Chapter 37: The Thirty-Seventh Day as Cult Leader (Part 1)

The missing Demonic Cult disciple was named Zhao Tong. He had never had much of a presence within the cult, but under Qin Ming’s guidance, he had also never done anything wicked. Lately, he had even been actively trying to stand out in the school, which had greatly gratified Qin Ming.

Yet an ordinary supply procurement trip that happened once every three months had made Zhao Tong suddenly vanish without a trace.

When Qin Ming first heard about it, one could say he flew into a towering rage. He immediately summoned the two Demonic Cult disciples who had gone out to purchase supplies with him that day for questioning. While he was at it, he also had Chen Lue, who was responsible for choosing the procurement personnel, come over.a

After Chen Lue arrived in the study, he stood calmly off to one side, only his brows faintly furrowed. The two summoned Demonic Cult disciples, however, were in such a panic that they looked ready to cry.

“Cult Leader, your subordinates have been wronged! Zhao Tong insisted on acting alone. No matter how we tried to stop him, we couldn’t!”

“Tell me everything that happened from beginning to end.”

Qin Ming sat behind the desk with a grave expression, his back perfectly straight. He took the strange disappearance of a disciple within the cult extremely seriously.

Had Zhao Tong been recognized as a Demonic Cult disciple and attacked by the righteous path? Had he formed some grudge and suffered retaliation? Or was this an attack targeting the Demonic Cult? Qin Ming had to sort it out before he could judge whether the entire Demonic Cult was facing a crisis.

Under that dignified expression that carried authority even without anger, the two Demonic Cult disciples spilled out the whole story like beans from a bamboo tube. This had originally only been a perfectly normal supply procurement trip, and the rotating personnel had been arranged in advance. But yesterday, Right Protector Fang Zheng discovered that one ingredient was missing from his pill-refining materials, so he specifically instructed them to purchase some from an apothecary.

“…That was not a difficult matter. It’s just that the apothecary down the mountain that your subordinate usually visits sells this ingredient at a very high price. As it happened, Zhao Tong heard that a peddler from a neighboring town would secretly be selling some cheaper medicinal ingredients these next two days, which could save quite a bit of silver…”

The Demonic Cult disciple answered meekly, not daring to glance at Qin Ming’s face. “He said the three of us could split the silver we saved, so we agreed. Because the road was rather far and we were driving a carriage, which made moving around inconvenient, Zhao Tong went alone to find that peddler.”

“Who knew that even after an hour, he still hadn’t returned? We felt something was wrong and went to search for him, but we couldn’t find him anywhere. That was why we panicked and hurried back to report…”

After hearing the whole story, Qin Ming’s eyelid twitched.

Good grief. So it had all started with greed!

Granted, greed by itself was not some major issue, but something had happened in broad daylight, of all times. Was that a coincidence? It really did not seem like one!

“Did you ask the nearby residents?” Qin Ming slowly tapped his fingers against the desk, then pressed further. “And that medicine-selling peddler?”

“That is precisely the strangest part!” The two Demonic Cult disciples had sweat beading on their foreheads from anxiety as they said in fear, “No one saw Zhao Tong at all. And very few residents even knew of any peddler selling medicinal ingredients nearby. Whether that peddler exists at all is a mystery!”

“Cult Leader, once your subordinates discovered he was gone, we immediately returned to report it. This truly has nothing to do with us!”

Seeing that the two Demonic Cult disciples were about to kowtow and beg forgiveness, Qin Ming could not help waving a hand and had them step aside for the moment. He analyzed in confusion, “So, in other words, there is something wrong with that peddler?”

He was pondering this to himself when Chen Lue, who had kept his eyes lowered and who knew what he had been thinking, suddenly asked the two Demonic Cult disciples, “Where was the place he disappeared in the end?”

The Demonic Cult disciples froze for a moment, then answered in unison, “Heshan Prefecture!”

Heshan Prefecture?

A sharp gleam instantly flashed through Qin Ming’s mind. He recalled Qian Xiaodou’s previous intelligence regarding the missing persons case. The place with the greatest number of disappearances was Heshan Prefecture!

Could this have something to do with that as well?

Qin Ming immediately could not sit still. He promptly ordered Zhou Ji to take people to the place where Zhao Tong had disappeared and conduct a full search.

