Chapter Ninety-Three: This Secrecy Is Far Too Poor—Afraid of Being Robbed

Even so, Lin Yi decided he would first spend some time investigating in Upper River Village before making any other plans.

His car was a little too eye-catching. The moment Lin Yi got out, more than a few eyes swept in his direction.

That made him slap his forehead. While still in the car, he had been thinking that the Paranormal Investigation Bureau and these sects and factions were not exactly on friendly terms, that the two sides were often at odds. How had he forgotten that and simply gotten out here?

This car of his was fine for showing off on ordinary days, but in front of disciples from these sects and factions, it was better to forget it.

Shaking his head, Lin Yi decided to take a detour.

In Lin Yi’s view, Old Master An and Old Master Mu, both from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, were also here at the moment, so the Bureau had quite a few people on hand. There was nothing much for him to worry about.

So he turned a corner, pretending to blend into the crowd. After twisting and turning through several alleys, he only emerged again once he reached a narrow side lane.

With that, Lin Yi had nothing to fear.

By the time he came out, he was effectively a fresh face who had merged into the group in Upper River Village.

He activated his Breath-Concealing Art and loosened his aura a little. The energy around him was now roughly at the level of a middle-ranking expert among C-rank powerhouses.

On the main street, people came and went from time to time.

Soon after Lin Yi appeared, a middle-aged man with a tall, vigorous stride, moving with the force of a tiger and the bearing of a dragon, was smoking on the roadside with two others.

Lin Yi pretended to approach them and smiled.

"Brother, I got separated from my master. I wanted to ask, where does Second Mule live?"

The burly man ignored him.

The two tall, thin men beside the burly man also looked at Lin Yi with a perfunctory smile, full of evasiveness.

Lin Yi had not brought out any energy meter to sense them, but he guessed that this burly man and the two men beside him were probably quite capable, likely at the level of a B-rank powerhouse, a second-tier expert.

It was only a feeling.

After all, the burly man and the two men beside him were not releasing any overwhelming aura, but Lin Yi’s estimate was probably right.

"No, brother, if you don’t want to tell me, fine. No need to laugh at me. I’m the senior brother of Eight Extreme Sect’s Huang Kuang. Worst comes to worst, I’ll look for him myself. If you won’t tell me, forget it."

"What? You’re Huang Kuang’s senior brother from Eight Extreme Sect?"

A sharp intake of breath followed. The mockery that had just shown on the burly man’s face changed at once into a warm, smiling expression.

The two men beside him changed as well.

One of them hurriedly took out his lighter, while the other quickly offered Lin Yi a cigarette.

Lin Yi had not expected Eight Extreme Sect to have such a powerful influence. Its reputation was clearly worth quite a lot.

The moment he spoke, the other party’s attitude changed on the spot.

Taking the cigarette, Lin Yi took a drag.

He nodded. "That’s right, I’m from Eight Extreme Sect. I just got separated from my master. I was thinking of heading up the mountain to catch a wild rabbit and bring it back as a respectful offering for my master and the others, so they could have some meat. But I didn’t expect to fail in my search. By the way, where does Second Mule live?"

"Brother, I advise you not to go there for the moment. Why are people like us lingering by the roadside? It’s because unless one has reached the level of a grandmaster, no one dares go there at all. Your master must be a grandmaster, right? Then it’s fine for him to go."

"You probably don’t know this, but that place has now become a forbidden zone. Many grandmasters can’t even get in. This female corpse in the deserted village is completely different from the legends. In the stories, anyone could touch her, even ordinary people could go in. But now Second Mule’s house is filled with cold, sinister winds, and black mist blots out the sky. Even grandmasters find it difficult to enter... Tell me, isn’t that eerie? Let alone us. I’ve heard the sinister energy inside that black mist is far too dense; anyone who gets close dies on the spot!"

"We’re from the Whale Gang. Our boss is an A-rank powerhouse, a top-tier expert, and is about to become a grandmaster. I heard from him that this time the female corpse in the deserted village is different from the one ten years ago. It seems some poison has to be released, or something like that. I didn’t quite understand. In short, if you want to get close to the female corpse in the deserted village, you have to wait... So everyone’s just bored out of their minds..."

"Hm..."

Listening to the Whale Gang men, Lin Yi could not help but feel delighted inside.

Heaven was truly helping him!

If the female corpse in the deserted village had undergone a mutation, then they would have to wait. If he came out of the pigeon cave later, wouldn’t that be the perfect chance to pick up the leftovers?

Still, according to earlier rumors, that female corpse in the deserted village had once been quite the thing. In Tianhe City, Liu He had merely touched her, then gone home and done that sort of thing, and after dreaming about it he obtained a stone pill and was restored to youth...

So why had the female corpse in the deserted village suddenly become so high-and-mighty, and why had black mist full of ominous energy appeared? The whole thing sounded so murky and confusing.

Lin Yi abruptly lost much of his interest.

He decided to head back and make for the pigeon cave.

At the same time, Lin Yi gave these people a task: hunt down a wild rabbit and send it to the people from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau. This left the burly men from the Whale Gang speechless.

Aren’t you from Eight Extreme Sect?

