“Knock, knock!”
The sound of knocking suddenly echoed through the room.
The three men inside immediately stopped talking and exchanged glances. Zhao Yun then called out, “Who is it?”
“Delivery!”
Their tense expressions relaxed.
Zhao Yun quickly walked out and saw a delivery man standing at the door, holding a package.
The delivery man sized up Zhao Yun and asked, “Who are you?”
“I live here. Who do you think I am?” Zhao Yun replied. “Give me the package.”
The delivery man didn’t hand over the package. Instead, he looked wary and said, “You don’t live here.”
Zhao Yun felt a bit puzzled and asked, “How do you know I don’t live here?”
The delivery man said, “I come here every week to deliver packages, but I’ve never seen you before. It was always Brother Chen who came out to get the packages.”
“Which Brother Chen?” Zhao Yun asked again.
“Chen Dong!” The delivery man replied, looking at Zhao Yun with a surprised expression. “You don’t know Chen Dong? Who exactly are you?”
“Hahaha, how could I not know Chen Dong? He’s my cousin,” Zhao Yun laughed. “I used to work back home and just came over today.”
“No wonder I haven’t seen you before,” the delivery man said, letting his guard down. “Where’s Brother Chen?”
“He went out on some errands.”
“Then you can sign for him.”
The delivery man handed the package to Zhao Yun.
Zhao Yun took the package and quickly signed for it, but he noticed the delivery man was still standing there, not leaving.
“Why aren’t you leaving?” Zhao Yun asked, puzzled.
The delivery man said, “Brother Chen usually gives me a hundred yuan tip when he signs for packages.”
“Really?” Zhao Yun’s mind raced. “Then tell me, what does my cousin look like?”
“Are you serious? You don’t even know what your cousin looks like? Are you really Brother Chen’s cousin?”
“Of course I am! I just want to make sure you really know my cousin. There are too many scammers these days, and I don’t want to be fooled.”
Seeing Zhao Yun’s slightly angry expression, the delivery man laughed, “Oh, I see. Alright, I’ll describe Brother Chen for you.”
“Brother Chen has a round face, very short hair, and a small black mole on his chin, right?”
“What else?”
“Brother Chen’s complexion is paler than most people. I asked him about it once, and he said he had a serious illness when he was young, and his complexion has been like that ever since, right?”
“Do you know how tall my cousin is?”
The delivery man sized up Zhao Yun again and said, “You’re a head taller than Brother Chen.”
“Looks like you’re not lying. You really do know my cousin.” Zhao Yun took out a red bill and handed it to the delivery man.
“Thanks.” The delivery man left happily on his bike.
Zhao Yun returned inside and asked, “Did you hear what the delivery man said?”
Ye Qiu and the Dragon King nodded.
“It seems this Chen Dong is likely a member of the Shaman God Sect,” Zhao Yun said.
“Whether he’s with the Shaman God Sect or not, now that we have his physical description, let’s issue a bounty in the underworld and have our brothers help find him,” the Dragon King instructed Zhao Yun. “Tell them, whoever finds Chen Dong will be rewarded with a million yuan.”
“Understood.” Zhao Yun took out his phone and quickly made a call.
At this moment, Ye Qiu’s eyes fell on the package.
It was a square, tightly wrapped package. He weighed it in his hands and found it wasn’t heavy. He then began to tear off the tape.
“Be careful,” the Dragon King reminded.
“Got it.” Ye Qiu’s movements were slow and cautious. It took him thirty seconds to peel off the tape.
Opening the box, he found two stacks of cash inside.
Ye Qiu examined the cash closely. It was real, totaling twenty thousand yuan.
“Strange, who still mails cash these days?” Ye Qiu muttered softly.
The Dragon King laughed, “It’s not that strange. With the fast courier services nowadays, people mail all sorts of things.”
Ye Qiu continued, “The sender must have a close relationship with Chen Dong to mail him cash.”
The Dragon King nodded in agreement. “The delivery man said he comes here every week. If he delivers cash each time, that means Chen Dong receives at least eighty thousand yuan a month. The question is, who would give him so much cash? And what is it used for?”
“Could it be operational funds?” Ye Qiu asked.
“I think you’re right,” the Dragon King said. “This is the Jiangzhou branch of the Shaman God Sect. Besides Chen Dong, there must be others. They need money for their expenses. This cash is likely their operational funds.”
“I have another question. If this money is indeed the Shaman God Sect’s operational funds for the Jiangzhou branch, why don’t they transfer it through a bank or use Alipay? Why mail cash?”
“I think the Shaman God Sect might believe mailing cash is safer. Online payments and bank transfers are easily traceable.”
Ye Qiu looked at the package again. The sender’s address was blurry, but he could vaguely make out the word “Jiangzhou,” indicating the package was sent from somewhere in Jiangzhou.
Moreover, the mailing date was this morning at eight o’clock, suggesting the sender didn’t know Chen Dong had left the branch.
Ye Qiu quickly asked, “Dragon King, can we trace the sender’s address?”
“You want to find the sender?”
“Yes,” Ye Qiu said. “Based on our reasoning, the sender is likely also a member of the Shaman God Sect. If we can find him, we might uncover something unexpected.”
“That’s a good idea. We’ll proceed on two fronts: one to find Chen Dong and the other to find the sender. Finding either one could lead us to the assassin of the Ninety-Thousand-Year-Old,” the Dragon King said to Zhao Yun, who had just finished his call. “Both tasks are yours. Any problems?”
“No problem. If the sender’s address is real, we’ll find it soon.” Zhao Yun started making calls to arrange for someone to trace the sender’s address.
Time ticked by.
They had been in the courtyard for almost an hour.
Zhao Yun’s phone kept ringing, but no valuable leads had been found.
Ye Qiu decided not to wait any longer and used a tracking talisman to trace Chen Dong’s whereabouts.
He quietly formed a seal with his hands and chanted a spell. Suddenly—
Pfft!
A mouthful of blood spurted out.
Ye Qiu’s vision went black, and he lost consciousness.