Inside was a stack of transparent chips thin as cicada wings, each about credit-card sized, stuck together in pairs, neatly arranged in a pile.
She pulled out the top pair and held them up to the light.
At first glance they looked identical—both transparent, with faint intricate patterns visible inside. But when she focused, the system's "Celestial Court Official Link" automatically began detection—
The top chip immediately displayed clear information flow, dense account records leaping onto the screen:
[Longjiang Ley Line Dredging Project]
- Merit Expenditure: 4,000 Burns (total 8,000 spirit stones distributed)
- Merit Recovery: 500 Burns
- ROI: -87.5%
[Spirit Pet Peaceful Passing Placement Program]
- Merit Expenditure: 6,250 Burns (total 12,500 spirit stones distributed)
- Merit Recovery: 720 Burns
- ROI: -88.48%
[Temple Golden Body Restoration Initiative]
- Merit Expenditure: 10,500 Burns (total 21,000 spirit stones distributed)
- Merit Recovery: 1,100 Burns
- ROI: -89.52%
Every entry was written grandly and properly—but every single loss rate was absurdly high.
But the other chip—after scanning for ages, it only displayed one line:
[Data encrypted, unable to parse]
Ling raised an eyebrow and pulled out the second pair, the third pair—all the same. One was a public ledger with dismal Merit returns; the other was encrypted.
The lady doth protest too much. She carefully tucked all the chips into her pocket and patted it with satisfaction. These were obviously double books. She'd take them to Moye later—this kind of blackmail material was too good to waste.
Bai's eyes were nearly popping out beside her, but his whole body was stiff as a board. Apart from his eyeballs, nothing could move. Even speaking only produced slurred sounds, occasionally interrupted by choking on his own uncontrollable saliva: "You… cough cough… scum!"
Seeing him like this, Ling pinched two fingers around Bai's generously cut sleeve of fine fabric.
"New clothes, huh. Let me see how many goodies you've hidden."
Bai was trussed up like a dumpling but still heroically pressed down on his sleeve with broken-bodied determination: "Mmph mmph!"
"MREOWWW—!"
Without needing Ling's order, the red-eyed Mimi charged straight in. No mercy whatsoever, claws blurring into afterimages as she savagely shredded Bai's robes.
With a crisp "RIIIP," the robe originally embroidered with spatial folding arrays was torn to pieces. Runes shredded, the robe's storage space completely collapsed.
"Clatter clatter clatter—"
A delightful sound rang out. Countless spirit slips, spirit stones, pill bottles, and various loose artifacts spilled out of Bai like a broken pi?ata, scattering across the surrounding floor.
Not a patch of Bai's skin was left unscratched. Tears streamed from the pain, but what hurt more was the exposed fortune scattered everywhere.
Ling was very satisfied with this self-taught "interrogation specialist." She turned and kicked the still-dazed Val:
"What are you standing there for? No sense at all—help Mimi collect this stuff! Sort it! Bag it!"
Bai watched Val's huge hands shovel everything on the ground into bags like a bulldozer. His eyes rolled back from heartache, nearly passing out:
"You…! Stealing… divine artifacts…! I'll… cough… report to… the Earth God!"
Ling was tossing a jade slip in her hand. Hearing this, she laughed so hard her stomach hurt, having to lean on the safe to catch her breath:
"Hahaha, report to the Earth God? Your ambitions are too low. Why not go straight to your big boss—Fourth Master. That might at least seem smarter…"
Ling's smile suddenly vanished, eyes turning cold and mocking:
"But if Fourth Master finds out you took advantage of Secretary Wang's absence to not only squat in his nest and pocket his demon-slaying subsidies, but then 'counter-killed' Secretary Wang to silence him… what do you think that Master would do? 」
"Oh right, when our Tudi Temple comes to 'take charge' and 'handle things impartially,' that would be perfectly legal and proper, wouldn't it? After all—"
She patted Bai's face:
"Evidence is conclusive. Caught red-handed."
Mimi and Val whipped their heads around, eyes wide with ignorance.
Huh?
You can do that?
Just slap a false accusation on someone and call it a day?
They learned a lot today that wasn't taught at the temple.
Especially Mimi—looking at Ling's harmlessly smiling face, she suddenly realized: following the right boss really does matter.
Bai's whole body went rigid. His face, already twisted with pain, instantly turned ashen, cold sweat pouring down:
"You… you! I didn't! You! Who the hell are you?!"
This smear campaign is too brutal. Secretary Wang's whereabouts were currently unknown, and Bai had indeed taken all of his assets. To anyone looking, this was textbook "dog eat dog." Just didn't expect a triple-cross like this.
Bai stared at Ling's fearlessly sinister smile, and a thunderbolt suddenly flashed through his mind. He remembered when they'd intercepted Ling's group on the mountain—the name Wang had mentioned, and her attitude of having "connections above."
