Chapter 136 - THE ICEBERG MELTING
"SO, where should we find this Lin Mo?" Luo Yan asked once they were out of the dungeon.
The guards standing at the entrance didn't stop them. They didn't ask why the three of them were together. They didn't even question why the 'girl' brought in by the crown prince's dark guard was brought out again. These NPCs were probably not programmed to react that much and was just here mostly for decoration.
"My guess is he's probably in his wife's courtyard," Duan Yu answered. "If he wants to meet with the men from Wei lurking around the manor, Xinyi's courtyard is the best choice."
Luo Yan didn't disagree. Meeting the people from Wei in any other place in the manor would be dangerous. The safest way was to meet at a woman's courtyard. It wouldn't hurt if that woman also turned out to be one's wife – a wife who also happened to be a spy from Wei. After all, who would suspect that he would meet people from an enemy country at the courtyard of his wife?
"Lead the way," Shen Ji Yun said to Uriel.
Duan Yu made a sardonic bow. "Of course, team leader." He walked towards the direction of Xinyi's courtyard and the two follow behind. "Do you already have a strategy on how we should get information from him?"
"Let's threaten his wife and force him to tell us," Luo Yan casually said.
"I don't think that would work," Duan Yu rejected. "The guy has four other concubines. If he really is in love with his wife, as the other servants said, I don't think he would surround himself with that many women."
"So, their relationship is most likely a business one," Luo Yan commented.
This Xinyi most probably just chose Lin Mo because of his identity as part of the royal family. She made a proposal that Lin Mo obviously couldn't refuse. And because her mission coincided with something that he wanted, he agreed to marry her. But what was it that Lin Mo wanted?
It's clear that Xinyi, being from Wei, wanted to cause rift in Beitang's royal family. Their ruin would lead to chaos in the Kingdom, making it easier for Wei to attack them. Which would ultimately lead to the country's destruction. So, why would Lin Mo help the people from Wei? Did he have some kind of grudge against the royal family?
At the end, he still asked, "Does this Lin Mo hate his family or something?"
"Well, the servants I spoke earlier didn't mention anything about that. In fact, they all said he gets along well with both his father and older brother. Despite being concubine born and all," Duan Yu answered.
"A concubine born son? Then maybe the 'getting along' part is just on the surface. No matter how much it seemed like Prince Lin Rong treated both his sons equally, he would still prefer the son born from his official wife. That's just how things usually were during ancient times. Children born from official wives always had more advantages than the concubine born ones," Luo Yan said.
"For power and ambition," Shen Ji yun suddenly said. "That's good enough reason to collaborate with an enemy kingdom."
An idea flashed in Luo Yan's mind when he heard what Shen Ji Yun last said. If his guess was right, then it could answer most of their question. But damn, this NPC would truly be cold-blooded if Luo Yan's guess was right.
But he's still happy coming up with that guess. So, he turned to Shen Ji Yun. "Brother YUN is so smart."
Shen Ji Yun was a bit surprised by the sudden compliment. He was used to people giving him one – classmates, professors, his uncle's colleagues. He didn't feel much hearing words of compliment from those people. But hearing it from the rabbit actually felt a bit different. It's like his heart was suddenly soaked in warm liquid, making him feel all giddy inside.
Unbeknownst to him, a small smile already crossed his lips. Even his usual cold and emotionless gaze became gentler and warmer. Well, at least while he's looking at Luo Yan.
Duan Yu, on the side, rolled his eyes at the two. Seriously, these two. He truly wanted to shout, 'please, go and get a room'. But who would have thought that the famous iceberg of Yunyue could also melt? He glanced at Noctis. All thanks to this elf. He really wondered what kind of medicine did he make YUN drank to make the guy all gooey for him.
"This is it," he said and immediately stopped walking.
Luo Yan looked at the courtyard some distance away from where they stopped. He could tell that this was a pretty huge courtyard. He could even see a pond in the distance. Seemed like even if the relationship between this Xinya and Lin Mo were all business like, she was still pretty well cared for.
"So, what's our next move?" he asked. "Should we just go straight in and then beat the shit out of Lin Mo to force him to confess his crime? Or should we be smart about it and formulate a strategy first?"
"As much as I want to watch your violent act, I think we wouldn't get much from him if we beat him senseless," Duan Yu said dryly.
"I think beating him would do just fine."
"Of course you would," Duan Yu said sarcastically when he heard YUN say that. [Everything Noctis say and do is perfect in your eyes.]
Seriously, it's like he's with his captain and Zhong Hui right now. Well, unlike this Noctis, Li Xu Min was definitely much easier to handle.
"I'll go and check the room first to see if he's really there," Shen Ji Yun said. "You two, hide somewhere near. It would be bad if some Wei NPC saw you two lurking around near the courtyard."
"Wait- before you go, have this." Duan Yu took out some kind of ball shaped object that was as big as a ping-pong ball. "If Lin Mo is there, throw it in the room where he's in. It would produce smoke that would paralyze all the people in the room. Making our job easier."
"Why do you have something like that?" Luo Yan couldn't help but ask.
Duan Yu turned to Noctis and smiled. "Because unlike someone, my identity is very useful."
Luo Yan also smiled back. "You know, I really want to punch you right now. Probably knock some of your teeth too."
Duan Yu turned back to YUN. "Team leader, our team mate here is threatening me again with bodily harm. Can you please stop him from being so violent?"
Shen Ji Yun took the ping-pong ball like object from Uriel. "He's fine. If he managed to beat you, then that means your identity is not so useful after all." He then turned to the rabbit. "I'm going."
"Okay. Be careful, Brother YUN."
Duan Yu changed his gaze to another direction, lest he be fed another plate of dog food by these two.