheng Zhong. Hearing Yang Wen’s words, Zheng Zhong sneered. “Beautiful companions, my foot. They’re just temporary fun. Once I’m bored, I’ll kill them off, so they don’t leak Autumn Moon Manor’s secrets when they’re out. Enough about those wretched women. How’s the Thick Earth Art going?”

Hearing Zheng Zhong mention the words “Thick Earth Art,” Jiang Xincheng trembled all over and looked at the two in disbelief.