Chapter 142: Investigation Results

Xiao Fusheng could not have imagined in his wildest dreams that the investigation results brought back by Wang Qiyi would point to Xiao Cheng as the one who killed Xiao Guowei.

He had always despised this good-for-nothing. Previously, this scoundrel had killed the young master of the Qiao family, beaten Xiao Guowei, committed adultery with his sister-in-law, and later even stolen his spiritual herbs. All of that aside, Xiao Cheng had always been capable of any monstrous crime, so such behavior was hardly surprising.

Only now did he realize that Xiao Guowei had also been murdered by Xiao Cheng. To kill even his own Fourth Uncle was utterly devoid of human nature, worse than a beast, and completely unforgivable.

Having killed his own Fourth Uncle, who would he kill next? Would it be him, the head of the family?

Once such a precedent was set, there was no stopping it. As the head of the family, if he failed to curb this trend promptly, what face would he have left to lead?

He had to use thunderous methods to place Xiao Cheng under confinement. If not for the fact that Xiao Cheng was the sole surviving heir of the Xiao family and the difficulty of explaining it to the elderly matriarch, he would have loved to execute the wretch right then and there.

Since Xiao Cheng was the mastermind behind Xiao Guowei's murder, those close to him could not possibly be uninvolved. How could Xiao Cheng have killed Xiao Guowei all by himself? Furthermore, Xiao Cheng had once been shot—surely these two women knew about it? The fact that they had not reported it to him meant they were naturally accomplices.

Coming here today to seize Fang Yujia and Zhuo Qinglian served two purposes: first, to interrogate whether the two of them were involved in the murder of Xiao Guowei, and second, to use the two women to flush Xiao Cheng out.

"Qiyi, brief them on the investigation results!" Xiao Fusheng commanded coldly.

"Yes!" Wang Qiyi replied solemnly, stepping forward from the side and pulling out a laboratory test report, a flash of gloating triumph crossing his face.

Initially, his plan had been to frame Xiao Cheng for Xiao Guowei's death, stirring the old man's fury to sanction Xiao Cheng. That way, he could control Xiao Cheng through the old man and prevent the youth from growing too fast and slipping out of his grasp.

He had intended to slip one of Xiao Cheng's hairs among the investigative evidence to frame him, but unexpectedly, the DNA extracted from the blood samples collected by the investigative team matched Xiao Cheng's perfectly. As it turned out, Xiao Guowei really had been killed by Xiao Cheng.

Thus, he had simply reported these findings to Xiao Fusheng to achieve his own ends.

"Ahem!"

Wang Qiyi cleared his throat and said solemnly, "This is the laboratory report for the bloodstains at the crime scene. The DNA within it matches the young master's completely, which proves that Xiao Guowei was killed by Xiao Cheng. Hmph, I daresay the two of you already knew about this long ago. The family head has come today precisely to investigate whether you were accomplices to this matter, and we kindly ask the two of you to accompany us."

Just as Wang Qiyi suspected, Fang Yujia and Zhuo Qinglian had known about this all along. Hearing his words, both of their hearts skipped a beat.

They had not expected Xiao Cheng's actions to be uncovered, and this was no ordinary matter. If Xiao Cheng were captured, severe punishment would be inevitable.

"Hmph! A lab report? If you want them, sister here can get you ten thousand of them without any trouble! Five thousand to wipe your backside, and another five thousand to wipe your mouth—enough to last you half a lifetime. What can a piece of scrap paper prove?"

There was no way Zhuo Qinglian would simply accept whatever Wang Qiyi claimed. Even though she knew the facts were exactly as stated, she had no intention of admitting it, letting out a cold snort of utter disdain.

A few days ago, when Xiao Fusheng and Wang Qiyi had gone to the Jade Buddha Zen Monastery to find her, they had already fallen out completely. There was no reason for her to look at anyone's face now. Besides, in her eyes, only Xiao Cheng mattered; within the Xiao family, she only gave the old matriarch a shred of respect. As for Xiao Fusheng, what did a powerful cultivator have to do with her?

"Then, where are you taking us?"

Fang Yujia remained expressionless, though a deep sense of sorrow welled up within her.

The old master's face changed truly fast. Her previous guess had indeed been correct—her remarriage had been tacitly permitted by the old master. Over the past two years in the Xiao family, even if she had no grand achievements, she had worked hard. Now, they were tossing her aside without a second thought; it was truly cold and heartless.

One of her hands rested behind her back, clutching a smartphone with the voice recorder already running.