“Investigate! You must investigate! Pass down this lord’s order. Searching for Zhao Tong’s whereabouts is the foremost priority of our cult. Have everyone idle go investigate. Zhou Ji will take command!”

Unexpectedly, after hearing of the matter, before Zhou Ji could even act, Fang Zheng, who usually paid no attention to anything outside his own affairs, suddenly entered Qin Ming’s study and volunteered.

“Leave this matter to me.”

Qin Ming was slightly startled. “You?”

Since when did Fang Zheng like meddling in this kind of business?

“That’s right.” Fang Zheng’s brows and eyes were filled with suppressed anger. He let out a cold laugh. “This person disappeared while doing something for me. It naturally has something to do with me.”

“I would like to see who has such great courage that they just had to pick a disciple I sent down the mountain to buy medicinal ingredients, causing me to be unable to refine pills these past few days! This grudge must be avenged. I will absolutely not spare him!”

“…”

So you’re only upset because your pill refining got obstructed!

Qin Ming was speechless for a moment, then felt that this was normal. Fang Zheng was exactly the type of person who would avenge the smallest grievance. Besides, bringing such emotions into a search would only make him work harder, so Qin Ming directly handed him command and let him take people to search.

Apart from that, Qin Ming also specifically instructed Qian Xiaodou to intensify his investigation into the matter. He had to find some trace, however small.

But the missing persons cases had already continued for a long time, and no one had ever found any clues. Fang Zheng searched outside for three days in a row and found absolutely nothing. His already somewhat gloomy face became as black as the bottom of a pot, full of displeasure.

Qin Ming had also been somewhat anxious these past few days. If Zhao Tong’s death was not because he had brought disaster upon himself, but simply because someone had harmed him in secret, then Qin Ming would never stand by and watch his own subordinate come to grief.

Mission Objective Triggered: Find the complete truth behind Zhao Tong’s disappearance!

Mission Reward: One hundred thousand merit points.

That many?

Qin Ming was somewhat shocked. It seemed Zhao Tong’s death would involve a major case!

That made him want to uncover the truth even more.

The System’s appearance suddenly made him think of the confidential letter the System had given him before.

At the time, he had been unable to find where the letter was and simply had not continued searching. But now…what if there was a hint inside regarding the missing persons case?

Although he knew the possibility was relatively small, Qin Ming had nothing to do anyway, so he began rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the study. Finally, he found the inconspicuous envelope in a hidden compartment of the bookshelf.

But when he eagerly opened it and read it, the secret written inside struck his eyes even harder than the missing persons case.

“…There is an undercover agent sent by the righteous sects hidden inside the Demonic Cult?”

What?

When did this happen?

Why didn’t he know?

Qin Ming was dumbfounded.

Wasn’t he basically the righteous path’s undercover agent? In other words…there was a second person in the Demonic Cult with the same identity as him?

Heavens. There was actually such a good thing!

Who was that person?

Qin Ming calmed himself and swiftly recalled everything he had experienced, trying to find that undercover comrade who shared his ideals. Since they were an undercover agent, they had to be a disciple newly admitted into the cult, right? But among the newcomers Qin Ming had an impression of…there were only people like Shen Fubai and the others.

Could Shen Fubai and the others be undercover agents?

No. Believing they were undercover agents would be worse than believing he was Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Qin Ming shook his head in amusement. He simply could not connect these people with undercover agents.

Zhang Daniu seemed honest and simple, but at crucial moments he always echoed some wicked ideas. Yang Xu seemed loyal, but his mind was very shrewd, and he would nod in agreement no matter what was proposed. As for Chen Lue, Qin Ming could not see through what he was thinking at all, but he was definitely not that simple. And the last one, Shen Fubai…that man was a standard Demonic Cult scourge.

If one had to say they had anything suspicious about them…it was only the scene Qin Ming had accidentally seen that day, when several of them gathered in the little woods.

People who did not usually interact suddenly meeting in private was indeed somewhat strange. But after all, they were Demonic Cult disciples. No matter what strange and bizarre things Demonic Cult disciples did, it! Was! Not! Strange!

In short, Qin Ming still did not think he was Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

He tried very hard to think through it all, yet still did not believe any familiar person was his little companion. But the hint given by the System could not be wrong, so he could only tear up the letter full of suspicion and dispose of it cleanly.