Tudi Jiang… Tudi Jiang… that hick isn't surnamed Jiang and named Tudi… Is he actually a Tudi—an Earth God?!
Bai broke into a cold sweat all over, eyes bulging even wider. Impossible… absolutely impossible…
His mind was a chaotic mess. The "mmph mmph" sounds from his throat grew more urgent, like he was about to suffocate.
Ling shook her head helplessly. While directing Val to bag a pile of pill bottles, she mused:
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Strange, really. You cultivators have already paid your respects to the organization, yet the higher-ups still keep you in the dark about everything. All the rules are hidden and obscured, like some low-rent pyramid scheme. Truly snakes and rats from the same nest, deceiving each other up and down the chain."
From Bai's utterly clueless demeanor throughout, Ling had more or less figured out some of the Court's management logic.
If mortals were free-range chickens on the Court's farm, unknowingly contributing; then mortal cultivators hadn't risen to become masters just because they had some special abilities—instead, they'd become even more valuable "premium chickens."
All those "Tribulation Insurance" plans, "Golden Core Express Classes," "Merit Financial Products"—they were nothing but scythes for the upper echelons to harvest lower cultivators.
Mortals had no choice, their endpoint merely oblivion. But cultivators' fate was overdraft. Once you entered cultivation circles, you became walking cash cows and scapegoats, forced to run on a hamster wheel endlessly chasing more Merit.
Those above tacitly agreed to only tell half the story. Every naked transaction was packaged as sacred, mysteriously profound "Law of the Great Dao." Making these foolish cultivators think they were "defying fate to change their destiny," never knowing whose benefit their toil truly served.
Ling had no time to deal with the shattered Bai. She pushed up her glasses, and Ghost-Eye activated full-power "Treasure Scan Mode."
In her vision, the entire room became transparent, with only high-value items marked with prominent red outlines.
"Over there, under the third floor tile."
Ling pointed at the floor. Val immediately walked over, activated his petrification ability on his fingers, and plunged them into the cement like stabbing tofu before heaving upward.
"CRASH!"
The tile flew up, revealing several heavy gold bars hidden beneath.
"Hm? What's this?"
Ling walked to the desk and flicked her finger across the stack of seemingly ordinary playing cards. A Joker card was precisely flicked out, hovering in midair. The colorful joker on its face grinned at Ling with an eerie, fawning smile.
The remaining ordinary cards on the table looked no different from a cheap deck from a convenience store at first glance. But up close, you could see that the upper right corner of every card bore a faint gray mark almost invisible to the naked eye.
The patterns on those marks were extremely complex, like unique biological fingerprints, flickering faintly at a specific frequency like breathing indicator lights.
Ling casually picked up a few marked cards, scanning them front and back twice. Apart from the paper feeling slightly heavier, she couldn't detect anything special.
"Tch, pretentious crap."
She gathered the cards together uninterestedly, planning to toss them to the professional Moye for research later.
However, the instant she casually placed the hovering Joker card on top of the deck—
Something changed.
Like a scanner reading a QR code, the Joker's originally comical colorful pattern suddenly faded, transforming into a semi-transparent frosted glass display screen. Then, lines of text like corporate OA system notifications appeared on the card face:
[Recipient: Admin_Joker]
[Sender: Agent_?? 3 (Bai)]
[Priority: Urgent/Flagged Red]
[Content: Disaster! Everything you entrusted to me has been stolen! Please send rescue immediately! Waiting online, urgent!!]
Ling raised an eyebrow, looking at this anxiety-filled distress message.
"Oh? This is interesting. Could this be Secretary Wang's internal communication system? Looks like he left in such a hurry he didn't even log out of the admin account."
Just then, another card at the bottom of the pile trembled slightly.
Ling curiously moved the semi-transparent Joker card over, covering the Five of Hearts that had just lit up. A standard "Task Completion Daily Report" immediately appeared:
[Agent: ?? 5 (NoName)]
[Task Number: Assassination Order #4077]
[Client Request: Business Competition/Obstacle Removal]
[Target: Liu Xiaodong, Vice President of Red Phosphorus Technology Company]
[Execution Method: Butterfly Protocol - Guide Cattle #078 into road rage collision]
[Current Status: Mission complete. Target death confirmed.]
[Note: Cattle #078 confirmed as fall guy. Karma transfer: SUCCESSFUL.
A few seconds later, the text faded and the image changed again.
An image like a red ink-splash painting developed—the "on-site check-in photo" uploaded by the Five of Hearts:
A horrific car crash scene, luxury vehicle crumpled from impact. Against the backdrop of flashing police lights, a blood-covered man with a dazed expression was being handcuffed and loaded into a police car.
Ling narrowed her eyes, looking at the arrested man's silhouette.
It was unmistakably the dark-circled man who had nearly attacked Ling in the elevator earlier.
Everything connected.