Aren’t you Huang Kuang’s senior brother?

Then why are you having us go out and catch game for the Paranormal Investigation Bureau?

Aren’t we and the Paranormal Investigation Bureau on different sides?

Still, the Whale Gang members were the kind of nameless extras one would only ever see in a novel, the sort of side-character faction that existed to prop up others. So, to curry favor with Huang Kuang’s senior brother from Eight Extreme Sect, the burly man and the others kept nodding and headed into the mountains to hunt wild rabbits.

Lin Yi smiled and, after a few more twists and turns, returned to his car. He drove it to the foot of the mountain where the pigeon cave stood, and then went up the mountain.

By the time Lin Yi reached the cave entrance, he discovered that there were actually quite a few people gathered there.

At a glance, it was obvious they were all acting independently and were not part of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau.

They stood at a distance, watching the bureau staff at the cave entrance with their loaded weapons, not daring to step forward.

Bai Ke had been the one who called Lin Yi earlier. He was the main person in charge stationed at the pigeon cave this time, and his strength was roughly on par with Lin Yi’s.

Although he was not a grandmaster, he had already reached A-rank, the level of a top-tier expert.

After Lin Yi parked and locked the car, Bai Ke’s eyes lit up from afar.

Bai Ke had long since received Lin Yi’s photo. Moreover, they were all from the Shengjing branch of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau.

When Lin Yi tested himself yesterday and caused such a huge commotion, Bai Ke naturally learned about it as well, and he had gathered information on Lin Yi long ago.

So the moment Lin Yi appeared, Bai Ke’s eyes brightened and he waved him over.

"Who is that guy? Tsk, tsk. He really has good fortune. So young and already an employee of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau. He looks to have quite a high status too. Didn’t you see Bai Ke greeting him personally?"

"I heard Bai Ke is usually a very cold man, and yet now he’s smiling. That means this young man must have a fairly high position, or else he’s one of Bai Ke’s juniors."

"I heard there’s some kind of treasure in the pigeon cave, some stone milk or something. It’s maddening that I can’t go in. Otherwise I’d certainly be able to raise my cultivation."

People chatted in twos and threes.

With Lin Yi’s current strength, his ears and eyes were far sharper than before.

After hearing their discussion, his face immediately turned bitter.

What the hell was going on? Wasn’t this supposed to be a secret cave?

Didn’t they say nobody knew there was stone milk inside?

So many people knew there were good things here, and they had gathered in groups. If he came out of the pigeon cave later, wouldn’t he get robbed?

"Damn it... What kind of confidential mission is this? They handled it so poorly. As long as a person is alive, everyone knows I came to the pigeon cave. When I come out later, won’t I get stripped clean? Even a tiger can’t beat a pack of wolves. There are so many groups here, and at first glance there must be dozens of them... Most of them may be low-tier experts, but there are too many of them..."

"Upper River Village even has grandmasters around. What if the female corpse in the deserted village hasn’t even started causing trouble yet, and those grandmasters, bored out of their minds, run over here instead? They won’t even need to go in. As long as they block me and take me down, wouldn’t they get the good stuff? Should I even enter the pigeon cave or not..."

Lin Yi did not know what else to say.

He had originally thought he was in luck, that he could pick up some cultivation resources like stone milk inside the pigeon cave, and maybe also see whether he could snag a little something from the female corpse in the deserted village.

Who would have thought that the female corpse in the deserted village was not ready yet, and that even grandmasters could not get close to it for the time being?

Then he came to the pigeon cave, only to find so many people guarding the entrance...

He was practically ready to curse. What kind of luck was this, damn it?

There was no choice. Bai Ke had waved him over, so Lin Yi could not simply refuse to go up.

Director Lin Tianming had said it himself: if Lin Yi did not go now, then in a while the higher-ups would probably issue orders, and by then no one would be allowed in. He might as well go in this time himself.

Clenching his teeth, Lin Yi knew full well he had miscalculated this time, but he still had to bear it and do what needed to be done.

He climbed the mountain.

When he reached Bai Ke and the others, Lin Yi respectfully greeted his colleagues, then said with a wry smile to Bai Ke, "Brother Bai, what’s going on? There are way too many people here. On the way up, I even heard some of them talking about how there’s stone milk and other good things in the pigeon cave. How did that news get out? If I try to bring anything out now, I’m going to get robbed."

"Hahaha."

Seeing Lin Yi looking so troubled, Bai Ke could not help but clap him on the shoulder.

Bai Ke wore a full beard and looked nearly fifty, but in truth he was only in his thirties, one of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau’s promising young talents.

"We don’t know how the news leaked either. Otherwise we wouldn’t need to be stationed here. But don’t worry. Old Master An and Master Mu are both in Upper River Village, and the brothers stationed here from our Paranormal Investigation Bureau are all armed. You don’t need to worry about those petty crooks below the grandmaster level. I refuse to believe anyone would dare lay a hand on us..."

Bai Ke spoke with domineering confidence, his gaze fiercely warning the cluster of people not far away.

Lin Yi nodded. For now, that was all he could do.

Still, this clearly did not fit his original strategy of picking up easy gains, but there was no help for it. He could not simply give up on those gains, could he?