Perhaps…that undercover agent was hidden in some inconspicuous position within the cult. For the time being, not disturbing him would ensure his safety. He could wait until everything settled down before looking for him.

Also, this letter absolutely could not be seen by anyone else. Otherwise, it would definitely cause panic. Destroying it was the safest method.

Fortunately, he had previously placed the secret letter in the bookshelf, so probably no one had discovered it.

After he finished dealing with the fragments, Qin Ming’s eyes flickered between light and shadow. Suddenly, a gleam flashed through them.

He had thought of an excellent way to obtain intelligence. He immediately asked the System, “If I want to buy intelligence, how many merit points will I need to pay?”

Since the rewards included something like intelligence, perhaps all intelligence could be purchased with merit points. He could ask the System about it!

Of course, he also had to see whether the intelligence was worth the price. What if Fang Zheng and the others found some clue right after he obtained the intelligence? Wouldn’t excessively expensive merit points be thrown away for nothing?

Under his careful calculations, he did indeed obtain a result from the System. It was just that the result deviated from what he had imagined.

System: Yes. Please switch to the miscellaneous items section and view it yourself.

Following its instructions, Qin Ming opened the System shop. Sure enough, he saw an icon that looked like a scroll. Beneath it were the four words: Secret Intelligence.

And each piece of intelligence only cost one thousand merit points. Qin Ming’s eyes were just about to light up when he noticed several large words written behind it: Probabilistic Acquisition. In other words, whether he could obtain intelligence after drawing a few times was entirely down to luck.

The corner of Qin Ming’s mouth twitched. He kept having a bad feeling. This kind of gacha was a bottomless pit. He did not dare jump into the water so casually.

System: The probability is divided into a small pity at fifteen draws and a hard pity at thirty draws. The small pity randomly grants intelligence, but the hard pity intelligence is targeted intelligence! You will definitely obtain the intelligence clue you want to know.

Yet right as he was preparing to give up for the time being, the System suddenly popped up with some small pity and hard pity. Thus Qin Ming’s restless heart began reviving from the ashes.

Maybe…he should try two draws?

What if he got lucky and pulled it early? Wouldn’t that be a huge win?

Holding this thought, Qin Ming rubbed his palms together and began his career of spending money on gacha.

First draw…white trash intelligence: The total number of people in the Demonic Cult is as high as one hundred seventy-eight. Tossed away.

Second draw, another piece of white trash intelligence: Disciple Fang Zheng is skilled at using poison. Wasn’t that nonsense? Tossed away.

Third draw, slightly better green trash intelligence: The person with the highest martial arts in the Demonic Cult is Zhou Ji. It was also worthless. Toss it, toss it.

After several draws in a row yielded nothing good, a nameless fire gradually surged up in Qin Ming. The more he fought, the braver he grew, and he began throwing merit points into it.

It was not easy for a purple intelligence to appear: Chen Lue is skilled at pill refining. But that was still completely useless to Qin Ming!

So here came the question. Since he had already drawn the small pity, could the hard pity still be far away?

He had already drawn this many. Giving up halfway would be too frustrating!

Qin Ming took a deep breath, then began painfully throwing merit points in again.

Just like that, after a total of thirty thousand merit points were invested, he finally found the intelligence he wanted through the hard pity, wanting to cry but having no tears. Limited purple intelligence: Zhao Tong’s body is currently hidden in the Qi River.

Qin Ming forcibly suppressed his heartache. Just as he was about to call Chen Lue over and tell him the intelligence so he could search, he did not expect Chen Lue to walk over first and say that Qian Xiaodou seemed to have found an important clue.

Qin Ming’s breath caught. “…The letter wouldn’t happen to say that Zhao Tong’s body is hidden in the Qi River, would it?”

The words Chen Lue had not yet spoken were directly blocked back. For the first time in front of Qin Ming, he lost composure and showed a look of shock.

“You already know?”

Qin Ming: “…”

Damn it. If I ever spend money on gacha again, I’m a dog!

Qin Ming nearly coughed blood from anger.

Fortunately, after Chen Lue sorted out his feelings, he explained to Qin Ming that Qian Xiaodou had only found out that someone in a village near the Qi River had discovered bloodstains, but it was uncertain whose blood they belonged to or where the person was hidden. This gave Qin Ming some comfort. At least these merit points had not been completely thrown away.

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