That man didn't just have a bad temper—he was ammunition selected by the "Five of Hearts." He had lived in this resentment-filled building for so long that his mind had been corroded to ruins. The Five of Hearts only needed to lightly flip his emotional switch on his way to work—perhaps arrange a car cutting him off, or an impolite pedestrian.
Boom.
Road rage triggered, pedal to the floor, target killed.
The Five of Hearts collected the bounty, Secretary Wang took his cut. And this "Cattle #078" shouldered the legal responsibility for murder and the heavy burden of karmic debt.
"So that's how it is…"
Ling looked at this cold "check-in photo," eyes terrifyingly frigid.
"So the residents of this building are just livestocks used to carry your karma and launder your dirty money and Merit for free… I really should… have come up earlier to see what true demon artistry looks like."
Over 20 cards in this deck were still in active status. Behind each one, who knows how many such absurd and cruel "work reports" were hidden.
She couldn't flip through them all right now. Ling carefully tucked this heavy stack of "evidence" into her small Pouch, even giving it a pat.
"Hmph, keep sending them. I want to see just how much leverage you'll deliver to me."
…
After the brief interlude, Ling threw herself back into the intense command work, pointing at the messy bed in the bedroom:
"Val, under the sheets."
Val walked over, lifted the sheets, but saw nothing.
"Use your 'Stone Hand' to grab." Ling directed. "Careful—those are 'Stress Rebound Wires.'"
Val carefully extended his petrified palm, groping through empty air. Suddenly, a crisp "snap" sounded. He pulled out several transparent threads almost invisible to the naked eye.
These things were extremely sharp and tough. If an ordinary person lay down on them, even slight body weight would slice them into pieces. But if you applied high-frequency counter-vibration at the moment of stress, they became soft as noodles.
"Rebounds whatever force it receives. Tsk tsk, that old schemer Wang—even sleeping with his guard up." Ling directed Val to carefully coil up the wires. "Keep them. I'll weave you an 'Emperor's New Clothes' back home… no wait, a golden silk soft armor."
"And that rock in the corner." Ling pointed at a gray stone that looked like construction debris. "Take it. That's 'Tempering Stone'—perfect for making Mimi a scratching post."
Bai, bound on the ground, watched with jaw dropped, mouth gaping wide enough to fit an egg.
"How… how can they be this professional…"
He mumbled, face full of existential doubt. He'd ransacked this place for a day and night and hadn't picked it this clean…
Bai watched helplessly as Ling's crew operated like a trained heist team—clear division of labor, swift movements. One scanned and commanded, one dismantled and packed, one collected and hauled. Not a single wasted motion.
There's no fucking way these are the Earth God's people…
Ling was very satisfied with her two new accomplices. Mimi was agile and had excellent execution, goes without saying. Val, that coward—though his mouth was always "Boss says we can't" and "this is too dangerous"—his body was honest. He stuffed gold faster than anyone. That cowardly-yet-greedy energy was exactly like Dax.
"Ling, we're out of space!"
Val held a bulging bundle, face full of worry. There was simply too much here. The useless coward… while Ling was occupied with the Joker card, he scavenged every single thing that looked like it could fetch a price.Combined with what Bai had already hoarded, an ordinary qiankun pouch couldn't fit it all.
"And Earth Escape Talismans have weight limits. Exceed it, and you'll end up stranded underground!"
"Then use more talismans! We don't have to be so stingy anymore."
Ling rummaged through Bai's scattered junk and pulled out a thick stack of yellow talisman papers.
"Aren't these ready-made?"
She counted—over 20 Earth Escape Talismans alone.
"Came pretty well-prepared today. Enough to clear out the whole house."
Finally, Ling's gaze fell on the redwood desk.
Most of the drawers had been pried open, except the one in the very center—locked tight. The keyhole was oddly shaped, not like an ordinary lock, but more like a twisted demon face.
Ling vaguely remembered seeing this shape on the pendant hanging around Secretary Wang's neck.
"This should be the core secrets." Ling rubbed her chin.
"Val, come here." Ling patted the desk. "This drawer, along with this tabletop—solid redwood, worth good money—saw the whole thing off and take it."
Val: "…Are you the devil?"
Despite the complaint, Val obediently extended his petrified palm and began "physically cracking" the redwood desk like a dull saw.
The three of them worked for a good while, finally stripping the luxury apartment down to the load-bearing walls.
Just as Ling was dusting off her hands, ready to call everyone to stick on talismans and escape, Mimi suddenly let out a confused sound:
"Huh?"
Mimi spun around twice on the ground, eyes anxiously scanning everywhere:
"Where's that little dagger I just put here?"
She pointed at an empty spot where miscellaneous items had been piled.
"Did someone pick it up? Val, was it you? Stop messing around, give it back—I saw it first!"
Val held big and small bundles in both hands, face innocent: "Lady boss, both my hands are full. Where would I find time to take your knife?"
…
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
A piercing scream rang out...