"Naturally, we are taking you to the Crimson Base. Once we hook you up to the lie detector there, let's see what excuses you have left!"

Wang Qiyi paid no mind to Zhuo Qinglian's sarcasm, offering a confident smile as he looked at the two women with a hint of mockery in his eyes. With Zhuo Qinglian and Fang Yujia in hand, did they need to worry about Xiao Cheng failing to show up?

"Let's go. No need for idle talk. Whether you were involved or not will soon be clear!" Xiao Fusheng lifted his eyelids, waved his hand impatiently, and spoke.

"Fine, this grandaunt will accompany you on this trip!" Zhuo Qinglian laughed heartily, acting as though it were no big deal at all, even referring to herself as "grandaunt." She was likely the first person ever to dare address Xiao Fusheng with such supreme arrogance to his face.

She had a clear assessment of both Wang Qiyi and Xiao Fusheng's strength and knew she was completely powerless to resist.

Xiao Fusheng frowned, glanced sideways at Zhuo Qinglian, but ultimately said nothing.

As she departed, Fang Yujia nonchalantly tossed her phone onto the sofa. If Xiao Cheng returned and found them gone, at least the phone's recording would let him know their whereabouts so he wouldn't worry too much. As for this trip to the Crimson Base, their immediate safety at least was not in doubt.

…………

As evening approached, Xiao Cheng finally returned to Shanghai, his mood light and cheerful. Spending time with a girl like Liu Yiyi made it impossible not to be happy.

Furthermore, his trip to Mount Shenfeng had yielded abundant rewards. Aside from acquiring the Heavenly Origin Fruit, he had also subdued Long'er and Mu Hongru. These would all become his assets in the future, so he had every reason to be pleased.

Most importantly, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. In the city of Shanghai now, very few people could make him feel any apprehension.

Arriving at the Tomson Riviera villa all the way, Xiao Cheng looked at the familiar building and smiled. He was finally back.

"Wow, what a beautiful house! Did Big Brother Xiao always live here?" Liu Yiyi hopped out of the car, stared wide-eyed at the gorgeous villa, and let out an exclamation of awe.

Xiao Cheng smiled faintly. Along the way, Liu Yiyi had acted like an inquisitive child, asking this and that, and he had long since grown accustomed to it.

As for his newly acquired cheap disciple Mu Hongru, he had taken a plane or train on his own; since he had been given the address, there was no fear of him failing to find it.

"Do you like it here?"

"I love it!" Liu Yiyi stuck out her tongue playfully, her pretty face flushed with excitement.

"Hiss hiss!" Long'er had woken up at some point and emitted a soft hiss as it looked at the villa, clearly approving of the place as well.

Xiao Cheng knocked on the door, but after a long while, there was no response. He furrowing his brows inadvertently. It was right around dinnertime—could it be that neither of them was home? Or had something happened?

He pushed the door gently and found that it was unlocked.

Xiao Cheng stepped inside the villa, called out twice, and still received no reply. This gave him a bad premonition, though seeing that the interior was clean and tidy put his mind slightly at ease.

Liu Yiyi walked into the villa and scampered around like a gust of wind, inspecting everything with wide eyes.

Xiao Cheng took a turn around the villa before finally pulling out his phone and dialing his sister-in-law's number.

"Buzz, buzz!"

Hearing the vibration of a phone nearby, Xiao Cheng turned back to find his sister-in-law's phone discarded on the sofa. He picked it up, unlocked the screen, and saw that the interface was frozen on the voice-recording application.

Opening the recording folder, he found only a single audio file, recorded around twelve o'clock that morning.

He tapped to play it, and a brief conversation echoed out.

After listening to the recording, Xiao Cheng understood immediately what had happened.

He never expected that Wang Qiyi would have investigated and discovered that Xiao Guowei's death was his doing, and then used that information to manipulate the old master into targeting Fang Yujia and Zhuo Qinglian in an attempt to force him out of hiding.

"It's you stirring up trouble again! It seems you are truly in a rush to die!"

Xiao Cheng narrowed his eyes, a piercing cold light flashing in them, while a surge of anxiety gripped him for the safety of his sister-in-law and Zhuo Qinglian.

Xiao Fusheng was an extremely proud man who cared deeply about his reputation; he would never physically harm Fang Yujia and Zhuo Qinglian. But the same could not be said for Wang Qiyi.

"Yiyi, I need to head out for a bit. There is food in the kitchen; if you're hungry, help yourself!"

After settling Liu Yiyi in, Xiao Cheng immediately drove toward the security base.